The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

The small village had never seen so many soldiers coming, and they were all cavalrymen riding tall horses.

Thousands of war horses filled the small river at the entrance of the village, and the cavalry were feeding the horses water, adding feed and brushing their fur.

From afar, some brave villagers gathered together to watch and discuss quietly.

Li Hu sat on a high mound at the entrance of the village. He took out some air-dried beef and chewed it with difficulty, while looking at Jia Zheng who was talking to the villagers in mourning clothes.

Jia Zheng said something unknown, but the villagers knelt down in front of Li Hu and kowtowed three times respectfully.

After saying a few more words, Jia Zheng walked towards Li Hu.

After not seeing each other for more than a year, Jia Zheng had lost a lot of weight. He no longer had the air of a corrupt scholar, but instead looked more resolute, capable, and mature.

When he came to the front, Jia Zheng was slightly stunned and asked, "You, you just want to eat this?"

Li Hu swallowed the beef jerky in his mouth and said with a smile: "This is pretty good. I have been eating dried vegetables for more than ten days in Xuzhou. This is at least a meat dish."

Jia Zheng was silent for a moment, then asked, "I heard you were ill, how are you?"

Li Hu folded his arms and said, "Thank you for your concern. I feel much better now."

Jia Zheng nodded and told Li Hu in detail what had happened here.

Li Hu's eyes flashed: "Aren't those fields owned by the Anhui Provincial Governor?"

Jia Zheng: "Yes, according to the records in the government office, those fields originally belonged to several wealthy gentry families in Luoyang City. When the chaos broke out in Kaifeng Prefecture, these people fled to the north bank of the Yellow River with their families. Only then did the common people dare to reclaim the wasteland for replanting. I also divided the land among the common people according to the laws of the court. They suddenly took out the contract and said that they sold the fields to the father of the Anhui Provincial Governor when they fled, and they were just waiting to pacify the White Lotus rebels before going to the government office to register. The time is exactly one and a half years away."

Li Hu snorted, "How dare a small governor go against the laws of the imperial court? It seems that the power behind him is not small!"

Jia Zheng sighed, "These gentry families all have retired officials from the court, and they have many connections behind them, including classmates, classmates, and fellow townsmen."

At this time, Wang Yaozu hurried over and reported to Li Hu: "General, some villagers said that there were monks around before the incident."

After hearing this, Li Hu subconsciously looked towards Jia Zheng.

Jia Zheng was so embarrassed that he scolded Zhou Rui, "How did you investigate? Why didn't you report such important information?!"

Zhou Rui smiled bitterly. Most of the runners in the yamen were locals. The gentry had a great influence on these people. How could they offend the gentry for the sake of the common people? They all pretended to obey and did not work hard.

Li Hu: "Go, ask Bai Wu to come over."

Wang Yaozu retreated in response.

Jia Zheng suddenly remembered something, pulled Li Hu aside, and lowered his voice: "You have to be careful with this Bai Wu"

Li Hu: "What's wrong?"

Jia Zheng: "I found the village register he mentioned. There is a person named Bai Wu in it, but his height, age and other information don't match!"

Li Hu: “Not burned?”

Jia Zheng: "What a coincidence! His was the only household in the entire baojia that was not completely burned because of the dampness."

After a pause, he said, "Perhaps this is God's will."

God's will? Li Hu smiled. Maybe. Bai Wu, the leader of the White Tiger Hall, had never expected that a small follower of the Blue Dragon Hall would recognize him.

Thinking about this, Li Hu said to Jia Zheng, "You haven't told anyone else about this, have you?"

Jia Zheng was startled: "How dare I say this! Not to mention that I promoted him, and now he is working by your side. I won't say anything more. You should deal with him as soon as possible!"

Li Hu raised his eyebrows: "How to deal with it?"

Jia Zheng said angrily: "What else can we do? This person will only cause trouble if we keep him!" Li Hu looked at him with a smile: "Your tuition fee of 200,000 yuan was not paid in vain."

Although he didn't understand the word "tuition", Jia Zheng understood what Li Hu meant and his face turned red.

"Don't worry about this matter anymore."

Li Hu straightened his official hat and said, "Just give me the official book, and pretend you don't know anything about it. He is now a guerrilla general and will soon be promoted to a lieutenant general. His death is too strange and will attract the attention of the court."

Jia Zheng thought about it and could only sigh.

Li Hu suddenly remembered: "Does Zhou Rui know about this?"

Jia Zheng shook his head and said, "I am the only one who knows about this matter. I also brought the things with me." As he said this, he took out a cowhide envelope from his sleeve and handed it to Li Hu.

Li Hu took it, looked at it, and asked with a smile, "Do you still carry it with you?"

Jia Zheng said sternly: "These few pages of paper concern the lives and property of our two families!"

Jia Zheng is still the same Jia Zheng.

Li Hu smiled and put the cowhide envelope into his sleeve. Suddenly he caught a glimpse of Zhou Rui who was peeking at him. After thinking for a while, he decided not to tell him that Zhou Rui was the emperor's spy, mainly because he was worried about scaring him.

At this moment, Wang Yaozu led the White Tiger Hall Master Bai Wu over.

Bai Wu, the leader of the White Tiger Hall, first saluted Li Hu, and then bowed to Jia Zheng.

Jia Zheng stroked his beard and said amiably, "You must work hard, share the Duke's worries, and fight for my reputation."

Baihu, the leader of the White Tiger Hall, said very respectfully: "Yes."

Li Hu smiled secretly, Jia Zheng was also a good actor.

Thinking about it, Li Hu took out a token from his pocket and handed it to Wang Yaozu, saying: "Transfer 500 and 1,000 Hetao cavalry to Bai Wu." He then said to Bai Wu, the leader of the White Tiger Hall: "You will immediately lead these 1,000 cavalry to various temples to wipe out the remnants of the White Lotus Sect."

Jia Zheng was shocked: "There is no evidence yet, you must not do that."

"evidence?!"

Li Hu sneered, "I'm here to wipe out the remnants of the White Lotus Sect, not to investigate the case. As for the evidence? Once we wipe out the remnants of the White Lotus Sect hiding in the temples, we'll have all the evidence."

Jia Zheng was startled and quickly advised: "I have heard about the Jiangxi General's affairs. Those upright people must still be watching you. You must not do anything that gives them a handle at this time!"

Bai Wu helped to speak up: "Don't worry, sir. Even if this incident did not happen, we still have to wipe out these places where filth and evil are hidden. Our commander was assassinated by the remnants of the White Lotus Sect in Nanyang City. Those remnants were hiding in temples in Luoyang and Kaifeng. The whole family of the new Nanyang prefect was killed by them."

Jia Zheng was surprised.

Li Hu snorted coldly and continued, "That old guy is relying on his son being the governor of Anhui. Collaborating with bandits is a serious crime. I will kill his son as well! And those gentry, they are against the court, why are they standing against you and me? I want to see, whose necks are harder, or whose knives are harder!"

Seeing him speak so cruelly, Jia Zheng's heart was startled, and he continued, "It's not worth it. Killing someone means paying with his life. And the Anhui Provincial Governor's family, we are all officials in the same court, we shouldn't and can't do this! Besides, this matter has little to do with them."

Li Hu raised his hand and said, "If you don't remove the roots, the grass will grow again in the spring breeze!"

Jia Zheng was stunned for a moment, then said, "Killing a chicken to scare a monkey is fine."

"I'm going to kill the chicken and I can't let the monkey live!"

Li Hu interrupted him directly and turned his gaze to Bai Wu, the leader of the White Tiger Hall. "My uncle said that we need solid evidence. Do you understand?"

Bai Wu, the leader of the White Tiger Hall, responded loudly, "Yes," and turned around and strode away.

Jia Zheng opened his mouth, but knew that he could not persuade Li Hu, so he could only sigh. (End of this chapter)