The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

The sound of cannons roared and the cries of pain shook the sky.

The overwhelming flow of people surrounded Chaoyang Gate and Dongbian Gate, and the main force of the besieging crowd was the remnants of the Han Army Flag, and more were ordinary people who were driven there.

There was no strategy at all. They just drove out the common people, used human lives to fill a passage in the moat, and then piled up a road to climb the city wall.

Behind these common people were the Eight Banners soldiers arrayed in a mighty formation, but their numbers were obviously much smaller.

In the Eight Banners Army formation, a large yellow dragon flag fluttered in the wind. Under the rolling flag, Fu Kang'an sat upright on a large white horse.

More than a dozen nobles of the Eight Banners with white silk wrapped around their bodies rode around him.

Fu Kang'an held a monocular telescope and pointed it towards the East Gate, paying attention to the battle situation there.

The East Gate was the main attack point, as the city wall there was slightly lower and farther away from the heavy artillery at the Chaoyang Gate, making it easy to rush up.

The main force of Dashun was almost completely wiped out in the battle in northern Beijing, which even surprised Fu Kang'an. However, their losses were also heavy. The Han army flag was crippled, the Plain Red and Bordered Red flags were mostly damaged, and the Plain Blue flag also suffered heavy losses. The greatest losses were suffered by the Plain Yellow and Bordered Yellow flags, which he personally led.

As soon as the two sides engaged, a fierce battle broke out. Especially the troops of Shanhaiguan, they launched multiple attacks on his central army formation. At the most intense stage of the battle, the cavalry of Shanhaiguan broke through the Bordered Yellow Banner army formation and surrounded and strangled the Bordered Yellow Banner troops. If it were not for the timely response of the Plain Yellow Banner, the Bordered Yellow Banner would definitely be completely defeated!

Fu Kang'an had expected the strength of the Shanhaiguan troops, but he did not expect that the Shandong troops would be so powerful. They almost overwhelmed the Red Banner. The Shandong general's personal cavalry raided the Red Banner commander-in-chief's flag several times.

If Fukang'an had not kept a backup plan, it would be hard to say who would win!
Seeing the fierce fighting situation, the remnants of the Bordered Red Banner began to retreat, allowing the remnants of the Dashun army to break through.

The battle was so brutal that Fukang'an did not dare to order a pursuit and could only watch the enemy retreat to the capital.

Looking at the towering city of Beijing at this time, Fukang'an was full of anticipation, looking forward to the army breaking through the city of Beijing.

Now is a rare opportunity. The elite troops of the Dashun Dynasty are all fighting outside, and the main force in the capital has been lost. Otherwise, his remaining troops would never dare to attack Beijing.

Without waiting for the surviving Eight Banner nobles to persuade him, he directly ordered the looting of Beijing, in order to boost the morale of the army and to drive the common people to besiege Beijing. As for "He who wins the hearts of the people wins the world", it is a fallacy!

Fu Kang'an held up the telescope and quickly scanned the city wall. Most of the people defending the city were ordinary people wearing cotton-padded jackets. Putting down the telescope, a cold light flashed in his eyes and he thought to himself: Once we capture the capital, we will kill all these unruly people!
Just as he was thinking, a burst of hurried horse hooves sounded and Fukang'an came back to his senses.

A group of more than twenty riders galloped towards Fukangan's central army, and the men on the horses were all dressed as palace guards.

When they arrived in front of the army, the leading imperial guard dismounted from his horse and ran towards Fukangan while untying the bag on his back.

Fu Kang'an's eyes flashed, and the palace guard ran to him and knelt down.

The imperial guard said, "A secret letter to the Prime Minister, urgent delivery over 800 miles!"

An Eight Banners noble handed the box of memorials from the bundle to Fu Kang'an.

Fu Kang'an took out the memorial from the box and his expression changed drastically.

At this time, another Eight Banners nobleman started to curse: "A bunch of rubbish, they didn't attack again!"

Fukangan came to his senses and looked in the direction of the sound, and saw that the crowd attacking the city had retreated.

Another Eight Banners nobleman spoke up: "Your Majesty, please let the Eight Banners soldiers go."

Fu Kang'an ignored him and turned his gaze to Heshen's memorial.

All the nobles of the Eight Banners turned their eyes to the memorial.

At this moment, another sound of horse hooves was heard, and Fukangan and the Eight Banners nobles all looked in the direction of the sound.

A spy ran over and knelt down before Fu Kang'an, "Your Majesty, a group of people has arrived from Juyong Pass. Judging from the flags, they should be the Datong Guards, with about 20,000 men."

All the nobles of the Eight Banners were startled, and some even shouted: "Isn't the Datong Guard outside the Great Wall? Li Hu is coming?!"

Everyone was shocked and then a commotion broke out.

Fu Kang'an frowned, glanced at the nobles of the Eight Banners, and shouted, "Silence!"

The nobles of the Eight Banners quickly shut up.

Fukang settled down for a moment, "Li Hu didn't come, he's in Liaodong"

An Eight Banners noble immediately shouted: "He dares to come and challenge us with only 20,000 troops. Kill him." When he said this, he was also stunned, and then looked at Fukang'an.

The rest of the Eight Banners nobles also looked at Fu Kang'an with their eyes open.

Fu Kang'an: "Changtu Hall and Kaiyuan City were lost"

The scene immediately went viral.

Fu Kang'an shook the letter and said, "Good news, Li Hu didn't bring any artillery."

After hearing what Fu Kang'an said, the nobles of the Eight Banners felt relieved. Without artillery, it would be difficult for Li Hu to break through Shengjing City in a short time.

Everyone turned their eyes to Fukang'an again.

Fu Kang'an looked at the towering Beijing city, then closed his eyes and said, "Retreat! But we must do two things first. Destroy the Datong Guards and burn the Li family's imperial tomb."

Fu Kang'an didn't know yet that Shengjing City had been surrounded.

The warm sunshine shone on Shengjing City, but the hearts of the Eight Banners soldiers guarding the city were like falling into an ice cave. The wilderness outside the city was densely packed with tents, people shouting and horses neighing, and everywhere were the Dashun government troops wearing red battle jackets. Looking at the powerful Dashun government troops a few miles away, Heshen took a deep breath. He didn't expect Li Hu to come so quickly! He didn't expect that Tieling would be captured by internal and external forces after only one day of defense.

Thinking about the news brought back by the defeated soldiers, Heshen cursed Li Hu in his heart. This guy was really cruel and ruthless, and had set his sights on Liaodong very early on.

In the distance, the Dashun government troops continued to arrive, apparently intending to trap Shengjing City to death.

Not seeing any artillery made Heshen feel a little relieved.

Heshen turned his attention to Li Hu's central military camp, hoping that the envoys he sent out could bring back good news.

In order to delay time, he sent envoys, the chief of which was his son, Fengshen Yinde.

He believed in Li Hu's character and believed that he would not harm Fengshen Yinde.

In the central military tent, Li Hu sat cross-legged on a tiger-skin mattress in front of a low table. After reading Heshen's letter, he smiled, put the letter on the table, and looked at Fengshen Yinde who was standing there.

"As long as Your Majesty agrees to withdraw the troops, we are willing to mobilize the entire country's financial resources to compensate Your Majesty for his losses." Fengshen Yinde looked at Li Hu cautiously.

Li Hu looked at him and raised a finger.

"One million?" Fengshen Yinde was secretly happy and said loudly, "Your Majesty, please wait a moment. I will go back and get the money. It's the bill of exchange from Li's Bank!"

Li Hu shook his head slightly.

Fengshen Yinde then realized that he had overthought, and asked cautiously: "Ten million?"

Li Hu looked at him without answering.

"Ten thousand, ten thousand." Fengshen Yinde swallowed his saliva.

Li Hu smiled and nodded.

Fengshen Yinde calmed down and said, "This is not my nephew crying poor, but the situation outside the Great Wall is different from that inside the Great Wall. I really can't afford so much money."

Wang Daniu spoke up: "If you don't have money, you can use women to pay off your debts. However, we only want women from the Aixinjueluo clan, concubines, princesses, daughters of royal princes, and even daughters born to women of the royal family. Oh, by the way, we don't want old women!"

As soon as these words were spoken, all the generals laughed.

Fengshen Yinde's face suddenly turned red: "Uncle, a scholar can be killed but not humiliated. How can you humiliate my Great Qing like this?!"

Li Hu didn't respond to his question. He smiled and said, "Let me show you something."

Wang Daniu clapped his hands.

A gust of cold wind blew in from the curtain, and then a group of personal soldiers came in carrying a pitch-black iron model and placed it in front of Fengshen Yinde.

Li Hu pointed at the iron mold and said, "This is the iron mold for casting cannons. With it, a bronze cannon can be made in one or two days. Cannons are not easy to transport, but bronze ware is still easy to transport. I will give you two days to consider it.

In two days, I will show you the power of the bronze cannon. I will tell you whether your city walls are stronger or this bronze cannon is more powerful. "

Fengshen Yinde's face suddenly turned pale and he stood there in a daze.

Li Hu looked at him and smiled: "Since you call me uncle, you don't need to send your princess wife over. I will pay for it for you."

Fengshen Yinde: "Thank you very much, uncle."

Li Hu suddenly remembered: "Oh, I heard that Wu Sangui and Hong Chengchou, the traitors, still have descendants."

Fengshen Yinde was silent for a moment, then replied, "Yes."

Li Hu picked up the tea bowl and took a sip, then continued, "Pack it up and send it over."

Although Fengshen Yinde didn't know the word "pack up", he understood what Li Hu meant. After thinking for a while, he said, "This matter still needs to be discussed with the Military Affairs Council."

Li Hu threw the tea bowl to the ground, and Fengshen Yinde was frightened.

Li Hu: "Tell your father that this matter is not negotiable."

"Yes, yes. I'll go back and tell father right away." Fengshen Yinde's voice trembled. He bowed to Li Hu and ran away like a flash.

Wang Daniu laughed: "Look how scared this kid is. He almost ran away."

All the generals laughed again.

After laughing, Wang Yaozu spoke: "Your Majesty, the bronze artifacts we looted are not too many. We estimate that we can cast two bronze cannons."

Wang Daniu interrupted: "Your Highness just said that the bronze ware is on the way." As he said this, he saw everyone looking at him and laughing, then he realized that Li Hu was lying.

Li Hu was too lazy to pay attention to him and said to Wang Yaozu, "First, build two gates and trick the money and people into giving us money."

Wang Yaozu smiled and replied, "Yes."

Li Hu shook his head. The ordinary people in Liaodong were too poor, and all the bronze artifacts were in the hands of the Eight Banners nobles.

Thinking of this, Li Hu missed the temple a little bit. (End of this chapter)