The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

Xiangshan is the southeastern branch of Qionglong Mountain, overlooking Taihu Lake. The King of Wu once planted incense on this mountain and sent his beauties to pick it, hence the name.

The Lin family's ancestral grave is located in Xiangshan, where Jia Min is buried.

Two days ago, martial law was imposed here, and the governor of Jiangsu personally led officers and soldiers to search the mountains to ensure that no one was hiding in the mountains.

At this time, Xiangshan was guarded like an iron barrel. The stone steps leading to the mountainside were swept clean. Every three steps on both sides of the stone steps, there were imperial guards standing.
On the mountainside, Li Hu supported Lin Ruhai and slowly walked down.

Retaking Jiangnan was much smoother than Li Hu had imagined. Before the army began to cross the river, the Jiangnan gentry who had supported the Prince of Nan'an to ascend the throne sold out the Dali officials in Jinling City and captured Jinling without bloodshed.

After the fall of Jinling, all the prefectures in Jiangsu and Zhejiang surrendered. Now, except for Fujian, Guangdong and southern Xinjiang, Li Hu has basically put down the rebellion of the Prince of Nan'an.

Not to mention Lin Ruhai and others, even Li Hu did not expect that things would go so smoothly.

However, the fierce battle is yet to come. Southern Xinjiang is not only the stronghold that the Prince of Nan'an and others have operated for decades, but also has the Western Barbarians. Coupled with the geographical location and climate, it is difficult to pacify it in a short period of time.

After walking down the stone steps, Li Hu helped Lin Ruhai sit down in the pavilion at the foot of the mountain and prepared to make tea.

Lin Ruhai waved his hand: "I don't want tea, you can sit down and rest for a while."

Li Hu shook his head: "You shed a lot of tears just now."

Lin Ruhai's face turned red, but he said stubbornly: "I was blown by the wind."

Li Hu stretched out his voice: "Oh——"

Lin Ruhai couldn't hold back his pride anymore and glared at Li Hu fiercely: "I told you that you don't know how to burn paper, but you insisted on showing off. How can I not cry when there's so much smoke and fire?!"

"I was right next to the fire and didn't get smoked. I won't take the blame for this!"

Li Hu couldn't help laughing, "I finally understand why Sister Lin can argue even when she is unreasonable," while he brewed a bowl of tea and brought it over.

Lin Ruhai snorted, but still took the teacup, sipping it slowly while looking at the surrounding scenery.

Li Hu sat down beside him and said with a smile, "I've made up my mind. When the train gets here, I'll bring Lin Daiyu back."

Lin Ruhai nodded: "Is the train you mentioned really that magical?"

Li Hu: "You will believe it after you see it with your own eyes."

Lin Ruhai was silent for a moment: "I have carefully thought about what you said. Steam engines, trains, and armored warships are all things used in war. You can't be so ambitious and rely on the strength of your country. You ignore the suffering of the people, abuse the people's power, and go to war everywhere!"

Li Hu smiled: "Then you must live a long life, watch over me, supervise me, and prevent me from becoming a tyrant."

Lin Ruhai was startled at first, then shook his head: "You!"

Li Hu picked up a piece of cake and started to eat. He still underestimated the wisdom of the ancients. The craftsmen in the Ordnance Bureau had been continuously improving the steam engine in recent years, which increased the efficiency of the steam engine by more than three times. The only problem was that it was too big. However, with a slight improvement, it could be installed on locomotives and ships.

At this moment, He Shen hurried in with a memorial with chicken feathers stuck on it: "It's from Beijing, 600 miles away, express delivery! It's from Shengjing."

Lin Ruhai was shocked.

Li Hu took the memorial, tore open the seal and read it. His expression gradually relaxed as his eyes moved over the memorial, and then he frowned again.

Lin Ruhai: “What’s wrong?”

Li Hu: "The Japanese have occupied several islands of Korea, attacked fishermen going out to sea, and tried to land." He handed the memorial to Lin Ruhai, "Xue Ke suspects that the Japanese want to take advantage of the opportunity to invade Korea."

Lin Ruhai looked at the memorial and asked, "Do they know about the situation in Korea, Liaodong, or even in the interior of China?"

In order to defeat the rebels of Prince Nan'an, Li Hu mobilized almost all the troops that could be mobilized outside the Shanhaiguan Pass, and even recruited all the elite troops defending Shanhaiguan. Only then did he defeat the rebels of Prince Nan'an in one battle.

Liaodong is now short of military forces, and even on the Korean side, there are only a few thousand troops stationed in Gyeonggi Province.

Li Hu frowned. Could it be that Xiaori really wanted to take this opportunity to invade North Korea, and then use North Korea as a springboard to attack Liaodong and invade the interior? Who gave them the courage? !
Also, shouldn't they be in the closed-door policy of the shogunate era at this time? Is this another change brought about by the butterfly's wings? !

It seems I have to return to Beijing as soon as possible!

Lin Ruhai stood up and said, "You should return to Beijing as soon as possible."

Li Hu nodded: "I'll leave this to you, old man."

Lin Ruhai said sternly: "Don't worry, they can't cause any trouble."

Li Hu was silent for a moment: "I'd better take them all away."

Lin Ruhai was slightly startled: "Take him to the capital?"

Li Hu: "That's right. The Jiangnan region with Jinling as its center is the richest place in the entire country, but it is controlled by aristocratic families. I originally wanted to take this opportunity to purge them all, but I overestimated their integrity. They surrendered before the army crossed the river, and they even "accomplished a great deed"!
If I were still a noble general, I would kill them regardless of the consequences. Now the southern border has not been pacified, Fujian and Guangdong are still in the hands of the Wu family, and even the three provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu and Sichuan are still in the hands of the officials of the previous dynasty. People's hearts are like water, and people are like smoke. If I kill them now, these places will change at any time. "

Lin Ruhai was stunned again, then nodded with relief.

Li Hu paused and said, "Once we get to the capital, we can slowly deal with them."

Lin Ruhai was silent for a moment, then asked, "What are your plans for the Wu family?"

Li Hu: "Ignore them for now. If the Wu family takes the initiative to send people to Beijing, considering that they have been guarding the country for generations, as long as they don't want to split the land and become kings, everything is fine. If they are playing dumb, wait for the warships to go to sea, and attack them by land and sea."

Before he finished his words, the sound of horse hooves was heard, and Li Hu, Lin Ruhai and Heshen all looked in the direction of the sound.

In the distance, Wang Yaozu came on horseback with a postman and stopped in front of Wang Daniu. The postman handed a memorial box to Wang Daniu.

Wang Daniu strode towards Li Hu holding the memorial box.

Li Hu took out the memorial from the box and took a look. He then snorted coldly and said to He Shen, "Draft an imperial decree to order Zhang Cheng, Zhang Xi and the four princes to form a southern Xinjiang corps on the spot and expand the army by 50,000. Let them seize the opportunity and pacify southern Xinjiang."

At this point, he said to Lin Ruhai: "The breech-loading self-fired muskets produced by the Jinling Manufacturing Bureau will be used to replenish the Southern Xinjiang Corps first, and then the weapons will be allocated to them from the arsenal."

Lin Ruhai nodded.

Li Hu then said to He Shen: "I will issue a decree to inform the world that I will ascend the throne on the first day of October and the country will be named Tang!"

He Shen said excitedly: "As ordered!"

Li Hu: "Send another imperial decree to the Southern Xinjiang Corps. Do not take prisoners in this battle. Kill all the rebels who are colluding with foreign races. Tell the soldiers on the front line to eliminate the foreign races that invaded the Tang Dynasty, destroy their country, occupy their land, and turn it into a plantation for the Tang Dynasty. Let them grow food for the Tang Dynasty for generations! They should keep 50% of the spoils of war!"

He Shen: “Yes.”

Lin Ruhai: “What’s wrong?”

Li Hu shook the memorial and said, "The rebels left in southern Xinjiang have colluded with several South Asian countries."

After a pause, he said, "I suspect it's the Western barbarians who are causing trouble again."

Wang Daniu started to curse: "These damn bugs!"

Lin Ruhai hesitated for a moment and said, "The new dynasty has just been established and there is a lot of work to be done. Huguang and other places also need to recuperate. Should we wait until everything is on track before we decide?"

Li Hu shook his head slightly. "It's not a matter of whether we want to fight or not, but the enemy is forcing us to fight. If we don't attack, we will be passive and the war will spread to Huguang and other places, which will cause greater losses! I don't want Zhang Cheng and his men to defeat the enemy immediately. Let them seize the opportunity themselves."

Lin Ruhai understood and nodded.

Li Hu: "I will go back to Jinling tomorrow to arrange things in Jiangnan and then return to Beijing." (End of this chapter)