The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

Chapter 548 Young Years
In a blink of an eye, it was the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month again. Since Li Hu led the army in person, the power of the court returned to the cabinet. The six ministries submitted memorials to the cabinet, and Jia She and the two grand secretaries Shi and Meng discussed and came to a conclusion. Then they wrote their opinions on a piece of paper and sent them together with the memorial to Kunning Palace, waiting for Lin Daiyu to review it with Li Hu's red pen and write "approved" or "not allowed"!
In fact, it is the Ming Dynasty's Piaoni and Pihong, but the right to wear red is not in the hands of the Silijian, but in the hands of Queen Lin Daiyu.

It was snowing heavily. Two clerks who were guarding outside the cabinet's duty room were dressed like padded jackets. They were putting their hands in their sleeves and stamping their feet to keep away the cold. Then they saw a person running towards them in the snow.

The man came closer and turned out to be Jia Yucun, a cabinet scholar who had just left the cabinet duty room about a quarter of an hour ago.

When they saw Jia Yucun holding an urgent letter with chicken feathers stuck on it, the two clerks hurriedly lifted a corner of the cotton curtain.

Jia Yucun rushed in like a gust of wind.

In the duty room, Jia She and the two Grand Secretaries Shi and Meng were discussing something. When they saw Jia Yucun come in, they stopped talking and looked at him and the urgent letter in his hand.

Jia Yucun raised the express in his hand and panted, "Your Majesty."

Jia She and the two grand secretaries Shi and Meng stood up suddenly.

Jia She strode over, snatched the express, tore open the seal and looked at it. Then his eyes lit up and he said excitedly, "It's surrounded! It's surrounded!"

The two Grand Secretaries Shi and Meng quickly gathered around, looked at it intently, and then became excited.

After reading it, Jia She stroked his beard and smiled, "What a pity, we were unable to capture all the Japanese and let their rear troops escape."

Shi Daxueshi smiled and said, "The pocket is too big, so it's understandable that something unexpected happened. Now our army has surrounded the main forces of the Japanese front and middle armies, and we will win this battle!"

Meng Daxueshi: "The snow in Liaodong is heavier and the weather is colder! As long as we besiege them, the Japanese will soon be unable to hold on." At this point, he smiled and said, "The mines in Anshan are in need of miners."

Jia She smiled and nodded: "Let's go and tell the Queen the good news, and then I will treat everyone to rice cakes."

Shi Daxueshi: "Lord Jia, do you still want to be promoted?"

Everyone laughed when they heard this.

The speaker is unintentional, but the listener is intentional. Jia She's eyes flickered. Although he is the head of the current cabinet, he is just an ordinary cabinet minister, and he was awarded the title during the change of dynasties. He is not the second assistant, let alone the first assistant. When can he make further progress?

Seeing Jia She in a daze, Jia Yucun quickly took down the cloak hanging on the hanger, put it on Jia She, and said softly, "Lord."

Jia She came back to his senses and said, "Yes." Then, he smiled and said, "After eating the rice cake, let's eat the sugar melon and stick it on the mouth of the Kitchen God, and pray that the Kitchen God will say good things in heaven and keep peace in the world below."

The two Grand Secretaries Shi and Meng and Jia Yucun smiled and embraced Jia She as they walked out.

Like the capital, Liaodong was also covered with heavy snow.

The Tang Dynasty's army of more than 100,000 was spread across the mountaintops and vast snowfields within a radius of dozens of miles.

Through the snowflakes, the Japanese camp was surrounded in the middle of the snow.

A group of Japanese people, whose ears and noses were red from the snow and wind, hid behind a mound to avoid the cold.

Suddenly, a Japanese man sniffed and said (in Japanese): "It smells so good!" Then he stuck his head out and looked at the Tang army position opposite.

Another Japanese shouted, "Get down!"

At the same time, there was a "bang" sound of a gunshot, and a big bloody hole appeared in the middle of the Japanese man's head, and he fell down directly.

The other Japanese were so scared that they lay on the snow, not daring to move.

A Japanese officer rushed over upon hearing the noise, and seeing the dead body lying in the snow, he could only be furious and vented his anger on several other Japanese soldiers, beating them up with punches and kicks.
In the trench on the other side, a Tang soldier dressed in the uniform of an imperial guard skillfully pulled down the trigger guard, causing the locking bolt behind the chamber to fall, revealing the chamber. He then took out the loaded bullet from the ammunition box at his waist, loaded the bullet, pulled up the trigger guard, and returned the locking bolt to close the chamber.

Since metal cartridges could not be produced in a short period of time, Li Hu copied a breech-loading rifle again and changed the bolt. This type of bolt is called a drop-lock bolt. In order to facilitate shooting, there is a sharp edge on the front end of the bolt, which can just scratch the cartridge case when it rises. Soldiers do not have to bite the cartridge case before loading, which greatly reduces the preparation time for shooting.

On his left, a civil servant in the uniform of a ninth-rank official put down his telescope and immediately picked up a pen to record his achievements. Upon closer inspection, he had a nameplate on his chest with the words "Royal Academy" engraved on it!
Not far away, a group of Tang soldiers were eating dumplings around a fire.

A Tang soldier looked at the breech-loading rifle in the hand of the imperial guard with envy: "Damn it, when will it be our turn?!"

Another Tang soldier: "We? Just wait and see. Good stuff like this must be equipped to the Imperial Guards first, then the Beijing Army, and finally ours."

Another Tang soldier said: "You don't know yet? The Royal Academy is developing a more powerful breech-loading rifle, which is equipped for the Imperial Guards and the Beijing Camp."

An old soldier nearby kicked him and said, "Shut your stinky mouth! If you want to die, find a rope yourself and don't implicate everyone." The Tang soldier laughed and said, "You are too cautious. The Tang Dynasty is not the previous dynasty that doesn't even allow people to speak. Besides, this is not a secret. To tell you the truth, it was that gentleman who told me about this." He nodded at the imperial guard.

Everyone: “Oh?!”

Tang Jun: "Do you know why?"

Everyone: "Why?"

Tang Jun: "It is to reassure us that the imperial court has more advanced firearms. Otherwise, in such a cold weather, would these imperial guards come to the front line? And they are also following the officials of the Royal Academy."

Everyone nodded.

"That's nonsense." The old soldier interrupted.

"Oh?" Everyone turned their heads to him again.

"What's the matter?" the Tang Jun asked back.

Old soldier: "Don't forget, I was the one who escorted these two gentlemen back with the commander. They came here to test the power of the new firearms, not to comfort you."

Everyone burst into laughter.

Tang Jun blushed and was about to speak.

Suddenly, earth-shaking artillery fire was heard from the northwest of the battlefield.

Everyone put down their lunch boxes, picked up the muskets they had been holding in their arms, knelt on one leg in the trench, raised the muskets in their hands and aimed forward.

After a long time, there was still no movement in the Japanese position, but everyone did not dare to be careless, because the Japanese were insidious and cunning and good at sneak attacks.

After an unknown amount of time, the artillery fire from the northwest gradually became sparse and then stopped.

Due to the heavy snow, everyone was soon covered with a thick layer of snow.

In the distance, shouts of "Victory" could be heard.

Finally, an officer strode over, shouting, "Eat, keep eating!"

The old soldier was obviously very familiar with the officer. He smiled and came over and said, "Captain, did the brothers guarding the northwest win the battle?"

The general nodded and said: "The brothers in the northwest, with the cooperation of the Mongolian cavalry, repelled the main force of the Japanese central army who tried to break out." After that, he continued to move forward along the trench, shouting: "Eat, keep eating!"

Everyone then sat around the fire again. After an hour or two, the lunch boxes were already filled with snow and even frozen. They could only pour the dumplings back into the pot and wait.

A Tang soldier suddenly asked, "Why do the Japanese have such weird surnames? What about village, village, well, and side?"

The old soldier interrupted: "I know this."

Everyone gathered around and looked at him.

The old soldier said: "I also heard it from others. It is said that it was the commander of the imperial guards around the emperor who said it."

"Oh!" Everyone exclaimed.

The old soldier said: "I heard that Japan used to fight every day, and most of the men died, leaving only women. So, their damn emperor ordered that women must carry pillows and quilts when they go out, so that they can sleep with men. The children born will take the place where they live as their surnames."

"Oh" everyone suddenly realized.

At this time, a Tang soldier said with a smile: "Mr. Qianzong once said that if our Tang Dynasty needs Japan's land and minerals, we must invade Japan. Since Japanese women are like this..." When he said this, his eyes lit up.

Everyone became excited.

The old soldier said: "The dumplings are ready, eat dumplings, eat dumplings"

Everyone was eating dumplings from the pot, talking dirty while eating them.
(End of this chapter)