Red Mansion: Picking up a Lin Daiyu

Chapter 142 Shadows
When the two armies met, the army led by the King of Qin to conquer Liao finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Originally they thought that a great battle was imminent and that the enemy was the Northern Barbarian cavalry, so they wanted to occupy the advantageous terrain first.

The mighty general Feng Tang led 5,000 cavalrymen to dismount, half-kneel on the ground beside their horses, and saluted the prince.

On the other side, Liu and Yang, two senior captains of the Qin Palace, also led their subordinates to dismount and salute in unison.

There were only two people standing in the field.

"Your Highness, I have accomplished your mission!"

"Okay, I know it!"

"How is your Highness's illness? Has he recovered?"

Yue Ling asked one more question, but instead of getting a response, he felt the full weight of the King of Qin pressing down on him.

Fortunately, Yue Ling was very strong and he took on the weight of the sturdy King Qin, including the weight of his armor, and helped him slowly lean on himself.

The sudden change was like being struck by lightning, and everyone around came forward in shock.

"Your Highness!"

"Your Highness, what's wrong with you?"

Yue Ling checked the King of Qin's breath again and found that he was still breathing, so he breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's okay. He must have been overworked. Just let Your Highness have a good rest for a few days and he'll be fine."

Captain Liu breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That's good. Your Highness has been really tired on the way. He fainted several times and scared us a lot. We asked Your Highness to take care of himself and recuperate first, but Your Highness always said that he didn't want to delay. Alas, if it weren't for Yin Taihe and that reckless man, Your Highness wouldn't be like this..."

"Yin Taihe?"

Yue Ling shook his head and said, "Well, let's find a carriage first so His Highness can lie down and rest. On the way, you can tell me in detail what happened in Liaodong in the past six months."

"What the Grand Commander said is absolutely right."

……

I originally thought that I would be away from home for another year or two, but before I even left the capital, I ran into the King of Qin returning.

This time, the expedition time was shortened to one and a half days. I was afraid that when I returned, the girls would be very scared.

The King of Qin was ill and the army had no urgent military information. In addition to sending a messenger to the capital to deliver the message, Yue Ling led the rest of the people to march slowly to escort the King of Qin.

Along the way, Captain Liu and Captain Yang told Yue Ling in detail what had happened in Liaodong.

The story begins when Yin Taihe has been attacking Guangning City for a long time but failed. Goryeo and Jianzhou Jurchens have long been in collusion and have temporarily cut off the transportation and supply of Ningyuan City.

The King of Qin dragged his sick body to turn the tide in Ningyuan City. He first wiped out the Goryeo army, then used an ambush to repel Eyidu and Huerhan, and then attacked Guangning in one go.

The gunboats of the Governor-General of Liangzhe entered the Xiaoling River and went directly to the city of Guangyuan, bombarded the city, broke through the fortified city, and conquered Guangning in one fell swoop.

Then, it was a deep battle.

Several skirmishes were fought in the wilderness, culminating in a decisive battle with the rebels and the Jurchens in Liaodong Town.

Originally, the two sides had equal military strength, and the rebels were the ones defending the city, with the advantage of geographical location, so even the King of Qin was dragged into the quagmire.

In addition, the Jurchen commander Eyidu was also a veteran of the battlefield. His own military strength should not be underestimated. He was known as the first Baturu of Jianzhou Jurchen. He swept through the Haixi Jurchens without a single defeat. Even though he was hit by several arrows, he was still able to fight bravely.

As Yue Ling listened, he felt as if he was seeing Zhou Tai from the Three Kingdoms period.

In the cold winter of Liaodong, the temperature dropped sharply, and even those who were guarding the stove in the big tent had their hands and feet frozen stiff. As a result, many soldiers were injured.

The King of Qin's old illness relapsed and he had a high fever for several days.

When Eyidu learned about the expedition against the Liao army, he immediately sent cavalrymen to pretend to be messengers and deliver the news that the capital had been breached to the camp, hoping to create a scene of being surrounded by enemies on all sides.

Fortunately, Yin Taihe had already died in the battle at that time, and the two old ministers of the Qin Palace were very calm and immediately suppressed the news and did not spread it in the army.

They withdrew their camp in time and retreated to Anshanyi, a small town without walls and centered on the official post station.

When the ice and snow began to melt, the army set out again. The King of Qin recovered a little and beat the drum to cheer the troops, which greatly boosted the morale of the army. In Liaodong City, the two brothers Liao Fen and Liao Jin, the former defenders of Guangning City and Ningyuan City, were pretending to flatter Geng Bingwen. At this critical moment, they were instigated to rebel and surrender the city, so Geng Bingwen was killed.

"What about the two leaders of the Jurchens? Where are Eyidu and Huerhan?"

Captain Yang sighed, "These two were extremely vigilant. Even when we attacked the city at night, we were taken away by the assassins around them. Their assassins are very powerful. They would not even blink an eye even if they had to block the sword with their own bodies."

"And judging from their martial arts, they don't look like traditional Jurchen cavalry. There's always an indescribable sense of weirdness."

Yue Ling frowned slightly.

"Death warriors? Why do I feel like I've come into contact with death warriors some time ago?"

Yue Ling frowned and thought for a while. The amount of information he had to deal with recently was really too much. As for what happened before the war, he still needed to recall it carefully.

"The role of the death soldiers, to protect their masters and deliver letters? Yes, letters! The Jinyiwei once intercepted a messenger during the communication between the spies in the capital and the northern barbarians. That messenger was a death soldier. In the end, he got the name 'Lu'."

"Lu, Lu? Lu Yuan is a spy?"

"Although Lu Yuan may seem to have a good family background, he is essentially a Confucian scholar. He doesn't look like someone with a foundation in martial arts to be able to raise assassins. Raising assassins is not as simple as reading books. The Four Books and Five Classics are everywhere. Even if you want to collect some classic manuscripts of the predecessors, you can look for poor families."

"In the martial arts world, each family only teaches males and not females, and only teaches the family members and not outsiders. Even if one is poor and destitute, martial arts books will be put into the coffin along with the family members, and very few will be circulated in the world, let alone more systematic and advanced tutorials such as raising assassins."

"Besides, having books is one thing, and being able to train them is another. You have to start instilling extreme ideas in children when they are young, and completely brainwash them into killing machines. Then you have to eliminate and select the best ones layer by layer, and then call them death warriors. The cost is terrifying."

"Where do so many children who have lost both parents and are still in good health come from?"

Yue Ling clapped his hands and suddenly realized, "Kidnapper?"

The beginning of the Dream of Red Mansions is about a kidnapper who shows up and kidnaps Zhen Yinglian to raise her as a geisha. If he kidnaps a boy, that's not a bad idea, right?

"Lord Lu may not be a spy. We need to handle this matter with caution. If it is really as I speculated, then this person's power is probably terrifyingly great, and he has only revealed the tip of the iceberg now."

Yue Ling couldn't help but gasp. He had never imagined that there was such a huge monster hidden in the capital.

Seeing Yue Ling's frown, Captain Liu asked in confusion, "Grand Commander, what have you thought of?"

Yue Ling, who had sorted out his thoughts, was not relaxed. He smiled awkwardly and said, "There is no such thing as a Grand Commander. Grand Commanders are only appointed during wartime. Now, it is better to call me Yue Tongqian, or Yue Zhihuishi, your immediate superior."

The two captains laughed and said, "You are addicted to being our superior. Now we are all under the command of the Imperial Guards. How can we still have the Royal Guards?"

The three of them chatted and laughed again as they rushed back to the capital together.

……

After a day, near dusk,

The evening clouds are like brocade, the sun is setting over Yuyuan, and the rosy glow is reflected on the mottled city walls, seeming to outline the glory of the war.

The King of Qin had already woken up and was lifting the curtain of the carriage, looking at the scene at the city gate. "I'm back now, and seeing everything is the same as before, I feel relieved."

Yue Ling, who was accompanying him outside the car, responded, "Your Highness should take care of your health, otherwise others will not be able to rest assured."

The King of Qin chuckled and said, "That makes sense."

The carriage slowly drove through Xizhimen, and the King of Qin asked with interest: "Yue Ling, what character do you want to name your title?"

"Your Highness, whatever name you want, that's it."

The King of Qin nodded slightly and said carefully: "Anjing, Jingdu, Weichen, which of these three words do you think sounds better?"

Yue Ling smiled but said nothing.

"Forget it, if you don't like it, then let the Ministry of Rites and the Imperial Clan House take care of this matter."

At that moment, a messenger rushed out of the city and stopped beside the King of Qin's carriage.

"Your Highness, Tuji Khan is dead."

Yue Ling was shocked. "Dead? How did he die?"

The messenger bowed his head and replied, "Last night, he hit his head against the wall and his brain burst and died."

Yue Ling said with a hint of anger in his tone, "That's the Dali Temple Prison! How could they let a man in shackles and shackles hit his head against the wall and commit suicide?!"

The messenger shuddered and said, "Grand Commander, I dare not lie. It is true. The coroner is already performing an autopsy."

The King of Qin frowned and ordered: "Order the Dali Temple, the Ministry of Justice, and the Censorate to jointly investigate Lu Yuan, the head of the Privy Council, and at the same time investigate the cause of Tuji Khan's death."

Later, seeing Yue Ling's unhappy face, the King of Qin comforted him: "This is not your fault. Let him die. He was going to die sooner or later. It's just that his death was too easy. Originally, I wanted to execute him by slow slicing."

The King of Qin lowered the carriage curtain and sat back calmly. "I have to go back to the palace to see my father. Yue Ling, you should also go back to your house to rest."

Yue Ling nodded and said, "Yes, Your Highness."

After leaving the team, Yue Ling returned home, always feeling that Tuji Khan's death was strange, and the matter of Lu Yuan was also questionable.

However, since the prince intended to give him a holiday and did not let him participate in the investigation, there was no reason for him to meddle in other people's business.

After all, the idea in his mind now is just his guess, and there is no evidence to verify it.

Moreover, Yue Ling is still labeled as a military general and is not accepted by the civil service group.

If he were to be tried by the three courts, things would probably become even more difficult to unfold.

"Forget it, let's go back to the mansion and give the girls a surprise."

Yue Ling let out a light breath, raised the whip again, and quickened his pace to return home.

……

"General Yue?"

"Ah? Master?"

"Ah, why is the master back?"

The girls screamed and went back to their rooms to change their clothes.

Yue Ling was somewhat helpless and said with a smile: "You guys wear so little in your room?"

Soon, the girls came back dressed neatly, each blushing more than the other.

"Even if there is no man inside the inner curtain, you can't wear so little in the room, right?"

Everyone was hesitant to speak, only Zijuan and Yue Ling, who were closer in some ways, had the nerve to speak up: "Xueyan was lazy and added too much charcoal at once, causing the floor heater in the room to flip over, making it extremely hot and stuffy."

Zijuan lowered her head as she spoke, and said shyly, "Then, there was no one else in the room. After everyone discussed it, they all... took off their outer coats, and it was just right to stay in the room."

Yue Ling closed his eyes and felt the room. It was indeed very stuffy. As soon as he entered the room, sweat began to appear on his forehead.

Yue Ling asked again in confusion: "If it's hot, then just open the window. Why do you have to take off your clothes?"

Zijuan looked at Ruizhu who was beside Xueyan and said, "Ruizhu said that the charcoal has been put in. If the heat from burning it floats outside the room, it will be a waste."

"Besides, if someone saw us burning the room like a kitchen, with steam rising from the air, the maids would probably say we were such a spendthrift maid."

Yue Ling felt even more helpless after hearing this, because he actually felt that it made a lot of sense.

Looking at Xueyan and then at Ruizhu, Yue Ling was really impressed that such a funny person could come to his room.

"One is lazy, the other is frugal, and it's a closed loop."

The girls all lowered their heads as if they had done something wrong. Yue Ling didn't want to blame them, so he tried to ease the atmosphere and said, "It's okay. But having said that, Ruizhu, I still want to talk about you."

Ruizhu's eyes were filled with tears. She looked up and glanced at Yue Ling secretly, thinking to herself, "Shouldn't we live frugally? Xueyan is a maid from the Lin family, a wealthy family, and has never lived a poor life. But the Qin family is different. They have to bend every penny to spend."

"In the past, we maids didn't even get a set of clothes a year, and our clothes were always patched up. We can't just forget the hardships of the past because we have a good life. Besides, it's not good to be seen by outsiders, and rumors are the most hurtful."

"After all, it's because of what happened between the master and Miss Lin last time. The master wants to take revenge on me."

Ruizhu didn't think she was wrong. How could she not feel wronged when she heard what Yue Ling said?

Yue Ling coughed lightly, came to Ruizhu and said, "I remember you are three years older than Xueyan, and the same age as Zijuan, right?"

Ruizhu nodded gently and held back a sob.

"You are still very young, why are you wearing such a mature bellyband? Xueyan is wearing a rabbit, Baozhu's bird is also very cute, and even Zijuan is wearing an apricot flower."

"Why did you wear a silk bellyband with peony embroidery? It looks so old-fashioned."

"what?"

Ruizhu raised her big watery eyes, at a loss for a moment.

It seemed like in a flash, Ruizhu's face turned red with embarrassment, and she even forgot to cry, she was so ashamed.

Xueyan pointed at Ruizhu's face and said with a smile: "General Yue, look at her, her face is redder than charcoal fire."

Yue Ling frowned slightly and tapped Xueyan on the head. "Alright, you did something wrong and you're still making fun of others. Go, I'll punish you by fetching a bucket of water and pouring it on the ground to cool it down."

Xueyan was frightened by Yue Ling's actions, but it didn't hurt when she was touched. She covered her head, stuck out her tongue at Yue Ling, turned around and ran out.

When Yue Ling turned around again, Ruizhu stammered, "That, that belongs to Sister Keqing, I, I have washed all mine... I don't wear this kind of thing originally..."

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(End of this chapter)