Red Mansion: Picking up a Lin Daiyu

Chapter 313 Lin Daiyu Signs for the Butler's Guide

The sun was setting in the west, the sky was filled with clouds, and on the sparkling sea, a large number of merchant ships appeared densely packed, roughly estimated to be fifty or sixty.

As night fell, Shuangyu Island would no longer accept new ships. However, at the turn of day and night, the arrival of such a large caravan quickly attracted the attention of the lookouts on the shore.

On the deck of the first ship, Yue Ling, dressed in a black robe, looked at the troop movements on the shore from afar, his expression unchanged.

Liu Xianglian, who was dressed normally beside him, had a trembling cheek and couldn't help but glance sideways at Yue Ling.

Yue Ling felt something and whispered, "Keep an eye on the person in your hands."

In front of Liu Xianglian was Watanabe Nobunosuke, the Japanese envoy who had been detained by Yue Ling before.

After spending some dark days in prison, when he was released, he had become extremely thin and his cheeks looked as if they were cut by a knife.

This complexion certainly didn't look like that of a pampered person, so Yue Ling released him. Fortunately, after a few days of recuperation, his complexion recovered a little.

He originally thought that the country knew about his disappearance and sent people to negotiate with An Jinghou, so he gladly accepted these preferential treatments.

During those days, the joy of surviving the ordeal almost overwhelmed his mind. In prison, he had to eat only coarse food and sometimes even slop. After he was released from prison, he was so excited that he didn't have the energy to worry about anything else.

But after a short while he realized that it was Marquis Anjing who needed him to cooperate in a play, that is, to cooperate in the attack on Shuangyu Island.

Although the domestic support for Shuangyu Island is not as much as before, Japan cannot say that it does not care about such a lucrative place. But according to An Jinghou's intention, he wants to vigorously eliminate the Japanese pirates' hideouts in the past 30 years, and he is even willing to go to war with Japan for this.

He didn't understand why Marquis Anjing had the confidence to start a war again or even a national war when the finances of Jiangsu and Zhejiang were in poor condition.

Watanabe Nobunosuke was just a messenger, closer to the merchants. Now that he was on the battlefield, he was naturally uneasy and his legs were weak. He almost fell to the ground due to the shaking of the cargo ship.

Liu Xianglian was quick to support him, and then he put a sharp knife against his back, causing Watanabe Nobuyuki to straighten his back.

"Mr. Envoy, please don't make any mistakes in such an occasion."

Liu Xianglian said it lightly, addressing him as "Sir" but without any respect in his words, there was only an infinite threat.

Watanabe Nobunosuke didn't know where Marquis Anjing found so many cruel and ruthless people. He glanced sideways and heard his warning again.

"If you still want to live, don't play tricks on me. If you succeed, I will ensure that you can return to Japan. If not, you will be the first to suffer on the battlefield."

Watanabe Nobuyuki swallowed his saliva, shook his head repeatedly, and said timidly: "No, no, I will follow the arrangements of the Marquis."

"Be alert. Don't forget that you are an envoy from Japan. We are your guards now."

"Yes."

Watanabe really wanted to cry. How could he afford to hire such a guard?

Watanabe certainly doesn't want to do the traitorous behavior now.

At first, he thought that after meeting the Japanese on the island, he would speak a few words of his native dialect to secretly ask for help and wake them up.

But when talking with An Jinghou, he found that he also understood the language of the Japanese and could even have a simple conversation with him.

It's just that some of his speaking habits are a little strange, more like the language habits that only women have.

While Watanabe was frightened, he also seemed to have realized something. It must be because there was a Japanese woman as a concubine in Anjing Hou's room that allowed him to speak Japanese.

In this way, his original plan was ruined.

He was powerless and could only be at the mercy of others.

Having experienced inhuman torture in prison, he cherishes his life even more after seeing the light of day again.

Sighing secretly, Watanabe looked at his fellow countrymen on the shore with a tragic face. Soon they would be beheaded.

The salty sea breeze rolled up the waves, violently lashing the reefs along the coast of Shuangyu Island, making a dull echo, like the drumbeat of an impending battle.

Yue Ling stood there proudly, making the final deduction in his mind.

Shuangyu Island has two large islands and is the largest stronghold of overseas Japanese pirates. The number of Han refugees recruited and the ronin from the Japanese pirates' own country is nearly 10,000.

Among them, more than 5,000 have now boarded large ships and are heading for Suzhou City. Currently, there are still 5,000 troops left on Shuangyu Island.

Three thousand versus five thousand, Yue Ling really wanted to secretly say that the advantage is in my hands, but this statement was a little unlucky.

When he was in Zhenhaiwei, the generals in the fort thought he was bragging when they heard that he could defeat the Japanese army's 5,000 with only 3,000 soldiers, and kept citing many examples.

During the reign of Emperor Qingyuan, a group of more than a hundred ronin landed and harassed people, looting for thousands of miles along the way. Tens of thousands of officers and soldiers were helpless against them and could not catch any trace of them.

They burned, killed and looted along the way, even killing several defenders and county magistrates. Finally, they looted to the outskirts of Suzhou City, but gradually retreated because they were unable to break through the fortified city.

Even so, the number of casualties was less than two palms.

But now Yue Ling wants to use his weaker force to fight against the larger Japanese force, which seems a fantasy in the eyes of the defending generals.

But Yue Ling didn't care.

He was acting unintentionally, and the Cangzhou troops under his command had cooperated well after two months of training. As long as he, the one giving the orders, did not make any big mistakes, everything would be under control.

Now, the first hurdle is coming.

The merchant ship slowly sailed into the shallows. On the shore, Japanese soldiers holding weapons had been lined up for a long time, drawing their bows and pointing arrows directly at the cabin.

A man walked out of the formation, dressed as a ronin samurai, with a samurai sword on his waist. It seemed that he had a high status on the island.

"Who is coming?"

Liu Xianglian secretly pushed the tip of the knife and felt it pierce his clothes. Watanabe immediately replied in Japanese: "I am the messenger of heaven. Who are you? How dare you point your sword at me? Let Wang Shun come to see me. Is he going to rebel against Dongzhao Shenjun and set up his own sect?"

When the Japanese heard their hometown dialect, they were all stunned. Their attitude changed from being cold and indifferent to being respectful.

The leading warrior quickly had everyone put away their weapons, and respectfully came to the shore, and said to Watanabe on the boat: "I didn't know you were the envoy, I hope you can forgive me. The general went to the shore early this morning and is not on the island."

Watanabe sneered: "He dares to call himself a general."

The leading warrior smiled awkwardly and asked, "We have been away from home for a long time and have never seen a great man like the envoy. I hope you can show us your identity badge so that we can learn more about you."

He just wanted a token of identity. Watanabe's token was certainly not fake. As soon as he raised his hand, Liu Xianglian stepped forward and handed over the token.

The warriors hugged each other, and were deeply moved by the sight of these items from their hometown. Some of them even had tears in their eyes and bowed down to Watanabe.

"It turns out that the Lord God has not forgotten us. What is the matter with you, Lord God? Do you need our help?"

Watanabe secretly glanced at Yue Ling at the side, and hurriedly said: "No need, these are all merchant ships, and the silk I bought with great effort is very valuable. I will unload it in the warehouse here today, and then transport it back to the country when a large ship from the country comes in a few days."

"These things are worth millions of taels of silver. If something goes wrong, none of you can bear the consequences, especially Wang Shun!"

After hearing this, the people lined up on the shore suddenly realized that it was such a big deal. Millions of taels of silver were probably used to ship a hundred thousand horses. No wonder so many ships were used.

The crowd was divided into several small teams under the command of the leading warrior.

One team cleared a passage and removed the fences, antler wood and other fortifications surrounding the shore; one team went into the harbor and ordered people to drive away the anchored ships so as not to hinder the caravan's docking; and another team had already entered the warehouse to sort and coordinate.

The boat planks were slowly placed on the stone steps, and Watanabe was the first to get off the boat. The samurai came forward and invited him familiarly, "Sir, please follow me to the general's mansion. There is some tea in the mansion to entertain you."

Watanabe waved his hand and said, "The God King values ​​this business very much. There can't be any mistakes. I will personally watch over it here."

The warrior immediately offered his flattering skills, "You are worthy of being a person trusted by the God. You practice what you preach and are a role model for us."

Watanabe felt very ashamed and changed the subject: "Where are you from and what is your name?"

The samurai said proudly, "I have the same surname as you, sir. I am from Nara Prefecture."

Upon hearing that he was from the same hometown, Watanabe felt even more ashamed, but with Yue Ling watching him closely behind him, he had no choice but to follow the original plan and take the young commander to the warehouse with him.

As the cargo boxes were moved out one by one, the soldiers only went through the motions of a routine inspection. They briefly checked the first two ships, which were filled with silk, so they did not check any further and allowed the boatmen on the ships to move the cargo boxes to the warehouse for storage.

There were even many warriors coming to help, and welcoming the many boatmen with smiles, creating a harmonious atmosphere on the shore.

The same thing happened in the warehouse. The leading samurai asked his men to bring tea to Watanabe.

Also, seeing that there were always two people who followed Watanabe closely and did not go with the boatman to move the boxes and goods, he guessed that they were the envoy's personal guards.

The warrior politely offered tea to the two men and asked, "I have yet to ask for the names of these two guard brothers, sir."

Watanabe's face twitched. He really didn't want his fellow villager to die so early.

If they can't speak Japanese, won't their identities be exposed?
Once the truth is revealed, there is only one outcome.

While the warrior was attacking from all sides, he did not forget to pay attention to the expressions of the two men. Seeing that they did not look at him at all and still stood upright, he could not help but sigh inwardly: "As expected of the envoy's guards, they are really well-trained. Even if I act so close, I can't let them be distracted and always be ready to protect the envoy's safety."

"I just don't know which daimyo they worked for before. If I can make some connections here, can their relatives take care of our relatives?"

While the samurai was still thinking, Yue Ling gave him a look, and Liu Xianglian immediately drew out the long-hidden broadsword and chopped it down on the samurai's neck. With a smack, blood spurted out like a pillar, and the samurai's eyes widened. He stared at Watanabe until he died, wondering why he let his guards kill him.

There was a sudden change on the scene, and all the Japanese were dumbfounded.

He thought that his commander had offended the envoy, so he was executed on the spot.

When they came to their senses, they found that the boatmen around them, who had been honest and obedient just now, had kicked over the cargo boxes, taken out all kinds of strange weapons from the cotton wool, and started to attack them in teams of three or eleven.

The Japanese who were caught off guard had already fallen in a pool of blood, their deaths unclear.

The wailing sound spread throughout the warehouse, and Japanese soldiers continued to fall to the ground. Only then did someone come to his senses and shout loudly: "Enemy attack, it's an enemy attack!"

In this warehouse, the Japanese lost their leader and were unable to form any effective resistance in this desperate situation.

Although they were well-trained, they were still helpless when faced with weapons they had never seen before. They were able to block the slashing blows of the samurai swords and even remove the weapons, and were defeated one by one.

The Japanese near the warehouse gate ran out frantically, but found that more Dachang soldiers emerged from the cabins on the coast, forming a black mass, just like the situation in the warehouse, holding strange weapons and strangling the ronin warriors on the shore.

The samurai swords they were so proud of, which were as precious as their lives, were of no use at all under the enemy's attack.

While he was stunned on the spot, someone had already chased him out from behind and stabbed him in the back of the head, killing him.

"My Lord, we have seized the fortifications on the shore and are now strangling the Japanese pirates on both sides."

One thousand households came in to report. Yue Ling nodded slightly and ordered: "Shuangyu Island is two islands. The opposite island should also have garrisons. Leave one thousand people to guard the shore. Focus on defense and pay attention to stray arrows. Do not underestimate the enemy. Let all the people chasing the enemy on both sides return and line up at the dock to wait for my order."

"As ordered."

The ground was littered with corpses and the smell of blood filled the air, causing Watanabe to retch uncontrollably. He curled up into a ball, looking at Yue Ling in horror as he begged for mercy, "Lord, I've done everything I could. Can you keep your promise and let me go?"

Yue Ling nodded, then shook his head.

This made Watanabe's heart rise to his throat, and he choked up and said, "My Lord, you are a household name in Dachang, and even children can sing a few words in your praise. You must be a trustworthy person. Please let me go."

Yue Ling comforted him, "Don't worry, I mean you still need to do something for me before you can leave."

Watanabe asked in a trembling voice, "My Lord, please tell me what's the matter?"

Yue Ling said: "If you go back like this, how will you explain what happened on the island? You will be punished if you return home. In this case, I will let you escape later. You can claim that I held you hostage and ambushed you when you were doing business with Dachang."

"You escaped through great hardships, and then asked for a ship to return to Japan. And on this ship, you have to take one more person."

Watanabe was confused and asked, "Who are you taking?"

Yue Ling said calmly: "Zhao Deyong."

Watanabe was stunned. "Prime Minister Zhao? Why would he want to take a ship with me to Japan?"

Yue Ling smiled and said, "Because he is dying and has nowhere else to go, this can be considered a way out. Well, I won't explain more. You can run away now, but remember what I told you."

"If you can't do it, I can let him accompany you."

Liu Xianglian shook the bloody broadsword, which frightened Watanabe so much that his face turned pale. "No need, no need. I will definitely remember what the Marquis said."

After Watanabe left, Liu Xianglian put away his knife and asked in confusion: "Lord, are we going to let him go like this? If he escapes like this, he will be out of our control. Can we do what you say?"

Yue Ling shook his head and smiled, "Whether he does it or not is up to him, but if he wants to return home safely, the best way is to have a Japanese ship come to pick him up. At this time, Zhao Deyong has no other choice but this one way to get out of Dachang. What do you think he will do when he learns that a Japanese ship is leaving?"

"He is a man who will do anything to embezzle money, and he will also do anything to survive."

"After all, I reported that he was colluding with the Japanese, but all the collusion with the Japanese was fabricated by us. If the court finds these strange things when sorting out old cases, it will inevitably be entangled with the censors, so it is better to get down to business on these matters."

"Besides, it would be best if Japan was involved. They have just been unified and are powerless to compete with Dachang. We can take this opportunity to intimidate them and clear some obstacles for opening up the sea route."

Liu Xianglian didn't know much about the affairs of the court, but he understood that these were all Yue Ling's plans, so he cupped his hands and said, "Since the Marquis has a plan, there is no need for me to worry about it. But given the current situation, what should we do next?"

Yue Ling ordered: "What happened on the beach will soon spread to the island. You take a thousand people to control the streets and alleys first, and pay attention to the formation. We are least afraid of small groups of enemies. It is advantageous for us to fight in the alleys."

"There should be less than 3,000 people guarding this island, and only 50% of them are Japanese. They were once the people of Dachang, so they naturally cannot resist the royal army. If they lay down their weapons, they can surrender."

"The Japanese killed hundreds of people on the island, and there should be some elite troops in the general's mansion. I will take care of these people, and you go do your job."

Liu Xianglian cupped his hands and said, "Okay, I will follow your orders, Lord."

……

Suzhou City, Xuanmu Mountain Panxiang Temple,

The girls have lived here for more than ten days and have become quite accustomed to it.

Moreover, the scenery on the mountain is beautiful, and there are still many flowers blooming even in October.

I learned from Miaoyu that in a few days, all the plum blossoms on Xuanmu Mountain would be in bloom.

Every year at this time, she would pick the flowers.

Apart from lamenting that Miaoyu's life was as noble as that of a fairy from the mortal world and even her tea drinking was so particular, the little girls who had nothing to do all day were also excited to join the ranks of those who were seeking forgiveness. They even did not want to go back to Fengqiao Posthouse and only looked forward to staying in the mountains for some more time until they had had enough fun before going back.

It was a pity that they couldn't see the newspapers on the mountain, so they all made up their minds to make up for it when they got down the mountain.

It would have been fine if the little girls were making noises all day long without restraint in their rooms, but when they came to Panxiang Temple, they couldn't hold back and started making noises again after just two days. Lin Daiyu was really troubled by this, but she didn't know what to do.

Buddhism is a place of elegance and grace. It is really inappropriate for a group of little maids who have never practiced Buddhism to dress up and go in and out of the temple to play every day.

Lin Daiyu, who was sitting on a cushion praying for Yue Ling, heard the chattering outside again. She raised her eyebrows in annoyance and secretly took a breath.

"When the Queen's letter arrives, I will definitely discipline them!"

After serving her a cup of tea, Miaoyu reminded her, "Miss Lin, it's almost time now. You are not in good health, so you can't recite for too long."

Lin Daiyu opened her eyes, nodded slightly, stood up and took the tea.

After spending several days together, Lin Daiyu also felt that Miaoyu was not a bad person, but just a little ignorant of the ways of the world. It seemed that she had never gotten along with others before, let alone the love between men and women.

She simply regarded Brother Yue's routine as her own salvation.

Brother Yue did not ask for repayment for his kindness, but she kept threatening me and insisted that I do something to repay him.

After all, gratitude is equated with love between men and women, which means that one lacks self-control and is unable to distinguish right from wrong.

It would be enough to just repay the favor, why do you have to repay it with your body?

Lin Daiyu couldn't understand.

"What do you think about what I told you yesterday?"

Lin Daiyu was the first to ask.

Miaoyu blushed, shyly withdrew her hand, and moaned, "Miss Lin is right, but I still can't figure out how I can repay the Marquis."

Lin Daiyu took a sip of tea, put all the teacups on the table angrily, and looked at the woman with a frown.

"A nun who has married her hair and is practicing Buddhism is trying to pay homage to Brother Yue all the time. Is what you are practicing Buddhism?"

Lin Daiyu rolled her eyes and felt like she was talking to a cow these days.

At this time, the noise outside the door was getting closer and closer, making Lin Daiyu even more upset.

"Why are you still making a fuss? What happened?"

The person who responded to the call was not just a little maid, but a large group of people who came over, and the leader was Qingwen, who was supposed to be in her mansion in the capital.

Qingwen looked tired. It would have been fine if she had just traveled by boat and car, but she didn't expect that after arriving in Suzhou, she would have to live in the mountains.

When she climbed the mountain to the temple gate, Qingwen really didn't even have the strength to lift her arms.

"My Lord, you actually live so simply. When you came to Jiangnan to serve as the governor, you only live in a temple on the mountain? I even used gold and silver threads to weave cloud patterns to make clothes for you. How can you like such extravagance?"

Originally, she was worried that the clothes she made were not luxurious enough and not worthy of the status of a marquis, but now, she was worried that she was too extravagant and would be punished.

This is her stepping stone to enter the Marquis' Mansion, so she cannot be careless at all.

After feeling sad for a while, Qingwen raised her head again and said to Lin Daiyu, whose face was slowly becoming happy, "Young lady, after receiving your letter, the Empress gave some rewards to the people in the palace, which have now been sealed in the treasury. Here is also a letter."

"In addition, I also brought the accounts for the past six months for the young lady to check."

Lin Daiyu jumped down from the chair excitedly, took the letter and was overjoyed. The maids had not seen such a girl's expression for a long time.

Realizing that she had lost her composure a little, Lin Daiyu coughed again to cover up her embarrassment, turned her back and said, "Leave the accounts to Sister Keqing. She looks at the accounts every day and is more familiar with these things than I am."

(End of this chapter)