Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 27, Jinling Uprising

What kind of person is Ganba?

Speaking of Gan Ba, Xue Dacui felt a little emotional.

Xue Dacuizi began to tell Fang Yong what had happened that year.

In fact, Xue Dacuizi and Gan Ba did not know each other from the beginning.

In the past, Gan Ba was a naval general of Daxi and led his troops to garrison in Taihu Lake.

The imperial court promulgated the new policy for the first time and chose Suzhou as the pilot city.

Then, after the new policy had been implemented for some time, the White Lotus Rebellion broke out in Suzhou.

Gan Ba felt obliged to lead his troops to resist the rebels.

And Xue Dacuizi was selected to transport grain for the army.

When he said this, Xue Dacui's eyes turned red.

"It was the imperial court that robbed the grain. I saw that face. It was the second son of the Governor of Suzhou. I've seen him before!"

Xue the Cripple said while gritting his teeth.

Fang Yong suddenly realized.

This is a classic political backstab.

Xue Da Lame continued:

"I escaped the disaster by pretending to be dead, but my legs were permanently disabled at that time."

"Later, General Gan's troops were defeated by the rebels because they were out of food. They met me on the way of escape. After I explained the reason to them, General Gan not only did not blame me for losing the food, but saved my life and took me to escape here."

"Afterwards, our families were implicated. General Gan was charged with treason and collusion with bandits, and I was charged with reselling military rations. I was expelled from the family, and naturally my family members were also..."

Fang Yong was silent for a while.

This is indeed tragic.

"From that moment on I vowed revenge!"

"There were more than 200 of us who escaped to Hongze alive. Lao Hei and Lao Niu were both generals in the army."

"At that time, the scale of Hongze Water Fort was still very small. Wang Lun was unwilling to accept us at first. Wang Lun ordered his men to drive us away with bows and arrows. It was General Gan who shot down the flag of Wang Lun Water Fort with one arrow, which suppressed all the bandits in the water fort. Only then did Wang Lun agree to let us stay."

Fang Yong frowned slightly when he heard this.

Wang Lun has been spreading the word in the water stronghold that it was he who took in Gan Ba and selflessly gave him the high position of second in command. Now it seems that this statement cannot be taken completely seriously.

"After we entered the water stronghold and drank the blood wine, we became brothers with General Gan."

"My second brother used the same method to manage the water stronghold, changing the bad reputation of the water stronghold for robbery and rape, and attracted many people to join him. I used my former trade relationship to provide money for the mountain stronghold little by little, and slowly built it up."

"This would have been great, but I can't forget the hatred, and Lao Hei can't forget the blood debt of his brothers!"

"But my second brother is unwilling to lead us out for revenge. Maybe he is tired of fighting and killing, or maybe he is afraid of the court. In short, he is no longer the former General Gan. He doesn't even dare to sit in the position of the head of the family..."

Fang Yong: "So...you chose me?"

Xue the Cripple nodded.

"Your method of winning people's hearts is not very clever. I saw your ambition at first sight, and later after testing you, I became more certain of this."

Upon hearing this, Fang Yong looked at Xue the Cripple seriously and said word by word:
"Old Xue, I treat everyone sincerely from beginning to end!"

Xue the Cripple was stunned for a moment, turned his head away and didn't look at Fang Yong.

"Ha, whether you are sincere or not is not important to me. What is important is that you can lead me to revenge and I can help you realize your ambition."

"By the way, it's best to keep it a secret from my second brother for a while. When the chaos starts, we can quickly absorb the refugees to increase our strength. Then we can no longer nominate you as the leader. My second brother will be powerless to stop us."

Xue the Cripple left in a hurry.

After that, fleets carrying grain sailed into the water fort one after another.

Soon, Gan Ba came to the door as expected.

Fang Yong had already prepared an excuse.

However, after entering the door, Gan Ba did not ask about food, but instead presented a large bow.

It was a 1.5-meter-long bow, plain in appearance but extremely heavy.

Gan Ba introduced: "This bow is made of that python tendon. Unfortunately, I didn't find a good bow piece in the end. I only have eight stones of force. Third brother, are you willing to go out with me to test the bow?"

Fang Yong looked at Gan Ba and said, "Okay!"

On the training ground, Fang Yong was seen pulling the bow like the moon and shooting arrows like flying!
Within 240 steps, the arrows could penetrate solid rock and break through anything.

Ganba laughed heartily.

"Third brother, you have this magical bow, it will be a great help!"

Fang Yong put away his bow and looked at Gan Ba:

"Second brother, I..."

Gan Ba raised his hand to stop Fang Yong from continuing.

"There is a navy stationed in Fanliang Lake. Its commander, Zhang Yuan, was once a good friend of mine. If you meet him, please try to spare his life if possible."

As Gan Ba spoke, he also drew his bow and shot an arrow. Unexpectedly, every arrow hit its target within a hundred steps.

"As for Wang Lun..." Gan Ba sighed and said:

"The soldiers were chasing us very closely back then. If Wang Lun had insisted on not letting us in, I'm afraid we wouldn't have had a chance to survive. I've always been mindful of this favor, so I don't want to take his place." "But it's okay, third brother. I recruited you in, and Wang Lun has done you no favors. You can make your own decision."

"The three thousand soldiers I have trained are all elite, and I can leave them all to you. Niu Jin is a fierce general, but he is too honest and has always been unwilling to abandon me. Don't blame him. I have already explained everything to him before I came here this time. This is my help as a brother!"

Ganba shot his last arrow and turned away.

"Second brother!"

Fang Yong shouted.

Ganba paused but did not stop.

"I don't want to fight anymore. Let me take a break."

Fang Yong said: "Let's eat first before leaving!"

Ganba: “…Okay.”

In a blink of an eye, it is the Little New Year, which is also the Kitchen God Festival.

Lights are flickering in every household.

In the capital, Emperor Longqing was delighted seeing the heavy snow outside.

Chant:

At the end of the twelfth lunar month, auspicious snow arrives, covering the ground with silver gauze.

The fire illuminates the red windows, bringing warmth into thousands of homes.

The mellow wine floats in the jade cup, and laughter celebrates the good new year.

Falling snow indicates a good harvest, and the joy of the world will never end.

"Auspicious snow means a good harvest. It has snowed thirteen times this year. It looks like it will be another good harvest!"

Dai Quan was wiping the sweat from his forehead. Yesterday, the Imperial Observatory had just executed an official because the official had said: This year is a year of snow disaster due to the incompetent emperor.

"Third Master, why don't you leave?"

Xueyan yawned.

Fang Yongdao:
"You don't want to eat your dumplings, why do you care about me? I want to wait for Sister Lin to finish cutting this paper-cut!"

"Here, it's done!"

Daiyu smiled as she showed off the paper-cut paper-cuts she had made.

The Qilin brings good fortune and blessings to the world.

Fang Yong praised:

"Sister Lin's craftsmanship is really good, give it to me!"

Daiyu responded in a low voice.

Fang Yong took the window paper-cut, and their fingers touched accidentally.

Snow Goose suddenly came over.

"What? Obviously the girl's haircut is not as good as mine."