Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 47: Changes in Shanxi

Green smoke slowly rises from a cloisonné enamel incense burner with two cranes.

The smoke of cigarettes is noble and elegant.

Suddenly, Emperor Longqing slapped the incense burner so hard that it fell to the ground and broke into pieces.

"Rebel, traitor, rebel! How dare you, Shi Guangzhu, put the military supervisor under house arrest, causing a great defeat. I will execute your entire family!"

Emperor Longqing was more angry than ever before.

It was not until now that he learned that Eunuch Zhou was under house arrest by Duke Shanguo.

If Duke Shanguo had not been defeated and submitted a petition of apology, I'm afraid he would still be kept in the dark.

This time, even Dai Quan, who had always been favored, did not dare to persuade him.

Soon, the Duke Shanguo's mansion was surrounded by the imperial guards, awaiting search and seizure.

Emperor Longqing did not even summon any ministers to discuss the matter, but directly wrote the imperial edict to exterminate the three Yi tribes.

At the critical moment, Yu Lian got the news from somewhere and hurried over to give advice.

Emperor Longqing didn't want to see Yu Lian, so he asked Dai Quan to stop him outside the door.

Yu Lian was stopped by Dai Quan and could not go in. Seeing that Emperor Longqing was about to write the imperial edict, Yu Lian became anxious and shouted angrily: "Eunuch, how dare you ruin the country's affairs!"

As he said that, he kicked Dai Quan to the ground with a flying kick, then rushed in to persuade him.

Emperor Longqing looked at this scene and clenched his fists in anger. If looks could kill, Emperor Longqing would have wanted to kill Yu Lian on the spot.

Dai Quan was his personal eunuch, and Yu Lian's doing this was like a kick in the face.

Dai Quan, who was kicked over on the other side, also had a sinister look on his face.

The truth is always a sharp knife that hurts people. The kick that Yu Lian gave him in a hurry might not be a big deal, but the word "eunuch" that came out of her mouth was intolerable to him.

Wait, old dog!

Yu Lian didn't know what Emperor Longqing and Dai Quan were thinking.

Even if he knew, he wouldn't care.

When facing the national crisis, Yu Lian would never remain indifferent for fear of offending anyone.

Cheng Fan, Guo Bai and others in the cabinet saw that the emperor was furious, and they knew that His Majesty was about to make a mistake but they did not dare to come forward to persuade him. They were real villains, and Yu Lian was unwilling to associate with these people.

"His Majesty!"

Yu Lian knelt down and said:

"Duke Shan was defeated in the war, and his crime is unforgivable. However, this is not the time to punish him. Although Duke Shan was defeated, he still has tens of thousands of soldiers and more than 100,000 surrendered White Lotus Sect members. If Your Majesty kills his family immediately, it will force Duke Shan to rebel. If he surrenders to the bandits in Huaiyin, the disaster will be even greater. Please think carefully, Your Majesty!"

After Yu Lian finished speaking, he knelt deeply.

Emperor Longqing was still angry and said:

"I am the Son of Heaven, how dare Shi Guangzhu rebel against me!"

Yu Lian said:
"If Your Majesty confiscates the residence of Duke Shan Guo and kills his family, Duke Shan Guo will have nothing to worry about and there is no guarantee that he will not surrender to the Huaiyin bandits."

Emperor Longqing fell silent after hearing this.

He is not smart, but he is not completely stupid.

He was just angry just now, but after being reminded by Yu Lian, he finally realized that he should not rush to kill the family of Duke Shanguo.

At least we have to remove Duke Shan's military power first.

However, if he just listened to Yu Lian, wouldn't it be very embarrassing...

Emperor Longqing thought about it, then turned his head and gave Dai Quan a look.

Dai Quan understood what he meant and said:

"How dare you! Your Majesty is the supreme ruler, the true dragon emperor. How could you be afraid of a defeated general? It is because Your Majesty is magnanimous and generous that you want to pardon his crime, not because you are afraid of his rebellion."

Emperor Longqing nodded in satisfaction and said, "That's right. I hereby reprimand Duke Shan Guo for his poor performance in the battle and order him to return to the capital immediately. I will temporarily hand over his troops to the command of Lieutenant General Chunyu Jian."

……

Shanxi is known for its beautiful mountains and rivers.

There are big rivers inside and outside the territory and high mountains inside, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack, and its defensive capabilities are off the charts.

Zuo Zhuan once said: "In war, the mountains and rivers inside and outside will not be harmed."

Perhaps it is because of this that Shanxi has been a hotbed of uprisings and rebellions since ancient times.

Xinzhou, Rong'an Academy.

This is a college under construction.

Located outside Xinzhou City, the building directly surrounds a hill.

It covers an area of 22 li wide and 12 li long, with walls 26 zhang high. It is more like a small city than a college.

There is a line of large gold-plated characters on the plaque of the academy.

This is a golden plaque bestowed by the Emperor, written by Emperor Longqing himself and framed by Cheng Fan, a Grand Secretary of the court.

If you think about it this way, you will know what kind of power is behind this academy.

Once you enter the academy, you'll see a gigantic statue of the great sage, blocking any prying eyes from outside.

But now it is just a prototype and the details have not been completed.

Further in, there are school buildings, study halls, and teaching grounds, which are places for learning.

This is normal.

But if you go further in, you will see pagodas on the left and a Taoist temple on the right.

There are horse farms and hunting parks for entertainment;
There are exotic flowers, rare fruits and stones to be seen.

In addition, there are hot spring entertainment centers and singing schools.

In terms of scenery, there are Wudao Mountain, Feixia Peak, Chuanyun Stream, Guanli Wall, Wanglong Courtyard, Fude Garden... except for the school, there is everything.

In addition, there is a Western cathedral, which was built at a huge cost by Western missionaries.

These are just the tip of the iceberg, and there are many more buildings that have not yet been completed.

"Get up, get up, and get to work, lazy ass!"

The supervisor shouted and the whip in his hand cracked, waking up the sleeping people one after another.

"Damn it, why don't you move? Didn't you hear me talking?"

The supervisor said this angrily, picking up a whip and hitting a child who was still in his teens.

The child didn't move.

The people around him touched the child tentatively.

"Ah, my lord, he is dead!"

the man exclaimed.

The supervisor didn't show any commotion when he heard this.

"He's dead. What bad luck! Someone, throw him out!"

Having said that, the supervisor walked away without looking back.

One person's death is nothing, it's perfectly normal.

These conscripted laborers did heavy work all day long, but only had one meal of porridge, bran soaked in salt water, and some rotten rice and vegetables. How could they not die under such circumstances?

It is abnormal for people not to die!
Soon, the teenage boy was thrown out and no one remembered his name.

Wild dogs on the roadside ate the carcass.

People killed wild dogs and ate their meat.

Without sufficient food, the young and strong people who were working were becoming thinner and thinner.

There are very few old people and children here, because those over 40 and children under 15 have been eliminated naturally.

The rest are all gifted and strong people.

But now these people can't hold on any longer.

They are all skinny and dying.

The supervisor soon noticed that the workers were becoming less and less efficient.

If this continues, I'm afraid working hours will be delayed and everyone will be punished.

So the supervisor reported to his superiors and asked how to deal with the matter.

The engineer on the project had a bit of conscience. He proposed a solution to the person in charge of building the academy, which was to add some pig skin and lard to the food of the daily laborers.

This way, the body for labor can be guaranteed.

After reading this solution, the boss called the craftsman over.

"Adding lard to the food may temporarily relieve their need, but after a while they will turn to pork bones and pork. I have a plan to stop their need forever. Do you want to hear it?"

The chef was very curious and asked, "What tricks do you have?"

The in-charge smiled and took out a whip with an iron sheet, saying:
"Those who use this whipping will surely make these lowly slaves work harder and more diligently, and they will be able to rest once and for all. After being punished with one whip, they will not dare to look for another whip again."

……

Soon, the person in charge's method was implemented.

As expected, after this method was used, although hundreds of laborers with poor health were eliminated, efficiency was indeed greatly increased.

Those already exhausted and skinny laborers unleashed unimaginable potential under the whip, greatly speeding up the progress of the project.

The person in charge was very proud.

Little did they know that a disaster was about to come.

(End of this chapter)