Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 63: Great Victory over the Bandits

"No, there's an ambush!"

Boom boom boom!

Artillery roared in the night.

The artillery battalion led by Li Sheng fired crazily. The solid shells hit and smashed the members of the Brave Battalion, including their horses, into meat paste.

The Brave Camp was thrown into chaos in an instant, and the frightened horses ran around in all directions.

Then, dense arrows shot from all directions.

The soldiers of the Brave Battalion who had no armor were killed one by one.

Soon, nearly half of the soldiers in the Brave Battalion were killed, and the remaining soldiers had lost all their will to fight and all knelt down in surrender.

After the battle, the Huaiyin army burst into thunderous cheers.

A young general holding a bow and arrow knelt on the ground, howling to the sky, tears flying everywhere.

"Dad, Mom! Shuanzi has avenged you!"

Afterwards, the captured soldiers of the Valiant Battalion were paraded through various cities and towns under Fang Yong's arrangement. After the people had vented their anger, they were all executed in public without leaving a single one alive!

For a time, Fang Yong's reputation reached its peak in the hearts of the people!

Fang Yong's image has become completely three-dimensional in the hearts of the people.

Many families took the initiative to build ancestral halls and memorial archways for Fang Yong.

This is a person who is willing to give them land to farm, provide them with food to survive, avenge them, and is also blessed by God!
In today's world, these may not mean much.

But in Daxi, this can be called a saint!

Yancheng.

The smoke from the artillery dispersed the smell of blood in the air.

Zhang Yuan and his remaining soldiers looked around. Weng City was full of archers and artillery. Their retreat had long been cut off and they had no way to make a living.

Zhang Yuan realized that his whereabouts had long been exposed.

The enemy set up an ambush in Yancheng, waiting for him to enter.

A voice came from above.

"Zhang Yuan, if you still don't surrender, do you want to watch your brothers all turn into meat paste?"

After hearing this, Zhang Yuan looked at the wounded brothers around him, finally helplessly put down his weapon and knelt down.

……

In the early morning, Baochai was sleeping soundly, wrapped tightly around Fang Yong.

The soft body is so attractive.

Perhaps because she was overworked last night, Baochai's face still had a hint of redness.

When the sun was high in the sky, Qiao Yan came over and called Fang Yong.

"Brother, Lord Wang is here, and Mr. Wu is accompanying him outside."

Fang Yong hurriedly stood up upon hearing this.

When I got outside, I met Wang Ziteng.

During the conversation, we learned that military supplies from the imperial court had arrived.

Armor, swords, guns, cannons, and craftsmen.

Fang Yong bought all these supplies from Wang Ziteng at 60% of the original price.

Three hundred skilled craftsmen were bought at a low price of 200 taels each.

The transaction process was very pleasant for both parties.

Wang Ziteng got a large amount of silver and money, and Fang Yong got a large amount of weapons.

In addition, Wang Ziteng also brought gifts for Baochai.

A pair of Hetian white jade bracelets carved with clouds and double dragons were a token of love from him as his uncle.

However, in Fang Yong's opinion, Wang Ziteng was not even interested in finding his own nephew, so it was hard to believe how much real affection he had for Baochai.

Fang Yong estimated that Wang Ziteng's family affection was fake, and his real intention was to use Baochai to win him over.

Before leaving, Wang Ziteng took back more than 4,000 heads from the Brave Battalion.

It has been a long time since these heads fell. At this month, these heads have already rotted and become infested with maggots, and their original appearance can no longer be recognized.

……

Soon after, Wang Ziteng, who had received military aid from Emperor Longqing, was greatly encouraged and personally led his troops into Fangyong's territory to intercept Fangyong's grain transport troops. After a day and night of fierce fighting, he won a great victory, killing more than 4,000 enemies!

Yangzhou Cuiyuan.

The largest theater in Yangzhou.

Eunuch Zhou sat alone in the audience, carefully enjoying the performance of the actors on the stage.

The young lady was a famous actor named Li Shuye, and was well-known in the local area.

The song we are singing now is called "Xi Lou Ji", a famous song from Yangzhou. "I travel day and night for you, I go through fire and water for you, I care deeply for you, I shed tears for you. I only wish that the heaven and earth can be witnesses, the sun and the moon can be matchmakers, my heart will be eternal, and this love will never die.

"Yes, yes, that's the taste!"

Eunuch Zhou was very happy.

He ordered his men to bring Li Shuye down from the stage, held him in his arms, and caressed him wantonly.

Li Shuye was a man of some reputation in Yangzhou and was often addressed as Mr. Li. But no matter what, he was just an actor. Facing the eunuch Zhou, who was personally ordered by Suzhou Governor Wang Ziteng to take care of him, he did not dare to resist at all and could only endure the humiliation silently.

"Godfather, godfather, great joy, great joy!"

A young eunuch ran in.

Then, seeing this scene, he quickly slapped himself twice and stepped back.

After a long time, Eunuch Zhou twisted his body and walked out of the theater with a spring-like look.

"Tell me, what good news just happened?"

The young eunuch said, "After receiving your majesty's military supplies, Governor Wang defeated the enemy army and beheaded nearly 5,000 of them!"

Eunuch Zhou was startled and said:
"Oh, this is a really big deal. The emperor is looking forward to this. You should have told me earlier. Get the car ready. I want to go and take a look."

Immediately, Eunuch Zhou prepared a car and rushed to the military camp.

When we arrived at the military camp, a stench of decay hit our noses.

The young eunuchs all retreated.

Only Eunuch Zhou could endure his discomfort and go forward to watch.

"Little guys, even though these heads smell bad, if you send them to the capital, they will be the stepping stones for your future!"

As Eunuch Zhou was speaking, Wang Ziteng rushed over after hearing the news.

As soon as they met, Wang Ziteng lowered his posture.

Even though he was a high-ranking official, a frontier governor, and also held a noble title, Wang Ziteng still did not dare to offend Eunuch Zhou easily.

This is the emperor's confidant, representing the imperial power. He does not have a golden medal of immunity from death, and cannot be as fearless as the Duke of Shanguo.

"Please come in quickly, sir. We are waiting for you to come and discuss matters!"

Eunuch Zhou was very satisfied with Wang Ziteng's attitude and walked into the tent with a smile.

Sometimes things are afraid of comparison.

In the eyes of Eunuch Zhou, Duke Shanguo regarded him as an enemy and targeted him everywhere; while Wang Ziteng regarded him as a relative and considered him everywhere.

Take this theater for example, Duke Shanguo has never had such good taste.

When Duke Shan was fighting Feng Tai, he wanted to watch a play and even paid for the construction of a theater in the military camp.

Isn’t he just a damn duke?

We have only won a few battles, what’s the big deal?

In comparison, Wang Ziteng is a hundred times stronger than Duke Shanguo!
After entering the tent, Wang Ziteng naturally wanted to discuss the memorial that he was about to write with Eunuch Zhou.

As the military supervisor, how could the emperor believe the memorial if Eunuch Zhou did not stamp it?
The two sides talked about the various processes of the battle, and Eunuch Zhou said there was no problem.

Only at the end, Eunuch Zhou mentioned it unintentionally.

"How come the heads of these thieves rotted so quickly..."

Wang Ziteng smiled and said:

"The weather in Yangzhou is hot, so naturally it rots quickly."

As he spoke, Wang Ziteng took out a small box and handed it over.

"Speaking of which, in such hot weather, I forgot about the gift of ice to you, father-in-law. I really shouldn't have done that. Please forgive me, father-in-law."

Eunuch Zhou opened the small box slightly and took a look.

Hey, let’s just say that Governor Wang is a hundred times more powerful than Duke Shan!
Eunuch Zhou took the box and said with a smile:

"Governor Wang has been working day and night to defeat the bandits. How dare we blame him? It's hot in Yangzhou. These heads need to be transported to the capital as soon as possible!"

"Governor Wang has worked day and night to devise a plan to defeat the bandits. How dare we blame him? It's too hot here. These heads should be transported to the capital as soon as possible!"

Wang Ziteng was overjoyed and said:
"What the father-in-law said is absolutely right!"

Soon, nearly five thousand heads were sent to the capital.

Wang Ziteng's memorial arrived first.

Your humble servant, Wang Ziteng, respectfully presents:

"When I received military supplies from Your Majesty, I and my officers and men were grateful for Your Majesty's grace and our morale was greatly boosted. On this day, we bravely attacked the Huaiyin bandit army, defeated 100,000 of them, beheaded nearly 5,000 people, and achieved remarkable results.

However, there were ruthless people in the army. Zhang Yuan, the commander of Fanliang Lake, forgot the grace of Your Majesty and was lured by the Huaiyin bandits with gold and silver. He led his navy to betray his master and surrender to the enemy, causing the loss of Fanliang Lake. I trusted him too much and did not investigate his treacherous plot. This is really my fault.

Although we have defeated the enemy army, the situation is still unfavorable due to Zhang Yuan's change. Fanliang and Hongze Lakes have fallen into the hands of the enemy. The enemy army has repeatedly launched surprise attacks on our army by taking advantage of the waterways of these two lakes, causing heavy losses to our army.

For this reason, I have the audacity to submit a memorial, begging Your Majesty to allocate funds to build 50 large warships and 300 small boats to defeat the enemy's navy and restore our army's advantage. I am extremely worried and hope that Your Majesty will make a wise decision.

Your servant Wang Ziteng respectfully reports this.

(End of this chapter)