Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 69: War Horses Robbed

Outside Huaizhou City, rows of fine horses were lined up.

The soft fur gleams in the sunlight.

"Good horse!"

Fang Yong smiled, selected the best horse among them, and got on the horse.

It was a chestnut-colored horse, very tall, nearly two meters tall, with fiery red hair like clouds, and black mane and tail, and it was extremely powerful.

After Fang Yong turned over, the horse immediately started to run wildly and impatiently.

Obviously, the horse has not been tamed yet.

Relying on his strong physical fitness, Fang Yong sat firmly on the horse's back. No matter how the horse tossed him, Fang Yong did not move at all.

After a long time, the horse got tired and stopped obediently.

Fang Yong pulled the reins and rode back.

"The general is mighty and powerful when he tames this fierce horse!"

Xue San praised.

The others also agreed.

Fang Yong smiled faintly and got off the horse.

At this time, Fang Yong also thought that the horse had been tamed by him, so he did not take any precautions after getting off the horse.

The horse turned quietly and pointed its hind legs at Fang Yong.

Fang Yong was about to talk to Xue San.

Suddenly, the horse became ferocious and kicked Fang Yong hard on the back.

"General!"

Everyone was shocked.

A young general next to Fang Yong saw this scene. In an instant, without having time to think, he rushed over and blocked Fang Yong with his body.

With this kick, the young general would be seriously injured even if he wasn't disabled.

It's too late, but it's soon.

In a flash, Fang Yong turned around quickly, supported the horse's two hooves with both hands, and did not move at all!

Everyone watching this scene was so frightened that they dared not breathe.

Subsequently,

Fang Yong pushed the horse's hoof, took a step forward, hugged the horse's belly, and lifted the horse up with force!
At this moment, everyone, including Ma, felt that their worldview had been overturned.

"Evil beast! How dare you hurt my subordinates?"

Fang Yong said angrily.

Then he picked up the horse and threw it to the ground.

The horse fell sideways on the ground and rolled three times. After getting up, it looked at Fang Yong with great fear and never dared to do it again.

At this time, everyone stepped forward to protect Fang Yong.

"General, are you okay? Call a doctor!"

Fang Yong waved his hand to stop the man and said, "It's okay, it's just a little scratch on the hand, it's nothing serious."

As he spoke, Fang Yong opened his hand, and saw that his palm was intact except for a few scratches on the skin caused by the horse's hoof.

Everyone was shocked when they saw this.

The young general couldn't help but said:

"The villagers all say that the general is the true dragon emperor. Seeing this today, it is indeed true!"

"Oh?" Fang Yong asked curiously, "What do you mean?"

The young general said: "The dragon is a divine beast, so it is not afraid of being hurt by this ordinary beast!"

Fang Yong laughed out loud.

This man's name is Zhou Shuan. He was promoted from an ordinary civilian by Fang Yong through battles. Therefore, Fang Yong admired him very much, so he just stood in front of Fang Yong regardless of everything.

……

Afterwards, Fang Yong talked with Xue San and learned a lot about what happened during the transportation.

Although there were many twists and turns along the way, fortunately, most of the horses were finally transported to Huaizhou smoothly.

Of the 3500 top-quality war horses, only 2877 remained after being transported to Huaizhou.

Although the damage was quite serious, Xue San had successfully transported the horse back anyway, which was a great achievement. And after the first time, it would be much easier to transport the horse again.

Besides, the loss this time cannot be blamed entirely on Xue San.

Among the 600 war horses lost, more than 200 died of illness or injuries on the way, or were seized and confiscated by the government. This is normal.

But another 400 war horses were robbed by local bandits in Yimeng Mountain when passing through Shandong.

The other party not only robbed the horses, but also detained many members of the caravan, threatening to make Fang Yong pay 50,000 taels of silver to ransom them!
This made Fang Yong very angry.

Unexpectedly, unexpectedly, this bandit actually robbed him!

This is treating him as a soft persimmon.

If he doesn't establish his authority this time, who knows how many of his horses will be stolen next time!
"Zhou Shuan, I'll give you a chance. Bring 5,000 men and go and wipe out this gang of bandits for me!"

Fang Yong ordered.

Zhou Shuan said ecstatically: "Yes, General!"

Let’s talk about Yimeng Mountain.

This is a mountain range in Shandong Province with dense forests, high and dangerous peaks. It is a perfect place for bandits.

There was a group of bandits in the mountains, called the Mengshan Bandits.

The bandit leader was named Qin Baoqing, a long-time bandit in the mountains. He had thousands of men under his command, and they roamed the mountains and forests, and no one could stop them.

At this time, bursts of complaints were coming from the Mengshan bandits' stronghold.

"Qin Baoqing, Qin Baoqing, why did you provoke the Huaiyin thieves for no reason?"

The person who spoke was named Kong Qinglin, the magistrate of Fei County at the foot of the Yimeng Mountains.

The so-called Mengshan bandits were raised by him.

Qin Baoqing said indifferently:

"What can I do if I provoke them? The Huaiyin bandits are fighting fiercely with the imperial court, and they can't possibly hit me. These fine horses are passing by, wouldn't it be a pity if I don't rob them?"

Kong Qinglin was so angry when he heard this that he pointed at Qin Baoqing and said:

"You, you, you, what do you know? That Huaiyin thief..."

Halfway through his speech, Kong Qinglin seemed to have thought of something and stopped talking.

"Forget it, I don't care. You can deal with the trouble you caused yourself!"

After saying that, Kong Qinglin left the mountain village.

Qin Baoqing stared at Kong Qinglin's back fiercely as he left. He had been roaming the mountains for so many years and had killed countless people, but when had he ever suffered such humiliation?
If it were someone else, he would have cut out their heart and liver and fried them and eaten them. He only hated that the other person was Kong Qinglin. Thinking of the huge mountain behind the other person, Qin Baoqing held back his anger.

However, Shandong is different from other places where people are living in poverty. The people here are still living tolerably well.

Although the people were ragged and looked hungry, at least they did not have to eat their own children.

We could barely survive by digging up wild vegetables and grass roots.

Some people say: The reason why the people here are not like those in other provinces is because Shandong is the hometown of Confucius and Mencius, and the saints' influence protects this land.

But in fact, the reason why this happened is that the new policy in this land has not been implemented at all!

When Emperor Longqing's new policies came down, the Kong family didn't even look at them.

The officials who came into Shandong with the implementation of the new policy went to the residence of Duke Yansheng to pay their respects and declare themselves his disciples.

The Kong family has been carrying out planned and sustainable development activities on this land by exhausting all resources.

It was an extremely cruel rule, but now it has turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the people of this land, who have luckily gained a tiny bit of living space under the new policy.

I have to say that the world is magical.

Zhou Shuan rushed all the way to the vicinity of Yimeng Mountain. Although he passed through some imperial counties on the way, no one dared to provoke him.

When he arrived outside the mountain, Zhou Shuan did not rush into the mountain, but first sent people to ambush at the mountain pass.

At this time in the mountain stronghold, the bandits learned the news that the Huaiyin army was coming, and they were all scared out of their wits.

It would be a lie to say that they were not afraid of the Huaiyin bandits. I heard that the leader of the Huaiyin bandits gathered hundreds of thousands of people, attacked cities and seized land, established their own regime, and fought back and forth with the imperial army. Their thousand-plus people were drowned by a single spit from the enemy.

We originally thought that the Huaiyin bandits would not be able to come to fight the imperial court, but now they have really come. What should we do?
Qin Baoqing said: "Don't panic, send someone to find out how many people are coming and what equipment they have brought! The Huaiyin bandits came from a long way, so they probably can't bring many people. We can rely on the terrain, so we may not be afraid of them."

At that moment, Qin Baoqing sent several people to investigate.

This fell right into Zhou Shuan's trap.

He had sent people to ambush, and as soon as the bandits arrived, he caught them immediately.

These bandit minions had no will at all. With just a slight threat, they immediately confessed all the details of the stronghold.

(End of this chapter)