The Military Governor in Dream of the Red Chamber

Datong Town, a key town on the northern and eastern routes of the Great Hong Dynasty, was a major border town.

"Get out, get the hell out of here, you're all ungrateful wretches..."

"Alright, stop cursing." Jia Chen shouted to a tall, burly man outside.

He sat on the kang (a heated brick bed), in a small, dark, and messy mud house that reeked of mold and decay.

Upon hearing Jia Chen's voice, the man cursed a few more times, seemingly shooing the man away, before bending down and squeezing through the low doorway to enter.

"Second Uncle, it must be the Sun family's doing. Otherwise, why would we be sent to the outskirts of the Great Wall to meet the fire beacon? That's outside the Great Wall! They're sending us to our deaths!" the man shouted at Jia Chen as soon as he entered.

Jia Chen shook his head slightly and then reached out to touch the back of his head.

The moment I touched it, I gasped in shock, and hissed in pain.

Two days ago, he transmigrated into this body.

The original owner of this body was ambushed and killed by a severe blow to the back of the head, which led to the current Jia Chen.

He inherited the original owner's memories, and combined with what he had learned in the past two days, he could basically conclude that this was the world of Dream of the Red Chamber.

Because there are Ningguo Mansion and Rongguo Mansion here, the people inside match up perfectly.

He was a member of the Jia family clan.

By all accounts, his ancestors were brothers with the great-grandfather of the two dukes of the Jia family, which is quite a distant relationship.

Jia Chen's father, Jia Gan, was originally a captain in the Beijing Garrison. Three years ago, he went out with the army to quell a rebellion and died in battle.

According to the rules of the imperial court, when Jia Chen turns 20, he can inherit the title of General Banner Officer if he passes the examination.

Since he is not yet of legal age, he will be paid half the salary of a general according to custom.

Jia Chen's mother worked in the courtyard of Li Wan, the widow of the Jia family. Because she was very good at needlework, she was highly regarded by Li Wan. Through Li Wan's connections, Jia Chen got a job in the capital through the back door of Wang Xifeng, a new bride of the Jia family.

Jia Chen is 16 years old this year. He is strong and looks a few years older than his actual age. In addition, he is skilled in martial arts and has a relationship with Wang Xifeng. Therefore, he temporarily serves as the captain of a team in the Beijing Garrison as a junior officer.

Although he was just a minor team leader, at least he had a job and received more rations than the previous half-salary of a general.

Three years ago, the retired emperor abdicated and the new emperor ascended the throne, changing the era name to Chongli. Now it is the 25th day of the seventh month of the third year of Chongli.

Jia Chen knew that Jia Baoyu was six years old this year. When he was born with a jade in his mouth, it caused a sensation. As a member of the Jia family, how could he not know this?

Logically, Jia Chen should be working in the Beijing Garrison.

The reason they were here was that in early July, the Beijing garrison rotated its troops to guard the border. A battalion of soldiers was selected and led by a guerrilla general to Datong Town for rotational training and border defense. If nothing unexpected happened, they would not be able to return to Beijing for three months.

Jia Chen, holding the rank of junior officer, served as the captain of the third team of the left detachment of the left division of the Beijing Rotary Training Camp, and was in charge of ten people.

In reality, the Beijing garrison was severely corrupt, with many soldiers on paper but few in actual service; Jia Chen only had five men under his command.

It was said to be a battalion of 3,000 men, but in reality it was only a little over 1,500.

Border garrison duty is a tough job, as it involves facing invasions from the northern barbarians, and one wrong move could cost you your life.

Therefore, no one in the Beijing garrison was willing to come, from top to bottom. The officers sent for rotation training were either disgruntled or had offended their superiors, while the soldiers below were often those with no background.

Anyone with even a little connection could be spared the hardship of being sent to the frontier in rotation, or at worst, they could spend some money to bribe their superiors and have someone else take their place.

The military governor of the capital was Wang Ziteng. Who didn't know the relationship between the Wang family and the Jia family?

Jia Chen is still a member of the Jia family, even if he is from a collateral branch. His status is still there, and he is not usually assigned to hard jobs like border patrol.

But this time he was assigned to it, and Jia Chen was completely confused.

Those who came from the capital would generally be stationed in the various fortified towns of Datong. As long as they were not invaded by the armies of the Later Yuan, they would not be in any danger.

Jia Chen was assigned to Zhenqiang Fort on the northeastern route of Datong Town. This was almost the northernmost fortress, directly facing the iron cavalry of the Later Yuan Northern Barbarians.

Even so, as long as the fortress is not breached, the safety of those stationed there can be guaranteed to a certain extent.

The northern barbarians generally focused on plundering, and attacking cities was relatively rare.

Now, Jia Chen is to be sent to guard a beacon tower called Qianshandun, thirty miles outside the Great Wall.

That place is isolated beyond the Great Wall; going there would mean certain death, if not certain death.

The man in front of me was named Jia Mao, a member of the Jia clan. He was twenty years old, tall and robust, but his skin was darker than that of ordinary people, and his face was somewhat ferocious and ugly.

In terms of seniority, Jia Mao is Jia Chen's nephew.

Unlike Jia Chen, Jia Mao's participation in the border defense rotation was voluntary, not due to any lack of understanding.

Jia Mao's mother was ill and urgently needed money. However, since he was on rotation to guard the border in Datong Town, he could immediately receive a month's salary. Even if there were some deductions, he could still get some money to help him out of his immediate crisis.

So Jia Mao helped someone take their place to guard the border, and the other party gave him two taels of silver.

Jia Chen originally had an older brother, ten years his senior, but he died of illness when Jia Chen was three years old.

Currently, there is also her mother and a five-year-old younger sister in the family.

Therefore, Jia Chen was the second son, and Jia Mao was used to calling Jia Chen "Second Uncle".

"Second Uncle, is your injury?" Jia Mao noticed the change in Jia Chen's expression and asked with concern.

When Jia Chen's father, Jia Gan, was alive, he provided a lot of help to Jia Mao's family.

"It's just a minor injury, nothing serious. That's what I thought too, it's related to the investigation of the Sun family's convoy a few days ago," Jia Chen said.

"That's right, it was Sun Jiaqian." Just as Jia Chen finished speaking, another person entered from outside.

"Uncle Liu, have you found out any news?" Jia Chen asked hurriedly.

Liu Cheng, thirty-five years old, was previously with Jia Chen's father.

Jia Gan had saved Liu Cheng on the battlefield years ago and treated Liu Cheng and others quite well, so Liu Cheng was very grateful to Jia Gan.

He followed Jia Chen after Jia Chen joined the Beijing Garrison.

"Yesterday morning, one of the stewards from the Sun family met with the garrison commander and Captain Gao," Liu Cheng sighed. "I heard that all the goods on that cart were swallowed up by Eunuch Hu."

"So the Sun family doesn't dare to go to Eunuch Hu, so they're taking it out on us?" Jia Mao asked, his eyes wide.

Jia Chen sighed inwardly.

The original Jia Chen was an upright person, but rather stubborn.

Five days ago, when Yuan Jiachen was leading a patrol, he stopped a convoy that was heading north across the Great Wall and found some ironware and other prohibited items as stipulated by the imperial court.

This convoy belongs to the Sun family of Datong Town, a prominent and wealthy clan in the area.

Generally speaking, no one dares to stop this kind of thing.

Jia Chen stopped them, and later encountered Eunuch Hu, the supervising eunuch of the Beijing Garrison, who seized the goods.

It's understandable that the Sun family, not daring to cause trouble for the supervising eunuch, vented their anger on Jia Chen and others.

Two days ago, Jia Chen was provoked by several local garrison soldiers in the fortress and got into a fight. It was then that he was ambushed and killed by a severe blow to the back of the head, which led to his current existence as Jia Chen who has traveled through time.

Later, Jia Chen was exiled to Qianshandun on charges of private fighting.

Based on his memory of Dream of the Red Chamber, Jia Chen could conclude that the Sun family must be the family of Sun Shaozu, the wolf in sheep's clothing who abused Jia Yingchun to death.

Sun Shaozu, a hereditary commander, is only in his twenties, but he is the current head of the Sun family.

Although Sun Shaozu did not hold an actual official position, given the Sun family's network of connections in Datong Town, especially their connections in the military, it would have been easy for him to kill Jia Chen, a common soldier.

Jia Chen was, after all, just a member of a collateral branch of the Jia family. In the eyes of the Sun family, he was clearly not valued. If he were a valued member, he would not be in such a dangerous place as the border town. Therefore, the Sun family did not care about him at all.

Qianshandun is located outside the outer Great Wall, so even a small group of northern barbarians could potentially breach it.

In recent years, because the northern barbarian Chahar tribe frequently raided southwards, Datong Town set up several beacon towers outside the Great Wall to provide earlier warnings.

If it's a beacon tower inside the Great Wall, it's better, as there are fortified cities nearby to provide support. But if it's outside the Great Wall, it's almost impossible to get any help.

Bringing Jia Chen over there was like using the Northern barbarians to kill someone with a borrowed knife.

It's clear that the convoy incident caused the Sun family considerable losses, and they deeply resented Jia Chen.

Jia Chen could guess that the local garrison that had provoked him before was probably also instigated by the Sun family.

The people who caused trouble across the street fled afterwards and disappeared without a trace.

The garrison commander Liu Cheng mentioned was the garrison commander of Zhenqiang Fort, who was the highest military officer here.

Zhenqiang Fortress was 2 li in circumference and 38 chi high, with more than 1,000 officers and soldiers, and 28 fortresses under its jurisdiction.

As for Captain Gao, he was dispatched by the Beijing Garrison to Zhenqiang Fort. In principle, a captain leads a division of troops, which is about 500 men.

However, the Beijing garrison was severely under manpower shortage; Commander Gao only had a little over two hundred men under his command.

In reality, the number of men under the command of the Zhenqiang Fort garrison is said to be one thousand, but that number is likely less.

"Jia Chen!" someone suddenly called from outside.

Jia Chen and the other two hurriedly left the house.

"Commander!"

Outside was the left sentry commander, General Feng Rucai, who was Jia Chen's direct superior.

He was seen standing outside the house with one of his men.

"The camp is short-handed. Even if the three of them were willing to follow you, Commander Bai would not agree," Feng Rucai said, glancing at Jia Mao.

The centurion led a hundred soldiers, divided into left and right sentries.

Jia Mao knew that Feng Rucai had seen him angrily yelling at those people.

Jia Chen understood the reason behind it.

Besides Jia Mao and Liu Cheng, he previously had three other subordinates.

Besides him, Jia Mao and Liu Cheng were also exiled to Qianshandun this time because the three of them were directly involved in the fight a few days ago.

Just now, Jia Mao was scolding the other three outside, believing that since everyone was on the same team, they should share weal and woe, especially since Jia Chen treated his subordinates very well.

Regarding this, Jia Chen couldn't say anything, after all, the journey there was likely to be fraught with danger.

Furthermore, as Feng Rucai said, General Gao only had a little over two hundred men under his command, so naturally he wouldn't let his men suffer losses in vain; every extra soldier meant an extra bit of power.

"Jia Chen, I pleaded with Lord Gao on my behalf, but..." Feng Rucai looked at Jia Chen and could only sigh.

"Uncle Feng~~"

Just as Jia Chen was about to speak, Feng Rucai raised his hand to stop him.

Jia Chen's father and Feng Rucai had a good relationship and addressed each other as brothers.

Upon learning that Jia Chen had joined the Beijing Garrison, Feng Rucai immediately requested his services.

This time, however, Feng Rucai was unable to protect Jia Chen.

"Jia Chen, I feel ashamed before your father about this matter," Feng Rucai said with great resentment. "Unfortunately, my words carry little weight, and you will have to rely on yourselves from now on. Take these with you."

As he spoke, Feng Rucai waved his hand, and the soldier behind him stepped forward, carrying three pieces of cloth armor.

"Uncle Feng, is this your armor?" Jia Chen saw the familiar cloth armor on top, which was obviously Feng Rucai's own.

"Put it on. I'm at Zhenqiang Fort, so it won't matter if you don't wear it," Feng Rucai said in a deep voice. "To survive, hold on for another two months, and then you can return to the capital."

Seeing Feng Rucai's resolute expression, Jia Chen realized he couldn't refuse.

Now that we've come into this world, we should live it to the fullest.

We can't afford to lose our lives as soon as we arrive.

In an era dominated by cold weapons, having good armor, even just cloth armor, could greatly increase the survival rate.

"Thank you, Uncle Feng." Jia Chen accepted the gift. "Actually, the Northern barbarians might not necessarily move south."

"I hope so." Feng Rucai breathed a long sigh of relief. "Old Liu, you're a veteran in the army, please take good care of him."

Although Liu Cheng is only in his thirties, he joined the army at the age of thirteen and has more than twenty years of military experience. It is no exaggeration to call him a veteran in the military.

Liu Cheng had been following Jia Gan, so Feng Rucai was familiar with him.

"Don't worry, sir!" Liu Cheng said in a low voice.

Feng Rucai nodded to Liu Cheng, knowing that Liu Cheng was still steady and reliable, and then patted Jia Chen on the shoulder twice: "Come back alive."

After Feng Rucai left, Jia Chen gave the other two pieces of cloth armor to Liu Cheng and Jia Mao.

Cloth armor was very scarce in the army. Due to various forms of corruption and embezzlement by the higher-ups, the soldiers and officers wore tattered clothes, let alone cloth armor.

"Before we set off tomorrow, we still need to make some preparations," Jia Chen said, looking at the two of them.

"Second Uncle, just tell me, what preparations should we make?" Jia Mao drew his sword from his waist, brandished it a couple of times, and said, "Even if we encounter the Northern barbarians, we can just fight them to the death. Do you think I'm afraid of them?"

"Nonsense. If we encountered the Northern barbarians in the wild, we would have almost no chance of escape," Liu Cheng said, glancing at Jia Mao.

Jia Mao scratched his head somewhat embarrassedly and said, "Uncle Liu, I'll listen to Second Uncle and you. Whatever you say, I'll do."

"Let's not talk about that anymore. In short, we need to get back alive," Jia Chen said seriously. "We need to go buy some millet and other grains..."

When Jia Chen came to Datong, he had five taels of silver with him, which his mother forced him to carry.

His father had also served as a garrison commander in Datong Town when he was young. That year, the northern barbarians came south to plunder, and Jia Gan killed several of them, thus earning merit and being promoted to junior officer.

After serving in the Beijing Garrison for several decades, Jia Gan was promoted one rank to General Banner, but he never received another promotion.

Jia Chen had heard his father mention some things about the border town since he was a child.

In addition to what he had seen and heard in Zhenqiang Fort during this period, Jia Chen knew that it would not be easy to get a full meal here.

The distribution of rations and salaries was delayed or deducted as much as possible.

If the three of them were to go to Qianshandun, the first problem would not be the northern barbarians, but food.

If you have no money, you can only suffer from hunger.

Now that we have a few taels of silver, and given the extreme danger of this journey, we still have to spend it.

Refined rice and noodles are beyond their means; they are fortunate to have millet and other grains to eat.

Neither Liu Cheng nor Jia Mao had much savings, so they naturally had to rely on Jia Chen for money.

"Uncle Liu, there's something I need you to do," Jia Chen said to Liu Cheng.

"What is it?" Liu Cheng asked.

I thought Jia Chen would ask him to buy grain, but it seems there's something else going on.

"Could you get some kerosene? And some thunderbolts or gunpowder?" Jia Chen said.