The Military Governor in Dream of the Red Chamber

Jia Chen instructed Liu Cheng and Sun Tiechong to settle the women and cook for them.

The others could not completely relax their vigilance and continued to keep a close eye on the movements of the northern barbarians.

Although they had trenches to block their way, their actions just now had provoked the Northern Barbarians once again. If they were to retaliate with all their might, they wouldn't be able to stop them with their small force.

Under normal circumstances, Jia Chen believed that the Northern barbarians would not attack again.

After all, their most important task now is to escort the looted property and people back to the Chahar tribe.

And then there are those border troops. Even if they haven't made any moves yet, just their presence here is an invisible deterrent and threat. Jia Chen thought that Abunai wouldn't take that risk, would he?

There's nothing of value in this place, this place is just for killing people to vent my anger and get revenge.

Jia Chen thought that even if Abunai was hot-tempered and might lose his mind, he would still have some clear-headed subordinates. Wouldn't they stop him?

Therefore, Qianshandun is basically safe.

"This humble servant, Jia Chen, greets Father-in-law." Jia Chen bowed respectfully before Hu Youcai.

"You? Jia Chen?" Hu Youcai was stunned when he heard Jia Chen's name, and looked him up and down carefully.

"It's you!" Hu Youcai suddenly remembered. "You're Jia Chen, the one who won first place in the Beijing Garrison's martial arts competition? No wonder you looked familiar to me."

Hu Youcai witnessed Jia Chen winning the championship.

Even if he had won first place in the martial arts competition, Hu Youcai probably wouldn't have cared too much.

He had no interest in understanding such lowly soldiers.

However, he later learned from a conversation between the military governor of the capital garrison and his adoptive father that the young man was a member of the Jia family.

How could Hu Youcai not know that the Jia family, which was the son of two dukes, was a family with two powerful families?

That's why I had some impression of Jia Chen.

Of course, it was just a slight recollection; I didn't recognize him at first.

"I didn't expect you to know me, sir. I was fortunate enough to meet you once when you were watching from the stands with the military governor." Jia Chen continued, following Hu Youcai's words.

If the other party still remembers you, that makes things even easier; wouldn't that bring you closer to them?

"Not at all, we were able to serve in the stands because of my godfather's connections," Hu Youcai said with a smile.

He spoke of his godfather with a hint of pride on his face.

After a moment's thought, Jia Chen understood who Hu Youcai's godfather was.

Dai Quan, the Grand Secretary of the Daming Palace.

At that time, Dai Quan came to the Beijing garrison to inspect the city on behalf of the emperor. The military governor, Wang Ziteng, accompanied him personally. At the same time, a grand martial arts competition was held in the Beijing garrison to demonstrate the bravery of the soldiers.

Jia Chen was certainly familiar with Dai Quan, the eunuch, who, though not frequently appearing in Dream of the Red Chamber, was nonetheless quite important.

When Dai Quan appeared, he was the Grand Chancellor of the Daming Palace, which, according to the timeline, was several years later.

In Jia Chen's view, the Grand Chancellor of the Daming Palace was equivalent to the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial in the Ming Dynasty.

The Grand Secretary of the Daming Palace was equivalent to the Grand Secretary of the Directorate of Ceremonial, and Dai Quan was not the only eunuch in this position.

In terms of status and position, he was considered to be in the second tier among eunuchs, second only to the Grand Chancellor of the Daming Palace.

Based on the analysis of Dream of the Red Chamber, most people believe that Dai Quan was a person of the retired emperor.

Jia Chen did not want to speculate further on this.

If Jia Chen had to choose between the retired emperor and the new emperor, he would definitely choose the latter.

As can be seen from the subsequent confiscation of the Jia family's property, the new emperor was eventually able to gradually seize power over time.

But now Jia Chen has no choice.

Even if Dai Quan is the Emperor Emeritus's man, it would still be beneficial to Jia Chen.

The current retired emperor still wields considerable power, while the new emperor's authority is not that great.

Especially after Dai Quan was promoted to the position of Grand Chancellor of the Daming Palace, his power increased even further.

This at least shows that having connections with Dai Quan in the next few years will be very beneficial.

In this way, as long as we can get in touch with Hu Youcai, there's no fear that these military achievements won't be realized.

As for whether the new emperor would consider him a member of the retired emperor's faction after taking power, Jia Chen didn't think that far ahead.

Would someone as insignificant as myself ever be remembered by the emperor?

Furthermore, who can say for sure which side Dai Quan is on?

A novel is a novel, but he is now living in the real world of Dream of the Red Chamber.

The future will come.

all will be good.

"Father-in-law, how did you encounter the Northern Tartars? Could it be that something happened at Desheng Fort?" Jia Chen asked.

With Hu Youcai arrested, Jia Chen couldn't help but suspect that Lucheng might have been captured by the Northern Barbarians, which was a very serious matter.

Upon hearing this, Hu Youcai sighed and recounted his experience.

Of course, he didn't say that he was going to the horse market to exchange for the Sun family's goods that he had taken for granted; he only said that he was going to the horse market to conduct an inspection.

Jia Chen understood immediately upon hearing this, but he didn't point it out.

It's no surprise that these eunuchs were greedy.

If Hu Youcai hadn't been greedy, he wouldn't have been arrested.

Then I won't be able to meet him.

In retrospect, he should perhaps thank the group of Northern Tartars who captured Hu Youcai.

"Jia Chen, will the Northern Tartars attack again?" Hu Youcai's previously calmed mood suddenly became anxious again.

He saw that there were many Northern barbarians rushing forward behind the escort team, obviously because the commotion caused by Jia Chen and his men had alerted the Northern barbarians behind them.

These northern barbarian cavalrymen have come to reinforce us.

Hu Youcai saw that there were only so many soldiers at the watchtower, a stark contrast to the numbers of the northern barbarians.

His heart, which had just begun to relax, suddenly tightened again.

Those northern barbarians were simply too brutal, and they were still very close at hand; he was still filled with lingering fear.

"Father-in-law, the northern barbarians are being pursued by border troops. I believe they won't dare to waste their energy on this small watchtower of ours," Jia Chen said with a smile, trying to reassure him.

"The border troops are in pursuit?" Hu Youcai's face lit up with joy. "Where?"

He was slumped in the car and didn't notice the border troops behind him at all. Of course, if he hadn't been standing on higher ground, he probably wouldn't have seen them either.

"Father-in-law, please come up to the platform," Jia Chen said.

Jia Chen led Hu Youcai to the top of the pier.

"Why isn't it moving?" Hu Youcai squinted and looked south.

He saw banners fluttering in the wind, and there must be at least three to five thousand people there.

But these border troops didn't seem to make a move; they just stood there.

In front of the border troops were seven or eight hundred northern barbarian cavalrymen covering the rear.

Seeing that Jia Chen did not answer, Hu Youcai had his answer.

Think about the past few days since I was arrested, isn't Da Hongjun's behavior already very clear?

These guys are scared.

They dared not actually pursue the Northern barbarians, and were even more afraid of fighting them.

Hu Youcai muttered a few curses under his breath.

Imagine so many border troops right behind you, yet there's still no movement.

If it weren't for Jia Chen and the others saving him, he would definitely be finished this time.

"Liu Tianwang, it's one thing for the border troops of Datong Town not to care whether we live or die, but I didn't expect you to be so quiet either. If we go back alive, I will definitely make you pay!" Hu Youcai cursed.

Liu Tianwang, a guerrilla general of the Beijing garrison, was the supreme commander of this rotation of troops to guard the border.

"Father-in-law, the guerrilla commander may not know your situation, right?" Jia Chen said. "Please calm down."

Hu Youcai took several deep breaths, thinking about the hardships and difficulties he had suffered these past few days, and he was furious.

He had a problem with Liu Tianwang, mainly because Liu Tianwang looked down on him as a eunuch, and his words were often disrespectful, even warning him not to interfere in military affairs.

This is outrageous! He's the military supervisor!

Now that he's been arrested and he doesn't know where Liu Tianwang's Beijing garrison is, he's already angry, and the more he thinks about it, the angrier he gets.

"We'll settle the score with him when we get back," Hu Youcai said, taking a deep breath.

He actually somewhat agreed with Jia Chen's statement.

He didn't inform Liu Tianwang when he went to the horse market, after all, it was for his own private matter and he didn't want too many people to know.

"Ah?" Hu Youcai suddenly cried out in terror.

"Father-in-law?" Jia Chen was taken aback.

"These... human heads?" Hu Youcai stared ahead as Liu Daniu climbed up from below, carrying two heads in his hands. These were the severed heads of the Northern barbarians.

"Father-in-law, this is the head of a Northern barbarian," Jia Chen hurriedly introduced. "Da Niu, bring it here."

Da Niu hurriedly ran over and handed the two severed heads to the two men.

Hu Youcai couldn't help but take two steps back, but he quickly calmed down, took a few steps forward, and looked at it carefully.

"Two heads!" Hu Youcai sighed. "That's no easy feat. Oh, what a pity, Jia Chen, you killed several Northern Tartars just now, but you didn't cut off their heads. What a real shame."