Chapter 138: Arresting and Sent to Jail
It was the 15th day of the eighth month, and all the military garrisons, big and small, at Cuiping Mountain lowered their flags to half-mast to mourn Zhu Congwen. Zhao Yulin took Chen Chen across the river to the old house for dinner.
His father said with some emotion that it was another family reunion day, but Yujiang couldn't come back, and even his grandson was not left at home.
Er Niang said nearby that Yu Jiang still remembered the master.
Chen Chen was most afraid that the atmosphere would be too sad, so he immediately asked the children to eat mooncakes. The children didn't care about anything else and started to work one by one. Soon, cheerful laughter could be heard in the room.
Her mother counted them one by one, and was grinning from ear to ear as she had four grandchildren at once. Chen Chen told her that another one was about to be born in Fengxiang Mansion, making it five.
The old lady smiled and said to Zhao Yulin that she must bring the baby back to raise, because the sisters are all free, right?
His mother immediately looked at Zhao Yulin and said, "Yes, yes, yes, it was necessary at that time, remember to bring it back."
How could Zhao Yulin dare to object? He quickly agreed and was pulled away by his elder brother Zhao Yuqing.
Zhao Yuqing pulled him to the pavilion outside to talk.
It turned out that his elder brother was no longer satisfied with opening a store in Xuzhou, and wanted to expand to the surrounding areas like the retail stores under the Shenwei Army and open a store in Hanzhong.
Zhao Yulin was not interested in this kind of small business. He thought it was just a noodle shop with special features.
The masters and helpers work hard to earn some pocket money, and they run the business in Xuzhou City. The benefits are good if they can take care of it themselves, but how can they take care of it if they go far away?
His brother is the actual operator, and the excitement on his face makes people feel like he is looking at a mountain of gold that can never be emptied.
He asked his eldest brother to discuss the matter with his young wife, who was in charge of the retail business of the Shenwei Army and might be able to help him expand his business.
Zhao Yuqing immediately became happy and said that he would hand over the profits to the Shenwei Army.
That’s a story for later. Zhao Yulin thought about how he and his father used to be on the same page, but now he’s willing to give it up. Has he really changed his mind?
As soon as the couple returned home, Lu Youpeng came over.
Zhao Yulin asked with a smile if he wanted two mooncakes.
Lao Lu said happily that the moon is full tonight, come on, let’s have a drink and enjoy the moon.
Chen Chen immediately arranged for everyone to sit down in Tingyuxuan in the yard. He asked Lao Lu if he was ready.
Lao Lu said that he is ready and will leave for Jiazhou tomorrow. The fifteenth day of the lunar month has just passed and we are going to arrest people and put them in jail. Isn’t that a bit disrespectful?
Zhao Yulin smiled and said, "Who cares? The people are still suffering. Besides, when we arrived in Jiazhou, the Mid-Autumn Festival had already passed for a few days."
This was something he had arranged earlier. After Jiazhou was replaced by a prefect who was a close confidant of Shi Jia from Lin'an, he desperately plundered the people's wealth and even extended his hands to the assets of his Shenwei Army.
He asked Shunfeng to collect evidence and take action when the time was right. Look, Lao Lu told him that the knife was sharpened while admiring the moon.
Now that it's ready, let's do it. Zhao Yulin doesn't believe in evil, so he does it even if he doesn't agree.
The two of them made their plans and went back to rest.
As soon as I entered the room, I heard Chen Chen teasing Xiao Guanghui: "Chou Chou, go to sleep quickly. Your dad has to work for your mother. It will be difficult for your mother to play tricks on you from now on."
He stepped forward to take the swaddling clothes and rocked the little Guanghui. After a while, the child fanned his nose and closed his eyes.
Zhao Yulin carefully put the child on the bed. Chen Chen went over and left a clear little mouth mark on his face, saying proudly that he really had a lot of children and was very experienced.
He bent down, picked up the woman and said, "Let's go to bed early. Everyone will be busy starting tomorrow."
The emperor in Lin'an was celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival with his mother, the old empress dowager. After the singing and dancing, the emperor and the empress dowager had a conversation.
During this Northern Expedition, the Empress Dowager truly felt the benefits of the peace-loving Shi family. Even the position of Minister of War given by the Emperor to Shi's son could not shake his determination to mobilize troops from Jinghu and march north.
The Queen Mother sighed and said, these are the ministers of our Zhao family. Fortunately, we still have loyal ministers and generals like the descendants of Cao family. I don’t know how the Guanzhong army will fare?
Now the whole Lin'an Prefecture knew that the Northern Expedition had failed, Zhao Kui and Quan Zicai had already led their troops away from the battlefield. Only a detachment of troops from Guanzhong was still fighting hard in Luoyang.
The emperor said helplessly that it was the limit for the Guanzhong army to get out of Hangu Pass. The Chishui Nanyi under Yibin were in rebellion, and emergency documents from Bozhou had been flying in one after another, so he let Yibin's Shenwei Army quell the rebellion.
In Luoyang in the north, Cao Youwen led his cavalry across the Luo River and engaged in a fierce battle with Liu Heng'an, the main general of the Mongolian army who had defeated Quan Zicai's troops last time.
Although this man was extremely brave, he was still defeated when he met the death squad led by the Cao Youwen brothers. Their 10,000 troops were defeated in just two rounds.
The Mongolian army fought and retreated towards Hulao Pass.
After chasing for a while, Cao learned that the Song army in Zhengzhou had retreated to Kaifeng and the Mongolian army had dug up the Yellow River embankment, causing flooding. He knew that the Mongolian army would have to take the route suggested by Zhao Yulin to go south to avoid the enemy. After chasing for fifty miles, he immediately turned around to chase the infantry of Du Baiyue.
As soon as the Du Baiyue army went out of the city for twenty miles, they were involved in a melee with the Mongolian army. This was a trick that Hubili had set for the Song army. The Mongolian troops stationed in Ruzhou were waiting there.
However, the combat effectiveness of the Song army in Guanzhong far exceeded that of the Song army in Huaixi. The three columns of the Shenwei Army took the lead, breaking through the enemy's two blockade lines in succession and heading straight towards Songshan County as if they were in an empty land.
In fact, this was a no-man's land created by the Mongolian army. The civilians were either killed or captured, and those who were not captured fled to the mountains and wilderness, so it naturally became a no-man's land.
However, Hubili's cavalry appeared behind Du Baiyue, forcing him to immediately snipe the cavalry according to the terrain. The Mongolian army had been following behind and would attack whenever they got the chance. The team was cut off several times and it was all thanks to the soldiers' desperate efforts to break through.
This was Hubili's strategy. He neither surrounded nor entangled the Song army, but stayed behind them and looked for opportunities to attack.
After only half a day, the infantry led by Du Baiyue had lost tens of thousands of soldiers, and many brothers were beaten and scattered. At dusk, Cao Youwen rushed from behind and temporarily eliminated the threat of the Mongolian army.
The scouts discovered that there were Mongolian troops stationed in the horse-raising camp ahead. Although Lao Cao was very tired, he still had to lead the cavalry to charge again. He had to get rid of this enemy before he could take a nap.
So the infantry and cavalry attacked together, and the brothers charged desperately and captured the horse-raising camp.
After Du Baiyue counted the number of people, they found that including infantry and cavalry, there were less than 30,000. The brothers were extremely hungry, so they divided up the dead horses and used them to cook and satisfy their hunger.
At this time, the brothers who were exploring the way ahead came back and said that if we go further we will enter the hilly area of Minggao, and ahead is Song County. After we enter the mountainous area, the infantry will be much safer.
Du Baiyue also thought so. Cao's cavalry was less than 3,000 left and they could no longer fight the Mongolian army head-on. They had to move fast and enter the mountains quickly.
However, an accident happened. Someone in Cao Youwan's central army was poisoned while eating and rolled on the ground, foaming at the mouth and in great pain.
Fortunately, each camp ate separately. Cao Youwen immediately led his personal soldiers to seal off the camp. Upon investigation, they found that there were nearly a thousand civilians who had come out of the city mixed in.
Du Baiyue suspected that there were spies who poisoned the food, and they might be mixed in with the people.
He thought of a plan. He secretly prepared a pot of delicious meat and asked all the people to eat the meat and drink the soup together. The person who poisoned the meat knew that the soup was poisonous and would definitely not dare to drink it.
After a lot of work, three Mongolian spies who pretended to be ordinary people refused to eat the broth and were caught on the spot. But before the brothers could eat, the large group of Mongolian soldiers behind them caught up and the team immediately set off.
It was almost dawn, and Cao decided to fight and retreat, heading straight for Minggao.
Zhao Yulin dreamed that he was back on the battlefield in Guanzhong and saw Lao Cao walking towards him covered in blood. A fierce enemy general on horseback knocked Lao Cao to the ground. He kicked him hard and suddenly woke up.
Chen Chen held him, who was sweating profusely, and kept asking him what was wrong? Why did he kick the quilt so hard?
Zhao Yulin let out a long sigh and said apologetically that he had a nightmare and it was okay. He gently squeezed the woman's hand, got out of bed to shower and change clothes, said goodbye to Chen Chen and went straight to the dock. Li Yunqing and Bao Wenli were already waiting, he asked Bao Wenli to follow Yunqing and learn more, and waved to set off.
The three thousand soldiers of the Shenwei Army and the Shunfeng Action Team boarded fifteen warships and went upstream, heading straight for Jiading Prefecture.
Li Chuan told him that Master Lu had already gone ahead and told him not to worry.
Zhao Yulin was of course relieved. If Lao Lu was not safe in the mainland, how could he be the general manager of Shunfeng?
Bao Wenli asked him tentatively, what if they were intercepted by the soldiers at the Jiazhou city gate, would they really fight their way in?
Li Yunqing smiled and said to him, "Brother, you are a general, why do you ask such a low-level question?"
Don't make the young master worry.
Zhao Yulin glanced at him, closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep.
The boat was traveling at a high speed on the Minshui River. The soldiers on the boat took turns to help pedal the boat. While the people were resting, the boat did not. They arrived at Jiazhou City in the evening.
Li Yunqing commanded his brothers to rush straight to the east gate fully armed. The soldiers guarding the city were taken aside before they could even understand the situation.
By the time Zhao Yulin got ashore, the Shenwei Army had already taken control of the city gate.
Li Yunqing said proudly, "It's all broken."
Damn, he also spoke in Guanzhong dialect.
When Zhao Yulin arrived at the government office, Lu Youpeng was already sitting there. The prefect stood beside him trembling and said to him: I have never done anything to let down the Shenwei Army. Why did the commander start a war? What did he want to do?
Lao Lu said that the prefect was cunning and did not find anything in his yard, but the brothers had already gone to Yihong Tower, where he kept a beautiful concubine, and they should be able to gain something.
The prefect was stunned when he heard their frank conversation.
Zhao Yulin said that they already had evidence of him catching the adulterer, and he should know how the Shenwei Army punishes crimes: leniency to those who confess, severity to those who resist, and direct beheading to the west. He should have thought about where to go next.
The prefect had never seen a ruthless man like Zhao Yulin, and was immediately frightened and started to talk nonsense. Since the beautiful concubine had been exposed, he had no choice but to confess and try to escape back to Lin'an Prefecture.
The prefect immediately confessed the stolen money and goods hidden in Yihonglou, and told him everything about the gold, silver and jewelry given to him by the transport envoy and the inspector.
Now that the prefect had spoken, it was easier to deal with Lu Youpeng. He emptied the prison and arrested people.
Seeing that there was nothing for Zhao Yulin to do, he went to the back hall and fell asleep.
