Chapter 146 Possible Escape
Zhao Yulin turned around and looked behind him. A battalion of Shenwei Army brothers had caught up. The captain nervously reported to him: Captain Li Zong ordered him to come to support and protect the safety of the third young master at all costs.
He smiled and said that his brothers were very thoughtful, so he let Bao Wenli take command and immediately charge the rebels. He only needed to leave ten brothers behind.
Bao Wenli didn't dare to do as he said. He told the death squad not to move and chased after them with the brothers who came up behind.
The battle finally ended in the afternoon, wasting too much time.
It turned out that the rebels in the Monkey Field were very smart. They had pulled up two iron chains to block the river. If Zhou Ping's navy's heavy weapons wanted to come up, they had to destroy them before they could pass.
I wasted a lot of time on this stuff.
But it also gave the Shenwei Army the opportunity to eliminate the main force of the rebels.
After Zhao Yulin shot down the charlatans with three shots, the rebels around the altar were stunned. They saw blood gushing out of the heads and chests of the three charlatans. They didn't know the reason. Some even thought that the charlatans had angered the gods and were being punished.
The rebels were at a loss when they encountered this sudden change. When they saw that the monkey farm was still there, they ran towards it in panic.
As soon as they gathered at the Monkey Field, the Shenwei Army opened up the waterway downstream and began to encircle them. After a fierce battle, the rebels who had lost their possession by the gods quickly collapsed and surrendered.
After Zhao Yulin entered the Monkey Farm, Li Yunqing reported to him: The rebels were vulnerable, and they had no combat power after their main force was annihilated by us. He had already ordered multiple attacks, and there would be a reward for capturing the Miao King.
Zhao Yulin nodded and said that so many soldiers were not needed here. The brother behind him asked Zhou Ping to use a large ship to immediately transport them to Yongshan Village.
Li Yunqing said that Bao Wenli should go back as well, as he was familiar with Ma Hujiang.
Zhao Yulin waved his hand and asked him to make arrangements, and told him to resolutely carry out the military orders of the Huaxia family and never kill innocent people.
He is going to Luzhou on business now.
The Shenwei Army divided its forces into corps and battalions, chasing the rebels from multiple directions and rushing towards Guci. The rebels, armed with hoes, spears and various other weapons, were no match for them and kept resisting and surrendering.
Two days later, Li Yunqing surrounded Gu Ci.
After Bao Wenli received the order to lead the team to return to provide assistance as Yongshan Village was in danger, he had already boarded a large navy ship and sailed upstream towards Yongshan Village on the Mahu River.
In the Dali Kingdom Palace, the young emperor received two secret letters from Luzhou and Renhuai: the first letter said that Zhao Qier appeared in Luzhou and had led troops into Renhuai to quell the rebellion.
He was very puzzled. Wasn't Zhao Qi'er still in Shimen inspecting border military affairs? How come he went to Renhuai to quell the rebellion in just the blink of an eye?
He was still analyzing and judging the truth of the intelligence when the second letter came. Renhuai reported: Shenwei Army captured Liuyuan. The firearms were very powerful.
The little emperor was a little confused. Are the Shenwei Army really a divine army?
Move so fast.
After a short rest, he came to his senses and realized that it was Zhao Qi'er who played the empty city trick. He ran to the border to walk around to demonstrate, fearing that those people were all fake, and he had already prepared to quell the rebellion in Luzhou.
The second is that the Shenwei Army is very powerful. In just half a day, Renhuai’s Liuyuan was lost. Their attack capability is too strong.
At this time, all his close ministers had arrived, especially the Gao and Chai families, who had already received the news and were furious. They had missed such a good opportunity, but the best time to attack Xinshi.
"Fight, start the war immediately. While Zhao Qi'er is still in Renhuai, let's take back Xinshi Town."
Prince Zhennan also wanted to build achievements before becoming emperor, so he agreed to fight. Now they have 50,000 troops stationed on the border, and although they cannot reach Xinshi, they are absolutely sure to capture Yongshan Village and Shimen Village.
The little emperor was so excited that he decided to do it immediately.
Duan Xiaolin, who was sitting next to him, stood up and spoke.
He believed that the best time to attack had been missed and that war could not be started.
Everyone already knows the intelligence at the border. The Shenwei Army still has at least 20,000 soldiers on the border. We are attacking, and 50,000 people may seem like twice as many, but it is actually not that many.
If we are delayed on the battlefield, once the troops of the Shenwei Army Renhuai return, we will most likely be defeated.
He said: The delay of pigeon messaging means we can never get the latest news, because the intelligence in Renhuai is only from yesterday, and we don’t know what the situation is today?
What if the Shenwei Army has already defeated the Renhuai rebels and is about to return to Yongshan Village?
The little emperor was originally a very Buddhist person, but after hearing Duan Xiaolin's analysis, the fire that had just ignited in his chest immediately shrank, and he immediately became a weak waiter again.
He sighed and asked, "Is our Dali Kingdom unable to withstand a battle?"
The ministers present were all famous figures in Dali. They immediately rejected Duan Xiaolin's judgment in a condescending manner, shouting that they must take back their Zhenwu Mountain, or at least advance to Yongshan Village together.
In the end, these gentlemen made the decisive decision to send troops.
Seeing that he could not stop the war, Duan Xiaolin went to say goodbye to his father.
Prince Zhennan asked him, aren’t you afraid of being accused of leaking secrets?
He said the troops were at the border and the military order had been issued, so what would be the use even if he leaked the information?
Because everyone understood that even if the Shenwei Army was informed by carrier pigeons now, they would not have time to deploy their defenses because the Dali army would have already started moving.
What's more, he is the prince of Zhennan. He also advocated fighting ten days ago. Why would he leak the secret?
Prince Zhennan was speechless and waved him away.
At this time, Zhao Yulin was already sitting in the house arranged by the prefect of Luzhou, resting, drinking tea, and reading his "Cuiping Morning Post".
He attached great importance to publicity. When he set out from Yibin, he asked newspaper editors and craftsmen to go to Luzhou to print the situation of the Renhuai battle in a timely manner .
Just as the Shenwei Army took over the Monkey Farm, the new issue of the newspaper was delivered to him.
Cuiping Morning News reported on the front page: The Shenwei Army won a great victory in Renhuai, annihilated the main force of the rebels in Yuanhouchang, and the army is about to return to Mahujiang.
This was a report that Zhao Yulin had intentionally compiled, and it also clearly stated that the Shenwei Army would return to Mahu River in order to intimidate the warmongers in the south.
China is a family. He doesn't want the family to fight with each other. There will be a unified government in the future.
He just took a sip of the Emeishan tea that the prefect gave him. It had a refreshing and fragrant taste, comparable to Qingcheng tea, and felt very good.
While I was savoring the food, the prefect walked into the yard.
Zhao Yulin stood up to greet them, and the two sat down as host and guest.
At this time, Zhao Yulin was demoted because of impeachment in the court and was labeled a bad guy. He was only the commander of the Shenwei Army and the deputy envoy of the Zhizhisi. His position seemed to be comparable to that of a prefect, and his qualifications could not be any shallower.
However, the prefect put on a very humble attitude, praising the bravery of the Shenwei Army, who defeated the main force of the rebels in one move and pacified most of the occupied areas. He had already reported the merits of the Shenwei Army to the Lin'an court.
In this respect, Zhao Yulin was not as good as those high-ranking officials who had worked in Lin'an.
The prefect was so polite in helping me. There is a saying that goes "When something is out of the ordinary, there must be something wrong." What is this old gentleman up to?
Zhao Yulin did not play by his usual rules. After some polite thanks, he changed the subject and asked the prefect what to do when the soldiers in the front were fighting and bleeding, and there were people in the rear who failed to carry out military orders and delayed military affairs?
The prefect took a sip of tea and said: He came here just for this moment. Then he asked Shi Ruyu, the guest of honor who was waiting outside the hall, to bring in a wooden box.
Zhao Yulin opened it and smiled knowingly.
The two men drank tea instead of wine together, and then the prefect said goodbye and left.
Looking back, Zhao Yulin immediately called Zhang Qi back and asked him how his preparations were going.
Zhang Qi told him that time was too short and that he could only take action as he had only some leverage over a few big fish, including the Inspector General, the Salt Administration and the Shipping Administration.
Zhao Yulin handed the wooden box that the prefect had just sent to Zhang Qi, saying that it contained evidence of illegal elements in the Luzhou officialdom, which was just right for him to use. The prefect would also fully cooperate in this anti-corruption campaign and take immediate action.
Zhang Qi received the order and immediately set off with his brothers.
A large number of Shenwei Army soldiers soon appeared in Luzhou city and the docks, arresting people and searching their homes according to the names on the list.
It was midnight, and Zhao Yulin was invited by the prefect to go to the government office to attend the trial. The inspector questioned him, "We are all officials appointed by the court. Why are ?"
Zhao Yulin asked Li Chuan to take out the imperial edict given to him by the Emperor of Lin'an and asked him, was it correct that he was ordered to lead the suppression of the rebellion?
Zhao Yulin was too lazy to explain and told the bailiff that he had the right to deal with anyone who failed to do their job properly, and he broke his legs first.
The Shenwei soldiers nearby immediately raised their maces and smashed down, and with two snaps, the patrol officer's legs were broken. He didn't really want to kill Zhao Yulin, and rolled on the ground in pain, screaming.
Everyone in the lobby looked so frightened that their faces changed.
Zhang Qi immediately asked to be dragged out for retrial, and those who voluntarily confessed were spared physical torture.
Immediately, a timid person in the hall shouted that he wanted to confess.
The prefect had not expected Zhao Yulin to have such a violent temper. He took action immediately when he saw he was unhappy.
In fact, it was not that he had a bad temper , but Zhao Yulin knew that this inspector had been an official in Luzhou for many years and must have complicated relationships and many lackeys. He himself was a big and strong martial artist. If he did not break his legs on the spot and put him in jail, he would probably find a chance to escape, not to mention making him confess his crime.
If this person really runs away, it will be a trouble.
Then they retrialed the Salt Administration Commissioner. Shunfeng had already obtained solid evidence of his corruption. Zhang Qi asked them to break one of his legs first. The brothers immediately swung up a stick and hit him deep in the thigh. The guy was hit in the vital part and rolled on the ground in pain without even being able to scream, and yellow soup was spilled all over the floor.
It took Yan Zheng a while to catch his breath, and he kept saying that he wanted to explain.
Zhang Qi immediately had him dragged out.
Then they interrogated the captain of the Ship Administration. This man had learned his lesson. He immediately knelt on the ground and kowtowed hard, shouting to everyone to stop beating him and he would confess.
The interrogation opened a gap, so Zhao Yulin no longer resorted to those bloody means. He picked up the tea bowl to drink tea and waited for the result.
At the Luzhou wharf, in the dark, a row of oil pans suddenly ignited. Under the illumination of the blazing fire, a large number of warships came up from downstream overnight, and teams of Shenwei Army soldiers went ashore and walked into the makeshift tents to rest and have a meal.
In the distance, a black-sailed boat drifting with the current suddenly became active, and the boatman slowly rowed towards the dock...
