Chapter 249 Lin Ruhai's Thoughts
Lin Ruhai smiled and shook his head. "It's okay. Leave one thousand men behind. I will take away protection! It is precisely because Hailing, Taixing and other places are in chaos now that the officials sent by the court cannot arrive for the time being, so Cong'er asked me to go and pacify the people."
Wang Xifeng didn't understand, but Lin Ruhai did. Jia Cong was obviously trying to give himself credit.
If we could appease the people and bring peace to all places before the officials sent by the court arrive, wouldn't that be a great achievement?
Moreover, this matter is neither difficult nor simple! However, he not only has soldiers and horses to escort him, but also Jia Cong's soldiers and horses are stationed in the two cities, so he doesn't have to worry about his safety. However, he needs to do one thing in advance, which is to "ask" the salt merchants in Yangzhou to donate some food and supplies.
With food and supplies in hand, it would be easy to keep the people safe. He also had enough reason to believe that under the deterrence of Jia Cong's one or two thousand soldiers, those salt merchants and wealthy businessmen would not refuse his "small request".
After all, there were already a few ignorant people before, and the soil on the graves had dried up. If they went against Lin Ruhai now, who knew if this seemingly kind scholar would raise his butcher knife against them? At that time, they would directly blame these things on the rioters or the White Lotus Sect. Would the court still vindicate them?
It is precisely because of these strengths that Lin Ruhai has such confidence.
"Hmph, since you are sensible, I will make things less difficult for you in the future!" Lin Ruhai thought as he stroked his short beard.
Although Daiyu did not explicitly mention her daughter's affairs in her letters, the information about Jia Cong and his affairs gradually increased between the lines, and her daughter's joys and sorrows were gradually linked to Jia Cong. If Lin Ruhai still didn't know that his cabbage was about to be eaten by the wild boar, then he was not worthy of being the third place winner.
However, Lin Ruhai really admired Jia Cong.
First of all, he was the disciple of his old friend. From his old friend's letters, Lin Ruhai knew of Jia Cong's intelligence and literary talent. Even now , Jia Cong was better than he was back then. Even if he didn't take the path of military merit, his achievements might not be worse than his own.
Although he was cut off from the imperial examinations by some strange mistake, Jia Cong was still a brave man. He served on the frontier for two years and was awarded the title of Earl for his great achievements. Later, he saved the emperor by himself and was awarded the title of Champion Marquis!
Now, Jia Cong is the head of the Jia family and the core person of the Eight Dukes and Twelve Marquises. It is no exaggeration to say that there is no one in the whole Daqian who is the same age as him. Moreover, what is rare is that he knows from his daughter's letter that Jia Cong obviously cares about his daughter very much.
In the past, the old lady had always wanted to make the two Yu'er a couple, and Lin Ruhai certainly understood this. And he didn't have too many opinions on this. Although Baoyu was not a good match, with the old lady's support, her daughter could live a stable life. But now, his daughter naturally had other thoughts, so of course he would not break up the couple.
What could be more important than fulfilling my daughter's wish? Moreover, my daughter has good taste. Compared with Jia Cong, Baoyu is directly compared to the dust...
Not long ago, the old lady had also written to him. Although she didn't say it explicitly, he could see clearly that the old lady couldn't sit still because of the queen's gift. She wanted to use his hand to help the two Yu'er in the future, and she politely rejected the queen's idea. In response, Lin Ruhai just smiled and didn't even reply.
Baoyu had ruined his daughter's reputation. If Jia Cong hadn't invited the queen, his daughter wouldn't know what to do. So he still wanted Baoyu to do it? What was he thinking? If he couldn't leave Yangzhou so easily, he would have wanted to rush back to the capital and give Baoyu a few slaps.
Ignorance is not your fault, but if you use your ignorance to involve others, that is your fault!
Baoyu is still rolling in the rouge under the protection of his mother and old lady, while Jia Cong leads the army to conquer many cities and offers himself great merits. In addition, his daughter is in love with him. Is Lin Ruhai stupid? Which Baoyu should he choose?
The only thing that made Lin Ruhai a little unhappy was that Jia Cong, in addition to being caring for his own daughter, also had his eyes on the girl from the Xue family? But Jia Cong had the status of a concurrent heir, so he really couldn't object...
"It's time to go to Beijing at the end of this year!" After seeing Wang Xifeng off, Lin Ruhai thought to himself, "With this great achievement, I can at best be a minister, and even a springboard for promotion to a minister is ready!"
"When the time comes, I'll see who dares to disrespect my Yu'er! Even if this kid bullies Yu'er, I, the Shangshu's father, will back him up..."
Then Wang Xifeng hurried back to the room, carefully took out the letter and read it.
"Xiao Feng'er, I miss you! Wait for me, your husband, to wipe out this group of rebels, and then I'll come back to pick you up!"
After an unknown amount of time, Wang Xifeng held the letter in her arms and finally fell asleep with a smile on her face. After all, although they couldn't meet for the time being, it wasn't a bad idea to meet in dreams.
That night, Lin Ruhai held a rare grand banquet to entertain all the salt merchants in the city, and he also thoughtfully sent soldiers to bring invitations.
Sure enough, the next day, all the salt merchants were willing to contribute money and grain! Lin Ruhai also thanked everyone for their kindness and took the initiative to let Jia Cong's soldiers help carry the goods! The salt merchants were so moved by Lin Ruhai's thoughtfulness that they burst into tears and couldn't help themselves.
After gathering a large amount of food and supplies, Lin Ruhai, with the tearful farewell of the crowd, slowly left Yangzhou City with his troops and escorted all the supplies, heading towards Hailing.
August 20th!
After temporarily stabilizing Taizhou, the 3,000 soldiers originally stationed at the border between Yangzhou and Taizhou also rushed over. Jia Cong left 1,000 soldiers to garrison the city and led the remaining 13,000 soldiers to cross the river southward.
In addition to gathering in the capital Jinling, Changzhou's troops were also concentrated in the cities of Danyang, Jintan, and Yixing.
If they attacked one city at a time, it would be time-consuming and laborious, and the movements in Jiangbei could not be concealed at all. If the White Lotus sect members who were prepared defended it, it would definitely cause great trouble to themselves. Therefore, Jia Cong simply ignored these small cities and led the army directly to Jinling.
Jinling is not only the capital of Changzhou, but also the base of the White Lotus Sect. Even the food and salaries of various places depend on Jinling for support. As long as we surround Jinling and send troops to attack, the White Lotus Sect members from other places will naturally come uninvited. In this way, directly surrounding a point and attacking the reinforcements is much better than attacking the city alone.
Moreover, as long as the troops from other places come to Jinling, the two troops originally deployed in the Maoshan and Yangxian Lake areas can take advantage of the situation to attack Yixing and Danyang. In this way, with the two forces moving together, how can the White Lotus Sect not be defeated?
