Chapter 411 Loss-Making Business
Shi Lang was still struggling. Zheng Qilang's military supervisor told him that brothers should come up with an idea quickly because time waits for no one. If they fail to get things done, they will also be punished.
When he thought about the lives of the twenty-eight brothers on the island that were in his hands, he threw himself into the Fuzhou government office with his neck raised and his head held high.
As soon as Shi Lang walked into the government office to report, Huo Fenghuang was immediately furious. A rebellious young general dared to step into her government office, so she ordered him to be dragged out and beheaded.
Shi Lang was being dragged out by the guards on both sides. He shouted to his sister-in-law to save his brothers. It would not be a pity if he died, as he still had 28 good brothers.
At this time, Qu Zhengxiang walked in from outside and immediately asked to spare the life.
The female gang leader insisted that she bring Qu Zhengxiang here.
Zhao Yulin originally arranged Master Qu to work with the female boss to coordinate. When the two of them were on business at Jinghu North Road, the female boss was very fond of Fenghuang , and when she was leaving, she insisted that she take Master Qu with her to prevent any accidents.
Over the years, Master Qu has been working with the female leader and feels that her character has changed a lot. Old East Evil and Old Beggar also give her some advice from time to time, so he feels that it is time for him to leave.
Fenghuang was indeed weak and insecure when he went to Lingnan alone, and he needed help, so he came here and became the general manager of Shunfeng Office on Fujian Road.
Master Qu told Fenghuang that the Fuzhou navy had rebelled and there were still many unknowns in the downwind area. Shi Lang and his companions were detained on the ship and were the parties involved. He had some questions to ask.
After hearing Shi Lang's crying, Huo Fenghuang calmed down a lot. She asked him to be taken back and handed over to Master Qu, and asked the kitchen to prepare a bowl of noodles for Shi Lang to eat before punishing him.
After everyone left, Master Qu said with a smile: Has our chief military officer changed his mind?
Don’t blame me for being nosy?
Fenghuang smiled and said, "I want to thank the master for smoothing things over."
If nothing else, I have to think about those twenty-odd brothers. If they are really chopped to death by Zheng Qilang, wouldn't it be my fault?
If Brother Yulin finds out, he will probably ignore me for three years.
Qu Zhengxiang immediately laughed and said that they were a loving couple and treated the Shenwei Army as their own family, so how could they just sit back and do nothing.
After a brief discussion between the two, Master Qu went straight to see Shi Lang.
Fenghuang sat down and spread out the rice paper to write a letter to the false emperor Zhao Bing.
At dawn the next day, a ship loaded with Huoxiang Liqi Pills and various medicines for treating summer heat set out from Fuzhou Naval Port and headed to the open sea to meet with the small sea vessel waiting there, and sailed directly to Yizhou Island.
Zhao Yulin received an invitation from Meng Gong from Jiangbei in Xuzhou and went to Yingzhou to meet him.
This Yingzhou was the name during the Northern Song Dynasty. It was renamed Shunchang Prefecture during the Southern Song Dynasty. After the Jin people occupied the south, it was renamed Yingzhou. Long-term wars led to sparse population and poor people's livelihood. Meng Gong called for the restoration of the old name of Yingzhou.
Lao Meng, along with Yu Jie, Zhou Ping and Cao Youliang, greeted them at the dock at the east gate. As soon as they met, they walked up to Zhao Yulin and hugged him tightly, saying three times, "Thank you, brother." Then they let go.
After exchanging pleasantries, everyone went into the city and sat down to have tea at the government office.
After the two men sat down, Lao Meng took Yu Jie to Zhao Yulin and they both bowed solemnly, thanking Zhao Yulin for his wholehearted help and many times of assistance.
Zhao Yulin quickly stood up to return the greeting, saying that the two generals did not need to be so polite, as we were all one family in the Song Dynasty. He pointed at Cao Youliang and said that he should thank the Lord Cao, the King of the State, because it was his brother who was in charge of the New Song State, and we were all just following his orders.
Cao Youliang laughed and said, "Generals, stop being so sour. We all come from the military. How can there be so much sophistication?"
Several people immediately burst into laughter and sat back to drink tea.
Meng Gong happily told him that the brothers worked together and had driven the northern barbarians back to the north of the Huai River. He patted his chair proudly and said that the land under his feet had returned to the embrace of our Great Song Dynasty.
Yu Jie said that it should be called Xin Song, which means we should return to our Xin Song.
Everyone laughed again.
Meng Gong told him with emotion that the Northern Barbarians had been harassing them and beating them over the years, causing him to have trouble eating and sleeping, and now he finally got rid of his anger.
Zhao Yulin was very satisfied, because he knew that the two of them had agreed with his republican ideas and were willing to work together to build a society where everyone was equal. He picked up the tea bowl and said that he would use tea instead of wine to congratulate the army on recovering the lost territory and Yingzhou. Several people happily drank the tea until it was empty.
Meng Gong put down the tea bowl and asked him what to do next?
Zhao Yulin said he just wanted to hear the general's opinion.
Meng Gong waved his hand, took a sip of tea and said he had no good ideas. He and General Yu had been fighting against the Mongolian army all these years. He was already physically and mentally exhausted and didn't want to do it anymore.
Zhao Yulin asked with some confusion: Why do you say that, General?
Yu Jie said from the side: Lord Meng has worked hard for the anti-Mongol cause, and has been repeatedly injured in battles with the Mongolian army. He has suffered a lot.
It turned out that he really didn't want to do it anymore.
When Zhao Yulin met Lao Meng, he indeed felt that he was not in good spirits, but he did not expect that this man actually had the idea of retiring.
He shook his head and said that the general is in his prime, and it is a good time for him to lead us to fight bravely against the enemy. He asked Yu Jie what he thought.
Yu Jie was much younger. He looked at Meng Gong and said that he had discussed with Meng Gong before. This time the Jiangdong Army was able to recover their homeland because the Mongolian Army took the initiative to retreat. They took advantage of the situation and did not kill a large number of enemy main forces.
Currently, Hubli is relying on Xuzhou and deploying defenses along the canal and Huaihe River. There are signs of further retreat. The two of them were a little confused, so they asked Commander Zhao to go to Yingzhou for advice.
Cao Youliang nodded and said: Most of the people they eliminated were the Mongolian troops guarding small counties and backward troops, with a total strength of less than 20,000. The Mongolian army should have learned that the Shenwei Army had started the battle in Zhengzhou and was worried that their retreat would be cut off, so they quickly withdrew their front line.
Zhou Ping also said with some regret that his navy did not get much benefit, and was basically just doing the work of delivering military forces and supplies.
Zhao Yulin could imagine all of this.
Hubili is not an ordinary military commander. His ability to judge the situation and plan strategies is far superior to Mengge. He is definitely unwilling to do business at a loss.
Meng Gong told Zhao Yulin that he was not discouraged. What he was most worried about was that after the great victory in Zhengzhou, the morale of the Shenwei Army was greatly boosted, and they would march eastward in a large scale, which would very likely lead them into the Mongolian army's trap.
Although we quickly recovered a large amount of lost territory, these local governments have not yet been restored and rebuilt, and there are scattered soldiers and bandits everywhere. He believes that we must first put these places in order before fighting.
Zhao Yulin nodded and gave Lao Meng a thumbs up.
He said that when analyzing the war situation after the Battle of Xuzhou, the brothers really wanted to take Yingtian Prefecture in one fell swoop, and even send troops to recapture Shandong. Someone raised the same question as General Meng.
Taking into account that large tracts of recovered land had not yet been stabilized, he had ordered a comprehensive shift to on-the-spot defense and to stabilize the rear before fighting again.
Meng Gong was delighted and called him great kindness, and asked him to go to the back hall to drink.
He was worried that after Zhao Yulin arrived, he would be full of fighting spirit and order his troops to march north to eliminate Hubili's defense of Xuzhou. That would be dangerous.
Everyone relaxed and drank happily before leaving.
Zhao Yulin was arranged to rest in the east wing of the government office. Not long after he entered the room, Chu Yuxuan came in with Meng Gong.
He said that if the general had any problem, he could just come and ask for help, there was no need to make this trip.
Meng Gong said that he was old and really didn't want to do this anymore, and wanted to have a good talk with his brother.
The two of them went to the pavilion outside the house and sat down to chat. Chu Yuxuan quickly made tea and brought it in.
Meng Gong told him that during this period he saw that the equipment and fighting methods of the Shenwei New Army brought by General Youliang had undergone tremendous changes. He felt that the traditional combat methods were no longer suitable for the combat of the new army.
He suggested to Zhao Yulin that Yu Jie should lead the army of Jiangdong, equip the army with the equipment of the Shenwei Army, learn the fighting style of the Shenwei Army and return to the battlefield.
Zhao Yulin said how could this be possible, as the general was in the prime of his life.
Old Meng waved his hands again and again and told them not to mention the prime of their lives, and that a hero never brags about his past achievements. He had made up his mind, and no matter how hard his brother tried to keep him, he would not perform surgery again.
Zhao Yulin knew that Lao Meng had thought it through and was really determined.
After taking a sip of tea, he said, "In that case, I will follow your advice and merge the eastern army into one, and Brother Yu Jie will continue to lead the Jiangdong Legion. How about that?"
Meng Gong smiled and raised his tea bowl to clink them together, happily saying that this was good, that was what he meant. He smiled and pointed to the eastern sky and told Zhao Yulin to look at the huge Kongming lantern.
Zhao Yulin immediately became alert and looked in the direction of his finger. He saw three huge hot air balloons flying rapidly towards the government office.
Zhao Yulin was shocked. There were no heavenly troops from the Divine Power Army here, so where did the hot air balloon come from in the middle of the night?
He secretly said that it was not good, and told Meng Gong that it must be the Mongolian army's hot air balloon army, only their balloons were so huge. There must be spies in this city, and the Mongolian army must be here to attack us.
He shouted to Chu Yuxuan: Bring me the gun.
Meng Gong had only heard of the Shenwei Army's air force and knew that the Shenwei Army had fought against the Mongolian Army's Sky Army in Zhengzhou. But he had never seen a hot air balloon, let alone thought that the Mongolian Army would use it to attack Yingzhou.
Lao Meng quickly said that we should rush out of the government office and move away.
Zhao Yulin shook his head and said no. The current situation was unclear. He suspected that there were still hidden enemies in the city, who might be taking advantage of our panic to go out and ambush us.
At this time, Yu Jie and Zhou Ping and others came over. Lao Meng was very unconvinced and asked Yu Jie to mobilize the guards to rush out together. Immediately, strong bows from across the street shot dense arrows at the government office.
Obviously, this was a rebellion organized by the Mongolian army, and even their special forces team sneaked into the city to carry out a decapitation operation.
The two sides quickly started fighting.
Zhao Yulin ordered all the lights in the government office to be extinguished. Meng Gong organized resistance and annihilated this group of desperate criminals, while he dealt with the three super Kongming lanterns.
He asked Chu Yuxuan to leave ten brothers behind and leave the rest to General Meng. After he was dressed neatly, he sneaked towards the front yard facing the Kongming lantern.
The situation inside and outside the government office had turned into a mess. The surrounding garrisons came to rescue, but when the three parties fought together, it was most likely that accidental injuries would occur.
At the critical moment, Meng Gong stood up.
Fighting at night was Lao Meng's specialty. He quickly gave instructions to change the patrol orders for tonight, requiring their respective guards and the officers and soldiers guarding the government office to separate and gather together, each forming their own formation and carrying out external defense in sections, while the battle outside would be left to the troops coming to support.
