Jia Yujing of Red Mansion

Chapter 313 Report

Daming Palace, South Study Room.

Emperor Longqing had been standing in front of the map for a long time. It was not until the sunset that Dai Quan lit a lantern and came over to illuminate it for him. Then he sat back behind the desk, picked up the memorial and read it again.

In the evening, the cabinet sent several more military reports, but there was no good news.

It is now the end of October, Guanzhong has entered the early winter season, and the Liaodong region further north has started snowing half a month ago.

Due to the weather, the Jurchens have withdrawn their troops. Judging from the military reports just sent from the front line, the losses in Liaodong Town this time were very heavy.

At the beginning of the battle, the Jurchens bribed the deputy general of Crow Falcon Pass and raided the Jinzhou area, which was empty of troops, and caught Li Chuanying, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, by surprise.

Although his son Li Zhirong led three thousand soldiers to fight to the death at Qinghe Fort, all of them died for their country, which gave Li Chuanying five days to adjust his troop deployment.

However, Li Chuanying only had time to mobilize troops and horses to defend a few important cities and block the way for the Jurchens to continue southward.

But in the vast hinterland of Jinzhou Plain, there are still a large number of people who failed to move in time.

Eighty thousand Jurchen cavalry have been wreaking havoc in the Jinzhou area for nearly two months. Except for the capital city of Jinzhou and a few heavily guarded fortified cities, almost all the towns in the northwest of the Jinzhou Plain were plundered.

Preliminary estimates indicate that nearly 20,000 troops were lost in this battle in Liaodong, the loss of ordinary civilians is expected to exceed 100,000, and the loss of property is countless.

This was the most costly battle in Liaodong Town in the past twenty years.

In addition to Liaodong, Shanxi and Hebei are also being harassed by the Oara people, and the Oara people have not shown any signs of withdrawing their troops so far, so the court has to hoard heavy troops in Henan and Hebei to prevent the Oara people from taking advantage of the freezing of the Yellow River in winter to invade the hinterland of the Central Plains. .

What worried Emperor Longqing the most was the rebellion in various parts of Dachu, especially the rebels in the Jianghuai area.

The scale of rebellions in Hebei, Henan, Shandong and other places was relatively small, and these places were relatively close to Jiubian and Chang'an, making it easier for the court to deploy troops to suppress them.

Now that the rebellions in these provinces have been basically controlled, it will not be difficult to destroy them as long as the court frees up its hands.

The three rebel groups of Xu Shouhui, Peng Yingyu and Chen Youliang who started the uprising in Hubei are now besieged in the Xiangyang area by the 50,000-strong Jiangnan Camp and have become turtles in a jar.

However, the Jianghuai area is not only far away from many rebels, but there is also a lack of troops around it.

Last year, Jia Qiong removed 30,000 troops from the Jiangbei camp. Now the only 20,000 elites left in the entire Jianghuai area still need to defend Nanjing, Yangzhou, Suzhou and other places, and cannot be dispatched easily.

The 50,000 troops mobilized from the Jiangnan camp were restrained in Hubei by Xu Shouhui and others. They were unable to reach Jianghuai in time to quell the rebellion, which resulted in the Jianghuai rebels quickly gaining ground.

South Zhili, Jinling, Jiangsu and other places, including Yingtian Prefecture, Haozhou Prefecture, Huai'an Prefecture, Yangzhou Prefecture, Suzhou Prefecture, Songjiang Prefecture, Changzhou Prefecture, Zhenjiang Prefecture, Luzhou Prefecture, Anqing Prefecture, Taiping Prefecture, Chizhou Prefecture, Ningguo Prefecture The fourteen prefectures of Huizhou and Xuzhou, and the four prefectures of Xuzhou, Chuzhou, Hezhou and Guangzhou have always been the wealth centers of the imperial court, and their tax revenue has always been the highest in the country.

If Jianghuai makes mistakes, it will definitely damage the vitality of the imperial court, but even Emperor Longqing has to admit that Jianghuai's situation is now in danger.

According to the latest military reports, the number of rebels in Zhang Shicheng's unit now entrenched in the northern part of Huai'an Prefecture has exceeded 50,000, occupying five counties, and their troops are approaching the city of Huai'an Prefecture.

Gaoyou, Yangzhou and other important places were also threatened.

In the Huaixi region, there are Han Shantong, Liu Futong, and Guo Zixing, the largest rebel forces.

Now Yingzhou Fucheng and the northwest of Haozhou have all fallen into the hands of thieves, and the number of rebels has swelled to more than 100,000.

The rebels were so powerful that it was difficult to control them. Emperor Longqing had trouble sleeping and eating. He stood in front of the map and thought hard for a long time, but he still couldn't find a way to contain the rebels.

It is now the end of October, and the weather is gradually getting colder, especially after the sun goes down.

Although Emperor Longqing had already put on thick winter clothes, he still felt a little chilly. He turned around and ordered: "Dai Quan, make a bowl of hot tea."

Dai Quan hurriedly agreed, ordered people to serve tea, and asked: "Your Majesty, the weather is cold, do you want someone to light the earth dragon?"

Emperor Longqing glanced at him and said calmly: "It's only October. It's too early for the Earth Dragon to be born. Let's talk about it in a few days." This year, there was a flood in the Yellow River, the invasion of Oara and Jurchens, and rebellions in various parts of the Central Plains. A sudden outbreak made the imperial court's financial situation tight again.

Burning the earth dragon costs a lot of money every day. Emperor Longqing has always been thrifty, how could he burn it at this time?

Dai Quan knew that the emperor was in a bad mood recently, so he did not dare to say anything and quietly stepped aside.

The other young eunuchs who were waiting did not dare to breathe, for fear of upsetting Emperor Longqing. The atmosphere in the south study was a bit depressing, and you could hear a needle drop.

Da da da…

A rush of footsteps came from the window, which was particularly clear in the quiet south study room.

Coming to see the emperor at this time, something big must have happened, and Dai Quan couldn't help but feel nervous.

He hurriedly walked a few steps to the door, and saw Dongge University Scholar, Han Dong, Minister of the Ministry of Justice, and Yu Wannian, Minister of the Ministry of War, arriving hand in hand.

"Eunuch Dai, please inform us of our request to see the emperor."

Han Dong's voice was a little urgent, but there was a little joy in his eyebrows. Dai Quan said in his heart that it was okay, it shouldn't be bad news.

"Two adults, wait a moment."

"Is it Han Aiqing? Come in."

Before Dai Quan could go in to report, Emperor Longqing's voice had already come out.

Han Dong and Yu Wannian immediately walked into the palace upon hearing this, followed by Dai Quan.

"Han Aiqing, Yu Aiqing, why are you coming to see me at this time?"

After Han and Yu met, Emperor Longqing immediately asked.

Yu Wannian took out a memorial from his sleeve and said: "Your Majesty, this is the Six Hundred Miles Urgent Memorial that the Ministry of War has just received from Anton's General Jia Qiong. Please see it for Your Majesty's permission."

"Oh, Jia Qiong's memorial, could it be that the war in Japan has changed?"

Emperor Longqing asked as he signaled Dai Quan to submit the memorial to the emperor. Yu Wannian bowed and said: "Back to the emperor, according to General Anton's memorial, the war in Japan has ended. General Anton planned to return to Beijing to report on his duties, but unexpectedly he was deviated by a strong wind on the way. The route is to dock in Yancheng County, Jiangsu Province five days ago."

"What, Jia Qiong is back? He is the governor of Japan. How can he come back privately without my order? It is really unreasonable!"

Emperor Longqing looked displeased when he heard this, and the generals were not allowed to return to the capital without an edict. This was an iron rule of the court, and they were afraid that the generals would cause chaos.

Jia Qiong came back privately and violated the court's laws. This is a serious crime.

Emperor Longqing took the memorial and frowned, but the more he looked at it, the more relaxed he became.

When he saw that Jia Qiong not only brought back several million taels of gold, but also an army of 20,000, Emperor Longqing couldn't help but feel overjoyed and immediately put the unhappiness behind him.

After reading the memorial, Emperor Longqing looked at Yu Wannian and asked: "According to Jia Qiong's memorial, he had sent someone back to request an order to return to Beijing a month ago. Why didn't I receive his memorial?"

Yu Wannian hurriedly bowed and said: "Back to the emperor, the weather at sea is unpredictable. I think that the person who sent the message probably had an accident."

Emperor Longqing nodded and said: "That should be the case. Although Jia Qiong returned to Beijing without an order this time, it is understandable.

It just so happened that he came back with 20,000 troops and horses. Now that the situation in Jianghuai was in chaos, he could be useful. "

(End of this chapter)