The Red Mansions Across the Four Seas

Chapter 574 Is It So Vulnerable
During the twelfth lunar month, a message spread in the imperial capital.

Zhao Yingqi, the deposed emperor of the former dynasty, the deposed queen, the deposed prince, and Zhao Yinglin, the deposed king of Chu, and other former royal families all drowned when they waded into the water and overturned their boat on the way to Yunnan.

This news naturally aroused a lot of discussion among people, and it also caused a lot of doubts.

Some say it was murdered.So many people, there will be such a coincidence, they all drowned at once.

Of course, some people say that they died normally.Who doesn't have all kinds of disasters and eight disasters?

Regarding this matter, the officials did not respond to the people, and they did not have to pay attention to the reactions of the people.

However, Emperor Tianshun issued an order to bury the family of Emperor Xun of the former dynasty generously.

The emperor sent decrees to various places, and those who saw the lost former Chang'an Princess Zhao Wudie hoped to tell Zhao Wudie to come back to funeral for her family.

The emperor mentioned Princess Chang'an, which caused news about Princess Chang'an.

It is said that Princess Chang'an is now with Jia Min.The two teamed up to capture Goryeo and are currently preparing to attack Shengjing.

At this time, the news of Jia Min and the Tatars attacking Goryeo and occupying the Northeast had spread throughout the imperial capital, and even ordinary people knew about it.

This added to the atmosphere of panic in the imperial capital.

At this time last year, it was San Francisco who attacked the Dade court. Unexpectedly, in just one year, the current court was attacked by others.

This makes people feel a deep sense of powerlessness.

There seems to be no time for peace in this world.

Then came even more shocking news.

Jia Min's subordinate Chen Yejun landed from Songjiang, occupied Suzhou, Wuxi, Zhenjiang and other places along the way, and finally captured Jinling.

Li Guoxin, the guard of Jinling and the younger brother of King Xining, was killed by Chen Yejun's army. More than 3 soldiers and horses of the Jiangnan court in Jinling and other places were all wiped out by Chen Yejun.

Not long after, it was reported that Feng Ziying, Jia Min's subordinate, had landed in Quanzhou, captured Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangxi, and Guangdong, and was currently advancing to Yunnan, Guizhou, and Hubei.

Such news makes people unable to believe it.

They didn't believe that Jia Min had so many people.

And the news that came out was also very suspicious.

It is said that whether it is Chen Yejun or Feng Ziying, there are only about four thousand people under his command. Although they all say that their firearms are powerful, but no matter how powerful the firearms are, how can this small force be the opponent of so many people in the court?
This kind of news, not to mention that ordinary people don't believe it, even the officials of the imperial court, and even the emperor himself, are unwilling to believe it.

Although the officials didn't want to believe it, they knew that the news was true.

At first, there were news from various government offices, but gradually, there was no news from all over the country, and the local government offices had lost contact with the imperial court.

Then, people discovered that there were fewer and fewer ships and merchants coming from the south.The news brought also proved the authenticity of the previous legend.

At this time, news spread that Jia Min and Princess Chang'an were going to attack Shengjing.

For the court, the bad news didn't stop there.

Some areas in the northwest that had not been attached to the new dynasty before continued to raise troops.

There are many rumors that Han Qi, who had been advancing westward smoothly before, encountered resistance from He Jialin, a subordinate of Wang Ziteng, the original commander of the Beijing camp, in Shanxi.

He Jialin was originally the magistrate of Yulin. Because he was unwilling to submit to the new dynasty, he joined forces with Zhou Tong, the inspector of Shaanxi, to fight against Han Qi.

With them, there is also Ma Qingshan, the guard of Fengxiang Mansion in Shaanxi.

At present, these three men have gathered [-] soldiers and horses. After fighting with Han Qi, they have stopped Han Qi in Shaanxi, and the two armies are currently in a confrontation.

The details of these people were quickly found out.

Among them, Zhou Tong is the most famous.Because he was Enke's martial arts champion in Bingzi year, and Ma Qingshan was also Enke's martial arts Jinshi that year.

As for He Jialin, he turned out to be the brother-in-law and subordinate of the late Jingying Jiedu envoy Wang Ziteng.

People soon discovered that Jia Min was the No. [-] candidate that year, and Zuo Linliang, who was next to Princess Chang'an, was the No. [-] candidate that year.

Another important general beside Chang'an, Luo Xingshan, is also Wang Ziteng's subordinate.

Later, it was reported that Liu Fang, Chen Ruiwen, and Ma Shangde, who had been confiscated by the previous dynasty, also led troops to join Jia Min's ranks and jointly attacked Shengjing.

The new dynasty has only been established for a few months, and so much bad news has come out that it is almost unbelievable that all of this is true.

"Is the soldiers and horses of San Francisco, which were so powerful in the past, so vulnerable?"

Luo Qihua also didn't want to believe it was true.

At this time, he and his nephew Luo Musheng were having a dull drink in the Meiyue Building in Dajinmen.

Although Luo Qihua is still a bachelor of the Military Aircraft Department, his status at this time is no longer the same as before.

Now when he speaks at the military plane, he no longer has the weight of the past. Not only the emperor doesn't listen to him, but the other senior scholars also regard him as dispensable.

As for Luo Musheng, he was Minister of the Household Department in the previous dynasty.This is a hot and fat job in charge of money and food, but just half a month ago, he had been transferred to the Imperial Academy for Jijiu.Has been excluded from the power center of the imperial court.

"Yes, I used to think that the troops of the former dynasty were too weak, but now it seems that the soldiers of San Francisco are not much better than those of the previous dynasty."

Now that the two of them are talking, if outsiders listen to them, they will definitely think that they are treasonous.

Because they even referred to the current imperial court as "San Francisco".

It was normal to say this in the previous dynasty, but now when San Francisco has already ruled the world, it is naturally suspected of treason.

However, now that the two are talking, it seems that these scruples no longer exist.

"At first, I thought that by supporting them to win the world, they would have a good life in the future. I didn't expect them to be so miserable. It seems that it will be difficult for them to keep the world."

"It's all because of their short-sightedness. Before the world was prosperous, they began to reject meritorious ministers. First, Li Yuan died inexplicably, and then we were excluded from the government. Uncle, don't they really care about our students? We With so many disciples in the Luo family, if we can be maintained well, wouldn’t these people all serve for the imperial court?”

"Perhaps it is because our family has so many disciples that they fear us."

"Hmph, they are not benevolent, so don't blame us for being unrighteous. If it doesn't work, let's go and join Jia Min."

"Go to Jia Min? It's too easy for you to think."

"Jia Min seems to have the heart to fight for hegemony. Even if he wins the world, he needs civil servants like us to help him govern the world."

"Your thoughts are a bit wishful thinking. First, Jia Min had a feud with us. Second, we participated in the matter of Jia Yuanchun and Wang Ziteng. Third, there are plenty of scholars in the world, and there is no shortage of us. Jia Min's own subordinates are all literate. The most important thing is that we have been disloyal to the previous dynasty if we surrendered to San Francisco. If we surrender to Jia Min again, we are disloyal to the dynasty. won't like it."

"Even if he reluctantly agreed, he might treat us the same way San Francisco does today."

"It's all because of Zhao Yingqi's incompetence. If he hadn't lost his country, why would we be in such a difficult situation."

Luo Musheng said bitterly.

"Oh, forget it, he's dead, so what's the point of blaming him? Besides, if he wasn't stupid and incompetent, how could he let us be in high positions? I'm afraid he would have cut off our heads long ago."

"I still don't believe that Jia Min can be invincible with just a few people?"

"Soldiers are good but not many. In addition, he uses his soldiers like a god, so he will naturally win by surprise. Who would have thought that he would send people to land in Songjiang and Quanzhou? After capturing Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangzhou, the two major tax-paying places, San Francisco The source of wealth has been cut off, this move is exactly the same as San Francisco's deal with the previous dynasty, only faster and more ruthless."

"If things go on like this, San Francisco may not be able to support it for too long. Uncle has to make plans early."

"Hey, what else can we plan now? We don't have a single soldier in our hands. When the time comes, we will be lambs to be slaughtered. The world is so big, but there is no room for us. Now, we can only hope for Sheng Battle of Beijing."

"Uncle is saying that if the battle of Shengjing is won, San Francisco still has a chance to reverse?"

"If Shengjing is defeated, you can spare yourself to deal with Chen Yejun and Feng Ziying in the south. No matter how good their weapons are, their numbers are limited after all. The imperial court now has 10,000+ troops in Shengjing and Shanhaiguan. It may not be possible to deal with Jia Min. There's no chance of winning."

Similar to Luo Qihua's thoughts, Gao Wangshan is also confident in winning the battle of Shengjing.

At this time, he was studying the battle situation with Song Kuan.

They know better than anyone else the situation in the South and the Northwest.Therefore, they are now focusing on the battle of Shengjing.

"My lord, as long as we win the battle of Shengjing, we can use our hands to clean up the mess in the south."

"Oh, I hope Zhili can support it for a long time, and Feng Ziying and Chen Yejun can slow down their actions and give us time."

"Jia Min conquered Goryeo and was not in a hurry to attack Shengjing. He should have been waiting for Feng Ziying and Chen Yejun to go north, pacify Zhili, and approach the imperial capital."

"Before I was worried about the whereabouts of Feng Ziying and Chen Yejun, but I didn't expect that as soon as they appeared, they went to our rear area."

"It's no wonder that Tianshun is too big. Although we have 40 elite soldiers, they won't be enough if we disperse. The army attached to the previous dynasty has no combat power and people's hearts are not stable. There is no hope at all. "

"Gao Shangshu, do you think Jia Min is just waiting for Chen Yejun and Feng Ziying to go north?"

Song Kuan raised a question.

"Before, he used Shengjing to contain us, and asked Feng Ziying and Chen Yejun to take advantage of the situation in the south. Now, he has achieved his goal. He has not launched an attack. I am afraid there is another reason."

"I think he's not fully prepared yet, probably because he's out of ammunition."

"Your Majesty is right. He came all the way from Beihai, and the ammunition he carries is limited after all. Beihai is thousands of miles away from here, so it is difficult to resupply. He consumed some in Koryo, so there should not be much left."

"Jia Min looted a lot of materials from Korea, including a lot of saltpeter and charcoal. Do you think he wants to manufacture ammunition on the spot in Shengjing?"

"Manufacturing gunpowder is already difficult. His kind of ammunition is more complicated to make. Workshops, craftsmen and so on are indispensable. Could he move here from Beihai? It's unlikely, right?"

"Jia Min's work cannot be speculated by common sense. At that time, the Tatars did not expect that he would attack them in the heavy snow. Jia Min marched while clearing the snow, and defeated the Tatars in the heavy snow. Now the workshop has been moved. It's not surprising to come here."

"Your Majesty, you mean to attack Jia Min's firearms workshop?"

"Yes. Jia Min's firearms are powerful, but without ammunition, the advantages of firearms will be gone. Tell Uncle Han Shi, try to find Jia Min's firearms workshop, and destroy it at any cost."

"Okay, this is a plan to draw salary from the bottom of the pot, it is worth a try."

"Gao Shangshu, I want to go to Shengjing myself."

"Okay, you go. If the emperor asks, I will tell you that I invited you to go. Although General Ning Guta is brave and resourceful, he is a bit self-willed. I went to talk to him. Now is a very difficult time. You just forgive him."

"I know."

(End of this chapter)