Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 100: Lu Shuai is my family! (Subscribe)
How much benefit did defeating Kang Maocai's main force and capturing Heyang and Wuwei bring to Lu Jin?

The benefits were huge, not to mention the military benefits. In terms of strategic geography, he gained an important Yangtze River port, controlled the Rushu River, the waterway that led into Chaohu Lake, and eliminated the enemy in the east that was always threatening him.

Looking around now, there is no regular army from the imperial court that can pose a threat to him, and the safety environment has greatly improved.

Then there were the political benefits. The number of scholars and civil servants, which had been in short supply before, suddenly increased to dozens.

Those wealthy families who had been sitting on the sidelines and watching the situation, all sent their talented sons to be used by Lu Jin, and just gave them a small official position. The wealthy families in Luzhou were no exception.

Lu Jin suddenly had more available talent at his disposal.

In view of this situation, Li Shanchang suggested setting up a Chongwenguan to recruit more scholars to work for Lu Jin.

Lu Jin agreed immediately, but did not hold out much hope, mainly because Huaixi was not a place with a prosperous cultural heritage, and Huaixi had suffered from disasters year after year, making it difficult for the people to survive. Apart from the big families, there were not many people who could read.

If it were Zhejiang or Jiangxi, there would definitely be a lot of educated people there.

Then Lu Jin also set up a Hundred Craftsmen's Institute, recruiting various craftsmen to prepare for smelting iron and making weapons and armor.

Moreover, as time goes by, Lu Jin's great victory over Kang Maocai is still having an impact on the outside world.

On the tenth day, Feng Sheng finally rushed back to Dingyuan and went to Guo Zixing's house first, handing him Feng Guoyong's letter.

"Mr. Guo, this is a letter from my brother. Please take a look."

"Okay, okay. You've come a long way, little brother. Have some tea and rest first. Let me read the letter."

Guo Zixing waited for several days and finally received a reply. He led Feng Sheng into the hall to rest and read the letter himself. The letter was not long and he finished reading it quickly. Guo Zixing immediately asked.

"I heard that Coach Lu defeated Kang Maocai's main force?"

Feng Sheng immediately said, "Not only the main force, but the entire Huaixi Xuanwei Envoy's force was eliminated by General Lu.

"In the battle of Chao County, General Lu used only two regiments, more than 8,000 people, to defeat Kang Maocai's 10,000-man army, killing Kang Maocai himself and five of his subordinates, nearly 2,000 enemy soldiers, and captured tens of thousands of enemy soldiers.

"He also sent a small force to launch a surprise attack on Heyang, seizing the city of Heyang and Kang Maocai's river defense force.

"I heard that they have annihilated the Wuwei navy in Wuwei. Now I'm afraid that Wuwei County should be taken as well. The entire Luzhou Road is only two cities away from falling into the hands of General Lu."

hiss--

Guo Zixing took a deep breath when he heard that. Forget about being neighbors with such a powerful person. Since Lu Jin is such a good fighter, it would be better to join him early. Maybe he can get a good position.

He took the letter again and said, "Your brother said in the letter that General Lu promised me that as long as I recruited soldiers, I could be the commander of the Eighth Regiment. May I ask, brother, how many regiments did General Lu have?"

Feng Sheng immediately said, "Before we fought Kang Maocai, we only had five soldiers. After the battle, we expanded our army. My brother was hired by Marshal Lu as a clerk in the Marshal's Office to help manage military affairs.

"I have more than 400 young and strong men. Marshal Lu promised to give me more troops and let me serve as the commander of the 7th Regiment. When Mr. Guo goes there, he can become the commander. It's really enviable."

"Hahaha, Brother Feng is not bad either. You, brother, will also be a popular figure around Marshal Lu in the future. We are all from Dingyuan, and we are fellow villagers. I hope that we can support and take care of each other in the future." Guo Zixing was immediately happy when he heard this, and did not forget to compliment the Feng brothers.

Although Feng Sheng's official position was not high, his brother was a close minister to Lu Jin who was in charge of military affairs, so his status was different.

"Easy to say, easy to say."

Feng Sheng stood up and clasped his fists, then said, "If Mr. Guo has nothing else to say, I will leave first. Marshal Lu has given me other instructions, and I have to deliver a letter to someone else."

"Wait a minute." Guo Zixing stopped him immediately upon seeing this. "Brother Feng, your elder brother told me in the letter to prepare for recruiting soldiers first and then start the rebellion in a few days. Why is that?"

Feng Sheng immediately warned, "Marshal Lu has some arrangements in Dingyuan. Lord Guo only needs to follow the instructions in the letter, but don't make any unnecessary arrangements and ruin Marshal Lu's plan."

"Okay, okay, then I will do as the letter says and wait for news from Marshal Lu first." Guo Zixing grabbed Feng Sheng's arm and shouted to the outside.

"Tianyou, bring the good horse in the stable. I want to give it to the Feng brothers."

"Coming, Dad."

Guo Tianyou was well prepared and immediately brought a majestic black horse, which was estimated to be about 1.5 meters tall at the shoulders. Although it could not catch up with Lu Jin's Yaoguang, it was also a rare good horse in the Central Plains.

Feng Sheng was stunned when he saw this, "How can this be done?!"

Guo Zixing pulled him to the horse with a smile and put the reins into Feng Sheng's hands.

"Yes, yes, a good horse is worthy of a hero. Brother Feng is now the commander of a thousand households, and he needs a good horse as a mount. We are from the same hometown. I, Guo, have no other advantages, but my family is quite wealthy. It's just a horse, Brother Feng, please take it."

"Well, well..." Looking at such a good horse, Feng Sheng was really happy and couldn't say no, so he finally said.

"Then I will be very honored to refuse. Thank you Mr. Guo for your kindness. I will never forget your gift of the horse today."

"Hahaha, we are all from the same hometown, why should we remember it so clearly? Just take care of each other in the future." Guo Zixing said happily while stroking his beard.

"Sure. I'll be leaving first then."

"Go slowly, Brother Feng, be careful on the road."

After sending Feng Sheng away, Guo Zixing's three sons immediately came over and asked, "Dad, is it settled?"

"Well, it's settled. We will recruit soldiers ourselves. I'm the commander, and you guys are all thousand-household battalion officers."

"We recruited soldiers ourselves, and they only gave us a commander?" Guo Tianxu said with some dissatisfaction. Guo Zixing slapped him in the face when he heard this.

"You know shit. Marshal Lu originally had five regiments. This time he defeated Kang Maocai and captured so many surrendered soldiers and generals. It's already great that we can get the eighth place.

"This number will be used to rank us in the future. We haven't even fought a single battle, but we're already in the top ten. Just be happy!"

On the other hand, Feng Sheng left Guo's house and of course could not go directly to Dingyuan County Government Office. Instead, he went to Li Shanchang's house, handed the letter to Li Shanchang's brother Li Cunyi, and then went to find Wang Bi.

Wang Bi is 23 years old this year, one year younger than Feng Sheng. The two are of similar age and both love to wield swords and sticks. They knew each other before, so it was naturally not difficult to recruit him this time.

Wang Bi built a stronghold in a place called Dashuzhai to protect himself. He had four to five hundred men under his command. He was accustomed to using a long-handled horse-killing broadsword, and he was also very skilled in using a waist knife. Because he was good at using knife weapons, he was called the Double-Sword Wang Bi. In fact, he also used long weapons.

Dingyuan was not far from Luzhou, and Wang Bi had naturally heard of Luzhou's Marshal Lu. When he heard that Feng Sheng and his brothers had joined Lu Jin's army, and now they came to invite him and told him about their plan to seize Dingyuan City by fraud, Wang Bi agreed immediately.

Wang Bi added, "Brother Feng, I know a few brothers who have built a stronghold in the countryside. Since we are going to Luzhou, why not call them along as well?"

"Who is he? Is he reliable?" Feng Sheng asked immediately.

"They are definitely reliable. They are all from the same village and have clean backgrounds. There is a little brother named Hua Yunlong, who is only 19 this year, but he is also quite capable.

"There are also the Wu brothers, the eldest brother Wu Guoxing, and the second brother Wu Guobao. They are both heroes in the area. Wu Guobao is the same age as me, and his elder brother is one year older than your brother. Both of them can be recruited." Wang Bi introduced immediately.

"Okay, I'll go with you to recruit people, and we can bring them over, but you must not tell them about the fraudulent city. The fewer people who know about this, the safer it will be." Feng Sheng thought about it and agreed immediately.

"I know. It's a matter of life and death. How can I talk nonsense?"

After the two of them agreed to join the army, they went to look for Hua Yunlong and the Wu brothers.

Wu Guoxing and Wu Guobao are actually the brothers Wu Liang and Wu Zhen in history. They changed their names to avoid Zhu Yuanzhang's courtesy name.

This group of people all surrendered to Zhu Yuanzhang in the 12th year of Zhizheng, and now they have been pulled over in advance.

However, neither Wang Bi nor Feng Sheng's families were wealthy. Feng Sheng's family was slightly better off, but only to a limited extent. The friends they knew were not powerful people either.

But the powerful people in Dingyuan County would not just sit there and watch. As soon as the news of Lu Jin's defeat of Kang Maocai in the south came, these people immediately took action.

Not long after Feng Sheng left, someone came to Guo Zixing's door. The man was also a wealthy man from Dingyuan. His name was Yu Shiliang, who was one of the Five Generals of Haozhou who joined Guo Zixing and others in the uprising and captured Haozhou.

Yu Shiliang knew that Guo Zixing had been secretly colluding and preparing to start an uprising some time ago, but for some reason there had been no movement in the past few days. He didn't know whether he was ready or not, and he didn't know whether he had decided to start an uprising.

Yu Shiliang simply went to Guo Zixing's house to find out his background, but he knew that Guo Zixing was at home looking through the account books and using an abacus.

"Brother Guo, the world is in chaos right now, with uprisings everywhere. Do you still have the time to settle accounts and do business? Aren't you going to do anything?"

Guo Zixing licked his fingers, turned a page in the account book, and continued to fiddle with the abacus, "What to do? No matter who calls me, I still have to live my life as usual. I can't turn the tables on this day."

Yu Shiliang leaned in and whispered, "Marshal Lu of Luzhou in the south defeated the tens of thousands of troops of the Huaixi Xuanwei Envoy of the imperial court. The Yuan court seems vulnerable. Now the flags on the city walls are flying. Brother Guo, don't you plan to become a marshal?"

Upon hearing this, Guo Zixing looked at him as if he were an idiot.

"Brother Yu, if you want to die, don't drag me down with you. You want to be a marshal? Is it that easy to be a marshal? Do you think anyone can withstand the imperial army? Do you have a territory to be a marshal?

"Look around you. To the north is Zhima Li, to the south is Marshal Lu, and in the middle are the cities of Dingyuan, Haozhou, and Chuzhou. Which one can you capture? How can you expand after you capture it?

"When the time comes, whether it's Marshal Lu or Li Zhima and the imperial court, which one can you withstand? I think you'd better give up that idea. Don't be so ambitious and your life is so fragile.

"Here, let's see the guests off!"

"Hey, Brother Guo?" Yu Shiliang was surprised when he saw Guo Zixing starting to drive people away.

"What's wrong with me? My family is full of good people. Don't come to my house in the future, so as not to bring disaster to my family. Get out!"

Yu Shiliang was driven out by Guo Zixing and got into a carriage on the roadside while cursing. Sun Deya had been waiting in the carriage for a long time and asked him when he saw him come back.

"What did Guo Zixing say? How many soldiers can he recruit?"

Yu Shiliang was immediately angry when he heard this, "What the hell is he doing? This old guy is at home doing business and counting accounts. He also said that his family are all good citizens and they have to continue living their lives no matter who calls them."

Sun Deya stroked his beard in astonishment. He didn't understand what Guo Zixing meant. He was clearly still organizing people everywhere a while ago, so how come he suddenly became so obedient?

"Then just ignore him for now. Even if he doesn't want to be a marshal, there are plenty of people who do!"

Yu Shiliang immediately asked, "Who should we look for next?"

"Go find Lu Ding. I heard that he also wants to raise an army. Go and ask him how many soldiers he can recruit."

"Recruiting soldiers? Become a marshal after conquering Haozhou? Haha, you guys go and be the marshal yourself. I don't have that ability and I'm afraid of death.

"I am not afraid of rebellion, but it is nice to be under a big tree. Marshal Lu in Luzhou in the south is my cousin, so why don't I go to Luzhou?"

Yu Shiliang and Sun Deya were kicked out of their home again.

Both of them were a little hesitant, and Yu Shiliang asked hesitantly, "Should we still go to connect?"

Sun Deya gritted his teeth and said, "Go, go to Pan Yuxing's house again! I just don't believe it, they don't want to be the king themselves?!"

(End of this chapter)