Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 13 Daydreaming Poems

The subsequent developments were exactly as they expected. Ye Sheng soon discovered that there were Red Turbans active in several bamboo forests along the coast. Before he could figure out the purpose of the Chaohu Red Turbans, something strange happened in Luzhou City.

A large number of vendors suddenly emerged in the city, all selling bamboo shoots and fresh fish. Due to oversupply in a short period of time, the prices of bamboo shoots and fish in the city have been falling sharply in the past two days. The fish have never been so cheap, and the people in the city have enjoyed a great meal.

In Luzhou City, at the Zuo family mansion, Jia Chou personally captured ten peddlers, all of whom knelt there trembling with fear.

"Tell me everything clearly. Where do your fish and bamboo shoots come from? What does it have to do with the rebels in Chaohu? If you can't explain it clearly, I will skin you all as rebel spies. Tell me now!"

"General, please spare me. I really didn't know those people were Red Scarves. I only knew they were boatmen from Chaohu Lake. They caught a lot of fish these past few days, but they refused to come to the city to sell them. That's why they sold them to us at a low price. I saw that the price they offered was low, so I thought it would be profitable even if we sold them at a lower price. That's why I agreed to help them sell the fish.

"I was bewitched by the devil, but I am really not a spy. Please investigate clearly, sir." Several people immediately cried and complained, each one more unfairly than the other.

Zuo Junbi didn't care about these. He waved his hand, asked Jia Chou to stand aside, and asked in person.

"How do you trade? What do you exchange with them?"

It's no wonder he asked this question. The truth is that the Yuanbao notes have become waste paper today. They are too hard to even wipe your butt with. The Yuan Dynasty has already collapsed financially, and the entire society has regressed to the stage of barter.

Then the question becomes how Chaohu can conduct large-scale transactions, or in other words, what do they want?
"These" vendors were all silent and hesitant, looking indecisive.

"You won't cry until you see the coffin!" Jia Chou drew out his sword with a clang and put it on one of the men's neck.

"Please spare my life, sir. I'll tell you, I'll tell you, those fishmongers want food. Even if it's more expensive, they want it in exchange for food. And it would be best if it could be delivered outside the city. They have a boat at Feixi Wharf, and they come to collect food every day. They also want other cloth and ironware, but the price they offer is not high."

Zuo Junbi became furious when he heard this. Damn it, it was okay for them to smuggle grain right under his nose, but they even transported the grain out of the city.

He walked up to the man, patted the vendor on the shoulder, and threatened, "What is the crime of assisting the rebels in smuggling military rations? Do you know?"

The peddler immediately kowtowed and cried, "Sir, please spare my life. I really didn't know they were rebels. If I had known they were Red Turbans, I would not have dared to do this even if I had ten thousand guts!"

"Hmph, I don't think you have the guts to do that. So I'll give you a chance to redeem yourself for meritorious service. Go and take my men with you to capture the grain-collecting ship in Feixi and help the government troops catch the rebels. That will be a meritorious service, and I can spare you."

The peddler felt as if he had grabbed a life-saving straw, and hurriedly kowtowed and replied, "Yes, yes, I will definitely make amends for my crime, make amends for my crime."

After Jia Chou took the man away, Zuo Junbi looked at the remaining nine people and said, "As for you, I will also give you a chance to redeem yourself and make meritorious contributions. If anyone can tell me about the Red Scarf, I will count it as a meritorious report and let him go home."

Upon hearing this, one of the remaining vendors immediately shouted, "Sir, I know. I saw a man on the grain-collecting boat, and I recognized him."

"who is it?"

"It seems to be the Yu family mentioned in the arrest warrant. He is the youngest child in the family. I forgot his name."

"Yu Tongyuan?"

"Yes, yes, that's the person!"

Zuo Junbi immediately became interested, "What did you see him do?"

"He was cooking on the boat. Yesterday at dusk, when we handed in the food, we saw that guy and a few others cooking on the boat. Yu Tongyuan was even reciting a poem to his men and cursing at them."

"What poem did he recite? Who did he curse? Did you hear it clearly?"

"I heard it clearly, I can read a few words. What he said was, 'If the head of the household doesn't know how to cook firewood, rice, and oil, he will trade ten thousand dan of military rations for a noble title. He must dream early in the day, or his stomach will keep growling with hunger at night.'

"He didn't say who he was scolding. Anyway, he was scolding that they shouldn't send food to the Li family. They were just dreaming about becoming dukes. He also said that they worked hard to collect the food, so they must eat it to their heart's content first."

Zuo Junbi burst out laughing when he heard this. He didn't know which idiot in Chaohu actually believed Li Pusheng's nonsense and thought that he could exchange ten thousand dan of grain for the title of duke or marquis. It turned out to be a daydream.

Then he sneered. It seemed that the people in Chaohu had gone crazy. First they used grain to exchange for official positions for the rebels, and now they came to his city to smuggle grain. The grain reserves of this group of people might not be much, and they would definitely take action soon.

"Ye Sheng, what's the recent situation in Chaohu?" Ye Sheng hurried out and replied.

"General Zuo, since the fleet returned that day, the camp near Laoba Mountain, which had been shrinking, has expanded again in the past two days. The village that they had abandoned before is now guarded again, and it seems that the defense is tighter than before.

"I also got some information. There are two villages in Feidong, one is Zhujiagang and the other is Zhangjiawa. The people in these two villages all joined the Chaohu Red Turbans a few days ago. We didn't investigate eastwards before, so we didn't find out. Now those two villages are deserted.

"I went to check again yesterday and found a soldier badge on a red scarf corpse. This wasn't there before. They seem to be more formal."

"Soldier card?"

Zuo Junbi was very surprised when he heard this. This was something that only regular troops had. How could ordinary rebels understand this? It was indeed an important piece of news.

"Where is it? Let me see."

Then Ye Sheng took out a bamboo board.

The soldier badge is a soldier's waist badge, which is equivalent to the soldier's ID card in ancient times. It is made of thick bamboo board, three fingers wide and three inches long, with words engraved on it with iron: "Wang Chongwu, third squad, first platoon, second company, seventh battalion. Anyone entering or leaving the camp must hold this badge. If you lose it, you will be severely punished. If you lend it to others, you will be executed immediately. The borrower will be punished as well as the lender."

hiss--

Zuo Junbi took a breath of cold air and then frowned.

"I've never seen them have this before. You said that some people from Feidong joined the Chaohu Red Turbans a few days ago. Could it be that some of these people have served in the military? Also, what is the organization of this battalion, company, platoon, and squad? How many people are there?"

Ye Sheng immediately replied, "I think so too. There must be former soldiers who have surrendered to Chaohu, but it's hard to say where they came from. Maybe they are from Feidong, or maybe they are from Zhao Pusheng and Li Pusheng.

"As for the organization, I really don't know. We can only know it by catching someone alive and forcing him to confess."

Zuo Junbi waved his hand and said, "Then do it. They are very short of food recently and have started smuggling food out of the city. There will definitely be some action soon. You should keep a close eye on them."

"Yes." Ye Sheng immediately took the order and left.

On the other side, on the shore of Laoshan Island in Chaohu Lake, a fleet digging bamboo shoots had just returned, but there were only a few bamboo shoots on the boats. Instead, they were filled with wolf-whips and tough bamboo poles, and all kinds of bamboo materials were piled up, all of which were materials for making weapons and armor.

In the evening, two small boats came from the direction of Feixi. Yu Tongyuan jumped onto the shore in one step and shouted immediately.

"Brother Lu, it's done!"

Upon hearing this, the Chaohu generals immediately surrounded him, with Lu Jin leading the way.

"How's it going?"

Yu Tongyuan was so excited that he made exaggerated gestures while speaking.

"This afternoon, Zuo Junbi sent Jia Chou to arrest me, and he brought a merchant who bought grain for us. I was prepared and saw them from afar through the telescope. I sailed away before they came over. Jia Chou was so angry that he whipped a tree on the shore.

"By dusk, the spies we sent into the city also reported that Zuo Junbi had posted a notice prohibiting the export of grain from the city. Grain was only allowed to enter, not go out. He also added sentries to the city gates. Everyone entering or leaving the city had to be strictly checked. Even our bamboo shoots and fish were not allowed to be sold. Anyone seen selling fish or bamboo shoots would be arrested directly."

Liao Yongjian happily clapped his fist upon hearing this, "Then it must be true. Brother Lu's scheme is really powerful. He first sent the grain and then bought it at a high price. This way, he has to believe it even if he doesn't want to."

Yu Tonghai also laughed and said, "I think Brother Lu's poem is the best. The head of the household doesn't know firewood, rice, and oil, and he exchanges ten thousand dan of military rations for a noble title. You should dream early in the day, or your stomach will keep growling with hunger at night.

"We made two fake moves to show the enemy our weakness. Plus, with this poem full of resentment, he had no choice but to be fooled. Hahahaha."

All the generals were very excited. Liao Yongan also looked at Lu Jin with a smile, "Brother Lu, what should we do next?"

Lu Jin also smiled and said, "Since they don't allow us to sell fish and bamboo shoots, let's start working and implement the second phase of the plan. We will choose a good feng shui site for Zuo Junbi and send him off!"

(End of this chapter)