Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 60: The Rebel's Assistance (Seeking Follow-up Reading)
September 22, the eleventh year of Zhizheng.

Qin Li, a prominent family in Chao County, was preparing to start an uprising and after capturing the city, he presented it to Lu Jin.

Lu Jin is preparing for his own wedding. He really doesn't understand the wedding process in ancient times. Not to mention ancient times, he doesn't even understand modern times either.

After leaving Zhang Wen's house, Lu Jin immediately called Ye Sheng, a native of Luzhou, over and asked him about it carefully.

Although the ancient wedding process has evolved due to local customs and dynasties, the overall six rituals remain unchanged, namely, asking a matchmaker to propose marriage, and if the woman agrees, the man should propose to her by sending a live goose as a gift.

Lu Jin was stunned at the first step. Where on earth can I find a live wild goose? Then Ye Sheng said geese would be fine.

OK, domestic geese are indeed Anseriformes, domesticated geese, nothing wrong with that
The next step is to ask for the woman's name. The matchmaker is asked to ask the woman's name and date of birth, and then a fortune teller is hired to see if the two are suitable for each other.

This Lu Jin is quite good at it. He can put a knife to someone else's neck. That must be appropriate!
Then it was Najib’s turn to tell the woman the result of the divination and send the engagement ceremony.

The next step is to offer betrothal gifts, which is relatively simple. Then comes the date setting, which is when the wedding date is asked for the woman's consent, and finally the bride is welcomed into the family.

Lu Jin felt overwhelmed after hearing this, but he had to do it.

He must marry a legitimate and undisputed wife as soon as possible, then give birth to children and establish a succession relationship in order to stabilize people's hearts.

This matter cannot be delayed, nor can it be ambiguous, because Lu Jin's marriage is no longer just his own business, but a political issue. If it is made unclear, the foundation of the country will be unstable, and in the future, there will be fights for the eldest son and the crown prince, and they will be bloody.

Whether for a force or a country, stability is more important than anything else.

From this point of view, Lu Jin is a completely different person from Zhu Yuanzhang.

Take Li Shanchang for example, this man had outstanding abilities. Of course, Li Shanchang also had shortcomings. He liked to monopolize power and was jealous of others.

Zhu Yuanzhang's attitude towards Li Shanchang and later Hu Weiyong is very interesting. If you make a mistake, he will not care much at first, and may even deliberately delegate power to encourage the other party to become arrogant. He will wait until the target makes a big mistake and then settle the accounts with him.

If it were Lu Jin, he would never watch his subordinates cause unmanageable consequences. He would punish them severely at the first sign of making mistakes. He would just work honestly for me until retirement and then go home to retire. It would be good for both you and me.

Stability is more important than anything else, please don't cause any trouble for me.

Of course, Zhu Yuanzhang might have done this in order to depose the prime minister, but Lu Jin, he would never have appointed a prime minister in the first place.
Look at the prime ministers of the Yuan Dynasty who slept with the empress dowager, the queen, the princesses, deposed and enthroned emperors, and even poisoned emperors. Would you still appoint a prime minister?

After listening to Ye Sheng's clear and convincing explanation, Lu Jin immediately made the decision.

"Since you know so much, I'll leave my marriage to you. You don't have to do it yourself. Just find a reliable matchmaker and let me know if you need anything done."

"what?"

Ye Sheng was a little dumbfounded. He didn't expect that Lu Jin would actually let him be responsible for such a private matter. However, since he didn't have to do it himself, he only needed to take overall control and remind Lu Jin at the critical moment. That would be easy. Ye Sheng agreed immediately.

"I wonder which girl the lord has taken a fancy to?"

"Zhang Wen's sister."

Ye Sheng was stunned when he heard this. Lu Jin had just beaten Zhang Wen and demoted him, and now he was marrying his sister. Could it really be related to Zhao Pusheng?
However, even if he guessed it, he would not say it out loud, because when Lu Jin asked him to send cavalry to follow, he had made a similar hint, only to take care of Zhang Wen's regiment and not Zhao Pusheng.

Besides, Ye Sheng didn't want Zhao Pusheng to come back, so this is just right.

Seeing Ye Sheng standing there in a daze, Lu Jin immediately explained.

"Don't let your imagination run wild. If I want to marry a wife, I must find someone reliable. It would be best if the generals have daughters waiting to be married. However, the Liao family and the Yu family have no daughters, and only Zhang Wen has a daughter. I don't have many choices."

Ye Sheng nodded, no longer hesitant, and immediately agreed and went out to help Lu Jin find a matchmaker.

After Ye Sheng left, Lu Jin asked the guards to call Hua Gao over.

Although Hua Gao did not suffer any injuries after being rescued yesterday, he had a close call with death. In addition, he suspected that Zhao Pusheng and himself were betrayed, and he was still in doubt.

He and his more than 600 men are currently resting in Luzhou City and have not received any specific tasks. Lu Jin called him over this time to arrange this matter.

Now that Lu Jin was in a high position and Zhao Pusheng was dead, all the generals from Chaohu defected to Lu Jin. Lu Jin also surrendered a large number of government troops and recruited many new people.

Not to mention Hua Gao, even the generals of Chaohu, although they all hold high positions now, they cannot have the final say in the entire Shengwu Army.

Especially the surrender faction, they all followed Lu Jin's lead.

Lu Jin placed Yin Congdao and Zhang Huan under the command of Yu Tingyu and Liao Yongan, ostensibly to let these Chaohu elders keep an eye on the surrendered generals.

However, these surrendered generals were not tolerated in Chaohu in the first place, and they were all recruited by Lu Jin himself. They knew in their hearts that they could only survive by following Lu Jin.

So Lu Jin placed them under the command of the Chaohu generals. Who can tell whether it was effective to use the surrendered generals to contain the Chaohu elders?
Just checks and balances.

Hua Gao was thinking about this. When he arrived at the lobby, he immediately knelt on one knee, clasped his fists and greeted Lu Jin, "Hello, Marshal."

Lu Jin immediately went down and helped him up personally.

"Why is Captain Hua still so reserved? What's the use of being a great commander or not? That's just for outsiders to hear. Don't the brothers in Chaohu still call each other brothers in private?"

Lu Jin spoke very politely, and acted as if he didn't treat him as an outsider, but Hua Gao didn't dare to really call Lu Jin a brother. He was really scared of Lu Jin. The more unknown he was, the more he couldn't figure out, the more scared he was. What if Lu Jin plotted against him again and didn't want him to live?
Upon hearing this, Hua Gao immediately said righteously, "No, the Marshal is wrong. If there is no hierarchy in the army and everyone treats each other as brothers, then wouldn't we be bandits? How could we have achieved such great results and established our current foundation under the Marshal's leadership?"

Lu Jin was immediately very satisfied when he heard this, and returned to his seat and said.

"Haha, it seems that Captain Hua is still very clear-headed. I summoned you here today just to talk about your department's arrangements."

Hua Gao perked up immediately after hearing this, and then listened to what Lu Jin said.

"Now all the regiments are fully staffed. My Shengwu Army already has more than 20,000 soldiers and horses. The three cities can barely accommodate them. If I continue to expand the army, I am afraid that the food and grass will be unsustainable. Therefore, I have no plans to expand the army recently.

"Your troops just escaped death yesterday, many soldiers were injured, and Captain Hua was also frightened, so I thought.

"Why don't you recuperate in Luzhou for a while, and wait until we defeat Kang Maocai and take over Hezhou. We will definitely need to expand the army by then, and Hua Qianhu will definitely be of great use to you.

"If you don't want to be idle, you can temporarily serve in the navy. The commander of the navy is Brother Yongjian, and there are also brothers Tonghai and Zhongzhong, who are all familiar with you.

"The three of them are in charge of 6,000 people and thousands of ships. It's really a bit overwhelming. Other regiments have four combat battalions, but the navy only has three. If you are willing to go, you will be the fourth captain of the navy. What do you choose?"

"Marshal, I would like to go to the navy."

Hua Gao chose the navy without hesitation. Firstly, he was not familiar with Lu Jin, and staying in Luzhou City meant staying under Lu Jin's nose, and he would have nothing to do.

But he knew Liao Yongjian, Yu Tonghai and Zhao Zhongzhong of the navy, so he would have the real power to lead the troops once he went there.

How to choose? No need to think about it.

Hua Gao now just wants to stay away from Lu Jin. He is afraid of staying under Lu Jin's nose.

Lu Jin nodded, "That's fine, then you can go to the navy first."

Hua Gao immediately asked, "Marshal, when can I leave?"

Lu Jin smiled and said, "Don't worry, wait until the navy is done with this battle. You wait for your soldiers to recover from their injuries first."

In Chao County Government Office, Qin Li came out from the back hall with a gloomy face. He had just suggested to Yao Zhaoxian that he recruit local militia to defend the city, but he did not expect Yao Zhaoxian to flatly refuse.

Yao Zhaoxian, the county magistrate from Shanxi, is not a fool. Qin Li is the chief clerk and a member of a local prominent family. If he is allowed to recruit soldiers into the city and take over the city defenses, wouldn't he, the county magistrate, become a puppet?
The rebels might not necessarily attack, but if Qin Li led his troops into the city, he would definitely remove him from his position as county magistrate.

This train of thought is not wrong.
Yao Zhaoxian was angry about this matter, and Qin Li had just walked out of the back hall of the county government office with a dark face. At this time, he saw a bailiff running towards him and almost knocked Qin Li down.

Seeing this, Qin Li grabbed the bailiff and asked.

"What happened? Why are you so flustered?"

"Reporting to the chief secretary, the Red Turban bandits from Chaohu Lake have come to attack us. Thousands of boats have gathered on the lake outside the south city. A man named Liao is leading thousands of naval forces, clamoring to attack the city!"

Qin Li's head suddenly buzzed.

He suspected that Lu Jin's next target might be Chao County, and was preparing to seize the city and surrender. He didn't expect Lu Jin to be so quick and actually lay siege to the city!

After the runner went in to report the news, within a moment, Darughachi Subutai and the county magistrate Yao Zhaoxian all ran out, and Qin Li hurriedly followed.

The gates of Chao County were closed. The three men appeared on the top of the city and found that the Chaohu navy had no preparations for attacking the city. However, what they did almost made Subutai explode with anger.

It turned out that Liao Yongjian led thousands of ships to attack the city, boosted morale, and took the main force of the navy to station in the south of the city. He secretly let Yu Tonghai and Zhao Zhongzhong go ashore, broke into Subutai's house, abducted his family and son, as well as the family's property, and finally displayed the spoils outside the city, and then sailed away on a boat.

Chao County is not big, it can only be considered a small town, but Subutai has been doing business here for many years and has accumulated a lot of savings. He has a mansion outside the city, where he places his wife and son, and takes his two beautiful concubines to hang out in the city.

Now, he still had two concubines by his side, but his wife and son were kidnapped, and all the gold, silver and jewelry that his family had saved were gone!

Subutai was so angry that he chopped the city wall with a knife, grabbed Yao Zhaoxian by the collar and shouted angrily.

"What are you still standing there for? Why don't you send troops to take back my family and property?!"

Yao Zhaoxian was sprayed with spit, and he immediately said timidly, "General Manager, please allow me to report. We only have yamen runners in Chao County, where can we get soldiers? If we want to wipe out the Red Turbans, we need to ask for help from the Huaixi Xuanwei Envoy in Heyang. He has a navy there, and he will definitely be able to take the lady and the son back."

Qin Li took the opportunity to show off his abilities.

"Just now I proposed to recruit some local militiamen and train them into an army to defend the city, but the county magistrate did not agree. Otherwise, how could we be without soldiers now?"

When Subutai heard this, he became so angry that his eyes widened. He pushed Yao Zhaoxian away fiercely and immediately said to Qin Li.

"Go and recruit soldiers quickly. I will lead them to take back the family and their property!"

"Yes!"

Qin Li bowed his head and agreed, but he couldn't help but feel happy. The Chaohu navy was really cooperative.
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(End of this chapter)