The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

Chapter 105 Good news arrives in Beijing
As soon as the east gets bright, the windows light up.

The Yulin general knew that it was already past the hour of Mao, so he closed his eyes, stood up, blew out the candle in the lantern, and walked to the door.

On the city wall, there were generals standing silently, each of them had bloodshot eyes and a tired look on his face.

The Yulin general took a deep breath and looked into the distance with worried eyes.

Although the scouts did not dare to get too close to the Tatar camp, they still detected the Tatar's movements at the first time. However, the Tatars blocked the road, and they were unable to warn the imperial reinforcements.

Only one of the scouts sent out for reconnaissance returned. The sound of heavy artillery fire could be heard from miles away, which showed how fierce the battle was.

At this time, a burst of hurried footsteps was heard, and everyone looked over.

Deputy General Yulin ran up from the stairs, shouting "Marshal!" and running towards General Yulin.

The Yulin general was still standing at the door, his eyes fixed on him.

The deputy general of Yulin panted: "Tartar, Tartar. The camp is empty, empty."

The general of Yulin trembled violently, then grabbed the wrist of the deputy general of Yulin: "What did you say?!"

Yulin's deputy general breathed a sigh of relief: "The Tartars withdrew their troops overnight!"

"What?" Yulin's deputy general spoke clearly. In fact, Yulin's general heard every word, but he couldn't believe his ears. He stared at Yulin's deputy general with wide eyes.

Yulin Deputy General: "The Tartar camp is empty. They withdrew overnight!"

The generals were excited:

"The Tartars have withdrawn!"

"Yulin is defended!"

"Yulin is defended!"

The general of Yulin finally woke up. He bowed to the void and said to the deputy general of Yulin: "The Tartars will not retreat without reason. They must have suffered a heavy blow last night! Immediately send another group of scouts to contact the imperial court for reinforcements."

Yulin Deputy General: "Yes!" After answering, he hurried out.

"We won!"

The Yulin general sighed, and suddenly his eyes went dark. The sky and the earth began to spin, and he fell backwards!

In April, the peach blossoms of the mountain temple begin to bloom.

As a royal palace, the Forbidden City allows you to enjoy flowers all year round.

The crabapple trees in front of Wenhua Hall are in full bloom, a sea of ​​light pink fragrant snow, and when the breeze blows, it looks like snow falling, which is a beautiful sight.

Emperor Yongchang let the petals fall on his head and body, looking up at the distant sky, his eyes revealing worry and anxiety.

Wenhua Hall was where the crown prince observed government affairs in the early Ming Dynasty. In the middle Ming Dynasty, it was changed into the place for imperial lectures, that is, the place for the emperor to study. The Dashun Dynasty continued the Ming system.

During the hundred years since the establishment of the Dashun Dynasty, the imperial lectures had become a form of showing the emperor's diligence in learning, just for the sake of his subjects and the people.

The Dashun Dynasty continued the Ming system and held imperial lectures on the second day of every month from mid-February and August to the end of April and October. Today is the first imperial lecture day in April.

However, Emperor Yongchang did not have this intention. He directly ordered Dai Quan to lead today's lecturers to Zuoshunmen to give wine and food.

At this time, Dai Quan came over holding an official document.

Dai Quan said softly: "Your Majesty, this is the official document just sent by the Ministry of Revenue."

Emperor Yongchang came back to his senses, took the document, looked at it, then gently closed it. He stood there in silence for a long time, then waved his hand and said, "Let's go to the upper study!" Then he turned and walked towards the upper study.

Dai Quan sighed inwardly, as this official document was another one from the front line asking the Ministry of Revenue for food and military pay.

The war in the north is getting bigger and bigger, but the old guys from the lineage of the Four Kings and Eight Dukes are becoming more and more cautious, with an attitude of "seeking victory by playing it safe". No matter how great the results are, they will not pursue the Tartars, but will proceed steadily, step by step, without sending out surprise attacks and without taking any risks.

This strategy is a helpless choice when the field combat capability of one's own army is weaker than that of the opponent, but the combat capability of the Beijing Camp and the border troops of Datong and Xuanfu is not weak. In addition, this strategy of using troops requires the support of strong national strength to provide a steady supply of materials to the front-line troops.

The army needed more than two million taels of silver a month. After deducting expenses, the existing deposits in the national treasury were only enough to cover expenses for two or three months, and were not enough to support the flow of tax silver from various provinces into the capital.

Originally, it was hoped that Lin Ruhai would send part of the salt tax in advance, but a water dragon occurred, seawater backflowed, the salt fields were damaged, and the Lianghuai Salt Field suffered heavy losses. Without salt, how could the salt tax come from?

In order to stabilize the salt price in the north, the imperial court urgently requisitioned official salt from the Liangzhe salt fields, and Lin Ruhai also confiscated private salt to fill the shortage of official salt.

It would be fine if this were the case. The imperial court could save money and squeeze out one month's military pay from its teeth, which would be enough to last until the salt tax from Lianghuai arrived in Beijing.

To make matters worse, the peach blossom flood in the Yellow River was extremely severe this year. The Yellow River embankments in Henan Province broke in many places, and even the city of Kaifeng was flooded by the Yellow River.

Disaster relief, river embankment repair, and seed planting for the people to resume farming all require money.

The first batch of money and grain was borrowed by the Ministry of Revenue from the provincial treasuries in Anhui and Jiangsu, and it had to be returned.

Therefore, this war cannot be dragged on for too long.

However, with the example of Duke Shanguo in mind, those old fellows did not dare to take the initiative, for fear that they would also end up with their families destroyed.

The root of the problem still lies with the second prince. The stab in the back by the second prince not only took the life of Duke Shanguo, but also destroyed the reputation of the royal family.

Even if the Second Prince is dealt with now, the thorn in everyone's heart is difficult to remove and can only be eliminated by time.

Xie Jing's letter and the sword that the retired emperor had bestowed on Duke Shanguo gave the emperor a better solution, which was to put the main blame on the retired emperor, followed by Duke Shanguo and General Yulin, and finally the second prince.

This would not only give an explanation to everyone, but also alienate the retired emperor and those old guys.

Dai Quan could imagine what the old guys' reactions would be when Xie Jing's letter and the sword appeared in front of them along with the imperial edict, especially Shi Guangzhu's last words before his death: I don't owe him anything anymore.

The reason why the emperor delayed issuing an edict was that he was waiting for the apology letter from the general of Yulin. However, no one knew what the situation was in Yulin. Ever since Li Hu's personal soldiers delivered Xie Jing's letter and the sword, there has been no news from Li Hu.

The eunuchs from the Imperial Household Department and the Northern Pacification Office did send back some news, but it was only about the siege of Yulin City by the Tartars and the second prince being obsessed with women.

As he was walking, Emperor Yongchang suddenly stopped.

Dai Quan didn't pay attention and bumped into Emperor Yongchang.

"This old slave deserves death!" Dai Quan fell to his knees behind Emperor Yongchang and pressed his head against the brick floor.

"Listen, what's that sound?" Emperor Yongchang looked forward.

In the distance, shouts of "Your Majesty, we won a great victory in Yulin" could be heard.

Dai Quan stood up suddenly.

The shouting gradually came closer, becoming clearer and louder.

Dai Quan was shocked: "Your Majesty, a great victory in Yulin! It's a great victory in Yulin!"

Emperor Yongchang's face turned red with excitement. The great victory in Yulin not only solved the problem of the Second Brother, but also resolved the crisis in the northwest. Yulin was right in the middle of the Great Wall. Once it was lost, it would be like a giant dragon being cut in half, with the head and tail unable to take care of each other. One can imagine the military status of Yulin.

The Prime Minister was in front, and several cabinet ministers and the eunuch on duty at the Meridian Gate were behind, all walking quickly towards them.

Emperor Yongchang strode over.

The cabinet chief held up the military newspaper in his hand and panted: "Yulin, Yulin."

Emperor Yongchang snatched the military report and read it hastily.

At this time, the eunuch on duty at the Meridian Gate handed a memorial to Dai Quan and said softly, "A memorial of apology from the general of Yulin."

Dai Quan nodded.

After reading the military report, Emperor Yongchang tried his best to calm down his excitement, and then said loudly: "Well done! I will reward Li Hu and Dai Quan heavily, and summon the crown prince to the upper study to discuss the reward for Li Hu."

(End of this chapter)