The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

Chapter 140 Prepare to run away
It is the hottest time of the day when the sky is bright.

Three thousand new recruits were divided into three columns and stood under the stands of the training ground. Even if there was an occasional cool breeze, all the new recruits' faces were wet with sweat and their armors were soaked through.

Suddenly, a new recruit was carried out from the queue.

Then, another recruit was carried out.

"Plop" "Plop", many new recruits in the formation fainted due to heatstroke.

Soon, a group of soldiers in charge of receiving the dead came over, carried the unconscious recruit and ran out.

In the stands, Li Hu, dressed in deputy general's uniform, sat on the chair in the middle. Although his head was covered with sweat, he stood as still as cast iron.

On either side of him stood two teams of officers in full armor, holding their sword hilts motionless.

Wang Daniu, who was standing behind Li Hu, took out his pocket watch, glanced at it, and said softly, "General, the time is up."

Li Hu didn't say anything, but just stretched out his hand, and immediately a personal soldier handed him a monocular telescope.

Li Hu took the telescope and looked towards the drill ground. He quickly scanned the formation of new recruits and then turned to the distance.

There were two training grounds where spearmen and sword and shield soldiers were conducting training.

Under the command of the officers, the spearmen raised their guns at the same time and made an attacking gesture. Then they moved forward alternately with the sound of whistles, stabbing a shot with every step forward. Their speed was not fast, but they had an unstoppable momentum. It seemed that there was nothing in front of them that could stop them, and even if there was, it would be destroyed!
Li Hu nodded with satisfaction. This was exactly the kind of indomitable momentum he wanted. If the enemy was timid, their momentum would be weakened before the hand-to-hand combat.

The sword and shield soldiers were divided into several teams to practice tactics. Some of them sometimes raised their shields for defense, and sometimes chopped with swords; some were half lying on the ground, attacking the lower front part with their right hand while holding their left hand across their body for defense; and some stood in front of wooden dummy targets, holding their shields in their left hands and their swords in their right hands, and following the orders of the officers, they chopped forward, and the wooden dummies were instantly separated from their heads and bodies!

Li Hu turned his attention to the new recruits. These recruits were recruited by the Ministry of War from the Central Plains. Originally, they were to be sent to the north, but now that peace talks have been concluded, they would be a great advantage for the Rui Shi Battalion.

They are all hard-working and decent young men, and Li Hu is very satisfied with them.

Many new recruits fainted from heat stroke, and Li Hu said, "Let's stop here for today."

Wang Daniu raised his hand.

The "Woo-woo" horn was blown immediately, and several soldiers in the stands also sent flag signals to the officers at the same time.

Looking at the new recruits leaving the drill ground in an orderly manner, Li Hu nodded with a satisfied smile and said to Wang Daniu, "Tell the kitchen to kill a few more pigs so that the new recruits can have enough to eat." Then he took out a handkerchief from his sleeve and wiped the sweat off his face.

A personal soldier brought over a bowl of tea.

Li Hu took the tea bowl and drank several sips before handing it to the soldier. He said to the general officer beside him, "You can go down as well."

There was only a roar of "Yes" in response, and then the generals saluted Li Hu together and then retreated.

Li Hu raised his head and looked into the distance of the parade ground again. He had to admit that the emperor was really stingy in some aspects. There were still too few musketeers and cavalrymen in the Rui Shi Battalion. In order to be able to resist the large-scale cavalry raids on the grassland, he wrote a memorial to the emperor, hoping to equip the Rui Shi Battalion with fifty submachine guns. In the end, he was defeated by the emperor again.

Li Hu was also speechless. He was obviously the emperor, but he acted like a scoundrel. If he was not worried about the emperor getting angry, he would have wanted to retort "Why don't you give it to me?"

Of course, even if the emperor gave the craftsmen, Li Hu would not dare to accept it.

The prince could not interfere in such matters, so Li Hu could only try to persuade him shamelessly. He finally gave in a few days ago and cut down more than half of the twenty gates at once.

"Zhang Cheng is back." Wang Daniu whispered beside Li Hu.

Li Hu looked in the direction of the voice and saw Zhang Cheng walking over with an account book in his hands.

Zhang Cheng walked up to the stands, saluted to Li Hu, and said, "General, the twenty submachine guns have been brought back from the armory." Then he handed over the account book.

Li Hu said "hmm", took the account book, looked at it, and said, "Practice according to the plan."

Zhang Cheng: "Yes." He took the account book with both hands and said, "General, Ni Er is here."

Li Hu: "Oh? Where are the people?"

Zhang Cheng replied: "I am waiting outside the central army tent."

Li Hu stood up and turned to walk towards the central military tent.

Ni Er was standing outside the central army tent waiting.

Seeing Li Hu coming, Ni Er hurried over to greet him, bowed from a distance, and then rushed to Li Hu: "General!"

Li Hu: "Let's go and talk in the big tent."

Ni Er smiled and replied, "Yes." Then he followed Li Hu into the big tent.

Li Hu took off his outer robe, took the towel handed to him by Ni Er and wiped his face, while asking: "Is there any movement from Bai Hongzhi again?"

Ni Er replied, "Bai Hongzhi has returned from Yongping Prefecture. He must be very worried about the loss of so much cloth. Our people have been guarding near Shuntian Prefecture Yamen, but Bai Hongzhi has not yet gone to Shuntian Prefecture to report the case."

Li Hu smiled and said, "How can someone with a guilty conscience dare to report to the government office?"

Ni Er also laughed: "More than ten days have passed, and even if we report the case, we can't find anything." As he said that, he picked up the copper kettle beside him and went to the desk to make tea.

Li Hu sat down at the desk. The ship carrying the cloth should have entered Shandong by now. He couldn't find any clues, and he didn't dare to report the case. He thought this guy was going to vomit blood again.

In addition, this guy has been having a hot relationship with King Zhongshun recently, and I wonder if there is any unknown deal going on.

Ni Er handed the tea to Li Hu and continued, "According to the confessions, we found several bases of the Qinglong Hall, but only one of them had people active."

Li Hu took a sip of tea and put it down, "No hurry, take your time, sit down and talk." Ni Er smiled and replied, "Yes." But he still stood with his body bent.

Li Hu looked at him and smiled: "You are an old man, there is no need to do this."

Ni Er blushed and was about to speak.

Li Hu: "By the way, I have something for you." As he spoke, Li Hu took out a warrant from the official documents and handed it to Ni Er.

When Ni Er took it and looked at it, his eyes suddenly widened.

Li Hu: "You have done a lot for me. Logically, it is not too much to give you a rank of Qianzong. However, military ranks above the rank of Lieutenant General must be verified by the Ministry of War. Please bear with it for now."

Ni Er finally came to his senses and knelt down quickly: "I thank the general for his grace!" While kowtowing, he said in a trembling voice: "I will not stop until I die."

Li Hu smiled and said, "Don't learn from Jia Yun. What's the use of life and death? If you die, who will do things for me?"

Ni Er smiled and replied, "Yes. I have to keep my life to serve the general." After saying that, he kowtowed again and got up.

Ni Er suddenly remembered: "Qiu Ying has also made a discovery. They are following a carriage."

Li Hu's eyes flashed.

Ni Er: "The people around Qiu Ying were very alert. Our people were almost discovered several times. We didn't dare to follow too closely."

Li Hu nodded: "Just check it slowly."

At this moment, Wang Daniu's report came from outside the tent: "General, someone is coming from Yuqing Palace."

Li Hu: "Please come in."

The curtain was lifted, and Wang Daniu came in with a eunuch in blue.

The eunuch was obviously very familiar with Li Hu. He walked up to Li Hu, bowed, and quickly took out a letter from his arms and presented it to him with both hands.

Li Hu took the letter, tore it open and read it, then smiled in his heart. It seemed that the emperor was stimulated. If the policy of "equalizing the land tax and the land tax" could be implemented, the burden on the people could be alleviated to a certain extent.

Thinking about this, Li Hu folded the letter and said to the eunuch, "Go back and tell the prince that I will go to the palace early tomorrow morning."

The eunuch replied, "Yes!" and turned around and walked out quickly.

Li Hu said to Wang Daniu again: "Pack up and go home."

There was a restaurant, which was filled with drinkers.

Unlike the bustling front yard, the backyard was deathly silent.

Bai Hongzhi had obviously just finished taking a shower. He had his hair loose and was sitting in a chair in front of the window with a gloomy face.

The old steward brought in a bowl of tea and said softly, "Master Sun, have a sip of hot tea."

Bai Hongzhi: "I don't believe that there won't be any clues left!"

The old steward hesitated for a moment and said, "Could it be that they embezzled it?"

Bai Hongzhi was startled at first, then shook his head: "Impossible, they are all old people who followed Grandpa. Besides, they have seen more money."

Elderly steward: "It's different now."

Bai Hongzhi was startled.

The old steward was silent for a moment: "If they didn't embezzle it, then the army did it."

"Oh?!" Bai Hongzhi was startled again.

The old steward: "A caravan of nearly a hundred people, only the army can do such a thing! Not even a trace was left. In addition, it is certain that the caravan did not enter the territory of Jizhou."

Bai Hongzhi stretched out his hand to stop the old steward: "Let me think about it."

Silence fell again.

After a while, Bai Hongzhi raised his head and looked at the old steward: "Is it Li Hu?"

The old steward: "It is also possible that the Jizhou garrison committed the crime across regions. They are fine, they are just seeking money. If it is Li Hu, we should make plans early, he is probably suspicious. There has been no movement for such a long time, either he has no evidence, or he is waiting for the opportunity!"

Bai Hongzhi nodded.

The old steward said: "We can't stay in the capital any longer. We have to leave."

Bai Hongzhi thought for a moment and said: "Let's prepare first. I think King Zhongshun has almost made up his mind. Let's get his money."

At this moment, the voice of the guard came from outside the door: "Master Sun, people from Zhongshun Palace are here!"

"understood."

Bai Hongzhi said to the old steward: "We are still safe for the time being. You should prepare first and wait until I come back from Prince Zhongshun's mansion."

(End of this chapter)