The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

Chapter 33 Notoriety
The battle began at nightfall. The city wall was blown down at the beginning of the 11th hour of the 14th hour, the government office was breached at the 3rd quarter of the 15th hour, and the battle was over at the 11th hour of the next day.

Most of Fengxiang City was engulfed in flames, and the flames lit up half the sky red!
By the moat, Li Hu was sitting on a tall black horse.

More than 1,300 young and strong men were rescued in this battle. At this time, they were sitting quietly by the moat. Many of them lowered their heads and said nothing. There were also brave men who looked at Li Hu who was sitting upright on his horse.

Everyone thought that the government troops would attack the city in five or six days, so they handed over some unimportant city walls to these young and strong men to guard, which saved them from disaster.

Someone whispered, "Here it comes!"

A troop of cavalry arrived.

Behind the cavalry, a large group of officers and soldiers drove the bandits towards this side through the collapsed gap!
All the bandits were tied up in long rows with hemp ropes around their right arms, and each of them had his trousers held up with his left hand.

Looking at these captives, Li Hu's eyes showed obvious hesitation.

After breaking into the government office, Li Hu learned that the mastermind behind the attack was the White Lotus Sect, which forced him to reconsider how to deal with the prisoners.

He was already worried about these vicious bandits, and now the White Lotus Sect got involved, so he didn't have time to sort them out.

Soon, the open space not far away was filled with prisoners, and the officers and soldiers were still driving them away.

Li Hu's eyes swept over the captives, and his expression became uglier as his eyes moved. There were too many of them, there were already three or four thousand of them, and the final number was estimated to reach five or six thousand! So many captives gathered together, it was like a time bomb, something could happen at any time. And those White Lotus sect members were the best at deceiving people, and once a riot broke out, these young and strong men would be unable to stop it.

Never let the tiger go back to the mountain!!!
Thinking of this, Li Hu closed his eyes and then whispered a few words in Wang Daniu's ear.

Wang Daniu's eyes widened: "This, killing prisoners is not a good thing!"

Li Hu was silent for a moment, then said, "They are bandits who do all kinds of evil. They are not soldiers, let alone ordinary people."

Wang Daniu was silent for a moment, "This is too cruel."

At this moment, Jia Yun called on several soldiers to carry a corpse towards Li Hu.

"Great joy!"

Jia Yun ran up to him and reported to Li Hu, "General, this old man is the leader of the Shaanxi branch of the White Lotus Sect." He pointed to the shriveled old man on the door panel.

Li Hu took a closer look and nodded. He then said to the guards behind him, "Cut off his head and send it to the emperor." He then turned his gaze to Wang Daniu and asked, "Why aren't you going yet?"

Wang Daniu opened his mouth and had to answer, "Yes."

At this time, the commander of the Xi'an Patrol Battalion came over and reported: "General Li, all the prisoners have been brought in, a total of 5,367 people."

Li Hu was silent.

The captain was slightly stunned and had to look at Jia Yun.

Jia Yun waved his hand.

The captain bowed to Li Hu and retreated.

Jia Yun looked at the prisoners, then at Wang Daniu who was directing the gunners to turn the guns. He seemed to understand something and swallowed subconsciously.

Li Hu saw it and asked: "Do you think I am cruel?"

Jia Yun immediately replied, "They are bandits, not prisoners of war. The general is acting in the name of justice and is also warning other bandits to understand that if they resist stubbornly, they will die."

Li Hu tilted his head to look at him and said, "Just now, news came from the capital that the Beijing camp has expanded its army to 300,000."

Jia Yun was stunned for a moment, then immediately saluted with one leg, "Congratulations, General!"

Li Hu nodded with satisfaction: "When we reach the Black Water Valley, you will command the Firearms Battalion."

In order to save time, Li Hu asked Zhang Cheng to lead the firearms battalion to set off first.

Jia Yun: "Thank you, General."

The cannons fired, and one cannon after another spewed out large balls of fire, and immediately the prisoners were blown into the sky!

The captives were in chaos and began to flee in all directions, but they were not running in the same direction and were caught by the ropes and fell down one after another!
The young men squatting by the moat all looked terrified.

Li Hu sighed. He didn't want to be so cruel, but there were too many people and he had to be on guard. As for the infamy and impeachment from the Qingliu, he accepted it!
The artillery fire was very fast, and those bandits and White Lotus Sect members soon fell in a pool of blood!

Li Hu took out a pocket watch from his pocket and checked it. It would be dawn in two hours.

Li Hu thought for a moment and said to Jia Yun, "Except for those on duty, everyone else should rest. Cook at 7 p.m. and move camp at 9 p.m." Fengxiang City was on fire, and the scene was so devastating that it could be seen from more than ten miles away.

On a loess plateau, pairs of angry eyes were looking at the burning Fengxiang City.

The young man knelt straight on the ground, motionless.

He knew that the Beijing Camp was powerful, but he did not expect that Fengxiang City would be breached in less than a day.

Just then, a member of the White Lotus sect stumbled over.

The man ran to the young man and knelt down, crying, "Dead, all dead. The government troops used artillery to massacre the brothers who surrendered, leaving no one alive."

The young man was so frightened that his body trembled and tears came out of his eyes.

Countless eyes were looking at him at this time.

The young man closed his eyes, stood up, looked at Fengxiang City and said, "Let's go to Xi'an." After that, he turned around and strode away.

Xi'an, also known as Chang'an and Haojing, was one of the four ancient capitals of China and was the capital of more than a dozen dynasties.

Without the threat of war, Xi'an has returned to its former glory, and the atmosphere of prosperity can be seen everywhere.

Since yesterday, rumors have suddenly spread in the market that Li Hu allowed his troops to plunder in Fengxiang City and even the surrounding villages were looted. In order to cover up his crimes, he used artillery to torture and kill nearly 10,000 prisoners of war who surrendered voluntarily. Everyone from the Shaanxi Governor's Office to teahouses and taverns, and even peddlers and hawkers knew about it.

Some people with bad intentions gave him the bad nickname "Li the Barber".

The busy street was crowded with people. The window of a private room in a restaurant on the north side of the street was open, and a young man in plain clothes stood in front of the window, lost in thought.

This was the third day since he arrived in Xi'an City and the seventh day since he left Fengxiang City.

Suddenly, the door of the private room was pushed open.

A strong man came in excitedly, greeted the young man, and said, "The Shaanxi Provincial Governor has indeed sent a man on a fast horse to the direction of Fengxiang."

The young man slowly turned around, walked to his seat at the wooden table and sat down.

Strong man: "Sir, should we send people to northern Shaanxi to spread the word?"

The young man shook his head: "The governor of Shaanxi is the second prince's man. He will report the matter of Fengxiang to the second prince. The second prince will definitely take advantage of this opportunity. It won't be long before Li Hu will be impeached by the Qingliu."

After a pause, he said, "Death is too easy for him. I will torture him and make him suffer humiliation and pain."

After hearing this, the strong man said bitterly: "He will pay for this with blood sooner or later."

The young man picked up his glass and asked, "Have the people who were sent to get information returned?"

The strong man said: "My lord, except for Ziwu Dao, everyone else has returned, but we still don't know the whereabouts of the Left Protector."

The young man sighed and said, "Something happened." Then he drank it in one gulp.

Strong man: “This”

There was a sound of hurried footsteps, and then a burly man with mud all over his face and body rushed in, almost tripping over the threshold, and gasping for breath: "Something happened!"

The young man stood up suddenly.

The strong man said: "Left Guardian and his men were blocked by government troops at the entrance of Heishui Valley in Zhouzhi County."

The young man was startled: "What?!"

The strong man took a breath and said, "The man surnamed Li transferred all the surrounding government troops to Zhouzhi County and surrounded the area like an iron wall. The brothers couldn't get in, and we got some news from the young and strong men who were escorting the grain and grass. They said that the government troops blocked the rebels who escaped from Hanzhong at the entrance of Heishui Valley, and also said that it had been raining heavily in Heishui Valley for the past few days."

The young man's brain buzzed, and he sat down like a sleepwalker, muttering, "It's over. It's over."

Another strong man: "Young Master."

The young man raised his head, looked at the roof, and sighed, "Heaven doesn't help me, Bai Hongzhi." A strong sense of frustration came over him, but it was only a moment, and then a sense of pride rushed up, and he stood up, "Let's go to the capital."

The two were shocked: "Aren't you going to the Second Prince?"

Bai Hongzhi: "No, I'm not going. I'm going to the capital, to study there, and to win the title of the top scholar next year." After saying that, he strode out.

(End of this chapter)