The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

Chapter 37 Letter

An autumn wind blew, and the dead leaves fluttered down and landed on the pavilion.

The Luoyang prefect, the associate prefect and other Luoyang officials stood in the reception pavilion, looking anxiously at the official road leading to the distance.

The deputy magistrate standing behind the prefect of Luoyang took out a gold watch from his pocket, took a look, and saw that the needle had pointed to the time between the end of the evening and the beginning of the evening. He put it back in his pocket, stepped forward, and whispered in the ear of the prefect of Luoyang: "Sir, it looks like we will have to spend the night in Luoyang City. Should we get ready?"

The Luoyang prefect still stared at the official road in the distance and said, "What you fear will come true."

The Tongzhi smiled bitterly and shook his head. The Luoyang City was now a powder keg that could be ignited and exploded at any time. Various forces were entrenched, waiting for the convoy that would escort the Left Protector of the White Lotus Sect.

At this moment, a clerk and two yamen runners came running in breathlessly: "Sir! Sir!"

The prefect of Luoyang hurried out to greet him: "What's the matter? Why are you so flustered?"

The clerk said: "Good news, good news! The governor has transferred two thousand elite soldiers from Kaifeng."

Just as he finished speaking, there was the sound of horse hooves, and a group of more than twenty riders galloped towards the reception pavilion.

The horsemen who had galloped to the reception pavilion pulled their reins and stopped. The man in the lead was Jia Yun.

At this time, Jia Yun was wearing the uniform of a Qianzong officer, his body was stained with blood and scars, and it was obvious that he had experienced a great battle.

Jia Yun's eyes fell on the prefect of Luoyang and he spoke: "Our general said that we will not enter the city, but stay overnight at the post station outside the city."

Everyone was overjoyed when they heard this.

The prefect of Luoyang heaved a sigh of relief and said to his colleague, "Hurry up and prepare the food and hot water."

Tongzhi: "Yes." Then he ran away for his life.

The prefect of Luoyang looked up at the sky. It had already become gloomy, and now the dark clouds were growing thicker and thicker.

The prefect of Luoyang looked at Jia Yun and said, "It's going to rain."

Jia Yun smiled and said, "It's good to have rain."

The prefect of Luoyang was secretly surprised, for he was afraid that the White Lotus Sect who had sneaked into Luoyang would not take action!

The sky was gloomy and thunder was rumbling.

As it was about to rain, pedestrians on the street quickened their pace. Soon, the bustling streets became empty and deserted.

There was a sound of footsteps, and a middle-aged man with a beard ran over from the other end of the street and entered a restaurant.

There were more than a dozen people sitting in the hall, all looking at the middle-aged man who came in.

The manager at the counter came over and said a few words, then led the middle-aged man upstairs.

The steward knocked on the door of a private room and led the middle-aged man in.

The window of the box facing the street was ajar, and a middle-aged man in tight clothes stood there with a sword hanging from his waist.

The middle-aged man tore off his beard and stepped forward to report: "Master, a government army has arrived from Kaifeng, with a number of about 2,000 people."

The manager spoke up: "Not counting Li the Barber's men, there are already 5,000 elite soldiers in Luoyang City. The brothers and believers of our Qinglong Hall alone cannot rescue the Left Protector."

The middle-aged man slowly turned around, and upon closer inspection, he had a somewhat similar face to the Left Protector.

He is the leader of the Qinglong Hall of the White Lotus Sect and the son of the Left Protector.

The head of the Azure Dragon Hall spoke up: "Why haven't the people from the White Tiger Hall arrived yet?"

Before he finished speaking, a strong man rushed in like a gust of wind, panting: "Something happened. The people from the White Tiger Hall changed their route to ambush the scouts of the government army. More than a hundred people were killed."

Qinglong Hall Master: "How many people are there on the other side?"

Strong man: "Two, more than twenty people."

There was silence.

The leader of the Qinglong Hall clenched the hilt of his sword. Li Hu gave them hope, but also made them despair. Including the people from the White Tiger Hall, three groups of people have died at the hands of Li Hu. The gap in strength between the two sides is too big, and it cannot be made up by numbers.

At this moment, there was a bright flash of lightning, followed by a loud thunder and heavy rain.

There were footsteps coming from the stairs, and then another strong man came in and reported to the Qinglong Hall Master: "Hall Master, Li the Barber did not go into the city, but went to the post station outside the city."

The Qinglong Hall Master's eyes flashed.

The manager was excited: "In such heavy rain, the government troops' firearms are no better than fire sticks. No one can hide around the post station, so we don't have to worry about Li the Barber playing dirty. As long as we can hold back the government troops in Luoyang City, we still have a great hope of rescuing the Dharma Protector."

The three of them echoed in unison.

The leader of the Qinglong Hall knew that this was a trap set by Li Hu, but he was still tempted. Li Hu only had five or six hundred people. Without firearms, they were like tigers without teeth. Besides, they were saving people, not trying to destroy Li Hu.

But he was unsure!

The leader of the Qinglong Hall paced back and forth in the box in annoyance.

At this time, a man covered in mud walked in and knelt down in front of the Qinglong Hall Master: "Hall Master, this is a letter from the Sect Leader. The Sect Leader said that it is of great importance, please open it immediately." He took out a cowhide envelope from his arms and presented it with both hands.

The leader of Qinglong Hall took the letter, tore it open and read it, then excitement showed on his face.

After reading the letter, the head of the Qinglong Hall said to the manager, "Notify them to cancel the operation and withdraw from Luoyang City in batches to join forces with Jining Prefecture in Shandong."

The manager: "Master."

The head of the Qinglong Hall shook the letter in his hand and said, "Someone has offered money and weapons to seek revenge on Li Hu!"

At this time, torrential rain covered the entire post station.

Li Hu has arrived.

In the guest room of the inn, Li Hu sat in a daze under the dim light, holding a letter.

After a long while, Li Hu came back to his senses, put the letter down, took a blank piece of letter paper, picked up a pen and started writing.

As soon as he arrived at the post station, Li Hu received a letter from Lin Ruhai.

Lin Ruhai mentioned two things in the letter. The first was that the four major salt merchants in Yangzhou went bankrupt, and half of the officials in Jiangsu were implicated, and even the Zhen family in Jiangnan was involved.

As for another matter, Jia's mother wrote a letter to Lin Ruhai, wanting to bring Lin Daiyu to Beijing. The reason was that she had killed too many people and offended too many forces, and she was worried that something might happen again. The ship of Rongguo Mansion was already on the way to Yangzhou.

Lin Ruhai did not dare to let Lin Daiyu stay in Yangzhou any longer, and hoped that Li Hu could understand him and agree to this matter.

Lin Daiyu definitely cannot be allowed to live in Rongguo Mansion. Big-Faced Bao hangs out in the inner chambers all day long. Lin Daiyu is not one of the three sisters in the Jia family. She is Jia Baoyu's cousin. Besides, Jia Baoyu is not an easy person to deal with. If any rumors get out, it will be no small matter.

Of course, Li Hu was worried about letting Lin Daiyu stay in Yangzhou. As for where to live in Beijing, when he received the imperial edict of promotion, Li Hu wrote a letter back to ask Li San to buy the house nearby.

Aunt Xue, a widow, can live in her brother-in-law's house with such a thick face, so why can't Lin Daiyu move into her own house earlier? With the emperor's edict, no one dares to gossip about her.

In addition, there was no one to serve in Li Hu's backyard, and if Lin Daiyu were to bring along the Lin family's maids and servants, no one would be able to find fault with the Lin family's servants when serving Lin Daiyu.

The people still had to be brought to the capital by Rongguo Mansion on behalf of Li Hu. As for what would happen next, Li Hu had already thought about it: rob!
After writing, Li Hu picked up the letter and blew on it. He did not say to snatch it, but only told Lin Ruhai not to worry and that he would handle it properly.

Lin Ruhai is so smart that he will definitely be able to guess it.

Li Hu wrote another letter to Lin Daiyu, and then called out, "Someone come."

A personal soldier came in in response.

Li Hu put the two letters into a cowhide envelope, sealed it, and handed it over: "Take a team of people to Yangzhou and wait for Lord Lin's orders."

The soldier took the envelope and answered loudly, "Yes." He turned around and strode out.

Picking up the letter, Li Hu smiled. He guessed what Grandmother Jia was thinking. She just wanted to take the opportunity to cultivate feelings with Lin Daiyu so that Lin Daiyu could persuade Li Hu to help the Jia family in the future.

Thinking of this, Li Hu sighed. He didn't know why this girl was crying.

(End of this chapter)