The Red Mansions

Chapter 745 Shen Fang: This...Zhen Zhu, you fool me!

Yangzhou
Zhen Zhu, the governor of Weigang Township in Tongzhou, Zhen Zhu, the navy under his command was destroyed, and the news that he was captured spread like wildfire, spreading to the entire Yangzhou and Jiangnan, just like a typhoon blowing in Jiangnan. The face hurts.

Some said that the army of Eastern captives had landed in the south of the Yangtze River in large numbers by sea ships, and the imperial army was retreating steadily.

Some said that this is the Eastern Captives wanting to imitate the Great Han Dynasty and seize the land of wealth and wealth in the Southern Province first, and then use it to sweep the world.

For a time, people in Yangzhou were panicked and rumors spread everywhere.

Inside the Zhen Family Manor, in the elegant and beautiful courtyard, Princess Chu Zhen Qing stood up from the pear flower wooden chair and stood there blankly. The person narrated, his complexion changed greatly, and he murmured: "How could this happen?"

The fourth uncle led more than 1 sailors in Zhenhai, and he couldn't even hold on for a long time. He was defeated and lost, and even himself was folded in the army. How is this possible?

Zhen Qing felt cold all over her body, and a thick layer of haze covered her heart. Now the house of Zhen's house is really leaking, and it rains all night, and the shipwreck turns into a headwind.

The young woman Huaxin immediately thought of Jia Heng.

Yes, that bastard, he must have a way!

Thinking of this, Zhen Qing was about to order the female officer to go to the Jiangbei Camp, when she suddenly felt that it was inappropriate to go looking for someone at this moment, and then, at this moment, a nun came from the courtyard and said anxiously: " Princess, the third and fourth misses are back."

While speaking, several maidservants surrounded the third miss Zhen Lan and the fourth miss Zhen Xi into the flower hall, the two sisters' complexions were not very good-looking, and panic was clearly seen on the snowy and pretty eggs.

Zhen Qing hurriedly went up to meet them, took the arms of the two younger sisters, and asked, "Third younger sister, fourth younger sister, where is Uncle Yongning?"

Zhen Lan sighed, and said softly: "Elder Sister, Brother Heng has sent soldiers and horses to help Uncle, let me come and report to you that something happened to Fourth Uncle and Zhen Haijun. The pirates have been defeated, and now life or death is unknown."

Hearing this, Zhen Xi's teary eyes were hazy, and there were clearly tears on her face as big as a slap. She had already cried just now, and said in a delicate voice with a bit of grievance because of the crying: "Sister, Daddy was defeated and captured!" gone."

Zhen Qing asked: "What did you say, Big Brother Heng, is there any possibility that your father will be rescued?"

"I don't know." Zhen Xi shook her head, her eyes were charming and she was obviously caught in a wave of sadness.

Zhen Lan took over the conversation, and said softly: "Brother Heng didn't say anything, he just sent a navy to assist Tongzhou Weigang."

According to her estimate, fourth uncle will never come back.

In fact, I would say something cold-blooded from the bottom of my heart, it would be better for my fourth uncle to die in battle if he was captured, and he could still gain the reputation of being loyal and brave.

Thinking of this, Zhen Lan sighed inwardly.

Upon hearing this, Zhen Qing saw a look of worry on her seductive and beautiful face, and said in a low voice: "I'm afraid what will happen if my wife finds out about this?"

And that bastard, lead the troops over like this, so nothing happens.

Zhen Lan said: "Sister, the news from Yangzhou will reach Jinling in a short time, the old lady will know about it anyway."

With the old lady Zhen's age and physical condition, she was already holding on, and it was probably the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Zhen Qing sighed, but didn't know what to do.

Not to mention the terrified people in Yangzhou, but it is said that Jia Heng and the [-] sailors and [-] infantry of Jiangbei Daying left the water village and rushed to Tongzhou Weigang for help.

In the evening, the twilight was low, and a bright moon as big as a disc hung high in the sky, and the sound of the water on the side of the ship's side was "crashing" non-stop.

"Duoduo must have contacted many pirates for revenge. There are 2 pirates in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. This battle is not easy to fight on water." Chen Xiao looked at the one standing on the bow of the ship, standing with his sword The boy reminded in a low voice.

The young man in front of him is not a pure naval general, and he doesn't know if he will fight in water.

Jia Heng said in a deep voice: "These pirates dare not confront the imperial court head-on, and they cooperate with each other for profit. It's okay if the battle goes smoothly, but once the battle is at a stalemate, their minds will definitely be shaken and they will be scattered with a bang. , the key is to look at the elite soldiers under Duoduo."

He is not timid about water warfare, but in today's firearms age, in Yu Dayou's words, more boats are better than fewer boats, and big blunderbusses are better than small blunderbusses.

Chen Ling thought for a while, her eyes were clear, and she said softly, "Then you just know what's in your mind."

Jia Heng looked at Chen Xiao, and said in a low voice: "There are a lot of boatmen, sailors, and warships in Weigang, Tongzhou, so there must be no loss."

There are generally water villages where warships berth, which are used to repair ships and supply water for daily life, and they should not be too far away from the county seat. The warship was burned, and the boatmen were slaughtered and looted.

Chen Xiaodao: "If the Jiangbei camp is not in order, I'm afraid that the pirates will be like a broken bamboo, and it's unknown if they break into Jinling."

Jia Heng frowned and said: "If you really want to break into Jinling, I'm afraid the world will shake."

The enemy invaded Jinling, and Shen Fang and Zhen's family disappeared under the emperor's anger, but he was the Minister of Military Affairs, so he could hardly absolve himself of the blame.

Because, now that he is in command of the Jiangbei camp in Yangzhou, how can he sit back and watch the captives pass through Yangzhou and arrive at Jinling?
Therefore, the worst outcome is the fall of Tongzhou Weigang.

But after the fall, if you want to fight back against the enemy, you need to accumulate strength again.

Thinking in this way, when the sky was getting closer, the sailors who were looking out came to report that the fleet had sailed into Weigang, Tongzhou.

In fact, when Jia Heng raised his eyes, he could already see that there was a sea of ​​flames in front of the water village, almost reddening the river sky, and the sound of shouting and killing came from afar along with the sea breeze.

It was clearly Duoduo's side. After the ships and sailors took a rest, they did not stop, ordered the ships to head towards Tongzhou Weigang, and fought with the soldiers staying behind in Tongzhou Weigang Water Village.

There are still 7000 sailors left behind in Tongzhou Weigang, plus the defeated sailor fleet, there are about [-] people.

Duoduo clearly approached the water village with a chain of boats, and then ignited the kerosene in the front boat to burn the water village in Weigang, Tongzhou.

Meanwhile, Feng Ji, the commander of the army at Weigang in Tongzhou, and Wei Che, the general of the navy and the guerrilla general Wei Che, guarded the camp and set fire to the boat from the inside. , It is clearly the purpose of delaying ships entering the port and waiting for reinforcements.

Jia Heng looked solemn, and ordered: "Liu Jixian, let the drummers beat the drums, wave the flags, and let the navy general lead the navy to drive away the pirates."

The ships of the Han Dynasty also have cannons. Although the Flang cannon has a shorter range and is not as powerful as the Hongyi cannon, compared with the pirates, the equipment is more damaged and the firepower is much stronger. push it back.

Now the navy of Jiangbei Daying is divided into three teams. Because of his experience in water warfare, Shuiyu also led the former general of Jiangbei Daying's former navy to fight with the army this time.

In addition to the generals who were not involved in the corruption of the Mexican army's salary, these naval generals also had three mid- and low-ranking naval generals.

For these three people, in Jia Heng's promise, if they have made meritorious service this time, they can reduce their salary by half.

Liu Jixian received the command, ordered the drummers to beat the drums, waved the flag on the flagship, and followed the sailors of Jiangbei Daying to advance towards the fleet of pirates. Suddenly, the sound of drums on Liao Kuo's river was as dense as raindrops, exciting people's hearts.

Then, Shui Yu and the generals of the navy led the boats and attacked the captives. Compared with the navy of Daying Town in the south of the Yangtze River, which had just established and lacked training, the navy of Daying in the Jiangbei Town had been fully reorganized and was obviously much stronger.

"Boom boom boom!"

"Whizzing!!!"

All of a sudden, the ship's guns, guns, bows and arrows fired at the Donglu in the dark night with fire.

Seeing this, Qin Dong, the head of the Four Seas Gang who was protecting the flanks, was in a state of confusion and hurriedly gathered in the middle camp.

On the other side, Duoduo also noticed the reinforcements from the Jiangbei camp coming, and saw this scene.

Su Hetai said: "Master, the reinforcements from the Jiangbei Camp have arrived, and the people below can't stop them."

After all, after a day of fighting, the pirates consumed a lot of willpower and physical strength, and the three pirates in the middle each sent 500 people to go ashore to plunder goods, and landed in Haimen, Suzhou Prefecture and other places to plunder goods. .

At this moment, Duoduo acted as if he hadn't heard, looking at the Jiangbei Daying ships hundreds of meters away.

Because it was shrouded in darkness, even though it was a bright moon in the sky, but because the eyes of the hands were not clear, they didn't meet the ship. After a while, the pirates held the small boat open, and countless soldiers fell into the water.

Shang Guanrui, the head of the Angry Jiao Gang, looked at the black masts in the distance, all of which were government ships, and felt a sense of fear in his heart. He walked up to Duoduo and said, "My lord, it's getting late and the soldiers are exhausted. Why don't you call gold first?" Withdraw the troops and fight again tomorrow."

Duoduo looked at the fleet of officers and soldiers in the distance, his icy eyes seemed to travel through time and space, and fell on the face of the boy in python at the bow of the ship. Knowing that he couldn't capture Tongzhou Weigang suddenly, he could only whisper: "Mingjin!"

"Clang clang!!!"

As the sound of the gong sounded on the flagship, Duoduo's fleet sailed far away from Tongzhou Weigang, and the fire of the Tongzhou Weigang water village in the distance gradually became smaller in sight until it was cleared in the night sky. line.

Chen Xiao looked at the fleet that escaped by the moonlight, and said in a low voice, "Should we send someone to chase them?"

Jia Heng said in a deep voice: "We don't have an advantage in military strength, so we will send a team to fight the fire first, and we will wait here and stand ready."

At this moment, Weigang, Tongzhou, which was right in front of us, was almost in chaos, and the Jiangbei Daying navy would easily mess up when they went in. Perhaps, Duoduo sent his men to go back by boat, and then caught them off guard.

Yu Jin gathered the rebellious soldiers, and did not directly lead the rebel soldiers into the stronghold.

But on Duoduo's side, the boat sailed five or six miles, but his eyes still did not look away from Tongzhou Weigang behind him.

"Master, the Han army didn't come after us." Su Hetai whispered, "Master, it's time for dinner."

Duoduo was a little unwilling and said, "Go back to Haimen first."

After repeated battles, the soldiers on the ship were indeed exhausted, and they were not suitable for further battles. After recharging their energy and saving taxes, they landed in Taicang and Jiading on both sides of the river to plunder.

After half an hour, looking at the gradually extinguished flames in the distance, Jia Heng frowned slightly, and said to Chen Xiao: "Let's go to Weigang to have a look."

The navy and boats in Tongzhou Weigang need to be replenished into the Jiangbei camp.

Jinling, Zhen's house

In Fuxuan Hall, the lights were brightly lit, and there were many figures.

Mrs. Zhen was leaning on a bed covered with soft mattresses. After eating, she asked Zhen Yingjia's wife, Mrs. Gan, and said, "The two girls haven't come back yet?"

Gan smiled and said: "Old lady, I was talking about it just now. Girl Qing took the two of them to Yangzhou. His third uncle said that Shihui didn't see anyone."

Mrs. Zhen smiled and said: "Lan'er has settled with someone, and this year I wanted Xi'er to also settle down, but don't worry, Xi'er is still young."

Zhen Baoyu who was sitting below said softly: "Old ancestor, the third younger sister and the fourth younger sister are going to get married."

"Your fourth younger sister will be married to someone else in two years' time, and she will be settled now." Gan said with a smile.

Zhen Baoyu was displeased when he heard the words, but he couldn't say anything.

At this moment, there was a commotion from outside.

Old Madam Zhen frowned and asked, "Why is it so noisy outside? Go over and have a look."

At this time, a nanny came out of the hall with a terrified expression, and met the gazes of Mrs. Zhen and Mrs. Gan. She wanted to speak for a moment, but she dared not.

Seeing this, Mrs. Zhen's old eyes showed seriousness, and a bad premonition suddenly appeared in her heart, and she asked, "What's wrong?"

In front of the mighty Mrs. Zhen, the nanny had no choice but to bite the bullet and said: "Old lady, something happened, everyone outside said that the fourth master led Zhen Haijun to fight the pirates in Tongzhou, and suffered a big defeat." , people were also captured by bandits."

When Mrs. Zhen heard the words, she opened her mouth like a thunderbolt from the blue sky, only to feel that her eyes were dark, the sky was spinning, and she didn't know anything about personnel.

Seeing this, Gan yelled anxiously: "Old lady..."

Immediately, there was great chaos in Fuxuan hall, the caller was calling the doctor, and the one who was pinching someone in front of him was in chaos.

And in the Yichun garden of the manor, Zhen Yingjia, Zhen Shao, and Zhen Xuan, who were having a banquet with the children of the clan, all heard the news and came to Fuxuan Hall one after another. They were all shocked when they heard that the old lady Zhen had fainted Pale.

Until midnight, the courtyard outside Fuxuan Hall was already full of Zhen's family members, except for Beijing Princess Zhen Xue, Zhen Shao's wife and Zhen Xuan's wife were all waiting.

Zhen Jue, Zhen Lin and other daughter-in-laws, as well as other brothers and sisters in the concubine, gathered in the hall with mournful expressions on their faces.

With a sound of "humming and chirping", the old lady Zhen woke up and turned around, her face was ugly, her breath was weak and she said, "Jia'er."

"Mother." Zhen Yingjia was approaching, with tears streaming down his face, calling out.

Old Madam Zhen's vision was blurred, and she said tremblingly, "Your fourth brother..."

Zhen Yingjia said bitterly, "Mother, don't worry about your fourth brother. Mother must take care of herself."

Old Madam Zhen narrowed her eyes, glanced at the anxious faces, stretched out her hand weakly, and called: "Jia'er, hurry up and invite Brother Heng."

Everyone in the Zhen family: "..."

"Mother, Brother Heng took the navy from the Jiangbei Camp to Tongzhou Weigang, and he can rescue the fourth brother." Zhen Yingjia said hastily.

Zhen Shao said with relief: "Mother, the fourth brother is now in the hands of Donglu. When the Jiangbei camp wins, there may be a chance of survival."

Old Madam Zhen said dejectedly, "The Zhen family is over."

As soon as these words came out, it was as if a cold wind was blowing in the hall, what's the end?
Zhen Yingjia said softly, "Why did mother say that?"

Zhen Xue also raised her beautiful black eyebrows, and looked at Old Madam Zhen, but her heart was filled with various speculations.

The old lady Zhen said: "If it spreads to Beijing, I'm afraid the Holy One will be angry."

As soon as these words came out, Zhen Yingjia and Zhen Shao looked at each other, and they both saw solemnity and fear in each other's eyes.

There was also a hint of worry in Zhen Xuewanli's eyes.

He led his soldiers and horses to meet the pirates, but he didn't know what happened.

Liangjiang Governor's Yamen
It was almost midnight, and the full moon hung in the middle of the sky. On this festive occasion, the lights in the wing room were brightly lit, and a lone shadow reflected in the window.

Because Shen Fang's wife, Mrs. Zheng, went back to her natal home to visit relatives, at this moment only Liangjiang governor Shen Fang was left in the study, sitting behind the mahogany desk, holding a memorial book to read.

This is the memorandum written by Chen Zuo in the past, mainly describing the income and expenditure of taxes in the south of the Yangtze River. For this reason, he was appreciated by today's emperor, and he was able to serve as the governor of Liangjiang, one of the most important feudal officials in the world.

But at this moment, accompanied by the sound of light footsteps, Shen Bing followed the prestige, and saw a young woman with a pretty face and a graceful figure, holding a red lacquered wooden food box in her hand, and there was a steaming soup bowl inside.

Shen Fang asked in surprise, "Why did the girl come here?"

The person who came was none other than Xiao Zheng, the wife of Gao Bin, the former governor of the river.

Mrs. Zheng said softly: "Seeing that the light is on in my brother's study, thinking that my brother is still dealing with official business, I made him a bowl of white fungus and lotus seed soup."

Shen Fang put down the memorandum, looked at Mrs. Zheng, and said softly: "I'm sorry, I'll leave it to the servants to do it."

As Xiao Zheng said, she approached the desk, put down the food box, took the white fungus and lotus seed soup from it, and said: "Your servant is clumsy, so you may not know what your brother likes."

As he spoke, he held a spoon and put it in a porcelain bowl, smiling sweetly, and spooning in his bare hands.

Although Xiao Zheng was dressed in a simple filial piety dress, and there was only a hairpin pinned with white pearl flowers on her elegant hair, but that beautiful face was smeared with a touch of rouge, and the widow's charm naturally overflowed between her eyebrows and eyes. Feminine and charming.

Xiao Zheng raised her eyes to look at Shen Bing, and asked, "What have you been up to, brother?"

Shen Fang said: "These days I have been busy with the rectification of the Jiangnan Camp, and the Jiangfang needs to be sorted out and consolidated."

As he spoke, he realized that the woman in front of him might not be able to understand these things, so he stopped talking, but saw Xiao Zheng's lowered head, under the neck, a deep gully appeared, and a large piece of white skin dazzled the eye.

Shen Fang frowned, and turned his old eyes aside, but bursts of tangy fragrance wafted from Zheng's body, which made people feel distracted.

But they were quickly driven aside, after all, they were in their forties or fifties.

Mrs. Zheng handed over the white fungus and lotus seed soup that she had served, and said with a round and jade-like voice as if clear water was flowing through the palm of her hand, "Here, brother."

Shen Fang nodded, stretched out his hand and said, "I'll just come...?"

"Oh." Xiao Zheng said in surprise, it was clearly an accident, and the soup fell into Shen Fang's arms.

"Brother..." Xiao Zheng hurriedly reached out and took out a handkerchief, wanting to help Shen Fang wipe the porridge on his legs.

Shen Fang frowned, got up quickly, waved his hands and said, "It's nothing, I'll just change into clothes."

As a provincial official, I haven't seen any scenes before, so I don't know that my sister-in-law is seducing me.

However, he has read the books of sages and sages, and in the future he will serve the king, regulate yin and yang, make meritorious deeds, establish words, and establish virtues. How can he be so flawless?

Xiao Zheng raised her eyes to look at Shen Fang, under Chunshan's black eyebrows, her eyes moved like ripples in autumn water, and said softly: "Brother, are you really so cruel?"

Shen Fang was silent for a moment, then said in a deep voice: "My brother's bones are not cold, younger siblings are like this..."

When it came to the end, I also felt that the words were a bit heavy, so I stopped talking, but the meaning was self-evident.

Xiao Zheng's delicate body trembled, tears rolled down, and she murmured: "Brother, my husband is wronged."

Shen Fang was about to speak, when he heard hurried footsteps from outside, and immediately called out: "Master, the urgent military situation from Jiangbei."

Shen Fang was startled when he heard the words, ignored the little Zheng who was pear blossoms and rained, and hurriedly walked towards the door, quickly took the military report from the servant, and read it with the lantern hanging on the eaves, his face suddenly changed , Even the hand holding the official document was trembling slightly.

"This... Zhen Zhu, you fool me!" Shen Fang was startled and angry, and said anxiously, almost falling to his feet and sighing.

(End of this chapter)