Chapter 245: Forty-Eight Counties on the Ten Roads in Jiangdong
Jia Lu was shocked and angry, but there was nothing he could do. A group of people, including the boat owner, joined together and surrounded them.
The shipowner also ordered people to raise the flag to warn the Jiangdu warships in the distance.
Fortunately, the attendants accompanying Jia Lu were all elites. They protected Jia Lu and escaped to the bottom cabin, grabbed a small sailboat and escaped from the passenger ship.
However, everyone did not know how to sail a boat, so after fleeing north for a while, the Jiangdu warships from behind chased them.
Seeing that he would be overtaken soon, Jia Lu hurriedly shouted: "Open the sail to the north and south and row eastward!"
The wind blowing now is from the west. As long as the front of the small sailboat is affected by the wind, even if you don't know how to sail, you can reach the maximum speed.
Sure enough, everyone followed his instructions, and the speed of the small boat increased instantly. Coupled with everyone's acceleration, they quickly pushed the big boat away.
After escaping for a while, Jia Lu ordered his men to turn and row northwest. However, after rowing for half a day, they still could not see the land.
Jia Lu felt a chill in his heart, knowing that everyone might have lost their way at sea. There was no food and water on the boat. In a few days, everyone would die of thirst.
While Jia Lu was anxious, one of his men shouted: "General, look, there is a fleet over there!"
Jia Lu turned around and saw that there was indeed a fleet rushing through the waves in the east direction. Judging from the flag, it should not be the Jiangdu Army.
He knew in his heart that if he missed this fleet, he would definitely die, so he had no choice but to take a gamble and ordered: "Get closer!"
The small sailboat moved towards the fleet.
The large fleet soon discovered the small boat of Jia Lu and others, and turned around and sailed over.
As they approached, Jia Lu finally saw the flag on the ship clearly, and couldn't help but be secretly frightened.
It turns out that there are two kinds of flags on the ship, one is a red flag with the word "Liu" in it, and the other is a green flag with very strange words written on it.
Jia Lu was well-informed and recognized that it was Japanese writing.
Just when he was wondering, the big boat approached the small boat and lowered the rope ladder. At this point, Jia Lu had no choice but to bite the bullet and go up.
When everyone got on the big ship, they were immediately surrounded by a group of short Japanese soldiers.
The leading Japanese soldier shouted something loudly. Although Jia Lu didn't understand, he understood what he meant. He gave an order to his men behind him, and everyone threw away their weapons.
A group of Japanese soldiers immediately rushed up, tied up all of them, and took them to the main cabin.
Jia Lu looked up and saw a bald man sitting at the head of the main cabin, with a burly build, holding two Japanese women on each side.
The bald man glanced at Jia Lu, grinned and said, "Are you Han or Mongolian?" He spoke clearly in Chinese.
Jia Lu said in a deep voice: "We are the generals of the Yuan Dynasty. Our Yuan Dynasty and your country have always been at peace in recent years. Please ask the general to send us back to the Central Plains. We will be richly rewarded by this Dynasty!"
The bald man laughed ferociously and said: "It turns out they are Tatars. I hate Tatars the most in my life. Whoever comes here, I will drag them down and chop them down!"
One of the followers shouted: "My general is Jia Lu, the newly appointed marshal of Jiangsu and Zhejiang troops. If you dare to kill us, you will start a war with me, Dayuan!"
The bald man was stunned, stared at Jia Lu and said: "Ah, you are Jia Lu, I have heard of your name!"
Jia Lu was taken aback, raised his hands and said: "I don't know what the general's surname is, but where have you heard my name before?"
The bald man grinned and said: "My name is Liu Ju. I used to lead a group of brothers to gather in the Xiaoshan Forest in Dingyuan. I have heard of you when you followed Tuotuo to massacre Xuzhou City!"
Jia Lu glanced at the Japanese people around him and said blankly: "How could the general...become the leader of the Japanese people?"
Liu Ju did not answer his question, but touched his chin and said with a smile: "I heard that you are good at strategizing and have fought against Jiangdu's army. Why don't you follow me?"
Jia Lu said in shock: "I...I..."
Liu Ju looked up to the sky and laughed, saying: "I heard that Fang Guozhen was defeated, and wanted to come here to avenge me. But I didn't find anyone else, but I met you. Isn't this God's will?"
Jia Lu said anxiously: "I am an official of the Yuan Dynasty!"
Liu Ju said coldly: "I'll give you two ways. Either you can become my adviser and hang out with me in the Japanese country, or I'll send you on your way!"
Jia Lu hesitated for a long time, and finally gave in: "Since the general is so respectful, Jia Lu is willing to do his best!"
Liu Ju was overjoyed, waved his hand, and ordered all the men around Jia Lu to be dragged down and executed. Jia Lu said anxiously: "Why do you want to kill them?"
Liu Ju glared and said, "If they don't die, what will happen if you run away?"
Jia Lu was speechless for a long time, and could only watch his men being killed.
Liu Ju invited Jia Lu to sit in the cabin, and ordered his table to be filled with wine and meat.
Jia Lu had no intention of eating or drinking, so he reluctantly took a few mouthfuls, raised his head and asked, "General, can I ask about the situation in Jiangnan?"
Liu Ju smiled and said: "You are my counselor now, you are welcome, just ask whatever you want to ask!"
Jia Lu said: "How is the Changshu Navy?"
Liu Ju curled his lips and said: "It was even worse than Fang Guozhen. Almost the entire army was wiped out and fled to Hangzhou."
Jia Lu asked again: "Where is the Yuan army in Liyang?"
"I also retreated to Hangzhou!"
"Where are the Yuan troops quarrying?"
"We have also retreated to Jiqing! To tell you the truth, your Yuan Dynasty is in doom. North of Hangzhou, east of Jiqing, and 48 counties along the ten routes in Jiangdong have all fallen into the hands of Jiangdu's army!"
Jia Lu was stunned and speechless, never expecting that he, the marshal of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, had already suffered a complete defeat before he took office!
The Jiangdu Army's southern expedition was gaining momentum, and the news that they had captured the Ten Routes south of the Yangtze River within two months quickly spread throughout the country. The Yuan court was frightened when they heard about it, while the rebel army was greatly encouraged.
Among the three armies, Shanzhu captured four, namely Jiangyin Road, Pingjiang Road, Songjiangfu, and Jiaxing Road.
Wang Da, Geng San, and Monkey attacked five roads including Zhenjiang Road, Changzhou Road, Liyang Road, Huzhou Road, and Guangde Road.
The one with the least results was Xu Baisheng, who only captured Taiping Road and was encircling Jiqing Road.
The army of Wang Da and three others is currently located in Huzhou, and the mountain pig's army is located in Jiaxing.
The three of them were afraid that the Boar would take over Hangzhou first, so they sent people to challenge Zhang Yangquan every day, but they were rejected every time.
A few days later, Zhang Yangquan sent another order. Only 10,000 troops were left in Huzhou, and the rest were withdrawn to Liyang. He also asked the three men to return to Jiangdu immediately.
The three of them had no choice but to hand over the army to their subordinates, take a warship, and return to Jiangdu along the canal.
Along the way, Wang Da was depressed and sat alone in the cabin drinking wine every day.
That morning, the ship arrived in Zhenjiang. Geng San and Monkey came to his cabin together. Monkey smiled and said: "Are you still sulking?"
Wang Da snorted: "Your Majesty is partial and gave the good job of attacking Hangzhou to the wild boar!"
I heard a deep voice from outside the door: "Wang Da, do you dare to talk about the king behind his back?"
Wang Da suddenly raised his head and saw a person walking outside the door. It was a wild boar.
"Why are you... here?" he asked in surprise.
The mountain pig walked to sit next to him and said calmly: "Isn't it like you, who was recalled to Jiangdu by the king?"
Wang Dal was stunned and said: "Then who will attack Hangzhou?"
The monkey also sat over and said with a smile: "No one is attacking Hangzhou, so the king is going to postpone the attack!"
Wang shouted: "Why? Now is a good opportunity to make a big move!"
The wild boar glared at him and said: "Wang Da, don't think that you are complacent just because you have won a few battles. The king has his own reasons for doing this!"
After he captured Changshu, the Yuan army in Liyang retreated to Hangzhou. Wang Da and his three men met almost no resistance when attacking the fourth route, so Shanzhu still didn't think highly of Wang Da.
Wang Da snorted and said: "I didn't say it was unreasonable for the king to do this. Isn't it okay to just ask the reason?"
The monkey said: "You guys really don't have a long memory. When we conquered Jiangdu before, the king and the princess said that we must not expand blindly! Now that we have such a large territory, we naturally need to stabilize it first!"
The mountain pig said solemnly: "If you don't talk about anything else, just talk about the problems of officials. I'm afraid it will give the king a headache. You can't just use the original officials!"
Wang said anxiously: "No, we must not use those grandsons!"
Geng San smiled and said: "Your Majesty does not want to use those officials, so he asked us to postpone the attack!"
Wang Da muttered: "Can't we use military generals to control it first?"
The monkey said: "Of course not. Have you forgotten what happened when we captured Zhenjiang? Those generals are prone to misbehaving without supervision! Civil servants are still needed to govern the place!"
Geng Sandao: "I heard that your Majesty is planning to launch an imperial examination and establish a hundred lawsuits, and then extend the land rental system to the entire territory, distribute the fields to households, and let the people plant new rice!"
Wang Da chuckled and said: "The king values farming most!"
The mountain boar glanced at him and said: "I also heard news that the king is planning to establish a military academy and let all generals take an exam. Those who fail will have to study in the academy!"
Wang Da changed his expression and said: "Test? I don't even know the words!"
The corners of Shan Boar's mouth raised slightly: "Then you should be ready to study in the academy!"
Wang Dadai was stunned, and Geng San on the side was also stunned.
The monkey laughed and said: "I told you to read more books but you didn't listen. You will regret it now!"
After another day of sailing, the big ship finally arrived in Jiangdu. After two months of absence, Jiangdu seemed to be more prosperous again, especially there were many more students carrying book boxes on the streets.
Several people went to the Zhongshu Province to report first, and they were a little uneasy when they learned that they would take the military commander exam tomorrow.