Chapter 57: Driving the Strongest Nail Inside the Enemy

Being convinced is one thing, but whether Jinmao is willing to carry out the plan step by step is another.

Xi Zhicai's strategy was too risky, and Yu Fan's strategy was too conservative, so Jin Mao decided to adopt both.

On the one hand, they ordered people to create unrest in the south of Wushang County to give the illusion of an invasion by the Shanyue people.

On the other hand, he sent people to contact the county governor Tang Mao, hoping to get support.

In this way, no matter who is sent down from above, Jinmao is very likely to be the official party.

If you can infiltrate the rebellion suppression team with your official status, your strategy is half successful; the rest is just about adapting to circumstances.

There are several difficulties to overcome here.

First, if they create unrest, their subordinates will inevitably suffer casualties. How can they be convinced?
Second, not just anyone can meet the county governor. The best way is for Jin Mao to meet Tang Mao in the name of reporting work.

However, since Jinmao played a trick on Tang Mao last time, it is questionable whether he can get support this time.

In addition, actively asking for help also carries the risk of exposure.

But Tang Mao is the only one who can help Jinmao obtain official status, so this risk must be taken!
So, the entire Jinyun Mountain started to move.

Xi Zhicai and Yu Fan both believed that Bai Shi was the best person to create unrest, but Jin Mao disagreed.

Finally, Jin Mao asked Bai Shi to ask Lan Zhi, the leader of the female army.

If Lanzhi agrees, the female soldiers will take on the important task. If Lanzhi disagrees, Bai Shi will lead people to do it.

Two days later, five hundred female soldiers were willing to create unrest. Jin Mao gave five hundred sets of weapons and iron armor seized from Gong Lei to the female soldiers.

If another 5,000 shi of grain and fodder were sent, it would be enough for the 500 female soldiers to eat for a year or two.

Jin Mao promised the female soldiers: "After this incident, all weapons and equipment will belong to the female soldiers. Those who died will receive double compensation, and those who survive will be treated the same as the rest of the team!"

On the other side, Jin Mao brought Bai Shi and led a team of 300 people and three teams of 600 people to escort 5,000 shi of grain, 5,000 jin of salt, and some other supplies to "give gifts" to the county governor Tang Mao.

...

Time flies and it’s November.

Liangzhou.

Three months passed and General Zhang Wen had made no achievements. If it weren't for his good relationship with the commander-in-chief, he would have ended up like Huangfu Song.

Until that night, there was a meteor as bright as fire, more than ten feet long, illuminating Han Sui's camp, and the donkeys and horses all neighed.

The armies of Han Sui and Bian Zhang both thought this was a bad omen and wanted to retreat back to Jincheng.

Dong Zhuo was overjoyed when he heard the news. The next day, he joined forces with Youfufeng Bao Hong and others to attack, and defeated the armies of Han Sui and Bian Zhang, beheading thousands of them.

Bian Zhang and Han Sui were defeated and fled to Yuzhong, so Zhang Wen sent Zhou Shen with an army of 30,000 to pursue them.

At that time, Sun Jian offered advice to Zhou Shen, but Zhou Shen refused and led his troops to besiege Yuzhong City.

However, Bian Zhang and Han Sui divided their troops and stationed them at Kuiyuan Gorge, which cut off Zhou Shen's army's food supply. Zhou Shen panicked and abandoned his baggage and fled.

Zhang Wen retreated to Chang'an, leading to a new round of confrontation.

...

The capital of Kuaiji County was Shanyin County.

It is also November, but the atmosphere here is very warm, as if there is a sour smell of love.

The county governor Tang Mao was moved by Jin Mao's sincerity and agreed to take Jin Mao to quell the rebellion.

Jin Mao spent half a month in Shanyin County with nearly a thousand people, but he still didn't see any people sent from above.

The amount of food and fodder consumed every day is an astronomical figure.

Soon, he will face a serious problem: no food.

This time we brought a total of 7,000 shi of food and fodder. We had originally calculated that we would consume 1,000 shi on the journey for more than half a month, and after waiting for more than half a month at the destination, we would be able to work almost immediately, so the remaining 1,000 shi would be enough.

Unexpectedly, instead of having any work to do, the young men were filled with anger and had no place to vent it, so they could only train hard, resulting in doubling of food and grass consumption.

Inventory has bottomed out!
this day.

As usual, Jin Mao came to see the beautiful girl Tang Ji again.

However, Jinmao was not in the mood to flirt with girls today.

"Sister, I'm in trouble, what should I do?"

Tang Ji has grown rapidly in all aspects in the past six months. The little loli has grown into a big loli.

But they were still too young, so the two of them just called each other brother and sister. "Brother is smart and wise, he will definitely figure out a solution."

Tang Ji smiled like a little fox, her bright eyes like two crescent moons, and she kept muttering in her heart: "I told you not to read my letter!"

It was getting harder and harder to fool him, so Jin Mao said directly: "My subordinates are running out of food, and I want to borrow some food from my father-in-law."

The so-called borrowing of grain means borrowing from the 5,000 shi sent by Jinmao. Jinmao had never suffered such a big loss in his previous life!
Tang Ji rolled her eyes and couldn't help but grinned, "Brother, how much do you want to borrow? How about the interest? Nine out and thirteen back?"

Jin Mao gritted his teeth and said, "Well, nine out and thirteen back!"

"Every month?"

If someone had dared to speak to Jinmao like this in the past, the grass on his grave would have been two meters high.

But facing a cute and lovely big loli, Jin Mao endured it and started bargaining.

In the end, the two reached an agreement that Jinmao would borrow 5,000 shi of grain, nine out of 13 would be returned, and he would pay it back in one quarter.

As soon as the grain loan transaction was completed by signing, Tang Mao told Jin Mao a good news.

"The Right Cavalry General has initiated a meeting in Shangyu County to quell the rebellion. He has summoned the governors of Kuaiji and Wujun to discuss the matter. They can set off today!"

Tang Mao laughed as if he had encountered great joy.

Tang Ji felt a little reluctant. At first, she just wanted to play a trick on her lover and let him bleed a little.

But she couldn't go against Tang Mao's will, so she could only cooperate with Tang Mao to trick Jin Mao.

Jin Mao gritted his teeth on the surface, but his heart was in a mess.

"How could it be Zhu Jun?!"

No matter who replaces him, Jinmao will not panic.

"I slapped Zhu Fu hard in the face!"

Zhu Fu is Zhu Jun's eldest son. Even if the righteous Zhu Hao helps to pull him back, as long as Zhu Jun labels Jin Mao as suspicious...

No evidence is needed to suppress a rebellion!
Originally, making Tang Mao the creditor was part of the plan.

Now there is no one around Jin Mao to advise him.
Yu Fan had to arrange the late rice harvest, and Xi Zhicai didn't come because he was afraid that he would run away.

"I have to adapt to circumstances. In the end, I still have to rely on myself!"

...

Shangyu County.

Zhu Jun returned half a month ago.

However, Zhu Jun’s mother’s funeral is the most important thing, and Zhu Jun has been busy with this matter during this period.

Zhu Jun was accompanied by a eunuch.

Xiao Huangmen is a young eunuch. Zhu Jun knows the young eunuch, who is the confidant of Zhang Gong, one of the Ten Attendants.

But this eunuch was very strange. He did not accept bribes nor did he urge Zhu Jun to do anything. This was even rarer than any strange phenomenon in heaven and earth.

However, this is definitely a good thing for Zhu Jun. During the campaign against the Yellow Turban rebels last year, Zhu Jun was fed up with the expressions of these eunuchs.

The famous scholar Lu Zhi and Lu Zigan were falsely accused and dismissed from their posts just because they refused to bribe the eunuch Zuo Feng, and then they were taken advantage of by others.

In fact, the main purpose of Zhu Jun convening the meeting was to collect food and fodder.

The Zhu family had 3,000 private soldiers, who were elite troops who had fought in the Jiaozhou Rebellion and the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

In addition, the Yangzhou governor Chen Yi brought a thousand soldiers to support the battle a few days ago; the Kuaiji county magistrate Tang Mao also claimed that he had 2,000 infantry and combat soldiers under his command.

That's 6,000 combat soldiers, plus some local militiamen with tough personalities.

Not to mention tens of thousands of Shanyue, even if there were really a hundred thousand, they would just go back to where they came from.

But how could there be 100,000 people? As a local, Zhu Jun knew too well what the Shanyue were like.

On the contrary, food and fodder were a big problem. Kuaiji County was larger than some states, but had small land and population.

If we recruit 10,000 people, plus the laborers, feeding 20,000 to 30,000 people would not be a small number.

“I hope everything goes well on this trip.”

Zhu Jun had a very high prestige in Kuaiji County. If his hometown was invaded by the Shanyue and he messed up, the blow would be devastating.

He knew Emperor Liu Hong's temperament very well, so he held all the funerals early, hoping that they would be completed as soon as possible.

(End of this chapter)