The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 142 Braving the Waves to Save the Prefect

Fan Shan finally realized what was happening and struggled while shouting loudly:
"Your Highness, I have not committed any crime. Why do you want to kill me?"

Tu Chengyu pretended not to hear his shouts, so Fan Shan shouted again:
“Your Highness, I am an official appointed by the court. Although you are a prince, you have no right to dispose of me at will.”

But no matter how much he shouted, Tu Chengyu remained unmoved, simply waving his hand to tell Quan Xu to quickly deal with the person.

Upon seeing this, Fan Shan finally realized that his life was about to end.

He started spouting nonsense, saying he knew so-and-so, and that he had so much money that he could buy his life with it.

Tu Chengyu, annoyed by what he heard, shouted to Quan Xu, "Cover his mouth, cut off his head, and throw it into the river to feed the turtles."

Seeing that Tu Chengyu was a little angry, Quan Xu quickly covered Fan Shan's mouth and, together with the guards escorting him, dragged him to the riverbank.

With a scream, followed by a splash as someone fell into the water.

Although no one saw it, everyone knew that Fan Shan, who had just been the garrison commander of Yangzhou, had become bait for the turtles in the river.

A figure who was unapproachable in the eyes of these soldiers was killed by a single sentence from someone else.

They finally realized that the child standing in front of them was a ruthless killer.

From that moment on, the soldiers of the garrison, who had been in a chaotic state just moments before, fell silent. No one dared to move or whisper among themselves.

Seeing the soldiers quiet down, Tu Chengyu was very satisfied.

One of the reasons he wanted to kill Fan Shan was that he genuinely disliked the guy.

However, the main reason was to intimidate the soldiers of these garrison battalions.

These soldiers have been turned into useless idiots by Fan Shan.

If Tu Chengyu leads these people to quell the unrest, he is very likely to fail at a crucial moment.

Therefore, he thought of using Fan Shan's head to intimidate the soldiers and make them obey him temporarily.

In this way, even if the soldiers had little fighting ability, as long as they did not desert on their own when they arrived at the battlefield, their sheer numbers were enough to intimidate the unruly salt workers.

Therefore, it was worth it for Fan Shan to die.

Now, all that's needed is for Quan Xu to bring over Fan Shan's head, and the matter will be settled.

Tu Chengyu had high hopes, but after waiting for a long time, he was surprised to see Quan Xu coming over with only a bloodstained knife.

Neither he nor his guards carried Fan Shan's head.

Tu Chengyu was unaware of the situation. When Quan Xu approached, he asked in a low voice, "Where are the heads?"

"A human head?" Quan Xu looked puzzled, then thought for a moment and said, "As the prince ordered, the human head was thrown into the river to feed the turtles."

Tu Chengyu was so angry at Quan Xu's idiot brain that he almost died. He ordered Quan Xu to throw the body into the river and bring back the head.

Unexpectedly, this guy misunderstood and threw them all into the river.

Seeing Tu Chengyu's stern face, Quan Xu realized that he might have done something wrong, and he quickly said:

"Your Highness, I will go and retrieve the head right now."

Since things were already like this, Tu Chengyu wouldn't let him cause any more trouble, and said:
"No need to go, just bring a horse over."

Upon hearing this, Quan Xu quickly and eagerly led Tu Chengyu's mount over.

As soon as his mount arrived, Tu Chengyu mounted it.

Once seated on horseback, he could look down at most of the soldiers in the garrison, and they could also see Tu Chengyu's appearance clearly.

When all eyes were on him, Tu Chengyu picked up the bloodstained knife from Quan Xu's hand and shouted loudly:

"Soldiers of the Garrison, I am Prince Su of the current dynasty, here in Yangzhou on imperial orders."

In the open outdoors, if Tu Chengyu were to speak to a thousand people, no matter how loudly he spoke, it would be impossible for many to hear him.

So, after Tu Chengyu finished shouting, the guards standing in the front row repeated Tu Chengyu's words at the top of their lungs.

Dozens of people shouted together, finally conveying Tu Chengyu's words to the entire garrison battalion.

Just now, when these soldiers of the garrison were whispering among themselves, they heard that a prince was at the dock, but many of them didn't believe it.

Hearing the shouts, they finally realized that the man on horseback was the prince, and they were terrified.

After Tu Chengyu finished shouting the first sentence, he continued:

"I have dispatched an imperial envoy, and I will not allow anyone to neglect their duties or disobey orders."

"Just now, your garrison commander Fan Shan was beheaded by me for disobeying my orders, and his head was thrown into the river to feed the turtles."

Many people knew that Fan Shan had been killed.

They just didn't know why he was killed; now they hear it's because he disobeyed orders.

If a garrison commander can be killed so easily for disobeying orders, then wouldn't all of them be even easier to kill?

At this moment, many soldiers in the garrison felt a chill on their necks.

Seeing that the soldiers were intimidated, Tu Chengyu pressed his advantage and said:

"Therefore, I hope that all of you will remember my rules and not disobey my orders, or you will suffer the same fate as Fan Shan."

With Fan Shan's example and Tu Chengyu's identity, the soldiers had no intention of resisting.

After intimidating you, Tu Chengyu said, "As the saying goes, there is punishment and reward. I can now promise you that as long as you do not disobey my orders in the future..."

"Once this matter is resolved, I will reward each of you with a month's salary."

To reassure them, Tu Chengyu added, "I will arrange for someone to deliver the reward money to you personally, and I guarantee that no one will dare to embezzle it."

When Tu Chengyu's last few words were spread, all the soldiers in the garrison were overjoyed.

They never dared to dream of receiving a full month's salary without any deductions.

Now that he heard Prince Su's personal agreement, he was naturally overjoyed.

The more quick-witted soldiers, upon hearing Tu Chengyu's words, immediately shouted at the top of their lungs:

"Thank you, Your Highness. Long live the Prince."

With these clever men setting an example, the rest of the soldiers quickly followed suit and started shouting.

For a time, the dock was filled with words of gratitude to Tu Chengyu.

By combining punishment and reward, and by using both kindness and severity, these soldiers, who were originally listless, finally regained some morale.

Having achieved his goal, Tu Chengyu stopped shouting and instead addressed the armored men at the front of the garrison:
"Has the deputy commander of the garrison arrived?"

As soon as Tu Chengyu finished speaking, two people, one tall and one short, stepped out from among the group of people in front.

As soon as they came out, they clasped their hands in greeting and said:
"This humble officer, Tang Jiu, deputy commander of the garrison, greets Your Highness."

"This humble officer, Luo Ping, deputy commander of the garrison, greets Your Highness."

Looking at the two men, Tu Chengyu said, "You two listen to my command. I am now handing over the garrison troops to you two to lead."

Upon hearing this, the two replied in unison, "We obey your orders." Tu Chengyu continued, "Now, you will lead all the soldiers of the garrison battalion onto the troop transport ship on the river."

"If any soldier is found to be trying to desert or cause trouble during this process, you may capture him directly and hand him over to me for processing."

Upon hearing Tu Chengyu's words, the two of them naturally agreed without hesitation.

He handed the two men over to Su Xuanbao and instructed him to keep an eye on them.

Tu Chengyu then rode his horse back to the original spot.

When he arrived, he saw Quan Wenwei and Lin Ruhai already waiting there.

As soon as Tu Chengyu dismounted, Lin Ruhai pointed to the garrison soldiers boarding the ship and said:

"Your Highness, do we really have to take these people to quell the rebellion?"

Seeing Lin Ruhai's worried expression, Tu Chengyu sighed and said, "We can't leave them out. We only have so many people on our own. Even if they are very capable, there will inevitably be oversights."

“Bringing them along will at least have a deterrent effect in terms of numbers.”

Lin Ruhai was concerned, and when he heard that Tu Chengyu knew the situation, he stopped talking.

Then he turned around and went to arrange things on the ship.

After Lin Ruhai left, Quan Wenwei leaned close to Tu Chengyu and whispered something to him.

After hearing what he said, Tu Chengyu didn't say much to Quan Wenwei, but instead glared at Quan Xu.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Quan Xu quickly took his leave and went to watch the soldiers board the ship.

After everyone left, Tu Chengyu and Quan Wenwei boarded their own ship ahead of time. At the same time, the entire dock was full of people boarding ships.

It took more than half an hour to get more than a thousand people on board.

Once everyone was on board and everything was ready, Tu Chengyu gave the order to depart.

They were going to a far place this time, and the matter was urgent, so they couldn't afford to waste any time.

Fortunately, this time, with the local guide brought by Han Bocai as our guide, and the journey being downstream, we should be able to reach our destination by evening.

Watching all the ships steadily leave the dock, Tu Chengyu returned to his room on the ship.

From Lin Ruhai's visit this morning to the tidying up of the garrison just now, a series of events have left Tu Chengyu somewhat exhausted.

After returning to his cabin, he casually took off his coat and lay down on the bed to rest.

Tu Chengyu originally planned to lie down for a while and then get up, but to his surprise, he slowly fell asleep as the boat rocked.

Xiao Xuanzi, who was guarding outside the door, saw that Tu Chengyu was asleep and knew that he had been dealing with a lot of things lately and had never slept well, so she did not rush to wake him up.

And so, Tu Chengyu slept for quite a long time during his afternoon nap.

It wasn't until someone was sent from the foremost ship that Xiao Xuanzi woke Tu Chengyu up.

Tu Chengyu slept soundly, so he felt refreshed when he woke up.

He looked at Xiao Xuanzi and asked, "What happened?"

Xiao Xuanzi said, "Your Highness, General Su, who led the way, brought over a few people. Lord Lin requests that Your Highness go and interrogate them."

Su Xuanbao would never send people over for no reason; these people must have something wrong with them.

Thinking of this, Tu Chengyu asked, "Where is the person who delivered it now?"

Xiao Xuanzi replied, "Your Highness, they are on the deck now, and Lord Lin is questioning them."

Upon hearing this, Tu Chengyu said, "I will go out and take a look."

He then walked straight outside.

Once outside the cabin and onto the deck, Tu Chengyu saw several people, soaking wet and dressed in government uniforms, huddled together near the ship's side not far away.

Unsurprisingly, these were the people Su Xuanbao sent.

Tu Chengyu walked over in a few steps and asked Lin Ruhai first.

"Lord Lin, who are these people?"

When Lin Ruhai saw Tu Chengyu approaching, he quickly turned around and said, "Your Highness, they are all yamen runners from the Yangzhou Prefectural Government."

Upon seeing their clothes, Tu Chengyu knew they were government officials, but he never expected them to be from the Yangzhou Prefectural Government.

Tu Chengyu was initially puzzled as to why the yamen runners from the Yangzhou Prefectural Government would be here.

He then realized that the reason he and his group had come was to provide support to the prefect of Yangzhou.

Therefore, Tu Chengyu asked, "Did they come with Prefect Tian to quell the rebellion?"

Lin Ruhai nodded and said, "It's them."

Tu Chengyu then asked, "Since they're with Prefect Tian, ​​what are they doing here? Has Prefect Tian already quelled the chaos?"

Lin Ruhai shook his head and said, "The unrest has not subsided; on the contrary, it has escalated."

Otherwise, the unrest would escalate, which was what Tu Chengyu had always hoped for. Unexpectedly, this hope was shattered before he even arrived with his men.

Tu Chengyu couldn't help but ask, "What exactly happened?"

Lin Ruhai pointed to the few people huddled on the deck and said, "According to them, this afternoon, the salt workers, who had been calm, suddenly went crazy for some reason."

"They suddenly attacked the county town, not only capturing it but also taking Prefect Tian prisoner."

"What?!" Tu Chengyu could hardly believe his ears. The prefect of Yangzhou had actually been arrested just like that. He asked anxiously:
"Is it confirmed that Prefect Tian has been arrested?"

Lin Ruhai said, "I just asked about this myself and haven't confirmed it yet."

Upon hearing this, Tu Chengyu directly asked the huddled group, "Are you sure Prefect Tian has been captured by the salt workers?"

Among these men, an older constable replied, "I cannot confirm it either. I only know that the rebels breached the county town, and the Prefect led us to retreat."

"Unexpectedly, we encountered bandits entering the city on the way. The bandits were very fierce and soon separated us and the prefect."

"After we finally managed to drive away the bandits, we turned around and couldn't find the Prefect. We searched the surrounding area for a long time, but we still couldn't find the Prefect. Therefore, we guessed that the Prefect might have been captured by the bandits."

It turns out these people were just speculating, but based on their descriptions, Prefect Tian might actually have been arrested.

Whether or not Prefect Tian has been arrested is no longer important.

Because the salt workers breached the county town, the nature of the situation changed.

Previously, the salt workers' affairs were at most considered turmoil, and once they were quelled, there would be no major problems.

But now that the county seat has been captured, the unrest has turned into a rebellion, and the situation has escalated.

From that moment on, regardless of whether Prefect Tian was arrested or not, the title of Prefect no longer belonged to him.

Not only him, but even Tu Chengyu, the Prince of Su, may be punished for being involved.

(End of this chapter)