The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 301 The Rebels Also Have Their Own Difficulties

When Tu Chengyu led his men back to the military tent in the middle of the manor, the few people the rebels had sent to gather information were already tied up in the middle of the open space.

Upon seeing these people, Tu Chengyu did not immediately step forward; instead, he gestured for Lu Yushan to go up and question them.

After understanding, Lu Yushan stepped forward and asked:

"What part are you in?"

The people who were caught seemed indifferent.

When they heard Lu Yushan's question, they only looked up once and then ignored him.

After a long while, someone finally spoke:

"We are subordinate to the Left Army Commander of the Xingwu Guard of the Imperial Guard."

The Xingwu Guard Left Army was one of the rebel forces in this incident, and his statement confirmed their identity.

Then Lu Yushan asked again:
"How many people have come with you this time?"

The rebel scout said, "I don't know the exact number, but there are probably four or five hundred."

This number is roughly the same as Tu Chengyu's estimate.

Then Lu Yushan asked again, "Why did you come here?"

Lu Yushan asked this question because this manor was not in the center of the battlefield, so the rebels shouldn't have been able to get there so quickly.

The rebel scout replied:

"We're surrounded, and there's no way out anywhere else, so we have to run here."

Upon hearing this, Lu Yushan couldn't help but turn to look at Tu Chengyu.

Tu Chengyu, on the other hand, also sensed something was amiss.

Logically, since my uncle and his men had arranged for themselves to stay in this place, they should have driven the rebels away from here when they were besieging them. Why did they still come here?

Could it be that my uncle failed to instruct his subordinates about this matter, or that they acted on their own initiative?

Neither of these scenarios is normal for Tu Chengyu.

So he stopped worrying about hiding his identity and went straight over to ask the rebel scouts.

"You said you were surrounded and trapped here. Was it because there was only one way out when you were surrounded, or were there several ways out that you chose to break through from here?"

The rebel scout who had just answered the question saw that everyone around Tu Chengyu became even more respectful after he ran over, and he knew that this man was no ordinary person.

So he didn't hide it and answered directly:

"They really only left this one road, otherwise why would we have chosen this one?"

Now, Tu Chengyu was certain that someone was secretly plotting to drive these people to his side.

So he immediately asked:
"Do you know if, besides you, any other rebels have been driven here?"

The man shook his head and said, "We got separated from the others a long time ago, so naturally we don't know where they went."

If it were only those four or five hundred people outside, Tu Chengyu wouldn't be worried at all; he even considered fighting them.

But if others are also brought over, then Tu Chengyu will have to be careful.

Therefore, after hearing this person's words, he was still somewhat worried, so he said to Lu Yushan:
"Send some men out to scout around and see if there are any rebels who have been driven over."

Lu Yushan was aware of the seriousness of the matter, so he immediately made arrangements.

After he left, Tu Chengyu continued to interrogate the rebel spies.

"Since you wanted to escape from here, why did you stop outside the manor?"

The scout said, "We've been running for half a day, and we're exhausted and hungry. We've finally come across a village, so the general is planning to rest here and see if we can find some food and drink."

So that's the reason. Tu Chengyu had thought they knew there were imperial troops here and had come specifically to fight.

Thinking about all this, Tu Chengyu asked again:

"Where do you plan to go after the rest?"

The scout sighed and said:
"Where else can we go? The imperial army is everywhere. We have nowhere to escape. We can only wait to rest for a while before fighting the imperial army again."

Hearing this, Tu Chengyu was somewhat surprised. He thought that these rebels were eating, drinking and resting in order to escape, but he did not expect that they were fighting against the imperial army.

But judging from their dejected appearance, they didn't seem like the kind of people who would rather die than surrender and insisted on fighting.

Tu Chengyu then asked, "As far as I know, the general who led your rebellion has already fled, and you have also become separated from the main force. So why are you still fighting to the death with the imperial army?"

The man snorted coldly and said:
"Do you think we wanted to fight the imperial army? After we found out that Wanhe, that bastard, had run away, we wanted to surrender. But the imperial army wouldn't let us surrender and insisted on killing us all. What could we do but fight the imperial army?"

Upon hearing this, Tu Chengyu was so shocked that he couldn't speak for a moment.

He had always thought that the reason the rebels had not been eliminated was because they were too powerful and the army sent by the emperor could not eliminate them quickly, which was why the situation had dragged on.

Unexpectedly, it was the imperial army's reluctance to allow the enemy to surrender that led to this situation.

I don't know if this was an order from the Emperor or a decision made by my uncle and his family.

Just as Tu Chengyu was thinking about these things, the spy who had just answered the question suddenly looked at Tu Chengyu excitedly and said:
"General, have you not received any orders to exterminate us? If not, are you willing to surrender? If you are willing to surrender, just nod your head, and I will go out and have the brothers outside surrender."

His series of words left Tu Chengyu somewhat bewildered.

He suddenly couldn't understand it. These rebels were so eager to surrender, yet the people sent by the emperor seemed unwilling to accept it.

It seems like things are backwards.

If that's the case, then why did these rebels rebel in the first place?

Tu Chengyu couldn't figure it out and had no way to answer the spy's question for the time being.

Just then, Lu Yushan, who had gone to give Tu Chengyu his orders, returned.

Tu Chengyu thought that this person had been following his uncle and Cheng Changbao, so he must know something.

So he left the group of rebel scouts, pulled Lu Yushan aside, and asked:
"General Lu, I just heard from those people that the imperial army does not accept the surrender of the rebels. Is that true?"

Upon hearing Tu Chengyu's words, Lu Yushan immediately replied:
"Your Highness, that is indeed the case."

Why was such an order given?

"I don't know the specifics either," Lu Yushan replied. "However, I heard General Chen say that this move was intended to train the current army and to make an example of them to deter the other guards in the capital."

As soon as he said that, Tu Chengyu understood instantly.

The Changsheng Guard currently under my uncle's control and the Xuantie Guard under Cheng Changbao's control were both taken back from the nobles after the emperor ascended the throne.

Therefore, most of the soldiers in these two guards were newly recruited.

Although these two soldiers, with the emperor's support, trained the most diligently in the capital garrison.

However, none of them had ever been on the battlefield and had little practical combat experience.

The emperor probably thought of this, which is why he used these rebels to train the soldiers of the two guards.

As for making an example of someone to warn others, that's even simpler.

The Beijing Garrison has always been controlled by nobles, who used to make their fortunes through it.

However, ever since the new emperor ascended the throne, he has been constantly working to reorganize the Beijing garrison.

This deprived many people of the opportunity to easily make a fortune through the Beijing Garrison, which was tantamount to affecting the interests of the nobles.

The rebellion of these rebels was a counterattack and a test by the nobles against the emperor.

If the emperor has no troops at his disposal, then he will encounter such a rebellion.

The emperor had no choice but to temporarily yield and relinquish the benefits to the nobles.

However, this time the emperor had two imperial guards at his disposal and chose to confront them head-on.

He not only quickly dispersed the rebel army, but also wanted to intimidate the other guards of the capital by annihilating the rebels.

It must be said that the emperor's methods were quite ruthless, directly using the lives of so many rebels to express his attitude.

The most pitiful among them were these ordinary rebels.

They were led around by their own general, used as tools by nobles to test the emperor.

Now it has become a tool for the emperor to demonstrate his power; it is utterly pathetic.

Tu Chengyu felt a pang of sympathy for these people, but knowing that it was the Emperor's will not to accept their surrender, he had no intention of accepting their surrender.

So he said to Lu Yushan:
“Since these people are here to rest, we can’t let them have their way. You need to organize some people right now, and once we’re out, send them back. We can’t let them rest indefinitely.”

"Yes, Your Highness, I will make the arrangements immediately."

With that, Lu Yushan left again to carry out Tu Chengyu's orders.

After he left, Tu Chengyu ordered his men to detain the rebel spies, and then led his men toward the east side of the village.

He wanted to see how the rebels outside would react after waiting so long for their scouts to return.

However, before he could even reach the village entrance, Lu Yushan, who had just left, hurriedly returned.

Upon seeing this, Tu Chengyu asked in surprise:
"You've made all the arrangements so quickly?"

Lu Yushan replied, "Your Highness, I haven't had time to make arrangements yet."

"Why didn't I arrange for you to come back?" Tu Chengyu asked in surprise.

Lu Yushan replied, "Your Highness, there is a new development that I must report to you."

Hearing this, Tu Chengyu also became serious and asked, "What new developments are there?"

Lu Yushan replied, "Your Highness, just now, another group of rebels arrived outside and is joining up with the ones who came first."

"Really?" Tu Chengyu asked in surprise.

"It's true, I just saw it."

Upon hearing this, Tu Chengyu disregarded everything else and quickly said:

"Let's go see what's going on."

As he spoke, he strode toward the eastern entrance of the village, and the others quickly followed.

Having rushed over quickly, Tu Chengyu arrived at the earthen platform where he had been observing the rebels. The first thing he noticed was the presence of another group of rebels.

……

(End of this chapter)