Chapter 372: Can't Take Qufu

Watching Kong Yinzhi's aggrieved expression, Wang Haoxian wore a smile on his face, yet didn't pay it much mind.

Having spent several days with Kong Yinzhi, Wang Haoxian had come to understand the character of this Duke Yansheng.

In Wang Haoxian's view, this man was nothing but a waste—not only lacking courage, but also devoid of any strategy. Essentially, he was just a foolish scholar.

For Wang Haoxian, such a person only needed to be kept under control and used; beyond that, he had little value. As for what came later, that would depend on his performance.

As long as he could take Qufu this time, he would hold the moral high ground.

Now that the court was suppressing the Kong family, he could just exploit the Kong family's influence among the literati and make them serve his purposes. By that time, his strength would surely be formidable.

Especially here in Shandong—the court was arresting people everywhere and killing people everywhere, while he was giving them a chance to live.

"Duke Yansheng, rest assured. When the great undertaking is accomplished that day, this commander will certainly not go back on his word." Wang Haoxian looked at Kong Yinzhi and said with a smile. His face was full of sincerity, and his tone was extremely gentle.

Kong Yinzhi sighed helplessly and said, "Then I thank the Grand Commander."

In truth, Kong Yinzhi was deeply contemptuous inside. Wang Haoxian's talk of this and that—he didn't believe a word of it.

Relying on these fools to rebel and seize the realm was nothing but a pipe dream. One day or another, they'd be wiped out by the court's armies. When that time came, everyone would die without even a place to be buried.

In his heart, Kong Yinzhi was pondering what he should do, how to preserve the Kong family, and how to preserve his own life. That was the most crucial matter to him; the lives and deaths of these people he cared nothing about.

Meanwhile, Sun Chuanting and his party had already arrived at Juye.

They had encountered some rebels along the way earlier, but these rebels basically collapsed at the first clash with the court's forces—there was simply no fight to be had. Some rebels even turned and ran the moment they saw the court's army, and the entire formation scattered.

Most people who joined the rebellion were really just trying to grab some benefits while the opportunity presented itself.

Some had real intentions, but those were only a few. A lone individual could do nothing in the face of a great army; these people could only be swept along in the flight, possessing no real fighting capacity at all.

For the ordinary folk who followed the rebellion, seeing someone die was enough to send them running in fear.

Although the earthquake in Shandong had caused casualties and the people's lives were not easy, and the disaster relief grain had been resold on the sly—still, His Majesty had come, grain was available, and every region was actively providing disaster relief, even helping rebuild houses.

The court had also implemented work-for-relief programs. Though they were small projects, they still provided places where people could earn money, so the common folk's lives weren't all that difficult.

Most of those who joined the rebellion were refugees, or even bandits, who wanted to grab something and run. Those genuinely committed to rebellion were few indeed, so their fighting capacity went without saying.

Along the way, the government army led by Sun Chuanting swept through everything in its path like a tornado, charging straight to Juye.

The battle for Juye city took no great effort either.

It was originally just a small county town—the city walls weren't tall, and it wasn't hard to defend. If the rebels could take it easily, the government army could naturally take it easily as well. The government army didn't even need a full day before Juye city was recovered.

Within Jining city.

Zhu Youxiao listened to Chen Hong's battle report, a helpless expression on his face.

Originally, Zhu Youxiao had thought the rebels might hold out for a while, at least giving Lu Xiangsheng and the others some practice, since it was their first time on the battlefield.

And this was the result?

How disappointing!

Zhu Youxiao was quite helpless. The author who had originally hoped to pad out several hundred thousand words with this battle was probably on the verge of tears by now.

There really was nothing worth describing about this battle.

"Enough, no need to continue." Zhu Youxiao waved his hand, cutting off Chen Hong, and said directly, "I know."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Chen Hong quickly shut his mouth.

He didn't understand why His Majesty was in a bad mood. After all, this was a great victory—the government army had recovered Juye city without any effort at all. This was a major triumph, a good thing!

Why wasn't His Majesty pleased?

But the imperial mind was inscrutable—how could His Majesty's thoughts be so easily guessed?

Though he had been by His Majesty's side for some time now—or rather, quite a long while—he had never once managed to guess what His Majesty was thinking.

Even if he'd been right once or twice, those had been extremely obvious matters. Most of the time he simply had no idea what His Majesty was thinking, so he could only serve with the utmost care.

Zhu Youxiao felt somewhat listless, then said, "This is rather dull. Come take a walk with me."

Over the following days, battle reports kept arriving from Juye, and news of rebellion-suppression came from everywhere. It could be said the rebels were utterly useless, and many more places were recovered by the government army.

In short, these rebels had accomplished absolutely nothing.

Zhu Youxiao grew increasingly restless. He looked at Chen Hong and asked, "What's the situation at Qufu?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, word has come from Qufu. Wang Haoxian has gathered a large force and is assaulting Qufu fiercely. County Magistrate Kong Wenli of Qufu is holding the city in defense. The rebels have attacked the city for three days straight and still haven't taken Qufu."

"Useless!" Zhu Youxiao cursed under his breath.

He had given the rebels such favorable conditions, and they still couldn't take it. In the original history, these people hadn't been able to take Qufu either—and that was with Xu Hongru leading the assault personally.

At that time, Xu Hongru had seized the throat of the Grand Canal, cutting off the court's grain transport route, and had intercepted forty government grain ships at Pengjiakou, gathering a massive force to assault Qufu fiercely.

County Magistrate Kong Wenli of Qufu held the city in defense and fought bravely. The rebels besieged the city for months without taking it. Within Qufu city, grain and supplies were abundant—they could hold out even longer without issue.

So this time, Zhu Youxiao had played a little trick, pulling back a number of troops—but it was all done quietly, without any fanfare.

If it had been done with great fanfare, it would have aroused suspicion and damaged his reputation.

But even so, the rebels still hadn't taken the city?!

Utterly useless!

Now every region was hunting down the rebels. Though there was no imperial edict from Zhu Youxiao, officials and military commanders everywhere bore the duty of defending their territories and resisting the enemy. He couldn't very well issue an edict telling them not to resist, could he? What would that make Zhu Youxiao?

Quietly manipulating things behind the scenes was one thing, but truly letting the rebels run rampant and the people suffer—that he could not do.

"Too disappointing!" Zhu Youxiao grumbled again.

But at this point, he could only accept his fate. These rebels were too useless. His planning had been sound—this was no fault of his strategy. He estimated they would never take Qufu even if they fought to the death.

Just then, Zhang Weixian walked in from outside.

Zhu Youxiao glanced at Zhang Weixian and, seeing his delighted expression, knew in his heart that more good news had arrived.

So Zhu Youxiao smiled, waved his hand, and said, "No need for formalities. Is there more good news?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, indeed there is good news." Zhang Weixian quickly replied.

For Zhang Weixian, these recent days had been full of good news. The rebels had made a great show of their uprising, even threatening to cut off the capital's grain transport, shaking the capital and shaking the entire realm.

Yet such a major rebellion had been mostly pacified in such a short time in his hands. This was a matter of great joy for Zhang Weixian.

If word of this got out, it would also help boost his prestige, and even his power—the role of the staff office would suddenly become prominent.

"Then let's hear it." Zhu Youxiao looked at Zhang Weixian, a brilliant smile on his face.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Zhang Weixian acknowledged and quickly said, "Li Enxian of Gushi County in Runing Prefecture rebelled, but was discovered by the Embroidered Uniform Guard yesterday and has already been suppressed."

"Mencius's sixty-sixth-generation descendant Meng Chengguang also led local militia to assist the imperial army in attacking Zou County, and Zou County has now been recovered. Beyond that, there are reports of victory from all regions. This is the memorial—please review it, Your Majesty."

Having said this, Zhang Weixian hurriedly presented the memorial.

Zhu Youxiao took the memorial from Chen Hong's hands, gave it a brief glance, and set it aside.

This memorial no longer held any appeal for Zhu Youxiao—the rebels had already been scattered and broken.

So Zhu Youxiao said, "You have done well, my minister. Send word to all regions to accelerate the suppression of the rebellion. Once the rebellion is pacified, I will surely reward according to merit. I will not stint on rewards for all those with accomplishments. Let the soldiers at the front fight with all their might and pacify Shandong as soon as possible."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Zhang Weixian answered excitedly.

Seeing Zhu Youxiao so pleased, Zhang Weixian was pleased in his heart as well.

He had handled matters so splendidly this time—surely His Majesty would make him Chief Staff Minister now?

Thinking of this, Zhang Weixian grew excited, preparing to return and make proper arrangements to hasten the pacification of the rebellion.

Zhang Weixian stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, we should now send troops to recover Xiazhen. Xiazhen is an important ferry crossing on the canal—the throat of the Beijing–Hangzhou Grand Canal. The rebels cutting off the court's grain transport route has quite an impact."

"Now that Zou County has been recovered, Xu Hongru and his men have no retreat left. They will soon fall back to Teng County and the Xiazhen area. I request additional forces to swiftly annihilate the rebels."

Zhu Youxiao looked at Zhang Weixian without the slightest hesitation and directly nodded, saying, "Very well. Go make your arrangements. I will have Qi Jin transfer part of his forces to you—pacify the rebellion as quickly as possible."

Things had reached the point where they could no longer be salvaged, so Zhu Youxiao naturally wouldn't insist. If they couldn't take Qufu, these rebels were useless—there was no need to let them keep causing havoc.

By now the rebellions in various regions had been pacified and many places recovered. Who knew what desperate rebels might do in their final moments? So these people couldn't be kept—swift annihilation was the key.

Hearing that His Majesty was willing to have Qi Jin allocate troops to him, a flash of joy crossed Zhang Weixian's face. But then his expression turned serious as he shook his head and said directly, "Your Majesty, there's no need to redeploy these troops."

"General Qi Jin's forces are here to protect Your Majesty. Should anything stir in Jining, General Qi Jin can suppress it at a moment's notice. The rebels' fortunes are spent—there's no need to deploy such a mighty army. I'll mobilize local troops to suppress the rebellion."

Zhu Youxiao glanced at Zhang Weixian and directly nodded, saying, "Arrange it yourself."

In truth, there really was no need to send Qi Jin's forces—Zhu Youxiao himself felt it would be like using a cleaver to kill a chicken.

After all, judging from the current situation, these rebels were all useless, routed by the imperial army. Under such circumstances, it truly wasn't worth mobilizing Qi Jin's forces.

In the original history, these rebels had managed to make such a big stir mainly because of the disastrous defeat in Liaodong. The court had drawn too many troops to the Liaodong front, and Shandong had been drained the most—that was why such a great vacuum appeared, letting them take advantage.

Now Shandong had no such vacuum at all. The rebels couldn't seize any advantage. The armies across Shandong were still in place—defeating the rebels cost little effort.

Moreover, with himself stationed in Jining, having previously provided disaster relief to the victims and executed many corrupt officials, few dared to hold back their efforts.

Zhu Youxiao even had a suspicion that if he hadn't flushed out the rebels, they might not have rebelled at all.

After all, they had endured for so many years; without a good opportunity, they didn't want to move. In the original history, these people had indeed encountered a good opportunity when they rebelled, and they had indeed made such a big stir—it had been a very advantageous thing.

But this time was different—Shandong simply offered no opportunity for the rebels to rise up. Even with the earthquake, it wasn't enough to drive them to rebellion.

Moreover, he had brought relief grain and punished corrupt officials, so not many commoners would join them in rebellion.

If he hadn't traced the grain investigation to them, and they hadn't staged that assassination attempt, these people probably wouldn't have rebelled either.

Did this count as an emperor forcing them to rebel?

But this thought quickly vanished, because it was meaningless.

Zhu Youxiao said directly to Zhang Weixian, "Go. Pacify the rebellion as soon as possible, and I will hold a celebration for your achievement."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Zhang Weixian nodded and said respectfully, "Your servant takes his leave."

With these words, Zhang Weixian turned and walked out.

His steps were firm and quick—clearly he couldn't wait a moment longer, wanting to return and rapidly make his arrangements.

Following Zhu Youxiao's order, the great army gathered in Jining city began to mobilize, striking directly at the rebels in Xiazhen.

Meanwhile, Xu Hongru had already fled in defeat to Teng County, where he met Wang Haoxian, who was in Xiazhen.

When the two met, for a moment neither knew what to say.

What had been such a promising situation had somehow turned into this.

Xu Hongru looked at Wang Haoxian and said slowly, "Still can't take Qufu?"

Wang Haoxian looked somewhat embarrassed.

He had been attacking for nearly half a month but still hadn't been able to take Qufu.

Seeing Wang Haoxian's expression, Xu Hongru understood the situation and didn't press further.

He said, "Let's discuss what we should do next."