Chapter 187

On the Zhenbei Terrace side, they secured the platform top, banned lighting beacon fires, and replaced all lookout soldiers with trustworthy persons.

At the same time, set up a checkpoint at Everlasting Joy Fort to intercept, preventing the Northern Yuan defeated troops from detouring east.

Feng Tang, immediately select five hundred elite cavalry from the city's garrison, each with two horses, rush straight to the Yellow River ford, get there before the Northern Yuan defeated troops, take control of the ferries, set up a checkpoint for inspection, and not let a single one of them pass.

At the same time, rest and regroup in place, waiting for this marquis to bring people later.

Han Wu, you lead people to clean the battlefield, pay attention to burying the corpses of this battle to prevent plague.

At the same time, collect the Northern Yuan soldiers' armor, arrows, weapons, and warhorses, etc., as supplies.

Niu Jizong, immediately arrange for the two thousand soldiers who have rushed from Ba Shang to enter the barracks to rest, let the brothers eat well and sleep well, rest and regroup as soon as possible, and also let the warhorses have a good feed.

Ma Guocheng, have someone deliver the order to the garrison commander of Ganzhou!

Order them to hold the city firmly, block the Hunye and False Qing allied forces for at least half a month; if they cannot do so, bring their heads to see me!

Jia Jing's orders were issued one after another.

The generals all bowed to Jia Jing, then, filled with deep anticipation, received their orders and departed!

Only Zhu Que and Yu Shiyong remained in place.

Jia Jing looked at Yu Shiyong, seeing him want to speak but stop, he frowned and said:

What is it? Stop beating around the bush.

Yu Shiyong lowered his voice and said:

My lord, I feel there are Northern Yuan spies inside Yu Lin Cheng.

What's going on? Jia Jing frowned and asked.

Yu Shiyong said:

These days of siege warfare, I've noticed that the Northern Yuan side seems to know our city is short of grain, even though cavalry attacks on the city have no advantage and they suffer heavy losses.

But they keep dragging things out with us, unwilling to withdraw, and several times the Northern Yuan side has been able to precisely find the weak points in our troop deployments, as if they knew our city's defense map...

Therefore, I suspect there must be spies inside the city leaking information to them.

Yu Shiyong told Jia Jing, one by one, all the abnormalities that have occurred in the city's defense these days.

After hearing this, Jia Jing's gaze grew deep and somber, and he looked at Yu Shiyong with some surprise.

I had thought he was a rough-and-tumble warrior, but I didn't expect that beneath the roughness there was delicacy, and his thinking is quite meticulous.

Jia Jing slowly said:

Do you have any suspects?

He already had some guesses in his mind about this, but he wanted to hear Yu Shiyong's opinion first.

Yu Shiyong pondered for a moment, then said:

I suspect the deputy commander of the South Gate, Fan Quan, his behavior has been sneaky lately, repeatedly having people secretly inquire about the city's troop deployments.

Moreover, he comes from the Jin merchant Fan family; the large stores of grain in the city were sold to his family by the Ji An Marquis.

This time the South Gate fell, also related to him—he opened the gate to let the Ji An Marquis leave, and then transferred away the brothers guarding the gate...

Before Yu Shiyong finished speaking, Jia Jing already had a rough idea in his mind.

He asked with a grim expression:

Where is Fan Quan?

Since the South Gate fell, he has disappeared without a trace. However, he comes from the Datong Fan family; the Fan family is one of the famous eight Jin merchant clans of the northwest.

The Jin merchants have enormous influence in the northwest; many of their offspring serve as officials in the court, and the northwest border garrisons also have many real power military officers from the eight great Jin merchant families.

It is said that the Jin merchants have also cultivated many connections with nobles in the court; there are people in the cabinet and among the imperial princes whom they have bribed. If the marquis wishes to deal with him, he probably needs to be cautious...

Yu Shiyong's expression clearly showed apprehension.

He has been in the northwest for many years and is very clear about these Jin merchants' tendency to collude with the enemy.

Not only do they secretly supply the steppe and Liaodong sides with military supplies that the court has explicitly forbidden, but they also frequently sell interior intelligence, treating national interests as family trade.

However, the Jin merchants have been able to exist for so many years; their great power and deep-rooted entanglements are unimaginable to outsiders.

In the northwest, there have been officials who wanted to deal with the Jin merchants, but their outcomes were not good—either they were thrown into prison by the court, or they were assassinated.

Yu Shiyong heard that the Jin merchants' background reaches the heavens, possibly related to the current retired emperor.

But since it involves imperial authority, he dares not speak rashly.

Alright! The marquis knows about this; you may go! First, prioritize the war! Jia Jing waved his hand.

After Yu Shiyong left, Jia Jing also began to consider the matter of the Jin merchants.

He had already investigated the Jin merchants; his understanding was deeper than Yu Shiyong's, without lacking.

In this era, the Jin merchants' development is even more enormous than in the late Ming!

As far as he knows, the northwestern Jin merchants are not only the retired emperor's white-glove agents.

They are also connected with the scholar-gentry great clans of Jiangnan and the Two Guang.

The north lacks grain, salt, iron, etc.; the Jin merchants purchase these through Jiangnan and the Two Guang.

Their interests are tightly bound, sharing weal and woe; although they compete, they also support each other.

This is a vast interests network spread across the Da Han Empire, one that even the not-yet-securely-enthroned Jing Sheng Di would hesitate to move lightly.

The testimonies of those like the Cheng Guogong and Linchuan Marquis who sold military grain and equipment actually involved the Jin merchants.

But after the Three Judicial Departments of the court reviewed the case, the Jin merchants had someone take the blame, and in the end they still received no substantive punishment.

This time coming to the northwest, Jia Jing intends to eradicate this group of Jin merchant traitors who collude with the enemy and sell out the country; he just needs to think carefully about how to operate.

If one does it, one must do it thoroughly—cast a wide net to catch them all, eradicate the roots.

Otherwise, scaring the snake will let them escape, making it doubly hard to catch them later!

Of course, for now we must still prioritize the war; matters have priorities, and one must not be rash.

While Jia Jing was pondering, Zhu Que had already had someone bring a large amount of food; Jia Jing turned his gaze to Zhu Que, who was arranging bowls and dishes, and said:

Let's go eat something!

Zhu Que also wasn't formal, and sat down with Jia Jing.

Jia Jing ate while looking at Zhu Que and said:

I'll mention a few things, you remember them!

First, have the Northern Yuan Crown Prince personally write a few victory reports, send them by express horse to the Northern Yuan court, to stabilize things there.

Just say the battle is going smoothly, Yulin will fall soon. With Ba Ya'er's handwritten letter and our news blockade.

Even if a few scattered troops slip through, as long as we ensure we reach Wolf Mountain quickly before the news spreads, we can catch them off guard.

Seeing Jia Jing finish the bowl of food in just a couple bites, Zhu Que refilled his bowl and nodded, saying:

I'll have someone take care of it shortly, I guarantee there won't be any leaks!

Jia Jing ate while continuing:

Second, have the Embroidered Uniform Guard closely monitor the movements of the Eight Great Jin merchants, keeping watch on all their important family members.

Figure out every warehouse and location of their stored goods and wealth, gather evidence of their collusion with the enemy.

At the same time, send people to investigate where Ji An Marquis and others have fled; if found, arrest them directly.

Zhu Que set aside the food she had only taken a couple bites of, while refilling Jia Jing's bowl again, she questioned:

My lord, are you preparing to move against the Jin merchants? Their connections behind them are intricate and complex; many civil and military officials in the court have received their bribes.

If this is done, I'm afraid the lord will offend a large group of officials in the court!