lovenovelstory Chapter 51 Xu Hongru
Chapter 51 Xu Hongru
Mid-Autumn Festival in the eighth month of the first year of the Tianqi reign.
Dongguan Teahouse, Yuncheng County.
This teahouse is located by the dock on a tributary of the canal, a place where all sorts of people mingle, and where news travels fastest.
In the corner by the window sat a man wearing a tattered straw hat. In front of him was a dish of fennel beans and a pot of cheap, broken tea. He looked like a laborer who had just finished unloading cargo. His name was "Groundhog," a spy planted by Lu Yan in Xilu.
"Have you heard? Master Xu performed miracles again yesterday!" A porter at the next table lowered his voice, his expression full of excitement. "The child of Widow Li in the south of the city had a high fever for three days, and the doctor told us to prepare for his funeral."
Master Xu gave me a bowl of talisman water, and guess what? I was able to run around in the ground this morning! "Master Xu is a true god descended to earth!" Another man clasped his hands together devoutly. "I heard he is a successor of the Fragrance Scent Sect, and can turn beans into soldiers and paper into horses."
In this world, corrupt officials leave no way to survive; only Master Xu still cares about us poor people.
Just then, a commotion suddenly broke out at the entrance of the teahouse. "Master Xu is here! Master Xu is here!" The noisy teahouse fell silent instantly. Then, as if drawn by some invisible force, everyone stood up in unison, their eyes fixed on the entrance with fervent gazes.
A middle-aged man dressed in a blue cloth robe walked in. He looked to be around forty years old, with a thin face and three long wisps of beard. He was not carrying any magical implements, but only holding a string of ordinary wooden prayer beads.
But he possesses an extremely peculiar quality—a kind of "power" cultivated from years of holding high positions and wielding life and death authority, mixed with a certain kind of compassionate pretense, making him highly deceptive.
Xu Hongru. In Shandong's underworld today, this name is even more renowned than that of the current young emperor.
Groundhog lowered his straw hat, not daring to look too closely, only glancing quickly out of the corner of his eye. He wasn't paying attention to Xu Hongru, but to the people behind him. Those two henchmen had bulging temples, thick calluses on their hands, and eyes as sharp as hawks. Their hands were always tucked into their robes—a posture Groundhog knew all too well—a guarded stance, as if ready to draw a dagger or musket at any moment. These were no ordinary missionaries; they were suicide squads, professional soldiers who had seen blood.
Xu Hongru smiled and nodded to everyone, casually placing two large silver ingots on the counter: "Today's tea payment is on me. Thank you all for your hard work, brothers." "Thank you, Master Xu!" "Long live Master Xu!" Someone in the crowd even shouted that treasonous word, but Xu Hongru just smiled faintly and did not stop them.
Groundhog's heart sank. He finished the last sip of tea and, taking advantage of the moment when everyone was gathered around Xu Hongru, quietly left the teahouse through the back door. Walking two blocks, he slipped into the backyard of an inconspicuous blacksmith shop. "Has the stuff arrived?" Groundhog asked the contact. "Yes," the contact replied, handing over a list, his expression tense. "Recently, the prices of pig iron and sulfur in Yuncheng have skyrocketed, and they've all been snapped up by several large families in the west of the city. We checked, and these families all have a memorial tablet for Xu Hongru."
The mole took the list and glanced at it, his pupils shrinking sharply. "Two thousand catties of pig iron, five hundred catties of sulfur, and… what does this say? Beef tendons?" "Yes, beef tendons. They say it's for making bowstrings." The mole gasped. Ironware, gunpowder raw materials, bowstrings… this wasn't a ritual, this was a rebellion! A large-scale rebellion!
……
Two days later, in Jinan, at Luji Chengnan Logistics Park, in a secret room.
Lu Yan sat behind the huge elmwood table, looking at the intelligence that the groundhog had sent back overnight, as well as several hand-drawn topographical maps of Yuncheng and a sketch of Xu Hongru's residence. His brows furrowed into a deep frown.
"Ironware, grain, sulfur, beef tendons..." Lu Yan tapped the table rhythmically with his fingers, making a "tap-tap" sound, as if it were some kind of countdown. "Zhao Changying, come and take a look at this." Lu Yan pushed the list to the guard captain standing to the side.
Zhao Changying is no longer the down-on-his-luck military family boy he once was. He is dressed in a well-tailored black outfit, with a specially made goose-feather knife hanging at his waist, making him appear more composed and capable.
He picked up the list and glanced at it, his expression instantly changing. "Two thousand catties of pig iron? If all of it were forged into swords and spears, it would be enough to equip a thousand men. Five hundred catties of sulfur, if combined with saltpeter and charcoal, would amount to several thousand catties of gunpowder."
"And beef tendons... Possessing beef tendons privately is a serious crime." Zhao Changying raised his head, his eyes grave: "Master, this isn't just ordinary rioting by displaced people. What is Xu Hongru trying to do?"
"He wants to change the dynasty," Lu Yan coldly uttered. He stood up, walked to the map of the Ming Dynasty hanging on the wall, and locked his gaze on the location of Yanzhou Prefecture. "Brother, just who is this Xu Hongru?" Zhao Changying was still somewhat puzzled. "What kind of ability can a charlatan have? Although our current guard team only has a little over a hundred people, they are all equipped with our newly modified flintlock muskets. We can just push through and be done with it, right?"
"You underestimate religious fanaticism, and you underestimate the level of organization behind it." Lu Yan shook his head, pulling out an inconspicuous slip of paper from the pile of intelligence. "Look at this. Groundhog reports that Xu Hongru has set up 'Bagua Flags' around Yuncheng, organizing believers according to flag colors. What is this? This is a quasi-military mobilization system."
Lu Yan turned around, his eyes turning extremely cold, revealing the rational analysis of an engineering manager: "Changying, you're also a commander. Do you know how much it takes to organize a motley crew into a unit? Xu Hongru can command tens of thousands of people and even coordinate the allocation of resources, which means he has a vast and tightly-knit underground network behind him. This network is the artery for missionary work in peacetime and the artery for troop transport in wartime."
"Moreover, look at this time of year." Lu Yan pointed to the calendar. "In Liaodong, Shenyang and Liaoyang have fallen one after another, and the imperial army's elite troops have all been deployed outside the pass. Shandong's military strength is depleted, like a giant whose blood has been drained. Xu Hongru chose this time to stockpile supplies; he is waiting for an opportunity."
"What opportunity?" Zhao Changying asked. "Wait until next spring, when there's a food shortage," Lu Yan asserted. "At that time, the people will be starving, and if he raises his voice and calls for food, it will ignite a prairie fire."
The air in the room seemed to freeze. Zhao Changying's grip on the hilt of his knife tightened slightly: "Then what do we do? Report it to the authorities?"
"Report to the authorities?" Lu Yan scoffed. "You want to tell the prefect of Jinan that Xu Hongru is planning a rebellion? He'll ask you for evidence. You give him these lists, and he'll say it's just normal business transactions. He might even have Xu Hongru's people in the government." "Reporting to the authorities now will only alert him; it'll be completely useless."
Lu Yan paced back and forth in the room, his mind racing. As a modern time traveler, he knew the course of history.
In May of the second year of the Tianqi reign (1622), Xu Hongru did indeed launch a rebellion, and it was a massive one, at one point capturing several county towns and cutting off the Grand Canal. This was a disaster, but for Lu Yan, it was also an unprecedented opportunity. Crisis, crisis, yet within crisis lies opportunity.
"Not only can we not report him to the authorities, we should also help him." Lu Yan suddenly stopped and said something astonishing. "Help him?" Zhao Changying's eyes widened. "Boss, are you crazy?"
"It's not about helping him rebel, it's about helping him 'numb' the government, while simultaneously preparing for our own future." Lu Yan sat back down at the table, quickly unfolded a piece of paper, picked up a pen, and his eyes became deep and shrewd.
"Changying, relay my orders: First, the Chengnan Logistics Park is to immediately enter Level Two alert. Raise the perimeter wall by three feet, and move all warehouse materials, especially iron and grain, into the underground warehouse. Second, have Zhao Tie suspend the manufacture of axles and focus all his efforts on producing flintlock musket barrels and bullets."
"I want to ensure that every member of the guard is equipped with a rifle before next spring, and double the ammunition stockpile. Third, inform Wang Dengku that I've heard rumors that medicinal herbs and pig iron prices will rise next year, and tell him not to rush to ship them out, but to stockpile them all in Jinan."
Lu Yan paused, then pressed his pen heavily on the paper: "Finally, and most importantly."
Send someone to Yuncheng under the guise of "doing business" to contact Xu Hongru's people. "Contact?" "Yes." Lu Yan's lips curled into a cold smile. "Isn't he short of iron? Sell it to him. But sell him the kind of low-quality iron with high sulfur content that's prone to exploding. Isn't he short of grain? Sell it to him. And while you're at it, plant our people in his logistics network."
"I want to be the one who feeds the tiger, not only to feed it, but also to know exactly where its teeth are and where its weak points are."
Lu Yan handed the written order to Zhao Changying, his eyes gleaming: "When he actually starts his rebellion, this 'intelligence network' and 'logistics map' in our hands will be the most valuable pledge of allegiance we can sell to the imperial court."
"This is the real—bloody business."
Looking at the young man in his early twenties who was his employer, Zhao Changying felt a chill run from the soles of her feet to the top of her head, but this was followed by a strange sense of security.
In this chaotic world, following such a shrewd and ruthless master might be the only hope for survival. "Yes! Your subordinate understands!" Zhao Changying clasped his hands in acceptance, turned around and strode away.
Only Lu Yan remained in the secret room. He looked at the map of Yuncheng, his finger lightly tracing the winding canal. "Master Xu, I've already set up the stage for you."
Lu Yan murmured to himself, his voice barely audible, "Next year, we'll see who truly is the dragon of this land of Qilu."