The Great Rebel at the End of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 046 Knowing the Young Beauty

As Zhou Lun had predicted, Gao Yingxiang's subsequent expansion of troops was indeed intended to maintain a balance of power.

Despite Wang Er's outstanding contribution and the numerous rewards he received from Gao Yingxiang, the expansion of his army did not proceed as smoothly as expected.

On the one hand, Wang Er was notorious for his ruthlessness.

On the other hand, as the main attacker, he broke through Anding City and led his men to plunder the city indiscriminately, completely ruining his reputation.

Among the peaceful populace, although many were struggling to survive and harbored rebellious intentions, even ordinary farmers weren't fools. Even if forced to join the rebel army, they'd rather follow Gao Yingxiang or Li Wanqing than Wang Er. At least those two leaders were considerably more decent in comparison.

Besides these reasons, Andingcheng itself is a small county, which is also a problem.

The population of Anding County is not large, even slightly smaller than that of Bao'an County. With only a few thousand households, even if each household has two people, the total population is not that many.

Moreover, not everyone is willing to join the rebel army. If there is any way to survive, who would be willing to risk their life to rebel? Besides, they would have to leave their hometowns with the rebel army, and if things went wrong, they might die on the road and not even be able to be buried in their own ancestral graves.

Although the disaster situation in Shaanxi is severe, it is only just beginning and has not yet reached the point where the land is barren and people are forced to eat their own children.

The people still held a glimmer of hope for the imperial court, which resulted in a relatively small number of people eagerly joining the army. In addition, Gao Yingxiang and Li Wanqing's troops were not idle either, taking this opportunity to expand their own forces. As a result, the number of people Wang Er recruited was somewhat unsatisfactory.

After several days of effort, Wang Er managed to recruit some men to make up for the casualties from the previous siege, and also expanded his force by about two hundred men.

Meanwhile, Gao Yingxiang and Li Wanqing's forces were also expanding. These two forces recruited just as many men as Wang Er, and their soldiers were of higher quality, which greatly displeased Wang Er.

In their struggle to secure manpower, Wang Er's men even clashed with Gao Yingxiang and Li Wanqing's troops in the city. Fortunately, Gao Yingxiang, Li Wanqing, and Zhou Lun had anticipated this and instructed their subordinates to exercise restraint, thus preventing the situation from escalating.

Afterwards, Wang Er went directly to Gao Yingxiang. In addition to explaining the cause of the conflict, he also complained indignantly about his difficulties in recruiting people and strongly demanded that Gao Yingxiang order all other departments to wait until his recruitment was completed before they could start recruiting.

Gao Yingxiang was both amused and exasperated by these unreasonable conditions. "You, Wang Er, can't even recruit enough people yourself, yet you're trying to pin the blame on others? Who do you think you are? How dare you!" Even Gao Yingxiang himself wouldn't do something like that, let alone Li Wanqing!

Of course, Gao Yingxiang didn't say it so explicitly. He simply patiently persuaded Wang Er, explaining that Anding was a small place with a small population, so it was normal to have difficulty recruiting. Wang Er hadn't mentioned this before, and only now, almost finished, did he think of this condition. He couldn't very well just hand over the people he had already recruited, could he? Wouldn't that put him in a difficult position?

Gao Yingxiang said he would let it go this time, but the rebel army would be heading north, and he promised to give Wang Er a better chance to make amends then. In addition, Gao Yingxiang promised to provide some more money and supplies as compensation. Having received these benefits, Wang Er, seeing that this was the only way, reluctantly agreed, though unwilling.

However, despite agreeing, Wang Er's actions did not stop.

Since he couldn't recruit anyone immediately, Wang Er decided to resort to force! He directly used coercion to expand his forces. After a series of maneuvers, he managed to bring in nearly a thousand civilians to join his ranks, swelling his army to almost three thousand, making him arguably the largest force in the rebel army.

Wang Er's actions were not only despised by Li Wanqing and others, but even Gao Yingxiang cursed him inwardly as "shortsighted" after learning about them.

The rebel army had only recently raised their flag; there was absolutely no need for them to do this. Besides, Anding wasn't far from Anzhai or Bao'an, and this area was their hometown and homeland for both Gao Yingxiang and Li Wanqing. To pull such a stunt near their own hometown—Wang Er might be shameless, but Gao Yingxiang certainly had some self-respect.

They were indeed a righteous army, but Gao Yingxiang's public persona had always been that of "acting on behalf of Heaven and overthrowing the tyrannical rule of the Ming Dynasty." Wouldn't such actions damage the reputation of the righteous army and himself? How could Gao Yingxiang sit idly by?

But by then it was too late to intervene.

Wang Er acted quickly, getting the job done in no time. Faced with this outcome, Gao Yingxiang was furious, even regretting supporting Wang Er to counterbalance Li Wanqing. But it was too late. Left with no other choice, Gao Yingxiang summoned Wang Er and gave him a thorough dressing-down.

To everyone's surprise, Wang Er didn't care at all, grinning like a rascal and letting Gao Yingxiang vent his anger. But to ask him to release the people he had brought back? Forget about it!

"This will not be repeated!"

In the end, Gao Yingxiang could only use this sentence to send Wang Er away. Wang Er chuckled, clasped his hands in a salute, and swaggered away.

"King Chuang, this man is so disobedient and arrogant; in my opinion, he deserves to die!" Huang Long whispered in Gao Yingxiang's ear, "How about I take a few brothers and just..."

As he spoke, Huang Long raised his hand and made a downward cutting gesture.

"Don't say things like that anymore; it's not good for unity."

Gao Yingxiang glanced coldly at Huang Long, his tone turning serious: "We are all righteous soldiers, and everyone knows that Wang Er initially came to join us because of me, Gao Yingxiang. If we were to deal with Wang Er like this, wouldn't that tell the world that I, Gao Yingxiang, have no tolerance for others? This is absolutely unacceptable! It's not even a thought! You all remember this: anyone who dares to disobey my orders and do such a thing will not be spared!"

Huang Long's expression hardened, and he quickly clasped his hands in agreement. Liu Zhe, standing to the side, also hurriedly agreed, patting his chest and assuring Gao Yingxiang that he would absolutely not act on his own.

"Huanglong".

"exist!"

"Anding is not a place to stay for long; the government troops could arrive at any time. We've done enough in Anding; go down and make preparations so we can set off at any moment."

"Yes!" Huang Long replied and left to carry out the order.

After Huang Long left, Gao Yingxiang turned to Liu Zhe and asked, "How's things going with She Tatian? What exactly is Zhou Lun planning?"

"Reporting to King Chuang, the Shetatian troops have been reorganizing their forces these past few days, and they are doing much better than Wang Er's side. As for Zhou Lun..." Liu Zhe paused, then continued, "Last time, according to King Chuang's wishes, I already conveyed the message to him. Judging from his reaction, Zhou Lun doesn't seem to mind getting closer to King Chuang..."

Gao Yingxiang smiled and nodded: "In that case, spend the next few days visiting Zhou Lun and building a relationship. If possible, try to bring Zhou Lun to our side. By the way, be generous when you're with him; just let me know how much gold or silver you need."

"I understand!" Liu Zhe replied, but then asked with some doubt, "King Chuang, this man is merely a subordinate of She Tatian. Is it really necessary to go to such lengths to win him over?"

"You don't understand..." Gao Yingxiang said leisurely, "People are different. This Zhou Lun, despite his youth, is far from simple, far beyond the ordinary. She Tatian's current status is due to his help. If we can acquire Zhou Lun, we can not only easily recruit She Tatian's elite troops, but also gain a powerful general. Right now is a time when we need capable people. Having such a person at our disposal would be like adding wings to a tiger!"

Gao Yingxiang's words surprised Liu Zhe greatly. Although he had long understood Gao Yingxiang's intention to win over Zhou Lun, he had not expected that Zhou Lun would be so important to Gao Yingxiang.

Although somewhat jealous, Liu Zhe, as Gao Yingxiang's absolute confidant, had no other ulterior motives. He thought for a moment and said to Gao Yingxiang, "Since the King of Chuang values ​​this man so much, I will certainly do my best to befriend him. In addition, I have a suggestion, but I don't know if I should say it."

"speak!"

Liu Zhe said, "Since Zhou Lun is young and talented, it would be good if he could be used by the rebel king. However, from my interactions with him, I've found that he doesn't seem to be interested in money. It might be difficult to bribe him with gold and silver alone. Perhaps we should try a different approach..."

"What other direction are you referring to...?"

"Before I joined the uprising with Chuang Wang, there was an old scholar in the village. Does Chuang Wang still remember him?" Liu Zhe changed the subject and brought up the past.

Gao Yingxiang nodded. He certainly knew this old scholar; in fact, he was an elder member of his own family. He had studied his entire life, but failed the imperial examinations, not even reaching the lowest level (xiucai). In his old age, he gave up the idea of ​​taking the exams and made a living teaching in the countryside. Incidentally, Gao Yingxiang had studied under this old scholar for three years in his youth, receiving his initial instruction—otherwise, how could he have learned to read and write?

"When the old scholar was teaching in the countryside, I attended his classes a few times. Once, while teaching Mencius, he mentioned a sentence," Liu Zhe smiled, "'Admiring young women…' I wonder if Your Majesty is aware of this sentence? In my opinion, Zhou Lun is only eighteen, a young man. Young men are full of vigor and it's natural for them to admire young women. Rather than trying to win him over with gold and silver, it would be more appropriate to cater to his desires and utilize his beauty. What do you think, Your Majesty?"

Upon hearing this, Gao Yingxiang gave Liu Zhe a deep look. He hadn't expected that Liu Zhe, this rough and uncultured man, would actually use a phrase like "admiring young women."

Having received some formal education, Gao Yingxiang naturally understood what those words meant. Considering Zhou Lun's age and appearance, a slight thought stirred within him…