Li Ruolian and Zhou Yanru reached a consensus, and the matter of dividing the troops was thus settled.
However, Li Ruolian still had a ulterior motive.
"If the emperor's decree is indeed correct, then the troop deployment must still be carried out in secret."
He first ordered the troops inside the city to sneak out under cover of night, and then ordered them to return to the city the next morning.
They created the illusion that all 70,000 troops had entered Nanjing.
Only then did they allow the remaining 30,000 soldiers to secretly head north.
The gentry in the city were excited when they learned of this.
"Heh, Li Ruolian has indeed mobilized troops into the city; he's planning to attack us!"
Logically, they should be angry and worried at this time.
But they actually seemed very happy.
"Good, good! He'll release us in a few days just as easily as he got us arrested!"
Thinking of this, the gentry were even a little impatient.
"Let's go to the post station right now and let them arrest us!"
"That's right, let the whole city see how rude these northerners are."
"The more they release us, the more embarrassed they will be!"
Old Master Wang nodded in agreement.
"That's right, let's set off now."
The gentry immediately organized themselves and headed towards the post station.
However, when they arrived at their destination, they learned that Zhou Yanru and the others had already left the post station and headed to the military camp.
Old Master Wang was unaware that this was because Li Ruolian had divided his troops in half, and was worried that something might go wrong in Jinling City.
That's why I deliberately left here.
In Old Master Wang's view, this was clearly a prelude to the soldiers taking action.
"Let's go, let's go to the military camp right now, we'll make sure the imperial court arrests us!"
He then led the gentry through half of Nanjing and arrived at the gate of the military camp.
"Zhou Yanru, Li Ruolian, you two come out here!"
"Yes, weren't you going to arrest us? We've delivered ourselves to your doorstep, do you dare to arrest us?"
The gentry, emboldened by their position, began to shout.
They seemed to be eager to be arrested immediately.
As early as when the gentry traversed Nanjing, many busybodies followed them upon hearing the news.
When they heard the gentry shout that, they were all dumbfounded.
What's going on?
Zhou Yanru and Li Ruolian in the military camp also seemed a bit strange.
"Who gave these gentry the audacity to come looking for us?"
Zhou Yanru was not surprised that the gentry had guessed he was going to take action against them.
But the fact that the gentry dared to come to his door was still somewhat unexpected.
"Could it be that the gentry know they are doomed to lose, so they deliberately want to show off their heroic spirit?"
"No, impossible, they wouldn't dare."
"Then... could it be that the contents of the emperor's edict were actually correct?"
"The gentry have already contacted the canal workers and know that if they cause trouble, I will have no choice but to release them. Is that why they are so fearless?"
A glint of light flashed in Zhou Yanru's eyes.
Then he instructed Li Ruolian: "Take a few thousand soldiers and go out to surround the gentry and see how they react."
If the gentry do not come to their door and allow the soldiers to arrest them individually, then the tens of thousands of soldiers in the city may not be enough.
But since this group of people has gathered together and even offered themselves up, a few thousand people would be enough.
Li Ruolian accepted the order and led her troops out.
The gentry outside the military camp, seeing this, remained completely calm and instead pointed and whispered among themselves at the soldiers.
"Judging from their appearance, they are indeed country bumpkins who have never seen the world."
"Haha, if the government's officials and soldiers are all like this, it seems the government is really incompetent."
Zhou Yanru stood at a distance and observed secretly. When he saw that these gentry were not afraid at all, he already had his answer.
"Just as I thought!"
"However... these gentry did not know that His Majesty had already issued an edict ordering us to divide our troops and head north."
"Although there were many canal workers, they were not rebellious refugees, and were even less than the common people."
"As long as those tens of thousands of troops arrive in time, they won't be able to cause any trouble!"
You should know that the lives of canal workers were much better than those of ordinary people.
The better their lives are, the less motivation they have to resist the government.
With a firm resolve, Zhou Yanru walked out gracefully and approached the gentry.
He sneered, "Fellow elders, what brings you to the outside of my military camp?"
"You should disperse quickly. If you have anything to tell me, you may come back early tomorrow morning."
Old Master Wang, who was in the lead, also had a sneer on his face.
"Zhou Yanru, let's not beat around the bush."
"Didn't you already make up your mind to disregard your hometown ties and take action against us local gentry?"
"Heh, you don't need to send troops, we'll just deliver ourselves to your doorstep!"
"Kill me or torture me, it's up to you!"
Zhou Yanru stared at Old Master Wang for a while before saying:
"Very well, since you put it that way, then I will grant your wish!"
"Guards! Arrest them all!"
The gentry remained calm and even cooperated.
"Oh right, don't be afraid, we won't run away."
After almost all the gentry had been arrested, Zhou Yanru finally came before Old Master Wang.
This old man is very old and highly respected in the area.
Zhou Yanru had specifically instructed his soldiers that only he could personally capture this person.
He approached Old Master Wang and, seeing that he still looked indifferent, suddenly burst into laughter.
After laughing, he even cupped his hands in a respectful gesture towards Old Master Wang.
"Thank you very much, Master Wang. If you hadn't personally led the local gentry into our trap, it would have taken me a lot of effort to send troops to capture you separately."
Old Master Wang sneered:
"You've already brought tens of thousands of troops into the city, so capturing us shouldn't take much effort."
Zhou Yanru smiled again and said slowly in a low voice:
"Oh dear, Master Wang, you don't know yet?"
"Actually, we've just been putting on a show these past few days; we haven't brought the whole army into Nanjing at all."
"On the contrary, they sent tens of thousands of people north."
Old Master Wang's cold smile froze.
"Heading north?"
"Hehe, hehe, it must be because the emperor doesn't govern well that the Jurchens have attacked again!"
He was starting to feel uneasy.
Seeing this, Zhou Yanru deliberately remained silent for a while, whetting his appetite.
Then he said:
"That's not it."
"Instead, I received a secret report that someone was trying to incite the canal workers to cause trouble, so I specifically sent troops to suppress it."
"Sigh, after dividing up so many troops, I'm short-handed. I was originally thinking of letting you off the hook."
"Fortunately, you understand my difficulties..."
What he said was actually half true and half false.
The statement that "due to a shortage of manpower, no action will be taken against the gentry in the short term" is true.
But letting the gentry off the hook was absolutely out of the question.
As long as he can be sure there won't be any problems on the Grand Canal, he will recall his troops, and then arrest people as necessary.
The plundering must continue.
Normally, Old Master Wang would definitely have figured this out.
But now his heart is filled with terror.
"What? How could you possibly know what we're going to do?"
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