Fu Shanhe

Chapter 165: The Fall of Guangzhou
"kill!"

"What's going on outside?"

The shouting and screaming were getting closer and closer. Zou Yunchuan, who was awakened from his sleep, asked with a look of panic on his face.

"Master, something terrible has happened. The rebels have entered the city!"

Hearing the butler's answer, Zou Yunchuan's body suddenly trembled.

Whatever you are afraid of will come to you.

"impossible!

Guangzhou City is so strong, how could it be so easily breached by the enemy? "

No one could answer Zou Yunchuan's question.

There was chaos outside and everyone was busy escaping. No one cared about him, the outdated governor.

"Master, a gentleman does not stand on a dangerous wall. It is better to leave Guangzhou first."

As he spoke, the butler had already taken out a set of servant's clothes and motioned for Zou Yunchuan to change into it and escape.

"no!
If I lose Guangzhou City, the imperial envoy will not forgive me, and the court will not let me go either.

Go and inform the generals quickly, and send people to plug the gap and drive the rebels out of the city.

If it really doesn't work, then retreat to the inner city.

Tell them that reinforcements from the court will arrive soon.

As long as we hold on for a few more days, the situation will be reversed!"

Zou Yunchuan gave the order in a panic.

The series of outrageous actions he has taken before have labeled him as incompetent in the eyes of the outside world.

The Dayu Dynasty was full of incompetent officials, but the problem was that he had caused such a big mess.

When Guangxi was lost, the censor impeached him for dereliction of duty.

However, he was not the only official watching the show at that time, so the law does not hold everyone responsible.

In order to shirk responsibility, he even submitted a memorial requesting military dispatch, but the upload speed was a little slow.

When the imperial court's order to send troops arrived, Guangxi had already been lost.

The procedural process was legal, allowing him to escape accountability.

In the subsequent Guangdong Defense War, his series of blind commands were all centered on political correctness.

The blame for the defeat in Zhaoqing was pushed onto Prefect Yang, but he was no fool. After arriving in Beijing, he quickly exposed the governor.

The ministers in charge of the government were not fools and they quickly figured out the whole story.

Naturally, people would not have a good impression of him as a master at shifting the blame.

Changing commanders during a battle is a taboo in military strategy. Even if everyone is dissatisfied, they are worried that the situation will collapse further after the change.

Zou Yunchuan was given the opportunity to redeem himself with merit, but unfortunately he failed to seize it and failed again.

He thought that he could control the military rations and make the Yangzhou Camp and Huai'an Camp obey his orders. However, he failed to control the people and was instead scolded by the imperial envoy.

Not only did he offend his superiors, but he also received complaints from those below him.

When one problem breaks out, there are actually problems everywhere.

Since the governor could withhold food and wages from combat troops during wartime, the bureaucrats under him would naturally not be very honest.

All the troops participating in the war in Guangdong were victims.

The supply of materials was not sufficient to begin with, and after being stripped layer by layer, the soldiers below had difficulty filling their stomachs.

In private, everyone gave him the nickname "Zou Bapi".

From the outbreak of the war to now, Zou Yunchuan's private treasury has earned more than 50,000 taels of silver.

In Zou Yunchuan's view, he is already very honest.

In normal years, the governor's illegal income was much higher than this.

The difference is that in peacetime, income mainly comes from merchants and tributes from subordinates.

After the war broke out, a lot of trade shifted from Guangdong to Fujian, Zhejiang and other regions.

The tributes from sea merchants shrank significantly, and the main contributors became grain merchants and cloth merchants...

The bureaucrats colluded with merchants and took out the best military rations to trade.

After returning, the fine grains turned into coarse grains, and the coarse grains turned into chaff, and the profits went into everyone's pockets.

There's nothing wrong with doing this during normal times.

The people below can only keep their opinions to themselves.

But now is a time of war, and soldiers full of resentment will naturally not fight to the death on the battlefield.

Theoretically, if Guangzhou fell, they could retreat to other provinces to resist and wait for reinforcements from the court.

However, Zou Yunchuan, who had lost the support of the soldiers, did not have that appeal.

For many people, Guangzhou city is the last support of faith.

After losing this place, people's view of the White Lotus Sect was no longer just a rebellious party, but a force that had the opportunity to compete for the world.

For some unhappy people, as long as the White Lotus Sect can offer favorable conditions to win them over, it is worth it for them to join and take a risk.

It was precisely because he knew how bad the political impact would be that Zou Yunchuan could not accept the fall of Guangzhou.

"Master, no one came even though such a big thing happened. I guess those soldiers have already run away.

The carriage is ready, you should change your clothes and go!"

The housekeeper tried hard to persuade.

Escaping is addictive.

With so many states and capitals having fallen, the generals below had already gained experience.

Seeing that Guangzhou City was about to fall, no one had the idea of ​​fighting to the death, and their minds were full of thoughts of running away.

A gap was blasted in the outer city, which was originally just a small episode in the battle to defend the city. However, under the influence of the idea of ​​​​escaping, it directly turned into a major rout.

……

Wuchang Mansion.

"Guangzhou Prefecture is lost?"

"This is impossible!
This must be a conspiracy by the enemy, trying to disrupt our position."

Xu Wenyue said in a firm tone.

As one of the largest cities in southern Xinjiang, Guangzhou was built at great expense of the imperial court.

Not only is there sufficient food and grass in the city, it is also heavily guarded.

No matter how powerful the rebels are, they will not be defeated in three to five months.

If the defender is capable and can hold out for two or three years, it is possible.

Before the New Year was over, news came that Guangzhou had fallen. It must have been a conspiracy of the rebels.

"Lord, the news has been verified. Guangzhou City did fall five days ago.

Guangdong is in chaos right now, with no one to take charge of the situation. The prefect of Shaozhou has sent an urgent request for help.

Lu Jingxuan reported nervously.

This news is too shocking.

I thought the battle in Huguang was pretty bad, but I never expected that my colleagues in Guangdong would be so outstanding.

With the support of the Governor of Guangzhou, Lu Jingxuan suddenly felt that he was doing okay.

Although they still lost cities and territories, at least they kept the rebels out of Changsha.

There were wins and losses on the battlefield, unlike in Guangdong where the battle was purely one-sided.

It’s not that the soldiers from Huguang are stronger, but mainly because he has been busy welcoming the imperial envoy these days and has no time to intervene in the battle on the front line.

Without the remote control by the governor, the generals under him were allowed to act freely and were able to fight the rebels on equal terms.

Seeing that the battle line was stabilized, Lu Jingxuan no longer had the heart to struggle.

"boom!"

"idiot!"

"waste!"

"Where is Zou Yunchuan?"

"I'm going to chop off his head!"

……

From the series of curses, it was obvious that Xu Wenyue's defense was broken.

Judging from the intelligence he had, even if a pig was placed in the position of Guangdong Governor, Guangzhou City should not have been captured by the rebels in three days.

If he had known that this idiot could cause so much trouble, he would have replaced him long ago.

"The fate of many high-ranking officials in Guangdong, including Governor Zou, is unknown. Perhaps they died for their country."

Lu Jingxuan replied in a low voice. This time, he did not add insult to injury.

In the past, people would flatter the Governor of Guangdong in order to avenge themselves for being cheated before.

Now that Guangzhou has fallen, Zou Yunchuan, as the person primarily responsible, is destined to die.

There is no need to be a villain at this time.

"Humph!"

"He made a mess of the situation in Guangdong, and it was a good thing for him to die like this."

Xu Wenyue said unhappily.

If Zou Yunchuan was there, he would have wanted to chop him with his sword immediately.

Once Guangzhou is lost, the situation in Guangdong, which is leaderless, is bound to become increasingly out of control.

Wanting to arrange for someone to clean up the mess, Xu Wenyue didn't know who to find.

At least he himself couldn't think of a way to save Guangdong from the crisis in a short period of time.

"My Lord, the situation in Guangdong has become deteriorating, and the most urgent task is to find a way to deal with it.

Now we must notify Jiangxi and Fujian to prepare and never allow the war to spread further.

In addition, Guangxi also needs to increase its investment.

Before the imperial reinforcements arrived, the only camps capable of launching a counterattack against the rebels were the Yangzhou Camp and the Huai'an Camp.

Lord Jia suggested re-employing the two lieutenant generals Jing and Li, and I think it is worth considering. "

Hou Huaichang suggested tactfully.

When Guangzhou fell, not only the Governor of Guangdong was unlucky, but Xu Wenyue, the Governor-General of Five Provinces, also needed to take responsibility.

A big victory is urgently needed to reverse the bad strategic situation.

As for Huguang, Yunnan and Guizhou, it is considered good enough if they can stabilize the front line.

In the short term, only Guangxi can take action.

The trouble is that although the government troops in Guangxi are capable of fighting, their numbers are too small.

If the imperial court wanted to launch a counterattack in Guangxi, it would have to increase its investment in manpower, material resources, and financial resources.

"Um!

Pass on my order, appoint Li Mu, the lieutenant commander of Yangzhou Camp, as acting commander-in-chief of Guangxi, appoint Lieutenant Commander of Huai'an Camp, as acting general of Guangxi, and appoint Jia Bo, the minister of the Ministry of War, as military supervisor.

The three of them were ordered to immediately restore Guangxi's military strength and then set about recovering the lost territory.

Tell Li Mu and Jing Yifeng that as long as they can recover Guangxi, I will ensure that their positions become permanent.

Send someone to notify the governors of Nanzhili, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang, and order them to raise 500,000 dan of grain and fodder within one month, and 1 million dan within three months..."

Xu Wenyue gave the order decisively.

The situation is different, so the decisions made are naturally different.

The Guangxi government troops before this were just a casual move in his imagination, and he didn't expect them to play a big role at all.

It is natural to have concerns about the extraordinary appointment proposed by subordinates.

Now the situation has changed, and the Yangzhou Camp and Huai'an Camp, which served as supporting roles, must be used as the protagonists.

The previous treatment was definitely not enough.

So he was more generous and replaced the commander-in-chief with a general, and gave away two second-rank military officer hats at once.

Of course, there are drawbacks to doing this.

The former general of Guangxi retreated into the mountains to resist after his defeat. His life or death has not yet been confirmed, and the court has not announced the removal of his post.

Unlike the Guangxi Commander-in-Chief and the Associate Commander-in-Chief, who were directly included in the court's list of casualties.

If the real boss comes back in the future and two Guangxi generals appear at once, the situation will be a bit awkward.

……

Lianzhou Prefecture.

Looking at the battle report from Guangdong, Li Mu's head was buzzing.

Like everyone else, he didn't think Guangzhou would fall so soon.

According to prior speculation, the White Lotus Sect's army would suffer heavy losses and gradually lose its fighting spirit under the city of Guangzhou.

After the imperial reinforcements arrived, he sent troops to cut off the connection between the rebel forces in Guangdong and Guangxi, making a great contribution to the imperial court's cause of suppressing the rebellion.

Unfortunately, the plan cannot keep up with the changes.

Instead of waiting for reinforcements from the imperial court, they received the tragic news that Guangzhou had fallen.

"Is the Governor of Guangdong a pig?"

"With an army of more than 100,000, they can't even defend the city of Guangzhou. It's a huge joke!"

Jing Yifeng on the side couldn't help but sneer.

The fall of Guangzhou City not only worsened the situation in Guangdong, but also affected them who were far away in Lianzhou.

From now on, if you want to contact the court, you have to go to Fujian soon.

To purchase supplies, they had to go to Fujian and Zhejiang.

Although sea transportation is convenient, the increased distance will also increase costs and risks.

"Uncle Qi, please don't insult the pig.

Even if a pig was appointed as the Governor of Guangdong, the situation would not have deteriorated so quickly.

At least pigs won’t be corrupt, they won’t be able to withhold our money and food, and they won’t cause public outrage and resentment! ”

Li Mu cooperated and added another blow.

These words were spoken to the special envoy.

There was only one purpose, which was to use the bloody and tragic reality to warn the imperial envoy not to interfere in military command and not to take money and food from the army.

"You two, stop talking about this useless stuff.

The situation in Guangdong has worsened and we must respond.

If we fail to deter the enemy, Lianzhou might be their next target!"

Jabo said unhappily.

The acting skills of both of them are obviously not up to standard.

The implication was too blatant, making him look like a corrupt official.

The problem is that after arriving in Lianzhou for such a long time, he hasn't gained anything.

Not to mention embezzling military pay, he didn't even receive a single penny of the daily tributes.

He is an unfamiliar place, so even if he wants to reach out, he has to be able to get it.

All military affairs, big or small, were strictly managed by Li Mu and Jing Yifeng, leaving him no chance to interfere.

In normal times, anyone who wanted to enter the military camp had to have a warrant from two lieutenant generals.

The officers and soldiers under him simply didn't buy his account.

Faced with such a cruel reality, how could he have the courage to covet money and food?

This is the front line of Guangxi, and it has a creepy name among the people - Lingnan.

In this kind of place with a shortage of medical care and medicine, it is completely understandable that a military supervisor died unexpectedly due to illness.

"The Lianzhou Guard has been fully replenished, and the Xunzhou Guard and Nanning Guard have also been replenished by more than half, and the remaining guards are under preparation.

However, the soldiers lack training and can only serve as auxiliary troops for the time being.

After the Lantern Festival, we will send troops to recover the lost territory and give the rebels a good beating.

The only tricky thing is money and food. The soldiers' salaries are all in arrears.

Over time, it will definitely affect the morale of the army."

Li Mu expressed his opinion with a smile.

You have the right to use it and it will become invalid upon expiration.

He was not going to waste the opportunity to legally expand his army.

Although the land of Guangxi was basically in the hands of the rebels, this did not affect his decision to restore the military organization in various places.

Even if there are not enough soldiers, you can still set up the framework first.

By the time the war is over, it will be an established fact.

Even if he is transferred out of Guangxi in the future, his influence in the local area will not disappear for decades.

"General Li, rest assured, you won't be short of money and food.

I have already written a letter to urge the minister.

As long as you can achieve outstanding results, logistics will be given priority!"

……

(End of this chapter)