Fu Shanhe

Chapter 241 Belated Information

"Bang, bang, bang..."

Unlike previous battles, Li Mu did not show off his skills in this battle.

After approaching the rebel camp, artillery fire first cleared the way, followed by muskets firing in turns, and then the army steadily pressed forward.

After a round of fighting between the two sides, the rebels who took the initiative to attack were suppressed by firepower.

This retreat was the beginning of disaster.

The rebel soldiers who continued to gather in the rear collided with the fleeing soldiers in the front, and the camp instantly fell into chaos.

The fleeing soldiers, without the protection of armor and having lost their order, are sitting ducks.

If you are hit directly in the vitals, you are lucky to die.

Most of the unlucky ones rolled on the ground wailing in pain after being shot in the body.

At this moment, everyone was busy escaping and didn't care about the wounded on the ground.

“Don’t retreat!”

"Supervisory team, give me..."

Before the young general could finish his words, he was knocked down by a flying artillery shell.

He was the first rebel general to die in battle, and he would not be the last.

The chaos in the camp ahead immediately attracted the commander's attention.

"Why are you all silent? Where is your plan to defeat the enemy?"

Qi Datou couldn't help but scold angrily.

In the blink of an eye, the enemy rushed into his camp.

The whole world is filled with cries of killing, but the sad thing is that even the identity of the enemy has not been figured out yet.

"My Lord, the enemy's attack was so fierce that they almost defeated our army with just one charge.

There are only a handful of armies in the world with such combat capabilities.

The ones who can appear here must be the Yangzhou Camp under Li Mu.

However, the Yangzhou Camp only has one guard. Even if all of them are elite soldiers, their number will not be too large.

We must entangle them at all costs. As long as we survive this wave of attacks, the next battle will be easier!"

The middle-aged aide answered reluctantly.

It is an eternal truth that those who pretend to be cool will be struck by lightning.

He boasted that he was well-versed in military books and was proficient in both civil and military strategies, but now was the time for him to suffer backlash.

The problem is that he was just bragging during the job interview, and no one expected that the "boss" above would take it seriously.

Whenever there was a major war, he would be sought for advice.

The enemies he faced in the past were all rookies, so he naturally let them do their best.

The situation is different now. The enemy before us is Dayu’s famous victorious general.

It could be said to be an accident at the beginning, but in the subsequent battles, the Holy Kingdom of White Lotus invested a huge amount of money.

In the end, no matter who goes on top, they'll end up giving away heads.

Although the White Lotus Saint Emperor had a several-fold advantage in military strength, he was still besieged by the enemy in Yongzhou and did not dare to leave the city to fight the enemy.

Now the enemy troops have entered their own camp. Even if Sima Yi were reborn, he would probably not be able to turn the situation around.

I am not sure in my heart, but I have to pretend to be calm.

The person in front of him is not a person who would humble himself by courtesy. Being an aide to Qi Datou is a high-risk job in the Holy Kingdom of White Lotus.

In the few months since he went there, three of his colleagues had been brutally murdered and five had been beaten with sticks.

If Qi Datou found out that he was useless, his head might be in danger at any time.

"Sir, you are right. I have an army of 100,000, but that villain Li Mu only has a few soldiers.

At worst, I can fight him with lives. I want to see how many people he can kill today!
The order was passed down, ordering all units to fight back bravely, and the Royal Guard Battalion to form a supervisory team.

If one person retreats, the whole team will be killed.

If one squad retreats, the entire squad will be killed.

One step back..."

Qi Datou slapped his thigh and issued the strictest order to execute everyone.

This was his trump card. Every time he encountered tough government troops, he defeated the enemy by relying on strict military orders.

The heavy losses of the soldiers were not important at all to Qi Datou.

As long as we can win, no matter how big the loss is, it is worth it.

……

On the river, Li Mu looked at the battlefield with a telescope, a slight smile on his face.

The rebels' resistance was much stronger than expected.

After suffering a crushing defeat, they did not give up and quickly organized a second round of counterattack.

The stalemate did not last long before the third round of counterattack began.

Li Mu had no idea what the other commander was thinking.

There is no problem in organizing a counterattack, but at least it requires skills.

Knowing that the enemy is using volley tactics, at least we should disperse the team when charging.

Form a military formation to attack, and it will be no problem to encounter an old-fashioned army.

If you encounter a large-scale firearms unit, you will definitely be killed.

It is true that it takes time to reload the muskets, but the problem is that the Guangxi soldiers are now divided into five batches.

After the first team has fired three shots, the second team will immediately take over, and the two teams will continue to rotate.

By the time a round of shooting was completed, the first team had finished reloading their ammunition.

“Sir, the rebel general on the opposite side must have fought many battles with other government troops.

He was commanding the battle based on experience and had no idea that we had changed our tactics.

You are dreaming of using up all our ammunition and then engaging in close combat with your superior numbers!"

Lan Linjie commented.

In fact, if it really comes to close combat, there is still a big gap between the two sides.

Not to mention the differences in daily training, just looking at the ratio of armor between the two armies, you can tell the difference.

The 20,000 troops brought by Li Mu were not only all wearing armor, but at least half of the soldiers were wearing armor.

It would be a miracle for the rebels on the opposite side to gather 2,000 sets of armor, and they might not even be able to gather 1,000 sets.

"The enemy is at their wits' end. Let's just send a signal to the city and ask them to join the battle!"

Li Mu gave the order calmly.

Before the decisive battle broke out, the enemy had been attacking Hengyang for several days, and there were bound to be three to five thousand casualties.

In the previous few rounds of killing operations, about five to six thousand soldiers were lost.

Adding the two together, that’s ten thousand gone.

In the era of cold weapons, a one-tenth combat casualty rate was already a very dangerous number.

If we add more fuel to the fire, the rebels will be pushed to the limit of their endurance.

In fact, the current battle is not ideal.

The ship was too small to withstand the recoil of the artillery.

Otherwise, if we provide fire support from the river and coordinate with the army's actions, the battle will proceed more smoothly.

……

"Ha ha……"

“The commander has given the signal to attack, and it’s finally our turn, Brother Wei.

Pass the order down, open the city gates and attack with all the troops!"

As he spoke, Zhu Jingyu drew his sword and issued an attack signal.

As the voice fell, the city gate slowly opened.

Countless defending soldiers rushed out of the city gate and launched an attack on the rebel camp.

"Commander-in-Chief, since we have entrusted such an important mission to you and me, we naturally cannot let him down.

Brother Zhu, we will say goodbye now. Next, let’s see who can kill more enemies today!”

As he spoke, Wei Haoyu also drew his sword, turned around and joined the team.

A third-rank military general has already stepped half a foot into the threshold of a high-level general. Naturally, he does not need to fight in the battlefield himself, but he still has to command the army.

A decisive battle between large troops is the ultimate test of a general's command ability.

Not only does the commander-in-chief need to be strong enough, but there are also very high requirements for the generals responsible for the specific execution.

"Kill!" The joining of the soldiers defending the city brought the battle to a climax.

Hundreds of thousands of troops from both sides engaged in a fierce battle outside the city of Hengyang.

For a time, corpses filled the ground, and blood flowed into the Xiangjiang River, even changing the color of the river water.

……

"Hold on, hold on for me!"

Qi Datou roared angrily.

The war did not develop as he expected. Even though he tried his best, he was still unable to stop the enemy.

In a decisive battle between large troops, the elite troops are the sharpest blades.

As long as the sharp blade tears a hole in the battle line, the rest of the army can quickly follow up and continue to expand the results of the battle along this hole.

The Holy Army had bad luck and happened to encounter the sharpest sword, and the battle line was shattered by the impact.

Not only did it prove that the back was penetrated by the enemy, but the front was also torn open by the officers and soldiers who rushed out of the city.

In front of the enemy, the camp was like a piece of paper and played no role at all.

This is his own fault. He was too arrogant before and never thought that the enemy would dare to kill him.

The commander-in-chief did not give any special orders, and the generals in the army did not take it seriously, so the defense of the camp became a shoddy project.

It doesn't matter now whether the soldiers were lazy or there were spies from the government army infiltrating the camp.

There were fleeing soldiers on all sides, and the battle was getting closer and closer to the commander's camp.

Qi Datou's most trusted aides ran away the moment he went to the toilet.

"on fire!"

Hearing the sound, Qi Datou looked towards where the fire was spreading, and found that it was the army's granary.

He was so angry that he spurted out a mouthful of blood and then fainted.

The granary caught fire and the head coach fainted, which was really a double whammy.

After seeing this scene, the already chaotic rebel camp became even more chaotic.

"Take the Marquis away!"

The captain of the personal guards made a prompt decision.

The war has been going on for so long that no matter who is in charge, it will be powerless to turn the tide.

The granary was burned down, and even if they were lucky enough to stop the rebels, they could not escape the fate of destruction.

With the departure of the group, the leaderless rebel camp completely lost the desire to resist.

Everyone rushed to escape, fearing that they would be slow to react and become victims of the government troops' guns.

……

"The bandit camp suddenly caught fire. Was it a coincidence, or is someone helping us?"

Li Mu wondered secretly.

The battle went so smoothly, which was a little beyond his expectations.

It was already late at night, and according to the normal pace, the rebels should have struggled a little longer.

Even if you want to run away, you have to wait until after dark, so that your chances of escaping will be greater.

The sudden fire in the granary immediately broke the last psychological defense of the rebel soldiers.

The rebel soldiers are originally from the lower class of society struggling on the line between life and death, and they are most sensitive to food.

Most soldiers joined the White Lotus Rebellion just to have a full meal.

Now that the food is gone, the meaning of their fight has also disappeared.

"Pass the order down, those who surrender will not be killed!

Notify the cavalry that it's their turn to clean up the mess.

Ordinary rebel soldiers are not important, but the rebel leaders must stay with me.

Especially those scum who surrendered to the rebels, we must not let them slip through the net!"

Li Mu gave the order coldly.

A general's success will last forever.

I don't know when it started, but he has gradually become numb to human life.

Whether it is one thousand or ten thousand, to him it is just a string of cold numbers on paper.

"Hey!"

After sighing secretly, Li Mu quickly adjusted his state.

Now he is no longer an ordinary military general, but a commander who commands tens of thousands of troops and can influence the fate of the empire.

When you are in this position, you need to put away your compassion and keep yourself rational at all times.

The killing before his eyes is just the beginning. As the war to quell the rebellion continues, there will be more wars waiting for him.

……

Yongzhou City.

"What? The main force of the government troops outside the city left secretly?"

Shi Rongxuan asked in disbelief.

During the day, the puppet army launched an attack on the city.

The firepower was as strong as ever, firmly suppressing the defenders.

Now he was suddenly told that the main force of the government troops had left and had been on the run for several days.

Such news is really too exciting.

“Holy Emperor, the number of tents and bonfires in the government army camp has not decreased.

However, according to our reconnaissance, the density of soldiers in the enemy camp is much lower than before.

At first, I thought it was an accident.

However, after observing for several days, there was still no change.

Basically, it can be judged that the enemy has withdrawn a troop and left."

Shi Qichuan said with a nervous look on his face.

Having suffered a great loss at the hands of Li Mu, he has always been cautious when it comes to information related to Li Mu.

When he first discovered that something was wrong with the enemy camp, his first reaction was not to split up and leave.

Instead, they suspected that Li Mu was setting a trap for them and deliberately luring them out of the city.

In order to verify the authenticity of the news, he sent out a large number of spies, and after sacrificing dozens of people, he finally obtained accurate information.

But after all this trouble, time has passed.

“When did the enemy leave?”

Shi Rongxuan asked sternly.

The mobilization of tens of thousands of troops would not have left no traces if it were not just a few people leaving quietly.

Normally, they should know when the enemy takes action.

Unfortunately, the government army’s anti-reconnaissance capabilities were too strong, and every time they sent out spies, they were in danger of death.

The soldiers were not stupid. Knowing that it was a mission to die, they naturally prioritized saving their own lives.

Many times when we go out for reconnaissance, we just find a place to hide, and then come back to report that everything is normal when the time is right.

In this context, obtaining intelligence is an accident, and everything being normal is the norm.

"Report to the Holy Emperor, the enemy is hiding too deep. We have not yet found out the exact time when the enemy left."

Shi Qichuan replied bitterly.

He already knew the answer to the time when the enemy would leave, but he couldn't tell it now.

If everyone knew, he knew the enemy had left several days ago.

In order to verify the authenticity of the news, we have waited until now to report it, and we will definitely suffer the consequences.

"waste!"

"If you can't even handle such a small matter, what's the point of the Holy Kingdom raising you?"

……

Shi Rongxian couldn't help but curse.

After venting, his brows furrowed even more tightly.

Based on his understanding of Li Mu, such a large-scale operation would definitely not be in vain.

Glancing at the map hanging on the wall, Shi Rongxuan's face suddenly changed, and he couldn't help but exclaimed:

"Oh no! That villain Li Mu is heading for Hengyang. He wants to surround and attack the reinforcements!"

(End of this chapter)