Fu Shanhe

Chapter 245 The snake comes out of the hole

Outside Anqing City.

Looking at the imperial edict in his hand, Fu Haoxuan was filled with anger.

While he was working hard to expand his territory in the front, those guys in the rear were constantly squandering it.

First, Guangxi was lost, then Guangdong was destroyed, and now the government troops have invaded Huguang.

If the situation continues to develop in this way, even if he takes over the entire Jiangnan region, he will still be tormented by those prodigal sons of the Holy Kingdom.

Deep in his heart, his resentment towards the White Lotus Saint Emperor suddenly reached its peak.

If you don't have the ability, then just be a spiritual leader. It's not enough to make people hate you if you keep pointing fingers everywhere.
If it weren't for the overall situation, he would have wanted to dismiss Shi Rongxian immediately and restore order himself.

“The Yongzhou Campaign planned by the Holy Nation ended in failure, and Changsha is now in crisis.

The Holy Emperor has issued an order, leaving it to us to decide.

If you have any opinions, please raise them! ”

Fu Haoxuan said unhappily.

Being able to refrain from cursing shows that he has good manners. I really can't find any words to praise him.

Bound by the moral principles of the relationship between monarch and subject, one cannot help being restrained in doing things.

Deep down, Fu Haoxuan kept reminding himself to stay calm, fearing that he would lose his composure and scold Shi Rongxuan as a waste.

"Your Majesty, for the Holy Kingdom, Changsha cannot afford to lose.

But the battle of Anqing has reached a critical moment. If we send troops to Changsha at this time, all our previous efforts will be wasted.

What's more, we are too far away from Changsha. Even if we send troops immediately, I'm afraid we won't make it in time.

The most suitable person to send troops to reinforce Changsha at the moment is the King of the West. It is only a few hundred miles from Yuanzhou Prefecture to Changsha.

Speed ​​is of the essence on the battlefield. If we want to keep Changsha, we can only rely on the King of the West."

Chief Clerk Yang Jingren spoke first.

As Fu Haoxuan's confidant, he could tell at a glance that his prince did not want to wade into muddy waters in Changsha.

From the perspective of the Holy White Lotus Kingdom, Changsha Prefecture is indeed a military stronghold that cannot be lost.

But for King Nan personally, the situation has changed.

Running back to clean up the mess for Saint Emperor Bai Lian would not only affect the war on the front line, but would also be a thankless job.

No matter how well you do, you won't gain any substantial benefits.

"Between Jiangxi and Huguang lies the Luoxiao Mountains.

The Western King seems to be the closest to Changsha, but if he really mobilizes a large army, it will take the longest time.

What's more, in the previous Battle of Yongzhou, the 100,000 troops sent by the Western King were lost on the battlefield.

At a time like this, he probably wouldn't respond immediately.

If we want to keep Changsha, we and the King of the East will still need to work together.

The entire Holy Kingdom is watching now. Especially at times like this, we need to consider the overall situation.

Regardless of whether we can save Changsha or not, we must make a gesture of fully reinforcing Changsha and give an explanation to all parties.”

The left prime minister, Yu Ruiyu, spoke up to remind him.

The Holy White Lotus Kingdom is so big that the factions within it naturally would not be limited to the Holy Emperor and the three kings of different surnames. They were just the largest groups among them.

Further down the tree, there are various political groups and individuals that are attached to the Holy Kingdom.

Looking at the entire Holy Kingdom, these inconspicuous small groups and individuals are the largest in number.

These people depend on the four major factions for survival, while also maintaining a certain degree of independence.

Whether it is the White Lotus Saint Emperor or the three kings of different surnames, they all need to win over these neutral camps.

The struggle between top leaders is essentially about power.

If you want to control the power of the Holy Kingdom, you can't mess things up.

Dayu has not yet collapsed, and the time has not come for heroes to fight for supremacy.

Maintaining a unified Holy White Lotus Kingdom is crucial to the anti-Yu cause.

“The Prime Minister is right, we do need to make a gesture.

The Chief Secretary drafted a document and told His Majesty the Holy Emperor that the King would soon send 200,000 troops to reinforce Changsha.

Those government troops that surrendered to us immediately accelerated the pace of reorganization.

Arrange people to continue recruiting soldiers, and when we have gathered 100,000 men, we will march towards Changsha."

Fu Haoxuan immediately gave the order.

It doesn’t matter whether Changsha can be saved or not. At least he has to make a political gesture.

Compared with the Battle of Changsha, he was more concerned about the battlefield in the south of the Yangtze River.

Anqing had been under siege for a long time, and in order to put pressure on the enemy, he divided his troops and marched towards Ningguo Prefecture a few days ago.

The initial progress was very smooth, and a large area of ​​land was easily occupied.

However, the situation changed after approaching Yingtian Prefecture.

The various government troops who had been watching the fire from the other side of the river suddenly rushed towards him. Although they were no match for him, they slowed down their advance.

Now it's time to compete in speed.

If we fail to capture Anqing and Yingtian Prefecture before the arrival of the Beijing troops, the current good situation will no longer exist.

Compared with the political impact of capturing Yingtian and occupying Nanjing, Changsha Prefecture also has to take a back seat.

……

Yongzhou City.

After making preparations for evacuation, the Holy Kingdom of White Lotus immediately took action.

Considering the poverty in Yunnan and Guizhou, it was difficult to raise enough food and fodder, so a large amount of food and fodder, gold, silver and jewelry were loaded onto the trucks.

Judging from the rough workmanship, most of these vehicles were hastily made.

Relocating two or three hundred thousand people is by no means an easy task.

There were so many things to carry that there were not enough animals, so it had to be done by manpower.

At this moment, Yongzhou City is like a large construction site.

In order to rush to produce more means of transportation, even Shi Rongxian's temporary palace could not escape the fate of being demolished.

After touring the city, the smile on Shi Rongxian's face gradually froze.

If we evacuate at this rate, the team is too large.

With such a high-profile action, wanting to quietly invade Shu is simply a dream.

After deciding to go to Shu, he made up for his lack of knowledge about Shu.

The Sichuan Basin is surrounded by mountains, with the Jianmen Pass blocking the north, Kuimen and the Yangtze River blocking the way in the east, and Loushan Pass guarding the south.

To enter Sichuan from Guizhou, we took the Loushan Pass.

There are many great figures in history who have failed here.

It is impossible to hide the strategic purpose, and it is not easy to force our way into Shu.

He dared not even imagine the consequences if he failed to enter Shu.

"Holy Emperor, Chenzhou is in danger. We can't delay any longer."

Prime Minister Wu Zekai stepped forward to persuade him.

Once Chenzhou fell, Guangdong's 30,000 government troops would be freed up.

They could still deal with these government troops alone, but the problem was that the evacuation would take time.

Once Li Mu was entangled by these troops, he might turn around and attack Changsha.

In feudal dynasties, rebellion and proclaiming oneself emperor was the most hateful way to play.

In the eyes of the Great Yu court, killing the false emperor Shi Rongxian is the most important thing.

"Ok!"

"Pass the order down and set off tomorrow.

Take away everything you can, and burn anything you can't take away.

Bring all the people in the city with me.

If the government troops catch up with us..."

Halfway through his speech, Shi Rongxuan realized that his identity was different and he decisively chose to shut up. When he was the leader of a cult, he could do anything and no one would find it strange.

But now that I'm the emperor, I have to pretend.

Some shameful things are no longer suitable for his status.

Even if he has to do it, it should be the subordinates who should figure it out on their own and do the dirty work for him.

"According to the order!"

Wu Zekai answered immediately.

It's good enough that the Holy Emperor is willing to listen to advice. As for other matters, they are just trivial matters.

In troubled times, there are countless bloody scenes.

Among the many rebel armies, the Holy Kingdom of White Lotus is considered to be the best, at least it has its own laws and rules.

Although it was copied from the Dayu Law and its enforcement was not so thorough, any bad order was better than no order at all.

Taking the people with you when fleeing and using them to block the pursuers is not something that has never been done before in history.

As long as they seize the world, there will be great scholars who will come forward to help them clear their names.

……

Chinese army camp.

“Sir, I just received news that the rebels in Yongzhou City have set out.

In order not to alert the enemy, our troops left behind outside the city chose to retreat after symbolically blocking the enemy.

Do you think we should send troops immediately to wipe out this group of rebels?"

Xiang Xinghan reported happily.

They put a lot of thought into luring the rebels into the trap.

The current situation was created by bringing together government troops from many southern provinces.

"Don't worry, the enemy has just left the city.

Give them two days first. When they are far away from Yongzhou City, we will send troops to chase them.

If we act now, it would be troublesome if the enemy finds out something is wrong and retreats again."

Li Mu said with a smile.

He was not afraid of the rebels leaving. If two or three hundred thousand people wanted to evacuate, the speed would inevitably be slow.

If the enemy runs north, they will be blocking their way and can just wait for them to tire themselves out.

If the enemy enters Yunnan and Guizhou, the government troops there will naturally take action to intercept them.

Regardless of whether it can be blocked or not, there will definitely be no problem in delaying the time.

Guangdong and Guangxi are even more desperate. There are 10,000 troops stationed in Guilin area, and Jing Yifeng's troops in Guangdong are blocking the front.

It would be impossible for the rebels to sweep all the way. If they delayed for a few days, the main army would catch up with them.

After all, the rebels have an army of 130,000 strong, and they are here to protect the Holy Emperor White Lotus, so there must be elite troops among them.

Fighting the enemy head-on will inevitably involve paying a certain price.

In order to reduce losses, Li Mu specially designed a scenario for the enemy: there were enemies blocking the way in front and pursuers coming from behind.

Given the complex structure of the rebels, their morale could easily collapse when faced with this kind of hell mode.

“My lord, I’m afraid the rebels can’t go back.

Our people saw that Yongzhou City was engulfed in flames. It must be that the rebels set fire to the city after evacuating.

The whole city is now a sea of ​​fire. Even if the enemy wants to retreat, there is no place to hide."

Xiang Xinghan explained with a smile.

Working for Li Mu is much easier than being in the Imperial Guard.

Although they still needed to collect intelligence, there was no internal strife within the Jinyiwei.

There is no need to worry about knowing information that you shouldn’t know and dying without knowing the reason.

The most important thing is that after changing to a new identity, his career development has not slowed down at all.

Although his power is indeed not as high as when he was a Jinyiwei, he was promoted quickly.

The Jinyiwei made all officials tremble in fear, but their upper limit was actually not high, and the commander of the Jinyiwei was only the third rank.

The upper limit of the yamen is locked, so it is naturally difficult to move up.

Local garrison troops have a lower presence, but the yamen has a higher ceiling and more officials.

In less than two years, he went from being a hundred households to a thousand households.

"Oh!"

"It seems that the leader of the bandits wants to burn his boats and cut off everyone's thoughts in advance.

If that's the case, then that's what he wants.

Pass the order down, let all troops prepare to set out early tomorrow morning.

Let the brothers below work hard and pay close attention to the enemy's movements. I need to know the enemy's position at all times.

After this battle is over, I will personally ask for credit for them!"

While giving the order, Li Mu did not forget to paint a big picture.

In fact, he has the final say on rewards and promotions for grass-roots officers and soldiers.

"Asking for credit" is purely a way to express respect.

Only the appointment of generals above the rank of centurion needs to be reported to the Ministry of War.

A lot of the smaller flags and the general flag below would die in every major battle.

Many times, the list was just sent out and people were replaced in the army.

If all of them had to be reported, the officials in the Ministry of War would be too busy to handle it even if they worked themselves to death.

Because of the war, the Ministry of War no longer has the ability to conduct background checks on the generals on the front lines.

Basically, they were recommended by the main generals on the front line or the governors-general. After the Five Military Commanderies and the Ministry of War found no obvious problems, they would report to the emperor.

This is also the main reason why the children of nobles are promoted quickly. Compared with those unfamiliar grassroots generals, the emperor also prefers to appoint familiar ones.

……

"Holy Emperor, please take a rest first!

It has been five days since we left Yongzhou, and we have not seen any enemy pursuers.

At the current speed, it won’t be long before we enter Guizhou.”

Shi Qichuan stepped forward and persuaded.

For safety reasons, they had been on a forced march since evacuating Yongzhou.

Of course, this rapid march is relative.

The fact that they were moving with their families and carrying a large amount of supplies meant that the team was destined to move slowly.

Being able to travel thirty miles a day is already a great test of their organizational abilities.

"Forget it, who told me to be sympathetic to women and children?

Pass down the order, rest here for a quarter of an hour, and then continue..."

"Holy Emperor, something terrible is happening!"

"The government troops...are chasing...catching up with us!"

"Do you know which government troops are chasing us?"

Upon hearing the news, Shi Rongxian didn't bother to interrupt others and asked immediately.

The level of Dayu’s official army is vastly different.

The powerful ones are the elite of the time, while the weak ones are just like the rioters.

If ordinary government troops dared to pursue them, Shi Rongxian would make sure to let these people know that he, the White Lotus Saint Emperor, was not just a name.

"Saint Emperor, judging from the flag, it should be the general under the command of that villain Li Mu.

At this moment, the enemy is less than thirty miles away from our rear army.

At the speed of the enemy, they will catch up with us tonight!"

……

(End of this chapter)