Fu Shanhe

Chapter 318: Breaking Yongzhou

"General, you have been keeping the guns out of the way, overtaking..."

After hearing the artillery captain's answer, Min Wuliu's face suddenly turned gloomy.

After all this time, I found out that I was the culprit.

"Why didn't you remind me?"

Min Wuliu asked angrily.

It wasn't that he was looking for trouble on purpose, it was simply that his subordinates were too short-sighted to dare to put the blame on him.

It is true that he gave the order, but as the commander, he also has to save face.

When you encounter something like this, making up any excuse to deal with it is more reliable than this answer.

There is no doubt that the artillery captain in front of him does not have such a high emotional intelligence.

"General, I reminded you before.

You told us to follow orders, and for that I was whipped..."

"Deserved!
You deserve to be beaten, I think the beatings I received before were not enough!"

Min Wuliu couldn't help but scold angrily.

If the artillery was not a technical branch of the military and he had no one available, he would definitely replace this idiot at the first opportunity.

It's so important to give this boss some face. The hint is so obvious, but this guy still has a stupid explanation.

He just needs a step, not to trace the truth.

"Rumble..."

While the conversation was going on, a loud noise was heard again, and a section of the originally solid city wall suddenly collapsed.

"Order the captain of the left army to immediately lead his men to block the gap. Do not let the enemy rush in!"

The sudden change made Min Wuliu's heart sink to the bottom, and he could only hastily give orders to deal with it.

The city wall collapsed too quickly, like a piece of tofu dregs, and did not provide the defensive power it should have.

"Rumble..."

Just as the defenders were rushing to plug the gap, another section of the city wall collapsed.

Then gaps of varying sizes appeared on the city wall one after another.

If you look closely, you can find that these city walls were repaired on the original basis.

……

Allied Forces Camp, Observation Deck.

Li Mu, who was watching the game, smiled with satisfaction.

The places where artillery explosions are now are basically the old wounds left over from the last war.

After recovering Yongzhou, the imperial court ordered the reconstruction of the city wall.

Unfortunately, it was just an order but no sufficient funds were allocated.

However, this did not pose a problem for the experienced officials of Dayu, who had their own plans for the rich and their own amendments for the poor.

The prefect of Yongzhou, who was forced to take office, directly conscripted laborers and built a show project.

Anyway, as long as there is no major war, the quality issues with city walls won’t be exposed for a while.

When the War to Defend the King broke out, the main forces of Guangdong and Guangxi moved north and stopped supporting the Huguang battlefield.

The rebels launched a massive counterattack, and the government troops lost cities and territories along the way.

There was no fighting in Yongzhou at all, and the defenders retreated to Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou.

The shoddy project was handed over to the rebels intact.

There were so many complicated things to do during the reoccupation of Yongzhou that no one had the time to pay attention to the seemingly intact city wall.

There were many soldiers in the city at that time, so even if there were many gaps created by artillery fire, the enemy could fill them up immediately.

There are only about 10,000 defenders in the city now, including a large number of militiamen.

It is definitely an easy task to defend the city while plugging multiple gaps.

"Siege!"

Seeing that the time was ripe, Li Mu decisively issued an order to attack the city.

This attack on Yongzhou actually caught the rebels off guard, and the defenders in the city had no time to react.

Unlike the last battle in Yongzhou, the central government of the Holy White Lotus Kingdom is inside the city, so they can siege the city and attack the reinforcements.

There are only some ordinary defenders in the city now, and their weight in the new Chu regime is not actually high.

No one can tell whether the enemy will make every effort to rescue.

Under this background, instead of besieging the rebels and delaying time, it would be better to take Yongzhou first, then march to Hengyang, and then fight all the way to the heart of Huguang.

Unless the rebels are willing to give up Huguang, they will definitely send troops to stop them. Once the main force of the enemy army moves, it will inevitably reveal its flaws.

……

Nanchang Prefecture, Palace of King Chu.

Wei Jiarui, who had just changed his king title, was worried about the battle report in his hand.

The enemy's performance was completely inconsistent with the intelligence he had received previously.

The armies of Guangdong and Guangxi had suffered heavy casualties in the north, and only a few months had passed, so it was time for them to lick their wounds.

Any general with a normal mind would not take the initiative to start a war when he is seriously injured.

Even if we really have to fight, it will be a defensive battle.

The new recruits can still demonstrate some combat effectiveness in defending the city.

If we take the initiative to attack and lose the protection of the city walls, all kinds of disadvantages will be exposed.

Li Mu's troops were able to defeat them many times, but Wei Jiarui didn't think that such a strong enemy had any problems with his brain.

Reason told him that the enemy's advance at this time must be accompanied by some conspiracy.

"My dear ministers, something seems to be wrong!"

Wei Jiarui said with a frown.

The unknown is the most troublesome thing.

If we don't understand the enemy's purpose and send troops to rescue them foolishly, it would be irresponsible to the State of Chu.

"Your Majesty, perhaps the enemy was just bluffing.

When the rebel general Li Mu deployed his troops, he liked to attack them by surprise.

It was difficult for outsiders to understand the true meaning of the tactics adopted by this person until the end of the battle.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t know the enemy’s true purpose.

They fight theirs, we fight ours. We can just follow the previous battle plan and march directly to Guangdong and Guangxi."

Minister of War Fang Kecheng was the first to express his position.

Letting the enemy lead you by the nose is a big taboo in military strategy.

Especially when encountering a strong enemy, losing the strategic initiative is equivalent to losing the war in advance.

"inappropriate!"

"Master Fang, the Yongzhou garrison consists of only 10,000 men, and they are simply unable to stop the traitor Li Mu.

I'm afraid that before we can capture Meiguan and pry open the gateway to Guangdong, the gateway to Huguang will fall into the hands of the pseudo-dynasty.

Huguang is the foundation of our Great Chu, and we must not allow it to be lost.

Our envoys arrived in Nanjing last month and are discussing land exchange with the State of Wu. Perhaps an agreement has been reached by now.

If we allow the thief Li Mu to attack the hinterland of Huguang at this time, then the Chu State will be in danger!"

Left General Wei Jialiang immediately objected.

No one knows how powerful Li Mu is better than these "old men".

Back then on the battlefield in Guangdong and Guangxi, the Holy Kingdom’s army was chased by the enemy.

Those who refused to believe in evil and stayed to fight the enemy were either buried with weeds or sent to a prisoner-of-war camp to do hard labor.

The predecessor of their army was the White Lotus Holy Kingdom's Western Expedition Army.

Although the advance on the battlefield was not rapid, the front line was always moving forward. They were about to reach Kunming Prefecture, but their lair was destroyed by Li Mu and they were forced to initiate a strategic shift.

Even though the Three Kings are now powerful throughout the world, when they started out, the most powerful force was still the Holy Emperor's army.

Even now, with a million troops under the Chu State, there are still only a few troops that can match the old camp in combat effectiveness. Letting such an enemy into the hinterland would be irresponsible to the foundation of the Chu State.

“What you two said makes sense, but the most important thing right now is to find out as soon as possible how much the enemy’s strength has recovered.

Generally, if more than half of the elite troops are lost, it will be difficult to recover without one or two years.

But the enemy general Li Mu is no ordinary person.

Since his debut, he seemed to have a magical power to turn decay into magic. No matter what kind of army he took over, he could quickly turn it into an elite force.

The combat effectiveness of the puppet government’s army may not be as strong as it was at its peak, but the number of troops has increased significantly.

The number of recruited soldiers in Guangdong and Guangxi was as many as seven towns. Adding one town in Huguang, two towns in Fujian, and two towns in Zhejiang, the enemy's number of recruited soldiers alone exceeded 100,000.

If the combat effectiveness of these troops is only half of that of the army coming to support the king, they will all be powerful enemies of the Great Chu.

In addition, the enemy has hundreds of thousands of garrison soldiers. They may not be good at fighting, but they are still qualified to serve as logistics troops. "

Prime Minister Chang Junyi said with a serious expression.

I would rather believe that the Guangdong and Guangxi armies have recovered than believe that the other side was not damaged in the battle to support the king.

It’s not that their intelligence capabilities are weak, but mainly because in the two battles of Jinan, both were infantry fighting against cavalry, and the ones they were fighting against were the Northern Tartar cavalry.

Being able to achieve a nearly 1:1 record was a miracle in itself. If it were other frontier armies, the infantry losses would be more than three times that of the cavalry.

Even if they collected different information, they would assume that it was a smokescreen released by the enemy to bluff and scare them.

“The Prime Minister is right, we must strengthen intelligence gathering.

However, time waits for no one on the battlefield, and the situation on the front line does not allow us to delay.

What's more, the army has already assembled and consumes a lot of money and food every day. It is not a solution to delay it.

Anyway, Jiangxi and Huguang are adjacent to each other, so we will first take Meiguan according to the original plan and open up the passage into Guangdong.

It is possible that the enemy cannot bear the pressure and withdraws to provide support.

No matter how powerful the villain Li Mu was, he was just a military general of the pseudo-dynasty and was subject to the control of the pseudo-dynasty's top leaders.

We will mobilize spies to spread rumors in Guangdong and Guangxi. As long as the pressure is great enough, the stupid civil servants of the Puppet Dynasty will help us complete our plan!"

Wei Jiarui's decision hurt a group of civil servants.

Even though their prince was scolding the civil officials of the pseudo-dynasty, to people like them, it was almost the same as scolding themselves.

Many of the civil servants present came from Dayu. Even if they did not work as officials in Dayu, they had passed the imperial examinations and received salary from Dayu.

To put it nicely, this is called abandoning darkness and turning to light.

In other words, he is a "traitor".

In a society that advocates loyalty and righteousness, no one likes a "traitor".

While Wei Jiarui valued them, he was also on guard against them at all times. They were far less trustworthy than that group of crude warriors.

After being angry, I was just angry for a while.

Once you take this step, there is no turning back.

Dayu can accept surrender from anyone, except for these "traitors", who have no such opportunity.

Once they fell into the hands of the government troops, they would be lucky if they lost their heads. Lingchi, beheading, being torn apart by five horses... a variety of tragic death methods would definitely be arranged for them.

Before death, there is a high probability that one will have to enjoy a series of living sin packages.

……

The roar of artillery fire, mixed with the shouts of soldiers, told the sky and the earth that the war had been exposed.

The soldiers in front fell, and the soldiers behind immediately filled in. The two armies fought fiercely around the gap in the city wall.

"withstand!"

"Hold on, all of you!"

Min Wuliu roared angrily.

Unfortunately, war cannot be deflected by human will. The damage caused by the shoddy construction is far more than the collapse of the city walls, but also the collapse of the defenders' confidence.

Ordinary soldiers had no time to care about the quality of the project. They only saw that the city wall, which they had high hopes for, was easily blown open by the enemy's artillery shells.

There was no time to think, the enemy came to attack immediately.

Faced with the government troops well-armored, they, the common people, could only resist with their flesh and blood.

When the two armies collided, the gap between them was immediately apparent.

An ordinary sword hit the enemy's armor, making a sound of metal collision, and then it was over.

But if it fell on common people like them, they would be seriously injured if not killed.

If you want to break armor, you must use a blunt weapon.

However, blunt weapons are too heavy, so they are basically short weapons that require close combat to be effective.

In a battle on the battlefield, the one who is longer is an inch stronger.

The long spears of the government troops could knock people away from several meters away, and they also used coordinated tactics.

Most of the time, the defending soldiers armed with blunt weapons did not have time to rush to the enemy, and were shot into sieves by muskets first.

It looked like a battle between two armies, but in fact it was more like a one-sided massacre.

Except for a few elite soldiers who were able to put up a little resistance, the rest of the soldiers were just sending their heads to the government army.

After the government troops rushed up the city wall, the battle lasted less than an incense stick of time and the defenders were completely defeated.

There was no need for organization; the desire to survive made them choose to escape spontaneously.

Better to die than live.

Li Mu was well-known among the rebels for his love of taking prisoners. Since suppressing the White Lotus Rebellion, hundreds of thousands of rebel soldiers had been captured.

Since you don't have to die, there's no need to fight.

If you hide in the city, you might be lucky enough to escape the pursuit.

Even if they were discovered by the government troops, they could surrender. There was no need to be buried with a city that was destined to fall.

"General, the defeat is overwhelming, and the situation in Yongzhou is beyond redemption.

Where there is life, there is hope.

It's still not too late to retreat now, as the enemy has not yet blocked the north gate!"

The captain of the personal guards tried his best to persuade.

Compared to the soldiers who fled in all directions, the royal guards still maintained order.

We all come from the same village and are more or less related by blood.

An army full of clan characteristics can often demonstrate combat effectiveness far beyond that of ordinary soldiers in times of chaos.

"escape?"

"Where else can we go?"

"The Chu State has just been established, and we have already lost cities and territory. This is a slap in the face of His Majesty.

Even if you manage to escape the enemy's pursuit, you will still be held accountable.

Since I am doomed to die, I might as well die on the battlefield.

I was unlucky not to be able to bring you along to be crowned wives and children. You should all run for your lives. There is no need to leave you behind to be buried with me!"

Min Wuliu said with a look of despair.

It's not like he hasn't fought a defeat before. It's normal for an insurgent army to suffer defeat during its establishment.

The tolerance for defeat was much higher than that of the government army. Most of the time, if they were defeated, they would only receive a symbolic punishment, at most a beating with a military stick.

But now is not the right time. The State of Chu has just been established and it needs victory and stabilize people's hearts.

"General, if we can't survive here with the West King, we can still go to the East King or the South King. It's far from the time to give up.

We all came from the Holy Kingdom, so it can't be considered a betrayal. You have made great contributions to the King of the West, so you have done him justice.

There's no need to risk your life just for a defeat.

You once said that as long as people are still alive, there is hope for everything!"

After saying this, he saw that Min Wuliu did not explicitly refuse.

The clever captain of the personal guards reacted immediately and realized that his general was moved but just couldn't afford to do so for the sake of face.

"Everyone, stop standing there and escort the general away immediately. I will bear all the blame!"

……

(End of this chapter)