Fu Shanhe

Chapter 388 The end of the road

The sky gradually darkened, and the Vietnamese troops responsible for blocking the enemy quietly withdrew from the battlefield.

Although they were very careful, their retreat still attracted the attention of Yu's army.

"General Ruan, your chance to redeem yourself from your crimes has come.

The rebels have begun to retreat. Take your people and blend in with them. Take advantage of the chaos to seize the city gate and welcome the army into the city to quell the rebellion!"

Li Sanqi said with a smile.

If it weren't for the purpose of capturing Lang Son City more quickly, those small fry arranged by the Vietnamese army would have been captured by them long ago.

Deliberately slowing down the pace of advancement, waiting for now.

"Commander-in-chief, I know them all. It would be easy to be exposed if I lead the team there!"

Ruan Yunxiang declined politely.

He chose to surrender to Yu’s army, partly because of the unfair treatment in the army, but more because he was afraid of death.

It is obviously too much to ask a general who is afraid of death to carry out such a dangerous mission as capturing a city.

"Don't worry, we blocked the news from the beginning.

The rebels don't know yet that you have turned from darkness to light.

It’s good to know them. If you don’t know them, you still have to find ways to gain their trust.

There have been so many defeated rebel soldiers in recent days that one more of yours would not be a big deal.

All those who participated in this operation were the original rearguard troops, and they could not find any problems.

After leading the team into the city, immediately take action to seize the city gate without worrying about anyone letting the secret slip.

Hold on for a quarter of an hour and our people will arrive.

If you take down Liangshan City, I will ask the Marquis for credit on your behalf and guarantee you a position as an official."

Li Sanqi analyzed calmly.

Impersonating the enemy to gain control of the city gates, these are all old tricks.

Li Mu had used this technique when they were suppressing the rebels, and he had witnessed it with his own eyes.

Li Sanqi was not sure whether he would be successful if he followed the trend at this time.

In order to capture the Lang Son area as soon as possible, he thought he should take a gamble.

Cheng Ze captured Lang Son in the shortest time possible and recovered a vassal army, laying the foundation for the subsequent rule of Vietnam.

If we lose the bet, all we have to do is sacrifice a group of surrendered soldiers, which is a loss we can afford.

"The last general takes command!"

Ruan Yunxiang replied with a complicated expression.

The time has come to pledge his allegiance, and there is no room for refusal. After tonight, he will be a traitor hated by everyone in the Dai Viet Dynasty.

If the Yu army won a great victory and successfully annexed Dai Viet, it would be fine, otherwise he would have to bear eternal infamy.

“Don’t feel any psychological pressure, after this battle, Annan will become history, and in the future there will only be the Jiaozhi Governorate.

Looking through the history books, Annan only broke away from the Central Plains dynasty at the end of the Tang Dynasty, and its independence period was not as long as the period of unification.

What we are doing now is to safeguard national unity.

Once we succeed, you and I will both leave our names in history and be admired by future generations.

News came from the rear that the government troops had successfully recaptured Thang Long City and were sweeping across the Hanoi area.

Once the rebels leave Lang Son, they will find that Annan has changed and they will be unable to escape!"

Li Sanqi spoke to comfort him.

His studies were not in vain, as he has become proficient in using these common deceptive rhetoric tactics.

In essence, it is just sophistry from a different angle.

At another time, Ruan Yunxiang would not be fooled at all.

But the situation is different now. He has no better choice but to force himself to believe.

……

Lang Son City.

"Why are you crying? If you keep crying, I will cook your whole family!"

The beauty in his arms kept crying, which made Pu Yufeng very angry.

Normally, he liked to train this kind of good girl the most. The more she cried, the more excited he became.

But it's different now.

The enemy is about to arrive at the city, and this is the time to relieve pressure, so there is no time to be gentle with women.

"My Lord, please forgive me. I..."

"Kill!"

"Rumble..."

The shouts and sounds of killing mixed with the sound of gunfire rang out, extinguishing Pu Yufeng's desire.

"roll!"

He pushed the woman in his arms away, put on his clothes as quickly as possible, and hurried to the command center.

The enemy is attacking the city, this is a life-threatening situation.

"how is the situation?"

Seeing a middle-aged deputy general coming over, Pu Yufeng asked with concern.

"My Lord, something terrible is happening!"

"Some people from the front troop responsible for the rear guard defected to the enemy.

These traitors disguised themselves as deserters and took over the city gate when we let our guard down.

By the time everyone reacted, the main force of Yu's army had already entered the city.

Now the various units are organizing a counterattack, but the enemy's combat power is too strong, and I'm afraid we won't be able to do anything to them for a while."

The deputy general explained with a look of grievance.

No matter how vigilant the defenders were, it was useless because the enemies who captured the city gate were actually defeated Vietnamese soldiers.

Many of them are familiar faces. After checking them one by one, I found that they are all our people.

In recent days, they have also received a lot of defeated soldiers, and there has been no trouble at the front.

No one could have imagined that in such a short period of time, an entire army would be instigated by the enemy to rebel.

"waste!"

"Don't you know how influential the Great Yu Dynasty is?

There are many people in the country who want to be traitors to the Yu people.

If they are willing to offer conditions to buy them, there will definitely be no shortage of them..."

Halfway through his words, Pu Yufeng suddenly realized that he had said something wrong.

Some things are true, but cannot be said.

Whether it was secretly proclaiming himself emperor or promoting the theory of Dai Viet's invincibility, it was all for the purpose of eliminating the influence of the suzerain country.

If the Northern Expedition is successful, then everything will be easy.

Now that the war has failed, all previous efforts have been in vain.

The "fear phobia" hidden deep in the hearts of high-ranking generals like him was awakened.

The officers and soldiers below are most likely no exception.

If you have fear in your heart, you will inevitably be timid when fighting.

It is completely normal for some captured Vietnamese officers and soldiers to defect as the enemy used political means to win them over.

"My Lord, be careful with your words!"

The middle-aged deputy general lowered his voice and said.

Breaking this window paper was equivalent to accusing the emperor of being ambitious and launching this wrong war.

As the war has progressed to this point, the dissatisfaction with Hu Xinbo in the military has indeed accumulated to a critical point, and it is only a spark away from exploding.

But for individual generals, whoever ignites this powder keg will be buried with him.

"Okay, we're all family here, no one will spread this!"

"Pass the order down, have all the generals return to their command positions.

If you can't stop the enemy, use the buildings in the city to fight street battles with the enemy!"

Pu Yufeng gave the order pretending to be calm.

He had experienced the fighting power of the Yu army.

Once the enemy entered the city, it was almost impossible to drive the people out.

His mission was to delay the enemy, not to defeat them.

If you can't win in a head-on attack, then use street fighting to delay time.

With the cover of buildings, the power of enemy artillery can be greatly weakened.

From the moment he entered Lang Son, he had been prepared for street fighting and had made a series of tactical deployments in advance, which now came in handy.

……

In the darkness of night, bloody killing filled the entire city.

After defeating the city's defenders, the Yu army quickly took control of the city wall and then ran into trouble.

The enemy took advantage of the cover of night and used buildings as shelters to launch sneak attacks on Yu's army entering the city from time to time.

The soldiers of Yu Army who were attacked were not willing to be outdone and decisively launched the most fierce counterattack.

The two sides fought fiercely over every street and every building.

"Pass the order down. Don't get entangled with the enemy. Set fire to the city!"

Looking at the increasing number of casualties in his hand, Li Sanqi decisively changed the battle plan. Like most cities of this era, the main buildings in Lang Son City are also wooden buildings.

Once a fire occurs, a large area will burn.

Fire attack is useful, but the price to pay is also very heavy.

Once it starts burning, the fire will not distinguish between friend and foe.

When attacking the enemy, the safety of residents in the city will also be threatened.

If it were in China, no one would dare to use such a brutal fighting method unless it was absolutely necessary.

But here in enemy territory, the situation has changed.

When Yu's army entered Annan, it needed a bloody massacre to establish its authority.

This kind of order cannot wait for the coach to issue it.

A good subordinate should be brave enough to take on responsibilities and bear the blame in advance.

"Commander-in-chief, once the fire is set, we will inevitably be delayed in Lang Son City for ten days to half a month.

By that time, all the other guards will have run ahead, and we will be the only ones left here eating dust.

The soldiers below may have complaints."

The commander at the side reminded.

When entering Annan to fight, the guards of Guangdong and Guangxi were both friendly forces and competitors.

Unlike other Yu troops who shirked responsibility during battles, within Li Mu's group, war has always been regarded as a ladder to success.

All the generals in the army rose to their positions through military exploits, and their desire for military merit was stronger than any other army of the same era.

"When soldiers have complaints, the generals do ideological work.

The enemy is clearly determined to fight to the death. According to the normal fighting method, our guard alone cannot defeat these 20,000 enemy troops.

It's dark now, and they don't know how many of us there are, so they choose to be passively defensive.

After daybreak, the enemy reacted and we were really going to lose two big teeth.

If we can’t hold on by then and ask for help from nearby troops, it will be a huge disgrace!”

Li Sanqi scolded immediately.

In his opinion, the war was not in vain if he could defeat these 20,000 enemy troops alone.

If you want more, you will choke to death.

Even if they find someone to join forces with at all costs to eliminate this enemy force, they may not be able to gain much benefit in the subsequent battle.

There was no way. The landing troops were sweeping across Hanoi and there was a high probability that they would collide with the troops led by the King of Annan.

The total strength of the regular troops of the three towns, plus the large and small rebel forces, is probably no less than 100,000.

If so many troops still cannot stop King Annan, then the commander can go home and hug his children.

If you intercept them in front, the pursuers behind will pounce on them quickly.

With so many guards fighting for the victory, the military merit that each guard could get on average would be worse than if they had devoted all their efforts to defeating the enemy in front of them.

As the military order was issued, with the help of the wind, the raging fire quickly spread into the city.

The Yue soldiers who were hiding in the building and preparing to launch a surprise attack on Yu’s army met with bad luck in an instant.

Faced with the scorching heat, countless Vietnamese soldiers fled to the rear.

The originally tight street fighting defense line collapsed in an instant.

"Extinguishing!"

"Hurry up and organize people to put out the fire!"

Looking at the flames rising into the sky, Pu Yufeng hurriedly gave orders.

A fire of this scale would be difficult to extinguish quickly even in later generations, let alone in this era.

Without high-tech equipment, firefighting can only be done manually by pumping water, which has limited efficiency.

“My Lord, the enemy troops are all crazy.

The fire in the city is out of control, order a retreat immediately!"

The deputy general hurriedly persuaded.

Under normal circumstances, after conquering a city, the next step is to make a fortune.

Although their street fighting style caused some trouble to the enemy, it was ultimately just to delay time.

As long as the enemy was steady and advanced step by step, they would be happy to slowly give up their positions.

Everyone performs a play, and after a few days they complete their task and go home.

The enemy can also take over Lang Son City in its entirety without paying any price, which is a win-win situation no matter how you look at it.

However, the enemy rejected their goodwill and not only refused to cooperate with them, but also used brutal tactics right from the start.

When they encountered an enemy that didn't want spoils and didn't care about cities, they felt like they had hit a wall.

The wind was blowing towards them, not only was the fire burning towards them, but it also brought smoke and dust over.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

As they were talking, the smoke that blew in their faces made them almost choke and unable to breathe.

"withdraw!"

Pu Yufeng suppressed his reluctance and gave the order.

Now it is no longer a question of whether to hold on or not, but if you don’t run away quickly, you will not be able to escape.

The mission is important, but life is more important.

Originally, he had hoped to use the Battle of Lang Son to let the enemy know how powerful they were and force Yu's army to give up advancing southward.

It turns out that these were all fantasies.

Compared with the Yu army, which has rich combat experience, these troops, who have only bullied the natives, are no match at all.

The gap between the two sides, from daily training to the command level of generals, is not on the same level.

……

When the battle of Lang Son was raging, the main force of the Vietnamese army finally walked out of the mountains.

Looking at the flat plain in front of him, Hu Xinbo's good mood lasted less than an incense stick of time before it was broken by the appearance of Yu Jun in the distance.

"Let the elephant soldiers attack. I want to let the people of Yu know how powerful we, Great Yue, are!"

Hu Xinbo ordered viciously.

After being depressed for so long, it's finally his turn to show off.

The scene of defeating the Yu army, regaining Henei, and then counterattacking Guangdong and Guangxi has already emerged in my mind.

In a flash, a hundred war elephants appeared in front of the two armies, and the earth began to tremble.

This huge creature can bring heavy pressure to people just by its size.

Unfortunately, they were unlucky and encountered the Yu army, which had experience in fighting against elephant soldiers.

Even if you haven't experienced it yourself, you've heard veterans brag about it, and generals have received professional training.

"Cavalry, use muskets to harass from both wings."

"Artillery, aim at the elephants and fire freely!"

Wan Zhongxuan gave the order instinctively.

In an instant, intensive firepower covered the herd of elephants.

Countless shells flew out, violent explosions sounded, followed by the wailing of elephants.

After just one round of artillery fire, twelve war elephants fell down unwillingly, and the surviving ones fell into a state of madness.

They had not rushed far when a second round of firepower struck again, leaving more than a dozen war elephant corpses on the battlefield.

This was followed by a new round of artillery attacks.

Compared with the chieftain elephant soldiers encountered before, the elephant soldiers of Annan were much more well-trained and also died faster.

The large size of war elephants makes them sitting ducks on the battlefield.

No matter how thick your skin is, you are still made of flesh and blood and cannot withstand the attack of artillery shells.

"impossible!"

"This is impossible!"

"How could the artillery of the Yu Dynasty be so powerful!"

Hu Xinbo, who was watching the game, couldn't help but roar on the spot.

After witnessing the artillery fire of Yu’s army and then looking at his own artillery, the whole world changed.

If the Yu army at Zhennan Pass also used artillery of such powerful power, he would have ordered his troops to return to the capital long ago.

Compared with the Dayu Dynasty, their national strength was far inferior.

I thought that Yu's army was in a weak position and I could take advantage of it, but I never expected to hit steel plates all the way.

"Your Majesty, calm down!"

"Artillery is important, but it is not just artillery that determines the outcome of a war. People are more important."

Chen Chuyang hurriedly persuaded.

At this critical moment of the confrontation between the two armies, the Vietnamese army now has no way to retreat.

Either defeat the enemy forces in front and carve out a bloody path for the army.

Either they are stopped by the enemy, and then the pursuers arrive and attack them from both sides, annihilating them here.

The more critical the situation is, the more the coach needs to remain rational.

Any wrong decision will lead the army into a dead end.

……

(End of this chapter)