Fu Shanhe

Chapter 69 Breaking the Siege of Yangzhou

"You're in such a hurry to see me, but something big happened?"

Marquis Wuyang asked unhappily.

It's really annoying to disturb people's dreams in the middle of the night.

If the current situation wasn't special, he would have chased the person away long ago.

"Congratulations, Lord Marquis!"

"Under your wise command, our army raided the rebel camp tonight, burned countless enemy food supplies, and killed 15,000 rebel soldiers and 800 leaders...

The enemy is in disarray and is expected to retreat tomorrow.

The siege of Yangzhou has been lifted!"

After Li Mu finished speaking, Marquis Wuyang was completely stunned.

I've seen people who brag, but I've never seen anyone who brags as much as this one.

What is a night attack on the enemy camp? How come he doesn’t know about it?
For a moment, Marquis Wuyang suspected that he was hallucinating.

"Captain Li, you have to think clearly. Lying about military intelligence will result in death!"

Marquis Wuyang asked seriously.

"My Lord, what I said is true!
If you don’t believe me, come with me to the city wall and see. At this moment, the rebel camp was ablaze with flames, and there were shouts and screams everywhere.

As for how many enemy soldiers were killed, it is difficult to count in the darkness, but the number must be quite a lot.

After the enemy retreats, we will know the exact results when we send people out to collect the bodies!"

Seeing that Li Mu's words were so convincing, Marquis Wuyang was already 80% to 90% convinced that the night attack on the enemy camp was successful.

All that remains is the number of beheadings, with possible flaws.

Those are all minor problems. As long as the siege of Yangzhou is lifted, the issue of the battle report will be easy to solve.

"How many men did you send to attack the enemy camp at night?"

Marquis Wuyang asked with concern.

If we want to apportion the credit, we must make sure the confessions match.

"Five hundred people!"

Li Mu told the truth.

Upon hearing this answer, Marquis Wuyang rolled his eyes on the spot.

What a fool!

Five hundred soldiers attacked the enemy camp at night, burned the enemy's granary, and killed tens of thousands of enemy soldiers.

If such a fantastic battle report were submitted and the emperor held him accountable, even he, the emperor's uncle, would not be able to cover it up.

Young people are very courageous and they are willing to do anything to achieve merit.

"Well, let's go to the top of the city and take a look."

Marquis Wuyang waved his hand impatiently.

Although he doubted the truth in the battle report, he still believed that the night attack was successful.

Based on his understanding of Li Mu, he would at most exaggerate his military achievements, but would not do such a foolish thing as fabricating military exploits out of thin air.

After quickly changing into official uniforms, the group headed straight to the top of the city.

Looking at the raging fire in the distance and listening to the screams from the enemy camp, a smile appeared on the gloomy face of Marquis Wuyang.

"The enemy seems to have a camp roar. Could it be your night attack?"

Marquis Wuyang asked meaningfully.

It is a low-probability event to encounter the enemy camp roar during a war, but if you encounter it, it is a stroke of luck.

After the enemy has finished fighting, you can then go up and cut off their heads, and that will be a ready-made military achievement.

"Don't worry, Commander-in-Chief. The enemy's camp roar was caused by our surprise attack.

In the temporary camp, a celebration banquet is being held for the meritorious officials, and the soldiers are waiting for you to come over to distribute the rewards!
I made a promise to them privately that if they succeeded in burning down the enemy's granary, each of them would be rewarded with 50 taels of silver.

In addition to the reward of silver, those who died in battle will also receive a pension of fifty taels.

For those who survived, each active officer and soldier was promoted three levels.

The rest of the people will be offered a job with a monthly salary of no less than 1.5 taels by the court, and they can decide for themselves whether to accept it or not.

After hearing Li Mu's loud words, Marquis Wuyang was frightened.

The problem of reward silver is easy to solve. There are only 500 soldiers in total, and the treasury can afford tens of thousands of taels of silver.

The job was simpler. The imperial court recruited soldiers every year, and those who dared to attack the enemy camp at night were all brave men.

Those who are willing to stay can be directly accepted by the Wucheng Bingmasi.

All active officers and soldiers will be promoted three levels in a row. This is a terrible thing. Where can they find so many positions?

"You haven't sent all the centurions under your command out, have you?"

After hearing the questions from Marquis Wuyang, Li Mu realized that he had been misunderstood.

After all this time, this person still doubted the authenticity of the night attack.

"Commander-in-chief, how dare I fool you!

The highest commander who participated in the night attack was only a general flag. Among the 500-man team, there were less than ten officers on duty, and only three returned alive. "

Li Mu explained with a look of grievance.

Sending a group of noble children to do such a life-threatening mission would make any fool know that there is something wrong.

Even if he wanted to win people's hearts and share the credit with his subordinates, he could just wait for the rebels to leave and then cut off their heads. There was no need to leave hidden dangers.

“If the supreme commander is the general flag, then a promotion of three levels is not impossible to discuss.

I have many nominal officers in the Five Cities Military Department, so it would be no problem to add another deputy captain.

However, there were no vacancies in the government office, so the position was only a nominal one. If one wanted to get a real position, one had to work in a local government.

The same goes for others. If they want to get a real vacancy, they can only take up a local position.

You are the one who caused the trouble, so you should be responsible for explaining it to them clearly."

Marquis Wuyang said with a relaxed expression.

Knowing that those who had won military merit were all low-level officers and soldiers, he no longer doubted the authenticity of the night attack.

The sons of noble families might fabricate a bunch of military achievements for the sake of their own advancement, but they would never take such a risk for a group of irrelevant low-level officers and soldiers.

Since the night attack was true, he had no need to worry about the court's subsequent investigation, and he was also happy to have added some credit to his name.

"Don't worry, Commander. We can't thank you enough. How dare you express dissatisfaction?"

Li Mu expressed his opinion immediately.

In the Dayu Dynasty, to meet a superior who is not greedy for credit and is willing to fulfill his promises is definitely a blessing earned in eight lifetimes.

If it were someone with an ugly way of eating, these people’s contributions would have long been used to sell favors.

Li Mu thought it was a miracle that Marquis Wuyang fulfilled his request without any compromise.

"Don't be too happy too soon, now we can only hand out the reward money.

These appointments can only be fulfilled by this imperial envoy after the enemy troops outside the city have retreated and the siege of Yangzhou has been lifted.

And you, kid, should get ready too.

Having made such a great contribution, you must be given a new position. Let your uncle take charge of the matter as soon as possible.

If you want to stay in Beijing, that's fine. But if you want to seek a post outside the capital, Jiangnan is a good place."

Marquis Wuyang said with a smile.

There is no banquet that will last forever in officialdom.

They are all related to each other, and with the record of defending Yangzhou, they will basically be promoted to higher positions.

"Thank you for your advice, sir!"

As the imperial commissioner in charge of inspecting the salt transport, Marquis Wuyang had a say in the appointment of vacant official positions in the Lianghuai region.

Pointing it out now and allowing him to take action in advance is undoubtedly a preparation to return the favor.

After all, we are all in the same circle and the credit cannot be taken for nothing.

After hearing the hidden meaning, Li Mu started to have a headache.

According to convention, officials from Beijing who were transferred to other places of the capital would usually be promoted one level.

With this achievement, it is certain that I will be promoted to the next level, and the third level seems reasonable as well.

Promotion is a foregone conclusion, and the key lies in the position.

The powers and responsibilities of military commanders of the same rank vary greatly.

Only after choosing the right location can you take the next step.

With something on my mind, I attended the celebration banquet and the sky was already starting to brighten.

Neither Li Mu nor Marquis Wuyang were sleepy at this time. They stood quietly on the city wall waiting for the final result.

The fire in the rebel camp was still burning, the screams had long since died down, and there was no sign of human activity in the distance.

"Master Qianhu, the enemy has escaped!"

Hearing the news from the soldiers who were investigating the enemy, Li Mu smiled with surprise.

This time he bet right!
"Commander-in-chief, please give the order to open the city gates and pursue the remaining enemies!"

Li Mu spoke immediately.

It's time to grab the kill.

If you don't act quickly, other colleagues will take action.

"Order all units to open the city gates and pursue the remaining enemies.

Remember not to chase too far, or the enemy may come back to kill you!"

Marquis Wuyang gave the order in high spirits.

The curse that had troubled him for many days was finally lifted from his head.

After this battle, he would slap anyone who dared to say that he got to the top through connections.

As a relative by marriage with military merit, he is qualitatively different from those relatives by marriage who just live a life of idleness and wait for death.

(End of this chapter)