A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 307 How to lose?
"Has Prime Minister Pei already withdrawn the troops from the castles of Ling Shi and Huo Yi?" Li Yi's voice suddenly rose eight octaves.

The messenger was surprised by Li Yi's strong reaction and asked in bewilderment, "Now that the army has gathered, the offensive and defensive positions have changed, and there is no need to station troops everywhere for defense."

Li Yi's breathing became rapid, and his face turned slightly red.

He did not expect that Pei Ji would not only ask him to allocate 20,000 men to Jiexiu, but also directly drain the troops from his painstakingly built defense system of two cities, three passes, and four forts.

"War isn't just about having a lot of soldiers," he said discontentedly. "Besides, Prime Minister Pei already has so many soldiers at his disposal, why bother drawing more?"

The messenger noticed Li Yi's reaction. "Duke Rong, Prime Minister Pei is the Grand Commander of the Jinzhou Road Army appointed by His Majesty. He also has the privilege of acting expediently. Duke Rong is a commander under Prime Minister Pei and is also under his control."

"Military orders are absolute; we urge the Duke of Rong to carry them out immediately."

Li Yi looked at Generals Li Zhongwen and Wang Xingmin, but neither of them said a word.

Without a doubt, between Li Yi and Pei Ji, they would definitely obey Pei Ji's military orders. As two people who had just been reinstated after making a serious mistake, they dared not contradict Pei Ji.

“I can immediately transfer 20,000 troops to Prime Minister Pei, but I think it’s best not to move the troops in the two cities, three passes, and four forts.”

The messenger did not respond to Li Yi.

The atmosphere was a little stagnant for a while.

“I will write a letter to Prime Minister Pei immediately explaining the situation. You can deliver it to Prime Minister Pei for me.”

"I can deliver a message for the Duke of Rong, but please carry out the military orders first."

Li Yi angrily picked up his pen and wrote a letter to Pei Ji, advising him not to move the troops in the two cities, three passes, and four forts. He believed that these passes and cities were very important, and leaving troops to guard them would allow for flexible advances and retreats.

The messenger took his letter back to report.

Li Zhongwen coughed lightly. “Duke Rong, military orders are absolute. How do you plan to arrange these 20,000 troops? We need to prepare immediately. It’s still 80 li from here to Jiexiu. We must reach Suoduyuan within three days. We cannot delay the military schedule.”

"Lord Zhenxiang, don't you think there's a problem with Prime Minister Pei's arrangement? What's the difference between 50,000 and 80,000 men attacking Jiexiu?"

"If we lack siege equipment, having more men will be useless; it will only exacerbate the difficulty of supplying provisions. It would be better to first besiege the city with one army, and then ambush reinforcements with another."
As long as the supply lines to Jiexiu are blocked and its supplies are cut off, how long can the city of Jiexiu, with its more than 10,000 garrison, hold out?
There's absolutely no need for a full-scale assault on Jiexiu. We can first recapture cities like Pingyao, and then keep Xun Xiang holed up in Jiexiu, allowing us to take over the other cities. We can even head directly north to Taiyuan; a small force is enough to hold them off.”

Wang Xingmin felt that Li Yi's words made some sense, but Pei Ji's plan to amass a large army was not necessarily wrong.

"Previously, the Duke of Rong's 20,000 troops made a show of force, which frightened away tens of thousands of troops from outside Haozhou City, including those of Zhang Shisui and Liu Jizhen."

Now that Prime Minister Pei has truly assembled an army of 80,000, Prime Minister Xun and his men will likely be so terrified that they'll flee in terror. There's no need for a direct assault on Jiexiu; we can simply chase the Wu Zhou army north and easily recapture all the cities of Pingyao.”

“Yes, we now have a strong and well-equipped army. Ling Shi and Huo Yi are now in the rear. These three passes and four forts can be left to the original garrison troops and state troops to guard,” Li Zhongwen said.

Li Yi was quite disappointed by the attitude of these two people.

Wang Xingmin was originally a bandit, so it's understandable that he lacked strategic vision. But Li Zhongwen was one of the Eight Pillars of State, and he performed admirably in the Battle of Haozhou. How come he's acting like this now?

Perhaps it was out of fear of Pei Ji's power.

He now understands more and more why Shi Ji was defeated.

Although he didn't remember why Pei Ji was defeated, judging from his current troop deployment, he was clearly a micro-management expert.

"The Duke of Rongguo?"

Li Yi waved his hand, "Alright, I'll arrange to transfer 20,000 men right away."

He felt a deep unease. What would he do if Pei Ji lost again?
He was left in Haozhou. If he gave all his troops to Pei Ji, and Pei Ji was defeated, and he was besieged, the imperial court probably wouldn't be able to send reinforcements in a short time.

He didn't want to be taken prisoner like Li Zhongwen and the others.

Li Yi poured himself a cup of tea and pondered carefully. No matter what, he had to leave himself a way out. He had already written to Pei Ji, but Pei Ji might not listen to him.

"Manager Liu,"

"The end will be here."

Li Yi first called out Liu Liu'er's name, "You will lead your 7,000 men to Jiexiu with Deputy Commander Li."

He has six thousand men in Haozhou, and another thousand in Jiahubao, including Li Yi.

"Prefect Huang".

"The end will be here."

"You will lead your own 5,000 men to Jiexiu as well."

There are 12,000 people now.

Li Yi then looked at Zhao Wenge, the Director of Water Conservancy.

"Supervisor Zhao, you will lead your thousand cavalrymen to Jiexiu as well."

Zhao Wenge chuckled, "Duke Rong, I have come to reinforce Haozhou on the orders of Qi Wang, the General Governor of Bingzhou. I am from the General Governor's Office of Bingzhou, and so are the soldiers under my command."

Li Yi looked at him.

Zhao Wenge said dismissively, "I am a guest general, and my soldiers are guest soldiers. My mission is to assist in the defense of Haozhou City."

"Is Supervisor Zhao unwilling to go to Jiexiu?"

"I will not leave until I receive new orders from the King of Qi."

Li Yi was caught off guard and chuckled coldly, "Fine, then I won't trouble Supervisor Zhao." He turned to Li Zhongwen, "Of the three thousand men under Vice Chief Steward Li's command, one thousand will accompany you."

"I will allocate another 7,000 auxiliary soldiers to accompany you." Of Li Zhongwen's original 3,000 men, 1,400 were prefectural soldiers, 600 were auxiliary soldiers, and the rest were local soldiers.

Li Yi is only allowing him to take a thousand local soldiers with him now.

In fact, of the 20,000 men that Li Yi had drawn, not a single soldier from the Guanzhong region was given to Li Zhongwen and his men.

When the army marched north, there were 20,000 troops, 14,000 of whom were combat soldiers. After being ambushed in Sparrow and Rat Valley, nearly 4,000 were lost. In reality, 10,000 soldiers remained, along with about 2,000 sons and generals' retainers, and 6,000 auxiliary soldiers.

Then, the local garrison troops, state troops, and village troops from the three prefectures gathered together to number over ten thousand.

Li Yi governed three prefectures, and he originally had about 36,000 soldiers, who were deployed in Haozhou, as well as in two cities, three passes, and four forts including Lingshi.

"General, these 20,000 soldiers are all newly surrendered soldiers, auxiliary troops, and local militia. Could it be...?"

Li Yi laughed and said, "What, does Vice Chief Steward Li not trust Chief Steward Liu and Governor Huang's loyalty, or do he not trust their fighting ability?"

"No, I just mean, could you allocate some soldiers to us?"

“Vice Commander Li, Prime Minister Pei didn’t say we absolutely had to send troops from Guanzhong. Besides, I’m ordered to stay and guard Haozhou, and I have to be constantly on guard against the Wu Zhou army and the Turks attacking from the north again. We can’t afford to lose Wenshui, which we just recaptured.”
"We can't afford to lose Haozhou, a crucial stronghold. Prime Minister Pei has 80,000 troops gathered here. I need to have some capable soldiers at my disposal to protect Prime Minister Pei's flanks and, more importantly, safeguard his supply lines!"

Li Zhongwen was speechless, though he knew Li Yi had gone too far. But considering Pei Ji's tens of thousands of troops, he wasn't short of soldiers. Li Yi had treated him well, so he didn't say anything more.

After deploying the 20,000 men, Li Yi wrote another letter to Pei Ji, explaining the situation and reminding Pei Ji to be careful once again.

It is advisable to besiege the city and attack the reinforcements, rather than launching a direct assault.

The soldiers of Huoyi, Lingshi, and Jiahubao

He agreed to be transferred to Jiexiu to participate in the war, but Li Yi still insisted on leaving 1,000 soldiers to garrison each of the three passes of Queshu Valley.

Each of the three forts of Zhangbi, Zhangnan, and Yong'an also left behind a thousand soldiers.

Li Yi stationed himself in Haozhou, leaving behind 4,000 local soldiers, 2,000 retainers, 4,000 auxiliary soldiers and local militia, as well as the original 3,000 local soldiers and 2,000 local militia from Liu Zhan, and 1,000 men under Zhao Wenge to guard the area.

Before leaving, Li Zhongwen couldn't help but remind the young steward, "Prime Minister Pei is the prime minister and the most trusted person of His Majesty. Now that he is in charge of the army, I'm afraid your behavior might displease Prime Minister Pei."

"It's all for the sake of the imperial court and to win this war. I believe Prime Minister Pei can accept my request."

Seeing this, Li Zhongwen stopped trying to persuade him and shook his head as he walked out.

He felt that Li Yi had become a bit arrogant. At the age of seventeen, he was granted the title of Duke and appointed as a Grand General, holding the authority to command the military affairs of three prefectures and tens of thousands of troops. Yet he dared to disrespect Pei Ji. Young people have never suffered losses or stumbled before.

Li Yi saw him shake his head as he left, but he didn't change his mind.

Now, his biggest concern is not whether Pei Ji will be dissatisfied with him, but how to protect himself should Pei Ji suffer a major defeat.

He also considered whether he should personally ride a horse to see Pei Ji and persuade him properly.

However, he also did not know why Pei Ji had been defeated in history.

Judging from the current situation, Pei Ji's army is strong and well-equipped, and it seems impossible for him to lose.

If he were to go to Pei Ji now and say that he is about to be defeated, utterly defeated, and fleeing in disarray, Pei Ji would surely think he's gone mad, or even that he's cursing him. At that point, Pei Ji would invoke the emperor's special authority to act as he sees fit.

He should be dismissed on the spot, or even killed if you don't like him. That would be the end of him.

To be honest, Li Yi also couldn't quite understand how Pei Ji could be defeated.

The enemy retreated to Jiexiu City with only 15,000 defenders and limited supplies, enough to last at most a month or two. Meanwhile, Pei Ji was about to arrive at the gates of Jiexiu City with 80,000 or even more troops.
With six or seven times the troop strength, there was no reason to lose; in fact, it was a crushing defeat.

Li Yi really wanted to quit his job right now and go back to Chang'an.
Ji Sujun gave birth to twins for him. He wanted to hold the children, a son in his left hand and a daughter in his right.

Unfortunately, this is a battlefield, this is the military. Unlike before, when one could simply resign and leave, and people would still call you an honest official, now you dare to run away?

That would be desertion in the face of battle, and the emperor wouldn't be so lenient with you; he would just chop off your head.

Li Yi couldn't help but complain in his heart about Li Yuan's muddle-headedness.
How could someone as ignorant of military affairs as Pei Ji be put in command of such a vital military and national affair? There was clearly a more suitable candidate, yet he was not chosen.

Hey.

Pei Ji's loyalty to Li Yuan is beyond question, but this is a battlefield.

It was absurd enough to have Li Yuanji stationed in Taiyuan, but now they've put Pei Ji in command. In fact, how many civil officials are capable of leading troops? Liu Wenjing is quite capable, having replaced Li Shimin in command, yet the Eight Generals of Qianshuiyuan suffered a major defeat.

How much better off could Pei Ji be?

If a general is incompetent, the whole army will be exhausted.

Liu Heizi brought in a pot of boiled water and poured tea for Li Yi.

"Why is Ah Lang frowning? Prime Minister Pei has led a large army to our aid. Perhaps we will be able to return to the capital victorious after the Mid-Autumn Festival."

"Do you also think we can win this war quickly?" Li Yi asked.

"We now have a large army assembled. Prime Minister Pei brought 50,000 men, we have over 30,000, and there are still over 30,000 in Taiyuan, totaling over 100,000. When Liu Wuzhou marched south, he only had 30,000 men, and the Turks only sent 10,000."

Now, Li Shihu, Liu Jizhen, and Liu Liu'er have all surrendered.
Liu Wuzhou has at most 50,000 men. We have both fortified cities and a large army; we can win easily.

Li Yi sighed, "War is not that simple; it's not child's play."

“We have well-trained soldiers and ample supplies, how could we possibly lose?” asked Liu Heizi, the newly promoted deputy commander of the garrison.

Li Yi thought to himself, "Yeah, how can I lose?"
(End of this chapter)