Without money, what is the point of being a traitor?

Chapter 217: Dominator Pei Yuan

When the news of the attack on the rear army reached the front army, it quickly caused considerable panic.

Many teams that were setting up camp immediately chose to stop camping and continue to move north to find favorable terrain to hold their ground.

Liu Liu, Liu Qi, Zhao Sui, Qi Yanming and others, as the leaders of various bandits, led their troops and scattered everywhere, and for a while they were unable to communicate in time.

By the time the governor-general and deputy governor Bai Yu recovered, he was so scared that he led his troops away. The Bazhou army was still making a lot of noise and could not maintain its balance.

Seeing this, Zhao Sui made a decisive decision and continued to march north with his troops, separating himself from the chaotic team behind him.

After receiving the notice from Zhao Sui, Liu Liu, Liu Qi and Qi Yanming all decisively chose to preserve their fighting power to avoid having their morale affected by the chaotic army behind them.

The decision of the four people invisibly catered to the war-weariness and panic of many members of the Bazhou army.

The elite troops of the Bazhou Army left the battlefield at an extremely fast speed and entered the territory of Xuzhou in just two days.

Xuzhou, which was originally heavily guarded, became unusually lax in its defenses after the government troops moved south.

Faced with the Bazhou army that suddenly appeared in the territory, the city of Xuzhou fell into chaos.

Xuzhou is a direct-controlled prefecture in Southern Zhili.

Because of Xuzhou's special status and strategic significance, the prefect of Xuzhou not only had a higher status than the prefect of scattered states, but was also not inferior to ordinary prefects.

However, the prefect of Xuzhou, who had made great contributions in defending the city, mistakenly judged that Xuzhou was already in a safe rear because the government troops were moving south.

So he summoned scholars to hold a literary gathering and drink to celebrate.

When the Bazhou army suddenly arrived at the city, the prefect of Xuzhou was still drunk.

If we were on full alert, defense wouldn't be a big problem even without the command of the Xuzhou prefect.

Xuzhou was a major military town, and although it was only a direct-controlled prefecture, it had two garrisons.

One was Xuzhou Wei and the other was Xuzhou Zuo Wei.

Theoretically, Xuzhou Wei had seven overstaffed thousand-household units, and Xuzhou Zuo Wei had five thousand-household units. Assuming that each thousand-household unit had 1,120 people, the total force was over 10,000.

What is even more commendable is that the two garrisons did not have much shortage of soldiers and still had a large scale of more than 9,000 people.

As for the two commanders of Xuzhou Wei and Xuzhou Zuo Wei, one was surnamed Guo and the other was surnamed Shi.

These two commanders also had excellent evaluations and were always known as capable ministers.

Judging from the data alone, Xuzhou has a strong city, strong soldiers, and famous generals, and it still has the strength to fight against the hastily arriving Bazhou army.

However, the problem lies in theory.

Theoretically, Xuzhou is the lifeline of the Grand Canal, and Xuzhou Wei and Xuzhou Zuowei are important forces in defending the canal.

However in reality.

As important forces on the Grand Canal, Xuzhou Guard and Xuzhou Left Guard were responsible for shipbuilding...

The main job of the third-rank military officer commanders of these two garrisons was to build a large number of grain ships to make up for the losses in canal shipping.

And this is not just a temporary assignment, but a skill passed down from generation to generation.

When the Ming Dynasty was first established, inland waterway transportation was not prosperous enough, and when ships were needed, they mainly relied on the Qingjiang Shipyard in Huai'an and the Weihe Shipyard in Linqing.

Later, the prosperity of commerce led to a shortage of canal boats on the Grand Canal.

As a result, many prefectures along the Grand Canal began to launch shipbuilding projects on their own. The official price of a canal ship is about 100 taels of silver. If it is sold to merchants, the price can be slightly higher. A medium-sized shipyard can contribute more than 10,000 taels of silver in output value per year.

In order to boost the economy, some local military garrisons also participated deeply in it.

Because this was a matter that served the imperial court's water transport, the court not only turned a blind eye, but sometimes even purchased directly from the garrisons along the river.

Therefore, when the Bazhou army attacked, many soldiers of Xuzhou Wei and Xuzhou Zuo Wei were busy preparing materials and building ships.

As a result, the important city of Xuzhou fell directly with almost no resistance.

The fall of Xuzhou also allowed the panicked Bazhou army to slowly calm down.

Being able to capture a strong city like Xuzhou proves that we can do it!
Don't be afraid, don't be afraid.

Afterwards, the Bazhou Army had a brief rest and replenishment in Xuzhou, and sent Yang Hu to the south to support the scattered rear troops.

However, when Yang Hu went to Pizhou again, the person he met was no longer the governor-general Bai Yu who had taken advantage and ran away, but the furious Right Censor-in-Chief Lu Wan.

Lu Wan spread his army wide and launched a fierce attack on Yang Hu's troops.

Among them, Datong guerrilla Jiang Bin performed particularly well.

Jiang Bin did not avoid arrows and stones in the chaos and charged into the enemy formation, resulting in him being shot by three arrows in a row.

One of the arrows hit him right in the face, and the arrowhead popped out of his ear!
Jiang Bin broke the arrow shaft, pulled out the arrow and continued fighting. His face was covered in blood and he was as fierce as a god or ghost.

Yang Hu's troops were in an uproar.

Yang Hu was shaken and dared not resist the enemy, so he could only lead his troops to flee.

However, Lu Wan had already spread out his two wings and had surrounded Yang Hu's troops tightly.

In the end, this elite army of Bazhou was completely wiped out, and Yang Hu himself was beheaded and the news spread far and wide.

After the news was reported back to Xuzhou, Liu Liu, Liu Qi and others were shocked and unanimously decided to leave here as soon as possible and go to Henan.

After looting a large amount of supplies in the city, the Bazhou army directly abandoned the fortified city and headed towards Henan.

Lu Wan was in a bad mood after he failed to escape the "encircle three and leave one" plan that he had been planning for a long time.

What he never expected was that before he could catch up with him, the imperial court sent an imperial decree by fast horse.

The emperor severely reprimanded Gu Dayong and Lu Wan for wasting their troops in vain, wasting money and food, and causing the Lianghuai region to be shaken, losing the two key places of Xuzhou and Yancheng. Now that the court had lost face, the emperor urgently ordered Lu Wan, the Right Censor-in-Chief, to reorganize his strategy and make meritorious contributions while serving his sentence.

As for Gu Dayong, the governor of military affairs, he was directly demoted to the lowest position.

As soon as the imperial eunuch received the imperial eunuch, he went from being the governor of military affairs with more than 200,000 troops under his command and the director of the West Factory who controlled secret intelligence to an old eunuch who was nothing.

The eunuch in charge of military affairs will be replaced by Lu Ting, who will come here quickly.

As for the Western Factory, it eventually met the fate of being closed down.

After hearing the emperor's order, Gu Dayong felt as if he was in a dream.

In panic, he subconsciously wanted to find his literary advisor Sun Keding to discuss the matter, but was told that Sun Keding was there just now and now he didn't know where he was.

Soon, the army that suppressed the rebellion sent away Gu Dayong, who was in the lowest point of his life, and welcomed Lu Ting, who was in high spirits.

Relying on the military supervision strategy given to him by Pei Yuan, Lu Ting successfully cooperated with Bai Yu to fight a beautiful battle.

And the battle went incredibly smoothly.

He wrote a letter to the court to rescue Bai Yu as Pei Yuan said, requested to be the military supervisor as Pei Yuan said, led his troops to Pizhou to ambush as Pei Yuan said, and let the vanguard troops go and attacked the auxiliary and miscellaneous soldiers as Pei Yuan said. As a result, the Bazhou troops began to disintegrate before his troops could even make any effort.

Even Bai Yu, the governor-general who was good at bullying the weak and fearing the strong, suddenly became brave and chased the Bazhou army everywhere.

Now, although Eunuch Lu is feeling very proud, he also feels a little uneasy.

Now, he really wanted to send someone on horseback to call Pei Yuan over to ask him about it.

What's next?
Just as Eunuch Lu was gradually sorting out the relationships among the rebel forces and negotiating with the sullen Lu Wanxu, news of the beginning and end of the Huaishang Campaign slowly reached the ears of the Bazhou rebels heading west.

They first inquired which unit had attacked them.

The result was an answer that stunned everyone.

——The troops of the eunuch Lu Ting and the deputy governor Bai Yu.

The words "Eunuch Lu Ting" seemed to have magical power, causing several leaders who had a brief conversation with Pei Yuan outside Taoyuan County to be stunned.

Liu Qi almost subconsciously asked the spy, "And then?"

The spy's answer was still that vaguely familiar answer.

"Eunuch Lu Ting has now replaced Gu Dayong as the governor of military affairs."

Liu Qi, Zhao Sui, and Qi Yanming were stunned for a long time before they woke up from their dream. They recalled Pei Yuan's calm words that seemed like a casual conversation outside Taoyuan County.

——Eunuch Lu Ting is going to replace Gu Dayong.

At that time, they had never heard of the eunuch Lu Ting.

In other words, few people in the entire Bazhou army had heard of who Lu Ting was.

Then, when the Bazhou rebels broke out of the encirclement and were hoping to pass through Henan and head straight for Huguang...

Lu Ting and Bai Yu's ambush troops suddenly appeared!

During the time window when the Bazhou army had the least fighting spirit, their troops bit and drove away the auxiliary troops like mad dogs, causing great damage to the Bazhou rebels.

Then they got the news.

——Lu Ting replaced Gu Dayong as governor of military affairs.

The three of them all had a sense of absurdity in their hearts.

and so……

Was the fundamental reason why Lu Ting was able to replace Gu Dayong due to the surprise attack in the Huaishang Campaign? !
Not right either.

Perhaps it was also because the northern defense line carefully arranged by Gu Dayong was easily torn apart by the Bazhou army.

When everyone realized this, they fell into an even more incredible silence.

After a long while, Liu Qi asked in disbelief.

"So, Brother Pei knew about Lu Ting's ambush long ago?"

"Know?" Zhao Sui came back to his senses and showed an extremely ugly smile on his face, "How can such a thing be 'known'?"

Zhao Sui muttered to himself.

"Lu Wan's strategy, the movements of the Bazhou Army, Bai Yu's ambush, the route to the north, and the subtle grasp of the mentality of the soldiers who have escaped from desperate situations..."

"Let that final blow break it, as easily as crushing a piece of tofu."

"And we foolishly transferred all our elite troops to the front line as he said."

Zhao Sui was smiling, but he was trembling all over.

He first raised his voice and asked, "How can all this be solved by 'knowing'?"

Then, he came to the conclusion with absolute certainty, "This is clearly within his control and calculations!"

"It's not about knowing, it's about dominating!"

After hearing this, Liu Qi and Qi Yanming were stunned, but they found it difficult to agree with Zhao Sui's judgment.

"It must be a coincidence, right? Do you know how long it takes to set up such a plan?"

"When he was in Taoyuan County, he told us that Lu Ting would replace Gu Dayong."

"Could it be that at that time, he could see Lu Ting's success and Gu Dayong's downfall?"

"Gu Dayong has an army of more than 200,000 soldiers to suppress the rebellion, and he is also one of the most trusted men of the emperor. Could it be that Pei Yuan could even plot against the emperor?"

Liu Qi said this and gave another very strong evidence.

"Besides, what about us?"

"I am absolutely sure that he has not tricked me."

"He can't even guess what I'm thinking. How can he guarantee that he can just sort out all the links by chance?"

Zhao Sui was listening rationally, but for some reason he felt his face getting wet.

He cried.

You fucking bastard!
Zhao Sui immediately recalled the days when many leaders obeyed Pei Yuan's orders.

It would be better if you didn't say anything.

When you say that, I really want to die!

Do they need to know what you are thinking? Why don't they just order us around? !

Zhao Sui no longer had to think about how Pei Yuan had managed to set up such a trap silently when the Bazhou army was at its most proud and confident.

Because he had enough reasons to believe that even someone as powerful as Gu Dayong, even someone as noble as the emperor, even someone as cunning as Lu Wan, even someone as unpredictable as his own heart, were all firmly controlled by Pei Yuan.

Only if he has a firm grasp of all these, could he conduct such a complicated Huaishang Campaign to achieve the desired effect with perfect accuracy.

What made Zhao Sui feel cold in his heart was that

He actually smiled so calmly, as if it was a prophecy, as he casually mentioned it to them more than ten days ago.

——Lu Ting is going to replace Gu Dayong.

That feeling is like someone running up to a cow and saying, "You'll have beef to eat in a few days," hehe.

But the cow was still confused and said, "Okay, okay."

That kind of unbridled indulgence and crushing feeling is simply suffocating.

Qi Yanming felt even more touched and shocked.

Because in addition to all these, that person also arranged his own destiny in a casual manner.

He said he wanted to protect himself.

He said that if he was caught, he would shout that he wanted to see Lu Ting.

He told himself personally that Lu Ting would definitely let him go out of his way.

Therefore, Qi Yanming knew better than anyone that Lu Ting was most likely under someone's control.

Qi Yanming's expression also became dazed.

He thought about the words Pei Yuan had said at the beginning, which could not be refused, and felt that his life was an extremely ironic joke.

That person decided Qi Yanming's fate so casually and calmly.

It felt like I was just Pei Yuan's plaything.

Qi Yanming felt a strong sense of humiliation for a moment.

Just when Qi Yanming's mentality was exploding, Liu Liu, who did not participate in the feint attack on Taoyuan, also roughly understood what everyone meant.

He couldn't quite believe it, but he didn't know how to explain it for Pei Yuan.

He listened for a while and suddenly realized a big trouble.

Liu Liu interrupted them and asked, "Then, then shall we follow his plan and go through Henan to Huguang?"

After these words were spoken, the several big leaders who were originally gritting their teeth were stunned.

Then, the military tent fell into silence for a longer period of time.

So, should they carry out the future plan made for them by that guy who has some unknown idea?

Although Pei Yuan was not here, he was like a huge shadow, looming over them.

For a while.

Zhao Suicai said in despair, "We still have to go to Huguang!"

Seeing that Liu Qi wanted to ask, Zhao Sui said with difficulty, "There is no other way."

Pei Yuanfeng's comments and discussions during those days had already made Zhao Sui give up all other ideas.

The real battle is in people's hearts.

(End of this chapter)