Fu Shanhe

Chapter 169 Bait
"Of course, we'll attack whichever route is faster first.

As for the chances of winning, you will only know after you come into contact with them.

However, judging from the speed of the rebels' actions, these enemy forces are not elite.

More than a month has passed since the preparations for the deployment, but the troops have not yet been assembled.

If they hadn’t considered the need to weaken the rebels’ manpower in advance in order to retake Guangxi, they wouldn’t even have had the chance to gather their forces.”

Li Mu replied calmly.

As a new regime, the White Lotus Holy Kingdom should have been at its most efficient, but its performance was very mediocre.

This was certainly due to the fact that the Tusi troops were dragging their feet, but their own lack of organizational ability was also an important factor.

Speed ​​is of the essence on the battlefield, and this slow assembly is tantamount to exposing one's own weaknesses.

If Li Mu had not needed the rebels to trick the chieftain down from the mountain, he would have taken action against them long ago.

According to the intelligence collected, after the last battle of Lianzhou, a large-scale civil war broke out among the chieftains in Guangxi, and the military strength was further weakened.

Due to the weakening of its strength, it politically fell from co-governing Guangxi with the Holy White Lotus Kingdom to becoming dependent on the Holy White Lotus Kingdom.

If the next battle can be concluded successfully, the chieftain’s military power will be basically destroyed.

Even if there are some fish that slip through the net, it cannot stop the general trend of land reform.

……

The White Lotus Holy Kingdom camp.

Looking at the troops gathering from all over the place, Kong Siliu felt heavy pressure.

This was the first time in his life that he commanded an army of 200,000. Before that, the most troops he had led was no more than 10,000.

Taking such a big step at once was a severe test of his military command ability.

Within the Holy Kingdom of White Lotus, the only one who had experience in commanding an army of 200,000 was the King of Pingnan, who was in charge of the Eastern Expedition.

Even the King of Dongping, who was in charge of the Northern Expedition, and the King of Zhenxi, who was in charge of the Western Expedition, did not have an army of 200,000 under their command.

He suddenly became the commander of the second largest force in the Holy Kingdom. Apart from the initial excitement, the rest was all worries.

Nominally there were 200,000 troops, and the chieftain’s army alone accounted for two-thirds of them.

The real Holy Kingdom's armed forces consisted of no more than 60,000 to 70,000 soldiers, including the elderly and weak who stayed in Siming, Nanning and Xunzhou.

After removing the old and weak, the remaining 50,000 troops had only received three or four months of basic military training.

There is no way. It has been less than a year since the White Lotus Sect started its rebellion.

Being able to come up with so much family assets is already very good.

There have been so many peasant uprisings in history, but it is hard to find many with better leadership than the White Lotus Kingdom.

The political and diplomatic means demonstrated were equally impressive.

Just look at how they fooled a group of Guangxi chieftains and you will know that they are really capable.

However, no matter how good your skills are, there will always be bottlenecks.

There was a lack of civil servants to govern the country internally, and there was a lack of military generals to fight externally.

The current main players are all original members of the entrepreneurial team.

War can temper people, but it takes time for a general to grow.

In this growth process, constant elimination and screening is needed.

Unfortunately, the Holy White Lotus Kingdom developed too smoothly, and the generals had no time to experience setbacks and went straight into the peak competition.

The Holy White Lotus Kingdom had already won a large-scale battle like this one, the Battle of Guangdong, which involved hundreds of thousands of people.

Theoretically speaking, after the White Lotus Holy Kingdom wins the Battle of Guangxi, it can control the entire Guangdong and Guangxi regions.

Then he won the Huguang Campaign and launched a major campaign in the Jiangnan region, and half of the country was in his hands.

The greater the strategic significance, the less tolerated failure is, and the greater the pressure on frontline generals.

Kong Siliu decided to divide his troops into three routes, due to logistical considerations and also because there were too many troops to command.

He found it difficult to dispatch the 100,000-strong army in Guangxun Prefecture.

In order to reduce internal conflicts and avoid civil war, he had to separate the chieftains who had grievances with each other.

The grievances and hatreds between the chieftains in Guangxi are too numerous to list.

Not only did the White Lotus Sect instigate internal strife among the chieftains, but successive dynasties in the Central Plains had also done the same thing in order to maintain local stability.

If we trace back in time, we will find that there were basically blood feuds between neighboring chieftains.

There are also incompatible regional conflicts between the chieftains of several neighboring provincial capitals.

If you open the local chronicles of Guangxi, you will find that two-thirds of the contents record the history of infighting among chieftains.

"Okay, let's not talk about the past.

I don’t want to see another armed fight in the military in the future.

If anyone violates this rule again, I will bring them to justice regardless of who they are under my command!"

Kong Siliu, who had just dealt with a dispute, scolded a group of chieftains.

In order to facilitate command and to better control these toasts.

He deliberately split up the troops of the chieftain of Dazhai, and only a part of them remained here.

The remaining troops were divided into two other armies.

Strength in the military means voice.

With fewer soldiers at their disposal, the arrogance of these big chieftains was also greatly reduced.

Compared to the chaotic scene of the first military meeting where everyone was banging their heads on the table, things are now much calmer.

Seeing that the chieftains were still glaring at each other, Kong Siliu knew that it was unrealistic to ask everyone to let go of their hatred.

The Holy White Lotus Kingdom would not allow them to let go of their hatred.

If the chieftains really had harmonious relations with each other, they would be able to summon people to fight for them with just a conscription order.

Only when the chieftains continue to fight among themselves will it be necessary to win their support.

Whoever dares not to buy into it will be destroyed first.

"Don't say that I won't give you a chance. As long as you win this battle, you will have beauties, land, gold, silver and jewelry.

Whoever can make the greatest contribution in the war, I will personally petition the Holy Emperor to appoint him as the prefect and give him the military and political power over the prefecture.

Meng Qingfeng, Yang Jingyuan, and Hou Xiangyu, I order the three of you to lead our troops and serve as the vanguard of the army.

If you encounter a small group of enemy forces, annihilate them immediately.

If you encounter the main force of the enemy, there is no need to engage them head-on, just wait for the main force to arrive."

Upon hearing Kong Siliu's order, Meng Yanghou and the other two frowned at the same time.

The first bird to stick its head out gets shot, and this applies everywhere.

With the failure of the Lianzhou battle, the power balance in the internal strife among the chieftains in Guangxi was also reshuffled.

Now, these three are the most powerful, have the largest population and army, and occupy the most vast land.

Even after entering the camp, the three men tried their best to control their subordinates from causing trouble, but they were still remembered by the commander-in-chief.

"The general will get the order!"

"The general will get the order!"

"The general will get the order!"

From their weak replies, one could tell how reluctant the three were.

Serving as a vanguard force, it seems that they are being valued, but in fact they are exchanging their lives for military merit.

Having fought against the government troops of Lianzhou before, they knew very well how difficult the enemy was.

If they are not careful and fail on the battlefield, everything they have now will disappear.

Unfortunately, this is the military, and if you dare to disobey orders, you will lose your head immediately.

……

"You two, please stay!"

After leaving the general's camp, Meng Qingfeng hurriedly called out to stop Yang Hou and the other two who were about to leave.

"Brother Meng called us to stop, why?"

Yang Jingyuan asked doubtfully.

All three of them are old chieftains, but they have no friendship with each other and have accumulated a lot of grudges.

Just last month, everyone was fighting with a group of their own followers.

"Brother Yang, Brother Hou, what do you think of this battle?"

Meng Qingfeng asked back.

Frankly speaking, this is not a suitable place to discuss military topics.

However, the three of them lacked sufficient trust. If he invited them to their camp, people would suspect that he had ulterior motives.

“Stand and watch, of course!
We have received the military order, what else can we do except execute it? "

Hou Xiangyu said unhappily. It was impossible to provoke him to cause trouble.

Right now the White Lotus Holy Nation is so powerful that they can only keep a low profile.

Now we are hoping that the Holy Kingdom of White Lotus will move its capital away as soon as possible.

Once the administrative center moved away from Guangxi, the suppression against them would no longer exist.

Compared with the Central Plains, Lingnan is ultimately too remote to become a political center.

“Brother Hou, let’s discuss something. We will both act as pioneers from now on.

On the battlefield, we need to stick together.

If there is a rift between us due to some misunderstandings, that would be bad.”

Yang Jingyuan spoke up to smooth things over.

Deep down in his heart, he had already started cursing.

Let these masters with many conflicts act as the vanguard of the army.

The purpose of mutual supervision has been achieved, but the question is how to cooperate?
Even if the generals above know to consider the overall situation, can the soldiers below remain rational?

The power of hatred is enormous, and if things go wrong, someone might stab their teammates in the back.

He has no idea what others think, but he doesn't dare to leave his back to his teammates.

“Brother Yang is right, we need to work together now.

The government troops in Lianzhou are not ordinary government troops.

From the intelligence collected, we learned that Huai'an Camp and Yangzhou Camp were both direct descendants of the nobles, and their commanders came from the two most prominent families, Jing and Li, among the nobles.

I think Brother Hou will be familiar with these two families.

With such a background, the resources obtained by Yangzhou Camp and Huai'an Camp are not comparable to those of ordinary Dayu official troops.

The commander-in-chief is also well-versed in military books and is proficient in various military tactics.

When you encounter an enemy like this, it is never too serious to take it seriously.

You didn't come during the last battle of Lianzhou, but I have personally experienced how powerful they are.

The 100,000-strong army was defeated head-on by the enemy in just two hours.

This was certainly because the war elephants were frightened and caused chaos in our army, but more importantly, it was because the enemy's fighting power was too strong.

The vanguard troops we lead are absolutely no match for the enemy.

Once we encounter a battle with the enemy's main force, it will be difficult to even escape.

After all, the enemy has cavalry.

Although we also have cavalry, they are rarely trained, and the gap in combat effectiveness between the two sides is obvious."

Meng Qingfeng said with lingering fear.

Cavalry is too expensive, and Guangxi is mountainous, so only a few chieftains are equipped with cavalry.

These cavalrymen can only be said to have good riding skills, but it is impossible for them to undergo long-term off-duty training.

Even a high-ranking chieftain like them could not afford to support completely self-employed cavalry.

In fact, even if I can afford it, I don’t dare to raise it.

In normal times, they are just minor fights and no one pays any attention to them.

The Jinyiwei and local government officials dared to prepare for war. They were not idle and had already reported to the court and sent troops to encircle and suppress the rebellion.

Even if you pull out a hundred cavalrymen and take them for a stroll outside, you could still end up in a catastrophic disaster.

The inability to deal with all the chieftains does not mean that the problem can be solved by simply eliminating one or two chieftains.

There was no hope of obtaining the armor needed for the cavalry.

The Dayu Dynasty had very strict control over armor. Even if you had money, you couldn't buy it.

It was not until the White Lotus Rebellion that the shackles on them were removed.

After living a life of luxury for hundreds of years, most of the hereditary chieftains have become useless.

Only a few have the ambition to expand their armaments, and even fewer have both the ambition and the ability to do so.

The three of them have both ambition and ability, but their family background is too weak.

In order to stand out among the chieftains, he has spent all his family wealth.

If you want to go further, you must occupy more land and gain more population.

"Meng Qingfeng, why do you have to boost others' morale and destroy your own prestige?

The three of us alone are no match for the government troops, but this time the Holy White Lotus Kingdom has dispatched an army of 400,000.

Even if we give them a half-price discount, there will still be at least 200,000 troops.

The opposing government army had only 30,000 soldiers, more than half of whom were garrison troops.

There are only about 10,000 elite soldiers who can really fight. Even if we exchange five for one, we can wear down the enemy!"

Hou Xiangyu said with a look of disdain.

In recent days, he has annexed several villages and is in high spirits.

If the White Lotus Holy Kingdom had not intervened, he might have been the biggest chieftain in Guangxi.

His military victory made him despise other chieftains.

Even the old chieftains like the Meng family are no longer taken seriously by him.

"Brother Hou, it's good that you have confidence. I'll leave the next battle to you, Brother Hou!"

Meng Qingfeng said while suppressing his anger.

Originally, he was thinking of the three companies joining forces to compete for greater voice in the war. After seeing the performance of his teammates, he immediately decided to change his plan.

War always needs cannon fodder, and these chieftain coalition forces are the cannon fodder that the Holy Kingdom of White Lotus has found.

If he wanted to protect his own people, he had to let other chieftains sacrifice themselves.

Yang Jingyuan, who was standing by, also noticed something was going on, but this time, he did not come out to smooth things over.

Over the years, the conflicts accumulated among the families were too deep to be resolved in a few words.

This kind of thing is fine if it is said openly, but the worst thing is that someone promises something verbally but suddenly changes his mind on the battlefield.

……

After hearing the report from the personal soldiers, the three of them parted unhappily after the meeting, and Kong Siliu showed a satisfied smile.

Letting the chieftains fight among themselves is the national policy of the Holy White Lotus Kingdom.

As long as the Holy Capital remains in Guangxi, the national policy of suppressing the chieftains will not be allowed to change.

In addition to political needs, the top leaders of the Holy Kingdom were also bullied by the chieftains before their rise.

These chieftains not only prohibited them from preaching in the village, but also often sent people to set up checkpoints on the road to collect tolls.

When he was selling illegal salt, more than half of the profits were taken away by these guys.

Sometimes, if they tried to bargain, they would be beaten.

The protection fees were not collected by the chieftains themselves, so they naturally would not take these insignificant matters seriously.

But for the parties involved, no matter how long ago the incident happened, the grudge was still formed.

The officials and gentry who exploited them in the past have all been purged, so how could these chieftains be absent?

For the sake of the overall situation, it is not convenient to retaliate directly, but the means used in secret have never stopped.

The alliance between the two sides gradually deteriorated from the moment they captured Guangxi.

“My Lord, these people are full of contradictions, and I’m afraid they will suffer a great loss on the battlefield.

If the vanguard army fails, it will be a heavy blow to the morale of the army!"

Master Zhou on the side reminded gently.

It is okay to kill someone with a borrowed knife, but the knife used by the government army also has a sharp edge on the back.

If you are not careful, you will hurt yourself.

"Don't worry, I've already made preparations.

For this great battle, I asked the Holy Emperor for three thousand cavalrymen, all of whom are the elite of the sect.

These vanguard troops are just baits released, waiting for the enemy to take the bait.

They are not afraid of the enemy eating them, but they are afraid that the enemy will not take the bait and directly defend the city.

Lianzhou City is not very strong, but it cannot be taken in a short time.

If the war falls into a stalemate, the daily consumption of 200,000 troops will not be a small number.

The material reserves in the Holy Treasury are limited, and the transportation in Guangxi is blocked, so the materials transported back from Huguang and Guangdong will suffer great losses.

I guess after this battle, the Holy Kingdom will move its capital!"

Kong Siliu shook his head and said.

……

(End of this chapter)