Fu Shanhe

Chapter 170 Failed Ambush

"Commander-in-chief, an urgent report arrived at night.

The rebels from Xunzhou have dispatched about 30,000 troops and are approaching us.

It is expected to arrive in Pubei area in three days."

After receiving this news, Li Mu turned around and took a look at the map on the wall.

“Got it, I’ll arrange for someone to investigate again.

Find out as quickly as possible the enemy's troop deployment and how far away the nearest reinforcements are."

The 30,000-strong army is equal in number to the defenders, and judging by the data on paper, they are capable of fighting.

But since the enemy has gathered an army of more than 200,000, it is impossible to fight him in a one-on-one duel.

The 30,000 troops in front are at most the vanguard.

"Commander Li, aren't the rebels too arrogant?"

Jabo said, frowning.

He has not been idle these days.

He collected all the battles, big and small, fought by the White Lotus rebels since the uprising and analyzed them carefully.

Finally, it was concluded that the rebels were growing stronger.

Deep down, he did not have much confidence in Li Mu's proposal for a battle in Guangxi.

The huge disparity in military strength is one thing, but Guangxi is also the rebels' stronghold, and under normal circumstances the enemy will not give up.

Once the enemy withdraws its main forces from the front line to provide reinforcements, Lianzhou's troops alone will not be enough.

“Either the enemy is confident enough, or they are just bait.

After our strategic contraction, there are not many areas that need to be defended.

From the rebels' point of view, if they don't want to attack the city by force, they can only lure us out of the city for a decisive battle.

The imperial court's reinforcements are arriving at the front line one after another. Time is on our side.

According to the calculation, the Hubei Army and the Hunan Army will return to Huguang before the end of the month.

At the latest next month, Lord Xu will launch a counterattack on the Huguang front.

With the previous experience in Guangdong as a lesson, the Governor of Fujian and the Governor of Jiangxi would certainly not dare to sit idly by and watch the rebels gain a foothold in Guangdong.

Once Huguang takes action, they will also try to retake Guangdong.

The Yunnan-Guizhou front has received reinforcements from Shu, so I guess they will not be idle.

The rebels actually only have more than a month.

If they can't get rid of us in a short period of time, they will not be able to take care of Guangxi.

In order to fight for the world, they must find a way to win the upcoming Huguang Campaign.

What’s more, Guangxi is a poor place, and after the rebels rose up, last year’s autumn grain harvest was almost a total failure.

There won’t be much harvest from spring crops this year.

The rebels were fighting on all sides, which was bound to consume a large amount of food and supplies.

Even if we confiscate all the gentry's property and harvest a large amount of grain, we can't afford to squander it like this!"

Li Mu analyzed rationally.

Rebellion has never been easy since ancient times.

In order to quell the rebellion, the Dayu Dynasty was exhausted, let alone the rebels.

There are only a few grain-producing areas in the world. If the rebels don't take over one of them, they will not be able to escape the food crisis.

Huguang, which was nearby, became the rebels' first choice.

Compared with food, the lifeline, Guangxi, which is unable to provide money and food, is simply a waste.

Typically the political significance outweighs the military significance.

If the situation had not been so dire, the rebels would not have spent so much effort to recruit Dayu officials to surrender.

“Master Jia, the rebels’ situation is dire, and ours is not much better.

We have received only half of the provisions you promised.

If we capture a large number of prisoners in this battle, we will all starve together next month.

The more lost territory we recover, the more money and food we will have to spend.”

Jing Yifeng's words made Jia Bo feel mixed emotions.

The good news is that these two commanders are full of confidence in this war.

Unfortunately, while they were winning battles, these two were also big money-makers.

It’s not that the two men embezzled military supplies, it’s simply that the war was very costly and the post-war work was even more costly.

Soldiers need to eat, prisoners of war need to eat, and refugees also need to eat.

If we leave them alone, they will join the rebels.

But these two main generals are still men of integrity. They never kill the surrendered, and never kill innocent people to gain credit, which leads to more and more people coming to eat.

Now the task of maintaining public order has been handed over to him as the military supervisor.

Every time I open my eyes, the first thing I think of is money and food.

But he couldn't refuse.

As the only civilian officer at the front, these were his duties.

"Generals, please bear with me for a while.

Due to years of war, the imperial court suffered a serious financial deficit.

Due to the impact of the war, this year's fiscal revenue will be reduced by at least one third.

In order to raise military rations, all provinces tried their best.

I have already explained the situation to the Lord, you can proceed as you please.

As long as we can recover Guangxi, the court will solve other problems!"

Jia Bo said with a lack of confidence.

He did not lie. On the issue of suppressing the White Lotus Rebellion, the positions of various factions in the court were unprecedentedly unified.

The government troops were able to hold the front line largely due to the support of local gentry.

In particular, the gentry near the front line contributed manpower, money and food in order to suppress the rebellion as soon as possible.

Everyone was afraid of being killed by the rebels, and they were afraid that the rebels would come and kill them and their entire family.

“Since Lord Jia said so, we are relieved.

Since the rebels in Xunzhou have chosen to show up, let's start with them.

There are places suitable for ambushes in the Pubei area. We need to conduct on-site reconnaissance in order to make the most appropriate military deployment.

Lord Jia, please stay in the city and wait for our good news!"

Li Mu said with a smile.

Don't push people into a corner.

Compared with those guys who are greedy for bribes, the Lord Jia in front of him is a rare clean official in Dayu officialdom.

As a military supervisor, he was either collecting money and food or comforting refugees.

When it comes to military issues, he only wants to win and doesn't care about the details of the process.

Of course, being able to be so obedient was also forced upon me.

When encountering a daring general, the military supervisor wants to interfere in military affairs, but he has no ability to do so.

……

"stop!"

"In another twenty miles, we will enter the area controlled by the Pseudo Dynasty.

Let's set up camp here today and set off tomorrow!"

After hearing Meng Qingfeng's proposal, Yang Jingyuan and Hou Xiangyu rolled their eyes on the spot.

Along the way, they kept dawdling, marching less than thirty miles a day.

The situation is even worse today. The front army has only walked ten miles, and the rear army has just left the camp and is about to set up camp.

According to this operation, their vanguard troops can be gradually transformed into the rear troops.

"My Lord repeatedly urged us to speed up our march, so we stopped to rest after only walking such a short distance today.

If the Marquis blames you, can you bear it?"

Hou Xiangyu said disdainfully.

He had seen timid people before, but he had never seen someone as timid as this.

He didn't even see the shadow of the enemy, but he acted so cowardly.

If a fight really breaks out, we will just turn around and run away.

“I can’t bear it!
However, if we were to be ambushed by the enemy and our entire army were annihilated, it would be better for the Marquis to blame us."

Meng Qingfeng immediately retorted.

He is not timid, he is just more "cautious".

In the last battle of Lianzhou, his tribe was the most powerful, thanks to this caution. As soon as the army showed signs of collapse, he fled with his troops.

Anyway, you are working for the White Lotus Sect, so there is no need to fight so hard.

"Humph!"

"You are sophistry!

Our people grew up in the mountains, and we can detect any disturbance in advance. How could the enemy ambush us so easily?"

Hou Xiangyu said with full confidence.

When it comes to mountain warfare, they are professionals.

If they cannot defeat the government troops on the frontal battlefield, the situation will change once they enter the mountains.

Whether it's setting traps or hiding in ambush, they are professionals.

What's more, the army was taking the official road, and although there were many hills around, there were not many places that could hide a large army.

Once discovered in advance, the ambush will lose its effectiveness and may even put the enemy in a passive position.

"Okay, you two.

We need to work together to fight, and there is no need to argue over trivial matters.

I think we should all take a step back and march forward another ten miles today, but not enter the area controlled by the Pseudo-Dynasty for the time being.

After a night's rest and regaining your energy, you can then go and seek out the enemy."

Yang Jingyuan spoke in an attempt to smooth things over.

It seems that he is trying to smooth things over and reconcile the conflict between the two people, but in fact he is secretly fanning the flames.

In the world of chieftains, the law of the jungle prevails and internal competition has reached a fever pitch.

Now the three of them are still comrades-in-arms, but they will become enemies later.

It’s not that he is ambitious and wants to unify the chieftains of Guangxi, it’s simply the result of years of accumulated conflicts.

Weakening competitors is a disguised way of strengthening yourself.

"Humph!"

"Humph!"

Two cold shouts came out almost at the same time, and it was obvious that neither Meng Qingfeng nor Hou Xiangyu were satisfied with the result.

However, due to the situation, they could only take a step back.

If you really insist on it, the quarrel will only go on and on, making the situation even more awkward.

Most of the time, it was Hou Xiangyu who initiated the verbal attacks.

It's not that he didn't consider the overall situation, but he was forced to do so.

He took over his elder brother's job, but his elder brother died in the territory of the Meng chieftain.

There have been rumors that he colluded with the Meng family to kill his own brother and seize power.

He doesn't care about rumors, but he has to consider the feelings of his people.

If he gets close to Meng Qingfeng, his position as clan leader will be unstable.

His greatest restraint was not starting a war for revenge.

Verbal conflict is absolutely inevitable.

After the little episode, the army continued to move forward, but the atmosphere in the army could not be harmonious.

It was not until three quarters after the hour when the soldiers, having completed the whole day's journey, began to set up camp.

In order to fight for the camp, the soldiers below clashed again.

If the coach hadn't stopped it in time, there would have been another fight.

There were no large-scale conflicts, but small-scale fights never stopped.

In order to suppress internal conflicts, the three camps had to distance themselves from each other.

……

"Commander, the enemy suddenly stopped advancing five miles away and set up camp right there."

Li Mu was speechless after receiving this news.

After finally preparing for the ambush, the enemy suddenly stopped coming.

To retreat now would be to waste all previous efforts, and the soldiers could not bear to continue lying in ambush on the mountain.

If they really hold out until tomorrow, the rebels will not be exhausted, but his subordinates will be.

"Could the enemy have discovered us?"

Jing Yifeng said with a frown.

Marching twenty miles a day in their own controlled area is a snail's pace that is hard for ordinary people to imagine.

Be careful, that's after we entered the enemy's war zone, this place is still under the control of the Holy Kingdom of White Lotus.

They were able to set up ambushes deep behind enemy lines because they were the "Jinyiwei" who had infiltrated the Holy Kingdom of White Lotus and spent a large amount of money to get a job here.

Once we evacuate at this time, all the previous operations here will be invalid.

"will not!"

“If they really discovered us, they wouldn’t stop now.

They could have stopped when they got close to our ambush area and set fire to the mountain.

Or they could send a small force to go around from behind and enter the mountains to fight us.

The enemy may not be a qualified soldier, but they are a qualified hunter.

Once we get entangled, our losses will definitely not be small!"

Li Mu said affirmatively.

A successful ambush would bring huge rewards, but if it was exposed prematurely, it would also cost blood.

People only remember the huge gains from a successful ambush, but rarely pay attention to the fact that a failed ambush will put themselves in a passive position.

"Whether the rebels discovered it or not, today's ambush failed.

If the rebels don't make any moves, we'll retreat after dark!"

Jing Yifeng said slowly.

It is not yet time to expose the hidden agents planted among the rebels.

Only with these people can we keep track of the movements of the rebels at all times.

If it really comes to a critical moment, perhaps these insignificant little people can decide the outcome of a war.

“Now it seems that this is the only way.

But the rebel camp is very close to us, if the conditions are right, we can try to sneak into the camp at night."

Li Mu said calmly.

The battlefield is ever-changing, and it is normal for ambushes to fail.

As long as it doesn't cause serious losses to yourself, it's not a big deal.

Compared to setting ambushes on the battlefield, he is also experienced in sneaking into camps at night.

At the beginning, he led a group of rabble and sent troops out to attack the enemy camp at night, let alone now.

“Attacking the enemy camp at night is indeed an idea.

However, according to the intelligence we have, this rebel force is most likely a bait released by the enemy.

If we attack the enemy camp at night, we won’t be able to lure out the big fish behind us!”

Jing Yifeng rubbed his forehead and said.

The ambush in front of us is also a fishing plan.

According to the preset plan, as long as the enemy does not want to see the vanguard troops wiped out.

Once the war breaks out, the rebels' prepared backup plans will be forced out.

On the battlefield, the enemies in the open are not scary; the scariest thing is the unknown hidden in the dark.

“There is no perfect method in the world.

If we defeat this enemy force first and dampen the rebels' morale, we will gain a lot of benefits.

As for the hidden backup, my guess is that it's the cavalry in the hands of the rebels.

The imperial court had horse farms in Guangxi and Yunnan. The horses were shorter than Mongolian horses, but that did not affect their use.

The rebels obtained horse-producing land and naturally trained cavalry.

However, the imperial court's horse management has been neglected for many years, so there should not be many qualified war horses.

Plus, cavalry training takes time, so the enemy's cavalry combat effectiveness should not be too strong."

Li Mu analyzed calmly.

The only army capable of high-speed movement these days is the cavalry.

It just so happens that Baise horses have great endurance and can adapt to mountain marches.

Its practicality in Guangxi region is stronger than Mongolian war horses.

(End of this chapter)