Fu Shanhe

Chapter 189: Start in advance
Capital.

"Your Majesty, it's time to rest!"

Xu Zhongen spoke up to remind him.

As a eunuch, his life and property were completely tied to Emperor Yongning, and he didn't want the emperor to exhaust himself.

"I can't sleep because of internal and external troubles!"

Emperor Yongning said with a sigh.

During the reign of Emperor Tianyuan, Dayu had shown some signs of revival, but it was suddenly interrupted when he ascended the throne.

Because of factional struggles within the court, the best opportunity to suppress the White Lotus Rebellion was missed, which triggered a chaos that affected several provinces.

The tax exemption he announced at the beginning of his reign became a joke.

Because of the war, the central government suffered a serious financial deficit and had to levy military pay on local governments.

After a series of operations, he lost all the political reputation he had gained from suppressing the eunuch party.

I thought that after I took power and replaced a group of loyal and virtuous ministers, the situation would improve.

But the reality is very disappointing.

The upright officials he promoted were mediocre in other aspects except that they were good at criticizing others in the court.

The two gentlemen who were highly expected only showed their outstanding abilities during the party struggles.

Once it comes to specific matters, things often become a joke.

The suggestions put forward all sounded good, except that they were a million times less feasible and were often criticized by several ministers as worthless.

When they were in opposition, Yin Zhiming and Zuo Hongjiang, who had been highly regarded for many years, were regarded by everyone as wise ministers who could revive Dayu.

After a few months in North Korea, without the distance filter, the true nature was revealed all of a sudden.

The reputation of the two men among the officials took a sharp turn for the worse.

Including the two men's disciples and former officials, now they only brag about their character and morals, and never mention their abilities.

With word of mouth changing so quickly, naturally there is a group of assistants who are behind the scenes fanning the flames.

First, arrange for people to praise the two of them, deliberately raising their expectations in everyone's mind, and then deliberately set a trap for them to fall into.

Not surprisingly, both of them were badly cheated.

Now all officials think that Yin Zhiming and Zuo Hongjiang are two big liars who can only talk big but have no real ability.

Once cognition is formed, it is not easy to reverse it.

What's more, Yin Zhiming and Zuo Hongjiang's practical ability is not that good.

I tried to prove myself several times, but ended up in failure.

If the two did not have a good reputation among the literati and had no one else at their disposal, Emperor Yongning would have given up on them long ago.

"Your Majesty, everything will be fine."

Xu Zhongen hurriedly comforted him.

Knowing that the emperor did not like eunuchs interfering in government affairs, he never expressed his opinion on court affairs.

Compared with eunuchs in other periods of Dayu, the power of this eunuch in charge of the seal can be said to be the smallest.

Even the red robes in the Imperial Household Department were taken back by the emperor and he did it himself.

However, as a result, Emperor Yongning's own workload increased significantly.

In the past, the Imperial Household Department would screen all memorials submitted to the emperor, picking out the important ones.

Memorials with similar contents would be categorized and reported to the emperor together.

Now, all these tasks are done by Emperor Yongning alone, and staying up late and working overtime is the norm.

"Don't comfort me, these little things won't bring me down.

Send an order to Lord Xu to speed up the process of suppressing the rebels. I hope to see the head of the rebel leader before the end of the year."

Emperor Yongning immediately gave the order.

There are three biggest problems in Dayu right now: financial deficit, White Lotus Rebellion, and northern barbarians invading the border.

In a sense, these three problems can be summed up in one thing: the court lacks money.

As long as the money and food problems can be solved, the other two threats can be easily dealt with.

"According to the order!"

"Wait a minute!"

“An imperial edict was also issued to the governors of the provinces on the front lines, asking them to fully cooperate with Lord Xu in suppressing the bandits.

Don't forget the generals in the army.

Tell them that as long as they can put down the rebellion in time, I will not be stingy with official titles!"

……

Lianzhou Prefecture.

“Sir, when we were interrogating the prisoners, we learned some fatal news.

Before the White Lotus Rebellion, they had looted a batch of weapons.

What's strange is that these weapons were not escorted by heavy troops during transportation, but were only carried by yamen runners.

After the rebellion broke out, someone issued an order to the garrison, prohibiting them from going out to suppress the rebellion.

Following this clue, we dug deeper and found traces of involvement of the Minister of Rites and the Minister of the Imperial Household.

According to the leader of the White Lotus Sect, before the rebellion broke out, they had cooperated with a Jiangnan Chamber of Commerce.

The person in charge of this chamber of commerce is a relative of Yin Zhiming, the current Minister of Taichang Temple.

In order to collect more information, I also investigated the letters sent by the post station at that time.

Yin Zhiming, the Minister of Taichang Temple, and Zuo Hongjiang, the Minister of Taipu Temple, both sent letters here on the eve of the White Lotus Rebellion.

Although the specific content of the letters is unknown, the recipients are Yinjia Chamber of Commerce and some officials from Guangxi Province.

It just so happened that these people had provided assistance to the rebels during the White Lotus Rebellion.

Among them, two people chose to go to Beijing to report on their work just before the White Lotus rebels became powerful.

Because they were in the capital before Guangxi was lost, they were not responsible for the fall of Guangxi.

If we can catch him and interrogate him, I think he should be able to..."

Xiang Xinghan swallowed his words back halfway through his sentence.

Now he is a member of the Guangxi local force, no longer the once prestigious Jinyiwei, and has no power to arrest officials in the court.

Even if you have evidence of the other party's crime, you can only follow the procedures and report it to the court.

Even so, this shocking news still shocked Li Mu.

It is not surprising that officials in the court had private connections with the White Lotus Sect.

But colluding with the White Lotus to rebel is a different matter.

Both Yin Zhiming and Zuo Hongjiang came from prominent gentry families in Jiangnan, and were the most trusted confidants of Emperor Yongning. There was no need for them to collude with the White Lotus to rebel.

But the clues found now happen to point to these two people.

For a moment, Li Mu thought of party struggles.

He clearly remembered that the White Lotus Rebellion was the biggest help for the Qingliu to defeat the eunuch party.

Local officials reported that the eunuchs' heavy taxes and levies in the local area had triggered the White Lotus Rebellion.

In order to seize power, Emperor Yongning did not send anyone to conduct a review and directly put the blame on the eunuch party.

At the time, it seemed like there was no problem.

It is not uncommon for eunuchs to cause harm to local areas and spark civil unrest, but this time the incident was the biggest of all.

Looking back now, there were too many loopholes.

The fighting power of the newly rebelled White Lotus Sect was actually not very good.

In the early stages, it took several attempts to attack some of the gentry’s earthen buildings.

When we captured the first county town, we still had to rely on internal and external cooperation to take it down.

Theoretically, local officials are capable of extinguishing them in the early stages.

However, these people did not expect that the White Lotus Sect would develop so quickly and actually annex the most powerful wolf soldiers in the province.

By the time you realize the situation is not good and try to remedy it, it is too late.

“According to the investigation so far, Yin Zhiming and Zuo Hongjiang are both the people that His Majesty trusts the most, and they also have a high reputation among the people.

Just some suspicions are not enough to bring down the two of them.

But we can't let them get away with it too easily. We need to find a suitable opportunity to pass the evidence in our hands to Lord Xu. It would be best if his people discovered it by accident and followed the clues to find it out."

Li Mu decisively chose to kill with a borrowed knife.

None of the seven regents in the court liked Yin Zhiming and Zuo Hongjiang.

The only ones who could kill the two were those assistant ministers.

If Li Mu had reported the matter himself, even if he had defeated the two men, he would have been scolded to death by the civil servants.

The scholars in the society who support the two will even regard him as a great enemy.

It’s not that everyone has no principles, but mainly because no one is willing to believe that Yin Zhiming and Zuo Hongjiang were the masterminds behind the White Lotus Rebellion.

All the trouble was caused by the abolition of the factory guards.

If these two intelligence agencies existed, the imperial court would have discovered the problem long ago.

Of course, if someone was watching them, they wouldn't dare to do such a big thing.

"I will obey your orders!"

Watching Xiang Xinghan leave, Li Mu sighed secretly.

He couldn't tell whether this was right or wrong.

Lifting the lid would inevitably trigger a new round of party struggles, and might even affect Emperor Yongning.

Anyone would be devastated if their most trusted confidant suddenly turned out to be a traitor.

However, all this will only become clear after the summer battle.

In the short term, neither he nor Lord Xu had the energy to cause trouble in the court.

……

Time flies, and it is already June. There are only a dozen days left before the major counterattack.

Both the imperial court and the White Lotus rebels were constantly deploying troops.

Originally, Guangxi could have received reinforcements, but Li Mu declined due to insufficient food and grass.

There is a limit to the amount of cake. For every additional person who shares the cake at the table, the amount of cake that the rest of the people can get will be reduced by one piece.

Besides, reinforcements are not easy to get.

The "50,000 troops" that Zhejiang sent to reinforce Fujian were directly reduced to 5,000 people, and it was obvious that they were going there to settle accounts.

Now Fujian doesn't want to be the scapegoat, and Zhejiang has set its sights on Guangxi.

Compared with other battlefields, Guangxi has the least troops and it is obvious that reinforcements are needed.

However, war is never won by having more soldiers.

There are different ways of fighting when there are fewer people, and there are different ways of fighting when there are more soldiers.

Instead of adding a bunch of stupid teammates, it is better to work harder yourself, which can increase your chances of winning.

"Commander Li, it is not yet the date set by the elder to dispatch the troops.

If we dispatch troops at this time, it is very likely to alert the enemy and affect the strategic deployment of the elders!"

Jia Bo hurriedly spoke to persuade.

As a close confidant of Lord Xu, he knew Xu Wenyue's temper very well.

If you disobey orders and send troops on your own, it would be fine even if you win.

Once a defeat is suffered, accountability must be pursued.

At that time, not only the commander-in-chief will be in trouble, but he, the military supervisor, will also be to blame.

"Don't worry, there won't be any trouble.

All the subordinates under Lord Xu knew about his strategic deployment, so how could the rebels not know about it?

All the plans are in front of the enemy. If we can't act in advance, we will be completely passive.

Look at the distribution of the rebel forces. The enemies in Zhen'an Prefecture, Nanning Prefecture, and Xunzhou Prefecture have each deployed 30,000 troops.

Although their number seems small, they are different from previous rebels. The enemies before them are all the rebels' direct armed forces.

Not only is the combat capability stronger, but the enemy is also aiming to be a turtle and has never thought of actively attacking.

At this moment, the enemy was busy deploying troops while strengthening the city walls and building fortifications.

If we wait until the enemy is ready, it will be unknown whether we can break through the enemy's defense line, let alone recover the lost territory.

We have all read the military orders from the Lord.

It only limits the final time for dispatching troops, but there is no rule that we cannot dispatch troops in advance!"

Li Mu explained calmly.

I will not accept your order from the outside king.

If we just mechanically follow orders from our superiors, then what's the point of fighting a war?

"Commander Li, there is no problem in sending troops ahead of time to catch the enemy off guard.

However, the encirclement and suppression armies in various provinces are still being prepared.

If we initiate a war first, we will bear the risks alone.

You must know that in addition to the troops on the front line, there are still many troops left in the enemy's lair.

Once the war breaks out, it is very likely that these troops will be attracted here, and that will cause big trouble!"

Zhang Sihan persuaded tactfully.

The risks he would have to take by starting a war prematurely are simply too great.

The three people in front of him had made great achievements in previous battles, and they had the support of a big boss behind them.

If there is a major defeat on the front line, he, as the governor, will be the best scapegoat.

After all, before he took office, the Guangxi Front Army was invincible and had inflicted heavy losses on the rebels twice.

As soon as he took office as governor, his troops suffered a major defeat on the front line.

If you want to say that it has nothing to do with him, someone has to believe it.

"Governor, looking ahead and behind is a taboo in military strategy.

Now that the fighter plane is delivered to your door, you can't miss it.

If we don’t send troops now, we will be dreaming if we want to recover the two prefectures before September!”

As soon as the big move of extending the mission's timeliness was announced, Jia Bo and Zhang Sihan, who had originally opposed sending troops, instantly changed their positions.

No matter what, the combat mission assigned by Lord Xu must be completed.

"Since Commander Li is confident, then the next battle will be led by you!
There is only one goal, to inflict heavy damage on the rebels and regain lost territory.

You can handle other matters as you wish. Don't let the opinions of outsiders affect your judgment!"

After Jia Bo finished speaking, Guangxi Governor Zhang Sihan's face changed drastically.

He gave away the military command right away. This was the first time he encountered such a novel model of military supervision.

I wanted to open my mouth to stop him, but the words were on the tip of my tongue and I couldn't speak.

Giving all command power to Li Mu would break the balance of power and was indeed against the rules.

But we can't resist the fact that they can win the battle.

……

Zhen'an Prefecture.

Fu Sanqi, who also served as the garrison general, was inspecting the city defense with a group of generals.

After suffering a loss, his style of deploying troops became extremely cautious.

He did many things himself, for fear that the people below him would be careless and cause trouble.

"Prime Minister, something terrible has happened!

The puppet army has crossed the river!"

After receiving this news, everyone's faces changed drastically.

It's not even June 15th yet, and the enemy is so impatient to launch an attack. It seems abnormal no matter how you look at it.

"Where did the enemy land?
How many troops landed?

Who is the general leading the team?"

Fu Sanqi's series of questions confused the personal soldier who delivered the message.

Apart from the landing location, other information was not written in the war report, so he naturally didn't know.

(End of this chapter)