Fu Shanhe

Chapter 196: The Aftermath
"Nanning has fallen, and the puppet army is attacking Liuzhou!"

"What does Huang Yuheng do for a living?"

Fu Sanqi couldn't help but curse.

The Holy Kingdom has deployed 30,000 troops in Nanning. If they hold the city, they should be able to hold out for at least a year or so.

Unfortunately, the reality is very disappointing. Not to mention holding on for a year or two, we couldn’t even hold on for two days.

The puppet regime's troops arrived at the city gates and captured Nanning the next day.

Such a speed of siege is rare in the entire history.

Even if you put a pig as the head coach, it won’t be able to last for two days.

“Prime Minister, it is meaningless to pursue these issues now.

Nanning was lost and Liuzhou was left empty, making it difficult to stop the advance of the puppet dynasty's army.

Once Liuzhou Prefecture falls, our connection with the Holy City will be cut off.

The supplies purchased at great cost from the Kingdom of Annan could no longer be transported back to the Holy City to support battlefields in various places.

Continuing to defend Zhen'an Prefecture has lost its strategic value.

As a matter of urgency, we must consider our fallback options.

Either we go all out to rescue Liuzhou, or we turn west and head straight into Yunnan!"

Deputy General Wan Qihua began to persuade.

Nanning’s geographical location is really too important.

With the loss of Nanning, the fall of southern Guangxi became inevitable.

If Liuzhou is lost again, most of Guangxi will change hands.

“It’s too late to rescue Liuzhou.

According to the information we received, on the day the puppet army surrounded Nanning, they sent an elite force straight to Liuzhou.

There were less than two thousand troops left in Liuzhou Prefecture, most of whom were old and weak, and had little combat effectiveness.

Even if we gather the army and rush back immediately, it will take ten days before we can reach the battlefield.

The enemy will not leave us so much time. It is possible that Liuzhou City has already been conquered by the Pseudo-Dynasty.

Moreover, if we really encounter them in the wild, our tens of thousands of troops would most likely not be a match for the enemy."

Fu Sanqi said helplessly.

It seems to be a multiple-choice question, but in fact he has no choice at all.

He is now in the stage of making amends for his crime.

If they fail again, even the Holy Emperor's confidants will not be able to escape the fate of being punished.

Since Zhen'an Prefecture could not be defended, he had to achieve outstanding achievements before he could return to report.

We did not expect to annihilate tens of thousands of enemies, but even if we killed a few thousand government troops, we could deal with it by exaggerating the matter.

Since we can't chew the hard bones in Guangxi, we can only pick the soft persimmons.

"Prime Minister, why do you want to boost others' ambitions and destroy your own prestige?

The general had seen many armies of the pseudo-dynasty, but had never seen one as strong as the others.

Even the elite recruits they have invested heavily in are only slightly stronger than our troops in terms of combat effectiveness.

With the advantage of military strength, we can fight the enemy in a decisive battle in the wild and it will be a 50-50 fight."

Wan Qihua said unconvinced.

As a rising star in the Holy White Lotus Nation, his status and position were entirely earned through fighting on the battlefield.

The two sides haven't even started fighting yet, but the coach has already backed down. It's really cowardly.

"You are too arrogant, you will suffer a great loss if you continue like this.

I have witnessed with my own eyes how powerful this government army is.

If the forces were equal in strength, no army in the Holy Kingdom could compete with them.

The tens of thousands of troops we have seem to be well-trained, but they are still far from being elite.

On the front battlefield, it is easy to be defeated by the enemy."

Fu Sanqi shook his head and said.

No matter in which era, the elite are always extremely rare.

Even in a melee involving hundreds of thousands of troops, it is still a small number of elite troops who truly decide the outcome.

On the battlefield, the elite are like a sharp blade.

Only by making a breakthrough in the front and allowing the troops behind to follow up can the power of the army be unleashed.

If the elite troops are gone, it is like a steel knife without its blade.

The attack power still exists, but it is no longer as sharp as before.

If you use ordinary troops to fight against the enemy's elite, the only way to deal with it is to sacrifice human lives.

The previous two battles in Guangxi proved that the enemy’s commander-in-chief had very strong command capabilities, and it was very difficult to set up a plan to encircle and annihilate the Yu army.

Although he knew his opponent was strong, Fu Sanqi did not lose heart.

It would be impossible for the Dayu Dynasty to exist for so many years without some financial resources.

Judging from the intelligence collected, the official army in Guangxi region comes from the two strongest military merits in Dayu.

It is only normal to be able to create two elite troops.

“Prime Minister, even if we are no match for the enemy now, we will be able to annihilate them in the future.

The emperor of the pseudo-dynasty has no idea how to command troops, so it would be a complete waste to send such elite troops to Guangxi.

If the enemy is smart enough, they can transfer them to the Huguang front and use them as the main force.

I'm afraid the Northern Expedition Army has already suffered heavy losses!"

Wan Qihua said confidently.

Whether the elite troops are strong or not depends not only on their own strength but also on how the head coach uses them.

The Northern Expedition Army sounds like a prestigious name, but in fact, in the early days of the Northern Expedition, it was also a group of mobs.

The combat effectiveness was gradually formed after a series of victories.

The earliest elite troops of the Holy White Lotus Kingdom were actually mostly concentrated in the Eastern Expedition Army.

Now this army is facing government troops from both Jiangxi and Fujian, and is still not at a disadvantage.

“In war, there are not so many ifs.

If it could have been predicted in advance, the Holy Kingdom would have no chance to rise.

Two years ago, a few yamen runners could have taken us down.

But it’s good to have ideas!

Pass the order down, everyone pack up and set out west to Yunnan tomorrow.

Let's practice with the Yu army over there first, and after we have trained our troops, we will come back and fight the enemy."

Fu Sanqi said in a casual manner.

Deep down in his heart, he knew very well that this trip would mean saying goodbye to Guangxi.

Actively giving up Zhen'an Prefecture and moving westward to join the United Western Expedition Army to defeat the Yunnan-Guizhou Allied Forces is the best military option at the moment.

However, being militarily correct does not mean being politically correct.

The order given to him by the Holy Kingdom was to defend Zhen'an Prefecture and ensure the smooth flow of food supply to the Holy Kingdom.

Judging from the results, the mission had already been messed up. Although the main responsibility was not on him, he could not wash away the blame for abandoning Zhen'an and moving to Yunnan without the consent of the Holy Emperor.

No boss likes subordinates who make decisions on their own.

Due to the needs of the war, we will not hold him accountable for the time being, but we will also have bad thoughts in our minds.

When in the Holy City, the Holy Emperor frowned more than once when mentioning the three foreign kings who were away on the expedition.

For the sake of the overall situation, the Holy Emperor temporarily suppressed his dissatisfaction, but the gap in his heart was not so easy to eliminate.

At first, he just felt that the three princes had done something out of line and did not give the Holy Emperor enough respect.

Now that it was his turn to lead the troops, he discovered that most of the time, the head coach had no choice but to do so.

If we really sent someone to ask for instructions from the Holy Capital, the enemy would have already arrived after all the trouble.

……

Guilin Prefecture.

“Huang Yuheng, what a waste.

The eternal foundation of the Holy Nation was destroyed by such an idiot!"

Shi Rongxian cursed loudly.

The loss of Nanning inexplicably ruined his Guangxi combat plan.

The mess caused by his trusted younger brother was a big blow to Shi Rongxian's authority.

Most of the troops of the Holy White Lotus Kingdom are in the hands of the three kings of different surnames. The troops responsible for the defense of Nanning and Xunzhou Zhen'an are all his direct subordinates.

The loss of his troops and generals now will undoubtedly make him even less confident when facing the three kings of different surnames.

"Holy Emperor, something terrible is happening!"

"Liuzhou...something happened!"

"The puppet army attacked Liuzhou by surprise. The defenders were outnumbered and fought hard but still lost Liuzhou.

Liuzhou garrison..."

Before Prime Minister Wu Zekai could finish his words, Shi Rongxian couldn't help but explode.

With a loud "bang", the jade seal on the desk flew out, demonstrating the scene of what it means to break jade.

After seeing this scene, Wu Zekai was trembling with fear.

The imperial seal was broken. If the news got out, it would be a fatal matter.

Especially in a country like this where politics and religion are combined, such news could easily be interpreted as a warning from the gods that the emperor had lost his moral integrity.

"What are you standing there for? Hurry up and pack your things and get me a new jade seal!"

Shi Rongxian scolded the attendants on his left and right.

He didn't want to break the seal.

But now that it has happened, I can only carve a new one.

As long as everyone keeps their mouths shut, we can pretend nothing happened.

"Your Majesty, calm down!
The defeat of Marquis Zhongyi was completely unexpected.

Now the commander-in-chief’s life or death is unknown, and the deputy general has also died for his country.

I want to find out the whole story, but I'm afraid there's no hope in a short period of time.

For now, we should put the overall situation first and adjust Guangxi's strategic deployment in a timely manner."

Wu Zekai said alertly.

He didn't see anything that happened just now.

The imperial seal is broken, it doesn't exist.

From the moment he entered the room, he had been discussing military affairs with the Holy Emperor, and nothing unexpected happened.

“How can we adjust at this time?

After Nanning and Liuzhou fell one after another, a huge gap appeared in the middle of our defense line, which could not be blocked in the short term.

At this moment, Guangxi was divided into two by the enemy army, and the defenders of Zhen'an Prefecture were directly isolated and it was difficult to withdraw.

The few soldiers and horses in Guangxun Prefecture could never be a match for the enemy.

Apart from withdrawing the troops and strengthening the defenses of Guilin and Wuzhou, there is nothing I can do now!"

Shi Rongxian said unhappily.

Although he was angry, his mind was still very clear at this moment.

The consequences of the fall of Nanning were tragic enough, and it also allowed the enemy to launch a surprise attack on Liuzhou.

The natural barrier of Kunlun Pass in the middle did not play any role and fell directly into the hands of the enemy.

Thinking of this, he wanted to kill someone with a knife.

At least we have to deploy several thousand soldiers in these areas.

But this is an analysis made with the benefit of hindsight.

Before the war broke out, no one could have imagined that Nanning would fall so quickly, and no one knew that the government troops would suddenly launch a sneak attack on Liuzhou.

There is a shortage of troops on the front line, so there is nothing wrong with drawing troops from the rear to reinforce them.

……

Wuchang Mansion.

"Sir, good news!
The Guangxi front achieved a breakthrough and the army successfully recaptured Nanning.

50,000 rebels were defeated, nearly 20,000 enemy soldiers were captured, and 4,600 rebel soldiers were killed.

While attacking Nanning, General Jing Yifeng led his troops west to take Liuzhou.

It will take a few days for the specific battle report, but according to Governor Zhang, Supervisor Jia, and Commander Li, the probability of success is very high. "

Hou Huaichang said in surprise.

Since the summer campaign was launched, the army has been stuck in a long rainy season, so that all the previous time was wasted.

When the rain stops, summer will be almost over.

The battle plan drafted in advance is like a piece of waste paper.

All the armies failed to complete their mission, so there was no question of punishment.

In order to downplay the impact, the Governor-General's Office now dares not mention the words "summer battle" in its official documents.

It has been delayed until now, and finally I got the first good news.

"Good! Good! Good!"

After saying the word "good" three times in a row, Xu Wenyue's weathered face finally showed a long-lost smile.

A huge amount of money and grain was spent, but there was no sign of results for a long time. As a senior official, he was under great pressure.

He doesn't expect to complete the preset plan, but just get good results. What he fears most is to get nothing.

At this moment, no matter which unit under his command the battle record is, it is his life-saving straw.

"Touch up the battle report, exaggerate the achievements of the Guangxi Front Army, and draft an official document to be sent to the capital as soon as possible.

Send someone to tell Guangxi that they fought well in this battle, and that I will recommend credit to the court on their behalf.

Let them continue their efforts and strive to recover Guangxi as soon as possible! "

Xu Wenyue gave the order decisively.

……

(End of this chapter)