Fu Shanhe

Chapter 387 Struggle
The collapse of an army on the battlefield often only takes a moment.

The supervision team did not play a role in the first place, which instantly attracted countless followers, and in the blink of an eye it turned into a major defeat.

The heavily guarded city gate was simply surrendered by the defenders, and countless Yu troops took the opportunity to rush into the city.

"You can take action now."

"Remember all of this. The imperial court wants to recover Annan, but doesn't want to leave any hidden dangers.

Anyone who might threaten the imperial court's rule must disappear.

If you handle this well, not only will you be pardoned, but you will also have a share of the fine farmland outside."

Seeing that the city was about to be captured, Zhang Ning gave serious instructions.

Before entering Annan, he had always opposed Li Mu's plan for Annan.

But after seeing the vast fertile fields along the Jiulong River with his own eyes, his position suddenly changed from opposition to support.

It would be such a waste to leave so much fertile land in the hands of barbarians.

Zhang Ning was not the only one whose position was affected. Most of the troops participating in the expedition became strategic supporters.

For no other reason, Li Mu made a promise in advance to share these fertile lands with everyone.

Most of the soldiers in the army are of peasant origin, and their desire for land has long been ingrained in their bones.

Compared with Guangdong and Guangxi, which are mainly mountainous and hilly, the Red River Plain is really too fertile.

To obtain this land, you must first kill the original owner of the land.

These dirty jobs are not suitable for government troops to do themselves.

It doesn’t matter if they are replaced by rebels, because their disguise is the Annan rebels, determined to overthrow the rule of the King of Annan.

The only news the court would receive was that the King of Annan was committing crimes and forcing the people to rebel.

As for what the rebel army did, that was an internal conflict of Annan and had nothing to do with the Yu army.

The Yu army went south to punish the disobedient and punish the criminals.

"General, you can rest assured that we will do a good job.

If there are any fish that slip through the net, we will be responsible for the aftermath!"

The bearded man immediately patted his chest and made the promise.

It’s okay to do dirty or tiring work. If the court asks them to do the work, it means they are valuable.

In troubled times, only valuable people can live a fulfilling life.

As for the excessive killing, it was done by the Annan rebels and had nothing to do with the people of Dayu.

If you want to get involved in the underworld, who doesn’t prepare a few aliases?
……

"The city is broken!"

When the bad news reached the Prime Minister's Mansion, Cui Ziyan fainted.

The defeat was like a landslide, which was the true portrayal of the Thang Long defenders.

Everyone was busy escaping and no one tried to stop the enemy from entering the city.

Cui Ziyan’s fainting left the city leaderless.

When disaster strikes, we all fly away.

At the moment of life and death, human nature is the most vulnerable to the test.

Everyone claimed to be loyal to the Dai Viet Dynasty, but when the city was broken, they ran faster than each other.

Except for a very small number of people who chose to die for their country, most of the powerful and wealthy took their valuables and embarked on the road of escape.

Unfortunately, it was too late. The rebel army that entered the city was targeting them.

Even if we put aside the court's promise, the treasures they carried with them alone were worth their effort.

……

Vietnamese army camp.

"Shi Yufeng, what do you eat?"

“He is a veteran of three dynasties and a veteran general of Dai Viet, but he can’t even do a good job of stopping the enemy.

I have been badly screwed by this old bastard!

......"

Faced with the emperor's endless scolding, everyone in the tent had already become accustomed to it.

From the moment the army withdrew, the emperor's temper suddenly became irritable.

Whenever something happened, he would either beat or scold his subordinates.

This made the ministers nervous, fearing that they would become the emperor's punching bag.

Having just received the bad news that the enemy had captured the rear army, posing a serious threat to the safety of the Vietnamese army, Hu Xinbo's anger was ignited again.

"Your Majesty, calm down!"

Everyone spoke in unison.

Regardless of whether the emperor can be persuaded or not, the necessary procedures must be followed.

"Humph!"

"It has come to this, and you are still asking me to calm down. If I continue to do so, the Great Viet Dynasty will be gone!"

"Do you have to wait until the enemy breaks through Thang Long City before you realize the seriousness of the problem?"

Hu Xinbo's outburst made the ministers very embarrassed.

The rear army was being held back by the enemy and they were also worried.

But some things cannot be solved in a hurry.

Leading the troops back for rescue would be equivalent to a decisive battle with the enemy's main force.

It would be fine if they could win, but if they accidentally lose, the Dai Viet Dynasty would be finished.

Regardless of whether the Yu army can be driven away in the future, the country will change hands.

If we don't rescue them, the rear army will suffer heavy losses.

Up to now in the war, Dai Viet has been being cut by a blunt knife. If it suffers more casualties, it will not be able to survive in the future.

"Your Majesty, as the Art of War says, you should not raise an army in anger!"

“Although the enemy is despicable, the most urgent task is to return to the court and protect the base of Hanoi first.

If we stop and fight with Yu's army, we will fall into the enemy's trap.

They are pestering us in a vain attempt to delay time and buy time for the Yu army pretending to be rebels."

Chen Chuyang stepped forward and persuaded.

The strategic plans of both sides are on the table.

Even though they knew it was a trap set by the enemy, they had no choice but to follow the script and jump into the pit.

Lang Son was poor and could not afford to support an army of over 100,000.

If they lost the Hanoi area, even if they defeated the pursuers behind them, they would be trapped and starved to death here.

"Pass the order, let the rear army serve as the rear guard, and make sure to hold off the enemy for seven days."

After taking a look at everyone, Hu Xinbo said with a hardened heart.

If you cannot change the strategic plan, you can only minimize the losses as much as possible.

The rear army was caught by the enemy, and without reinforcements, it was difficult to escape the enemy's pursuit.

If it is destined to fail, then let's just make these sacrifices more valuable.

"Report!"

"Your Majesty, there is urgent military information coming from the rear."

"Sheng...Shenglong...City..."

Before he could finish his words, the messenger fainted on the ground.

Without caring about saving people, Hu Xinbo snatched the military newspaper and his body began to tremble after opening it.

"impossible!"

"This is impossible!"

Thang Long City was the capital of the Dai Viet Dynasty. The city was strong and had sufficient food and grass. Under normal circumstances, it would not be a problem to defend it for a year or two.

He was in a hurry to bring the army back, not because he was worried that the enemy would capture Thang Long City, but because he was afraid that the rebels would wreak havoc in Hanoi.

Seeing the emperor lose his composure, the ministers also became frightened.

An ominous premonition arose in everyone's hearts.

"Everyone, don't think too much. Shenglong City is fine. The main reason why I lost my composure just now was because the Prime Minister passed away."

"Prime Minister Cui was a veteran minister who had served three dynasties. His sudden death at this time is a great loss to me!" After regaining a little rationality, Hu Xinbo hurriedly explained.

Unfortunately, everyone present was smart, and the more he tried to cover it up, the more they were certain that something had happened in Thang Long City.

If only the prime minister had died, no matter how sad the emperor was, he would not show any panic.

According to the normal rhythm, the first priority after the prime minister's death is to select an official to continue to preside over the domestic situation.

"Your Majesty, I'm sorry!"

All the ministers shouted in unison.

Seeing through things but not speaking them out loud is the way of an official.

With their power, no matter how the emperor blocks the news, they will figure out the whole story in a few days.

Hu Xinbo was naturally aware of these things.

The main purpose of blocking the news at this time is to stabilize the morale of the troops and think about what to do next.

After losing Thang Long City, it was only a matter of time before Hanoi fell.

Without their base, the food, clothing, shelter and shelter of these hundreds of thousands of troops would become a huge problem.

In the past, when they were attacked by the Central Plains dynasties, they retreated to the south.

The current situation is special. The Dai Viet Dynasty has long been cut in half, and there are rebels and pirates everywhere.

After being harmed by these guys, even if he brought his troops there, he would probably have nothing to lose.

Rebels and pirates may not be able to defeat regular armies, but the damage they cause to civilians is countless times that of regular armies.

Especially those newly annexed territories, which were still filled with a large number of remnants of the previous dynasty, and it was estimated that they had already broken away from the rule of Dai Viet.

"Okay, that's it for today, everyone go down and have a rest!"

Hu Xinbo gave the order while suppressing his anger.

The next topic to be discussed involves too much sensitive content and is only suitable for close associates to participate.

In order to maintain stability in the rear, he brought along the leaders of the forces in the court who did not believe in him on this expedition.

I wanted to use my military achievements to establish my authority and intimidate these guys.

Unexpectedly, the situation developed in the opposite direction.

The defeat on the battlefield greatly reduced his status as emperor in the eyes of his ministers.

Especially those guys who didn't obey him, they often harassed him in private.

In view of the current bad situation, Hu Xinbo was very worried that these guys would sell him out at the critical moment.

The Dai Viet Dynasty has always been a country where the emperor and the aristocratic families jointly ruled the country, and class stratification was even more serious than that of Dayu.

The rich local resources and the continuous victories in foreign wars masked the internal contradictions.

According to the normal rhythm, internal conflicts will intensify after a disastrous defeat in a foreign war.

The endless emergence of rebels in the country is a manifestation of the intensification of internal contradictions.

If the locals did not join in, it would be impossible for those foreign prisoners of war to spread the spark of rebellion across the country in a short period of time.

The rebellion of the lower classes alone turned the Dai Viet Dynasty upside down.

If the noble families who oppose him were to take action again, the situation would be completely irreversible.

In fact, Hu Xinbo could not understand why Yu’s army only launched a fierce military attack and did not use political means to persuade the enemy to surrender.

For the aristocratic families, as long as the people of the Yu Dynasty were willing to stop, they could negotiate whether it was ceding land and paying compensation or replacing the emperor.

The enemy did not make an offer, which made these people stand with him.

His rule could collapse at any time if his enemies changed their tactics.

Under the tributary system, it was not uncommon for the Emperor of Dayu to depose the king of a vassal state with an imperial decree.

With a sense of crisis in his heart, Hu Xinbo has been living in fear these days.

In order to maintain his position, he had to remain strong at all times.

In the eyes of outsiders, he gets angry easily when encountering things, but in fact he is just hiding his inner fear.

……

"Bang, bang, bang..."

The dense sound of musketry made the Vietnamese troops responsible for the rear guard suffer terribly.

The musketeers were particularly miserable. The ammunition they carried with them had long been used up, and the weapons in their hands had simply become fire sticks.

On the battlefield, every inch longer is an inch stronger. In order to adapt to the new battles, they had to hastily make a batch of bamboo spears to use as makeshift.

Weapons were a minor problem; what troubled them most was that the Yu army lacked martial ethics.

Although we can engage in close combat, the enemy always prefers to use muskets and cannons.

They deployed their battle formations several times, trying to engage in a decisive battle with the enemy, but in the end they were all blown away.

"Send someone to urge the Ministry of War to send us the ammunition as soon as possible!"

Seeing the troops being defeated, Pu Yufeng couldn't help but give orders.

However, these efforts are doomed to be in vain.

The army is retreating, who will send military supplies here?
Moreover, even if the Ministry of War wants to send supplies, the rear must be able to send the supplies.

"My Lord, weapons and ammunition alone are not enough, let them send some food and fodder.

Most of our supplies were lost in the previous battles, and some troops are about to run out of food."

The middle-aged deputy general on the side quickly added.

The fact that the army did not collapse all at once despite repeated defeats in the blocking battles was a reflection of its strong combat effectiveness.

If the two armies had faced off at a different time, they would never have lost so miserably.

"Tell your majesty that our army is out of ammunition and food.

Let the troops in front leave us a batch of emergency supplies during their evacuation.

Pass the order down, asking each department to contribute the food they have so that everyone can cook together.

His Majesty's order to us is to hold off the enemy for seven days. If we hold on, it will be over soon."

Pu Yufeng nodded and said.

At this moment, he felt Shi Yufeng's pain.

Thanks to that stupid teammate in the Ministry of War, strategic materials could not be delivered in time, and the army's combat effectiveness could only be exerted at most three or four points.

If such a small amount of combat power could defeat the enemy, then the outcome would have been decided at Zhennan Pass.

"My Lord, just collect grain on the spot!"

“No matter how poor Lang Son is, we can still raise enough food to supply us for a few days.

They were responsible for providing food and fodder for the army's evacuation, and they are partly responsible for the food shortage in the army now."

The middle-aged deputy general said righteously.

Although Lang Son has an important strategic position, its development is very limited due to its geographical location.

It is nominally a provincial capital, but in reality it is not as good as some large county towns.

Ever since Dayu gave up Jiaozhi, it has never had any intention of taking control of this place, and the area has been peaceful for more than a hundred years.

If the war had not broken out, the Vietnamese top leaders would not have thought of this place, and there would naturally be no resource investment.

At this moment, the gentry in the city had long disappeared, and even the officials of the local government chose to flee as soon as they received the news of the army's withdrawal.

Without the cooperation of local tyrants, the best option to quickly raise a batch of food is to let the soldiers rob the food.

To be precise, it was robbery under the pretext of raising food.

After all, the Lang Son area was about to fall into the hands of the enemy, and the probability of Dai Viet recovering the lost territory was not necessarily zero.

If you grab it now, you will make a profit and there is no need to worry about being liquidated by the court.

"Um!

I heard there are rebels causing trouble nearby, so be careful when you go out to collect food.

In addition to ours, the captured spoils also included a portion for the relationship.

Tell the soldiers who are blocking the enemy to hold out until nightfall and then withdraw. We will directly defend Lang Son City and not engage in a field battle with the enemy."

Pu Yufeng made a prompt decision.

There are many ways to boost military morale, the simplest of which is to allow the troops to plunder.

Everyone became rich together and morale was restored.

It is unrealistic to hold on to Lang Son for a long time, but it is still possible to hold on for a few days.

(End of this chapter)