Fu Shanhe

Chapter 389: Raising the Bandits to Respect Oneself
In the evening, the Vietnamese army camp.

"There are powerful enemies in front and pursuers behind. Do you have any strategy to defeat the enemy?"

Hu Xinbo asked with a tired look on his face.

The daytime fighting dealt a heavy blow to the Vietnamese army.

The two armies collided head-on on the plain, and the enemy was beaten so badly that the two armies had no chance to fight back.

No matter how hard one tries to be tough, one has to admit that there is a clear gap in strength between the two sides.

"Your Majesty, go west!"

“Hanoi has fallen into enemy hands and we cannot take it back in a short time.

There is no point in moving forward.

At this moment, the enemy army was advancing from the north and south, forming a pincer attack on our army. Staying where we were would mean waiting for death.

There is the sea to the east, and now the army's only way out is to the west.

First, jump out of the enemy's encirclement, and then make plans for the aftermath!"

Chen Chuyang opened his mouth to give advice.

He really had no plan to defeat the enemy.

He knew the domestic situation was bad, but he never dreamed that Hanoi would fall so quickly.

Having lost its foundation, the Dai Viet regime has become a rootless duckweed.

However, Dayu changed its previous lenient attitude and even cut off their way to peace.

Under such circumstances, the only way to save one's life was to break out to the west.

"Sir Shangshu, it may not be easy to advance westward!

The enemy troops have arrived here, and it won’t be long before they march into Taiyuan, Xuanhua and other places.

If the enemy generals were smart, they would move north along the Red River basin and divide Western Vietnam into two.

Maybe the Yu army in Yunnan will also send troops to attack Laojie and other places."

Chen Jingfu analyzed immediately.

Even though he was defeated in the battle against Yu, his military level was still better than most people present.

To be able to serve as the Left General, flattery is secondary and it depends more on one's own ability.

All of a sudden, all the difficulties that Dai Viet is facing are put on the table.

In the past, anyone who did this would certainly be severely punished by officials.

The situation is special now. It's a moment of life and death. If we continue to play tricks, everyone will be doomed.

Theoretically, everyone can become an official if they change their master, but that is just theory.

There are so many people in the Yu Dynasty who want to be officials, how could they get their turn?
“General Zuo is right. Going west is equally unsafe. We can only deal with the most urgent needs.

What we need most right now is time.

No matter how powerful the Yu army was, it could not cover up the fact that they were facing internal and external troubles.

If we drag out the time until the Emperor of Yu orders a withdrawal, we will win.

What our ancestors were able to do back then, we can also do now.

Unable to defend Taiyuan, they fled to Xuanhua and Anpei.

Since we can’t defend the area north of the Red River, we will move south.

The temporary capital was directly established in Zunbianfu to avoid the enemy's attack.

If they still can't hold on, they will cross the border and continue westward into Myanmar.

If the Yu army dares to chase us, we will dare to run away!"

Chen Chuyang said proudly.

If you can't win, run away. This is a tradition left by our ancestors. There is no pressure to pick it up and use it.

The enemy is Dayu, failure is normal, victory is a miracle.

"it is good!"

"Just as Mr. Chen Ai said, we will move westward!"

Hu Xinbo made a prompt decision.

Running away won't solve the problem, but it can save your life.

He hasn't lived enough and doesn't want to die for his country for the time being.

“Your Majesty, once the army moves, we will give up the most fertile land in the empire.

The whole world is watching, we can’t…”

Before the old man could finish speaking, Hu Xinbo interrupted him with a wave of his hand.

"Pang Aiqing, what you said is true.

As if we can keep Hanoi if we don’t move westward!
The enemy is now at its strongest and cannot be defeated.

When the enemy's strength is exhausted, we will regroup and retake the lost territory."

It's not that he doesn't give face to the old minister, it's just that he only knows how to find fault but can't come up with a solution.

There may be many problems in moving westward, but this is the best solution they can think of.

……

The main force fled, and the Battle of Lang Son came to an end.

The Yue army, which had lost the city, was ambushed by the Yu army as soon as they left the city.

In a panic, Pu Yufeng could only flee with a small number of his personal soldiers, and this escape declared the failure of the blocking battle.

The Vietnamese army was leaderless, and except for a few who resisted stubbornly, most of the soldiers chose to surrender.

Looking at the captives all over the mountains, Li Sanqi seemed to have returned to three years ago.

When we were suppressing the White Lotus rebels, we captured prisoners one by one after the great victory.

There are more prisoners of war than his own soldiers. It would be a waste to keep them in a prisoner-of-war camp without using them.

"General Ruan, you deserve the most credit for the great victory in this battle.

I have commended you for your contribution in the victory report, so just wait for good news!

You are all meritorious officials. The Marquis never treats meritorious officials unfairly, and everyone will be rewarded."

Looking at the Annan surrendered soldiers who participated in the capture of the city, Li Sanqi spoke to comfort them.

After paying the price of allegiance, these people become our own people who can be trusted.

Although I despise these guys who are afraid of death, they still need to be won over for political reasons.

"General, you're welcome.

It is our honor to serve our country!"

Ruan Yunxiang said excitedly.

If they can gain the recognition of Dayu, their blood will not be shed in vain.

If Dayu wants to unify Annan for a long time, it will have to spend a huge amount of money to buy bones.

As an early surrenderer, he undoubtedly had an advantage.

Once you become a role model set by Dayu, you won’t have to worry about wealth and glory for the rest of your life.

"General Ruan, it would be great if you could have such an understanding."

"In this battle, we captured more than 13,000 enemy soldiers. According to the law, the crime of treason is punishable by the entire clan.

However, God is merciful and I do not want to kill them, so I will give them a chance to redeem themselves by making amends.

After obtaining approval from the Marquis, it was planned to select loyal and righteous men from the surrendered soldiers to form an auxiliary force with five thousand households under its jurisdiction.

You are all meritorious officials, and the officer positions of the auxiliary troops will be created among you.

Everyone, are you willing to share the worries of the court?"

After Li Sanqi finished speaking, everyone suddenly became alert.

The previous promises of official titles were all empty dreams, but the current official position is a real benefit.

Perhaps it is still quite different from their original positions.

But Dayu was the Celestial Empire, and the value of the official position was much higher.

"We are willing to serve you!"

After a brief hesitation, everyone answered in unison.

"it is good!"

“The personnel appointment has been reported and will come down in a few days.

Your next task is to select righteous men who are willing to serve the court from the surrendered soldiers and incorporate them into the army.

The rest of the surrendered soldiers were all taken as prisoners of war and awaited the court's decision.

After reorganizing the troops, the next task is to hunt down the remnants of the rebels and restore a clean Lang Son to the world."

Treating people differently is the oldest and most effective way of differentiation.

Once the reorganization was completed, the prisoners were divided into two.

In the subsequent construction of bridges and roads, the Annan soldiers incorporated into the army served as supervisors, and the remaining prisoners of war served as coolies.

The unequal treatment is clear to see, and it won't be long before the two sides become hostile to each other.

In fact, according to the original plan, all prisoners would be incorporated into the vassal army.

However, the number of prisoners captured was too large, outnumbering the troops under his command as the commander of the guard, and there was a risk of the host becoming the enemy.

……

In Shu, the rebel army’s camp.

"That villain Li Yuan made a feint and led his troops from Hanzhong into Guangyuan Prefecture, launching an attack on the Mianzhu area.

If we don't take action, it won't be long before they join forces with Xu Wenyue's troops.

By then, the situation in Shu will be out of control.

My dear ministers, do you have any strategy to defeat the enemy?"

Wei Hao asked with an unhappy look on his face.

In order to prevent Li Yuan from entering Shu, he concentrated a large number of troops and deployed them in Chongqing Prefecture.

Scouts were sent out in batches to keep an eye on the enemy.

No one expected that Li Yuan led his troops towards Kuimen in public, but secretly sent troops from Hanzhong to attack Shu.

Although the government troops that entered Sichuan consisted of only two towns, their number was not even a fraction of theirs.

But war is not just a competition of numbers.

On the battlefield, the combat effectiveness of 20,000 elite troops is far greater than that of 200,000 cannon fodder.

With the addition of this fresh force, it won’t be long before the Shu army is fully revived.

Time is on the enemy's side. If we cannot keep the enemy out of Shu, defeat is only a matter of time.

"Your Majesty, now that things have come to this, it is a foregone conclusion that Li Yuan's troops will enter Shu.

For now, we can only take Chengdu as soon as possible, and then wait for an opportunity to drive the enemy out of Shu."

Fang Yuxuan argued tactfully.

As soon as he came here, he was entrusted with an important task and was given the responsibility of capturing Chengdu Prefecture.

The result was naturally no surprise, and they were met with setbacks under the city wall.

Letting Xu Wenyue lead troops to fight may not be very good, but he has accumulated a lot of experience in defending cities.

There is sufficient food and grass in the city, and tens of thousands of defenders are stationed there.

Even with hundreds of thousands of troops concentrated in the siege before, they were unable to capture the city. With only the tens of thousands of newly formed troops in their hands, they had even less chance.

Not only did they fail to capture Chengdu, the army was even attacked by the chieftains of western Sichuan.

If they had not had other plans from the beginning and did not attack the city with all their strength, they would have been really trapped.

"Um!

General Fang is right, and this is the only way we can do this now.

The troops that have withdrawn from eastern Sichuan to rest will also be under your command. You must capture Chengdu as soon as possible."

Wei Hao said expressionlessly. He seemed to agree with his suggestion, but in fact he was full of fear.

It's not that he is intolerant, it's mainly because these Wu generals have always been sticking together.

Several attempts to split up the group were made, but each was rejected.

If these people had not brought thousands of elite soldiers and were able to play a key role now, he would have lost his good face long ago.

Loyalty cannot be guaranteed, so precautions are essential.

The infighting within the rebel army has never stopped.

Because of their common ties and the pressure from Yu’s army, the three kings were able to separate peacefully.

If it were any other time, they would have been beaten to a bloody pulp.

If we look at the Guanzhong rebel army, we will know that all parties fought fiercely for the title of boss.

The internal strife among the rebels was also one of the main factors that enabled the Shaanxi government troops to launch a rapid counterattack.

Even after being exiled to Shanxi, the infighting among the rebels never stopped.

"The general will get the order!"

Fang Yuxuan replied immediately.

Even though we know that both parties are taking advantage of each other, the necessary rules must still be followed.

No matter what, Wei Hao is a senior in the sect and the last king among the three kings and one emperor.

"Qin Lao San, listen to my orders!"

“I order you to lead an army of 100,000 to attack the western Sichuan region.

Eliminate the threat from the Tusi and relieve the pressure on General Fang from the flank."

"Deng Er, listen to my orders!"

"I order you to lead our 80,000 troops to attack Songhanwei."

……

Immediately afterwards, Wei Hao issued a series of orders, leaving everyone confused.

Under normal circumstances, we should concentrate our forces at this moment to prevent Yu’s army from joining us.

Or concentrate troops and forcibly take over Chengdu Prefecture.

Dealing with the chieftains in Shu was clearly a secondary combat objective.

After successfully seizing control of Shu, it won’t be too late to slowly take action to clean up the mess.

If we fight with them now, there won't be much gain even if we win, and it will be a huge loss if we lose.

After leaving the commander's camp, a group of former Wu generals gathered together involuntarily.

"My Lord, we simply cannot understand the arrangements made by the King of the East.

What exactly is he selling in this gourd? "

Liu Laoxu asked carelessly.

Since entering Shu, Fang Yuxuan has become the backbone of these old ministers.

By sticking together closely, they gained the capital to negotiate terms and successfully established a stronghold under the command of the King of the East.

“It’s okay if you don’t understand.

If everyone can understand it, the plan will fail.

In fact, if we look beyond the military deployment itself, we can discover the problem.

The enemy is coming in full force, either to strike at them or to find a way out.”

Fang Yuxuan said with a sigh.

I knew that the King of the East could not handle the situation alone, but I never expected the situation to deteriorate so quickly.

Since ancient times, Shu has been the burial place of countless heroes. It is difficult to enter Shu, and even more difficult to leave Shu.

After Wei Hao's troops entered Shu, they failed to quickly take over Shu and their fighting spirit was soon worn out.

Although they seem to have many soldiers and generals, their actual combat effectiveness is very limited.

Just look at the troops assigned to him and you will know that after attacking Chengdu Prefecture for several days, the casualties did not exceed three digits.

The number of soldiers who died on the battlefield was less than that killed by the supervisory team.

It can be seen that the rebel army did not win the hearts of the people in Sichuan, and the local soldiers were reluctant to fight.

The main force of the war is still the troops brought in from outside.

However, if the Shu people were loyal to him, Wei Hao would not spend so much effort to recapture them.

With the financial resources of Shu, it is not difficult to train tens of thousands of elite soldiers.

With the support of local people, Chengdu Prefecture would have been taken over long ago.

The main reason for the delay in achieving a breakthrough was that the rebel army killed too many people after entering Shu.

Not only the aristocratic families were hit, but ordinary gentry and wealthy families also did not escape the disaster.

In a clan society, these people hold the local discourse power, so naturally they will do their best to blacken the rebel army.

If the rebel army can carry out land revolution in a timely manner after occupying the place and distribute the land as promised, then everything will be easy.

However, policies need someone to implement them, and the rebel army lacks the talent to govern the local area.

In name, they were carrying out "equal distribution of land", but in reality, the land that should have been distributed to the people ended up in the hands of officials.

After the transformation of their status and identity, these grassroots officials who started out as rebellions were no worse than the gentry in exploiting the people.

The taxes and corvee labor that the people in many places had to bear were heavier than during the previous period of Dayu rule.

After a series of outrageous operations, it was natural that they were resisted by the people.

When you realize something is wrong and want to take remedial measures, it is already too late.

The people's support was against them. Even if Li Yuan had not led his troops into Sichuan, they would not have been able to stop the counterattack of the gentry group.

"My Lord, what should we do?"

Liu Laoxu asked with concern.

Although he had decided from the beginning to be a passer-by, he was still a little reluctant when the time came to leave.

Life in Shu is comfortable, which is much better than being displaced.

Without the King of the East leading the way, it would be difficult for these rebel generals to escape the imperial court's pursuit.

“The King of the East just lacks confidence and has not made up his mind to run away.

Otherwise, he would have taken action long ago and would not have to wait for Li Yuan's troops to attack.

Judging from the style of the officials in Dayu, as long as you leave their jurisdiction, they will not care about anything.

Even if we want to send troops to encircle and suppress them, we must first report to Yongning's son for approval.

After all this going on, it would take at least two or three months.

With such a long buffer period, the enemy could not catch up whether they advanced westward to the U-Tsang Regional Administration or to the more distant Western Regions.

In other words, even if the enemy can catch up, they won't.

These are all bitter and cold places, and there is no benefit in leading troops to chase after them.

Even if Emperor Yongning issues an order, they will pretend to obey but secretly disobey, and at most send a few unlucky people to carry out the mission."

Fang Yuxuan immediately mocked.

He has always had a lot of opinions about King Wei Hao of the East.

If this guy had not entered Sichuan that year and joined forces with the three kings of the White Lotus Sect, they might have taken over the Central Plains.

Once they overthrow the rule of Dayu, they will be the force with the greatest hope of conquering the world.

In the end, no matter who succeeds, the meat will rot in their own pot.

At the critical moment, the King of the East led his troops into Shu, and no one was left to take on the task of the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains.

It was not until the establishment of the Wu Kingdom that the banner of the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains was raised again, but by then it was already too late.

I was indecisive at first, and now at this critical moment, I am indecisive again.

In Fang Yuxuan's opinion, at this moment, one must either take a gamble or simply run away.

He wanted to seize control of Shu, but at the same time he wanted to leave a way out for himself. However, there is no such thing as having the best of both worlds.

……

Zhennan Pass.

Looking at the good news in his hand, Li Mu was overjoyed.

The King of Annan led his troops to flee westward, directly handing over 800 miles of territory, which directly announced the victory of the first phase of Annan's strategy.

After seizing the most fertile Red River Plain, they no longer had to worry about food.

"Pass the order down, and have all the troops take steady steps to eliminate the remaining rebels in the area as soon as possible.

If the King of Annan wants to run, let him run!"

While giving the order, Li Mu couldn't help but sigh.

In the past, he always criticized the Liaodong clique for harboring the enemy and taking advantage of it. He never imagined that one day he would also harbor the enemy and take advantage of it.

It’s all because of resources.

Once the King of Annan is killed, the imperial court will definitely call a halt to the war.

Even if the order to withdraw troops was not given, it would be difficult to get the subsequent financial support from Jiangnan, Fujian and Zhejiang.

We are all relying on the financial support from Guangdong and Guangxi, but the pressure is still a bit too great.

If the King of Annan is kept as a tail, the nature of the situation will be completely different.

The war is not over yet as long as the culprit who challenged Dayu's dignity is still alive.

Even if the court is short of financial resources, as long as they are told that they are only one step away from victory, everyone will grit their teeth and persevere.

Compared with the period of the rebellion war, Dayu has survived the most difficult times.

Emperor Yongning's ability is average, but his ability to withstand pressure is still good.

If it were an ordinary emperor, few would dare to confront his ministers.

Not only did he do it, he did it more than once.

The opportunity to leave his name in history was right under his nose, and Li Mu didn't think he would give it up.

We cannot sustain a long war, but if we hold out for another year or two, there won't be any major problems.

With an extra year of buffer time, production in the Red River Plain will be able to gradually recover.

"My Lord, the victory report can be sent to the capital now.

I think Your Majesty and all the civil and military officials in the court can’t wait any longer.

It is said that the northern barbarians intend to move south again. The resources invested by the imperial court in the northern border in recent years are limited, and it is feared that they will not be able to stop the enemy.

Perhaps it won’t be long before the court will order the king to come to its aid.

We must make the imperial court make up its mind to destroy Annan before the northern barbarians march south! "

Lan Linjie spoke up to remind him.

The Dayu court never gave a clear goal for how far the Annan War would proceed.

Except for Li Mu who clamored to destroy Annan and rebuild Jiaozhi Provincial Administration, most officials in the court advocated teaching the Annan people a lesson.

On the one hand, in everyone’s inherent perception, Annan is the epitome of poverty; on the other hand, Dayu’s national strength is limited and it cannot support multi-line warfare for a long time.

"Mr. Lan, that makes sense. It is indeed time for the court to make a decision."

“Draft a victory report to tell His Majesty that we have defeated the Annan army and recovered many prefectures in Jiaozhi.

Let the court send officials as soon as possible to set up the Jiaozhi Provincial Administration Office.

You can modify the specific battle results as you like, but the casualties will still be inflated as usual.

Arrange for someone to spread the news in the capital, saying that the Annan people had sent secret agents to sneak into the capital with a large amount of money.

He intended to bribe officials in the court and make the imperial court abandon Annan again.

If someone in the court speaks for the Annan people, they will encourage the scholars to go to their houses and make trouble, and label them traitors. "

……

(End of this chapter)