Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 627 We Need a Failure

The army set off.

The team stretched for dozens of miles, with the front and rear unable to see each other.

As the military supervisor of Lianghuai, Yang Yuan followed Li Xianzhong's troops from the east to the Lianghuai region.

After crossing the river, they set foot on the land of Huaidong.

Bei'er, Yuye, Yuchan, Jixiang, Huayin and Xiaonai, the six girls were all dressed in military uniforms, pretending to be the personal lieutenants of General Yang.

Although the six men were wearing men's military uniforms, their features and body shapes were inevitably feminine.

However, everyone in the army thought that they were eunuchs sent from the palace, so they did not doubt it.

As soon as Yang Yuan took office, he made his attitude clear: he would never interfere with the normal command and combat plans of the army.

In addition, he has a military background, which makes the soldiers of the three armed forces very fond of him.

Moreover, the mighty power he displayed made it impossible to ignore it.

Military supervisors usually come from three types: civil military supervisors, military generals and eunuch military supervisors.

The cases where military generals supervise other military generals are relatively rare, but they do exist.

Wanyan Liang of the Jin Dynasty originally sent his confidant Zhao Yiji to Liaodong to serve as the deputy governor of Dongjing (Liaoyang) as Wanyan Yong's deputy. In fact, he was a military general supervising military generals.

Yang Yuan, on the other hand, embodies all three elements of a military supervisor.

He had secretly gone to the north for ten years, and later served in the Privy Council and the Imperial Dragon Guard, which meant he had been in the army for twelve years.

Therefore, he is the general who supervises the generals.

He was the top scholar in the imperial examination, and among the civil servants he was the most literary of them all, a scholar-official with a legitimate family background.

Therefore, he was a civil official who supervised the military generals.

Now he has six personal guards around him who are obviously eunuchs in the palace.

That's the eunuch supervising the military generals.

If the military inspector can also stack buffs, who can stack better than him?

Therefore, although Yang Yuan took the initiative to propose that he would not interfere in any specific military actions, Li Xianzhong and Shao Hongyuan could not be ignorant.

No matter how big or small the matter was, including military movements and garrison deployments, the two would report every detail to Yang Yuan in a timely manner.

Li Xianzhong, who is in charge of the Eastern Army, is a powerful general. He is still in his prime and is not even fifty years old.

Shao Hongyuan, the main general of the Western Route Army, was about the same age as Li Xianzhong, just in his early fifties, and was also a veteran who had experienced many battles.

The two men divided their forces and advanced together, like a hungry tiger with its bloody mouth wide open, viciously biting the Jin army that had not yet established a firm foothold in the Huai River and Yangtze River regions.

There were not many fortified cities in the Huai River and Huai River regions, and the cities that were captured by the Jin army in a surprise attack were even less likely to be defended.

Under such circumstances, the Jin soldiers were more willing to use their strengths - field battles.

Taking advantage of their field combat advantage, and the fact that the Song army had just arrived and had not yet established a firm foothold, the Jin army was well-rested and could take the initiative to attack, making it easier for them to achieve results.

Therefore, as soon as the reinforcements from the Song Dynasty arrived, they joined the garrison troops in the battle, and the Huai River and Huai River regions were immediately filled with smoke of war.

Yang Yuan really kept his promise: not to interfere with the generals' command.

Because he is self-aware.

An emperor sitting in the Golden Palace, who has no understanding of the specific situation of the enemy but is accustomed to interfering in the specific military operations of the enemy, even if he was once a cavalry emperor, has made great military achievements and is familiar with military affairs, can often make stupid moves.

Then it would be even more of a joke for a layman in military knowledge to try to command troops like a god based on a few solidified analysis of paper data from thousands of years ago.

Yang Yuan never thought that he would have the opportunity to become a great general who could command troops like a god in his life. He just needed to be good at "commanding generals".

Therefore, although General Yang often moved around in the army and was familiar with military affairs, he only did things like inspecting military discipline and boosting morale, and at the same time understood the temperaments of the generals of each department.

Tsubakiya Kona and Yazawa Kanon, two female ninjas from the Nara Asuka clan, made full use of their strengths to collect intelligence for Yang Yuan and observe military situations.

Fei Yuye and Leng Yuchan used the experience they had accumulated over many years of working in the military intelligence department to organize and summarize the intelligence and conduct preliminary screening and analysis.

Afterwards, this information will be summarized in Emmanuelle Belle's hands and materialized into small flags on the sand table made by Yang Yuan.

Emmanuelle Belle will use her military skills to analyze military intelligence for Yang Yuan and determine the next moves of the enemy and us.

Belle will also conduct sand table simulations based on the troop ratios and action plans of the Huaidong and Huaixi armies and the Jin army.

After receiving reports on the actual battle between the two armies, Belle would verify the results with her previous deductions to determine whether her analysis and judgment were accurate.

If she made a mistake, she would analyze it repeatedly and find the reason for her mistake, which made Belle's military quality improve rapidly.

As for an important task of the military supervisor, it is the deployment and management of logistical supplies, and Yang Yuan assigned this matter to Fujiwara no Himeka.

Ji Xiang learned how to manage a large family since she was young, and when she grew up, she controlled the economic lifeline of the Whale Sea Palace.

Over the past year, she has single-handedly established various arrangements for an entire secret trade route for the Song Dynasty's military aid to the New Jin Dynasty, and the corresponding abilities have long been developed.

Therefore, she was able to take care of logistics and supplies with ease.

After Belle recovered from her injury, she gradually lost the ability to perfectly replicate everything she saw the day before.

But her memory has improved significantly compared to before.

In the past, whether she wanted to remember it or not, she could remember everything she saw the day before in great detail.

But now, she can remember everything she wants to remember.

Therefore, in a short period of time, she had already mastered the terrain of Lianghuai, the distribution of cities, the military structure and distribution of military forces of both sides.

"The main force of Huaidong led by Li Xianzhong is mainly composed of the troops of the Palace Guard Division and the Zhenjiang Dutong Division.

It included the Palace Front Sima Army Division, part of the Infantry Division, and the Zhenjiang Dutong Division's eight armies: front, rear, left, right, center, mobile, selected vanguard, and water.

The main force of Huaixi led by Shao Hongyuan was mainly composed of the troops stationed in Jiankang.

It includes the front, rear, left, right, center, and mobile armies, assisted by the Holy Guards of the Palace Front Department and part of the Imperial Guards of the Infantry Department.

As Belle spoke, she adjusted the small flags on the sand table and concluded:
"Basically, this model is in line with the tradition of Han Shizhong, the envoy of Huaidong, and Liu Guangshi, the envoy of Huaixi, who were in charge of the military defense of the two Huai regions."

Yang Yuan nodded slightly, but his mind was not on the sand table in front of him.

Tactics and strategy are two completely different realms, and strategists and military strategists are also completely different.

He didn't have the opportunity to become a tactician, but that didn't stop him from moving towards becoming a strategist.

Why did the Jin Kingdom suddenly launch this war against our Song Dynasty?
The New Jin has been tying down the Jin's rear, and the New Jin occupies the Jin's foundation. Unless the Jin has the ability to destroy the Song, what is the purpose of suddenly launching this battle against the Song?
There is also the Western Xia, which did not hesitate to send its elite forces to infiltrate the Tibetan territory, cross mountains and rivers, and invade western Sichuan.

It now appears that the actions of the Jin Dynasty and the Western Xia were clearly coordinated with each other.

But what’s the point?
Conquering cities and seizing territories? Obviously, that's not realistic.

Moreover, judging from the military actions of both Western Xia and Jin, it did not seem that this was their purpose.

The Jin soldiers in the Lianghuai area suddenly launched an all-out attack, but after a wave of raids captured some cities, they switched from strategic offense to strategic defense.

The Jin Dynasty and the Western Xia Dynasty joined forces to create such a large-scale battle. They must have had their strategic purposes, but their purpose is unclear now.

They must have a purpose, but what is it?

……

Xixia, Xingqing Mansion.

With the Helan Mountains in the west, the Yellow River in the east, the desert in the north and Xiaoguan in the south, Xingqing Prefecture became a strong city in Longshan that was easy to defend but difficult to attack.

The Xingqingfu Imperial City was a simplified version of the Northern Song Dynasty Bianliang Imperial City. It was later expanded and a summer palace was built on the east side of the imperial palace.

This summer palace was built as a place for fun and entertainment by Li Yuanhao after he forced his son Ning Lingge's wife to be his concubine.

The Summer Palace stretches for several miles, with pavilions, terraces, pools, and lush vegetation. It is a garden with strong local characteristics.

Li Renxiao moved here in the summer. Now that the weather has become cooler, he has not moved back to the palace and is still living in this villa.

The battle reports from the front were also sent here.

"Haha, my Iron Harriers have successfully entered western Sichuan, and the Emperor of the Song Dynasty has returned to Lin'an."

The 23-year-old young emperor laughed, threw the memorial on the imperial desk, and paced a few steps excitedly.

"Send an order, tell the Lintao defenders to continue to hold their ground and wait for the main force of the Song army to retreat before pressing forward!"

Li Renxiao's face was flushed with ruddy glow, and he was full of vigor and vitality: "Attack one place, and defend one place. When the enemy comes, I defend; when the enemy leaves, I chase. We advance step by step, steadily and steadily!"

The eunuch who delivered the imperial edict bowed and retreated.

Li Renxiao succeeded to the throne at the age of sixteen. Now seven years have passed. Although he has regained some power, especially in the past two years when Prime Minister Ren Dejing was muddle-headed and studying the art of reincarnation.

However, all the power obtained was still too little for an emperor.

Moreover, this kind of power is unstable. Ren Dejing can take it back at any time if he wants.

Only by taking back the military power can he be a real emperor.

Invading western Sichuan through the Tibetan secret passage would, first of all, allow the Western Army of the Song Dynasty to understand that the towering mountains and steep cliffs were no longer insurmountable barriers for the Xixia people.

From then on, the Western Army had to divide its troops and garrison them in western Sichuan, thus dispersing its strength.

Second, under the pressure of Western Xia's encroachment and coercion, many Tibetan tribes secretly colluded with the Song Dynasty.

However, the Western Xia troops entered western Sichuan from the Tibetan territory, which would cause the Song army to lose trust in the Tibetans and thus split the not-so-close alliance between the two sides.

Third, echo the actions of the Jin Dynasty.

If the Jin Kingdom's actions go smoothly, we will quickly launch an invasion of the Bashu region of the Song Dynasty.

It would not matter if the Jin Dynasty failed, because Daxia still had Lintao firmly in its hands, and using it as a gateway, it could erode the territory of the Song Dynasty step by step.

Fourthly, and most importantly, he will establish his supreme prestige through continuous victorious military operations and take back military power bit by bit.

"In war, how can there be no deaths?"

Li Renxiao touched the beard on his lips and smiled complacently.

He was only twenty-three years old and didn't need to grow a beard now, but in order to make himself look more mature, he had already grown a mustache on his lips, which curled up on both sides like two scimitars.

"So, at the right time, I can leak some information about the deployment to the Song people, so that the generals loyal to the prime minister can die..."

Li Renxiao still had a smile on his face, but the coldness in his eyes was as cold as ice, piercing people's bones.

... "We need a failure."

Yan Shen looked at Tang Situi and said seriously, "Use defeat as a blade to kill the opponent and flatten the obstacles."

Tang Shitui's face was solemn and he remained silent.

Yan Shen advised: "Mr. Tang, those who know how to lose will never perish.

When failure is more beneficial to us, and we have the ability to make it happen, then...

Why can't we let this defeat become our weapon of victory."

The Fifth Buddha smiled and said, "If you want to accomplish great things, you must have a big picture. Mr. Tang should understand the truth.

Prince, you might as well give Mr. Tang a little more time to think it over carefully. There is still time."

The Fifth Buddha turned to Tang Situi again, his expression darkening: "But, the emperor is on his way back, so it is better for you to make a decision sooner rather than later.

You must know that if you don’t make a decision when you should, you will suffer the consequences! ”

"Don't think about it!"

Tang Situi clenched his fists and said in a deep voice: "Tang will wait for the opportunity to act."

A hint of joy flashed across the eyes of the Fifth Buddha, and he said cheerfully, "Okay, then the Fifth Buddha will respectfully await the good news from Mr. Tang."

……

Suzhou is located at the throat of the Bian River, serving as a strategic junction between the north and the south, crossing the Bian River and blocking the Huai River, and is a key location in the north of the Yangtze River.

The battle around Suzhou became a focus on the battlefield in Lianghuai.

In the mountains of Lingbi area, north of Fuzhou City, a fierce battle has just ended.

Lu Tianming, the commander of the Song State's cavalry, was riding on a majestic warhorse. With such a strong and fat body, only a first-class horse could carry him.

"Hahahaha, they say the Golden Dog is good at fighting, but this is it? Cao Pi's wife went into the vegetable garden, and Zhen Ji was pulling vegetables!"

The soldiers of the Ma Army were counting the dead and wounded, cleaning up the battlefield, and gathering up the prisoners of war. Commander Lu was waiting proudly for the military secretary to compile the statistics of the battle results.

He had already written the victory report, only some key specific numbers had not been filled in. Three groups of victory messengers had already put the small triangular red flags on their backs and were ready to set off at any time to report the victory to the commander-in-chief.

The soldiers were exhausted after a fierce battle, but the joy of a great victory boosted their morale.

All they want now is to quickly tally up the results of the battle, then cook a meal and have a good rest.

Suddenly, the rumbling sound of cavalry rang out from several mountain passes at the same time, or perhaps it was an echo among the valleys, making it impossible to identify its exact source.

Lu Tianming's face suddenly changed. He had scouts stationed outside. How could a large group of troops attack without any warning?
Could it be that a friendly force is rushing over?
While they were still in doubt, the Jin cavalry came from several mountain passes and surrounded them like a torrent, attacking them frantically.

Some arrows were also shot down from the dense forests on the mountain.

Although the dense forest was too lush and unsuitable for Tibetans, there were not many Jin soldiers hiding there.

But there was an ambush, and cold arrows attacked from time to time, which was enough to make the already panicked cavalry soldiers even more confused.

"Infantry formation, cavalry counterattack, quick!"

Lu Tianming drew his sword and shouted, asking the messengers beside him to use drums, trumpets and flags to inform the generals, while he ordered the messenger who was preparing to report the victory: "Quick, report to General Li immediately and tell him that we, Old Lu, have been ambushed."

When Lu Tianming saw the Jin soldiers rolling in from several mountain passes and the continuous flow of troops, he knew that he had fallen into the enemy's trap.

No wonder his troops made rapid progress. The Jin soldiers he had annihilated before were probably just a group of ragtag cannon fodder sent to lure his elite troops here.

So Lu Tianming acted decisively. While forming a battle formation on the spot to counterattack, he changed his report of victory into a request for help and quickly sent the message to Li Xianzhong.

The Jin soldiers rushed in swiftly, with arrows raining down and spears as fast as lightning, overwhelming the Song army that was beginning to gather like a tide.

The sounds of fighting gathered in the valley and turned into a thunderous roar, which was breathtaking.

The already exhausted cavalry soldiers were quickly broken through several gun formations. The Jin cavalry bravely broke in, and the Song army camp also launched a frantic counterattack to fill the gap.

Fortunately, these are the elite imperial guards with strong wills, and the commander Lu Tianming is highly respected and can calm the morale of the troops.

After a struggle between the two sides, during which countless corpses were thrown away like minced meat, the Song army formed a defensive formation.

Seeing this, the Jin soldiers no longer risked huge consumption to force a breakthrough, but instead implemented harassment tactics against the Song army through guerrilla warfare and bows and arrows, not allowing them to rest.

The cavalry passed by the outer edge of the Song army's formation, and the spears, halberds, sabers and swords of both sides clashed continuously.

The Jin army behind also continued to shoot at the Song army camp with bows and arrows.

In fact, in terms of long-range attacks, the Song army's crossbows have more advantages than the Jin army's.

However, the terrain in which both the enemy and us are currently located has turned the Song army's advantage in long-range weapons into a disadvantage.

In this intensive contact, with the Song army in the center of the depression and the front armies of both sides still engaged in battle, the Mahuang crossbow equipped by the imperial guards was less advantageous than the bows and arrows of the Jin soldiers.

……

Li Xianzhong was shocked when he received Lu Tianming's urgent request for help.

At this time, Luo Xin, the commander of the Sizhou Mobile Army, had just recaptured Hong County with 4,000 soldiers and horses. They were the armed force closest to Lingbi.

Li Xianzhong immediately gave an order, ordering Luo Xin to lead his troops to rush to the rescue and rescue Lu Tianming.

At the same time, he also led the main force to advance rapidly towards Suzhou.

It was already the next morning when Luo Xin received Li Xianzhong's military order.

After his troops recaptured Hong County, they had rested for a day and were at their most aggressive.

"You want me to rescue Lu Tianming, commander of the cavalry? Lu Tianming's troops number 7,000, and they were surrounded by the Jin army. Although the Jin army took advantage of the terrain, their force may be twice that of Lu Tianming.

I only have 4,000 people. Isn't this just a way to fill their teeth?"

Deputy General Shi Xiaoyi said, "Commander, Lingbi is a mountainous area. Even if we have more troops, we can't deploy them.

Four thousand soldiers and horses are just right for attacking one route. We just need to tear open a gap and lure out the people from the Ma Junsi..."

Luo Xin's face darkened and he looked at Deputy General Shi coldly.

Shi Xiaoyi shut his mouth in embarrassment after being looked at.

Luo Xin said coldly: "Old Shi, let's go to attack Lingbi. What if Hong County falls into the hands of the Jin people again?"

Shi Xiaoyi touched his head and said, "This... is it that the 7,000 elite imperial guards are more important? Besides, Hong County has no strategic location to defend. If the Jin soldiers take it, we can just take it back."

Luo Xin sneered and said, "So, we have already taken over Hong County, but we still want to take it again. Can I give you two credits for this achievement?"

"Uh……"

“What’s more, the Jin soldiers have obviously set up a trap in Lingbi, with the purpose of swallowing up the most elite force of the Imperial Guards’ vanguard.

We lost many soldiers and generals, but we only saved people. How can it be more important than a great victory?"

Shi Xiaoyi finally understood what Luo Xin meant and asked hurriedly, "So...what does control mean?"

"Instead of saving a rotten tree, it is better to pick up a healthy branch!"

Luo Xin thought of the message sent to him by Zhang Shuning, the assistant minister of the Ministry of War. His eyes darkened for a moment, and then he said slowly:
"Didn't the scouts find out that there is a Jin army of more than a thousand soldiers in Tonghai Town to our east? Let's go and attack Tonghai!"

Luo Xin said: "First conquer a county, then conquer a town, this is the success of conquering one after another.

Moreover, we are the garrison commanders of Sizhou. If we defeat the Jin soldiers in the various towns heading north of Sizhou, we will ensure the safety of Sizhou. This is also the basis for us to be the garrison commanders of Sizhou."

Deputy General Shi was a little worried and whispered, "Commander, Lingbi is in the west and Tonghai is in the east. If we disobey the military order and go against the direction, will Li Xianzhong..."

"We naturally have to give him an explanation."

Luo Xin smiled slightly: "You and I will jointly write a military letter to him, saying that the flood after the rain has blocked the gullies and our army cannot rush west to help!"

……

According to Li Xianzhong's estimation, Luo Xin's troops stationed in Hong County could rush to provide assistance and open up a gap to rescue Lu Tianming's troops.

Because at the beginning of the siege, the Jin soldiers had no time to consolidate the encirclement, so they still had a lot of room to escape.

This rescue also has a golden twelve hours.

Once the escaped troops left the dangerous area, even though the Jin soldiers were numerous, it would be difficult for them to pose a major threat as long as they avoided fighting.

Moreover, as they were retreating, I was heading towards Lingbi, which was enough time for timely rescue.

However, the troops from Hong County were unexpectedly blocked by ravines and unable to rush to Lingbi's rescue.

Li Xianzhong was in a very urgent situation. If all 7,000 elite imperial guards were wiped out, it would be an unbearable burden.

What's more, Lu Tianming was his old subordinate, who had followed him to defeat Western Xia many times. Later, when he was forced to surrender to Jin, Lu Tianming still followed him.

When he seized the opportunity to capture Jin Marshal Wanyan Gao, Lu Tianming made great efforts.

How could he just watch such a close confidant die without helping?

"Military Supervisor, the situation in Lingbi is urgent. If Lu Tianming's troops don't have reinforcements, their morale will be low and they may be taken advantage of by the Jin army.

Li needs to lead the cavalry and light infantry to rush to Lingbi. I will leave the central army and the rear army to the military supervisor. Liu Molin!"

"The general is here!"

A general stepped forward, clasped his fists and obeyed the order.

Li Xianzhong said sternly: "Lieutenant General Liu, you lead the central army and the rear army to protect the military supervisor and continue to march towards Suzhou.

Remember, your only priority is to ensure the safety of Yang Jianjun. If Yang Jianjun makes any mistake, I will kill you!"

Liu Molin accepted the order with a solemn look, and Li Xianzhong immediately rode away from the central army where Yang Yuan was and sped towards Suzhou.

"Huayin, Xiaonai!"

After Li Xianzhong and Liu Molin returned to their respective camps, Yang Yuan said solemnly, "Hua Yin, follow General Li's troops and report any situation promptly."

"Xiao Nai, go to Hong County to check if there are any blocked roads."

Hanane and Xiaonai took the order and left.

Yang Yuan's face was solemn. The military report from Luo Xin's unit in Hong County only said that the road was blocked and it was impossible to go east, so how big was the scope of the ravine?

Will it affect the subsequent transportation of food and fodder supplies to the troops in the direction of Hong County?
As the military supervisor, Yang Yuan was in charge of all the logistics and supplies, so he had to understand such matters clearly in advance.

Otherwise, if the front army runs out of food, the 4,000 troops of Luo Xin's army in Hong County will be in danger.

(End of this chapter)