Chapter 329: Strategy to Suppress the Bandits

Allied Forces Camp.

“The Eastern King has made a breakthrough in Shu, and his troops are heading straight for Chengdu. The rule of the Pseudo-Dynasty in Shu is about to collapse.

As long as we win this battle, Dayu will be cut in half by us.

Victory against Yu is just around the corner!
……”

Wei Jiarui’s words did not arouse the agreement of the crowd, and the generals of the Wu State still had cold faces.

They were kind enough to let the Chu army pass through, but ended up being harassed by the other side along the way, which made them furious.

If it weren’t for the overall situation, the two sides would have fallen out long ago.

Even though the top leaders tried their best to suppress it, the fighting behind the scenes never stopped.

Especially the officers and soldiers who came from Jiujiang, they hated the Chu army with a vengeance.

Wei Jiarui naturally knew about these problems and was still trying to find ways to solve them.

It’s a pity that military discipline was not established in the first place, and it cannot be achieved with just one order if we want to rectify it later.

In the past, no one paid attention to this point because the various units were stationed separately.

On their own turf, everyone still has some concerns.

Even though some people violated military discipline, there was no major chaos because the number was small.

Now that five hundred thousand troops have gathered and have become guest troops, their concerns have been reduced and their courage has increased.

Even if only a small number of places are affected, a huge base can still lead to a disaster.

If the generals stop it in time and severely punish those who violate military discipline, this problem can be solved.

Unfortunately, there were already considerable conflicts between Wu and Chu.

The generals of both sides tacitly chose to protect their own troops and handled the situation with caution, which made the officers and soldiers under them more and more courageous.

Coupled with the instigation of spies who had infiltrated the army, the situation below was quite lively.

“Your Highness, it is too early to talk about victory against Yu.

Li Mu, that villain, is not easy to deal with.

Now that Huguang had fallen into his hands, it would not be easy to take it back.

It seems that the government troops have been attacking other prefectures in Huguang recently, and maybe now…”

Yin Mufeng responded coldly.

It wasn’t that he wanted to slap the King of Chu in the face, it was mainly a political necessity.

We all came from the Holy Kingdom of White Lotus, and we had some friendship with each other in the past.

If we don’t distance ourselves from each other deliberately and create some conflicts, Emperor Wu will not feel at ease.

Coupled with the existing contradictions between the two sides, these words now become a mockery.

“Ha ha……

There is nothing shameful about losing cities and territory at the hands of the thief Li.

Brother Fu’s Guangdong was taken away by this thief, so it is normal to add Huguang as well.

After receiving the news of the fall of Wuchang, I no longer had any hope for other prefectures in Huguang.

The fact that we have been able to hold on until now proves that the men of Chu are all brave warriors.

Even if they encounter a strong enemy like Li Ze, they still dare to take up arms and fight the enemy to the end.

A good start will increase our chances of winning by another three points in the upcoming battle!”

Wei Jiarui responded without changing his expression.

The loser does not lose the formation.

It’s just a war of words anyway, and you don’t need to be responsible for bragging.

It seems that they are fighting for face in front of their allies, but in fact, what they are really fighting for is the command of the coalition forces.

Private conflicts will not affect the continued cooperation between the two parties.

Theoretically speaking, as the ruler of a country, Wei Jiarui, who has a higher status, should have the advantage.

Unfortunately, the continued defeats on the front line gave the Wu army an excuse.

The current tense relationship is, to a certain extent, a preparation for the upcoming struggle for the right to speak.

If you accept his kindness, based on the qualifications of the previous three kings, unless Fu Haoxuan comes in person, no one else will be qualified to compete with him.

“My Lord, just have confidence.

His Majesty has instructed that the next war will depend on Your Highness.

In this battle, I will fully cooperate with the prince.

However, in recent days, the two armies have accumulated a lot of conflicts in private, and it is difficult to eliminate misunderstandings in a short time.

In order to reduce trouble, the two armies will have to command separately in the next major battle.”

Yin Mufeng said expressionlessly.

He originally wanted to fight for the command of the coalition forces, but when the time came, he suddenly changed his mind.

It is true that the State of Wu had certain advantages in this cooperation, but it was the Chu Army that acted as the main force.

What’s more, Wei Jiarui is the ruler of a country. It is almost impossible for him to act as a younger brother and accept orders.

Even if he really achieved his goal, the Chu army would not buy his account.

If the coalition forces suffer a defeat on the front line due to internal conflicts, the commander-in-chief will be blamed.

Considering his own physical condition and being unable to bear the responsibility of defeat, Yin Mufeng decisively chose to settle for the second best.

If we cannot take command of the coalition forces, then we must ensure independent command.

The two armies were commanded separately, and he could reject any unreasonable orders from Wei Jiarui.

Even if we lose the battle, we can still blame it on the King of Chu.

When it comes to joint operations between the two countries, it is difficult to sort out right and wrong, and there is no way to conduct an in-depth investigation domestically.

By doing this, he became invincible.

As long as the army does not suffer heavy losses, he will not be responsible no matter how the war situation develops.

“Brother Yin, there are only some misunderstandings between the two armies, which will not affect the overall situation.

It would be too much to separate the commands just because of this little problem.

You must know that speed is of the essence on the battlefield, and only with unified command can the coalition forces’ maximum combat effectiveness be brought into play.

……”

Wei Jiarui immediately persuaded.

This war was fought for the Chu State to recover Huguang, and the Wu State participated more for its own strategic security.

Since they are the ones who benefit the most, they naturally pay more attention to it.

In order to win over Wu Jun, he lowered his posture from the very beginning.

“Your Majesty, if you really value this war, why don’t you agree to His Majesty’s conditions?
You won’t suffer any loss by exchanging Zhejiang, which is covered with mountains, for Huguang, the world’s granary.

Once the deal is done, Your Majesty will personally lead the army to join the battle. When the two armies join forces, why worry about not being able to defeat the government army?”

Yin Mufeng’s words made Wei Jiarui so angry that he wanted to vomit blood.

Judging from the data on paper, Huguang was indeed more important than Zhejiang during the turbulent times.

The problem is that now in Huguang, large areas of territory are in the hands of the government army, while Zhejiang is entirely in the hands of the Wu and Chu countries.

Although Zhejiang’s economy declined sharply due to the war, its economic foundation is still there.

The Wu State, which controlled Nanzhili and Zhejiang, had money and food, as well as the most developed manufacturing industry in the world.

With a little management, you can be far ahead of other competitors in the fight for the world.

Chu and Wu were allies, but also rivals.

If we can only get the entire Huguang territory, this deal will not be a loss.

The fear is that if the deal is reached, Wu will take Zhejiang first, while their Huguang will still be in the hands of the government army.

“I will naturally not refuse this win-win deal.

As long as you help me take over the entire Huguang territory, I will withdraw from Zhejiang.

I swear in the name of the Holy Mother of White Lotus that I will never break my promise, or else I will be pierced through the heart by arrows!”

Wei Jiarui immediately gave a guarantee.

The order of transactions is very important, as it is related to one’s own strategic security. In troubled times, all kinds of promises and guarantees are false.

The White Lotus Mother can at most fool the lower-level officers and soldiers, but few people at the higher-ups believe her.

If swearing an oath really worked, they would have died from the backlash of the oath long ago.

They also swore an oath before they started the rebellion.

Later, for their own interests, they all betrayed the White Lotus Saint Emperor at the critical moment.

Relatively speaking, Wei Jiarui performed relatively well. Although he did not provide all-out rescue efforts, at least he sent out some reinforcements.

……

Wuchang, on the city gate tower.

Looking at the rebel flags flying outside the city, Li Mu’s expression became solemn.

It wasn’t that he just sat there and waited for death, it was simply that several consecutive military operations all ended in failure.

The rebels learned from their previous failures and not only sent out a large number of scouts, but also learned how to build strong camps.

Even a temporary marching camp was surrounded by trenches, pits, and various traps.

The rebels spent half of their time every day in the camp, marching at a snail’s pace.

Neither an ambush nor a raid on the camp were possible.

The government troops sent out, apart from causing sabotage to further slow down the enemy’s speed, only had the record of hunting down scouts.

Unable to find an opportunity to attack, Li Mu, who didn’t like taking risks, chose a conservative tactic.

“So, have you discovered the enemy’s weakness?”

Li Yuan asked with concern.

The Battle of Wuchang started again. The strongest armed forces of the noble group were in the city, and they would not be allowed to lose this time.

“Except for the Wu and Chu military camps, which are a little far away, there are basically no major problems.

Judging from the intelligence collected, the rebels are growing very fast.

Compared with the makeshift team that fought based on their feelings in the past, it has now become formalized.

In terms of camp layout, we followed the military tactics exactly as taught, and executed them to the letter.

There may still be some problems in the coordination among the various departments, but it is not fatal given the current situation.”

Li Mu shook his head and said.

It has been proven that war is the best way to teach people to grow.

After suffering losses many times in a row, the rebel leaders have now learned their lesson.

Abandoning all fancy tactics, he directly utilized his own military advantage and fought a stupid battle with his government troops.

Past military victories were based not only on the fighting ability of his soldiers, but also on the mistakes made by the enemy.

Up to now, the rebels have not made any fatal mistakes, and attacking at this time would mean a head-on bloody collision.

Even if the government army could win by fighting this way, the soldiers would suffer heavy losses.

“Then just hold on!

The food reserves in the city are enough for a year, so we can afford it.

There are government troops outside trying to recover lost territory. The longer it takes, the smaller the area controlled by the rebels will be.

Once we have recovered the entire Huguang territory, these troops will also come to join the battle, and by then the gap in military strength will not be as great as it is now.”

Li Yuan immediately stated his position.

His few military achievements do not affect his solid theoretical foundation.

He couldn’t achieve a victory by surprise, nor could he combine the surprising and the orthodox methods, but he was still very familiar with the orthodox fighting methods.

“This is indeed a solution, but we still need to put pressure on the rebels.

Large-scale military operations are the most challenging test of the commander’s patience.

The rebels seem to be well-organized, but I don’t believe that Wei Ni is a military genius who can really coordinate an army of 600,000 to fight.

Just because we can’t see the enemy’s problems doesn’t mean their problems don’t exist.

Jiangxi has been stable for so long that the rebels have made Jiangxi their base. It is time to get Guangdong moving.

When people are in a panic, they always like to do something.

Usually the error rate of decisions made at this time is much higher than usual.”

Li Mu said with a smile.

The original plan was to break up the rebels and defeat them one by one.

As a result, the enemy was frightened by him and became extremely cautious, not giving him any chance to display his skills.

If we can’t win a quick victory, we can only fight a war of attrition.

But if this is the case, the ones who should be anxious are the rebels.

With 600,000 troops fighting on the front line, it would be difficult to ensure logistical supplies without millions of civilian laborers.

Such high-intensity mobilization is a great test of organizational capabilities.

Even if Zhu Xiao He were reborn, faced with such a complex deployment, he would inevitably make mistakes.

In the early stages, we can rely on stockpiled supplies for support, and the pressure will be relatively smaller.

After a few months, the rebels will realize why war is known as a money-eating beast.

A large amount of supplies were consumed along the way, which was definitely the most difficult problem for Wei Ni who had lost the granary in Huguang.

“Not only can Guangdong be mobilized, but the government troops in the Central Plains cannot be left idle either.

Those guys in Liaodong brag all the time.

Now that we have held back the main force of the rebels, it’s time for them to show their abilities.

The Shi family wants to be the governor of Liaodong, so give them this opportunity.

As long as they can recapture Nanjing, we will support them.”

Li Yuan said with a smile.

In the past, Liaodong Town has always been a unique existence in the Dayu Dynasty.

After the two great victories in Jinan, the status of Liaodong Town in the army suffered a serious impact.

The outside world generally puts the Guangdong and Guangxi towns on the same level as them.

In the eyes of some people, they even believe that the combat effectiveness of the Guangdong and Guangxi towns is stronger, and the head of the Northern Tartars is the best proof.

As the commander-in-chief of the Right Army, Li Yuan suffered a lot from the Liaodong Town.

Those guys clung to the civil servants and totally ignored the orders from the Governor’s Office.

The high-ranking nobles fully supported the direct armed forces, which was stimulated to a certain extent by them.

Of course, other border troops also contributed to this process.

Due to political needs, no matter how dissatisfied they are, they can only try their best to win over the border troops.

The dire situation made the nobles realize that if they did not take action, they would be squeezed out of the center of power.

When the nobles’ armed forces were established again, their positions quickly changed.

The relationship between Liaodong Town and the imperial court became strained, and the nobles also made great efforts to help.

During the invasion of the Northern Barbarians, the civil servants tried their best to cover up the incident, while the nobles turned the tables on the sidelines.

Many hidden problems were brought to the attention of Emperor Yongning, exacerbating the emperor’s dissatisfaction with civil officials and border troops.

The fact that the noble family was able to take over the positions of a number of governors was also the result of early preparations.

As competitors, supporting the Shi family to become the Governor-General of Liaodong is purely a pipe dream.

Recapturing Nanjing is not as easy as it sounds.

Although no force defending Nanjing has ever truly managed to hold it in history, it is not something that can be conquered by a group of landlubbers.

“Uncle, what you say makes sense.

It is not a good idea to keep those border troops idle and waste the court’s money and food.

We don’t expect them to recapture Nanjing and take over the Jiangbei area, but we do expect them to be able to do so.

Your Majesty has long been impatient to wait, and now is the best time to offer a plan to quell the bandits.”

……

(End of this chapter)