Chapter 169

"Naturally, whichever route moves the fastest, we fight that one first.

As for the chance of winning, we will only know after making contact.

However, judging from the speed of the rebels' actions, these few enemy forces are not elites.

From preparing to send troops to now, more than a month has passed, and they have not completed the assembly of troops.

If it weren't for considering the subsequent recovery of Guangxi, which requires weakening the rebels' vital forces in advance, they wouldn't even have the opportunity to assemble troops."

Li Mu replied calmly.

As a nascent regime, it should have been at its most efficient, but the performance of the White Lotus Holy Kingdom was very average.

Among which, it is true that the Tusi troops dragged their feet, but their own lack of organizational ability is also an important factor.

On the battlefield, speed is precious; this sluggish assembly is equivalent to exposing one's own shortcomings.

If it weren't for the need for the rebels to trick the Tusi down from the mountains, Li Mu would have already taken action against them.

From the intelligence collected, after the last Battle of Lianzhou, large-scale civil war broke out again among the Guangxi Tusi, and their military power was further weakened.

Affected by the weakening of strength, they also fell from co-ruling Guangxi with the White Lotus Holy Kingdom politically to being dependent on the White Lotus Holy Kingdom.

In this next battle, if it can be successfully concluded, the Tusi's military power will basically be scrapped.

Even if there are fish that slipped through the net, it will not be able to stop the general trend of "replacing Tusi with regular officials."

……

White Lotus Holy Kingdom Grand Camp.

Looking at the troops and horses gathering from all over, Kong Siliu felt heavy pressure.

Commanding a grand army of two hundred thousand, this was the first time in his life; before this, the most troops he had led was only over ten thousand.

Taking such a big step at once was a severe test of his military command ability.

Within the White Lotus Holy Kingdom, the only one who had experience commanding a grand army of two hundred thousand was the Prince of Pingnan, who was responsible for the eastern expedition.

Even the Prince of Dongping, who was responsible for the northern expedition, and the Prince of Zhenxi, who was responsible for the western expedition, did not have a grand army of two hundred thousand under their command.

Suddenly becoming the commander with the second-largest troop strength in the Holy Kingdom, apart from the initial excitement, the rest was all trouble.

Nominally, there is a grand army of two hundred thousand, but the Tusi's army alone accounts for two-thirds.

The true Holy Kingdom direct armed forces are no more than sixty or seventy thousand, which also includes the old and weak left behind in the three prefectures of Siming, Nanning, and Xunzhou.

Excluding the old and weak, the remaining fifty thousand troops have only received three or four months of basic military training.

There is no way; the White Lotus Sect has been less than a year since it started the uprising.

Being able to bring out such a family foundation is already very good.

In history, among so many peasant uprisings, it is really hard to find a few whose leadership team is better than the White Lotus Holy Kingdom.

The political and diplomatic means displayed are also not bad.

Just looking at the operation of tricking a group of Guangxi Tusi, one knows that they are truly capable.

However, no matter how much they show off their operations, there are bottlenecks.

Internally, they lack a large number of civil officials to govern the localities, and externally, they lack military generals for combat.

The current main generals are all the original team of the startup team.

War can temper people, but the growth of generals requires time.

In this process of growth, continuous elimination and screening are needed.

It just so happens that the White Lotus Holy Kingdom developed too smoothly, and the generals didn't have time to experience setbacks before they directly started playing in the peak tournament.

For this kind of grand battle with hundreds of thousands of people participating, the White Lotus Holy Kingdom has already won one Battle of Guangdong.

Theoretically speaking, after the White Lotus Holy Kingdom wins the Battle of Guangxi, it can occupy the entire Liangguang region.

Then fight the Battle of Huguang, and then launch a grand battle in the Jiangnan region, and half of the country will be in hand.

The greater the strategic significance, the less failure can be tolerated, and the greater the pressure on the front-line generals.

Kong Siliu chose to divide the troops into three routes, which had logistical considerations and was also because there were too many troops and horses to command.

Even for the grand army of one hundred thousand in Xunzhou, he felt it was difficult to coordinate.

In order to reduce internal contradictions and avoid the outbreak of civil war, he had to separate the Tusi who had grudges.

It just so happens that the grudges and hatreds between the Guangxi Tusi are too numerous to record.

Not only did the White Lotus Sect provoke internal strife among the Tusi, but successive Central Plains dynasties did not do less of this for the sake of local stability.

Tracing back, neighboring Tusi basically had blood feuds.

Between the Tusi of several adjacent prefectures, there were also regional contradictions that were incompatible.

Opening the local gazetteers of Guangxi, two-thirds of the content records the history of Tusi internal strife.

"Alright, let's not mention the past.

From now on, I don't want to see armed fighting happen in the army again.

If anyone offends again, I don't care whose subordinate general it is, I will deal with it according to military law!"

Kong Siliu, who had just finished handling a dispute, reprimanded the group of Tusi leaders.

In order to facilitate command and also to better manipulate these Tusi.

The troops and horses of the Dazhai Tusi were deliberately dismantled by him, and only a part remained here.

The other troops and horses were dismantled into the other two routes of the army.

Strength in the army is the right to speak.

With fewer troops in hand, the arrogance of these big Tusi was also reduced a lot.

Compared to the first military meeting, where there was a chaotic scene of slapping tables, it was now much more well-behaved.

Seeing that the group of Tusi were still glaring at each other, Kong Siliu also knew that it was unrealistic to let everyone put down their hatred.

The White Lotus Holy Kingdom also did not allow them to put down their hatred.

If the Tusi's relationship were truly harmonious, it wouldn't be just one conscription order that could gather people to sell their lives.

Only if the Tusi continue to fight internally will they need to fight for their support.

Whoever dares not to buy it, just wipe them out first.

"Don't say I didn't give you a chance; as long as you win this battle, beauties, land, gold, silver, and jewelry will all be there.

Whoever can make the first contribution in the grand battle, I will personally memorialize the Holy Emperor to confer upon him the title of Prefect, holding the military and political power of a prefecture.

Meng Qingfeng, Yang Jingyuan, Hou Xiangyu, I order you three to lead your own troops and act as the vanguard of the grand army.

If you encounter small enemy forces, wipe them out directly.

If you encounter the enemy's main force, there is no need to clash head-on with them; just wait for the main grand army."

Hearing Kong Siliu's order, the three of Meng, Yang, and Hou frowned in unison.

"The gun hits the bird that sticks its head out"—this applies everywhere.

With the failure of the Battle of Lianzhou, the strength comparison of the Guangxi Tusi's internal strife has also been reshuffled.

Now, these three families have the strongest strength, possess the most population and troops, and occupy the vastest land.

Even after entering the camp, the three of them tried their best to control their subordinates not to cause trouble, but they were still targeted by the Regional Commander.

"The subordinate receives the order!"

"The subordinate receives the order!"

"The subordinate receives the order!"

From the listless answers, one could hear how reluctant the three were.

Acting as the vanguard troops seems to be heavily used, but in reality, it is exchanging one's head for military merit.

Having clashed with the Lianzhou imperial troops before, they know very well how tricky the enemy is.

If they are slightly careless and overturn the car on the battlefield, everything they have now will vanish into thin air.

It's a pity that this is the army; if they dare to resist the order, their heads will fall to the ground immediately.

……

"Two, please stay!"

After leaving the commander's camp, Meng Qingfeng hurriedly called out to stop Yang and Hou, who were preparing to leave.

"Brother Meng called us to stop; what for?"

Yang Jingyuan asked suspiciously.

The three of them are all old-school Tusi, but they have no friendship with each other, and their grudges have accumulated into a pile.

Just last month, everyone was still leading a group of little brothers to fight.

"Brother Yang, Brother Hou, I wonder how you two view this battle?"

Meng Qingfeng asked in return.

Frankly speaking, this kind of place is not suitable for discussing military topics.

It's just that the three lacked sufficient trust, and if he invited them to his own commander's camp, others would suspect him of having ulterior motives.

"Of course, we view it standing!

The military order has been received; apart from executing the order, what else can we do?"

Hou Xiangyu said angrily.

Wanting to provoke him to cause trouble is impossible.

At present, the White Lotus Holy Kingdom is powerful, and they can only tuck their tails and be human.

Now they are hoping that the White Lotus Holy Kingdom will move its capital and leave early.

Once the administrative center is far away from Guangxi, the suppression of them will cease to exist.

Compared to the Central Plains, Lingnan is ultimately too remote to become a political center.

"Brother Hou, things can be discussed; next, we still have to act as vanguards together.

Once on the battlefield, there will be no shortage of needing to help each other in the same boat.

If there is a rift because of some misunderstandings, that would not be good."

Yang Jingyuan spoke to smooth things over.

Deep in his heart, he had long since started cursing.

Letting them, these people with heavy contradictions, act as the vanguard of the grand army together.

The purpose of mutual supervision has been achieved, but the problem is how to cooperate?

Even if the generals above know how to consider the overall situation, can the small soldiers below maintain rationality?

The power of hatred is huge; it's possible that someone will stab their teammates in the back.

He doesn't know what others think, but anyway, he doesn't dare to hand his back to his teammates.

"Brother Yang is right; now we need to help each other in the same boat.

Those imperial troops in Lianzhou are not ordinary imperial troops.

From the intelligence collected, the Huai'an Camp and the Yangzhou Camp are both the direct forces of the nobility, and the main generals come from the most prominent Jing and Li families among the nobility.

I think Brother Hou will not be unfamiliar with these two families.

With such a background, the resources obtained by the Yangzhou Camp and the Huai'an Camp are not comparable to ordinary Great Dayu imperial troops.

The Regional Commander is also well-versed in military books and proficient in various military tactics.

Encountering such an enemy, no matter how much importance is attached to it, it is not too much.

In the last Lianzhou grand battle, you didn't come, but I personally learned how powerful they are.

A grand army of one hundred thousand was crushed head-on by the enemy in just two hours.

This is partly because the war elephants were frightened and caused chaos in our army, but more because the enemy's combat effectiveness was too strong.

The vanguard troops we lead are definitely not the enemy's opponents.

Once a chance encounter occurs with the enemy's main force, I'm afraid even running away will be difficult.

After all, the enemy has cavalry troops.

Although we also have cavalry, they train too little in normal times, and the gap in combat effectiveness between the two sides is obvious."

Meng Qingfeng said with lingering fear.

Cavalry is too money-burning, and Guangxi has a lot of mountainous terrain, so only a few Tusi are equipped with cavalry.

These cavalry can only be said to have good riding skills; wanting long-term full-time training is impossible.

Even for big Tusi like them, it is impossible to afford fully full-time cavalry.

In fact, even if they could afford it, they wouldn't dare to raise them.

In normal times, they engage in small fights, and no one pays attention to them.

Daring to sharpen their weapons and feed their horses, the Embroidered Uniform Guard and local government offices are not eating for free; they would have long since reported to the court to send troops to encircle and suppress them.

Even pulling out a hundred cavalrymen and taking a lap outside could lead to a disaster.

Not being able to solve all the Tusi does not mean they can't handle wiping out one or two Tusi.

As for the armor needed by the cavalry, there is no need to count on it.

The Great Dayu Dynasty's control over armor is very strict; even if you have money, don't think about buying goods.

It was not until the White Lotus Sect rebelled that the shackles on them were opened.

Having lived in luxury for over a hundred years, the hereditary Tusi were mostly raised to be useless.

Those who have the ambition to expand military equipment are the minority, and those who have both ambition and ability are even fewer.

The three of them can be considered to have both ambition and ability, but they can't stand the fact that their family foundation is too weak.

In order to stand out among the group of Tusi, they have already exhausted their family wealth.

Wanting to go further, unless they occupy more land and obtain more population.

"Meng Qingfeng, why do you have to boost others' morale and destroy your own prestige?

It's not that our three families alone are not the opponents of the imperial troops, but this time the White Lotus Holy Kingdom has mobilized a grand army of forty thousand.

Even if you cut them in half, there is at least a grand army of twenty thousand.

The imperial troops on the opposite side have no more than thirty thousand troops, more than half of which are garrison troops.

The real ones who can fight are only over ten thousand elite soldiers; even if we trade five for one, we can drag the enemy to death!"

Hou Xiangyu said with disdain.

In recent days, he has annexed several strongholds and is in high spirits.

If it weren't for the White Lotus Holy Kingdom intervening, he might have been the largest Tusi in Guangxi.

Military victory made him despise other Tusi.

Even old-school Tusi like the Meng family, he doesn't put them in his eyes now.

"Brother Hou has confidence, that's good; for the next grand battle, I will rely on Brother Hou!"

Meng Qingfeng said, suppressing his anger.

Originally, he was thinking of the three families uniting to fight for greater right to speak in the grand battle, but after seeing his teammate's performance, he immediately decided to change the plan.

War always needs cannon fodder; their Tusi coalition is the cannon fodder found by the White Lotus Holy Kingdom.

Wanting to protect their own clansmen, they can only let other Tusi sacrifice.

Yang Jingyuan on the side also saw the signs, but this time, he did not come out to smooth things over.

In the past years, the contradictions accumulated by each family were too deep to be resolved in a few words.

It's fine to say it openly like this; what's most feared is promising well on the mouth, but suddenly changing their minds on the battlefield.

……

Hearing the report from his personal guards that the three had parted on bad terms after meeting, Kong Siliu showed a satisfied smile.

Letting Tusi fight internally is the national policy of the White Lotus Holy Kingdom.

As long as the Holy Capital is in Guangxi for one day, the national policy of suppressing the Tusi cannot be changed.

Apart from political needs, a group of Holy Kingdom high-level officials were also bullied by the Tusi before they rose up.

These Tusi not only forbade them from preaching in the strongholds but also often sent people to set up checkpoints on the roads to collect fees.

Back then, when he was selling salt privately, more than half of the profits were taken by these guys.

Occasionally bargaining would lead to a beating.

The protection fee was not collected by the Tusi himself; these inconspicuous small things naturally wouldn't be taken seriously by them.

But for the person involved, no matter how long the matter has passed, the grudge is ultimately settled.

The officials and gentry who oppressed them in the past have all been liquidated; how could these Tusi be absent?

For the sake of the overall situation, it is not convenient to directly take revenge, but the secret means have never stopped.

The alliance relationship between the two sides has gradually changed its quality from the moment they took Guangxi.

"Marquis, these people have heavy contradictions; I'm afraid they will suffer a big loss on the battlefield.

If the vanguard grand army is defeated, it will be a heavy blow to the morale of the army!"

Secretary Zhou on the side reminded tactfully.

Borrowing a knife to kill can be done, but the back of this knife, the imperial troops, is also sharpened.

If one is slightly careless, one will hurt oneself.

"Rest assured, I have long been prepared.

For this grand battle, I asked the Holy Emperor for three thousand cavalrymen, all of whom are elites in the sect.

These vanguard troops are just bait thrown out, waiting for the enemy to take the bait.

I'm not afraid of the enemy eating them; I'm afraid the enemy won't take the bait and will directly defend the city.

Lianzhou City is not sturdy, but it is not something that can be taken in a short while.

If the grand battle falls into a stalemate, the consumption of the grand army of two hundred thousand every day is not a small number.

The material reserves in the Holy Treasury are limited, but Guangxi's transportation is blocked, and the loss of transporting materials from Huguang and Guangdong is too great.

I estimate that after this battle, the Holy Kingdom will move its capital!"

Kong Siliu shook his head and said.

……

(End of Chapter)