Chapter 176

Early morning.

The first ray of sunlight sprinkled on the earth, and rebel corpses were continuously thrown into the raging fire.

Driven by the breeze, the smell of meat permeated everywhere.

Li Mu, who had finished embellishing the battle report, suppressed his nausea and finished his breakfast.

"Master Jia, this is yesterday's battle report.

According to the prisoners' confessions, the rebels dispatched an army of one hundred and fifty thousand this time, led by the self-proclaimed Marquis Zhongyi of the White Lotus Sect, Kong Siliu.

However, this traitor was shot to death by arrows in the great battle.

Combining the battle results of all units, yesterday our army routed one hundred and fifty thousand rebels, killed fifteen thousand, obtained twelve thousand heads, and captured forty-three thousand prisoners.

Now there are routed rebel soldiers everywhere outside; if there is time to pursue, doubling the battle results is not a problem.

Unfortunately, the rear front line is in an emergency, and we must return to reinforce as soon as possible; there is no time to expand the results."

Li Mu bluffed without changing his expression.

The one hundred and fifty thousand army was what the rebels claimed externally to boost their momentum; interrogating the grassroots soldiers naturally resulted in one hundred and fifty thousand.

If one wanted to know the real number, apart from estimating from the number of tents, one still had to interrogate high-ranking generals.

However, these guys didn't have the chance to open their mouths before being directly silenced.

Involving military merit, without Li Mu's instruction, the people below would spontaneously do the work beautifully.

Jia Bo didn't understand military affairs and couldn't judge the approximate number of enemy troops at a glance, so naturally, he couldn't question the battle results reported by Li Mu.

How many routed soldiers were fleeing outside, no one could say clearly, but the heads and prisoners were definitely real.

"It's a pity to let the rebel soldiers leave like this.

If the enemy is allowed to round them up, it will be another trouble; why not let everyone stay for two more days."

Jia Bo said after pondering for a while.

The current battle results were already very excellent.

If they could double, the merit would be even greater.

As an Army Supervisor, his official career was tied to the army's battle results.

The more beautifully the Guangxi campaign was fought, the brighter his future would be.

Just the current merit was enough to guarantee a promotion.

If the battle merits were even more prominent, it wasn't impossible to be promoted two or three levels.

"Master Jia, there is no time.

After yesterday's great battle, the soldiers need to rest for two days before they can hit the road.

If we let the soldiers pursue the rebels in an exhausted state, then the delay won't just be the time to pursue the enemy soldiers, but also increase the soldiers' rest time.

After all the tossing, I'm afraid we'll have to wait until ten days later to hit the road again.

Lianzhou Prefecture's forces are empty; if we delay for so long, our lair might be lost.

Most of our grain and baggage are stored in the prefecture city, so we must ensure the safety of the prefecture city.

As for the remnants of the rebels, after we solve the other two enemy armies, we can turn back and clean them up!"

Li Mu continued to bluff.

He didn't know if the rebels could break through Lianzhou Prefecture, but if they stayed here, the battle results definitely wouldn't double.

The enemy had only seventy thousand people in total; no matter how hard they tried, it was impossible to achieve battle results exceeding this number.

Rather than staying here and cleaning up those remnants who couldn't achieve anything, it was better to go back quickly and solve the other two great armies.

There were too many routed soldiers outside, and the news of the enemy's defeat would definitely spread.

If they received the news, the other two rebel armies might be scared and shrink back to defend the city, and the subsequent battles would be hard to fight.

"What a pity!"

After sighing, Jia Bo stopped talking.

Losing Lianzhou Prefecture would make the army a rootless duckweed.

The Yangzhou Camp, having lost its logistical supply, would lose seventy or eighty percent of its combat effectiveness.

No matter how elite the soldiers were, one would be lost for every one that died.

Relying on their numerical advantage, the rebels could slowly grind them to death.

Being able to defeat the enemy quickly now was partly because the rebels' combat consciousness was not strong, and partly because the artillery strikes affected morale too much.

The enemy hadn't even touched them, and their own side had lost a large area; no one could stand that.

If they were all replaced by cold weapons and both sides engaged in close combat, the rebels would absolutely not collapse so quickly.

Along with the routed soldiers fleeing in all directions, the news of Kong Siliu's death in battle also began to spread to the outside world.

"What, the front line was defeated, and the Marquis died in battle?"

Qiao Xiaoer asked in panic.

As the Xunzhou garrison general, because the vanguard army was raided by the imperial army in his jurisdiction, he was currently in the stage of making up for his crimes.

To save his life, he offered most of his family wealth to Marquis Zhongxiao, asking him to help cover it up.

Now the main culprit was dead, and the previous promises naturally didn't count.

At this moment, he not only had to worry about the Holy Kingdom's high command punishing him, but also about the imperial army's main force killing their way over to take his head.

"Yes, General.

The routed soldiers who escaped all said so.

It's unknown exactly how he died, but the Marquis's head was hung on the city wall by the pseudo-dynasty's imperial army.

To hide their identities, our people didn't dare to get close to look."

Chen Zhishan said, pretending to be terrified.

Being able to find out the news so quickly wasn't because he was capable, but purely because he was originally a person from the court.

He couldn't be an Embroidered Uniform Guard anymore, couldn't return to Yangzhou Prefecture, and his original identity had been canceled.

His new identity was a Guangxi native.

To re-establish himself in officialdom, he had to have merit.

Taking advantage of the White Lotus Holy Kingdom's grassroots creation, he spent money to get into the rebel ranks, but his status was not high.

If it weren't for reporting the news, a grassroots squad leader like him wouldn't even have the qualifications to be looked at directly by the Xunzhou garrison general before him.

"Damn it!"

"With Marquis Zhongxiao's great reputation, I actually treated him as a famous general of this era.

I never expected him to be such a piece of trash!

With so many troops, even if they stood there and let the enemy hack at them, they wouldn't be able to finish killing them for a while.

He was actually able to be defeated so quickly; what's the difference between him and those three pieces of trash before?

The Holy Kingdom's great foundation was all buried by this group of trash!

..."

Qiao Xiaoer cursed incessantly.

In his view, he was definitely suffering from an undeserved disaster.

The Holy Kingdom's army losing a battle was because the commander was incompetent; it had nothing to do with him, this small garrison general.

At the very least, before the Holy Kingdom launched the great battle, he, this small garrison general, had kept Xunzhou Prefecture from being lost.

"General, hurry and come up with a countermeasure!

If it's any later, the imperial army might kill their way over."

Chen Zhishan urged, pretending to be anxious.

The imperial army wouldn't kill their way over for the time being, but Qiao Xiaoer didn't know that.

As the Xunzhou garrison general, he knew the imperial army's power.

In the small-scale skirmishes before, the troops under his command had never won.

Keeping Xunzhou Prefecture was because the enemy had never seriously attacked Xunzhou.

"I know I need a way; if I had a way, would I still be here serving as the Xunzhou garrison general?"

Qiao Xiaoer reprimanded with annoyance.

To launch this great battle, the White Lotus Holy Kingdom had drawn troops from all prefectures in Guangxi.

Xunzhou, which was on the front line, was the hardest-hit area for troop extraction.

At its peak, the troops under his command had over ten thousand, and now less than two thousand remained.

And these people were not regular troops; their role was more to maintain public order in the jurisdiction.

Even if they could round up some routed soldiers, they couldn't count on their combat effectiveness.

"General, why not ask the Holy Kingdom for reinforcements!

After Marquis Zhongxiao died in battle, the encircling army on the front line is leaderless and is definitely not the opponent of the pseudo-dynasty's imperial army.

Unless the Holy Dynasty sends reinforcements, it will be difficult to hold Xunzhou!"

Secretary Wang on the side hurriedly advised.

If Xunzhou fell into the hands of the government, others might live, but he, who had a degree, would definitely die.

While enjoying privileges, they must show integrity to the Emperor to prove that the preferential treatment wasn't in vain.

If they didn't kill one to warn a hundred, and a large number of scholars and officials surrendered to the rebels, then the "literati integrity" of the civil officials would be ruined.

Losing the blessing of righteousness, the political foundation for the gentry to enjoy privileges would be shaken.

If one day they encountered a strong Emperor, they might just abolish their privileges directly.

After all, the privileges they enjoyed had long exceeded the scope given by the court.

Many obscure privileges were only gradually fought for by the civil official group after they grew strong.

"Alright!

Secretary, draft a memorial for me to ask the Holy Emperor for reinforcements."

Qiao Xiaoer said in a bad state.

Encountering such a miserable thing, no one could handle it.

If the main army had won a great victory, then everyone would just laugh off the matter of the vanguard force being raided.

Anyway, those who died were Tusi soldiers, and the White Lotus Holy Kingdom wouldn't take it to heart.

But now that the main force had been defeated, the nature of the matter had changed instantly.

Once the Holy Kingdom investigated the responsibility for the defeat, he would definitely be implicated.

Whether he could escape this disaster would depend on the operation in the court.

Regardless of the final result, his personal official career was definitely not "bright."

Chen Zhishan on the side wanted to speak, but finally swallowed his words.

Given his status and position, it wasn't suitable for him to mention surrendering now.

Only when driven to a dead end could persuasion to surrender exert the greatest effect.

Late at night, White Lotus Holy Kingdom Imperial Palace.

Shi Rongxuan had just completed the feat of sleeping with two women at night, and his body couldn't take it anymore.

In private, he had repeatedly warned himself to quit drinking and lust, but fine wine makes people intoxicated, and beauties are hard to forget.

Moreover, these beauties were all tributes from front-line generals; since he had already accepted them before, if he suddenly stopped accepting them now, the people below wouldn't be able to work with peace of mind.

"Holy Emperor, an urgent report from Xunzhou!"

Hearing the female official's voice, Shi Rongxuan frowned.

The White Lotus Holy Kingdom abolished the eunuch system; the palace adopted a female official system, and all those responsible for palace affairs were women.

The news didn't come at the right time; fortunately, he had just finished his business, otherwise, it would have been even more disappointing.

"Pick the important parts to read; I don't want to hear nonsense."

Shi Rongxuan said with annoyance.

"The encirclement army's southward expedition failed; the commander, Marquis Zhongxiao, died in battle, and the remaining troops..."

Before the female official could finish reading, Shi Rongxuan's anger flared up.

"Trash!"

"All of them are trash!"

"I thought Marquis Zhongxiao was a pillar of the country and entrusted the Holy Kingdom's great task to him; I didn't expect him to repay me like this!

It's simply..."

All kinds of ugly words kept popping out of Shi Rongxuan's mouth, without leaving half a face for the dead Marquis Zhongxiao.

Regardless of the past relationship, when conquering the world, incompetence is the greatest original sin.

Twenty thousand troops besieging thirty thousand imperial troops, not only losing the battle but also having the commander die in the hands of the enemy.

Such battle results were simply unwatchable.

With the commander dead, one could imagine the subsequent great battle.

Since the establishment of the White Lotus Holy Kingdom, this was the first great defeat in such a large-scale campaign.

As an Emperor, Shi Rongxuan needed to consider not only military affairs but also political influence.

Once the news spread, those hidden inside the Holy Kingdom who were loyal to Great Dayu would definitely become active.

The front-line persuasion to surrender would also be affected.

Those wavering local forces would once again throw themselves into the embrace of Great Dayu.

If one were not careful, the White Lotus Holy Kingdom's great situation would be ruined.

(End of chapter)