Chapter 192: New combat plan

"Commander Li's words are reasonable; when using troops, one should prioritize caution."

Jia Bo echoed with an awkward expression.

The Yunnan-Guizhou allied army had many troops and generals, so losing three thousand troops would not affect the overall situation.

The situation in Guangxi was different; the mobile forces in hand totaled only twenty thousand or so, and they were divided into two routes to unfold together.

Let alone losing three thousand, even losing three hundred would be enough to make one's heart ache.

Elite troops and cannon fodder were not on the same level.

Cannon fodder could be had in any amount, but elite troops needed money and grain to feed.

"The battle report is somewhat suspicious.

The Yunnan-Guizhou allied army combined has over a hundred thousand troops.

Losing only three thousand troops, when divided between the two provinces, counts for nothing.

According to the principle of reporting good news but not bad, the Yunnan Provincial Governor and Guizhou Provincial Governor should have covered it up.

At worst, they could recruit some new soldiers to fill the vacancies in time; there was no need to report the news of the defeat.

Unless it was the elite troops that were lost, causing them to lose their offensive capability in the short term, they had to report it!"

The one who understood civil officials best was a civil official; both being Provincial Governors, Zhang Sihan saw the trick in the battle report at a glance.

The Yunnan-Guizhou allied army seemed to have over a hundred thousand, but there were not many who could truly fight.

Constrained by financial resources, Yunnan and Guizhou each had only one battalion of recruits.

Nominally, there should be over 5,600 people, but the actual troop strength was probably around 3,000.

Being suppressed and beaten by the rebel army earlier could explain the problem.

The ability to launch a counter-offensive was due to the imperial court dispatching a garrison of elite troops from the Shu region.

Following the Great Dayu's fine traditions, this garrison of Shu troops would certainly not be at full strength, and their numbers should not exceed eight thousand.

Considering the losses from the previous major battles, the total strength of the garrison, combining two battalions, should be around twelve thousand men.

Losing 3,000 troops was equivalent to a combat loss of one-fourth.

Such a loss was already a blow to the bones and tendons.

The best result was that a certain battalion had bad luck and was directly wiped out by the rebel army.

The worst was that these elite troops all participated in the battle and shared this loss together, all suffering a great blow to their vitality.

"What the truth is does not matter; the Yunnan-Guizhou front line will not have too much danger.

From the intelligence gathered, the rebel army is already transporting grain through the rain.

If it is not the enemy setting up a deceptive formation, then it is that the rebel army's grain reserves have already dropped to a very dangerous number.

In order to guarantee the main army's logistics, they can only spare no cost to purchase grain from the Annan Kingdom.

Against this background, the barren Yunnan-Guizhou region is just a chicken rib to the rebel army.

Even Liangguang has to take a back seat; their true target will only be Huguang or Jiangxi."

Li Mu analyzed calmly.

Human-sea tactics require paying a price.

To support a million-strong army with the broken Liangguang region—even if Xiao He and Kong Ming were reborn, it would be impossible to do.

Moreover, the rebel army had not yet given birth to outstanding internal affairs talents, and after the war, they did not even deliberately organize the restoration of production.

Relying entirely on plundering landlords and gentry, being able to support it until now was already very difficult.

"Commander Li's words are not wrong; the rebel army's current target can only be Huguang and Jiangxi.

I cannot care about so much; this Governor will write a letter to remind them immediately!"

Zhang Sihan said with worry.

With the Yunnan Provincial Governor and Guizhou Provincial Governor who suffered defeats as a cushion, even if he could not complete the task, his official hat would not be in danger for the time being.

With his own safety secured, he no longer urged sending troops, but instead began to consider the overall situation.

The six-province allied army was encircling and suppressing the White Lotus Sect rebellion; the troops of the Yunnan and Guizhou provinces could not be counted on for the time being.

If they could contain the rebel army on the western front and not let the enemy draw troops from the western front, that would be good enough.

Fujian's enthusiasm for participating in the war was not high; counting on them to tear open the enemy's defense line and recover Guangdong was basically hopeless.

If the Guangxi side did not show something, the remaining main force would be Huguang and Jiangxi.

These two were the rebel army's key targets for attack; no matter how much they didn't want to fight, they could only fight to the death with the enemy.

"Provincial Governor, do not panic.

The court has deployed main forces in Huguang and Jiangxi; the rebel army does not have such a good appetite, and they won't be able to eat them up in a short while.

Heaven is favoring the court; the water level of the Yu River has returned to normal, and Guangxi's rainy season is about to end.

Having been stifled for such a long time, it is time for us to move.

However, the combat target this time needs to be slightly adjusted.

Our feint attack on Zhen'an earlier played a role; in order to protect the transport lifeline, the rebel army drew troops from the rear to reinforce the three prefectures of Zhen'an, Nanning, and Xunzhou.

At this moment, Liuzhou, Pingle, Qingyuan, and other places, except for the soldiers maintaining public order, can almost be said to be undefended."

While speaking, Li Mu pointed at the map.

Looking at the map, the three prefectures of Zhen'an, Nanning, and Xunzhou were exactly the border areas between the two sides.

The White Lotus Sect guarding the three places with main forces was completely in line with the essence of military strategy.

As for the rear being empty, that was unavoidable.

Fighting was going on everywhere; the White Lotus Sect had too many battle lines to take care of and simply had no more troops to leave behind to guard the rear.

"You want to bypass the cities guarded by the enemy's main forces, cross the Yu River, directly penetrate deep into the enemy's hinterland, and strike directly at the Yellow Dragon to attack and take Guilin!"

Jing Yifeng could not help but exclaim.

As a professional, he saw Li Mu's true purpose at a glance.

Liuzhou, Pingle, and Qingyuan were all empty; the only thing worth Li Mu taking a risk for was the rebel army's "Imperial City," Guilin.

Once the goal was completed, it would cause a fatal blow to the rebel army politically.

If they were lucky and destroyed the rebel army's central government, they would have won more than half of this suppression war.

The White Lotus Sect armies fighting on their own would no longer be a threat to the court.

"It doesn't necessarily have to be attacking and taking Guilin first; we can also continue to advance west and poke the enemy's western route army in the eye.

After joining forces with the Yunnan-Guizhou allied army to defeat the western route army, we can then drive straight in and kill our way into Guilin.

Or we can draw the enemies in Zhen'an, Nanning, and Xunzhou out of the cities and defeat them in the field."

Li Mu explained with a smile.

The best military strategy is to attack the enemy's strategy, followed by attacking their alliances, followed by attacking their soldiers, and the lowest is attacking their cities.

"Attacking strategy" and "attacking alliances"—he couldn't play these high-end operations for the time being.

However, "attacking soldiers" and "attacking cities"—Li Mu still knew how to play those.

Essentially, his plan was a conspiracy in the open.

As long as the penetration was completed, no matter what plan the rebel army took to respond, they would fall into a passive position strategically.

"Commander Li, if we do this, will the risk be too great?

Penetrating deep into the enemy's rear alone, we will be unable to obtain supplies..."

Before Jia Bo could finish, Li Mu interrupted.

"Minister Jia, using troops is itself taking risks.

As long as the benefits and risks are proportional, it is worth taking the risk.

As for the problem of logistics and supplies, the enemy has already prepared grain for us.

Just robbing a grain transport team is enough for the main army to consume for a while.

Moreover, the enemy has also established a grain transfer station within Liuzhou territory.

It is said that there are hundreds of thousands of shi of reserves there; if we can grab it, it will be enough for our penetrating troops to eat for several years.

If we can't grab it, it doesn't matter; setting a fire to it will also be enough to make the enemy's heart ache."

Having inquired about the information so clearly, it was obvious that he had been prepared for a long time.

Calling it a discussion of the combat plan was more like having already drafted the plan in advance and calling everyone together to notify them.

If it were any other battlefield, the military generals below would dare to snatch the power to formulate combat plans, and the Provincial Governor and Army Supervisor would have long since exploded.

But Guangxi was different; it had always been Zhang Sihan and Jia Bo coaxing Li Mu to send troops.

Being able to produce a plan was already giving them face.

Not saying hello and directly taking action was not something they hadn't done before.

"Commander Li, who are you planning to arrange to execute this task?"

Zhang Sihan asked with concern.

The intention was very clear: anyone could lead troops to take risks, but Li Mu could not personally lead troops deep into the enemy's rear.

Having arrived in Guangxi for such a long time, he had also figured out that the soul of Guangxi was Li Mu.

Whether in the army or in terms of influence among the people, no one else could compare.

In peaceful times, for a military general to have such high prestige, the time until he was "taken out" would not be far off.

But now it was wartime; most of Guangxi's territory was in the hands of the rebel army, and the court's limited controlled areas were under martial law.

This was not military generals overstepping their authority; it was purely because civil officials were not in place.

Zhang Sihan, this Provincial Governor, had exhausted his efforts and could only pull together a temporary team.

It was limited to filling the Provincial Governor's Yamen; to appoint officials for the prefectures and counties below, that was impossible.

Scholars certainly wanted to be officials, but they valued their lives more.

The newly recovered areas, although having undergone multiple encircling and suppressing campaigns, still had remnants of the rebel army.

Under martial law, these people could only be forced to behave.

Once the normal state was restored, the few constables recruited by the Yamen simply could not deter these desperate people.

"Naturally, it is this General!"

Before Li Mu could answer, Jing Yifeng snatched the words.

In the eyes of ordinary people, this trip was extremely dangerous.

But to Jing Yifeng, who understood the situation, what he saw was an opportunity.

Whether penetrating deep into the enemy's rear alone was dangerous mainly depended on the specific situation.

At this moment, even if the rebel army wanted to encircle and wipe out his isolated army, the only ones they could mobilize in the short term were the garrison troops of Zhen'an, Nanning, and Xunzhou.

Based on his understanding of Li Mu, as long as the enemy dared to leave the city, at least one of the routes would not be able to leave alive.

Three go, one is lost; it might even become the imperial army attacking the rebel army from the front and back.

Moreover, killing into the enemy's rear, he would be a dragon entering the sea, wanting to strike wherever he wanted.

He didn't need to truly capture Guilin; just wandering around outside Guilin city would be enough to scare the White Lotus Holy Kingdom half to death.

If the White Lotus Holy Lord were a bit dim-witted, it might even lead to the heads of the garrison generals of Zhen'an, Nanning, and Xunzhou being on the block.

Advancing to the west was even more terrifying; attacking from the front and back to break the western line, what would be let in would not be ten or twenty thousand imperial troops, but over a hundred thousand main army.

By then, the rebel army would not only be unable to hold Guangxi, but even Guangdong would be impossible to guard.

Losing their foundation, no matter how well the remaining troops could fight, they could only be reduced to wandering bandits.

With the gentry's hatred for the White Lotus Holy Kingdom, it would be difficult for them to open up the situation again.

"If General Jing is willing to lead the troops on the expedition, that is naturally the best."

"The situation on this trip is special; it must be completed before the enemy army reacts to complete the strategic penetration."

"The main army can only carry half a month of dry rations and travel light to raid Liuzhou."

"If the siege fails and you want supplies, you can only set your sights on the enemy's grain transport team."

"And this long-distance raid can carry at most ten thousand troops."

Li Mu then took the words.

The troop number was completely based on the troop strength under Jing Yifeng.

It was not that he was reluctant to send his own troops, mainly because the army of Great Dayu had too obvious an era characteristic.

The military generals' own troops were all based on their own retainers.

When commanding themselves, it was naturally easy to use.

If someone else went to command, how many people would buy it was an unknown.

Expanding the troop strength to only ten thousand was also Jing Yifeng's last resort.

A standard garrison of troops possesses a two-battalion establishment, and even at full capacity, the personnel would be fewer than twelve thousand.

Considering Great Dayu's tradition of embezzling military pay, for military generals, letting the troops be full was a blood loss.

In fact, if it were not for being in wartime, an establishment of 10,000 would be considered large.

To want more establishments, one could only strive for a few more battalion establishments.

The Great Dayu Dynasty's military garrison establishments, aside from the conventional two-battalion structure, also have establishments of three, four, five, six, seven, eight, or nine battalions.

The most representative examples are the various garrisons of the Nine Borders; forced by the needs of the situation, they all adopt large-scale establishments.

Garrisons in frontier regions with twenty or thirty thousand men are not strange occurrences at all.

Guangxi was also located on the border, but it did not have this treatment.

Compared to the Nine Borders front line, the threat of the Annan people was still smaller.

Most of the time, it was the Annan people who worried about the Yu army going south to recover the Jiaozhi Provincial Administration Commission.

Invading Guangxi to the north had always been a "dream" of the Annan people.

It had always been small actions in secret; actual actions were limited to conferring titles on Tusi, and supporting the rebel army was already their biggest move.

With low strategic threat, they could not get extra funding from the court.

Guangxi, this poor province that relied on subsidies, found it too difficult to support two battalions of recruits.

The famous Guangxi Wolf Soldiers were only five or six thousand people in normal times.

"Eight thousand main army is enough; too many troops are instead unfavorable for unfolding."

"Just wait for the rainy season to end, and this General will lead the troops on a western expedition."

"For the sake of safety, the specific combat plan will not be formulated for the time being."

"As for the Grand Secretary's side, I hope the Provincial Governor and Army Supervisor will keep it secret for the time being; it won't be too late to report it after success!"

Jing Yifeng answered immediately.

He still had to leave some of his foundation.

The battlefield changes rapidly; if the troop strength suffered too many losses, he had to leave some capital to make a comeback.

"General Jing, rest assured; today's matter will rot in our stomachs."

"Even if we report it, it will be after the great battle breaks out!"

While speaking, Jia Bo also specially glanced at Zhang Sihan.

As if saying that the previous cooperation had never had any slip-ups, and if a problem appeared now, it would be caused by the fourth person stepping in.

Facing the warning-filled gaze, Zhang Sihan just nodded slightly.

It was rare for the Guangxi Front Army to be willing to move; at this time, one could not hold them back.

Wuchang Prefecture.

Even though many days had passed, Xu Wenyue was still brooding over the defeat of the Yunnan-Guizhou allied army.

It was too unjust to lose.

Until now, he still hadn't figured out why they fell into the enemy's ambush.

If it weren't for the fact that changing commanders on the eve of battle was easy to trigger greater chaos, he would have wanted to carry out a major purge.

"Grand Secretary, Provincial Governor Zhang, Army Supervisor Jia, Commander Li, and General Jing have jointly memorialized."

"They believe that the rebel army will next focus on attacking Huguang and Jiangxi, and hope that both places can strengthen their defenses so as not to give the enemy an opportunity."

Receiving this news, Xu Wenyue's brows furrowed slightly, and then he sighed:

"An eventful autumn!"

It was the first time he had received a joint memorial, but he was not the only one who had been reminded to strengthen the defense of Huguang and Jiangxi.

Without needing too much thought, just by the wealth of Huguang and Jiangxi, it was enough to make the rebel army tempted.

Huguang provided the most grain for Great Dayu and contributed the fifth-largest tax revenue.

Jiangxi was also a major grain-producing province; although it could not catch up with Huguang, its contribution to the court's finances had always ranked in the top three.

Just by capturing one of them, the rebel army could complete a transformation.

"Grand Secretary, their worries are not without reason; the rebel army's next combat target is probably one of them."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 193 =====