Chapter 196: Ripples

"Nanning has fallen, the pseudo-dynasty's main army is launching a massive attack on Liuzhou!"

"Huang Huang Yuheng, that kid, what is he doing?"

Fu Fu Sanqi couldn't help but roar in anger.

The Holy Kingdom deployed thirty thousand troops in Nanning; under the condition of firmly defending the city, they should have held out for a year or a half.

Unfortunately, reality was very face-slapping; never mind holding out for a year or a half, they didn't even hold for two days.

The pseudo-dynasty reached the city walls, and the next day they broke Nanning.

Such a siege speed was rare in all of history.

Even if a pig were put in charge as Regional Commander, it wouldn't fail to hold for two days.

"Prime Minister, now pursuing these things has no meaning.

Nanning has fallen, and Liuzhou is empty; it will be hard to block the pseudo-dynasty's main army's blade.

Once Liuzhou Prefecture falls, our connection with the Holy Capital will be cut off at the waist.

The materials purchased at a high price from the Annan Kingdom will never be able to be transported back to the Holy Capital to support the battlefields everywhere.

Continuing to firmly defend Zhen'an Prefecture has already lost its strategic value.

As a top priority, we must consider the retreat.

Either fully rescue Liuzhou, or detour west and kill directly into Yunnan!"

Assistant Regional Commander Wan Wan Junhui advised.

Nanning's geographical location was truly too important.

Losing Nanning, the Guinan region falling, became inevitable.

If Liuzhou were lost again, then more than half of Among Guangxi would change hands.

"Rescuing Liuzhou—time is already too late.

From the news received, the pseudo-dynasty's main army, on the day they surrounded Nanning, split off an elite force and headed straight for Liuzhou.

The troops guarding Liuzhou Prefecture are less than two thousand, and they are mostly old and weak, with no combat effectiveness.

Even if we immediately assemble the main army and rush back, it will be ten days before we can reach the battlefield.

The enemy will not leave us so much time; it's likely Liuzhou Prefecture city has already been captured by the pseudo-dynasty.

Even if we truly encountered them in the field, the few tens of thousands of troops in our hands are mostly not the enemy's match."

Fu Fu Sanqi said helplessly.

Seemingly a multiple-choice question, in reality, he had no choice at all.

He was currently in the stage of atoning for his crimes.

If he suffered another defeat, even if he were the Holy Emperor's confidant, it would be hard to escape being punished.

Under the condition that Zhen'an Prefecture couldn't be held, he had to obtain bright achievements to go back and answer for it.

He didn't hope to kill how many tens of thousands of enemy troops; even killing a few thousand imperial troops and rendering it would be enough to cope.

The hard bones on the Among Guangxi side couldn't be chewed, so he could only pick soft persimmons to pinch.

"Prime Minister, why destroy one's own prestige and boost the enemy's ambition!

This subordinate has seen many pseudo-dynasty main armies, and they aren't that strong.

Even their elite recruits, built with heavy money, have combat effectiveness only a few points stronger than our troops.

Relying on numerical advantage, fighting a decisive battle with the enemy in the field, we can also be five-five."

Wan Wan Junhui said unconvinced.

As a rising star of the Bai Lian Holy Kingdom, his status was entirely killed out from the battlefield with a knife and a gun.

Both sides hadn't started fighting, yet his own Regional Commander was cowardly first; it was truly too cowardly.

"You, your temperament is too arrogant; if you go on like this, you will suffer a big loss.

How strong this imperial army is, this Prime Minister has seen with his own eyes.

With equal troop strength, there is no army in the Holy Kingdom that can contend with them.

The few tens of thousands of troops in our hands seem to be trained well, but they are still quite a bit away from being elite.

On the frontal battlefield, it is very easy to be beaten into collapse by the enemy."

Fu Fu Sanqi shook his head and said.

Elite troops, no matter in which era, are a tiny minority.

Even in the chaotic battles of hundreds of thousands of troops, what truly determines victory or defeat is still a few elite troops.

On the battlefield, elite troops are like a sharp blade.

Cutting open a gap in the front, and the troops behind following up, can they exert the power of the main army.

If the elite troops are gone, it's equivalent to

The offensive power remained, but it was no longer as sharp as it once was.

To pit ordinary troops against the enemy's elite meant they could only rely on human lives to wear them down.

The two previous battles in Among Guangxi proved that the enemy commander's tactical ability was formidable; it was too difficult to set a trap to encircle and annihilate this force of Yu troops.

Knowing his opponent was formidable, Fu Fu Sanqi did not lose heart.

For the Great Dayu Dynasty to have existed for so many years, it was impossible for them to be without some foundation.

Judging from the intelligence gathered, the imperial troops in the Among Guangxi region came from the two most powerful military noble families of Great Dayu.

It was perfectly normal for them to be able to forge two elite units.

"Prime Minister, even if we are not the enemy's match now, we will be able to annihilate them in the future.

The puppet dynasty's emperor doesn't know how to use troops at all; deploying such elites to Among Guangxi is a complete waste.

If the enemy were smart enough, they would have transferred them to the Huguang front to be used as the main force.

I fear the Northern Expedition army would have suffered devastating casualties long ago!"

Wan Wan Qihua said with full confidence.

Whether an elite unit is strong or not depends not only on its own strength but also on how the commander utilizes it.

The Northern Expedition army sounded impressive, but in the early stages of the Northern Expedition, they were also just a mob.

It was only after a series of victories that they slowly formed their combat effectiveness.

The earliest elites of the Bai Lian Holy Kingdom were actually concentrated in the Eastern Expedition Army.

Now, this unit was facing imperial troops from both the Jiangxi and Fujian directions, yet it still did not fall behind.

"In war, there are no such things as 'what ifs.'

If we could have truly foreseen everything in advance, the Holy Kingdom would never have had the chance to rise.

Two years ago, a few yamen runners could have taken us down.

But having ideas is a good thing!

Pass down the order: everyone pack your bags; tomorrow we set out to march west into Yunnan.

We will first spar with the Yu troops there, and after we have tempered our troops, we will return to cross swords with the enemy."

Fu Fu Sanqi said, feigning ease.

Deep down, he knew very well that this departure meant saying goodbye to Among Guangxi.

Voluntarily abandoning Zhen'an Prefecture to move west and join the Western Expedition Army to defeat the Yunnan-Guizhou coalition was the best military choice at the moment.

However, being militarily correct did not mean being politically correct.

The Holy Kingdom's order to him was to hold Zhen'an Prefecture and ensure the security of the Holy Kingdom's grain supply lines.

Judging by the results, the job had already been botched.

Although the primary responsibility did not lie with him, abandoning Zhen'an and moving to Yunnan without the Holy Emperor's consent was something that could not be washed away.

No leader likes subordinates who act on their own initiative.

Forced by the needs of war, they might temporarily refrain from holding him accountable, but deep down, they would still harbor negative thoughts.

When he was at the Holy Capital, whenever the three kings of different surnames serving abroad were mentioned, his own Holy Emperor would frown more than once.

For the sake of the big picture, the Holy Emperor temporarily suppressed his dissatisfaction, but the rift in his heart was not so easily erased.

At first, he only felt that the three kings had acted out of line and had not shown the Holy Emperor enough respect.

Now that it was his turn to lead troops, he discovered that in many situations, a commander is also forced by necessity.

If one were to truly send someone to ask for instructions from the Holy Capital, the back-and-forth would take so long that the enemy would have already slaughtered their way over.

Guilin Prefecture.

"Huang Huang Yuheng is truly a piece of trash.

The eternal foundation of the Holy Kingdom was buried by such an idiot!"

Shi Shi Rongxuan cursed loudly.

The muddled loss of Nanning directly caused the Among Guangxi battle plan he had formulated to go bankrupt.

His trusted subordinate causing such a huge mess was also a not-insignificant blow to Shi Shi Rongxuan's authority.

Most of the Bai Lian Holy Kingdom's troops were in the hands of the three kings of different surnames; the troops responsible for the defense of Nanning, Xunzhou, and Zhen'an were all his direct subordinates.

Now that he had suffered losses in both troops and generals, it would undoubtedly make him feel increasingly insecure when facing the three kings of different surnames.

"Holy Emperor, something terrible has happened!"

"Liuzhou... something has happened!"

"The puppet dynasty's army launched a surprise attack on Liuzhou; the defenders were outnumbered, and despite fighting hard, they still lost Liuzhou.

The Liuzhou garrison commander..."

Before Prime Minister Wuzhou Zekai could finish his sentence, Shi Shi Rongxuan could not help but explode.

With a "bang," the Imperial Seal on the desk flew off, performing a live demonstration of what it meant for jade to shatter.

Seeing this scene, Wuzhou Zekai trembled with fear.

The Imperial Seal was broken; if this got out, it would be a life-threatening disaster.

Especially in a country where politics and religion were integrated, news like this could easily be interpreted by others as the Emperor lacking virtue and the gods issuing a warning.

"What are you standing there for? Hurry up and clean this up, and get me a new Imperial Seal!"

Shi Shi Rongxuan scolded the attendants on his left and right.

He didn't want to break the Imperial Seal either.

But since it had already happened, he could only have a new one carved.

As long as everyone kept their mouths shut, they could pretend nothing had happened.

"Your Majesty, please calm your anger!

The defeat of the Marquis of Loyalty and Righteousness was entirely an accident.

Now the commander's life or death is unknown, and the Assistant Regional Commander has also died for the country.

Trying to get to the bottom of the matter, I fear there is no hope in the short term.

The best course of action now is to prioritize the big picture and adjust the strategic defense of Among Guangxi in a timely manner."

Wuzhou Zekai said alertly.

As for what just happened, he hadn't seen anything.

The Imperial Seal was broken? That didn't exist.

From the moment he entered the room, he had been discussing military affairs with the Holy Emperor, and there had been no changes in between.

"At a time like this, how can we adjust?

After Nanning and Liuzhou fell one after another, a huge gap appeared in the middle of our defensive line, and it cannot be plugged in the short term.

At this moment, Among Guangxi has been split in two by the enemy army, and the defenders of Zhen'an Prefecture have directly become an isolated force; even wanting to withdraw them is difficult.

With just that small amount of troops in Xunzhou, they could not possibly be the enemy's match.

Aside from withdrawing the troops and strengthening the defenses of Guilin and Wuzhou, there is nothing I can do right now!"

Shi Shi Rongxuan said irritably.

Anger aside, his mind was still very clear at this moment.

The consequences of Nanning falling were bad enough, and then the enemy army also launched a surprise attack on Liuzhou.

The natural barrier of Kunlun Pass in the middle had not played any role and had fallen directly into the hands of the enemy army.

Thinking of this, he wanted to kill someone.

He should have at least deployed a few thousand troops in these areas.

But this was hindsight analysis.

Before the great battle broke out, no one could have imagined that Nanning would fall so quickly, let alone that the imperial troops could suddenly launch a surprise attack on Liuzhou.

With front-line forces stretched thin, withdrawing troops from the rear to reinforce them was perfectly fine.

Wuchang Prefecture.

"Grand Secretary, good news!

A breakthrough has been achieved on the Among Guangxi front, and the army has successfully recovered Nanning.

We defeated 50,000 rebel troops, captured nearly 20,000 enemy soldiers, and beheaded 4,600 rebel soldiers.

While attacking Nanning, Regional Commander Jing Jing Yifeng led his troops west to take Liuzhou.

The specific battle report will take a few days, but according to the statements of Provincial Governor Zhang, Army Supervisor Jia, and Guard Commander Li, the probability of success is very high."

Hou Hou Huaichang said with pleasant surprise.

Ever since the summer campaign was launched, the army had been trapped in a long rainy season, causing all the previous time to be wasted.

By the time the rain stopped, summer was almost over.

The battle plan drafted in advance was just like waste paper.

None of the various armies had been able to complete their tasks, so there was no point in talking about punishment.

To downplay the impact, the Governor's Office didn't even dare to use the words "summer campaign" in their official documents now.

It had been delayed until now to finally harvest the first piece of good news.

"Good! Good! Good!"

Saying the word "good" three times in a row, a long-lost smile finally appeared on Xu Xu Wenyue's weathered face.

Having consumed a massive amount of money and grain without seeing any results for so long, the pressure he, as a Grand Secretary, was under was also very great.

He didn't dare to hope for completing the pre-designed plan; as long as they could achieve a beautiful battle record, that would be enough. What he feared most was coming away with nothing.

At a time like this, no matter which unit under his command achieved the results, it was his life-saving straw.

"Polish the battle report, exaggerate the results of the Among Guangxi Front Army, and draft an official document to be sent to the capital as soon as possible.

Send someone to tell the Among Guangxi side that they fought this battle well, and this Grand Secretary will request rewards from the court on their behalf.

Tell them to keep up the good work and strive to recover the land of Among Guangxi as soon as possible!"

Xu Xu Wenyue ordered decisively.

(End of this chapter)