Chapter 203: Strategic Adjustment

"This case is very troublesome and should not be leaked for the time being.

News has come from the capital that in order to thoroughly investigate this case, His Majesty has restarted the Depot and Guard.

The cabinet is also very concerned about this case and has sent officials to investigate secretly.

Grand Secretary Xu also ordered us to fully cooperate.

Judging from the information currently mastered, during the period of overthrowing the eunuch party, Yin Zhiming and Zuo Hongjiang did indeed have contact with the White Lotus Sect.

Before the White Lotus Sect rebelled, they did business with the Yin Family Chamber of Commerce.

After the rebellion broke out, the Guangxi Regional Military Commissioner ordered suppression, but it was rejected by the Provincial Governor's Yamen.

The official involved happened to be Zuo Hongjiang's student.

This is all the news this official knows; you only need to tell them that the two, Yin and Zuo, are indeed involved in the treason case.

If they are sincere enough, then reveal the subsequent content."

Li Mu replied calmly.

Yin Zhiming and Zuo Hongjiang marketed themselves very successfully and possessed lofty prestige in the scholarly circles.

However, prestige is a double-edged sword.

While gaining prestige, the requirements from the outside world for them also became much higher.

Morally, they couldn't afford to make a single mistake.

Colluding with rebels—and colluding with the White Lotus Sect that slaughtered gentry—this undoubtedly challenged the bottom line of the gentry.

Especially officials from the two Guang regions, who directly had a blood feud with them, and both sides were directly at the point of life and death.

From the moment the matter was exposed, it was destined that the two, Yin and Zuo, couldn't escape.

Not to mention that the pot of the Emperor restarting the Depot and Guard was also buckled onto the two of them; now there were too many people who wanted them dead.

Based on Li Mu's understanding of Emperor Yongning, after such a thing happened, the one who wanted them dead the most was Emperor Yongning.

This was the bottom line of an emperor.

Regardless of what kind of struggle it was, it couldn't endanger the country and the society.

Once the Emperor learned that the turmoil affecting several provinces was caused by the two gentlemen he trusted the most, I guess he would live-skin them.

"My lord, this is somewhat..."

Before he could finish, Lan Linjie was already sweating profusely.

It was simply too terrifying; the highly virtuous Qingliu leaders were actually traitorous rebels colluding with the White Lotus Sect.

This was completely taking the lives of the Qingliu party members.

From now on, when everyone went out, they would be too embarrassed to call themselves Qingliu.

"Rest assured, the imperial court needs to pay attention to influence; the White Lotus Sect rebellion is the most favorable evidence for overthrowing the eunuchs.

If Yin Zhiming and Zuo Hongjiang are convicted on the charge of colluding with the White Lotus Sect to rebel, where will the Emperor put his face?

What face does the Qingliu party have to flaunt their high moral character before the people of the world?

The Qingliu party still has two cabinet ministers in the court; they will find ways to clean up the mess and reduce the influence as much as possible.

There is a fifty percent chance that His Majesty will let the two die suddenly.

The other fifty percent chance is to buckle other charges and convict the two.

As for what specific charges, that depends on what they have done!"

Li Mu explained immediately.

The special status of the two, Yin and Zuo, determined that they were hot potatoes.

It was precisely because he knew there were hidden dangers that he threw the evidence to Xu Wenyue after receiving the news.

This imperial envoy was also very cunning; he dragged it out until the Emperor was impatient with the two, Yin and Zuo, before throwing out the evidence.

If it had been a few months earlier, it might have been directly suppressed by Emperor Yongning.

With Emperor Yongning's personality, when he believed in someone, no matter what the outside world said, he would think it was slander.

A group of auxiliary ministers had dug quite a few pits for the two, Yin and Zuo, in front; under normal circumstances, the two who had made mistakes multiple times should have been sent home long ago.

The result was that the two were promoted all the way while constantly causing trouble, and were only one step away from entering the cabinet.

Seeing that the small pits had no effect, everyone started playing "killing with praise."

If there hadn't been someone pushing behind the scenes, the ministers who "spoke straight remonstrance" wouldn't have mostly come from the students of the two, Yin and Zuo.

The favorability was exhausted, and the filter of the past no longer existed.

The Emperor expressed that he wanted to investigate, and officials dissatisfied with the two, Yin and Zuo, would definitely kick them while they were down.

The originally imperfect evidence gradually became full under the supplementation of interested people.

Li Mu admitted that when facing the investigation of the Three Judicial Offices officials, he also added some ingredients.

Currently, the most favorable witness testimonies were provided by prisoners of war.

According to these clues, a White Lotus Sect member was also caught in the Yin Family Chamber of Commerce.

Whether it counted as the White Lotus Sect lurking there or as evidence of collusion between the two sides depended on how the people above wanted to define it.

"My lord, you must not get involved in such a case involving treason!"

Lan Linjie said in a panic.

While harvesting a large amount of cheap labor and mine land in Guangxi, Li Mu also invested a lot of money, and he was currently at his most empty-pocketed time.

Considering the several previous activities as a middleman, he was very worried that Li Mu would take action to help fish people out again for the sake of making money.

If things were exposed in the future and the imperial court wanted to pursue responsibility, he didn't know if Li Mu would be finished, but he, the master secretary, would definitely lose his head.

"Rest assured, this official knows what is important.

The Yin and Zuo families will definitely be finished, and the gentry who relied on them will also suffer.

As for the others who are not deeply implicated, they can cut ties in advance.

If they are really worried about being implicated, they can also buy insurance in advance.

When they are exiled to Guangxi in the future, this official can take care of them!"

Li Mu said irritably.

Did they really think he dared to do anything!

Before, he dared to act as a middleman and collect money to fish people out without any scruples because there were big shots standing in front.

In name, it was his magical powers, but in reality, the bulk of the life-buying money went to the Emperor.

Even if a problem occurred, the risk wouldn't be great.

Now that he was far from the capital and his control over the situation was many steps slower, getting involved again was just looking for death.

Guilin Prefecture.

Not seeing any movement from the Guangxi army for a long time, Shi Rongxuan gradually realized that something was wrong.

No matter how slow the imperial army's efficiency was, they wouldn't argue for more than two months without a result.

Realizing that he had fallen into the enemy's delaying tactic, there was nothing he could do now.

The advancement on the frontline battlefields was not smooth, and in the last half year, the territory of the White Lotus Holy Kingdom had not increased but decreased.

For a nascent regime, this was undoubtedly very dangerous.

The only benefit of the shrinking territory was that convening the generals for discussion became convenient.

To a certain extent, Shi Rongxuan strengthened his control over the army.

Unfortunately, this way of centralizing power was not what he wanted.

"My beloved subjects, the Holy Kingdom has reached its most dangerous time.

Does anyone have a brilliant plan to solve the predicament the Holy Kingdom is currently facing?"

Shi Rongxuan asked with worry.

The end of the year was approaching, but the White Lotus Holy Kingdom couldn't see a trace of New Year's atmosphere.

Everyone was worrying about the war on the frontline and had long forgotten about the New Year.

"Your Majesty, the strength of the pseudo-dynasty is too powerful; we must change our previous strategy.

Originally, we were approaching Kunming, but the pseudo-dynasty suddenly produced a group of local militia organized by gentry.

The combat effectiveness of these militias is not very good, but they are all locals.

They are very familiar with the terrain and often rely on the geographical advantages to harass our army.

The troops led by Prime Minister Fu suffered a great loss because of this.

Constrained by the logistics being cut off, they could only retreat and merge with the Western Expedition Army.

The pseudo-dynasty has relaxed the control over the militia; in the future, the enemies we have to face are not only the pseudo-dynasty's great army, but also countless militias!"

Prince Zhenxi Wang Weijiarui said with helplessness.

Just when victory was in sight, the whole thing was ruined by a group of unranked militias.

The influence of the gentry in the local area was too great; as soon as they sent troops, the enemy received the news.

Every time they sent troops to suppress, before they could kill their way over, the enemy had long disappeared.

It wasn't that they didn't try to adopt gentle means, but the gentry simply didn't believe they could succeed.

Even some local chieftain forces in Yunnan and Guizhou who were close to Great Dayu joined the ranks of suppressing them.

The Western Expedition Army, which lacked a mass base, could be said to be unable to move an inch after entering Yunnan territory.

After finally fighting to the foot of Kunming City, they were pushed back by the enemy again.

After a series of battles, he also discovered the enemy's flaws.

These landlord armed forces had high fighting will when fighting locally.

Once they left their hometown, their desire to fight dropped sharply; the further they were from their old nest, the lower their desire to fight.

However, this had no meaning; the current Western Expedition Army simply didn't dare to lure the enemy deep.

The Guangxi imperial army recaptured Liuzhou; if they showed even a slight flaw, the enemy would pounce on them.

"Do you mean to abandon the Western Expedition strategy and focus all efforts on the Northern Expedition?"

Shi Rongxuan asked with a frown.

A strategic change was not as simple as a single sentence.

Their changing the attack direction didn't mean the enemy would cooperate.

If the White Lotus Holy Kingdom didn't march west, the Yunnan-Guizhou Allied Army would march east.

The Guangxi field army had already rested for more than two months and would definitely take action after the New Year.

Once they abandoned the Southwest offensive, the Guangxi imperial army and the Yunnan-Guizhou Allied Army joining forces would be a high-probability event.

By then, most of the remaining prefectures in Guangxi would also be unable to be kept, and moving the capital would only be a matter of time.

If the Northern Expedition succeeded, that would be fine, but if the Northern Expedition suffered a setback and they were driven to move the capital by the enemy army, the White Lotus Holy Kingdom would be finished.

"Holy Emperor, now we don't have more choices.

The pseudo-dynasty's Guangxi imperial army attacking Guangdong is just fake news they released; the enemy's true target is Qingyuan and Guilin.

According to what I know, the enemy army in Guangxi has been expanding and preparing for war, and the current total strength is probably over sixty thousand.

Plus the Yunnan-Guizhou Allied Army and a number of militias, the enemy's total strength has already exceeded two hundred thousand.

With so many pseudo-dynasty great armies, Qingyuan Prefecture and Sichengzhou will not be kept, and even the Holy Capital is very dangerous.

Instead of waiting for the enemy to attack and then being forced to change strategy, it is better to go all-in in advance.

Directly concentrate the strength of the entire country, choose a direction, and attack with all our might to break the pseudo-dynasty's strategic encirclement!"

Wang Weijiarui said majestically.

Rebellion was originally a big gamble; if you won the first time, there would be a second time.

All insurgent armies, in the startup stage, were either gambling with their lives or on the road to gambling with their lives.

The White Lotus Holy Kingdom could be considered successful; it went smoothly from the beginning and established its own base area in advance.

However, it was precisely because they possessed a base area too early that they didn't wander around, continuously weakening Great Dayu's comprehensive national strength.

No matter how big the momentum was, it was limited to a few provinces and didn't truly shake Great Dayu's rule.

Now was the time to swallow the bitter fruit; Great Dayu, having reacted, displayed strength beyond their expectations.

"What are your opinions?"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 204 =====