Chapter 243: Tactical Deception

Having grasped the truth, the situation became even more complicated.

If they sat idly by, the reinforcements for Hengyang would likely be doomed. The people present did not believe that the troops under Marquis Huang Renlong could defeat the enemy.

If Li Mu were so easy to deal with, they wouldn't have been driven all the way from Guangxi to Yongzhou, and even lost Guangdong in the process.

Once Huang Renlong was defeated, Yongzhou would become a lonely city. Any reinforcements with fewer than one hundred thousand troops would not dare to approach.

With the supplies stockpiled in Yongzhou City, it was enough for the army to use for a year, meeting the conditions for long-term defense.

Unfortunately, Shi Rongxuan was not a simple military general; as the White Lotus Holy Emperor, he had to consider issues more from a political perspective.

Originally, the three kings of different surnames in the Holy Kingdom had a tendency to become too powerful to control. The central government being besieged for a long time would only fuel this arrogance.

Shi Rongxuan knew very well that the human heart cannot withstand testing.

Even without ambition, after being separated from the central government's command for a long time, they would develop thoughts they shouldn't have.

Being trapped in Yongzhou was definitely the worst strategy.

Taking the initiative to strike out also carried risks.

They knew the Great Dayu army had left, but they were completely ignorant of where the enemy was now or how many troops had been withdrawn.

Based on his understanding of Li Mu, it was entirely possible for the other side to set a trap, deliberately inducing them to leave the city for a decisive battle.

If the one hundred and thirty thousand troops in the city were all elites of the Holy Kingdom, then there would be no need to hesitate; he would have led the army out long ago.

Unfortunately, reality is cruel; the White Lotus Holy Kingdom was established too recently, and it was currently following a human-sea tactics route.

The Holy Kingdom's army was partly recruited surrendered troops, partly incorporated greenwood heroes, and partly conscripted young men.

The internal structure could be said to be quite chaotic.

Now they were fighting while purifying their ranks.

"Holy Emperor, order the attack immediately!

Solve the imperial army outside the city and rush to Hengyang at the fastest speed; maybe it will still be in time!"

Minister of Revenue Mi Yingbo immediately proposed.

In his view, the situation of the Holy Kingdom was too dangerous, and it was time to gamble with their lives.

If the judgment was correct, they could immediately reverse the crisis.

If they lost the gamble, at worst they could run away.

The White Lotus Holy Kingdom now had a large family and business; a failure in the decisive battle would at most hurt their bones and muscles, but it wouldn't kill them.

If they kept dragging it out and were besieged by the imperial army for a long time, that would really be fatal.

"Minister Mi, the life and death of over one hundred thousand troops is at stake; we must be cautious.

The Holy Kingdom cannot afford the loss, and we can afford it even less.

Holy Emperor, the most urgent task is to find out the enemy's position and their troop deployment as soon as possible.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will win every battle.

Only by clarifying the enemy's troop distribution and taking targeted measures can we crush the enemy!"

Chancellor Wu Zekai immediately opposed.

The White Lotus Holy Kingdom could lose over one hundred thousand troops and continue its rebellion, but the White Lotus Holy Emperor could not.

If the last direct armed force in his hands was lost, even if the generals scattered in various places were still willing to acknowledge him as the Holy Emperor, he would not be able to avoid losing power.

Looking at history as a whole, there has never been a monarch who lost power during the stage of conquering the world who ended well.

If the White Lotus Holy Emperor fell, those direct subordinates of his would not escape the fate of being purged.

After the window paper was pierced, the court instantly split into two major camps.

The direct faction supporting the Holy Emperor chose stability.

The ministers attached to the three kings of different surnames supported a desperate gamble.

Both sides had sufficient reasons, and for a time, the court was in chaos.

"Enough!"

"The Great Dayu army hasn't even broken in yet; are you going to fight among yourselves first?"

"Pass my decree: find out the enemy's situation at all costs!"

After weighing the pros and cons, Shi Rongxuan ultimately chose the decision most favorable to himself.

Even if he knew that doing so might delay time and miss the best combat opportunity.

But at his current position, he was no longer the grassroots leader he once was, capable of a desperate gamble.

Time flew by; two days had passed since the Hengyang battle, and the work of hunting down the remaining enemies had come to an end.

Looking at the gathered battle reports, Li Mu revealed a satisfied smile.

"18,000 enemy troops beheaded, 56,000 enemy troops captured"—this was just the verified battle record.

In fact, during the great battle, many rebel soldiers fell into the Xiang River and fed the fish.

The remnants of the rebels who were lucky enough to escape were all scattered, and they were not worth worrying about.

The only flaw was that they didn't catch the enemy Regional Commander, but this wasn't a big problem.

According to the captured rebel soldiers, Huang Renlong vomited blood and fainted during the battle, and now no one knew if he was dead or alive.

If this guy was dead, then Li Mu wouldn't mind adding a line to the battle report about beheading the enemy Regional Commander.

Either way, a fake Marquis, no matter how big the name, wouldn't catch the eyes of the officials in the capital.

Those gentlemen in the court had no time to pay attention to the internal situation of the White Lotus Holy Kingdom.

In their eyes, the biggest enemy was still the rebel leader, the fake Emperor Shi Rongxuan.

Only then were the three kings below, and the other rebel leaders were just small fry.

If one really wanted to make a contribution, capturing the fake Emperor Shi Rongxuan alive was more useful than killing anyone else.

"Wei Haoyu, Zhu Jingyu, you two performed well this time and didn't lose face for this general.

I will report your merits truthfully to the court; the subsequent rewards and promotions are not for me to decide.

Given the current situation, the court may set up several more military towns in Huguang, Jiangxi, Guangdong, and other places.

With your merits, transferring to be an Assistant Regional Commander in one region will not be a problem.

If you want to go further, these alone are not enough.

The others don't need to be jealous; there will be plenty of opportunities to make contributions later.

The fake Emperor Shi Rongxuan is still waiting for us in Yongzhou City.

Whoever is lucky enough to capture this rebel alive, I think they will be qualified to be a Regional Commander!"

Li Mu drew a big pie for the generals.

Things like being enfeoffed as a Marquis or becoming a Chancellor were too vague and unrealistic, but promotions were visible.

Ordinary military officers who want to cross from a Guard Commander to the position of Regional Commander.

First, they must be transferred to Assistant Regional Commander, then promoted to Vice General, then Vice Regional Commander, and finally Regional Commander.

Without more than ten years of accumulation, it is almost impossible.

Even if one has made illustrious military achievements, it is very difficult to reach the sky in one step.

However, for the nobility and military families, the stage of accumulating seniority can be omitted directly.

As long as there are eye-catching achievements, one can be pushed into the position.

The White Lotus Sect rebellion caused such a big stir, tossing the gentry around enough.

Everyone hated Shi Rongxuan so much they wanted to scrape him, and now the merit of capturing the fake Emperor alive was even better than killing one hundred thousand rebels.

"Thank you, my lord, for your promotion!"

The generals said in unison.

They all heard the subtext of Li Mu's words.

The merit of capturing the fake Emperor alive belongs to whoever gets it; the Regional Commander will not jump out to compete.

It's not that Li Mu is noble, it's purely that after fighting all the way here, his military merits are already enough.

The best choice for wanting to go further is not to continue making illustrious military achievements, but to support the younger brothers under his command.

High merit overshadowing the master has never had a good result in any dynasty.

Although Li Mu hadn't reached that point yet, commanding tens of thousands of troops to win consecutive battles would inevitably be feared by the Emperor.

Now it is wartime, and everyone naturally hopes he is as powerful as possible.

Once the war ends, those civil officials and gentry will turn their faces and deny people.

Instead of having others split up his team, it is better to take the initiative himself and push his younger brothers out.

Nominally, the strength under his command is weakened, but in reality, it is the exact opposite.

The training speed of the nobility's children is fast, but these people are too deeply bound to the Great Dayu, and their loyalty to the Emperor is generally higher than others.

It is naturally no problem to pull them together to keep warm and resist other forces in the court.

But once the situation changes and the opponent becomes an alliance of the Emperor and civil officials, the situation will change.

Unless individual contradictions are transformed into group interest conflicts, it is difficult to get everyone to have the courage to go against this alliance.

Not wanting to be slaughtered like a dog after the rabbit is caught, the best choice is to appropriately restrain one's edge and let others have the opportunity to perform.

With more military officers performing brilliantly, even if the court continues to suppress military officers, there will be people to share the firepower.

Theoretically, as long as the nobility group regains its glory, the worst situation will not happen.

After all, Emperor Yongning is not a founding monarch and does not have the capital to slaughter meritorious officials.

"We are all our own people, so there is no need to be so polite.

The Battle of Hengyang is over; next, we have two choices.

Either continue to go back and besiege Yongzhou, or take advantage of the situation to capture Changsha.

Do you think it's better to be conservative or more aggressive?"

Li Mu asked with a smile.

"My lord, this general thinks it's better to take Changsha first and seize the initiative on the Huguang battlefield.

We can deal with the rebels in Yongzhou at any time, but there is only one chance to capture Changsha.

It is difficult to keep the news of the victory in the Hengyang battle secret for a long time.

It won't be long before the rebels receive the news.

Those kings of different surnames in the White Lotus Holy Kingdom may not necessarily go all out to rescue Yongzhou, but they will definitely not let Changsha be lost."

Yun Yufeng was the first to propose.

In his view, the performance of the White Lotus Holy Emperor could only be considered standard.

Among the many peasant uprising armies, he was considered outstanding.

But compared to a true founding hero, he was far behind in both personal ability and the courage to act.

Being in a hurry to proclaim himself Emperor was even more nonsense.

When he wasn't Emperor, he could personally lead the army to fight on the front line and firmly hold military power in his own hands.

After becoming Emperor, he had to sit in the center.

Life was comfortable, but in this way, the generals under his command would inevitably have merits that shook the master.

Who let him proclaim himself Emperor when the White Lotus Holy Kingdom was still huddled in a corner, and any general could conquer more territory than he, the Holy Emperor, had.

Even more tragic was that this guy didn't even keep his hometown and was chased and killed by the imperial army all the way.

The prestige accumulated before had already been worn away by seven or eight out of ten after encountering a series of failures.

Such a Holy Emperor had more political value than military value.

After killing this guy, although it could split the White Lotus Holy Kingdom, it also lifted the shackles on the heads of several kings of different surnames.

Without the White Lotus Holy Emperor adding chaos, those three kings with fierce military achievements would only be more difficult to deal with.

"Minister Yun, that is wrong!

The Emperor issued a strict order to capture the fake Emperor Shi Rongxuan alive.

The gentry of the world hate the fake Emperor to the bone.

Now that the opportunity is delivered to our door, how can we easily give it up!"

Su Zhiyong immediately opposed.

Military correctness does not equal political correctness.

The Emperor and the gentry of the world all want the fake Emperor Shi Rongxuan to die.

If they attack Changsha first, the fake Emperor will definitely not sit still and wait for death.

The 130,000 rebels in the Yongzhou area are indeed not enough to look at for them.

But changing the battlefield can create a new world.

Whether it is managing Yunnan and Guizhou or borrowing the way to enter Sichuan, it is possible to achieve.

Letting the rebel leader go, although it won't lead to being questioned, everyone's merit will definitely be greatly discounted.

"Is it possible to do both at the same time?

The number of defenders in Changsha is not large, and sending ten thousand troops is enough.

Even if the rebels counterattack, we can rely on the advantage of the city to delay for a while.

If the speed is fast, our army can completely defeat the rebels in Yongzhou during this period."

Zhu Jingyu slowly proposed.

Having tasted the sweetness of sneaking into Hengyang, he developed a strong interest in a surprise attack on Changsha.

Although the Huguang area fell into the hands of the rebels, there were still many people who looked toward the Great Dayu.

When sneaking into Hengyang before, there were people cooperating.

At the critical moment of the decisive battle between the two armies, someone jumped out to ignite the rebel granary.

It is enough to prove that the Great Dayu still has a certain foundation in Huguang.

"This general agrees with Commander Zhu's proposal; capturing Changsha and dealing with the rebels in Yongzhou are not contradictory.

The result of the Battle of Hengyang has been continuously spreading to the outside world along with the escape of the retreating soldiers.

No matter how slow the rebels in Yongzhou react, they will know in a few days.

If they cannot figure out the location of our main force, they will not dare to leave the city.

These guys are huddled in Yongzhou and won't move; if we want to forcefully attack the city, it will also be very difficult.

If it doesn't work, we can only besiege for a long time and slowly wear the rebels to death.

Instead of wasting money and food, it is better to take the initiative to release the news and let the rebels think that our main force is attacking Changsha.

As long as the rebels leave Yongzhou City, no matter where they run, we will have the opportunity to catch up with them and defeat them in a field battle!"

Wei Haoyu immediately echoed.

It can be seen that he is also full of interest in a surprise attack on Changsha.

After all, among the generals, he and Zhu Jingyu have the most experience in sneaking into cities.

If there is to be a surprise attack on Changsha, this task will likely fall on the two of them.

Following that, the generals expressed their positions one after another; everyone had sufficient reasons, and the final decision-making power returned to Li Mu's hands.

"Rest for a day, send the victory report to the Marquis of Wuyang, and then split the troops to attack Changsha.

Wei Haoyu, Zhu Jingyu, I order you to lead your own troops and be responsible for the surprise attack on Changsha City.

However, this time it is not to capture the city, but for tactical deception.

Changsha is ultimately a big city, and with the lesson of Hengyang's fall, the enemy defenders will definitely learn their lesson.

Wanting to sneak into the city and open the city gates directly is almost impossible to complete.

So if Changsha City can be fought, fight it; if it cannot be taken, then feign an attack on the city.

However, when feigning an attack on Changsha, you must create a big commotion to make the rebels think that our main force is attacking Changsha.

The other generals will follow me back to Yongzhou to capture the fake Emperor Shi Rongxuan alive!"

After weighing it, Li Mu still chose to prioritize politics.

From the expedition to the present, he led the coalition of three provinces and recovered many prefectures.

It is enough to give an account to the court and the public, and there is no need to continue to lengthen the battle line.

If Changsha were really recovered, the court would likely order him to make persistent efforts and continue to recover Wuchang, Jiujiang, and other places.

By then, all the armies of the White Lotus Holy Kingdom would rush over to fight him to the death.

Theoretically, he still has imperial armies from all walks of life to help.

But Li Mu knows the nature of his colleagues too well.

When fighting a smooth battle, it's fine to have everyone follow along and cheer.

Once encountering a headwind, these colleagues and teammates are the biggest unstable factors.

Maybe they are fighting a bloody battle here, while others are singing and dancing next door.

(End of chapter)