Chapter 287

Jinan Prefecture.

"Your Excellency the Provincial Governor, something terrible has happened!"

"Qufu has fallen, and several officials, including the county magistrate, have died for the country.

After the Duke Yansheng's party broke out of the city, they were intercepted and killed by the Northern Barbarians; now their life and death are unknown!

After the Northern Barbarians broke through Qufu, they carried out wanton looting, and the Kong Mansion was turned into……"

Before the messenger could finish speaking, Jia Xiaochen fainted directly.

Clearly, he had tried his best to rescue them, but Qufu still fell quickly.

With such a thing happening, he, the Shandong Provincial Governor, will definitely be held accountable.

He can't find anyone to take the blame; the Qufu County Magistrate died for the country, and the Yanzhou Prefect is still fighting the defense of the prefecture city.

Whether he can live until after the war is an unknown.

After a chaotic rescue, Jia Xiaochen woke up two hours later.

A group of officials in Jinan City, after receiving the bad news, rushed over one after another, putting down their work.

"Marquis of Wuyang, what did they say over there?"

On the sickbed, Jia Xiaochen looked at everyone and asked.

The internal strife of the civil official group is also very serious.

The fall of Qufu and the damage to the sage's temple are too big a pot for him to carry alone.

The best choice is to find someone to cushion his back and find a few more people to share the responsibility together.

Now in Jinan City, the most noble people, besides the imperial clan and vassal princes, are the Marquis of Wuyang.

Undoubtedly, no matter how you shift the blame for such an unlucky thing, it has nothing to do with the imperial clan.

"The people we sent over couldn't even enter the commander's camp and were driven out.

It looks like the Marquis of Wuyang is not prepared to wade into this muddy water."

The Provincial Administration Commissioner, Min Kaifeng, answered disappointedly.

Those who mix in official circles are all smart people.

Everyone is a master of shifting blame; if it is not his responsibility, the Marquis of Wuyang will certainly not take the initiative to lean on it.

"Send someone to urge them again.

You must invite the Marquis of Wuyang to send troops to receive the Duke Yansheng who broke out.

Qufu has already been lost; the Duke Yansheng cannot have another accident, otherwise you and I, these people……"

Halfway through the words, Jia Xiaochen suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.

It can be seen that the bad news of Qufu's fall was a heavy blow to him.

If things continue in this state, before the Imperial Court's punishment arrives, this Shandong Provincial Governor will be the first to cool down.

"Your Excellency the Provincial Governor, you should rest first; leave the rest to us."

"Old Mr. Wang, I entrust the Provincial Governor's health to you!"

With the Provincial Governor lying on the sickbed, the Provincial Administration Commissioner Min Kaifeng decisively took on the responsibility.

At this time, as long as the Provincial Governor Jia Xiaochen is alive, he is the second person responsible.

When the Imperial Court holds them accountable, the charges will be much lighter.

……

Relief army, commander's camp.

"Marquis, the Shandong Provincial Administration Commissioner came in person; it is not appropriate to leave people outside!"

Li Mu said with a smile.

Defending Jinan Prefecture still requires the cooperation of the local yamen.

It is not a matter to keep the relationship stiff.

Anyway, now that Qufu has fallen, even if the Shandong officials come to the door, they cannot mention the rescue again.

Judging from the current situation, the ones who need to bear the responsibility for the unfavorable rescue are mainly the Provincial Governor's Yamen and the Shandong local army.

The imperial edict received by the relief army is: strictly guard against Northern Barbarian retaliation.

"It is indeed not very appropriate, but this Marquis is a relative of the Emperor, so there is no need to sell them face.

You can meet this Shandong Provincial Administration Commissioner on my behalf.

If there are excessive demands, refuse them directly.

This Marquis has made up his mind to wait for the Northern Barbarian army in Jinan City and will not go anywhere else."

The Marquis of Wuyang said with an expressionless face.

He originally had no good feelings for the officials of Shandong Province, and after contacting the Jinan garrison, this view was even more firm.

During wartime, they dared to deduct money and grain; this is something he could not imagine.

Civil officials are always spraying them, the relatives of the Emperor, for being greedy; when compared, he found that he, this relative of the Emperor, was nothing.

It is the same for making money; at the very least, he would not move this kind of life-threatening money.

During his tenure as Viceroy, he never reached out to military funds.

If it weren't for the fear of the impact, he would really want to forcibly take over the city defense of Jinan Prefecture.

Everyone is defending together, and he is afraid that these garrison officers and soldiers will suddenly open the city gate and surrender to the Northern Barbarians.

Similar tragedies have not happened, but they were forcibly suppressed by civil officials.

In fact, corruption is a small problem; what is more tricky is incompetence.

Relying on a few military books to become a generation of Confucian generals is only a very small number.

More officials have their military level stuck in the stage of talking about soldiers on paper.

Clearly, their ability is a mess, but they always like to interfere in everything.

After the relief army entered the city, there were many conflicts with Shandong officials regarding the adjustment of city defense.

"Marquis, rest assured; your subordinate will not agree to anything that should not be agreed to."

Li Mu replied decisively.

If it weren't for the money, he wouldn't want to deal with these officials in Shandong.

As a guest army stationed in Jinan, it is impossible to work for nothing; the Shandong Provincial Governor's Yamen providing coordination pay is a must.

It won't work if they don't give it.

The military discipline of the Great Dayu army is not good; without the restraint of the main general, the people below will be self-reliant.

Especially the guest army, it is difficult to investigate after looting and leaving, so they are even more unscrupulous.

The relief army was trained by Li Mu himself, and in normal times, money and grain are sufficient, so there is no bad habit of looting.

But the gentry and officials of Shandong don't know.

The two sides communicated many times around the amount of coordination pay, and overall it was quite pleasant.

At present, the daily consumption of the army is provided by the Shandong Provincial Governor's Yamen, and only some supplies that are in short supply are transported from the rear.

How long the great battle will last, no one can say clearly.

The good habit of diligence and thrift cannot be lost; save one pen if you can.

……

"Governor, Marquis Wuyang soundly defeated the enemy; we must show some gesture."

"If possible, it would be best to transfer a few heads over."

"I don't hope for any military merit, at least we must show the court that we are actively resisting the Northern Barbarian invasion!"

Provincial Administration Commissioner Min Kaifeng reminded him tactfully.

He had seen people shifting blame, but he had rarely seen someone as ugly in their eating habits as his own Governor.

Fortunately, the reinforcement army had come and lifted the siege of Jinan.

Otherwise, if this continued, the garrison soldiers would surely mutiny.

Even if suppressing military generals, one had to choose the right time.

Now that chaos had already appeared in the world, treating military generals as before would lead to big trouble.

"This matter is simple; the Governor's office will take ten thousand taels from the raised military funds."

"Purchase three hundred fat pigs, two hundred sheep, and get some wine and food, then send them over together."

"Prefect Cheng, the matter of rewarding the army is left to you."

"You must take the opportunity to find out their true battle achievements, otherwise we won't be able to explain when the court asks later."

Jia Xiaochen said with a pained expression.

In wartime, prices soared.

Just one reward for the army was a considerable expense.

The money in the Governor's office was no different from his own money.

By changing the name, it could slowly become his own.

Only rewarding the army wouldn't work; the recorded data and the materials sent over had to correspond.

Once a gap appeared, Marquis Wuyang's side wouldn't be able to explain it at all.

The two sides already had a rift, and he would still need the reinforcement army to risk their lives later.

Causing trouble would lead to big trouble.

……

After retreating all the way to Great Ming Prefecture and joining forces with the Guifang army, Erden finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After counting the gathered routed soldiers, his good mood instantly vanished.

Ten thousand troops set out, and now the gathered soldiers were less than one thousand.

Those who didn't follow naturally became dead men.

Even if they weren't dead yet, they would soon become dead men.

Having been defeated so miserably, he didn't know how to report to the Chanyu.

"Revenge!"

Once this thought arose, it could no longer be waved away.

Defeat could only be washed away with blood; only by beheading the enemy could he atone for his crimes.

Glancing at the generals in the camp, Erden dismissed the thought of immediately sending troops for revenge.

The Guifang army nominally listened to his command, but the prerequisite was that there was profit to be made; only then would everyone execute orders.

Taking them around to plunder was fine, but asking them to risk their lives with the reinforcement army was out of the question.

Weakening the Yu military power was a grand plan set by the Tatar clan, which had nothing to do with Guifang.

They had come this time simply to grab a fortune.

"Wanhu, the Yu army is still the same, each sweeping the snow in front of their own door."

"Great Ming Prefecture is almost plundered; I think it's better to go plunder the neighboring Yanzhou Prefecture."

"It is said that half of the wealth in the Shandong region is gathered there."

"After plundering Yanzhou Prefecture, the other battlefields should be finished; then we can settle accounts with Marquis Wuyang's reinforcement army."

Ugus suggested with a smile.

Having plundered all the way smoothly, he had fallen in love with this feeling.

Ugus didn't take the Tatar army's defeat under Jinan City to heart at all.

In his view, Erden was simply courting death.

Knowing there were one hundred thousand reinforcement troops in Jinan, he still ventured deep alone to camp in front of them.

By comparison, the Great Ming Prefecture he chose was much safer.

There were only some local garrison troops within the territory, which had nothing to do with elites.

The army conquered the prefecture without any effort and made a fortune.

The garrison in Yanzhou was more numerous than in Great Ming Prefecture.

However, they were all local Shandong troops, with only a small number of recruited soldiers, and their combat effectiveness was very average.

Bullying such soft persimmons was much more comfortable than hitting a hard rock in Jinan Prefecture.

Even if there was danger, he wasn't afraid; the enemy was mainly infantry, and as long as they kept enough distance, the army was safe.

"If you want to go, then go!"

Erden said expressionlessly.

The rule on the grassland was that the strong were respected.

Among the grassland coalition in Great Ming Prefecture, the Glar tribe was the strongest, and their voice was naturally the heaviest.

He, this Wanhu, was only a nominal leader.

Once he blocked everyone's path to wealth, the crowd wouldn't buy it.

The various Guifang tribes submitted to the Tatars because they were forced to.

Just two years ago, the two sides were still enemies, and there was no lack of fighting between them.

Hatred needed time to be forgotten; in the short term, the alliance between the two sides was not solid.

Chanyu Hugjile chose to bring Guifang along to plunder, essentially to bind them for profit.

The number of Guifang tribesmen was much larger than the Tatar clan.

Pure military suppression carried too high a risk of backlash.

Not to mention the strong enemy Yu on the side, which made the Tatar clan not dare to take it lightly.

They feared that one day Guifang would be wooed by Yu, and the two sides would join forces to deal with them.

For strategic security, they had to bind Guifang to their own chariot.

Only by letting Guifang's hands be stained with the blood of the Yu people, cutting off the possibility of Guifang turning to Yu, would the alliance be solid.

……

The Capital.

"Your Majesty, good news!"

"A victory report came from Shandong; Marquis Wuyang commanded the reinforcement army and soundly defeated the Northern Barbarian coalition three days ago."

"Routing forty thousand enemy troops and beheading over nine thousand; the heads alone are piled into a small hill."

……"

Xu Zhongen, the Seal-holding Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, said with great excitement.

Great Yu was in dire need of good news.

Since the Northern Barbarians besieged the city, the capital had been in a state of panic.

Even though Emperor Yongning had issued multiple decrees to soothe the people's hearts, the enemy troops outside the city still brought heavy pressure to the officials and people in the city.

Including the Emperor himself, he had often had nightmares in recent days.

The twenty-something-year-old Emperor Yongning looked like someone approaching forty in his face.

"Oh!"

"Has the battle report been verified?"

Emperor Yongning asked with concern.

In recent days, it wasn't that there were no victory reports.

Unfortunately, most were fake battle reports deliberately created by people below to whitewash the peace.

Clearly losing cities and territory, they were stubbornly boasted as having dealt heavy blows to the enemy and having countless gains.

At the beginning, Emperor Yongning really believed it.

However, battle reports could be faked, but the front lines couldn't deceive people.

Since the enemy was soundly defeated, cities and territory shouldn't have been lost; there was a clear contradiction between the two.

After the fraud was exposed, Emperor Yongning lost all face in front of the officials.

So much so that later on, all victory reports had to be verified before being officially released to the outside world.

"Your Majesty, this victory report was written by Marquis Wuyang himself, and there are a large number of Northern Barbarian heads as proof; it shouldn't be fake."

"The Shandong Governor also sent a victory report document, but it didn't have detailed battle results."

"It is certain that the reinforcement army led by Marquis Wuyang fought a great victory outside Jinan City!"

Xu Zhongen said with a smile.

Those who faked battle reports before were mostly officials driven to a dead end, fabricated to escape the court's punishment.

As a guest army, Marquis Wuyang had no pressure to defend the land, so there was no need to risk his reputation to fake it.

"Hmm!"

"Issue a decree to reward all meritorious officials; specific rewards will be decided together with the officials after the Ministry of War verifies them."

"Send someone to tell Marquis Wuyang to make persistent efforts and immediately send troops to lift the siege of the capital!"

Emperor Yongning said happily.

If soundly defeating forty thousand enemy troops was true, then this war would end soon.

The Northern Barbarians had so few people, and the battle losses they could withstand were limited.

Nine thousand deaths was already a blow to their vitality.

If they continued to fight, Great Yu could afford it, but the Northern Barbarians couldn't.

"Your Majesty, although Marquis Wuyang soundly defeated the enemy, the reinforcement army also suffered heavy losses."

"Just the number of deaths is almost the same as the enemy, and there are over ten thousand wounded."

"Judging from the content of the battle report, the great victory at Jinan was fought very tragically."

"The reinforcement army paid a painful price to achieve the final victory."

"Now the army has entered a period of rest and reorganization, and I'm afraid they are unable to fight again in the short term."

Xu Zhongen explained hurriedly.

"The reinforcement army has one hundred thousand troops; have they lost their combat effectiveness after losing twenty thousand?"

Emperor Yongning asked with slight dissatisfaction.

He had no doubt about the army's losses.

Encountering a strong enemy like the Northern Barbarians, it was impossible to win easily.

Marquis Wuyang being able to harvest several thousand heads was already the greatest victory of Great Yu against northern nomadic peoples in the last thirty years.

But he couldn't tolerate the reinforcement army stopping its steps.