Chapter 307: Hidden Arrow

"After this battle, the King-Relieving matter is over, and the court will reward meritorious service next."

"As the only unit in the King-Relieving great battle to achieve two great victories, our battle report also represents the court's face."

"Adding some water to the battle report, the Ministry of War won't be too serious."

"The true Tatar heads can't be faked, so report the actual results obtained, and decorate the other data."

"As for the number of defeated enemy troops, since it is the cumulative total of multiple battles, just report that 160,000 enemy troops were cumulatively defeated."

"When counting prisoners of war, calculate the strongmen grabbed by the enemy together."

"As for the loot, just use broken weapons to fill the numbers, and then add some iron pots."

"Other materials were burned by the enemy army, and we didn't capture anything."

Marquis Marquis Wuyang thought for a moment and said.

The day of rewarding meritorious service is the day he is ennobled.

The more beautiful the battle record, the easier it will be to operate later.

Not only for his own face but also representing the face of the Empress Dowager in the palace.

In the era of the family-state, people are never independent individuals.

Besides Marquis Marquis Wuyang, the Regional Commander, who can receive rewards, the officers and soldiers below also have their own glory.

The Great Great Dayu Dynasty is poor to the point of clinking, and the court can't afford gold and silver rewards, so they can only compensate from other places.

Even if there is no position for the time being, they must be given empty titles.

In peacetime, such empty titles have no meaning.

But now it is wartime, and with the ravages of the rebels, vacancies have appeared for officials in many provinces.

If the court can recover the lost territory, these people can legally fill the vacancies.

For the civil official group, this is the worst era.

Rebels wantonly slaughter the gentry, and many literati families have declined because of this.

In order to stabilize the situation and for the sake of hometown elders, they have to make concessions in the court.

For the nobility group, this is the best era.

Only with war is there military merit, and only with military merit is there a say.

Recovering lost territory is also running horses and circling land.

The vacated official positions are naturally filled by meritorious officials.

Compared to the Liaodong Garrison that splits one side, they actually take more.

It is just because the political means are more mature, completing power expansion under the rule system, operating more covertly, and not attracting as much attention.

"Marquis, the battle report problem is easy to say; this subordinate will rearrange it when I go down."

"The Jinan great battle is coming to an end, and next I have to go to the capital to report on duty."

"The situation in the court now is intricate and complicated; this subordinate really can't see it clearly, and I ask for your guidance."

Li Mu asked inquiringly.

It's not that there's no one in the capital, and he naturally knows about the changes in the court situation.

But what he sees is the situation in the court and the political layout of the nobles and civil officials; he has no way of knowing what the Emperor is thinking.

Similarly, as high-ranking officials of the court, there is a distinction between closeness and distance.

Marquis Marquis Wuyang's status is special, and he was pushed to a high position by Emperor Emperor Yongning himself, belonging to the core of the Emperor's faction.

When he reaches his position, the Emperor will certainly ask for his opinion on the court's next strategic policy.

With more time for communication, the understanding between each other naturally deepens.

Compared to others, Marquis Marquis Wuyang's understanding of Emperor Emperor Yongning is undoubtedly deeper.

"What are you panicking about? You are also a high-ranking official of one side now, no longer a small thousand-household in the capital."

"If there are no accidents, after rewarding meritorious service after the war, you will certainly be ennobled."

"It is both a reward for your achievements and deliberately done for the various King-Relieving armies to see, especially for the Liaodong Garrison."

"The situation in the court has changed; the civil official group has had a serious divergence on the issue of suppressing military generals."

"Some people even proposed that nobles serve as viceroys to preside over the work of suppressing the rebellion."

"The Emperor is moved."

"However, it is not necessarily that nobles will be enabled to serve as viceroys; it is also possible that they will serve as imperial envoys, acting on behalf of the viceroy's authority."

"Purely based on battle achievements and status, after obtaining the court's ennoblement, you also have the qualifications to participate in the competition."

"The risks and benefits are both great; you need to weigh whether to fight for it."

Marquis Marquis Wuyang reminded implicitly.

Merit high enough to shake the master is too fatal for military generals.

If it were a general relationship, he would absolutely not say such taboo words.

It is just that on the road to rising, he and Li Mu are tied too tightly.

All the civil and military officials in the court know that Li Mu is his direct confidant, and it is difficult to cut ties.

If one day Li Mu is finished, he, the boss, will inevitably be implicated.

"Thank you for your teaching, Marquis; at such a sensitive moment, this subordinate will not fight for it."

"My uncle wrote to me the day before yesterday, also saying this matter."

"Not only will this subordinate not come out to fight, but even he will find a way to decline."

Li Mu expressed his position immediately.

These words were not only for Marquis Marquis Wuyang to hear but also for Emperor Emperor Yongning to hear.

As the core of the nobility camp, the Li family has expanded very quickly in the army over the past few years.

Besides Li Mu, there are many clan members who have entered the army to serve in important positions.

Including under Li Mu's command, there are many clan members.

It is just that in order to avoid suspicion, these people were not promoted to high positions, and even jobs that stand out were not allowed to be done by them.

From the surface, the brand of the Li family is not strong in the troops under his command.

But if you study it carefully, you will find that the positions these people hold are basically core important positions.

Although the rank is not high, the power in their hands is great.

Li is a big surname; it is not strange for Li-surnamed generals to appear in the army.

In normal times, there is not much contact.

A group of generals in the army don't know these relationships, belonging to the nature of hidden pieces.

However, no matter how hidden it is done, it cannot be hidden from those who care.

Fortunately, in this year, everyone does this, and adding one more is not conspicuous.

Relatively speaking, this is still a good way to eat; they know how to avoid suspicion.

If placed in the Nine Borders warlords, people directly put the nepotism on the table.

One family with three regional commanders and more than a dozen assistant regional commanders have appeared in the army.

"He is afraid he cannot decline!"

"Among the civil official group, the one with the most say is that group of people from Jiangnan."

"In the past, they were the main force suppressing military generals, and every time they suppressed military generals, he took the lead."

"Now the situation has changed; the hometown has been occupied by rebels, and many people's ancestral graves have been dug up by rebels, and everyone hates the White Lotus Sect to the bone."

"Previous multiple wars have proven that traditional civil officials controlling the military are powerless to clean up the current mess."

"For the sake of their own interests, the political stance of these people has been passively transformed."

"It is said that they are working hard to lobby all parties and have achieved significant results."

"The last time the Minister of War proposed that nobles serve as viceroys, they could get half the support, and there will only be more supporters later."

"The current situation is very bad; provinces are either occupied by rebels or threatened by rebels."

"For the sake of their own family's interests, they must also support the court in suppressing the rebellion as soon as possible."

"The Tatar atrocities in Qufu have broken many people's fantasies."

"Once the civil official group reaches a consensus, plus the Emperor is also inclined to reuse nobles, it will be difficult for Marquis Zhenyuan not to leave the capital."

"After all, there is a lack of talent among the nobles now, and there are very few who have the ability to command a large army."

Marquis Marquis Wuyang shook his head and said.

Some things, if you want to hide, you can't avoid them.

The decline of the nobility is an indisputable fact.

Looking at the noble children in the army, there seem to be quite a few, but in reality, these people are mostly collateral branches of the nobility.

Except for having a prominent ancestor, their life is only slightly better than ordinary people.

If not for the support of the clan and free family education, they would be no different from ordinary people.

It is precisely because they have nothing that these people are willing to join the army and fight for wealth on the battlefield.

These people want to grow up, which is by no means a matter of one morning or evening.

The direct line of the main branch, because of their wealthy life, simply cannot walk out of their comfort zone.

Even if they are in the army, they are only serving in the capital and think it's too far to leave the capital's gate.

Such a living environment naturally cannot give birth to famous generals.

In the previous generation of nobles, Duke Cheng and Marquis Zhenyuan were already the only remaining commanding generals with rich experience in leading troops.

As for the ability to use troops and fight, it is actually not outstanding.

All parties pushed them out mainly because the two have prestige among the nobles.

Now the main force of the suppression army in the south is the military generals of the nobility faction.

They can seamlessly connect when they come over and directly command the army to fight without causing trouble.

If it were changed to civil officials, just smoothing out the relationships below would take a lot of time.

Whether the military generals below are willing to execute the military orders issued is also an unknown.

Even in the era of auxiliary ministers, when Grand Secretary Xu personally supervised the battle at the front line, the people below were often disobedient.

At the very least, Li Mu chose to execute orders selectively at the beginning, and he only took out five or six points of his ten-point strength.

Other units were about the same; everyone, before executing orders, first weighed the pros and cons.

Against this backdrop, eating defeat at the front line is normal.

Having eaten losses several times in a row, everyone is summarizing experience and lessons.

Knowing that laymen commanding experts to fight will cause trouble, they simply change to experts to try.

Regardless of Duke Cheng and Marquis Zhenyuan's military level, they are certainly better than the previous few unlucky civil official viceroys.

They have significant prestige in the army, and the generals below are willing to listen to orders.

Even if their performance on the battlefield is sloppy, it is better than continuing to send civil officials to the battle array.

Among the high-ranking civil officials, no one is willing to serve as the suppression viceroy, which is also an important factor in achieving this result.

By the Yellow River, looking at the rolling river water, Wuligai only felt his eyes go black.

The boats at the ferry crossing had long since disappeared.

The soldiers left behind earlier had become a Beijing view (a pile of heads).

They were fine when they came, but now there were no boats; how could they go back!

Leaping on horses to cross the Yellow River, just think about it.

If you really go to try, that is sacrificing to the River God.

"Tribal Chief, the ferry boats were all pulled to the opposite bank; we searched for dozens of miles around and didn't find a shadow of a ship."

Hearing the bad news brought by his subordinates, Wuligai determined again that this was the enemy's conspiracy.

It's no wonder there was no interception by the enemy army; with the natural barrier of the Yellow River, there was no need to draw a snake and add feet.

Even if they built rafts to cross the river on the spot, it would take time.

Now is the time to escape; any delaying behavior could lead to the annihilation of the army.

"Immediately turn to the upper reaches; I don't believe we will never find an opportunity to cross the river!"

Wuligai decided decisively to issue the order to advance.

Knowing that the Great Dayu army in Jinan was a hard bone, he no longer wanted to collide head-on with the enemy.

If he couldn't afford to provoke, he could hide; at worst, he would take a detour.

Abandoning all the loot, the light-traveling Ghost Fang cavalry marched much faster than the infantry.

As long as they got rid of the pursuers, there would be plenty of opportunities to cross the river later.

Speaking hard, deep down, he was still very uneasy.

Having suffered heavy losses in Jinan Prefecture, the army gathered now totaled only seven thousand people.

Among them, there were quite a few people from the other two tribes.

Theoretically, seven thousand cavalry were enough to gallop on the plain.

Unfortunately, they had just suffered a defeat, and their morale was too low to fight a hard battle.

The day after the Ghost Fang army withdrew, Shu Shu Zhongyi also arrived with cavalry.

Dismounting to check the traces left behind, his brows suddenly furrowed.

The order he received was to weaken the enemy army, but now the enemy wanted to run, not giving them a chance to fight at all.

"General, analyzing from the time, the enemy army that was a day ahead of us has mostly left the Shandong border by now."

"If we pursue again, we will enter Henan territory."

A thousand-household of the Left Army reminded from the side.

The Great Great Dayu Dynasty's restrictions on the use of the army were very strict; this kind of cross-provincial pursuit was usually not allowed.

If there was really a need to cross the border, they had to send formal official documents and obtain the consent of the local government office.

The only ones who could break the restrictions were enemy-occupied areas.

Local government offices didn't exist, so there was no need to go through procedures.

The authority given by the Emperor to Marquis Marquis Wuyang was to manage the military affairs of Shandong, not involving Henan, which meant the King-Relieving Army didn't have the legitimacy to fight in Henan.

Once they pursued, it would be fine if they could win the battle; the people above would cover their responsibilities.

If they returned without success, that would be life-threatening.

Unauthorized cross-border pursuit of the enemy army; such a crime falling on them would mean they would lose a layer of skin even if they didn't die.

"Send people to send the news back and ask the Provincial Military Commander to decide."

Shu Shu Zhongyi thought for a moment and said.

As a general not from the nobility, he was able to hold a high position by relying on caution.

Without the military order from above, he wouldn't dare to act across the border without authorization.

"Everyone, put in some effort; we'll be at the Yellow River soon!"

Bashar worked hard to cheer up the soldiers.

Cavalry turning into infantry and taking a detour through Henan was a grievance.

The current troops looked like a group of refugees.

The nearby area had been grabbed by the grassland allied forces once, and it was difficult to obtain supplies.

If not for good luck and grabbing two small landlords who slipped through the net, they would have been hungry long ago.

"Tribal Chief, let everyone rest!"

"This ghost weather is really not suitable for rushing on the road."

The middle-aged man stepped forward to persuade.

The heat of May already had a few points of summer heat.

Marching under the scorching sun was a torment.

"Forget it!"

"Rest in place for half an hour, and then we'll get on the road."

Bashar had just finished speaking when he saw a large group of cavalry rushing in their direction.

"The flag of the Hailaer tribe; this is Wuligai and the others!"

After a brief joy, Bashar's face suddenly turned gloomy.

Between the Ghost Fang tribes, there also existed cruel competition.

It was just that everyone's strength was about the same, so large-scale war didn't break out.

Meeting in this situation was not a good thing.

"Quickly hide; absolutely don't let them discover us!"

Bashar ordered hurriedly.

Earlier, for the sake of escaping, he drew a cake for his subordinates, saying that meeting the allied forces would be safe.

But as a feudal lord on the grassland, he wouldn't simply think that allies would unconditionally help them.

Especially when meeting in a situation where strength was disparate, the probability of the other party falling into the trap was far greater than the probability of reaching out to pull them.

"Bashar, hiding like this is not what a grassland eagle should do!"

Hearing this familiar voice, Bashar instantly broke his defense.

What should come would eventually come.

Walking carefully all the way, struggling to survive, he didn't expect to escape the enemy's pursuit, but didn't escape the hidden arrow of his own people.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 308 =====

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