Chapter 321

"Uncle, Yongzhou City has been taken; do you want to enter the city for a look?"

Li Mu asked.

The fighting in the city was still continuing, but this did not affect the overall situation.

The morale of the army had collapsed, and what remained were some sporadic resistances that wouldn't last long.

Having taken Yongzhou City, the subsequent recovery of the entire Yongzhou Prefecture was a matter of convenience.

Having recovered a prefecture, the Huguang Viceroy finally had a place to be useful.

"No need!

Taking advantage of the fact that the enemy hasn't reacted, we should hurry up and take Hengyang."

Li Yuan resisted the temptation and refused.

For him personally, recovering Yongzhou City was indeed a landmark event with very important commemorative significance.

But for the overall situation, a Yongzhou City was far from satisfying his appetite.

Taking advantage of the enemy's inability to react to recover lost territory and expand his territory was the right path.

Like the previous great war, while attacking Yongzhou, Li Mu also divided his troops to kill their way into Hengyang.

The fighting here was over, so it was just right to go over and preside over the Hengyang siege battle.

It wasn't that there was no one in the army, and they had to personally go to the front line.

It was mainly because Li Mu's prestige in the army was too high; as long as he arrived at the place, even if he did nothing, he could boost morale.

By the way, he could also scare the rebel army in Hengyang City.

In a battle between two armies, besides comparing strength, one also had to compare the psychological quality of the commanders.

Once fear arose, one couldn't let go on the battlefield.

Even if the opportunity for battle was right in front of one's eyes, one could only let it slip away in vain.

"Pass the order down, leave five thousand troops in Yongzhou to handle the aftermath, and the rest board the ships and head for Hengyang."

Li Mu nodded and said.

Entering Yongzhou City was more of a political show.

However, having experienced the flames of war continuously, there weren't many residents left in Yongzhou City, and there was no need to appease the people's hearts in this way.

As for the court side, Emperor Yongning and the officials only wanted to see the victory report of recovering lost territory; everything else was a side issue.

"Viceroy, ahead is Songjiang Prefecture."

Looking at the land appearing in the distance, Jing Yifeng reminded him.

"Oh!

We arrived so quickly; it seems God is on our side.

Pass the order down, the whole army should prepare for landing.

Old Seven, you have fought the rebel army many times and have experience in landing operations, so you will command the next great battle."

Jing Guoliang looked at Songjiang Prefecture in the distance and said.

"This subordinate obeys!"

Jing Yifeng replied immediately.

Although they were brothers from the same family, they were ultimately distant relatives from different branches.

Jing Guoliang, as the head of the family, could treat him as a younger brother, but he couldn't push his luck and accept it directly.

Especially in a place like the army where ranks were strict, it was even more necessary to pay attention to status.

Wanting to have the qualification for equal dialogue, it wouldn't be too late to hope for it after being ennobled for military merit one day.

In fact, Great Dayu had been established for more than two hundred and seventy years, and apart from the few Dukes ennobled during the founding period, no more Dukes had been born.

Now that the world had entered troubled times, if one could pacify all hidden dangers, one would be qualified.

However, such great merit was not something an ordinary person could bear.

Even if one could do it, one had to find someone to share it, otherwise, if the merit was too high to shake the master, there would be no way to play.

Choosing to let Jing Yifeng land and fight was essentially a form of promotion.

For a military general, only by reaching the battlefield could one obtain sufficient military merit.

When they first went south to the two Guang regions, Jing Yifeng and Li Mu were in the same echelon.

Everyone was an Assistant Regional Commander, and there was a strength gap between the Huai'an Camp and the Yangzhou Camp, but it wasn't too disparate.

Both had backgrounds in the court, and their early development was also full of military merit.

It wasn't until they developed to the limit that the two were separated.

It was true that the position of Guangdong Regional Commander was recommended by Xu Wenyue, but Jing Guoliang had also put in a lot of effort behind the scenes.

He originally thought that with the help of Guangdong's rich resources, his cousin could make persistent efforts and go further in the army.

As a result, fate played a joke here; after serving as Guangdong Regional Commander, Jing Yifeng only had a few days of glory in the early stages.

Not long after, he fell into a predicament of lack of money and grain and couldn't extricate himself.

At the same time, his own son-in-law was advancing all the way and became a leader of the younger generation of the nobility.

The meat was in their own pot, so Jing Guoliang didn't care, but the Jing clan couldn't stand it.

The allied Li family had two Marquises in one family; if they didn't work hard, the Jing family, the number one noble family, would lose its name.

Cultivating new people was obviously too late.

Even if they were willing to throw resources at it, the descendants themselves had to have the ability.

Just reading military books was useless; one had to experience the test of war to determine who was a true talent.

Jing Yifeng's performance fell short of expectations, which was the result of comparing him with Li Mu.

In the entire noble system, Jing Yifeng's performance was still very bright.

Since joining the army, he had never suffered a major defeat.

Failing to recover Guangdong was mainly because money and grain held him back, not because his military command ability was poor.

Since there was cultivation value, naturally he had to be given more opportunities to perform.

If he performed excellently, the great merit of recovering Nanjing was not impossible to hope for.

Sitting in rows and sharing fruits.

This was the essence of the world.

The current noble group had essentially entered the era of the four giants.

After obtaining a hereditary Marquis title, neither Li Mu nor the Marquis of Wuyang would hope to go further.

A little more or a little less military merit wouldn't affect anything.

It wasn't impossible to be willing to take out political resources for trading and give the opportunity to recover Nanjing to the Jing family.

To be precise, just trading with the Marquis of Wuyang would do.

In the process of Li Mu's rise, the Jing family had put in a lot of effort.

Not only did Li Mu owe a favor, but the entire Li clan owed the Jing family a big favor.

Otherwise, those things Li Mu did in private would have been impeached by the censors I don't know how many times.

Many things were fine to do quietly.

Once placed on the table, that would be life-threatening.

Two major assisting ministers escorted him, which allowed Li Mu to avoid internal strife from his colleagues.

Including the subsequent ennoblement, Jing Guoliang had also put in a lot of effort in the court.

These favor debts all needed to be repaid.

As long as Jing Guoliang spoke, Li Mu could take the army to help take Nanjing.

However, this level of support was obviously impossible.

If one's own ability didn't match and one was forcibly pushed to a high position, that would be a disaster.

Standing from the family's standpoint, what the Jing family needed was influence in the army, not high official positions and generous salaries on the surface.

"Boom—"

The sound of artillery fire broke the tranquility of Shanghai County.

"Enemy attack!"

The port garrison issued a warning at the first moment.

The news quickly entered the Shanghai County Yamen, and the County Magistrate Chai Baopu, who received the news, was stunned.

The situation in Songjiang Prefecture was special, being divided by the Wu and Chu states.

In order to reduce conflict, the high levels of the two countries were conducting land exchange negotiations.

Perhaps inheriting the tradition of the Great Dayu Dynasty, the high levels did not keep this negotiation secret.

The specific negotiation results were unknown; anyway, to show sincerity, neither side had stationed heavy troops in Songjiang Prefecture.

Shanghai County was temporarily controlled by the Chu State, but everyone knew that the Chu King wanted to focus on operating Huguang.

A place destined to be abandoned would naturally not be valued much.

"Are you sure it's the imperial army that has fought back, not pirates looting?"

Chai Baopu asked uneasily.

Deep in his heart, he hoped immensely that the people below were mistaken and had mistaken pirates for the imperial army.

Pirates had limited combat effectiveness, and looting places meant leaving after grabbing, rarely choosing to fight to the death for a city.

If one worked hard, there was still hope of holding Shanghai County City.

If it were the imperial army that had fought back, the consequences would be much more serious.

Whether the imperial army could recover Nanzhili was unknown, but taking Shanghai County wouldn't take much effort.

"County Magistrate, how would we dare to talk nonsense about such things.

Taking advantage of the fact that the enemy has just started landing, hurry up and ask the Songjiang garrison general for help!"

The middle-aged constable urged immediately.

The imperial army recovering lost territory, how could they, who had followed the rebels, have a good ending?

The establishment of the Wu and Chu states did weaken Great Dayu's influence, but weakening did not mean elimination.

Seeing the imperial army attacking, there were few who were not afraid.

"Good, this official will write a letter immediately!"

After speaking, Chai Baopu immediately ordered the maid to bring pen, ink, paper, and inkstone and began to write a request for help.

The full page of classical Chinese made the middle-aged constable on the side very anxious.

Just as the request for help was finished, the sound of artillery fire reached the Yamen.

"Magistrate, this subordinate will take men to send the request for help; you take care!"

After speaking, the middle-aged constable picked up the letter and went out the door.

From the sound of artillery fire, one could know that the imperial army was not far from the county city; if one didn't leave now, one wouldn't be able to leave.

If it weren't for the fear of being held accountable by those above for fleeing alone, he wouldn't have come to ask for a request for help.

As someone who had just surrendered, he hadn't caught up with the dividends of the rebel army's expansion and was still a low-level petty official.

Towards this newly born Chu State, the middle-aged constable had no sense of belonging.

Watching his subordinate leave, Chai Baopu suddenly realized something was wrong.

The armed forces in the county city were limited, and the enemy had killed their way over; the first choice should be to conscript civilians to defend the city.

The constable who should have gone out to conscript soldiers actually wanted to take his subordinates to run off to send a request for help.

This wasn't sending a letter at all; it was clearly using the excuse of sending a letter to run away.

With his letter as proof, even if those above held him accountable, it would be him, the County Magistrate, bearing it.

"Bastard!

Zhou Damao, you actually dare to fool me.

This official wants you..."

The incessant angry scolding, Zhou Damao on the escape route couldn't hear at all, destined to be a useless effort.

The County Magistrate was incompetent and roaring, so defending the city was naturally out of the question.

The new regime's official staffing was not full, and in the entire Shanghai County City, the only one with a rank was him, the County Magistrate.

Chai Baopu did not fulfill his duties at the first moment, directly leading to the collapse of Shanghai County's city defense.

When the imperial army killed their way over, the city gate guards had long since disappeared, and they were too lazy to even close the city gates.

The whole world was full of people fleeing for their lives, and the flow of people directly blocked the city gates.

"Let these people clear the road immediately; those who disobey will be killed without mercy!"

Seeing the scene before him, Jing Yifeng decisively issued the order.

He thought it would be a fierce battle, but he never expected it to end in a comedy way.

The garrison didn't bring him any trouble; on the contrary, the people fleeing for their lives hindered the army's pace of advance.

"Regional Commander, we have captured the Shanghai County Magistrate."

Looking in the direction of the sound, Jing Yifeng saw Chai Baopu being escorted over at a glance.

"General, spare my life!

This subordinate was forced; the rebel army used the people of the whole county to threaten me, and I was forced to surrender to the rebel party.

Hearing that the King's Army had recovered lost territory, this subordinate immediately ordered people to open the city gates, waiting..."

Chai Baopu's explanation brought a roll of the eyes from Jing Yifeng.

"Make it up, keep making it up.

Make up a few more stories, maybe this General will believe it.

Escort this rebel official down, and hand him over to the Viceroy's Yamen for processing later!"

Regardless of how sufficient the reason was, an official surrendering to the rebel army was a capital offense.

Wanting to return to the imperial court's camp, unless one had made great contributions, it was possible to be pardoned by the court.

Just not resisting the King's Army would at most reduce some crimes, but those who should be held accountable would still be held accountable.

If traitors were not severely punished, how could one be worthy of those ministers who died for their integrity?

Praising loyalty, just rewarding wasn't enough; one also had to match it with a punishment mechanism.

The Great Dayu Dynasty was relatively mature in its system and possessed a perfect reward and punishment mechanism.

"General, this subordinate is truly wronged!

As long as you can spare this subordinate's life, all the wealth this subordinate has accumulated can be offered to you.

..."

The unwilling Chai Baopu promised with all his might.

Reason told him that this was his last chance to survive.

If no one helped speak for him, once he reached the Viceroy, losing his head was inevitable.

"It doesn't matter, this General can arrange for people to do it themselves.

As long as the wealth you have accumulated is in the city, it can all be searched out; it won't take much effort."

Jing Yifeng responded mockingly.

Ever since he suffered from the lack of money and grain, he had been full of resentment towards corrupt officials.

If the Qiongzhou Prefecture granary hadn't been emptied, he could have used the grain stored by the court to serve as military grain for his troops.

As long as there was enough grain, even if military pay was in arrears, one could still win battles.

At worst, wait until after the war and make it up with spoils of war.

Similar operations, when he was in Guangxi, he and Li Mu had done more than once.

As long as they could fulfill their promises in time, the soldiers were still willing to buy it.

At that time, as long as they fought a few more winning battles and made enough contributions in the great war to recover Guangdong.

When the Marquis of Wuyang served as the Viceroy of the two Guang regions, he wouldn't have thrown most of the resources at Li Mu's troops.

Obtaining sufficient resources, the strength of the army under his command would inevitably grow rapidly, and maybe he would be one of the protagonists of the King-Saving War later.

If he was lucky, he would have been ennobled by now and become a heavyweight figure in the noble system.

Unfortunately, there were not so many "ifs" in reality; his path to the clouds was directly buried by a group of corrupt officials.

Missing the opportunity to hitch a ride, wanting to catch up again was not so easy.

(End of chapter)