Chapter 323

Nanjing Imperial Palace.

"The Northern Expedition has suffered setbacks, and the pseudo-dynasty has sent troops to Songjiang Prefecture again; this is truly a critical moment of survival, do the lords have any strategies to teach this Emperor?"

Pingnan Fu Haoxuan said with a grave expression.

Since ancient times, unifying the north from the south had been beset with difficulties.

The Wu State hadn't even unified the south and rushed into the Northern Expedition, so naturally, it wouldn't be smooth sailing.

However, everyone had fantasies about beautiful things.

The Northern Tatars had been ravaging the north for more than half a year, tossing Great Dayu quite a bit, providing them with an opportunity for the Northern Expedition.

The opportunity was delivered to their door, so they certainly had to try hard.

Unfortunately, miracles didn't happen; no matter how down-and-out Great Dayu was, it still had some family foundation.

The Northern Expedition Army encountered border cavalry on the march, directly crashing into a bloody mess, and the main general was almost killed.

"Your Majesty, the setback of the Northern Expedition is within expectations.

Since ancient times, going north from the south has been successful only after experiencing hardships and obstacles.

This Northern Expedition was more out of political considerations, and the troops invested were not many.

The pseudo-dynasty sending troops to Songjiang Prefecture just proves the correctness of our Northern Expedition.

The pseudo-emperor is afraid, which is why he disregarded everything and ordered the Yu army to divide their troops and launch the Songjiang campaign.

We have basically achieved the strategic goal of restraining the pseudo-dynasty's energy and winning time for the rear to recuperate.

We have successfully won half a year of peaceful time for the prefectures in the rear.

During this time, the Wu State has completed internal affairs sorting and strengthened the training of the army.

Compared to half a year ago, the comprehensive strength has increased by at least fifty percent.

Since the pseudo-dynasty can't help but make a move, then we will cut off their claws first!"

Tu Ruiyu replied tactfully.

The linguistic art of avoiding the important and dwelling on the trivial was utilized to the extreme by him here.

The failure of the Northern Expedition was directly covered up lightly.

It wasn't that Tu Ruiyu liked to flatter, but it was really that in the current situation, stability had to come first.

In the startup stage, the most important thing was the morale of the army.

The tone set by the Emperor's opening words was "Northern Expedition suffered setbacks," and as Chancellor, he naturally had to follow.

"The Chancellor is right; just chop off their claws directly.

The main reason for the Northern Expedition's setback is our lack of cavalry and lack of experience in fighting cavalry.

The pseudo-dynasty cavalry in the south is not on the same level as the Nine Borders elites at all.

The closest time to having cavalry was during the Bai Lian Holy Kingdom period, when they concentrated all their strength to piece together a cavalry team.

Unfortunately, this unit was destroyed before it could exert any effect on the battlefield.

Since then, our cavalry units have been constrained by the lack of warhorses and have been difficult to scale.

However, this problem is not completely unsolvable.

We lack warhorses, but there are people who don't.

The things they lack happen to be what we have.

And everyone has a common enemy—Great Dayu.

Your Majesty, as long as you authorize it, this subordinate is willing to contact the Jin merchants and purchase a batch of warhorses from the north."

Minister of Rites Hu Yuzhe immediately gave a suggestion.

As a newly born regime, the Wu State hadn't reached the point of needing to pay attention to etiquette, and Pingnan Fu Haoxuan was someone who didn't care about small details.

So much so that he, the Minister of Rites, besides being able to preside over celebration ceremonies, had almost become a decoration.

For a surrendered official, losing power in his hands was undoubtedly the beginning of a disaster.

Even if the Emperor needed to buy horses with a thousand gold now and gave him generous treatment, if his virtue didn't match his position, he would definitely suffer disaster.

In order to integrate into the team, he made many efforts, but the results were still minimal.

Those willing to huddle together for warmth with him were also a group of surrendered officials.

The identities of these people were sensitive one by one, and huddling together was even more finished.

For the sake of his small life, Hu Yuzhe didn't dare to form a party at all, and didn't even dare to be corrupt.

He was afraid that the flaws left now would send him to hell one day in the future.

Surrendered officials wanting to get power must first solve the trust problem.

Buying warhorses for the Wu State was undoubtedly an opportunity to perform.

It not only showed his ability to handle affairs but also proved his loyalty to the Wu State with actual actions.

"Minister Hu, you are truly a great talent.

If you can purchase good horses from the north, and the Northern Expedition succeeds in the future, Minister Hu will be the first contributor!"

Pingnan Fu Haoxuan immediately drew a big cake.

For the current Wu State, the importance of warhorses was really too great.

Without a powerful cavalry, the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains was a joke.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

The midnight gunfire broke the tranquility of Changsha City.

"The enemy is attacking the city?"

"Not right!"

"If the enemy attacks the city, it's impossible not to have artillery fire.

The gunfire outside the city can't reach here, could it be that the army in the city has mutinied?"

Jia Xuanfeng, who was awakened from his sleep, said with a look of panic.

The sturdiest fortresses are always broken from within.

Changsha's city walls were sturdy; back then, the Bai Lian Holy Kingdom paid a tragic price to take Changsha City.

After the Holy Kingdom split, the Great Chu regime that inherited the legacy also attached great importance to Changsha's defense.

Not only did they deploy twenty thousand troops in the city, but they also hoarded a large amount of strategic materials.

According to the high command's strategic vision, Changsha City was an important strategic transit station, shouldering the heavy responsibility of reinforcing battlefields everywhere.

This morning, he just received the order to reinforce Hengyang.

It was just that the order came too late; at the same time he received the news, the imperial army had already arrived under the walls of Changsha.

Whether Hengyang Prefecture was still in the hands of the Chu State was now an unknown. Reinforcement naturally didn't exist.

The enemy was coming fiercely; sending troops out of the city at this time was just going over to send heads.

Not daring to send troops didn't mean Jia Xuanfeng was afraid.

As the defending side, with twenty thousand troops plus the young and strong conscripted from the city, he was not afraid of the enemy attacking the city at all.

Deep in his heart, he calculated more than once that he would establish merit and be ennobled here.

But among the various situations he encountered, it definitely didn't include problems in the city.

"General, a group of enemy troops has mixed into the city and is killing their way here.

You hurry up and avoid it!"

Hearing this news, Jia Xuanfeng first breathed a sigh of relief; it was good that it wasn't his own army mutinying.

Originally, the morale of the army in the city wasn't very high; if there was another internal chaos, it would be completely finished.

The good mood didn't last long, and he realized something was wrong again.

As early as when the enemy attacked Yongzhou, he ordered to strengthen precautions and strictly check outsiders.

Let alone carrying muskets into the city, even carrying an iron rod into the city would be confiscated by the Yamen.

Against this background, being able to let the enemy mix into the city, there must be a problem behind it.

"Hurry up and send people to figure out how the enemy entered the city and how many troops there are.

At the same time, notify the garrison at each gate to be vigilant; we must not let the enemy take advantage!"

Jia Xuanfeng ordered immediately.

If he didn't figure out how the enemy entered the city, he, the defending general, wouldn't be able to sleep or eat in peace.

The defending general was confused, and the soldiers below were even more puzzled.

Awakened by the sound of gunfire in a daze, followed by the news of the enemy entering the city, panic soon spread in the city.

"The plan to capture the king has failed; hurry up and cooperate with Battalion Commander Liu to take the city gate!"

Li Yunxian decided decisively.

This surprise attack on Changsha was a temporary idea.

They were able to appear in the city all thanks to the help of the gentry in the city.

No matter how cleanly the rebel army killed, there were always fish that slipped through the net.

The family business was destroyed, and hundreds of people in the whole clan were killed.

The gentry son who was avoiding the rebel army's search took the initiative to come to the door and contributed a secret passage connecting to outside the city.

The opportunity delivered to the door naturally had to be grasped.

A crack team of eight hundred people sneaked into the city under the cover of night.

Then they divided into two groups, one group implemented the plan to capture the king, and one group was responsible for opening the city gate to welcome the main army into the city.

The surprise action did indeed stun the enemy, and the city was currently in chaos.

Unfortunately, the rebel general was too vigilant; sensing the sound of gunfire approaching, he left the mansion in advance.

There was only one chance to make a move for "capturing the king."

Since the enemy general had slipped away, wanting to find him again wouldn't be so easy!

"Bang, bang, bang..."

The sound of muskets rang out again, and the rebel soldiers blocking the front didn't even react before they paid with their lives.

Full city defense in the dark night was equivalent to no defense.

If it weren't for close-range contact, it was impossible to distinguish between friend and foe.

Especially since many soldiers themselves suffered from night blindness, which exacerbated the difficulties of night combat.

"Don't get entangled with the enemy!"

Seeing the soldiers killing with gusto, Li Yunxian hurriedly ordered.

Now was not the time to be impulsive; compared to recovering Changsha, the enemy soldiers in front were not worth mentioning at all.

Let them go for now; after the main army entered the city, they would still settle accounts with them.

If the speed of surrender was fast, there was still a chance to enjoy the "exile to Lingnan" package.

If the reaction was slow, they would directly become souls under the blade; there was no need to haggle with a group of dead people.

After breaking through layers of defense, the trail of the team was also discovered by the enemy, and the battle became more and more tragic.

(End of chapter)