Chapter 371: Experience Causes Trouble

Nanjing City.

The newborn Wu regime had not yet had time to release its light before it entered the end of the dynasty in advance.

The Dayu army's steady and sure fighting eroded a large amount of Wu State's territory.

In order to reverse the situation, Pingnan Fu Haoxuan organized three strategic counterattacks, all of which ended in failure.

It was not that there were problems with strategy and tactics, mainly because the Dayu army's strength was too strong and the Wu army's combat effectiveness was too weak.

Earlier, he mocked the Chu army for lacking combat effectiveness and being wantonly beaten by the enemy; changing to the Wu army, the ending was not much better.

Clearly, the Wu army's training was stricter and the internal organization was tighter, but in the face of human heart changes, these efforts all became futile.

Not to mention the soldiers below, who lacked confidence in the Wu State, even the high-level officials were very confused.

That big house of the Great Dayu Dynasty seemed to be crumbling, but every time it was impacted by wind and rain, they held on.

Conversely, the insurgent army, which seemed to be advancing triumphantly, would suffer heavy losses every time it reached a critical moment.

The Bai Lian Holy Emperor who first raised the anti-flag died, and the famous Chu King was even cut into a thousand pieces.

In the past years, the number of famous insurgent army figures who died in battle was countless.

After the East King entered Shu, he was dragged down by his pace.

Several times he almost took down the Shu land, but in the end, he failed.

The situation in the Wu State was similar; at its peak, it once sent troops north to conquer the Central Plains, and it was about to complete the world hegemony, but the Northern Expedition failed.

At that time, Pingnan Fu Haoxuan was busy building the country and no one cared about the small setbacks at the front line.

Everyone was thinking about integrating the Wu State, contacting insurgent armies from all walks of life, and annihilating the Great Dayu in one fell swoop to establish a great cause.

Never expected that the moment they captured Nanjing was their peak strength.

Later, it seemed that there were more troops and soldiers were trained more strictly, but that spirit of swallowing the world was gone.

After the Wu State was established, countless short-sighted insurgent army high-level officials were fascinated by wealth.

In an unintentional moment, they fell.

Under countless flattery, Pingnan Fu Haoxuan, as emperor, did not realize the problem at all.

By the time he sensed something was wrong, everything was already too late.

The subsequent unfavorable progress on the battlefield pulled open the final fig leaf, exposing the internal problems of the insurgent army.

The theory of "Heaven's Mandate" once again became a hot topic.

Many people attributed the failure on the battlefield to his lack of Heaven's Mandate.

Even Pingnan Fu Haoxuan himself had doubts.

After all, before declaring himself emperor, the troops he led were sweeping all the way.

Even if they encountered a strong enemy, after effort, they could achieve victory.

After declaring himself emperor, the situation took a turn for the worse.

"Your Majesty, rumors are flying in the city, suspected to be a conspiracy of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

I propose to prohibit private gatherings of people in the city.

Any meeting of more than five people must be reported to the government office and can only be conducted after approval!"

Dou Ruiyu proposed with a grave expression.

In order to curb rumors, they took various measures, but instead, they made the rumors spread even wider.

The various explosive contents mixed in made people panic.

The enemy's military edge had already approached Ying Tian Prefecture, and it would not take long before the Nanjing Defense War would begin.

The more it was this time, the more it needed to stabilize people's hearts.

Even if everyone knew that holding Nanjing was not a good choice.

But now it was not the time to be an insurgent army; Nanjing was their capital after the establishment of the Wu State, and no one dared to speak lightly of giving it up.

Nanjing in hand represented that the Great Wu regime was still strong, and those cities that were holding on could still support it.

If Nanjing was abandoned, it would be equivalent to admitting failure politically.

Once reaching this step, the Wu army that was resisting the Dayu army in various places would avalanche at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Losing a city could be snatched back.

Losing people's hearts would never come back.

"My beloved ministers, are there any different opinions?"

Pingnan Fu Haoxuan asked expectantly.

Preventing people's mouths is more serious than preventing rivers.

He climbed up from the bottom and knew very well that rumors, the more they were prohibited from spreading, the easier it was for everyone to believe.

But under the current situation, he had to forbid speech.

If he let the rumors spread, no one knew how many explosive versions would appear.

Various groups hidden in the dark and hostile to the Wu State would all follow suit.

"Why, is there no one left in my Wu State?"

Seeing no response, Pingnan Fu Haoxuan asked angrily.

"Your Majesty, rumors stem from unfavorable war.

Our army's performance on the battlefield is not good, so doing anything in the rear is useless.

If we can break the enemy army, we don't even need the court to take action; the rumors will immediately change to a completely different version."

Yang Jingren answered with a stiff head.

Although these were all the truth, the truth was often unpleasant to hear.

Breaking the enemy army sounded simple, but really operating it was not easy.

Compared to before, the Dayu army was simply too cowardly this time.

No matter how they lured them, the enemy always advanced steadily.

Even if they launched an attack, they did not choose to chew hard bones, but instead picked soft persimmons to pinch.

Even if they could not fight a long-term strategy, the enemy would still come over and destroy their rule in the local area.

At the beginning, they laughed at the enemy for not understanding military affairs, but soon reality slapped them in the face.

Looking at it separately, the enemy's approach lacked value in military affairs.

But after fighting for a few months, they were surprised to find that their own territory had fallen by more than half unintentionally.

With less territory, the resources they could obtain would naturally decrease.

The war had been going on until now, and the Wu State could hardly raise money and grain from the local area to use in this war.

"Your Majesty, order a breakout!"

Minister of Rites Hu Yuzhe's words were like a thunderbolt, scaring everyone.

The situation was unfavorable, and the enemy was constantly compressing the encirclement; staying in Nanjing was undoubtedly a way to die.

But abandoning Nanjing, the political influence was really too great.

It was equivalent to giving up everything now and going back to being a wandering bandit.

If there was a choice, Hu Yuzhe would not want to take the lead.

But his situation was different; as a representative of the Great Dayu officials who surrendered to the insurgent army, Hu Yuzhe had no retreat.

Once the insurgent army failed, he would have to enjoy the nine-clan elimination package.

Neither the Great Dayu court nor the Jiangnan gentry would let go of him, this traitor.

"Official Hu, do you know what you are saying?"

Dou Ruiyu immediately questioned.

Someone proposing to abandon Nanjing was originally a good thing, but it could not be said in the court.

The Wu State court had no secrets; the topic discussed today would not take long before the whole city was full of wind and rain.

In order to curb rumors, he was almost worried until his head turned white, never expected that his colleague would release such fierce material.

"Prime Minister, since I dare to propose it, naturally I have made full consideration.

The war has been going on until now, and the strategic purpose of the pseudo-dynasty has been fully exposed.

They just want to rely on their resource advantage to exhaust us to death on the battlefield.

Compared to the pseudo-dynasty, the territory we control now is really too narrow.

If we cannot fight out as soon as possible, by the time the money and grain in our hands are exhausted, we won't even have a chance if we want to launch a counterattack.

According to my knowledge, the domestic grain storage can at most last until next year.

It seems very sufficient, but don't forget, we have been unable to levy tax grain from outside Ying Tian Prefecture.

From the current situation, whether it is the East King in the Shu land or the Guanzhong insurgent army that fled to Shanxi, they have no ability to change the world situation.

Originally thought that the Annan invasion could give us a breather, but the pseudo-dynasty directly sent that thief Li Mu to guard the border.

Everyone present, most grew up in Guangxi, and know the situation there better than I do.

With the ability of that thief Li Mu, guarding the dangerous pass in Guangxi, blocking the Annan people is simply not a problem.

It is quite possible that he could lead the local garrison troops to give the Annan people a counter-kill.

Everyone working together can indeed drag the war to next year, but what should we do next year?"

Hu Yuzhe immediately fired at full power, uncovering the bottom of the Wu State.

Supporting until next year was purely nonsense.

Under normal circumstances, grain was indeed enough to eat for that long, and the autumn grain could be collected, which was solid and sufficient.

It was just that now it was wartime, and the grain consumption speed was far higher than in ordinary times.

Although the Wu State's million-strong army had a lot of water, the material consumption did not decrease.

The strong men temporarily recruited into the army also had to eat grain.

Combat effectiveness was not as good as veterans, which did not mean that people's appetites were smaller than veterans.

Asking people to sell their lives, one could not let people go to the battlefield on an empty stomach.

Supporting a million-strong army to fight, the daily material consumption was a huge number.

The Dayu army was willing to fight a war of attrition with them, that was because the army they invested was only one-fifth of theirs.

In logistics, the Dayu army also had sea transport replenishment; it seemed to be a long-distance expedition, but in reality, the materials consumed on the way were not many.

"Your Majesty, Official Hu's words make sense.

At this time, we really should make a choice.

The situation in the south has changed, and Jiangnan is not a place to stay for long.

Since ancient times, those who seized the world mostly went from north to south.

Jumping out of the quagmire of Southern Zhili, there is still a vast space outside waiting for us to manage!"

Fan Xiuwen immediately echoed.

The Minister of War was not easy to be; the continuous defeat at the front line made him, this scapegoat Minister, impeached by Censors every day.

As if the defeat of the front-line troops was all his responsibility.

It was just that he could not explain; all military orders were issued by the emperor, and the Ministry of War was just a transfer station.

If he did not carry this black pot, the responsibility would fall on the emperor.

As a party warlord, Pingnan Fu Haoxuan was still responsible and did not use his head to calm the public opinion storm.

But if the situation continued to deteriorate, no one could guarantee whether the emperor could always withstand the pressure.

Fighting out at this time was also a matter of life and death.

But compared to waiting for death in place, fighting hard, in the end, there was still a glimmer of survival.

"Crazy!"

"You are all crazy!"

The high-virtue and prestigious Left Ding Yushi-in-Chief was directly fainted by anger.

As a famous Confucian scholar in the Jiangnan region, Xiao Yunshu was strongly invited to Nanjing to be an official by Pingnan Fu Haoxuan on the day he took his eighteenth concubine.

Originally wanted to jump into the lake to die for the Great Dayu, but the water was too cold, so he didn't dare to jump down.

Later, he sought to hang himself with three feet of white silk, but the chair was too slippery, and he could not accommodate his trembling body.

After failing to die for his integrity, he fasted to death, but unfortunately, his stomach was too hungry, and he could not hold on.

After failing to die for his integrity, Xiao Yunshu served as the Left Ding Yushi-in-Chief of the Wu State with peace of mind, wanting to assist the new emperor to reopen the world.

Just after pledging allegiance to Pingnan Fu Haoxuan, the Wu State rapidly declined.

If Pingnan Fu Haoxuan ordered a breakout at this time, declaring the failure of the Great Wu regime, his previous choice would become a joke.

As for assisting the Wu Emperor to fight back and reshape the Great Wu orthodoxy, that was purely funny.

When was the Wu State, which was briefly divided, ever orthodox?

The founding monarch encountering setbacks in the process of contending for the world was the norm.

But that was the early stage; never had it been that after building the country and declaring himself emperor, he was toppled and could still make a comeback.

"Send Official Xiao down and let the imperial physician treat him.

The rest continue to discuss matters; whether to go or stay, today we must have a result!"

Pingnan Fu Haoxuan said with a blank face.

Compared to a group of ministers, his mood was even heavier.

When he was originally surrounded by everyone and declared himself emperor, he had doubts about whether he could sit firmly on the country.

Now the worst situation appeared, as if confirming the initial speculation.

Perhaps standing in the position of a bystander, everyone summarizing the reasons for failure would attribute it to declaring himself emperor in advance, attracting the full-scale strike of the Great Dayu Dynasty.

But as a person involved, Pingnan Fu Haoxuan could responsibly say that he had no choice when he declared himself emperor back then.

The Bai Lian Holy Kingdom collapsed, needing a new regime to condense people's hearts.

The little brothers below, wanting to be promoted and get rich, needed him to declare himself emperor.

Wanting to forcibly bind the Jiangnan gentry and obtain the support of these local snakes, he had to build a new dynasty and make a cut with the Bai Lian Holy Kingdom.

A series of factors superimposed, promoting the establishment of the Wu State.

As for the problem of attracting hatred, from the moment he occupied Nanjing, he was destined not to be low-key.

Whether he declared himself emperor or not, he would become the primary target of the Great Dayu's strike.

If it were not for the Chu King helping to block the knife next door, the encirclement and suppression against the Wu State would have started long ago.

……

Zhennan Pass.

The roaring artillery fire opened the prelude to the Yue army's siege.

Countless Great Yue soldiers, holding door panels removed as shields, launched a siege under the cover of artillery fire.

Suddenly, dense firepower attacked the Yue army's artillery position from the top of the city.

The dense firepower coverage instantly took away five cannons, and together with the artillerymen operating the cannons, they went to the sky.

The first round of strikes ended, followed by the second round of firepower strikes, attacking the artillery position again.

"Quickly move the artillery position back!"

Seeing this scene, a Yue army general on the side hurriedly ordered.

Unfortunately, it was all too late.

Setting the artillery position within the enemy's firepower coverage range was the biggest mistake they made.

Heavy siege cannons were not so easy to move.

Even if the Yue army soldiers pushed the wheels hard, the cannons only moved slightly.

Before walking a few meters, a new round of firepower strikes attacked them again.

In less than an incense stick of time, half of the siege cannons that the Yue army painstakingly transported from the rear were buried in this artillery battle.

The fall of the artillery position was just the beginning of the tragedy; after losing firepower cover, the Yue army soldiers attacking the city became the second victims.

Holding door panels to form a formation to attack the city could block arrows, which was true.

But this kind of multi-person cooperative siege provided the best target for artillery fire.

Bombing at the door panels, one shot could take away quite a few people.

"What is Chen Jingfu doing?"

Hu Xinbo, who witnessed the tragedy from afar, could not help but ask sternly.

A group of ministers following him were also stunned at this time.

The war in front of them was completely different from the deployment mode they expected.

"Your Majesty, calm your anger!

It is just that the enemy army is too cunning, deliberately luring us into the trap.

General Chen was eager to make contributions, and did not notice for a moment, so he suffered a big loss.

After recovering a bit later, he will definitely be able to make the enemy look good!"

Minister of War Chen Chuyang explained forcefully.

It was all experience-ism that caused trouble.

The siege method just now was all experience summarized by the Yue army in invading small indigenous countries.

These small countries' military industry stayed in the cold weapon era, and placing cannons three hundred meters away from the city could avoid the attack of trebuchets.

At this distance, using cannons to attack the enemy's city wall could exert maximum power.

The soldiers holding door panels to form a formation to attack the city was also experience summarized, all of which had been verified by actual combat.

Never expected that these invincible tactics would suffer a heavy blow as soon as they were taken out.

At a distance of more than three hundred meters, the Dayu army's cannons could accurately lock onto their artillery position and conduct firepower strikes.

The dense charging team was sending battle achievements to the enemy.

"Pass the order down, beat the gong and retreat!"

Hu Xinbo ordered coldly.

Things had already happened, and now the only thing he could do was to pause the attack.

Even if this would hurt the army's morale, he could only admit it.

"Your Majesty, I am guilty!"

An incense stick of time later, Chen Jingfu, with a scar that had just scabbed, ran into the commander's camp to plead guilty.

Although it was an experience-ism mistake, as a front-line commander, he was still hard to shirk responsibility.

The last time they fought a major war with the Central Plains dynasty was two hundred years ago, and the generals who experienced that battle had grass on their graves for over a hundred years.

The Great Yue Imperial Dynasty's understanding of the Dayu army was limited to a few words in history books and scattered intelligence collected.

History books were all pit goods; the Great Yue had a tradition of tampering with history, and the distance from the truth could only be said to be irrelevant.

Clearly, the Great Dayu took the initiative to abandon Jiaozhi, but in their history books, it became a major defeat of the Dayu army, forcing the other party to cede land and pay compensation.

The previous intelligence was all from the garrison troops in Guangxi, who were originally a group of mobs, so the evaluation naturally could not be high.

After Li Mu took office, the garrison became closed, and ordinary people simply could not get in.

Spies could not collect effective intelligence, and in order to explain to the above, they simply took the previous materials and modified them to fool.

If one looked at the intelligence, the cannons on the city wall of Zhen'an Pass were still antiques from more than two hundred years ago.

Having experienced the vicissitudes of time, whether they could be used, no one knew.

But from the situation just now, this was clearly nonsense.

The power of the Dayu army's cannons was much more powerful than they expected, and the hit rate was also much higher.

Obviously, in the past two hundred years, the enemy's cannon technology had improved.

"The war was fought like this, and you still dare to come back!"

Hu Xinbo scolded immediately.

That expression of hating iron for not becoming steel was undoubtedly telling Chen Jingfu to quickly make up a reasonable excuse to get over this matter.

This was the treatment of a confidant!

"Your Majesty, I deserve to die!"

"It's just that I want to die, but I also want to die on the road of charging and fighting.

The despicable Dayu people deliberately released false information to lure us into the trap.

Causing my army to suffer heavy casualties, the final general wants to use the blood of the Dayu people to avenge the dead soldiers!"

Chen Jingfu said passionately.

That ferocious expression seemed to be irreconcilable with the Great Dayu.

……

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 372 =====