Chapter 371: The Trouble Caused by Experience

Nanjingcheng.

The newborn Great Wu regime had not yet had time to shine before it prematurely entered its final dynasty years.

The Yu army’s steady advance had gradually consumed vast territories of Wu.

To reverse the situation, Fu Haoxuan organized three strategic counteroffensives in succession—all ended in failure.

It was not a flaw in strategy or tactics; the Yu army was simply too strong, and the Wu army’s combat power too weak.

He had previously mocked the Chu army for lacking combat ability, being mercilessly crushed by the enemy—now the Wu army faced no better fate.

Despite Wu’s stricter training and tighter internal organization, all these efforts became futile in the face of shifting morale.

Not only did the rank-and-file soldiers lose faith in Wu, even the high command was deeply confused.

The Great Yu dynasty’s grand house appeared on the verge of collapse, yet every storm it endured, it withstood.

In contrast, the rebel forces seemed to be advancing triumphantly, but at every critical moment, they suffered devastating setbacks.

The White Lotus Holy Emperor, who first raised the rebellion banner, was dead; the famed Chu King was flayed alive.

Over the years, the number of renowned rebel leaders who died in battle was countless.

After the Eastern King entered Shu, his progress was stalled.

He nearly seized Shu several times, yet each time failed at the final moment.

Wu’s situation was much the same: at its peak, it once launched a northern campaign to reclaim the Central Plains, seemingly on the verge of achieving dominion over all under heaven—only to see the northern campaign fail.

At the time, Fu Haoxuan was busy establishing the state; no one cared about minor setbacks on the front lines.

Everyone wanted to consolidate Wu, unite all rebel factions, and utterly destroy the Great Yu to build great achievements.

What no one expected was that their peak strength came the moment they captured Nanjingcheng.

Afterward, though their army grew larger and soldiers trained more rigorously, the momentum to devour the world was gone.

After Wu’s founding, countless short-sighted rebel leaders were blinded by wealth and luxury.

In an instant, they fell into decay.

Amid endless flattery, Emperor Fu Haoxuan failed to recognize the problem.

By the time he realized something was wrong, it was already too late.

The subsequent setbacks on the battlefield pulled back the final veil, exposing the internal rot of the rebel forces.

The notion of “Mandate of Heaven” became a hot topic once again.

Many blamed their battlefield defeats on Fu Haoxuan lacking the Mandate of Heaven.

Even Fu Haoxuan himself began to doubt.

After all, before he became emperor, his troops had swept everything before them.

Even when facing powerful enemies, with effort they still won.

After his coronation, the situation plunged rapidly.

“Your Majesty, rumors are spreading throughout the city—likely a conspiracy by the Embroidered Uniform Guard.”

“I propose banning private gatherings among the city’s populace.”

“Any gathering of more than five people must be reported to the yamen and approved before proceeding!”

Qian Ruiyu proposed solemnly.

To curb the rumors, they implemented various measures—but only made the rumors spread further.

The explosive content mixed within them caused widespread panic.

The enemy's vanguard had already drawn near Ying Prefecture; it would not be long before the Nanjing City Defense Battle began.

The more critical the moment, the more stability of morale was needed.

Even though everyone knew holding Nanjingcheng was not a wise choice.

But this was no longer the time to act as rebels; Nanjingcheng was Wu’s capital, and no one dared speak of abandoning it.

Holding Nanjingcheng meant the Great Wu regime still stood firm, and other besieged cities could still hold out.

To abandon Nanjingcheng would be to politically admit defeat.

Once that step was taken, Wu forces resisting the Yu army across the land would collapse visibly and rapidly.

Losing a city could mean retaking it later.

But losing the people’s hearts? That could never be recovered.

“My loyal ministers, do any of you have alternative views?”

Fu Haoxuan asked hopefully.

Restricting the people’s speech is harder than damming a river.

He had risen from the bottom; he knew well that the more you forbid rumors, the more people believe them.

But under the current situation, he had no choice but to suppress speech.

If rumors were left unchecked, who knew how many explosive versions would emerge?

All hidden groups hostile to Wu would eagerly fuel them.

“Is there no one left in Wu?”

Seeing no response, Fu Haoxuan angrily demanded.

“Your Majesty, the rumors stem from our military setbacks.”

Our army’s poor battlefield performance renders any rear-area measures useless.”

If we could decisively crush the enemy, no decree from court would be needed—the rumors would instantly turn into entirely different versions.”

Yang Jingren answered reluctantly.

Though these were hard truths, hard truths are often unpleasant to hear.

Crushing the enemy sounds simple, but in practice, it is not easy.

Compared to before, the Yu army this time was utterly cautious.

No matter how we provoked them, the enemy advanced steadily.

Even when attacking, they avoided hard targets, choosing instead to crush the softest ones.

Even without a long-term strategy, they would still come, undermining our rule in local areas.

At first, we mocked them for not understanding military affairs; soon reality slapped us in the face.

Separately, the enemy’s tactics held little military value.

But after several months of fighting, we were shocked to find half our territory had quietly fallen.

With less land, the resources we could extract naturally diminished.

By now, Wu could hardly raise Qian Liang from the regions to fund this war.

“Your Majesty, order a breakout!”

Hu Yuzhe’s words, like thunder, startled everyone.

With the situation worsening and the enemy tightening the encirclement, staying in Nanjingcheng was certain death.

But abandoning Nanjingcheng carried enormous political consequences.

It meant giving up everything and returning to being bandits.

If he had any choice, Hu Yuzhe would never have raised this issue.

But his situation was different: as the representative of former Great Yu officials who defected to the rebels, Hu Yuzhe had no retreat.

If the rebels failed, he would face the annihilation of his nine clans.

Neither the Great Yu court nor the Jiangnan gentry would spare a traitor like him.

“Minister Hu, do you know what you are saying?”

Qian Ruiyu immediately demanded.

Suggesting abandonment of Nanjingcheng was a good idea in principle—but not one to raise in court.

The Wu court had no secrets; today’s discussion would soon become citywide gossip.

To curb rumors, he was nearly driven to white hair—and now a colleague had just thrown another bomb.

“Prime Minister, since I dared raise this, I have given it thorough consideration.”

By now, the false dynasty’s strategic goals are fully exposed.

They intend to use their resource advantage to starve us to death on the battlefield.

Compared to the false dynasty, the territory we control is far too small.

If we cannot break out soon, once our Qian Liang runs out, we will have no chance to counterattack.

According to my knowledge, our domestic grain reserves can last at most until next year.

It may seem ample, but do not forget—we can no longer collect tax grain beyond Ying Prefecture.

From the current situation, neither the Eastern King in Shu nor the Guanzhong rebels roaming Shanxi have the strength to alter the empire’s fate.

We had hoped Annan’s invasion would buy us breathing room, but the false dynasty sent that traitor Li Mu to guard the border.

Most of you here grew up in Guangxi—you know the region better than I do.

With Li Mu’s abilities, holding the high ground in Guangxi to repel Annan is no problem.

He might even lead local garrison troops to launch a counterstrike against Annan.

If we all unite, we can drag the war into next year—but then what?”

Hu Yuzhe launched a full-scale expose of Wu’s true state.

“Lasting until next year”? Pure nonsense.

Under normal circumstances, grain would indeed last that long, with autumn harvests still coming in—plenty of supplies.

But this is war; the rate of grain consumption far exceeds peacetime levels.

Although Wu’s million-strong army was largely hollow, its material consumption had not decreased.

The conscripted young men drafted on short notice still needed to be fed.

Their combat effectiveness may not match veterans’, but that doesn’t mean their appetites are smaller.

If you want them to risk their lives, you can’t let them march into battle with empty stomachs.

Supplying a million-man army daily requires a staggering amount of resources.

Yu’s army was willing to fight a war of attrition because their forces were only one-fifth the size of ours.

Yu’s logistics were supplemented by sea transport; though it seemed like a distant expedition, actual mid-route consumption was minimal.

“Your Majesty, Minister Hu speaks wisely.”

At this moment, we must make a choice.”

The situation in the south has changed; the Jiangnan region is no place to linger.”

Throughout history, those who seized the empire mostly advanced from north to south.”

Escape the quagmire of Nanzhili—beyond lies vast territory waiting for us to develop!”

Fan Xiuwen immediately echoed the sentiment.

The Minister of War is no easy post; with continuous battlefield defeats, he is daily impeached by the Censors.

As if every defeat on the front line were entirely his fault.

Yet he cannot explain—the military orders all came from the Emperor; the Ministry of War is merely a transit point.

If he does not shoulder this black burden, the blame falls on the Emperor himself.

As a regional lord, Fu Haoxuan still showed some responsibility by not using his head to quell public outrage.

But if the situation continues to deteriorate, no one can guarantee the Emperor will endure the pressure indefinitely.

Launching an offensive now is equally uncertain—life or death.

Yet compared to waiting passively for death, a desperate gamble still offers a glimmer of hope.

“Madness!”

“You’re all mad!”

The venerable Left Censor-in-Chief fainted from rage.

As a renowned Confucian scholar of Jiangnan, Xiao Yunshu was forcibly summoned to Nanjing to serve in office by Fu Haoxuan on the very day he took his eighteenth concubine.

He had intended to drown himself in the lake to die for the Yu cause, but the water was too cold—he dared not jump.

He then tried hanging himself with a three-foot white silk rope, but the chair was too slippery to support his trembling body.

He next attempted starvation, but his stomach was too weak to endure it.

After failing to die for his principles, Xiao Yunshu calmly accepted his post as Left Censor-in-Chief of Wu, determined to assist the new monarch in rebuilding the empire.

He had just pledged loyalty to Fu Haoxuan when Wu rapidly declined.

If Fu Haoxuan now ordered a breakout and declared Wu’s collapse, Xiao’s earlier choice would become a joke.

As for aiding the Wu Emperor to reclaim power and restore the Great Wu’s legitimacy—that was pure farce.

When had this short-lived regional regime ever been legitimate?

It is normal for founding monarchs to suffer setbacks during their struggle for the empire.

But those were early stages—no one had ever been overthrown after declaring himself emperor and then made a comeback.

“Take Senior Minister Xiao away and summon the imperial physician to treat him.”

“The rest of you continue the deliberation—whether to leave or stay, we must reach a decision today!”

Fu Haoxuan said, expressionless.

Compared to the ministers, his own heart weighed heavier.

When he was first crowned amid the cheers of his followers, he had already doubted whether he could hold onto the throne.

Now the worst scenario had arrived, as if confirming his earlier suspicions.

Perhaps from an outsider’s perspective, people would blame the failure on his premature imperial proclamation, which drew Yu’s full wrath.

But as the one who lived it, Fu Haoxuan could responsibly say—he had no choice but to proclaim himself emperor.

The White Lotus Holy State had collapsed; a new regime was needed to rally the people.

His subordinates wanted promotions and titles—they needed him to become emperor.

To bind the Jiangnan gentry and secure the support of these local power brokers, he had to sever ties with the White Lotus Holy State by establishing a new dynasty.

The convergence of these factors led to the founding of Wu.

As for provoking hatred—since the moment he seized Nanjing, he was doomed to stand out.

Whether he proclaimed himself emperor or not, he would have become Yu’s primary target.

Had the Prince of Chu not been next door absorbing the blow, the encirclement against Wu would have begun long ago.

…

Beneath Zhennan Pass.

The roar of artillery fire marked the beginning of Yue’s assault on the city.

Countless Yue soldiers advanced under siege shields made of dismantled doors, protected by artillery cover.

Suddenly, concentrated fire erupted from the city walls, striking the Yue artillery positions.

The barrage obliterated five cannons—and the gunners operating them—sending them all skyward.

As the first strike ended, a second wave of fire struck the artillery positions again.

“Move the artillery positions back immediately!”

Seeing this, a nearby Yue general shouted orders.

But it was too late.

Positioning the artillery within enemy fire range was their greatest mistake.

Heavy siege cannons were not easily moved.

Even as Yue soldiers strained to push the wheels, the cannons barely shifted position.

Before they could move even a few meters, another volley of fire struck them.

In less than the time it took to drink a cup of tea, half the artillery pieces Yue had laboriously transported from the rear were destroyed in this artillery duel.

The fall of the artillery positions was only the beginning of the tragedy; without fire cover, the assaulting Yue soldiers became the next victims.

Holding door shields in formation could block arrows—true enough.

But this massed assault formation made an ideal target for artillery.

A single shot into the door shields could kill dozens.

“What is Chen Jingfu doing?”

Hu Xinbo, watching the carnage from afar, could not help but shout angrily.

The ministers beside him were equally stunned.

The battle unfolding before them bore no resemblance to the model they had anticipated.

“Your Majesty, calm yourself!”

The enemy is too cunning—they deliberately lured us into a trap.”

General Chen, eager for glory, failed to notice the danger and suffered a heavy defeat.”

Once he recovers, he will surely make the enemy pay!”

Minister of War Chen Chuyang forced an explanation.

It was all the fault of experience-based thinking.

The assault tactics just used were drawn from Yue’s campaigns against minor native states.

Those states’ military industries remained in the age of cold weapons; placing artillery three hundred meters from the walls kept them safe from trebuchet fire.

At that distance, artillery could maximize its destructive power against enemy walls.

Soldiers advancing under door shields in formation was also a lesson learned from experience, thoroughly tested in actual combat.

No one imagined these invincible tactics would be crushed the moment they were deployed.

At three hundred meters, Yu’s artillery could precisely lock onto their positions and strike.

The dense assault formations were simply handing the enemy easy kills.

“Sound the retreat!”

Hu Xinbo ordered coldly.

The damage was done; all they could do now was halt the attack.

Even if it damaged morale, he had no choice.

“Your Majesty, I am guilty!”

An incense stick later, Chen Jingfu, his fresh wounds still bleeding, ran into the command tent to plead guilty.

Though the error stemmed from experience-based thinking, as a frontline commander, he could not escape blame.

The last major war against a Central Plains dynasty had been two hundred years ago; the generals who fought it had long since turned to dust, their graves overgrown with a hundred generations of grass.

The Great Yue Dynasty’s knowledge of Yu forces was limited to fragmented passages in history books and scattered intelligence.

History books were full of lies—Yue had a tradition of rewriting history, utterly divorced from the truth.

In their own records, Yu’s voluntary withdrawal from Jiaozhi was twisted into a great victory, forcing Yu to cede territory and pay reparations.

Earlier intelligence came from Guangxi garrison units—mere rabble, whose assessments were naturally unreliable.

After Li Mu rose to power, the garrisons became closed off; ordinary people could not enter.

Spies could not gather useful intelligence, so to satisfy their superiors, they simply altered old reports and passed them off as new.

If you check the intelligence reports, the cannons on the walls of Zhen'an Pass are still relics over two hundred years old.

After enduring the passage of time, no one knows whether they can still be used.

But judging from what just happened, that is clearly nonsense.

The power of the Yu army’s cannons is far greater than they expected, and their accuracy is also much higher.

Clearly, over the past two hundred years, the enemy’s cannon technology has advanced.

“With the battle going this way, how dare you come back!”

Hu Xinbo immediately rebuked him.

The expression of frustrated disappointment clearly told Chen Jingfu to quickly fabricate a reasonable excuse to sweep this matter under the rug.

This is the treatment of a trusted aide!

“Your Majesty, your servant deserves to die a thousand deaths!”

“But if I must die, let me die on the battlefield charging into the enemy’s ranks.”

The despicable Yu dynasty people deliberately spread false intelligence to trick us into falling for their trap.

This has caused heavy casualties among our troops; I shall avenge our fallen soldiers with the blood of the Yu!”

Chen Jingfu spoke with fiery passion.

His ferocious expression made it seem as though he would never make peace with the Great Yu.

…

(End of Chapter)