Chapter 374

"The battle was fought well!

Polish it up a bit, report the victory to the Marquis of Wuyang and the imperial court, and request rewards for the naval officers and soldiers.

Magnify the battle results by double; change 'annihilated one naval battalion of the enemy' to 'severely damaged the main force of the Annan navy.'

In the battle report to the imperial court, expand the battle losses a bit, making it look as much like a pyrrhic victory as possible, in order to strive for military funding later.

For propaganda to the public, only mention the achievements and deliberately downplay the losses.

Let the Guangxi Provincial Governor's office be responsible for this; there is no need to be too obvious.

Zhang Sihan is a smart man; he knows what to do."

Li Mu ordered without changing his expression.

Compared to when he first entered office, he now feels no pressure at all in modifying battle reports.

In naval battles, the losers have all gone to sea to feed the fish; it is impossible to verify military merit with heads.

Usually, it is based on the number of enemy warships sunk, and the number of enemy soldiers annihilated can only be a rough, fictitious figure.

The group of ministers in the imperial court is also clueless about how large the Annan navy is.

In the past, there was the Embroidered Uniform Guard to provide intelligence, but unfortunately, after the last abolition of the depots and guards, the connection with the secret agents in Annan was broken.

Even wanting to continue it is impossible because the ones responsible for this task in the past were the Guangxi Embroidered Uniform Guards.

These people either died in the White Lotus Sect rebellion or joined the rebels, becoming part of the insurgent party.

The blockage of information gave Li Mu an opportunity to operate.

With this good start, the group of pirates hovering outside should be ready to take action.

With such a long coastline, the Annan people cannot afford to ignore it.

Once the enemy navy takes action, they will inevitably have to fight the pirates.

War is not a simple numbers game.

The impact of losing one-fourth of one's strength on combat power is by no means just a reduction of one-fourth.

Military morale will also affect the combat power of the navy.

There are many places that need to be taken care of, but the number of warships is insufficient, and unreasonable scheduling will also affect combat power.

Even if they grind slowly, those pirates can still deal a heavy blow to the Annan navy.

If the interests are large enough, it is not impossible to directly annihilate the main force of the Annan navy.

It is laughable to think that since Great Dayu crippled itself by burning the treasure ships, the strongest maritime power in the entire Pacific is actually pirates.

The pirates Li Mu fooled are only a part of them, but they still exceed the Annan navy.

"This student will go and handle it!"

Lan Linjie replied immediately.

The great naval victory is the turning point of the Annan War, marking Great Dayu's transition from a defensive to an offensive stance.

Although the pirates are the ones who will launch the attack first, the pirates cannot claim credit from the Emperor, so the credit will ultimately fall on them.

At most, mention in the post-war victory report that pirates took advantage of the fire to plunder the Annan coast.

The Emperor won't care, and the hundred officials in the court won't care either.

As long as the Annan country is destroyed, everyone's evaluation in history books will be raised by a notch.

The Han and Tang dynasties have the highest evaluations in history; besides their brilliance in the early and middle periods, the fact that they could still beat up foreign tribes when the dynasty was at its end and the feudal lords were separatist is also an important reason.

If Great Dayu can destroy foreign enemies like Annan and the Northern Barbarians before it falls, its historical evaluation will not be low either.

……

Yue Army Camp.

Looking at the battle report in his hand, Hu Xinbo almost vomited blood from anger.

"Huang Jinchuan is trash, Ruan Yufeng is a pig; I will execute his nine..."

Halfway through the sentence, Hu Xinbo suddenly choked.

There is no other way; the Ruan clan is a great surname in Annan, and Ruan Yufeng also comes from a famous and powerful family.

If he wanted to execute his nine generations, it is estimated that as soon as the imperial decree was issued, chaos would break out below first.

If the Ruan clan were pushed too far, and they colluded with Great Dayu, the entire Annan would have to change hands.

Looking at the entire history, the only person who dared to slaughter the aristocratic families without scruples was Huang Chao.

Others didn't lack the guts, but their plans didn't have time to be completed before they were killed by others first.

Annan broke away from the Central Plains dynasty only a few hundred years ago and has not yet given birth to such a ruthless person.

"Your Majesty, calm your anger!"

"Victory and defeat are common occurrences in military affairs.

The Yu navy disguising themselves as pirates is truly unexpected, and Assistant Regional Commander Ruan falling into the trap is understandable.

Please, Your Majesty, for the sake of Assistant Regional Commander Ruan's martyrdom, deal lightly with the others.

As for Provincial Military Commander Huang, he dispatched troops to rescue in time during this battle, which was not inappropriate.

This minister proposes that a reprimand will suffice.

At such a time, the imperial court should not act rashly!"

Chen Chuyang hurriedly advised.

The Emperor is on a personal expedition, all officials are left in the rear to sit in command, and the highest-ranking civil official by his side is him, the Minister of War.

Encountering such a thing, he has no choice but to step forward.

Dealing with the responsible persons is simple; the problem is how to fight the war after the accountability.

Not just anyone can serve as the Naval Provincial Military Commander.

Judging from past battle records, the deceased Ruan Yufeng was the best successor for the Provincial Military Commander.

Of course, the imperial court's appointment of military generals does not just look at battle records; it also considers political influence.

The Ruan clan has too much influence in the court; just among the six ministers, they occupy two seats, and there are countless other key officials.

The in-laws involved are almost all over the court.

If he really executed nine generations, then stop fighting the war and go back to focus on factional strife.

In essence, the Annan country is the imperial family and the aristocratic families governing the world together.

Killing the aristocratic families is equivalent to abandoning the foundation of rule.

"Hmph!"

"I am willing to give them another chance, but I fear some people won't be able to grasp it.

The navy has lost a main battalion; is there any certainty of defeating the Yu navy later?"

Hu Xinbo asked, suppressing his anger.

Even if the battle report was artistically processed, he knew that in this naval battle, the Yu navy had at most dispatched the Two Guangs navy.

If they had come out in full force, it would be impossible to only eat up one of their naval battalions and then stop.

Originally, the Great Yue Dynasty was at a disadvantage in terms of the number of warships, and after the defeat, the gap between the two sides would only widen.

If the navy cannot guarantee the safety of the coast, it means the enemy can launch an attack from the sea.

More than two hundred years ago, when the Yu army invaded, they launched an attack from the sea.

With the lessons of the past, he has to be on guard.

"Your Majesty, defeating the Yu navy is likely to be quite difficult.

However, Provincial Military Commander Huang is brave and skilled in battle; defending the coastal areas and ensuring that important ports are not lost should be achievable."

Chen Chuyang replied with trepidation.

Whether they can beat the Yu army, he has no bottom line in his heart at all.

From the outbreak of the great war until now, not a single piece of intelligence they have about the Yu army has been accurate.

Whether it is the navy or the land army, the Yu army is much more powerful than expected.

Ding Weiqi, the former Director of the Office of Transmission who was responsible for collecting intelligence, has already been ordered by the Emperor to be executed for this.

Various black materials about the Office of Transmission have been dug up one after another.

It was all caused by corruption; after layers of skinning, the intelligence personnel below had no sufficient funding at all.

The person in charge sent to Great Dayu to collect intelligence has always stayed in Thang Long City to work, and over ninety percent of the subordinate intelligence personnel are empty positions.

The few who are actually on the payroll also stay within the Great Yue Dynasty to work.

The intelligence reported was mainly obtained from the mouths of merchants, clerks, and sailors coming and going to Great Dayu.

How far it is from the truth depends entirely on luck.

Intelligence that couldn't be collected was simply written by himself; he wrote whatever the Emperor and the hundred officials liked to see.

Influenced by the imperial court's political propaganda, in the minds of the younger generation of officials, the Great Dayu Dynasty is a big fat sheep.

So much so that the Great Dayu in the eyes of the high-level officials is a Great Dayu that has been weakened by an unknown number of times.

Seeing it so much, the warnings left by the ancestors were gradually not taken to heart by them.

Wrong cognition is the key to triggering this war.

"I don't want to hear this kind of ambiguous nonsense; tell Huang Jinchuan to be sure to guard the coastline of Great Yue for me.

To ensure nothing goes wrong, the Ministry of War should come up with a feasible plan as soon as possible to guard against the enemy launching an attack from the sea."

Hu Xinbo ordered coldly.

His intuition told him that the Yu army would definitely launch an attack from the sea.

But knowing is one thing, and wanting to prevent it is another.

The main force of the Great Yue Dynasty is all on the front line, and the troops left behind in the country are limited.

Even if he lets the main army return to rescue now, they probably won't make it in time.

Besides, splitting troops is also a high-risk job; if one is not careful, the enemy will take advantage of it.

Unless it is a last resort, he will not take the risk.

"This minister obeys the decree!"

Taking the imperial decree, Chen Chuyang felt completely numb.

The coastline of the Great Yue Dynasty is not just long; to prevent the enemy from launching an attack from the sea, the number of troops required is simply too many.

When the Yu army invaded years ago, they landed directly in North Vietnam and launched an attack on Hanoi; that was because other places had not been developed.

After more than two hundred years of effort, although North Vietnam is still the center, the central and southern parts have also developed quite a few areas.

If the enemy is willing, they can launch an attack from any port.

The long and narrow national border determines that if the Yu army is willing, they only need a very small number of troops to cut them in two from the middle.

Anyone with a little military common sense knows what it means for a country to be cut in two at the waist.

By then, if Great Dayu stirs things up a little, I don't know how many ambitious people will take advantage of the situation.

The Minister of War is crying out in bitterness, and the group of military generals is also feeling scalp-numb.

The tunnel-digging siege method is really not as easy to use as expected.

If they encounter huge rocks halfway, they can only detour, and if they are not careful, they will lose their way.

The tunnels dug first, because of a lack of corresponding experience and not grasping the depth well, were dug directly into the moat.

All the efforts in the early stages were in vain.

After learning the lessons of failure, they specifically increased the depth of the tunnels, at the cost of extremely slow progress.

Slow progress is one thing, but the key is that no one can say clearly where they have dug to.

Even if they were lucky enough to dig under the enemy's city wall and happened not to be discovered by the enemy, whether they could blow up the city wall was also an unknown.

But these words could not be said to the Emperor.

After all, it is easy to raise objections, but difficult to come up with a solution.

Any unreliable tactic is better than having no tactic and just launching a direct assault on the city.

Looking at the entire history, except for the exception of the weak Song Dynasty that ceded land after winning, they rarely gained any advantage when facing the Central Plains dynasty.

……

Taking a nostalgic look at the palace, Pingnan Fu Haoxuan suppressed his grief and mounted his warhorse.

"Burn it!"

If he can't have it, he won't let the enemy have it either.

Those who can fight their way out in troubled times are definitely not soft-hearted people.

In order to travel better, all the imperial concubines, including the newborn children, were executed.

It was not just him, the Emperor, who did this; the group of ministers also dealt with their family members one after another.

Whether they were hidden in secret is unknown, but on the surface, the high-level officials of Great Wu showed their determination with practical actions.

The raging fire ignited, and the entire Nanjing was crying.

Under the illumination of the firelight, the Wu army marched out of Nanjing in a grand manner and began a strategic transfer.

At dusk, the Wu army camp.

"Your Majesty, please eat something!"

Seeing that the Emperor's complexion was not right, Yang Jingren could not help but advise.

Since leaving Nanjing, Pingnan Fu Haoxuan had become silent and had not had a drop of water for a whole day.

"I, cannot eat!"

Pingnan Fu Haoxuan said slowly.

It could be seen that abandoning Nanjing was a huge blow to him.

From a monarch of a country to a stray dog, this kind of gap is not something an ordinary person can bear.

"Your Majesty, no matter what, you cannot go without eating!"

"If you don't eat, the soldiers won't be able to eat either.

There are still fierce battles to be fought ahead; if this continues, the morale of the army will dissipate!"

Bian Ruiyu followed up with advice.

For the hundreds of thousands of Wu army soldiers, Pingnan Fu Haoxuan himself is the greatest backbone.

Now that the Emperor is in this state, the impact on those around him is very great.

Some opportunists who defected to the Wu state now realize they made the wrong bet and have secretly started planning to jump ship.

"You think too much; they probably wish I would die.

Especially those soldiers whose families are in Yingtian Prefecture; didn't they just launch a coup the day before yesterday?

If it hadn't been suppressed in time, I, this Emperor, would probably have become a prisoner."

Pingnan Fu Haoxuan said in a low tone.

Originally, he thought he was strong enough to face various situations calmly.

Facts proved that he still overestimated himself.

Losing the city and land, killing his wife and children, the mutiny of the soldiers—a series of things superimposed together ultimately brought him to the verge of collapse.

"Your Majesty, they don't represent anything.

Choosing to fight for the world means being prepared to face various difficulties.

A temporary setback does not mean eternal failure.

The Han Gaozu and Yu Taizu are the best examples; in the process of seizing the world, they were also chased around the world by others."

Yang Jingren hurriedly advised.

He saw the situation of the Wu state in his eyes and felt anxious in his heart.

Choosing a strategic transfer was completely a last resort.

Whether they can break out depends three parts on strength and seven parts on luck.

If the Emperor cannot pull himself together, then this war cannot be fought.

"Rest assured, I won't collapse so easily.

Thinking of myself as a man from the grassroots, being able to sit on the dragon chair for so long is already considered a profit.

When I first started the army in Guangxi, I didn't expect that one day I would be able to break into Nanjing.

Even if I didn't hold it, I am a person who has sat on the dragon chair; this life is worth it!

The puppet court wants my life; even if I die, I will make them break their teeth!

Let the people below send a roasted chicken in; I want to dine."

Pingnan Fu Haoxuan slapped his thigh and said.

After a brief confusion, he once again found the self who was willing to sacrifice everything and dared to pull the Emperor off the horse.

"Your Majesty, a roasted chicken is probably a bit difficult.

In order to travel as quickly as possible, you previously ordered to abandon all unnecessary things and only carry some dry rations.

Otherwise, this minister will arrange for someone to..."

Before Bian Ruiyu could finish, Pingnan Fu Haoxuan waved his hand to interrupt.

"Forget it, we are fleeing for our lives now; there is no need to be particular.

Roasted chicken, it won't be too late to eat it after crossing the Yangtze River!"

……

(End of chapter)