Chapter 378

Unlike the tense atmosphere outside the city, inside Zhennan Pass, it was a completely different scene.

In the eyes of the Dayu army officers and soldiers with rich combat experience, the feigned attack launched by the Annan people was purely a child's play.

The long-term confrontation with the enemy army and the boring life almost made them sick from idleness.

Every few days they would ask Li Mu for battle, clamoring to kill their way out and give the enemy a good look.

At one point, Li Mu even wanted to launch a decisive battle ahead of time, but considering the long-term peace and stability of the Annan region, he ultimately dismissed the idea of a quick victory.

The Annan region has been separated from the Central Plains dynasty for hundreds of years, and the recognition of the Central Plains dynasty has long since dropped to freezing point.

Destroying the Annan Kingdom is easy; the difficulty lies in how to rule the place long-term.

Relying purely on military force to suppress it—even if it is suppressed now, it will break out at some point in the future.

The best choice is to use the war to continuously consume Annan's national strength and manpower, and disintegrate their will to resist.

Not to mention having to consider the influence of the Great Dayu imperial court.

Defeating the enemy army in one fell swoop—once they kneel, and the surrender document is received, Emperor Yongning will likely issue an order to stop the war.

At the current Great Dayu Dynasty, it is difficult to give birth to the idea of managing the Jiaozhi Administration Commission.

If that's the case, this battle would have been fought in vain.

To make the plan successful, one must let the Emperor and the hundred officials see that Annan is dangerous, while also letting everyone think that Annan is a quagmire.

"Marquis, just received news, the enemy has divided their troops!"

While speaking, Wu Dage handed the intelligence to Li Mu.

"Marquis, the opportunity for battle has appeared!"

Li Sanqi, Commander of the Guilin Left Guard, said with excitement.

The current Zhennan Pass is a war fortress.

The residents were evacuated to the rear before the war broke out, and commerce no longer exists.

Li Mu governs the army strictly; no one dares to stir up trouble under his nose.

Every day, besides daily training, the group of generals only has tactical deduction left.

Dozens of versions of the counterattack plan have been formulated, and everyone has been holding their breath.

"What are you panicking about!"

"The enemy army only withdrew 20,000; there are still 180,000 troops outside the city.

If you have the ability to annihilate the enemy army, I will immediately authorize you to command the entire army.

If you can't do it, then go back to your position and sit down; don't be so jumpy."

Hearing Li Mu's reprimand, Li Sanqi instantly wilted.

Defeating the enemy army is easy; annihilating the enemy army is difficult.

But to manage Annan, one must consume the enemy's effective strength.

"Marquis, the monk can run, but the temple can't.

The Annan Kingdom only has that much space; I don't believe they can run to the sky.

Below Zhennan Pass, this subordinate doesn't have the ability to annihilate the enemy army.

But if we keep fighting into the enemy's territory and force them to a dead end, it will be different.

In any case, it's all fighting; where isn't it fighting!"

After hesitating for a moment, Li Sanqi said indignantly.

Although his academic performance wasn't great, he had followed Li Mu for a long time and had learned quite a few military tactics.

He was very unaccustomed to this kind of tied-hands-and-feet fighting style.

"You blockhead, all you know is fighting.

Defeating the Annan people so quickly, how do we explain it to the imperial court?

Don't forget how this war broke out.

No matter how secretly we did things, we still left behind a large number of loopholes.

If we force the Annan people into a corner, and they directly submit to the imperial court, can this war still be fought!"

Li Mu reprimanded with feigned anger.

He was happy rather than angry that his subordinates had their own ideas.

Being able to put forward different opinions represents that they have started to use their brains.

Although they don't consider problems comprehensively enough, this is still a big improvement.

As long as they are willing to study hard, their vision and personal ability can be cultivated slowly.

"Marquis, if the Annan people want to surrender, it also depends on whether we agree.

As a belligerent country, we have no obligation to guarantee the safety of their mission members.

As long as the Annan Kingdom's envoys cannot enter the capital, then peace talks are out of the question."

Tan Chenfeng, Commander of the Guangxi Guard, proposed.

Great Dayu is not the Great Song; from the Emperor to the hundred officials, everyone has a backbone of pride.

In a situation where they have the advantage on the battlefield, it is impossible to take the initiative to send someone to Annan to seek peace.

Against this background, if one wants the war to continue, one only needs to cut off the contact between the Annan people and the imperial court.

With Li Mu's power, intercepting and killing the Annan mission on the way wouldn't take much effort.

"This is a line of thought, but it's not perfect.

Intercepting and killing the Annan mission is easy; the difficulty is not leaving behind any traces.

From Annan to the capital, there are many routes to choose from.

This war broke out too suddenly; the country was fooled, but the Annan people must have had their suspicions.

Even if they send a mission, they won't go to the capital via Liangguang.

There are so many local officials along the way; no one can guarantee that no one will leak the news to the imperial court.

Although these problems can be suppressed in the capital, it requires paying a price.

To manage Annan, we will need the support of the imperial court later; political resources should be used as little as possible now."

Li Mu shook his head and said.

In fact, he was bluffing to his subordinates.

The power of the nobility group is mainly concentrated in the military general camp.

Although they have also drawn in some civil officials, most of them are in non-real-power positions, and their influence in the court is limited.

In normal times, it's fine to encounter these things.

Killing a few Annan people—no one will take it seriously.

If it happens to be a civil-military dispute, that is a knife delivered to the civil official group.

As long as the imperial court wants to investigate, many hidden problems will be exposed.

It won't kill, but it can make his planning fail.

"Marquis, to manage Annan, we must first break the enemy's backbone.

Without killing until rivers of blood flow, it is difficult to achieve strategic goals.

If the pirates can't complete the task, then let the rebel army go up; it's best to let the enemy kill each other.

This subordinate suggests selecting some from the prisoners of war who have rich experience in rebellion and sending them into Annan territory.

The Annan prisoners captured in this battle, together with their families, should all be exiled to Liaodong."

Kong Yutang, Commander of the Guilin Right Guard, stood up and said.

Compared to the Great Dayu Dynasty, Annan is just a tiny country.

But for the Li Mu group, annexing Annan is by no means an easy task.

There are five or six million people there, more than the population of the Guangxi region.

If one is not careful, one will fall into the vast ocean of people's war.

To have long-term peace and stability, besides transporting immigrants to the local area, one must also reduce the population.

"The method is good, but unfortunately the imperial court is too poor.

Sending hundreds of thousands of Annan people to the Liaodong front lines requires a high cost; the Ministry of Revenue won't pay this money.

However, transporting some able-bodied men there to perform corvée labor is not a big problem.

As for stirring up trouble in Annan, do you have the confidence to take on this important task?"

Li Mu asked with a smile.

Frankly speaking, the two strategies proposed by Kong Yutang are very vicious.

Once adopted, the Annan Kingdom will flow with rivers of blood.

But status determines position.

Standing from the perspective of Great Dayu, to recover the Jiaozhi Administration Commission, one must beat the Annan Kingdom down.

"This subordinate is willing!"

Kong Yutang immediately stated his position.

From the very beginning of the Annan War, Li Mu has been controlling the board strategically.

According to the current fighting method, by the time of the decisive battle, the Annan army will at most have half of its combat effectiveness left.

Winning the victory at the smallest cost conforms to the interests of the group, but it is difficult to reflect personal military merit.

Watching the Liangguang Six Towns build meritorious service at the front lines, they had long been jealous; having finally waited for an opportunity, everyone wanted to perform.

If they don't look for opportunities themselves and rely solely on the commander to assign tasks, it will be difficult for that little bit of merit to support them in advancing further.

After all, they are all grassroots generals, and the only human relationship in the court is Li Mu.

The competitors are all their own people; both the palm and the back of the hand are flesh, so it must be the capable who go up.

"That's good, go to the prisoner-of-war camp and select 30,000 people, divide them into ten batches and send them into Annan territory.

Tell these prisoners that I won't let them sell their lives in vain.

We will split the looted wealth 50-50.

Beheading one Annan soldier's head will pardon one person's crime.

As long as they kill enough enemies, the family members implicated by them can all obtain amnesty from the imperial court.

If the number of people pardoned is exceeded, each head can be exchanged for one mu of tax-free land, or five taels of silver."

Li Mu immediately drew a pie.

Frankly speaking, the reward he offered is not high.

It's different from the regular army.

After these prisoner-of-war soldiers are sent out, they rely entirely on self-reliance to solve logistics problems, and he doesn't need to spend money to support them.

While harming the Annan people, there is no need to worry about these people becoming too big.

They couldn't make a climate when rebelling in their own territory, and it will only be more difficult in a foreign land.

If someone can raise a rebel army in Annan and become a local king, Li Mu will only be even happier.

Only after experiencing it will one know how destructive a rebel army is.

……

Chengdu Prefecture.

"The imperial court intends to recall this old man to the capital and let the Prince of Zhenyuan come to preside over the big picture; this old man has agreed.

Once we get through this period, you won't have to live in fear anymore!"

Xu Wenyue said with slight disappointment.

After working hard for so long, in the end, he still has to let the nobility faction come to clean up the mess, which is also a not-insignificant blow to him.

But there is no way; the patience of the Emperor and the hundred officials has been exhausted by the rebel army.

Everyone now has only one idea: to suppress the rebellion as soon as possible.

According to his plan, he could also grind the rebel army to death, but it would require investing a huge amount of money and grain.

With a ready-made army available, the imperial court clearly couldn't spend a huge price to let him train another elite force in the Shu region.

To be precise, neither the Emperor nor the hundred officials believed he could train an elite force.

Including the little brothers of the Qingliu faction, they didn't want to keep consuming on the battlefield either.

Now being recalled to the capital, although there is no illustrious military merit, there is no big mess either.

If the front lines suffered a big defeat, he, the Qingliu leader, would have been folded in.

"Grand Secretary, the situation in the Shu region cannot do without you!"

Lu Junliang said with excitement.

For him, Xu Wenyue's departure is undoubtedly the sky collapsing.

To suppress the rebel army, they promised the tribal chieftains quite a few benefits.

Xu Wenyue serving as Viceroy—even if the imperial court questioned them, there was this regent minister standing in front.

Once Xu Wenyue leaves, he, the Governor, will become the primary person responsible.

If the Prince of Zhenyuan is willing to admit the previous promises and is willing to honor the conditions Xu Grand Secretary promised, the imperial court will likely acquiesce.

If the Prince of Zhenyuan is unwilling to take responsibility and refuses to honor the conditions they promised before, then the trouble will be big.

The tribal chieftains shed blood for Great Dayu; if they can't get what they want after the war, they definitely won't let it go.

"How can there be anything that can't do without me!"

"This old man presided over the suppression of the rebellion, not only failing to wipe out the rebel army but instead letting the rebel army grow stronger.

The Prince of Zhenyuan uses troops like a god; in just a few months, he recovered Huguang for the imperial court.

With him coming to preside over the big picture of suppressing the rebellion, the Shu rebel army won't last long."

Speaking nicely, deep down Xu Wenyue was filled with fire.

On the surface, during his time presiding over the suppression, the imperial court spent a huge amount of money and grain; when the nobility faction presided over it, most of the money and grain were self-raised.

It seems he took a not-insignificant advantage, but he had no direct army in his hands!

When the nobility faction presided over the big picture, a large group of noble children brought private armies to join the suppression team.

Without any effort, they pulled up a dozen towns.

If he were in the position, wanting the nobility group to take out their foundation to support him—there was no possibility at all.

Not to mention expanding the new army, wanting to obtain the support of the old troops was beset with difficulties.

To mobilize troops, one must first pay the opening fee.

Even knowing that the generals below had poor ability, he had no way to change people, and even had to coax them to work.

Who can fight and who can't—it needs to be tested by war.

Li Mu brought out a large group of generals for the nobility faction; they could select the best, but he could only use the original generals to make do.

Unequal military resources determined that no matter how hard he worked, he couldn't catch up to them on the battlefield.

"Grand Secretary, you can't say it like that.

The Prince of Zhenyuan is certainly able to fight, but it is also thanks to your previous efforts; otherwise, Huguang would definitely not have been recovered so quickly.

The situation in the Shu region is actually about the same.

Under your efforts, we reorganized the military affairs in Shu and also drew in the tribal chieftains to participate in the war, only then stabilizing the war situation.

We really can't do without you!"

Provincial Administration Commissioner Li Yongliang followed up to persuade.

The pit in the Shu region is too big; one Governor can't fill it.

When the imperial court questions them, he, the Provincial Administration Commissioner, won't be able to run either.

For their own interests, they also have to keep Xu Wenyue.

At least until the Prince of Zhenyuan rushes over to complete the handover.

With Xu Grand Secretary standing in front, they have the qualification to negotiate conditions with the nobility faction; otherwise, they, these unlucky eggs with blemishes, are just meat on someone else's chopping board.

"Rest assured, this old man is not an irresponsible person.

The Prince of Zhenyuan probably only received the imperial decree a few days ago.

It is expected that in another month or two, the war in Jiangnan will end, and then he will send troops to the Shu region.

This old man will wait for him to come over and complete the power handover before leaving the Shu region."

Xu Wenyue said coldly.

He was very clear about the small agendas of these people in front of him.

Choosing to stay is not because he wants to clean up the mess, but mainly because he can't leave now.

Of the three portals of the Shu region, only the north portal is under the control of the imperial court.

This journey is not peaceful.

Many places in the middle are the focus of competition between the two sides.

Based on his understanding of these colleagues, if he left the mess for them to take the blame, these people would dare to leak his whereabouts to the rebel army.

In the process of presiding over the suppression, he killed so many White Lotus Sect people that they had long viewed him as a thorn in their side.

"Grand Secretary is wise!"

"Grand Secretary is brave in taking responsibility; it is truly the blessing of the nation!"

……

The flattery of the crowd fell into Xu Wenyue's ears, but it was endless desolation.

I don't know when it started, but the bureaucratic group of the Great Dayu Dynasty degenerated into this appearance.

Everyone doesn't consider how to suppress the rebel army as soon as possible, but instead calculates how to avoid being held accountable by the imperial court.

"Enough!"

"This old man has no time to listen to your nonsense here.

The Prince of Zhenyuan is bringing troops to support us; we still have to fight the suppression war hard.

Although the time for the main force's decisive battle has not arrived, we cannot let the rebel army be idle.

Order all units to take the opportunity to harass the rebel army and create as much trouble for them as possible.

General Zhong, you personally take charge of this matter.

If there is no military record, the Prince of Zhenyuan won't be as easy to talk to as this old man!"

Xu Wenyue warned immediately.

Falling into Zhong Chenliang's ears, it was the sky collapsing.

In the battle with the rebel army, he had been defeated repeatedly, and he had long since lost confidence in his own military level.

Asking him to send troops to find trouble with the rebel army was completely forcing a person.

But not taking action won't work; he bears direct responsibility for the previous defeat of the government army.

Xu Wenyue didn't deal with him because the army needed stability.

Cutting off his head and changing to someone else—the ability might not be stronger than his.

Changing to the Prince of Zhenyuan coming over, there wouldn't be so many scruples.

People bring their own troops; leaving him, this General, the battle will still be fought just the same.

……

(End of chapter)