Chapter 385: Peace Negotiations

"The encirclement operation failed, and Xiao Yunfan died in the chaotic battle?"

Looking at the intelligence in his hands, Hu Xinbo's expression changed instantly.

The bad news was too shocking; it was completely beyond his expectations.

No matter how numerous the pirates were, they were ultimately just a rabble; encountering a regular army, they were simply no match.

One-fourth of the troops under Xiao Yunfan's command were elites, and their combat effectiveness was definitely among the top-tier main forces within Great Yue.

For such a powerful force to fail to defeat a group of pirates—this had a much greater impact than the previous annihilation of the naval fleet.

"Your Majesty, please calm your anger!"

"General Xiao's defeat was mainly because the enemy was too despicable."

"The Great Dayu army disguised themselves as Bai Lian Sect prisoners and ran into our territory to impersonate rebels."

"General Xiao was caught off guard for a moment and fell into the enemy's trap, and only then..."

Chen Chuyang explained nervously.

Losing to rebels was too shameful, and losing to Bai Lian Sect prisoners was even more shameful, so they could only pin the blame on the Great Dayu army.

In the face of politics, the truth is merely a doll that can be dressed up at will.

"Trash!"

"Xiao Yunfan is trash, and that bunch of fellows in the country are also trash!"

"My entire court of civil and military officials are all trash!"

Hu Xinbo immediately cursed loudly.

The idea of the Great Dayu army impersonating Bai Lian Sect prisoners and running into Great Yue territory to incite the masses to rebel—just thinking about it felt absurd.

The language barrier alone was a thorny problem.

It was impossible for every enemy to be proficient in both countries' languages; even if they started a rebellion, they could only forcibly conscript able-bodied men into their ranks.

With such a large commotion, it was impossible to hide it from the local government offices.

Among so many local officials, there would always be a few shrewd ones.

Upon noticing the problem, under normal circumstances, they would all report it upward.

As a veteran general in the military, if he hadn't underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly, it would have been very difficult to fall into the enemy's trap.

Since so many people didn't discover the problem, either Great Yue was rotten to the core, or the battle reports had been embellished.

Relying on his past political experience, Hu Xinbo could be certain that the battle reports sent to his hands had been modified countless times.

Only heaven knew how far they were from the initial truth.

Knowing it was one thing, but poking through the window paper was another.

In the political arena, the Emperor also had to follow the rules.

To avoid triggering catastrophic political consequences, he could only acknowledge the content of the battle reports; cursing was just to vent his emotions.

In essence, these people hiding the truth was also to reduce the negative political impact.

"Your Majesty, please calm your anger!"

"The matter has already happened; the top priority is to find a way to handle the aftermath."

"General Xiao has been defeated and died, and his subordinates have suffered countless casualties; I fear they are powerless to defeat the Great Dayu army that has entered our borders."

"The only plan now is to withdraw the troops and return to the capital to stabilize the domestic situation."

Chen Chuyang hurriedly advised.

Taking a few curses didn't matter; the key was to be able to solve the problem.

Regardless of whether those causing chaos in Great Yue were pirates, Bai Lian Sect prisoners, or the Great Dayu army, they were all their enemies.

In terms of destructive power, they were much higher than the enemy troops inside Zhennan Pass.

Every day the chaos continued, it would consume one part of Great Yue's national strength.

If the chaos in the rear could not be contained, the army's logistics would inevitably be affected, and the Northern Expedition would be the biggest joke.

"Withdraw the troops?"

"It sounds simple, but can we withdraw now?"

"I dare to bet that as soon as the army withdraws from below Zhennan Pass, the garrison in the city will inevitably kill their way out to entangle us."

"The enemy doesn't need to defeat us; they only need to entangle our army and delay our pace of withdrawal."

Hu Xinbo said indignantly.

He had wanted to withdraw the troops long ago since Zhennan Pass could not be taken.

With the fighting going on until now, the casualty ratio between the two sides was nearly 20:1; such a disparate figure was enough to make any besieger despair.

Apart from the initial siege, in the days that followed, all units were just going through the motions to cope.

Attacking the city was impossible; no one was willing to throw their lives away.

Having suffered over ten thousand casualties below Zhennan Pass, they were approaching ten percent of their total force.

If they continued to grind away, even if they wiped out their own troops, they wouldn't be able to do anything to the enemy.

Before the Northern Expedition began, the goal Hu Xinbo set was—to take the two Guang provinces.

After the great war started, the expectation was directly lowered to—take Guangxi and quit while ahead.

One month after the war started, the goal was lowered again to—capture Zhennan Pass and then withdraw.

Further on, the strategic goal directly became—lead the army to retreat unscathed.

At this point in time, he only hoped to pay a small price to bring the army back to the country.

Regrettably, the smaller the goal was set, the faster the situation deteriorated.

The critical domestic situation caused him to lose the capital for a protracted war.

Just thinking about it felt stifling; for so long since the war started, they hadn't even lined up against the enemy to have a fair and square fight.

If they had failed in a head-on confrontation, he would have accepted it.

But now, the loss was too stifling; they were completely played in the palm of the enemy's hand.

"Your Majesty, Great Dayu is not a monolith; there are those who advocate for war and those who advocate for peace."

"From the intelligence gathered, Great Dayu has already pacified the Jiangnan rebels, and it won't be long before they recover their strength."

"Those currently fighting us are merely the troops of the two Guang provinces."

"If the enemy continues to reinforce their troops, the situation will become increasingly uncontrollable."

"Especially in the new territory of the Southern Frontier, the local people do not have a strong sense of belonging to our Great Yue; if the war drags on for too long, they are very likely to split away."

"Taking advantage of Great Dayu being in a trough, we should immediately send an envoy mission to the capital to lobby the Great Dayu peace faction and end this war as soon as possible."

The veteran general Shi Yufeng proposed ending the war again; unlike in the past, this time he was not subjected to verbal abuse.

It was clear that through this war, the Great Yue high command realized the gap in strength between the two sides.

Merely the troops of the two Guang provinces had forced them into a perilous situation.

If this war were to continue and the enemy sent more reinforcements to participate, the situation would be even worse.

Knowing that it was a war they would lose, no one wanted to continue.

The tacit understanding of the ministers made Hu Xinbo feel very hurt.

The first foreign war since he ascended the throne hadn't done anything to the enemy, but the country had already been ruined first.

Destruction is easy, construction is hard.

Even if the war with Great Dayu ended, the mess in the country could not be cleaned up in a short while.

"The envoy mission we sent previously was killed by the Great Dayu Emperor; is it useful to send people over now?"

"Moreover, from our country to the Great Dayu capital, the distance is vast."

"Even if we send people over immediately, it will take at least several months to see results."

Chen Jingfu immediately refuted.

It wasn't that he wanted to advocate for war; jumping out to oppose it was mainly to look after the Emperor's face.

In fact, with the war going on until now, there had long been no firm war faction in Great Yue.

Compromise is the way of survival for small countries; those who were stubborn had long since disappeared in the long river of history.

There was no need to worry about everyone having opinions; the reasons he gave were all realistic problems.

Emperor Yongning was not a person with a good temper; the state letter incident had offended him to death.

Forced by the needs of the big picture, he had endured it temporarily and did not take a knife to the envoy mission.

When the war between the two countries broke out, Emperor Yongning, whose temper had flared up, sent the envoy mission members to the vegetable market execution ground at the first opportunity.

With a swing of the blade, the previous batch of envoy mission members were directly annihilated.

The enemy used actual actions to show that they would fight them to the end, so Hu Xinbo naturally couldn't be soft.

Great Dayu hadn't sent an envoy mission over, so he had no way to kill anyone, but he hadn't delivered fewer provocative letters.

These precious materials, as the frontline commander, Li Mu naturally wouldn't withhold them.

They were all sent to the capital in their entirety; at their continuous provocative behavior, the Great Dayu civil and military officials were collectively enraged.

Even the civil officials who hated war the most had changed from the peace faction to the war faction.

Having just offended people to death, and now wanting to negotiate peace with them immediately—how could it be that easy!

Even if there were people in the court who advocated for peace, they would inevitably slaughter them fiercely.

The tax revenue from the eight southern provinces gave the Great Dayu court the confidence to continue the war.

Compared to the losses in the civil war, the military expenditure for this Annan war was not considered large for the Great Dayu court.

The pirates were lured over by Li Mu's empty promises, and the Bai Lian Sect prisoners just hitched a ride.

Even the weapons in their hands were spoils of war captured during the suppression of the rebellion.

With the war going on until now, the troops the Great Dayu army actually committed to the war, land and sea combined, were no more than tens of thousands.

"Whether it is useful or not, we must show our sincerity."

"Great Dayu people care most about face; only by giving them enough face first will there be something to talk about later."

"The distance is indeed a problem, but this is something that must be faced."

"If we want to end the war through negotiations, we only have two choices."

"Either negotiate with the Viceroy of the two Guang provinces here, or send people to the capital to negotiate."

"From the intelligence gathered, the Great Dayu Viceroy of the two Guang provinces is a military general who rose through military merit and is naturally a member of the war faction."

"Counting on negotiating with him to end this war, there is basically no hope."

"Standing from the perspective of that Marquis of Hanshui, I reckon he wishes for this war to last as long as possible."

"After all, since the war started, the enemy troops haven't used their full strength."

"In Guangdong province alone, the enemy has three main garrisons that haven't been committed to this war."

"It is said that the Great Dayu army is divided into two types, namely recruited soldiers and garrison soldiers, among which the recruited soldiers are the backbone of combat power."

"Currently, the enemy fighting us are the garrison troops of the two Guang regions."

"Their combat effectiveness in the Great Dayu army's establishment can at most be considered second-line troops, or possibly third-line troops."

Chen Chuyang touted energetically.

In order to end this war as soon as possible, he had already disregarded his face and directly exposed his own shortcomings.

Perhaps it was because he used too much force; the people who received this news all had their expressions change drastically.

"Impossible!"

"The Zhennan Pass garrison is definitely the Great Dayu's most elite force."

"Our troops have clashed with them; there cannot be a mistake."

"The intelligence gathered must be problematic; that bunch of people in the Tongzheng Office are all trash!"

Chen Jingfu hurriedly refuted.

Unlike before when he was maintaining the Emperor's face, this now involved the military's face and his own future.

Having suffered a great loss at the hands of the Zhennan Pass garrison earlier, to reduce his own culpability, he had to tout the enemy as being more powerful.

In any case, he could not accept that they had lost to the enemy's second or third-line troops.

"What the minister said is not wrong; the Zhennan Pass garrison still has some substance and is definitely not comparable to ordinary Great Dayu troops."

"Perhaps it was the enemy who deliberately used elites to impersonate garrison soldiers to make us lower our guard."

"There is no need to delve into this matter; let us discuss the peace negotiations!"

Hu Xinbo, realizing the severity of the problem, hurriedly set the tone.

Without considering other factors, he also had to consider his reputation during his lifetime and after his death.

If he acknowledged that the Zhennan Pass garrison were garrison troops, and it was recorded in history books in the future, he would be a laughingstock for all eternity.

Similar negative examples had appeared in Great Yue's history.

Inside Zhennan Pass.

"Marquis, there is unusual movement in the enemy camp; it looks like they are preparing to withdraw."

Feng Jingxing said with an excited expression.

As the Garrison Commander of Zhennan Pass, being blocked in the city by the enemy for several months was, in his view, undoubtedly the greatest humiliation.

But since the Regional Commander wouldn't allow a sortie, no matter how great his grievances were, he could only hold them in.

On the battlefield, everyone is a screw, serving the overall situation.

"Oh!"

"It seems Kong Yutang and the others have done well; those Bai Lian Sect prisoners have played their part within Annan."

"Pass down the order to keep a close watch on every move of the enemy troops."

"When the enemy troops formally withdraw, send a big gift to them."

Li Mu ordered with a smile.

Being unable to hold out for a long time—not to mention the officers and soldiers below feeling unhappy, he, the Regional Commander, was equally stifled.

But war cannot be fought on impulse; if one can win with the smallest price, one cannot let the soldiers make meaningless sacrifices.

Since ancient times, those who are good at fighting do not have glorious battle achievements.

That kind of victory piled up with human lives—unless it was a last resort, he would not do that.

"Marquis, since the Bai Lian Sect prisoners are useful, then let's conscript another batch."

"They don't need to participate in the fighting; just have them pave the way for the army."

"The end general has calculated that to eliminate the miasma, a large amount of manpower and material resources need to be invested."

"In the future, we can conscript Annan prisoners to do it, but in the early stages, we also need a large amount of labor."

Tan Chenfeng immediately proposed.

After weeding out the heinous ones, the remaining prisoners were mostly forced to join the rebels.

If they hadn't learned some bad habits while following the rebels, they were just honest farmers.

After a period of reform, most of them returned to the state of farmers.

Working in the garrison, it was only more tiring during the busy farming season; other times it was about the same as when they were hired laborers.

Being busy also had its benefits; the more land reclaimed, the more food everyone obtained.

On the issue of stimulating production enthusiasm, Li Mu had always placed great importance.

Regardless of whether the return was high or low, as long as it was a tiny bit better than before, everyone was satisfied.

Working at sunrise and resting at sunset, they rarely caused trouble.

Especially after their families arrived one after another, these people became increasingly honest and dutiful.

Now, the biggest dream of these people was to obtain amnesty from the court and be able to be buried in the ancestral grave after death.

However, this was a dream and not so easy to realize.

When the court grants amnesty to the world, among the stipulated unpardonable crimes, rebellion ranks first.

Even if they were only coerced, they still belonged to the key targets of suppression.

"It can be considered; you all discuss it and come up with a concrete plan."

"How many people to conscript, what kind of treatment to give, and how to guarantee logistics—all must be taken into consideration."

Li Mu immediately agreed.

He had always held an encouraging attitude toward his subordinates willing to exert subjective initiative.

As long as the plan presented was feasible, he was willing to give them a chance to try, all for the sake of cultivating a batch of talents capable of handling things independently as soon as possible.

After the army enters Annan, the mode of war will change.

The current large-scale corps operations will have a very low probability of occurring in the future; there will be more small and medium-scale resistance.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 386 =====