Chapter 189
When the issue of leadership was mentioned, everyone fell silent.
Yao Chunnuan was also thinking about who would be more suitable to be the commander of the second front.
The two-front war they mentioned was naturally fought on Jiaozhou. The second front was in Jizhou. To develop and expand their territory, Youzhou had to break through Daliang's blockade of Guangyang, Jizhou! Ideally, they could capture Bingzhou, allowing them to move westward and connect with Liangzhou. Furthermore, Jizhou was a crucial battleground for Youzhou.
Because Yanzhou and Yuzhou are adjacent to Qingzhou and Xuzhou, they are considered as the exclusive possessions of the King of Ruyin. Based on the intelligence information collected by the Intelligence Department and the analysis of the movements of Qingzhou and Xuzhou, Yao Chunnuan believes that the King of Ruyin should take action against Yanzhou or Yuzhou, and the timing should be after the defeat of the King of Annan.
They, Youzhou, must fight for Jizhou. Otherwise, if Jizhou is occupied by King Ruyin, it will definitely curb their development.
However, for the Daliang court, Jizhou and Yanzhou were buffer zones that could not be lost. If these two states were occupied by Youzhou or the King of Ruyin, they would directly threaten the imperial capital, Sili, and the court would have to move the capital.
In short, the task of this second front is very arduous, and its results will directly affect the future development of Youzhou.
Now, there is no doubt that General Xing Changfeng will lead the army alone. He will lead the navy and infantry to Jiaozhou to attack the Nanman and take on the toughest challenge.
But who will lead the other front line remains to be discussed.
To be honest, they have many civil officials and generals in Youzhou.
The contributors include Yao Chunnuan, Yu Chen, Wu Zongguan, Shi Mei, Xu Chong, Zhang Jiuxiang, Zhu Hongtao, Guo Huai, Zhu Yongnian, Gu Bin, Jiang Xin, Feng Xiudong and others.
In the military, there are great generals like Xing Changfeng, General Huo, Zhu Fugui, Pan Buyi, Meng Yi, Zhu Junlan, Zhou Yushu, Lu Chengjun, Ji Ze, and Mu Ye. Those mentioned are all already well-known generals. There are also some young generals like He Qing, Pan Yue, and Su Yibai. This group of young generals, in particular, holds many promising talents, many of whom have the potential to become renowned generals, but they still need to grow.
No one spoke. To be honest, this battle was not easy to fight.
All the generals present asked themselves, do they have what it takes to be a commander? Furthermore, there's a prerequisite: the Nanman tribe is warlike, and they have an army of perhaps 200,000 to 300,000 men in Jiaozhou. If they want to liberate Jiaozhou and repel the Nanman, they'll need to deploy at least another 200,000 to 300,000 men.
In this way, the remaining line can only mobilize about 150,000 troops, and a portion must be reserved for guarding Youzhou. In other words, the second line can only mobilize 100,000 troops at most! If he takes these soldiers out, how confident is he that he can bring them back as much as possible?
Furthermore, the Yichun Army had never been defeated since its formation and inception. While victory and defeat are common in military affairs, who doesn't want to win? The Yichun Army's first defeat would undoubtedly be memorable, etched in people's minds, perhaps even recorded in history. The consequences of a defeat were too severe. Given these concerns, no one dared to speak out.
Xing Changfeng looked at Zhu Fugui, "General Zhu——"
As soon as Xing Zhangfeng opened his mouth, Zhu Fugui jumped up. "No, no, I'm old now. I can fight in favorable battles, but I'm not qualified to be a front-line commander." For this reason, he even appointed himself a guard dog. "I will guard Yichun, and the arduous task of fighting outside will be left to you young people. Don't worry, I will guard Yichun and Youzhou. If the city is there, I will be there. If the city falls, I will fall."
After hearing his words and looking at his whole body which exuded the meaning of rejection, Xing Changfeng did not force him. He was indeed not an enterprising person. Xing Changfeng turned his gaze to Pan Buyi.
"General Pan, this city lord wishes to appoint you as the commander of the second front, giving you full responsibility for the upcoming battles in Jizhou. What do you think? Do you dare to obey?"
When Yao Chunnuan saw that Xing Changfeng had chosen Pan Buyi as the commander of the second front, she agreed in her heart. Pan Buyi was calm and steady, and he used his troops very correctly. He might not be able to achieve some unexpected results by taking unconventional measures, but he would never make any low-level mistakes.
Pan Buyi stepped out and responded calmly, "Thank you, Lord City Lord, for your recognition and appointment. If I were the commander, I would do my best to open up a passage from Youzhou to the Central Plains! However, I have only been a member of the Yichun Legion for a short time, so I'm afraid I won't be able to convince the troops."
Indeed, the Yichun Army is currently full of arrogant and powerful generals. There aren't many generals who can make everyone bow their heads. Speaking of which, there are too few talented generals in the army. Besides him, there's also his father-in-law, General Huo, who is in command without question.
Xing Changfeng paused as his gaze fell on Yao Chunnuan before looking away. In all of Youzhou, besides him, Yao Chunnuan was the most convincing. Not only did she command respect from the civil officials, she was also well-loved within the military. She excelled at both general affairs and internal affairs, but she had never led a military force...
"You don't have to worry about that. The first rule in the military is to obey orders. You just need to do your job as a commander."
"I now announce the following three decisions. The first decision is that I will lead the troops to Jiaozhou to attack the Nanman. The accompanying generals are as follows: Yu Chen, Meng Yi, Ji Ze, Lu Chengjun, Gu Bin..."
"Second decision: On the second front, Pan Buyi will be the commander-in-chief, with Zhu Junlan, Zhou Yushu, Mu Ye, Shi Mei, and others as accompanying generals."
"Third decision: Yao Chunnuan will take over management of Youzhou and stay in the rear. Chief Wu, General Zhu, and others will remain behind! Xu Chong, Zhang Jiuxiang, Guo Huai, Zhu Yongnian, Jiang Xin, and others will assist!"
All those who were called said in unison, "Yes, sir!"
Then, they drew up a battle plan and the second line prepared for battle.
Before going on the expedition, the general summoned Yao Chunnuan alone for about a quarter of an hour.
Xing Changfeng's expedition was a secret one, with no grand ceremony or oath-taking ceremony. He simply counted his troops and quietly boarded the ship. The military rations this time mainly consisted of instant noodles, fried rice, and other puffed, ready-to-eat foods, which could be transported aboard the ship, eliminating the need for a separate army escort.
Because there were not enough ships, they could only transport the most elite and combat-capable soldiers first. According to the plan, they would first occupy a place, and then continuously send in reinforcements after they had a landing site.
It is necessary to occupy a place first, so that they will have a foothold in Jiaozhou, can defend the city, guard against the counterattack of the Southern Barbarians, and wait for subsequent reinforcements.
Jizhou, Guangyang
"Sir Wang, there seems to be unusual movement in the Youzhou army?" Wang Lang's subordinates came to report the news with some hesitation, because he himself was not sure whether it was true.
Upon hearing this, Wang Lang immediately looked up from the official documents and asked, "Is there any unusual movement?" He attached great importance to the news from Youzhou.
The subordinate shook his head, "I don't know. There is news coming out from the front, but there is no news coming out from the back."
Hearing this, Wang Lang was somewhat disappointed. He thought for a moment and said, "Order the people below to strengthen martial law."
He has also been paying attention to the three-way verbal battle during this period. If he were in their shoes, Wang Lang could understand the mentality of those people in the Yichun City Lord's Mansion who hated Daliang for not fighting for it and wanted to replace it, so he has been on guard against Yichun sending troops recently.
Soon, news arrived that the King of Annan had been defeated and had fled with his army.
Afterwards, the imperial court announced to the world that the Daliang army had eliminated the forces of the King of Annan and recovered the lost territory in southern Yizhou.
Yao Chunnuan had also received the specific news: the King of Annan was defeated by the imperial army and fled with 20,000 to 30,000 private soldiers and the wealth he had accumulated over the years. This news was within her expectations. The imperial court intended to recapture southern Yizhou, and General Fan Ye was surrounded on three sides and lacked one, so he would not pursue them vigorously.
After the news came, there was inevitably some discussion in the City Lord's Mansion.
"King Annan is defeated already?"
"It's not surprising. Ever since our Yichun, Ruyin, and Annan provinces started their rebellion, the imperial court has been trying to suppress it, but to no avail. Later, they had to change their strategy, taking advantage of the floods in Yichun and Qingxu provinces to concentrate their forces to attack Annan. Daliang currently controls most of the country, and Annan is the weakest compared to our Yichun and Ruyin provinces. Daliang picks on the weakest persimmons, and they always succeed. Even Annan himself had a premonition of defeat, which is why he sent people to Yichun to negotiate terms."
"Daliang is completely reckless. In order to destroy the King of Nannan, the Qiannan Shuizhong is so serious, but the court just ignores it and is focused on dealing with him. They even diverted the grain for disaster relief to the army as fodder. They would rather continue to use the army against the King of Annan than stop and use some grain for disaster relief."
That’s right, otherwise their Yichun Legion would not have set out to attack Jiaozhou.
"By the way, you said King Annan fled, where could he escape to?"
"The King of Annan must have gone to seek refuge with the King of Ruyin."
While the general was quietly leading his troops on the expedition, the southern barbarian leader A'geli was still shouting at the Yichun City Lord's Mansion from afar, asking them, "When will you prepare the silver, and how much silver have you prepared to ransom the people?"
He even teased, "If you, Lord Yao, were to come to the Yichun City Lord's Mansion and personally meet me to redeem the person, I could give you a better deal!"
The Yichun City Lord’s Mansion did not respond to this.
Because of Yichun’s silence, many common people who had been expecting Yichun City Lord’s Mansion to pay money to redeem people were disappointed.
Just when the Third Prince was feeling triumphant and was about to issue a notice to mock the Yichun City Lord's Mansion for its inconsistency between words and deeds, the Yichun City Lord's Mansion spoke out again. This time, it was a red notice announcing to the world that their Yichun Legion had captured Nanhai County.
This news from Yichun came no more than two days after the imperial court issued a decree announcing the defeat of the King of Annan and the recovery of southern Yizhou. It was a slap in the face to the imperial court, shattering all their pride. It was also a slap in the face to the southern barbarian A'geli, leaving all the southern barbarians stunned.
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