Lin Mo sat upright in the main hall of the Prince's Mansion, continuously issuing orders.
How many members of the Zhao family followed Huo Minggao in his rebellion?
"Regardless of whether there's evidence or not, arrest them all!"
"What about the Wei clan?"
"Same approach: arrest them all!"
After taking control of Huo Minggao and his men, Lin Mo swiftly declared martial law in the capital, deploying countless soldiers to relentlessly arrest rebels throughout the city. Besides Huo Minggao, many high-ranking officials were also on the arrest list.
It's very simple. Take this opportunity to wipe out all those who have opposing views.
Reason? Colluding with rebels and disrupting the imperial court!
Not only these ministers, but even their servants and maids were to be convicted, their homes confiscated, and imprisoned.
Subsequently, Lin Mo turned his attention to the nobles who had good relations with Huo Minggao, ordering a city-wide investigation into their backgrounds. Initially, the investigation focused on whether they had any collusion with Huo Minggao.
Later, it simply became a matter of capturing someone and executing them without any mercy.
In a short time, countless people died tragically at Lin Mo's hands, not to mention many innocent people who were not involved in the incident.
Later, his subordinates' clansmen, neighbors, and even people he had only met once began to be arrested and questioned. More and more people were involved, and more and more people were arrested.
Anyone who resists should be shot on the spot.
After that, it wasn't just Huo Minggao's problem anymore. It even led to the "guimanchao," a form of collective punishment even more severe than the extermination of nine generations of one's family. If one person committed a crime, the entire clan would be killed, and even the villagers and elders, anyone even remotely related to the perpetrator, would be condemned to death!
At this moment, Lin Mo displayed unparalleled iron-fisted methods.
For a time, the capital was filled with an atmosphere of fear and unease, with everyone living in a state of panic.
Yao Guangxiao's expression turned grim upon seeing this. He hadn't expected that this incident would be even more serious than the Hu Weiyong case during the Ming Dynasty.
The current Lin Mo reminded him of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
They killed far too many people!
"Your Highness, you mustn't!" Yao Guangxiao couldn't help but advise, "It's fine to arrest and thoroughly investigate anyone who plots rebellion. But why should innocent ministers and their families be implicated as well?"
"We must nip it in the bud!" Lin Mo declared. "If we don't kill a bunch of them, these scum will think that rebellion is a trivial matter that can be forgiven!"
Does corruption value have an impact? Lin Mo didn't know, and he didn't want to find out. He only knew that he had to kill a bunch of them to deter these bastards.
He had no interest in the rest.
"Your Highness..." Yao Guangxiao wanted to say something more.
"Shut up! I'm killing real rebels, not indiscriminately slaughtering meritorious officials. What's your hurry?" Lin Mo interrupted rudely. "What are you up to, always speaking up for rebels?"
"I..." Yao Guangxiao dared not say more.
"Any news from Shu or Tianshui City?" Lin Mo changed the subject.
"Your Highness, General Bai Qi abandoned Tianshui City immediately and then led his cavalry to hide in the Dos Grassland."
"Oh? He didn't even guard the area for a day?" Lin Mo asked in surprise. "This guy is definitely playing guerrilla tactics, right?"
"Yes, General Bai has laid ambushes along the only road to Shu and has been constantly harassing the Abbasid army with Hu-style cavalry and archers, keeping them from having a moment's peace day and night."
Therefore, when we arrived in Sichuan, our army annihilated a 40,000-strong Arab army at the cost of only 2,000 men.
"The foremost of the four great generals of the Warring States period, truly lives up to his reputation!" Lin Mo praised. "And Xichuan City? Ran Min, what about him?"
"Your Highness, Qiu Zi's army captured Shangdang region a month ago and marched eastward, reaching the gates of Xichuan City. General Ran Min led his troops in a steadfast defense, refusing to engage. The battle was exceptionally fierce."
During the battle to defend the city, Lord Sun Mian encouraged the people to actively participate in the fight. Some rushed to the city walls to repair the fortifications, some assisted the soldiers in patrolling the city, and even women and children mobilized to collect bricks, stones, and lime to make swords, spears, bows, and arrows.
Retired military officer Fan Dazhong rallied a group of patriots to join the city's defense. The enemy's numbers already far exceeded ours, and later, Arab troops joined the fray. Our situation was extremely dire.
"Where is Bai Qi?" Qiao Shan couldn't help but ask. "You just mentioned that the Abbasid army arrived at Xichuan City. What about Bai Qi's troops?"
“Reporting to the general…” the man hesitated, “General Bai led his troops… and lost contact with us when we were outside Xichuan City.”
"What?" Qiao Shan asked in surprise, "Could we have been ambushed by the Arab army?"
"How could that be!" Lin Mo saw right through Bai Qi's thoughts. "This guy is doing it on purpose!"
"Intentionally? Intentionally disappeared?" Qiao Shan asked, puzzled.
“Don’t use the word ‘missing,’” Lin Mo said. “Bai Qi deliberately hid himself.”
"Hide it?"
“Yes, you didn’t participate in the Battle of Tianyue Mountain, so naturally you don’t know this guy!” Lin Mo told him. “Guangxiao, you should know about Zhu Wenzheng’s Battle of Hongdu, right?”
“I am naturally aware of that battle!” Yao Guangxiao nodded.
The Battle of Hongdu was a famous battle that took place in the Nanchang area of Jiangxi Province at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. The opposing forces were Zhu Yuanzhang's army and Chen Youliang's army. With an extremely disparate strength, the two sides launched a fierce attack and capture of Hongdu City (now Nanchang, Jiangxi Province).
Zhu Yuanzhang was the defender, commanded by Zhu Wenzheng (not Lan Yu), with an army of 20,000. The attacker was Chen Youliang, with an army of 600,000.
At that time, the walls of Hongdu had been breached in many places, and the defending army fought and rebuilt as they went. Both sides fought over corpses, and both suffered heavy casualties. However, Zhu Wenzheng displayed his outstanding command talent, calmly responded to the attack, and held Hongdu for 85 days, greatly depleting the manpower of Chen's army and buying time for Zhu Yuanzhang to launch a counterattack.
Bai Qi acted in the same way as Zhu Yuanzhang. He released information that reinforcements were on their way.
As the defending troops, their morale was certainly high, and they fought to the death to defend the city.
As the attacker, Qiu Zi would be anxious upon learning that enemy reinforcements were about to arrive, and would inevitably intensify his attack on the city.
In a siege, the attacking side is definitely at a disadvantage, and forcing a siege will inevitably consume a great deal of manpower.
If the defenders can't hold out at home and the attackers are exhausted, then coming out to rescue them would just result in a chaotic massacre.
However, such tactics posed a great challenge to Ran Min's defending forces.
The Caliphate's forces, several times their size, were...
"Bai Qi, I admire your ruthlessness. A general should have the heart and courage to not be merciful in commanding troops," Lin Mo thought. "But just don't go too far!"
"There's no need to worry about Shu. With Bai Qi here, I'm completely at ease!" Lin Mo announced. "Now we only have one last enemy: the Northern Barbarians! Where are their troops? I plan to annihilate them within half a month!"
"Ah..." Sun Yang exclaimed in shock, "Half a month? Complete annihilation?"
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