On March 16, the ninth year of the Xuanli reign, spring had arrived in the wilderness and the swallows had returned.
Led by officials from the Guanli Hall, Fu Xiaoguan and his entourage left Fancheng and headed for Guanyuncheng. As for Guan Tong, he had been caught in the rain for most of the day yesterday, and coupled with his anger, he had fallen ill and was unable to get up, so he stayed in Fancheng to recuperate.
It is only a hundred miles to Guanyun City, but these hundred miles are all uphill, so the convoy is not moving very fast.
Wu Linger found an excuse to discuss business with her two sisters and got on Yu Wenyun's princess carriage. Fu Xiaoguan was then driven out by Dong Shulan and sat in his own carriage in dejected manner.
At this moment, he was looking at the secret letter in front of him.
What I told Yan Hanyu yesterday at the Fancheng Yingbin Tower about the war in the east was naturally a lie. After the Crown Prince Yu Wentian took control of the eastern border troops, he was unable to drive the Yi army to the Sangyu line, and the Yi army was not defeated. The latest intelligence from Xiyu Tower was as follows:
On February 20th of the ninth year of the Xuanli reign, the enemy and our side had a total of 260,000 troops deployed at Shilipo, with the forces of both sides being equal.
The war started at the hour of Chen. Our General Fei led 50,000 heavy cavalry to rush down from Shili Slope and broke through the enemy's main formation at the beginning of the hour of Si. Then 60,000 light cavalry on both wings engaged the enemy, and the enemy retreated to Guanshanji.
However, our army suffered heavy casualties. The battle lasted until the hour of Yin, when both sides called off the battle. Our army failed to break through Guanshanji.
According to statistics after the war, 16,000 of our army's 50,000 heavy cavalry were killed and 28,000 were injured, including 5,000 seriously injured. Only more than 20,000 were able to fight.
Of our 60,000 light cavalry, only 40,000 are still capable of fighting.
It was night, midnight.
General Fei led another 20,000 heavy cavalry to attack Guanshanji. The enemy was repelled for a time, but was not defeated. The enemy launched a counterattack at Chou Shi and recaptured Guanshanji.
On February 23, the eldest prince sent 20,000 light cavalry to bypass Huaxi and Linjiapu to Guanshanji. Then General Fei led 15,000 heavy cavalry to charge the enemy at Guanshanji.
On February 25, this strategy was successful. Our army recaptured Guanshanji and the enemy retreated to the Sangyu defense line.
General Fei intended to pursue the victory but was stopped by the eldest prince. At this point, only a little over 100,000 of the 300,000 eastern border troops were able to fight again, and most of them were infantry.
After that, our army strengthened the defense line of Guanshanji and the eldest prince's tent moved to Guanshanji.
On the first day of March, the enemy army gathered again and was reinforced by 80,000 troops. The Red Feather Legion was led by the Yi general Feng Xianchu and swept in.
We defended Guanshanji, but five days later, our army ran out of ammunition and food, and Guanshanji fell!
General Fei led the remaining troops to escort the eldest prince out of Guanshanji and retreated back to Shilipo again.
The next day, the Ministry of War sent 25 red cannons.
The enemy launched a charge on Shilipu, and our army used the red cannon for the first time.
Its power is like the wrath of heaven, and its sound is like the roar of a dragon!
The shells exploded when they landed in the enemy camp, and countless horses were frightened. The enemy's camp seemed to have been blown up, and their formation was in chaos. General Fei attacked again, and the enemy retreated. However, our army was unable to sustain the attack, and ultimately failed to achieve complete success. The two sides once again confronted each other at Shilipo.
On the eighth day of March, the enemy attacked again. They stuffed cotton cloth into the ears of their horses. Although our army's red cannons were still fierce, their number was too small and their killing capacity was limited. By the tenth day of March, Shilipo was lost.
Our army retreated to Lanling City.
On the third day of March, Your Majesty mobilized 150,000 troops from the southern border to march towards Lanling.
…
In the end, he was defeated.
Fu Xiaoguan put down the letter, rolled up the car window, and picked up another secret report.
This secret report came from Xishan Express.
The consequences of the snowstorm in Shanxi were extremely severe. By February 20th, over 10,000 people in Yongning Prefecture alone had died of starvation and freezing. Gong Shenchang of Pingling Mountain took advantage of this opportunity and led over 50,000 Tiandao troops to raid Yongning City, the capital of Yongning Prefecture.
Yongning City only put up a little resistance, but the city gate was opened by the garrison.
According to investigation, the prefect of Yongning Prefecture and the defender of Yongning City were both from the Shi family.
After Gong Shenchang entered the city, the 50,000 Tiandao soldiers looted for three days and only left leisurely when the Xincheng border troops arrived.
Also going with them were 10,000 garrison troops from Yongning City, who joined the rebels.
Zhigong Shenchang returned to the mountain again, and with him went 30,000 more refugees!
The Northern Palace is tall and powerful, and its war horses come from the Wilderness Country. Its weapons and armor are no different from those of the border troops. I am afraid they will become powerful. Young Master, your trip to the north is extremely dangerous and must not be done!
What the hell!
Fu Xiaoguan took a deep breath. The war in the east was at a stalemate. Even if the 150,000 troops from the southern border rushed to support, they could only regain the lost territory at best. If they wanted to conquer Ximayuan... it was simply impossible!
It’s not that the Yu Dynasty’s army is not good at fighting, but Fu Xiaoguan is very clear about the current situation of the Yu Dynasty.
The eldest prince's defeat was not a strategic issue; there were two main reasons.
One reason was that this was his first time to take charge of the Eastern Border Army. Even though he controlled the Eastern Border Army through his former pawn Jiang Gaoyuan, he had no idea what the soldiers under his command were like.
It is a big taboo to command an army without knowing its soldiers and generals!
The second is the great shortage of strategic materials in the eastern border troops. Even though Dong Kangping responded in time, there was still no sufficient supply.
Many soldiers don’t even have armor or weapons. How can they fight this war?
The only hope now is that Yu Wentian is not that stupid. If he could use the red cannon for city defense, Lanling City would not have fallen.
As long as Lanling City can be controlled, the Yi Kingdom will not be able to graze horses in Lanling. Only when a hundred red cannons can be equipped, can the Yi Kingdom be intimidated and the east can be stable.
The east side is a foregone conclusion, and he is now more concerned about the north side.
It was obvious that Gong Shenchang had the support of the barbarians. What he lacked was money and food, but the remnants of the Shi clan in Ningzhou solved this big problem for him. With so many refugees joining in, the barbarians didn't even need to fight in the north, as the northern border troops would be unable to take care of themselves - the barbarians were outside the Yanshan Pass, while Gong Shenchang was inside the pass!
If we don't kill Gong Shenchang, let alone opening a workshop in Quyi and Pingling counties, it would be extremely dangerous even to pass by there!
Fu Xiaoguan thought for a long time, picked up his pen and wrote a letter to Bai Yulian, and then wrote another letter to Qin Chengye.
It is imperative to suppress the bandits!
But these bandits cannot be suppressed blindly. If you want to do your job well, you must first sharpen your tools. With two thousand special forces against tens of thousands of bandits, you must crush them in all aspects, otherwise it will be like hitting a rock with an egg.
In his letter to Qin Chengye, he described how to make a telescope, the principles and methods of hot air balloons, and even mentioned some extremely lethal bombs.
Finally, he wrote a letter to Wang Er, telling him where Fu Yidai was placed, and again talked about the training of Fu Erdai in detail.
This is the foundation of his foothold as a landlord, and it is also the key to the country's ability to recover.
Food is the most important thing for people. Only when the food problem is solved can the world be stable!
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