The atmosphere in the imperial study was very depressing.
Emperor Xuan was wearing a plain linen robe and standing in front of the huge map with his hands behind his back. His brows were furrowed and his eyes fell on Jiannan East Road.
Yan Beixi, Yan Shidao, Yan Haochu, Dong Kangping and Taifu Ning stood behind him, also looking at the map, each with a serious expression and silent.
Fu Xiaoguan stepped into the imperial study and walked straight over without any greeting. He said directly, "I want all the intelligence information."
Emperor Xuan turned and glanced at him, then went to the Dragon Terrace and retrieved ten intelligence reports, handing them to Fu Xiaoguan. "They were all sent urgently over a distance of three hundred miles. Among them are emergency documents from Xiyu Tower and from Jiannan East Road."
After Fu Xiaoguan took it, he sat in front of the tea table and carefully read through the pictures one by one.
This Xue Dingshan is truly a character!
On December 26, the ninth year of the Xuanli reign, His Majesty issued an edict ordering Xue Dingshan's troops to go to the Western Rong to suppress the bandits.
This imperial edict was delivered to the western border army on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Xue Dingshan received the imperial edict and began to reorganize the troops. At the same time, King Zhenxi Huo Donglin also received the emperor's edict. As a military supervisor, he took three thousand personal guards to the western border army camp.
Under Huo Donglin's repeated urging, the 300,000-strong western border army left its base on the 17th day of the first lunar month and headed towards the western wilderness.
Four days later, that is, on the 21st day of the first lunar month, the army arrived at Jieshan. To the west, it led to Minshan Mountain of Xirong, and to the south, it entered Jiannan East Road.
That night, Xue Dingshan invited Huo Donglin to discuss military strategy. Huo Donglin was caught off guard and was killed by a master ambushed by Xue Dingshan.
Xue Dingshan's wife Xi Hua sent out the first piece of information about Xue Dingshan's rebellion: the master who killed Huo Donglin was a bandit of the Moon Worship Sect!
The fourth prince, Yu Wenshu, showed up that night in Xue Dingshan's tent!
The army immediately broke camp, abandoning all food and fodder. 150,000 cavalrymen marched ahead, followed by 150,000 infantrymen. On the 23rd day of the first lunar month, they captured Changzhou, the first prefecture on the eastern route of Jiannan.
The army did not stop and arrived in Puzhou on the 25th of the first lunar month. Puzhou resisted for two days and fell on the 27th of the first lunar month.
Wherever the rebels passed, they only looted three days' worth of food and fodder, and did not occupy any city. They swept through like a whirlwind, all the way to Rongzhou, where they encountered their first stubborn resistance.
On the first day of February, Fei An assembled more than 30,000 garrison troops in Rongzhou and used the strong city walls of Rongzhou to resist the rebels' three-day attack.
The rebels failed to capture Rongzhou after a long siege and headed towards Linzhou.
…
That's all the information we have so far.
Fei An did not disappoint me, and Fu Xiaoguan finally felt relieved.
He leisurely brewed a pot of tea and said to His Majesty, Prime Minister Yan and others, "Don't be anxious, come and have a cup of tea."
His Majesty glared at him fiercely, thinking to himself, I'm worried to death, and you still have the leisure to drink tea!
When Prime Minister Yan saw that Fu Xiaoguan was so calm, he felt a little relieved. He didn't know when he, the prime minister of a country, had such great trust in Fu Xiaoguan, a young boy.
He then bowed to His Majesty and said, "I think what I have said is quite good. Your Majesty, please be patient and have a cup of tea."
Emperor Xuan walked over and sat opposite Fu Xiaoguan. He waved to the others. Dong Kangping and others also sat down and all looked at Fu Xiaoguan.
Fu Xiaoguan didn't say anything. He was really brewing a pot of tea very seriously.
When the tea smoke rose, he poured tea for everyone and then slowly said, "Xue Dingshan has already lost."
Master Yan frowned slightly. "From Rongzhou to Linzhou, at the speed of cavalry, it would take at most four days. If Xue Dingshan didn't attack Linzhou and went straight to Jianzhou, it would only take more than ten days at most. He left Rongzhou on the fourth day of February, so the earliest he could reach Jianzhou would be the sixteenth day of February. That means he could reach Jianzhou tomorrow. Yu Chunqiu's troops, on the other hand, will need three more days. He occupied Qipan Pass at least two days earlier than Yu Chunqiu!"
Fu Xiaoguan smiled calmly, "Lord Yan has overlooked Fei An."
"Feian has no cavalry, so he can't catch up with Xue Dingshan."
"Feian doesn't need to chase."
"How can we solve this problem?"
"I believe Fei'an will be here..." He stood up, walked to the map, looked at it carefully, and his finger fell on Ronglin Avenue.
"Feian only needs to block Xue Dingshan's 150,000 infantrymen arriving from behind at Ronglin Avenue to delay Xue Dingshan's cavalry."
He turned to look at Emperor Xuan and the others. "Xue Dingshan's strategy is to fight to support the war. 150,000 cavalrymen need a large amount of fodder to feed their horses, and his cavalry only looted three days' worth of fodder. According to his plan, he would have looted every two or three days. But if he didn't seize Rongzhou, he would definitely go after Linzhou."
He was not sure he could capture Linzhou, because the battle of Rongzhou had occurred several days earlier, so Linzhou would certainly be prepared. Therefore, Xue Dingshan's best strategy was to seize the counties under Linzhou's jurisdiction.
And I believe Fei An came from Jianzhou. He must have made some arrangements when he passed through these prefectures. If I am not mistaken, all the food and grass from the counties and counties under the jurisdiction of these prefectures will be sent to the prefectures for safekeeping, which is equivalent to clearing the countryside.
Xue Dingshan was unable to seize sufficient food and fodder from the various counties and prefectures, so he did not dare to advance rashly. Therefore, Yu Chunqiu's troops would arrive at Qipan Pass at least three days earlier than Xue Dingshan.
More likely, Yu Chunqiu would lead the light cavalry to Qipan Pass first, with the red-coated cannons and other supplies arriving later. In this case, Xue Dingshan would only have 150,000 cavalry at the vanguard, making it impossible for him to capture Qipan Pass. He would have to wait for the subsequent 150,000 infantry... which would take at least ten days, and I believe these infantry would be outlasted by Fei An.
Fu Xiaoguan walked back to the tea table, drank a cup of tea, and said with a smile: "So, don't be nervous about this battle. Xue Dingshan is courting his own destruction."
It seemed to be the case. Upon hearing this, Emperor Xuan and others felt much more at ease.
But will the war really develop as Fu Xiaoguan predicted?
This requires waiting for follow-up information.
Just when everyone felt a little relieved, a burst of hurried horse hooves sounded outside the door of the imperial study.
"Urgent news! Urgent news from the front line!"
Shit, even Fu Xiaoguan was worried this time. The urgent news that he could ride in on horseback was extremely urgent. Could it be that my prediction was wrong?
Eunuch Jia stepped out of the door, stretched out a hand and placed it on the head of the rushing horse. A soldier fell off the horse. Eunuch Jia grabbed him, and the soldier handed Eunuch Jia a red-headed document, then fell to the ground.
Eunuch Jia delivered the document to Emperor Xuan. When Emperor Xuan opened it, his face turned pale instantly.
Fu Xiaoguan was startled and saw the document falling from Emperor Xuan's hand.
Yan Beixi grabbed the document and almost fainted after taking a look at it.
Emperor Xuan sighed and closed his eyes, "Could it be that today is the day to destroy our Yu Dynasty?"
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