Chapter 365 War is an extension of integrity!

Hearing this news, Ye Mingsheng's mind finally relaxed, but under the gaze of everyone, he still nodded calmly and ordered:

"Tell us clearly what happened in the war!"

"Yes!"

After receiving Ye Mingsheng's order, the messenger immediately continued:

"On the morning of the 11th, Zhu Chengjie led his troops to Yutai County, but because the county had been occupied by our army, he launched an attack on the Fengjiayu area that was already controlled by our army the next day!"

"There are only one battalion of 3,000 men in Fengjiayu, so in order to protect the barrier of Yutai County, General Yuan decided to send troops to help!"

"On the 13th, the enemy and our side fought fiercely around Fengjiayu. Zhu Chengjie personally led thousands of cavalry to attack our army. Our army relied on the advantageous terrain of Fengjiayu and used firearms to fight back against the enemy!"

"The Po Lu guns equipped by our army showed great power when facing the enemy cavalry. The armor that the three-barreled guns could not penetrate was destroyed by the Po Lu guns with one shot, causing heavy casualties to the enemy cavalry..."

"After two days of fierce fighting, Zhu Chengjie's Zhenwu Army saw that our firearms were powerful and could not make any progress through frontal attacks, so they launched a night attack on the night of the 14th. However, General Yuan insisted on following your teachings of building a strong camp and fighting a stupid battle. Therefore, as soon as the enemy army reached Fengjiayu, they were discovered by our sentries."

"When the enemy saw that their surprise attack failed, they switched to a violent attack. General Yuan remained calm and relied on trenches, chevaux de frise and other defensive fortifications to fight back with the Tiger Crouching Cannon, the Weiyuan Cannon and the Po Lu Cannon, killing countless enemies and preventing them from taking a single step beyond the line of defense."

"On the morning of the 15th, after a series of fierce battles without any results, the enemy general Zhu Chengjie led his troops to withdraw from Yutai County. Lelang Prefecture has completely fallen into our hands. General Yuan, please ask if our army should take advantage of the victory and attack Dongning Prefecture?"

After hearing the messenger's series of introductions, Ye Mingsheng had a certain understanding of the course of the battle, and his excitement subsided a little.

Judging from the messenger's account, the battle was definitely won, after all, Zhu Chengjie was kicked out of Lelang Prefecture, but it cannot be called a great victory...

What is a great victory?

In Ye Mingsheng's eyes, the greatest victory would be to completely annihilate Zhu Chengjie's troops and give him Zhu Chengjie's head to kick around like a ball!
The current situation should be that both sides have fought a battle and suffered casualties on both sides, with the enemy suffering more casualties and our army suffering fewer casualties!
Seeing that they could not gain any advantage in Lelang Prefecture and suffered heavy casualties, the enemy retreated!
Of course, although we didn't win much tactically, we didn't cause more casualties to the enemy!
But from a strategic point of view, this successful start won Ye Mingsheng a lot of political capital!

First of all, this battle was the first battle after Ye Mingsheng broke up with the Zhenwu Army. All forces in Liaoyang were paying attention to this battle, wanting to see whether Ye could turn the tide and stop the Zhenwu Army, which was at its peak of power.

This is like venture capital. People will only invest their real money if they think you are capable. If you are not capable, no one will even look at you even if you kneel down and call you daddy.

Ever since Cui Shao decided to take a gamble with Ye Mingsheng and handed over the manpower and material resources accumulated by the family for decades to Ye Mingsheng, there have been many objections within the Cui family. They felt that Ye Mingsheng had little chance of winning.

They even believed that when Ye Mingsheng’s Fengzhou Army faced the Zhenwu Army, it would probably be as vulnerable and surrender as Song Wenhui’s Liaoyang Army after being overturned...
Although these objections were forcibly suppressed by Cui Shao relying on his huge personal prestige in the family, it also put Cui Shao under great pressure in the family. If this pressure continued, there might be some changes in the Cui family that Ye Mingsheng did not want to see.

This successful start will undoubtedly relieve a lot of pressure on Cui Shao and give a heavy slap in the face to those people in the Cui family who are not optimistic about Ye Mingsheng!

Secondly, from the overall perspective of Liaoyang Prefecture, Yuan Song's victory in Yutai County undoubtedly shattered the Zhenwu Army's attempt to interfere with Lelang Prefecture's conspiracy, making the enemy's efforts and sacrifices to quickly attack Dongning Prefecture all in vain.

Prussian military scientist Carl von Clausewitz once said in his book "On War" that war is an extension of politics.

!

Ye Mingsheng was deeply touched by this sentence. Since he took office, he felt more and more that the military should serve politics. So even though there were not many casualties in this battle, for his own political needs, Ye Mingsheng still had to package this battle as a great victory, so as to boost the morale of the entire army, stabilize existing investors, and attract potential investors.

After thinking carefully, Ye Mingsheng said to his men:

"General Yuan killed 10,000 enemies in this battle! He drove the enemy out of Lelang, which is really gratifying. It dealt a heavy blow to the arrogance of the Zhenwu rebels and enhanced the military power of Fengzhou!"

"Pass the order down that Yuan Song's troops will be rewarded 30,000 taels of silver, and the commendation order will be issued to the entire army. I hope you will follow General Yuan's example and keep up the good work!"

"As for whether to continue attacking Dongning Prefecture, since I have given General Yuan the power to act first and report later, let General Yuan decide for himself and act according to circumstances!"

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Just when Ye Mingsheng was preparing to take advantage of the good start to launch a massive public opinion offensive, Wang Muzhi and Chen Dechang were sitting opposite each other in a room in Dongning Prefecture. Neither of them spoke and their expressions were very solemn.

Both Chen Dechang and Wang Muzhi attached great importance to Zhu Chengjie's attack on Yutai County!
Although the Zhenwu Army had more than 100,000 soldiers including the Shiwei troops, a large proportion of them were surrendered soldiers from Liaoyang, and they had not had enough time to integrate these forces before hastily attacking Dongning Prefecture, which made the Zhenwu Army very tired. Therefore, the Zhenwu Army, which had been fighting for half a year, needed to stop and rest.

Under such circumstances, Chen Dechang and Wang Muzhi still tried their best to gather 15,000 people for Zhu Chengjie, not to mention the 5,000 cavalry among them.

In the original plan of the Zhenwu Army, with Zhu Chenjie's bravery and the addition of these 5,000 cavalry, they would be able to defeat Yuan Song's troops of the Fengzhou Army in one battle and then sweep across Lelang Prefecture, supporting the main force of the Zhenwu Army's subsequent offensive against Xuantu Prefecture...
Chen Dechang and Wang Muzhi had a good plan, but unfortunately the reality went against their ideals. Zhu Chenjie, who they had high hopes for, was not as unstoppable as they had imagined and he broke his teeth directly on Yuan Song.

The silence lasted for a full cup of tea before Wang Muzhi broke it and said in a low voice, "I have met Zhu Chengjie and some other generals and soldiers who participated in the battle!"

"Zhu Chenjie's command was not a big problem. The defeat was not unfair. We underestimated the strength of the Fengzhou Army!"

"The Fengzhou army is full of fighting spirit, the ranks are neat, and the battle formation is very coordinated. The command ability of the Fengzhou army generals, such as Yuan Song, should not be underestimated. Yuan Song's command in Fengjiayu is very methodical, and it can even be said that there are no loopholes!"

"And the most important thing is that the Fengzhou Army has equipped themselves with a lot of advanced firearms from somewhere. The firearms they hold, called Po Lu Gun and Wei Yuan Gun, are far more powerful than the three-barreled gun and bird gun we are using now!"

"The reason why Zhu Chenjie's 5,000 cavalrymen did not exert their due power this time was, on the one hand, because Yuan Song of the Fengzhou Army got there before him and occupied the advantageous terrain, making it impossible for the 5,000 cavalrymen to fully exert their power."

"On the other hand, because of this firearm, the armor equipped by our cavalry is simply unable to withstand the attack of the Po Lu gun..."

Listening to Wang Muzhi's story, Chen Dechang closed his eyes, rubbed his head tiredly and whispered:
"Shen Jianzhong reported to me before that Ye Mingsheng had a craftsman camp in Fengzhou and paid those craftsmen very well. Many craftsmen went to Fengzhou every day. It is said that this Po Lu gun was invented by the craftsman camp and was originally intended to deal with the Khitan cavalry..."

Having said this, Chen Dechang did not say anything further, but a hint of regret appeared in his eyes at this moment. When Shen Jianzhong first reported to him, he did not take it seriously at all.

In Chen Dechang's opinion, what the craftsmen of the Ministry of Works of the imperial court could not do, let alone Ye Mingsheng's makeshift team. The so-called Po Lu gun was just a bluff. He did not expect that in just over a year, he would suffer such a huge loss because of it.

"Is there any news from the court?" Wang Muzhi asked Chen Dechang:

Facing Wang Muzhi's question, Chen Dechang shook his head and said:
"There has been no further news from the Prime Minister, but I heard that the situation is very bad and Xu Shangshu from the Ministry of War committed suicide!"

Upon hearing the news, Wang Muzhi was immediately shocked and asked:

"Minister Xu committed suicide? What happened?"

"It is said that the Prime Minister asked Chen Jingyu to do it. As for the specific reason, no one can tell clearly at present!" Chen Dechang hesitated for a while, but decided to tell Wang Muzhi the truth...
Chen Dechang's words immediately made Wang Muzhi very excited. His face flushed and he couldn't help but shouted angrily:
"How could the Prime Minister kill Minister Xu? It's fake news! It's absolutely true!"

When he was in Luoan, although Wang Muzhi was favored by the Prime Minister Shangguan Hongyuan, it was also due to the fact that a child from a poor family was promoted so quickly in the Shenwu Army where internal competition was very serious. He also received a lot of care from Xu Bingyang, the then Minister of War.

Therefore, Wang Muzhi was very grateful to Xu Bingyang and was very thankful for his care for him!
So when Wang Mu heard that it was his most respected Prime Minister Shangguan Hongyuan who ordered Xu Bingyang to commit suicide, he really couldn't accept this result for a while...

Looking at Wang Muzhi who was so excited that he couldn't control himself, Chen Dechang frowned slightly and said:
"Wang Muzhi, calm down. This is just the news I heard. If you really care about the truth, you can ask the Prime Minister yourself when you return to Luoan. But now you and I should think about how to deal with Ye Mingsheng. Otherwise, if Ye Mingsheng, this bastard, delays the Prime Minister's plan, you and I will be doomed!"

Wang Muzhi's self-control ability was actually not bad, but he was temporarily defeated when he heard the news from Chen Dechang. Now, after hearing what Chen Dechang said, he calmed down, took a deep breath, and bowed to Chen Dechang, saying:

"I'm sorry, sir. I lost my temper!"

Chen Dechang waved his hand and continued to ask:

"Do you have any good ideas for taking down the Fengzhou Army?"

Hearing Chen Dechang's question, Wang Muzhi's expression became serious again. After thinking for a moment, he spoke:
"If the soldiers of Fengzhou Army are all at the same level as Yuan Song's troops, things will be very troublesome. As long as Ye Mingsheng does not advance rashly, we will have no good solution. If we want to defeat Fengzhou Army, our army must seek a decisive battle with Fengzhou Army. However, the initiative of whether to have a decisive battle is not in our hands."

Wang Muzhi paused for a moment, somewhat reluctant but still speaking:
"If Ye Mingsheng doesn't fight a decisive battle with our army, then that is the only way to quickly defeat the Fengzhou army..."

Although Wang Muzhi did not directly say what the method was, Chen Dechang, as the commander of the Zhenwu Army, certainly knew what Wang Muzhi was referring to.

When Shen Jianzhong first brought up the option of the Khitans, Wang Muzhi, as an orthodox military officer, was opposed to it. Although Chen Dechang did not oppose it, he did not express his support explicitly. After all, as a military general, Chen Dechang and Wang Muzhi both had their own dignity and pride.

If they were not forced to do so, they would not want to allow foreign races like the Khitans to enter the country. Once these jackals, tigers and leopards come in, it would be extremely difficult to get them out!

However, at the moment, apart from letting the Khitans take action and attack the Fengzhou Army from both sides together with the Zhenwu Army, they seem to have no good way to deal with Ye Mingsheng!
The situation in Luoan is becoming increasingly tense. The Prime Minister is eager for them to enter the country as soon as possible to open up the north. However, if things continue as they are now, let alone entering the country, they won't be able to deal with or get rid of the traitor Ye Mingsheng...
So right now, for the sake of the overall situation, they may really have to go against their conscience and do something that will make people despise them!
"If you let the Khitans send troops to attack the Fengzhou army from both sides, how confident are you that you can defeat the Fengzhou army?" After thinking about the whole thing, Chen Dechang asked Wang Muzhi again, looking at Wang Muzhi with expectant eyes.

Wang Muzhi did not give an answer to this question immediately, but gave an answer after careful consideration:

"Fifty to sixty percent sure!"

"So low?" Chen Dechang frowned and said with some dissatisfaction:
Wang Muzhi smiled bitterly and said helplessly:
"With the help of the Cui family, the total strength of the Fengzhou army is not much different from ours. If they are determined to defend the city, we have to attack the cities one by one. Things like attacking cities are the most time-consuming, and our army doesn't have much time now!"

"The best strategy for our army now is to lure Ye Mingsheng out and have a decisive battle with our army to decide life or death!"

(End of this chapter)