Chapter 711 Strategic Contraction!

Although the Hujie Imperial Army, which had forcibly captured the two counties of Wankang and Pingrong of the Fengwu Army, had to stop for rest and recuperation, according to the news obtained by the General Coordination Office in Jinyang, there were many mobilizations of the 30,000 Shenwu Army in Jinyang during this period...

There are six imperial guards in the Zhou Dynasty, namely Shenwu, Longxiang, Tieqi, Hujie, Xuanwu, and Yulin.

According to the tradition of the Imperial Guards, the Yulin were responsible for guarding the imperial palace and court ceremonies, and basically did not participate in direct combat. Among the remaining five imperial guards, the Longxiang and Tieqi were cavalry units. During the heyday of the Great Zhou Dynasty, these two cavalry units together had as many as 50,000 people, allowing the Great Zhou to roam freely in the northern desert and the western regions, and was invincible.

The Xuanwu, Hujie and Shenwu branches are infantry. Shangguan Hongyuan, who has held great power in recent years, was from the Shenwu Army. Therefore, he obviously trusted his original troops more. Therefore, he broke the tradition and partially reorganized the Imperial Guards. He transferred some elite cavalry from the Iron Cavalry and Longxiang to the Shenwu Army, under the command of his most trusted confidants.

Although the Great Zhou had already shown signs of national decline before the Luoan Incident, and some local vassal states were secretly disobeying the order, under Shangguan Hongyuan's personal prestige and the military deterrence of the 200,000 imperial guards, the court was still able to collect some silver from the locals to support its operations and the maintenance of the 200,000 imperial guards.

The outbreak of the Luoan Incident was undoubtedly a severe blow to Shangguan Hongyuan and the credibility of the Great Zhou Dynasty. The world officially entered a period of chaos. Although Shangguan Hongyuan eventually pacified the southern tour of the court in Sichuan and brought back the young emperor Jiang Rui to once again control the princes, the blow to the credibility of the Great Zhou Dynasty caused by this incident was irreversible.

The most important manifestation of this is that Shangguan Hongyuan can no longer collect taxes from various provinces in the name of the court...
The local princes represented by Ye Mingsheng and Xu Zhaojie, although still nominally flying the banner of the Great Zhou and not openly declaring themselves kings or emperors to betray the Great Zhou, have actually become local emperors, holding the power of life and death in their respective territories!

Under such circumstances, the Great Zhou Imperial Army, which originally relied on the entire world to support, could no longer restore its former glory. Among them, the Iron Cavalry and the Longxiang cavalry units, which made great contributions to Shangguan Hongyuan and paid heavy sacrifices in the attack on Sichuan and Shu, were in the most difficult situation.

Shangguan Hongyuan, who could no longer collect money from the world, no longer had the ability to recruit new cavalry to the Longxiang Iron Cavalry. So, Shangguan Hongyuan had no choice but to retain the numbers of the two cavalry units, but in fact he divided the remaining cavalry between the two cavalry units.

Shangguan Hongyuan recruited the most elite cavalry of the Longxiang and Iron Cavalry under the command of the Shenwu Army. As for the remaining cavalry, they were distributed to Ma Chongyang's Xuanwu Imperial Army and Tang Peng's Hujie Imperial Army. This move also enabled the Shenwu Army, which traditionally relied on infantry, to gather a cavalry unit of more than 10,000 people.

As the best-equipped, best-treated and most trusted direct force of the Imperial Guards, the Shenwu Army has a total strength of 60,000. Although Shangguan Hongyuan has tried his best in this Battle of Yunbing, for the stability of the rear, he still left 30,000 Shenwu Army for his only son Shangguan Changgong who was guarding the rear. However, he brought all 10,000 cavalry of the Shenwu Army to the battlefield of Yunbing...
In the previous battles, although the progress of the Luoan Imperial Army was not as good as expected and was not satisfactory, Shangguan Hongyuan and his 30,000 Shenwu Army always sat back and waited in Jinyang, without any signs of supporting the front line.

Although they remained quiet, He Jingyun, who was in charge of the Fengwu Army's Yunbing battlefield, did not dare to underestimate the Shenwu Army at all. He always ordered the people from the General Coordination Office to secretly watch the Shenwu Army in Jinyang and be wary of their every move.

After learning about the frequent deployment of the Shenwu Army, He Jingyun also realized that after completely conquering the Fengwu Army's outer county towns on the southern line of Jinzhong, Shangguan Hongyuan was finally going to launch an all-out attack.

In order to avoid being completely divided and surrounded by the Luoan Imperial Guards, He Jingyun immediately ordered Guo Zhiping's Third Army and the infantry to stay on the east bank of the Sanchuan River to block Wang Muzhi's Liang Army from crossing the river, while the cavalry unit of the Third Army was to support the Eighth Division on the northern line.

Up to now, under the command of Xun Ke, the newly formed Eighth Division has been able to firmly hold the two counties of Lingyuan and Pingyun under the fierce attack of tens of thousands of Xuanwu Imperial Army. However, the casualties of the Eighth Division are also very heavy, and it can no longer break out of the Xuanwu Imperial Army.

In order to avoid the 8th Division from being completely annihilated, He Jingyun could only arrange for Guo Zhiping to lead the cavalry to try to tear a hole in the blockade of the Xuanwu Army and rescue the remnants of the 8th Division under Xun Ke. After the 8th Division was rescued, they would retreat to Jinzhong together with the Fengwu Army that was blocking on the east bank of the Sanchuan River...

In this way, the Fengwu Army will abandon all the county positions outside Jinzhong City and concentrate on Jinzhong. This means that the Battle of Yunbing will enter the final battle to siege the city!
It has to be said that He Jingyun was very thoughtful and courageous. He took the initiative to give up the two counties of Lingyuan and Pingyun and withdrew his troops back to Jinzhong city.

If he were to complete this plan, there would be more than 60,000 Fengwu troops in Jinzhong City. Considering the current casualties and material consumption of the Luoan Imperial Guards, it would be almost impossible for Shangguan Hongyuan to capture Jinzhong in a short period of time. And with the current manpower and financial resources of the Luoan court, they could not support a long-term battle of 200,000 troops outside!
This is the content of the battle report, but Ye Mingsheng is very clear that Shangguan Hongyuan will never sit idly by and watch He Jingyun complete his strategic contraction in Jinzhong and then attack Jinzhong, which has 60,000 people defending the city. He will definitely stop He Jingyun's plan.

In this case, the question arises, what will Shangguan Hongyuan do with his 30,000 Shenwu Army?

In Ye Mingsheng's opinion, Shangguan Hongyuan has two choices!

The first option is to lead the Shenwu Army to rush hundreds of miles from the already controlled southern line to the city of Jinzhong, and attack the Fengwu Army in the center. In this way, even if Guo Zhiping pulls out the Eighth Division, it will be blocked outside the city of Jinzhong. By then, the Luoan Imperial Army will be surrounded by Hujie, and the Xuanwu Army will follow up to encircle and suppress it. Then, the Fengwu Army’s troops outside Jinzhong will probably be all killed...
If this is done, the benefits will be huge. If it succeeds, it will be a decisive battle. Even if He Jingyun is a god, he will not be able to defend Jinzhong City with less than 20,000 soldiers and horses. And taking Shangguan Hongyuan from Jinzhong will completely change the situation in Yunbing!
However, this was also very risky. Before the Xuanwu and Hujie imperial guards caught up, the 30,000 Shenwu troops blocking the city of Jinzhong would be attacked from both sides by the Fengwu troops inside and outside the city! If they were not careful, they would not only fail to win, but would be defeated outside the city of Jinzhong!

To be honest, if Shangguan Hongyuan was 20 years younger, Ye Mingsheng would definitely do the same thing with his proud personality. But now he can only sigh that beauty fades and heroes grow old. Shangguan Hongyuan, who is over 60 years old, probably doesn't have the courage to do so!
Compared to attacking from the center, Ye Mingsheng believed that Shangguan Hongyuan would lead his troops to the northern line to confront Guo Zhiping who was going to rescue the Eighth Division. Although this move was a bit safe, if Guo Zhiping's troops could be defeated, then even if the Fengwu Army troops outside Jinzhong City could not be completely wiped out, most of the effective forces could be eliminated, which would be of great help to the possible subsequent Jinzhong offensive!

However, this tactic has a fatal flaw, that is, the distance from Jinyang to Pingyun and Lingyuan is about one hundred miles longer than the distance from the east bank of the Sanchuan River to Pingyun and Lingyuan. Moreover, under the order of He Jingyun, Guo Zhiping is one step ahead to rescue the Eighth Division.

The terrain around Pingyun and Lingyuan is mainly plains. In such terrain, it is difficult for the Xuanwu Imperial Army to stop the charge of the Third Division's cavalry. This means that even if the Shenwu Army rushes on the road desperately, by the time they arrive at the place, Guo Zhiping, Xun Ke and others may have already escaped...

After understanding all this, Ye Mingsheng was still optimistic about the current situation in Yun and Bing. As long as there were no major changes in Yun, then with the logistical supply of the Luoan Imperial Army, the current offensive could be maintained for a maximum of ten days to half a month. After resting, he would lead the Ninth Division northward, and then they would be able to regain the lost territory step by step.

Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but shook his head slightly. Because Ji Yu defeated Xu Zhaojie more smoothly than expected, Ye Mingsheng had more expectations for the battle situation in Yunbing. He was wondering whether he could, on the basis of regaining lost territory, see if there was a chance to take Jinyang and unify Yunbing!
However, judging from the current battle reports, the Luoan Imperial Guards have suffered heavy losses, and the two armies of the Fengwu Army in Yunbing have suffered heavy casualties. The soldiers are generally very tired, and the finances of the Fengwu Army are becoming increasingly tight. The Finance Department has also begun to request a three-month delay or installment payment of soldiers' pensions. Therefore, in actual conditions, it would be great if we could recapture the five counties captured by Shangguan Hongyuan...

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Yijing, Governor's Mansion

There were bursts of children's reading sounds coming from An Miaoyi's yard. Although the voices were very childish, the reading was very fluent.

Zhao Qian and Sun Li, Zhou Wu and King Zheng.

Feng, Chen, Chu, Wei, Jiang, Shen, Han, Yang.

Zhu Qin You Xu, He Lu Shi Zhang.

Kong Cao Yan Hua, Jin Wei Tao Jiang.

Qi Xie Zou Yu, Bai Shui Dou Zhang.

Yunsu Pange, Xifan Penglang.

Lu Weichangma, Miao Fenghuafang.

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Seeing that little Jingren, who was less than two years old, could read "Hundred Family Names" relatively fluently, An Miaoyi, who felt that her efforts were not in vain, also showed a gratified smile on her face. She immediately took a few small candies from a porcelain plate and handed them to little Jingren. Then, while touching little Jingren's head, she carefully advised:
"Jingren, you've been studying very hard recently, and you've done very well in your studies. Take these candies as a reward for you. But your father said that eating too much candy will cause tooth decay, so you have to promise mother that you will only eat one piece of these candies a day. Can you do that?"

Taking the candy from An Miaoyi's hand, little Jingren's eyes showed some surprise, but when he heard An Miaoyi say that he could only eat one piece a day, the little guy pouted his lips immediately, and the word "unwilling" was almost written on his chubby face.

Seeing this, An Miaoyi smiled and pointed to the other candies on the plate and said:
"Jingren, if you can only eat one piece of candy a day, you will be my good boy and I will give you the candy. If you can't do this, you will be a bad boy and I will not give you any candy anymore!"

"So Jingren, are you going to be a good kid or a bad kid?"

Listening to An Miaoyi's words, little Jingren tilted his head back and thought seriously for a while before he said in a baby voice under the temptation of more candies and the title of a good boy:

“Jingren must be a good child…”

An Miaoyi smiled with satisfaction when she heard this, then raised her little finger and said to Jingren:
"Then make a pinky promise with mother!"

Jingren also obediently raised his little finger, and while making pinky promises with An Miaoyi, he said in a baby voice;
"Pin! Pin! Don't change for a hundred years!"

After pulling the hook, An Miaoyi touched little Jingren's head and carefully reminded him:

"Jingren is so good! Now take a rest, then go read the Three Character Classic, and try to memorize it before your father comes back. Then give your father a big surprise and let him know that you are better than your brothers!"

Little Jingren, who is not even two years old, cannot understand An Miaoyi's feelings yet. He can only nod as if he understands. At this time, Qiqige comes to An Miaoyi.

Qiqige's appearance also made An Miaoyi realize that something important had happened!
An Miaoyi immediately asked the nanny and maid to take care of little Jingren, and then she and Qiqige went to an empty side room.

"Madam, Madam Liu just sent me news that Murong Yuliang was assassinated in Dazhang Town, not far from Yujing!"

After these words came out, even An Miaoyi, who was calm and composed, couldn't help but reveal a trace of shock in her expression. Murong Yuliang was an absolute core official in the Fengwu Army, and also the link between the Fengwu Army and the Murong Family and the Guanzhong Group behind the Murong Family. Therefore, his assassination was definitely a major political event! It might even trigger a power earthquake within the Fengwu Army!
After a brief hesitation, An Miaoyi asked the key question!
“Is Murong Yuliang dead?”

(End of this chapter)