Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 344 The beginning of troubled times

Obviously, Yuan Shen didn't calculate it this way. When the outcome of a war depends on the opponent's weakness, the battle is basically half lost.

The development of the war situation was gradually moving in the direction that Yuan Shen was most worried about.

On March 10th of the third year of Xiaochang, Yuan Shen pursued Ge Rong for thirty miles. Ge Rong was defeated and continued to retreat, leaving behind a large number of defeated soldiers.

In the military camp, a heated discussion broke out on how to deal with these captured rebel soldiers.

Yuan Shen thought that the army did not have enough food. If the prisoners were not fed, they would definitely rebel. So Yuan Shen said:
"The six towns have rebelled repeatedly and have refused to change their bad habits. They should be killed right here!"

The young military supervisor disagreed. He protested:
"God is merciful, and the Queen Mother worships Buddhism and Taoism. Killing prisoners is a sin. Our army is the king's army, so how can we do such a thing?"

Yuan Shen was speechless for a while. With so many prisoners, he could neither kill them nor release them. Was he going to take them to war?
Pei Yan tried to smooth things over and said:

"But what the Grand Commander said is also true. These rebels are repeat offenders who refuse to change despite repeated admonitions. If we release them, they will probably rebel again."

The military supervisor said:

"Can't we keep them in the camp and keep them under guard? When our army returns victorious, we can present them to the Queen Mother!"

Yuan Shen was a little speechless, but after commanding battles all day, he really didn't have the energy to continue arguing with this military supervisor.

Yuan Shen had no choice but to agree to the military supervisor's plan, keep the prisoners in the military camp, and then continue to chase after Ge Rong's main force for a decisive battle.

On March 12, Yuan Shen's scouts discovered the trace of Ge Rong's rear army. He immediately led the main force in pursuit, defeated Ge Rong's rear army again, and captured another 2,000 people.

But this victory made Yuan Shen even more worried. Although this battle was also a great victory, Yuan Shen did not find any trace of Ge Rong's main force. These captured soldiers were ragged and looked more like beggars than rebels.

But the battle has reached this point, and Yuan Shen is no longer able to control how to fight.

In ancient times, when wars were fought, there were no radios or satellites.
Lingqiu is a place with complex terrain and crisscrossing rivers. Some troops lost contact after crossing the river. Yuan Shen could only advance according to the agreed progress and reach the next agreed assembly city before he could proceed with the next part of the operation.

If we step out of the battlefield and take stock afterwards, even the person who knows the least about military affairs can see the problems in the command of the authorities.

After several deliberate defeats, Ge Rong had stretched Yuan Shen's front line. Ge Rong's cronies disguised themselves and hid among the surrendered soldiers, secretly gathering to prepare for an uprising.

In Yuan Shen's opinion, it was normal that the rebels had low combat effectiveness and could not defend the city. There was no problem in pursuing them all the way.

But when a pursuit is too deep is hard for those on the battlefield to tell.

Yuan Shen was in such a situation at that time. His front troops were already far away from Yuan Shen's central army because of the rebels' continuous pursuit after their defeat.

Yuan Shen's rear army fell far behind the central army because they had to guard the surrendered soldiers. Moreover, there were too many surrendered soldiers sent from the front, and the camp could no longer accommodate them. Even the small number of troops in the rear army were unable to guard these surrendered soldiers.

Yuan Shen, the commander-in-chief, had to deal with massive amounts of information every day and had to argue with the military supervisor every day. He had no idea that danger had quietly approached him.

On March 17, Ge Rong stopped retreating, and by this time Yuan Shen's army had been stretched into a long dragon.

On March 18, a rumor spread in the military camp where the surrendered soldiers were guarded in the rear that the government troops were short of food and wanted to slaughter the surrendered soldiers and make meat to send to the front line.

This news was naturally nonsense, but it quickly spread wildly among the surrendered soldiers, causing great dissatisfaction among them.

The days when the people of the Six Garrisons were betrayed by the imperial court and sold as slaves to the three prefectures of Hedong were still fresh in their minds. The surrendered soldiers themselves lacked basic trust in the government troops.

Under the instigation of Ge Rong's cronies, riots immediately broke out in Yuan Shen's rear. Although Pei Yan, who stayed behind to suppress the riots, acted decisively and immediately launched a crackdown, the surrendered soldiers still made trouble and even cut off the supply route to the front line.

Pei Yan was extremely worried and immediately sent someone to report to Yuan Shen, asking him to withdraw his troops and suppress the rebellion.

At this time, Ge Rong seized the opportunity and immediately attacked Yuan Shen's front army.

The recklessly advancing vanguard was suddenly attacked by Ge Rong's elite troops and was defeated at the first contact.

By March 19, Yuan Shen had received the following news:
Ge Rong's army appeared out of nowhere and killed people in all directions. The defeated vanguard didn't even know how many enemies there were or where the enemy's strategic direction was. Although Yuan Shen was gathering the vanguard troops, these panicked vanguard soldiers spread the feeling of anxiety to the central army camp.

The rear also lost contact, and the last piece of news was an urgent report sent by Pei Yan, saying that a camp whistle occurred in the camp where the surrendered soldiers were housed.

Under attack from both sides, the military supervisor who had been shouting to advance also panicked. He could only look at Yuan Shen, hoping that Yuan Shen could make a decision.

Yuan Shen looked up at the sky. What decision could he make now?

The worst situation has already occurred. The rebels may be defeated by bombing in the early stage, or they may be really defeated, but in any case it is to contain and consume the government troops, attract the government troops to pursue them in depth, and stretch the supply line of the government troops.

Yuan Shen drew out his sword, stood up and said:
"I am leading the last elite troops of the Wei Dynasty. We must not lose them here."

"Stop accepting the defeated soldiers and immediately lead the elite troops of the central army to retreat!" The military supervisor was about to say something, but he stopped talking. He was still struggling to figure out who should bear the responsibility for this defeat when he saw Yuan Shen pointing his sword at his neck and saying:

"The order has been issued. Anyone who disobeys it will be executed!"

Over the past year, Yuan Shen's hair and beard have turned white, and he even looks older than Li Chong did back then.

There is no way. War is such an extremely physically and mentally exhausting thing. The pressure of commanding a large army in battle is definitely not something that ordinary people can bear.

All in all, being a military strategist is a profession that consumes a lot of lifespan and health. In the history before Su Ze traveled through time, in the war after the founding of the dynasty, only one of the generals at the beginning of the dynasty was physically able to take on such a heavy responsibility. And that famous general with a will as strong as steel fell ill while commanding that war and had to return to his country to recuperate.

In fact, Yuan Shen is not even forty years old. When he showed the demeanor of a general, the military supervisor dared not say much and could only retreat silently.

Yuan Shen began to arrange the army's retreat again. He handed over most of the central army to his deputy generals, and led the elite troops to cover the rear.

On March 20th, Ge Rong led his troops to fight. Yuan Shen personally commanded the troops and defeated Ge Rong's attack.

On March 21st, when Yuan Shen was leading his troops to retreat, he waited for Pei Yan, who was in charge of military affairs in the rear. When he received the news of the surrendered soldiers in the rear and learned that Lingqiu City had been occupied, Yuan Shen's body shook and he almost fell off his horse.

At this time, nearly half of the government troops had been lost.

Yuan Shen spread out the map and finally said to Pei Yan:

"Let's go to Wulu!"

On March 23, Yuan Shen fought again with Ge Rong who was pursuing him. Judging from the situation on the battlefield, Yuan Shen still won the battle, as the rebels lost far more men than the government troops.

But Yuan Shen knew that he had actually been defeated. There were rebels everywhere, and the troops he had were getting less and less as time went by, while Ge Rong could get almost endless reinforcements.

Yuan Shen had no choice but to continue marching towards Wulu.

On March 25th, Ge Rong fought again and was defeated again, but Yuan Shen was hit by a stray arrow on his horse and almost died on the battlefield.

On April 3, Yuan Shen retreated all the way to Wulu, but most of his troops had been lost, with only more than 5,000 left, less than the number of soldiers under the command of Yang Yu, the governor of Dingzhou.

After joining forces, Ge Rong finally stopped pursuing and returned to capture Lingqiu.

It was not until mid-April that the news of the government army's defeat was learned by the Heba brothers stationed in Pingcheng. They immediately sent a messenger to report it to Luoyang.

There were constant streams of messengers heading from Pingcheng to Luoyang, and Erzhu Rong, who had set up a post station in Xiurong, soon learned the news of the government army's defeat.

Unlike others, when Erzhu Rong learned the news of the government army's defeat, he was not panicked but overjoyed.

In the core circle around Erzhu Rong, in addition to the relatives of the Erzhu family, there was also Xi Yi, who fled from Luoyang to Xiurong during the Xuanguang Rebellion.

Xi Yi was Erzhu Rong's cousin. The two grew up playing in the mud together. When Xi Yi was in Luoyang, he also provided a lot of information to Erzhu Rong.

So after he fled to Xiurong, Erzhu Rong entrusted him with important tasks.

The other was Liu Gui, a descendant of Han Zhao, who went to join Erzhu Rong under Su Ze's persuasion.

Liu Gui was one of the few scholars in Erzhu Rong's group. He had lived in Luoyang. After joining Erzhu Rong, Liu Gui helped Erzhu Rong with advice and suggestions and handled many matters. He gradually gained his trust and is now a military officer under Erzhu Rong.

In addition, there was Yuan Tianmu, who served as the governor of Bingzhou and was Erzhu Rong's sworn brother.

Erzhu Rong looked around and said decisively:

"There are six towns in Sizhou causing chaos. As a loyal minister of Wei, I must go to Sizhou to quell the rebellion!"

Everyone present was Erzhu Rong's confidant, and everyone understood what Erzhu Rong meant. This was the same reason why he annexed Nan Xiurong back then.

The court was divided into four provinces in order to weaken Erzhu Rong's power. The new governor of Sizhou, Wei Qingbin, looked down on Erzhu Rong for his humble background, and even threw the gifts that Erzhu Rong specially sent his nephew to deliver outside the governor's mansion.

Now that Yuan Shen was badly defeated, there was no force in the north that could check Erzhu Rong, so it was only natural for him to annex Sizhou.

The caravan that stopped in Sizhou also received accurate news and reported it to Su Ze through the system.

When he learned that Yuan Shen was defeated, Su Ze sat quietly for half a day before walking out of Baizhang Tower.

The sound of drums gathering troops was heard in Yongle City.

(End of this chapter)