Chapter 192: Post-war reactions from all parties: You have a plan, I have a ladder
"grown ups!"
"The chief steward Hong Tai also mentioned in the letter sent by spirit pigeon that the several people that our Hong Mansion sent to infiltrate the small bandit group outside the Great Wall two months ago have now all lost contact."
"They must have been accidentally exposed, and that little thief Li Dingguo attached great importance to internal investigations, which led to this result."
"It's possible that the people we planted were not killed on the spot, but were captured. After interrogation, they found out that they were sent by us. This..."
Hong Yuanfeng, the captain of the personal guards who had just delivered the intelligence, continued to report to Hong Chengchou with a somewhat grim expression.
He also could not have imagined that the few people that his master had casually placed there would be exposed like this, and he had completely lost contact with the Hong Mansion in recent days.
"Ok?"
Hong Chengchou frowned slightly when he heard this, and a cold light flashed in his eyes. He thought for a moment and said, "Now it seems that I still underestimated this little thief Li Dingguo."
"He is not only extremely daring, but he even dared to take a group of refugees and beggars to develop outside the Great Wall. He is also very careful and has very good methods."
"I didn't expect that the idle chess move I asked the butler Hong Tai to set up was discovered by him just like that."
As an old scoundrel, Hong Chengchou didn't care much about Li Dingguo's group of petty thieves before, but the other party lived and developed outside the border of Yansui Town under his jurisdiction. Naturally, he would not do nothing and casually arrange his chess pieces.
He takes "stability" as his life motto. He likes to think twice before doing anything and tries not to make any mistakes.
Although Hong Chengchou did not think that Li Dingguo and his gang of petty thieves could cause much trouble outside the Great Wall, it is always better to be cautious in everything.
So two months ago, he instructed his butler Hong Tai to send a few capable men to the group of petty thieves outside the pass.
Unexpectedly, they lost contact with the Hong Mansion so quickly, which was beyond Hong Chengchou's expectations.
"never mind."
He thought about it and weighed the pros and cons for a while. He then instructed the captain of the personal guards, Hong Yuanfeng, "Go and tell the butler Hong Tai that it is not advisable to cause any more trouble for the time being. It is okay to suffer a little loss."
"Everything will have to wait until the imperial court decides on the reward."
"As long as that little thief doesn't come to my jurisdiction to cause trouble, I don't need to bother with them."
"If nothing unexpected happens, I will soon be promoted to the post of governor of Qin. At this time, I cannot allow any potential political enemies to find evidence against me."
"We have gained a large amount of wealth and supplies during this expedition. You lead the guards to quietly transport my share back to the Hong Mansion, so that when the army enters the city, it will be too conspicuous, which is not good."
He has always been good at keeping a low profile and blending in with the world.
If you don't take all the spoils yourself, how can the arrogant and powerful generals below take them?
So just take it, he won't be polite at all.
This time, so many rebel forces were wiped out, and the various properties and supplies captured were innumerable. The portion belonging to Hong Chengchou alone filled three medium-quality treasure ships!
This time, Hong Chengchou's army defeated the rebels and blocked the enemy's retreat in advance: the treasure ship fleet deployed on the Sanggan River seized five medium-grade treasure ships and thirteen low-grade treasure ships.
Not to mention the value of these treasure ships themselves, the various treasures and supplies loaded on them alone are enough to fill the stomachs of Hong Chengchou's army.
Among them, Hong Chengchou was allocated three medium-quality treasure ships, as well as various valuables and supplies filled on the treasure ships.
You Shilu and Cao Wenzhao each received one medium-grade treasure ship and three low-grade treasure ships.
The remaining few inferior treasure ships all belonged to He Renlong's troops.
It can be said that the gains from the victory in this anti-bandit campaign made all the border troops satisfied.
This also caused Hong Chengchou's prestige in this elite border army to soar, to the point where his words were law!
If Hong Chengchou leads them to war again next time, these border troops will probably be so excited that they will shout loudly, and it will be easy for them to obey orders.
This is Hong Chengchou's secret of leading the troops: share the benefits equally, as long as the battle is won, everyone will share the benefits.
This is also the real reason why he can lead a strong army, not just because he is both civil and military and has extraordinary strategies.
"Yes! Your lord!"
When Hong Yuanfeng heard this, a look of great joy appeared on his face, and he immediately took the order and left.
……
"Li Dingguo's little bandit gang actually won a complete victory so easily?"
"They actually set up an ambush long before then used the military killing array to launch a surprise attack at the right moment, and captured that top-grade treasure ship in one fell swoop?"
"That damned Cai Yihu is unworthy of being a retainer in the Duke of Wei's mansion. It's simply..."
"Everyone, this is probably going to be difficult! Li Dingguo's little bandit group suffered minimal losses in this ambush, and even got a large number of strategic materials such as spiritual weapons, treasure ships, magic cores, soul beads, etc. They are going to be powerful!"
"Are we raising a tiger to cause trouble?"
"Ah...if we have to blame someone, we should blame those wealthy merchants in the south. Their fighting power is too poor! A total of 40 or so Qi Refining Realm masters were ambushed by a group of petty thieves using the Military Dao Killing Formation because of their carelessness. They died miserably!"...
The leaders of the ten major Shanxi merchants gathered again to discuss matters in the Kang Family Courtyard in Taiyuan Prefecture. After receiving the latest battle report from their own omnipresent spies, they were all dumbfounded!
When they came to their senses, they started cursing, saying all kinds of things.
That’s nearly forty treasure ships!
There is also a priceless, fully-equipped, high-quality treasure ship!
Now, all of them have fallen into the hands of the petty thieves outside the Great Wall led by Li Dingguo. Isn't this clearly aiding the enemy?
After all, it is these Shanxi merchants who are the real enemies of that group of petty thieves.
After all, most of their trade routes were outside the Great Wall, and they were naturally in an irreconcilable hostility with Li Dingguo's group of petty thieves who made a living by robbing caravans and Tartars.
"Everyone!"
Fan Yongdou's face turned pale. After thinking for a while, he said to the heads of each family, "Let's wait and see what the Southern Merchant Alliance, which has suffered a great loss, will do in the next period of time."
"If they are willing to swallow their anger and stop their actions, we will have to take Li Dingguo and his gang seriously."
"The best way is to spend some money and food to ask the remnant tribes of the Chahar Alliance entrenched near the Dongtao Plain to take action."
"Although they were defeated by the Later Jin Khan Huang Taiji and suffered heavy losses, there are still several large tribes with good fighting power entrenched near the Dongtao Plain, hoping to recuperate."
"Among them, the Wengniute tribe and the Four Princes tribe are large tribes whose strength is relatively well preserved."
"These two large tribes of Chahar remnants are now extremely short of supplies. If we send envoys and promise to provide them with enough food and fodder, these two tribes will definitely be persuaded to send a large army south to get rid of Li Dingguo's petty thief."
"Although the strength of these two large tribes is slightly inferior to that of the Yijin and Holo tribes 30,000 miles to the northeast, they are not much different."
"These two tribes are now entrenched 6,000 miles west of the Great Salt Lake. They are having a hard time. In all likelihood, we will persuade them to go south and attack Li Dingguo's petty bandits."
"I just don't believe that Li Dingguo's small bandit group, which was established only half a year ago, can withstand the mass charge of tens of thousands of elite Tartar cavalry?"
"Humph!"
At this point, Fan Yongdou snorted coldly and continued, "In fact, it would be best if we ask the Great Khan Huang Taiji to send an elite cavalry to attack." "In this way, the large amount of wealth and supplies that Li Dingguo and his group of petty thieves have obtained during this period of time will not fall into the hands of these Mongolian Tartars."
"These large amounts of materials and treasures are equivalent to being given away to the remnants of the two Chahar tribes for nothing, which is detrimental to the future of the Later Jin."
"But Huang Taiji's Later Jin clan is hundreds of thousands of miles away from the Dongtao Plain. The round trip is too far."
"Even if their army rode on spirit beasts and war horses at full speed, it would take more than half a year to reach Li Dingguo's lair."
"God knows how much trouble Li Dingguo will cause us in the past six months."
"In order to avoid raising a tiger to cause trouble, we can't wait, and we don't want to wait any longer! We must take action as soon as possible to remove this thorn in the eyes of Li Dingguo's troops as soon as possible!"
Fan Yongdou vaguely felt a bad crisis, although it was unclear and he didn't know where it came from.
But it is always a good idea to strike first and kill Li Dingguo, the enemy of the Shanxi merchants, first.
"Okay! Then let's wait for two months and see how the Southern Merchant Alliance reacts."
"Yes, yes! If the wealthy southern merchants Xie and Qian families, as well as the Duke of Wei's Mansion, who have been offended to death by Li Dingguo's petty thieves, get angry and take action, there will be no need for us to do anything unnecessary."
"That's right! The Duke of Wei's Mansion is in charge of all the troops in several southern coastal provinces. They can easily crush Li Dingguo's petty thief to death by plucking a hair at random!"
"I dare say that the Duke of Wei's Mansion and the Xie family have never suffered such a big loss. It is inevitable that they will launch a subsequent revenge."
"Let's just wait and watch the show, so as not to waste a lot of our resources and energy. Isn't it better to just sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor?"...
As soon as Fan Yongdou finished speaking, the leaders of the big Shanxi merchants present at the scene started talking about it in a flurry.
Their money and food were not blown by the wind. Once they asked the big Tartar tribes for help, the money, food and supplies they spent would be no small amount.
Why go through all that if you can save the money?
Wouldn't it be nice to sit back, drink tea, chat and watch a good show?
The discussion was over, and everyone changed the topic to discuss the distribution of each company's outbound trade share this year.
This is the topic they are going to discuss today.
As for the petty thief Li Dingguo outside the Great Wall, he was just a little tidbit used to liven up the atmosphere.
……
"The Commander-in-Chief."
A few days later, Li Dingguo returned to the base at the source of the Jialu River. The next day, he summoned all the high-ranking generals of the Fuxing Army and held a military meeting in the military building.
Hongmei was the first to speak, "The Southern Merchant Alliance has suffered such a huge loss this time. I guess they will be extremely resentful towards us and retaliate against us again."
"Although we are far away from the Great Wall and they are out of reach, and it is unlikely that they will launch a direct attack again, but don't forget that they have one biggest advantage: they have a lot of money and food that they can't spend."
"Nine out of ten times, they will spend a lot of money and food to ask the big Tatar tribes outside the Great Wall to help, or even invite the elite troops of the Later Jin Dynasty. It is not impossible."
"After a while, we are likely to face continuous invasion attacks from the Tatars."
"This matter can only be truly over if we fight to support the enemy and take this opportunity to rise completely, or if we are destroyed by the Tartars."
During the few days when the fleet was returning, Hongmei and Li Dingguo had discussed many times and reached a unanimous consensus: there was a 90% chance that the major crisis that their new force would face in the future would come from the Tartar army in the north.
Moreover, this crisis will continue until our side truly develops and becomes a force that cannot be ignored, or is eliminated by the Tartars.
It can be said that the difficulties our family will face in the future will be much greater than before.
After all, the strength of the Fusion Army has been exposed, and the enemy can no longer underestimate it. They will definitely invite the powerful Tartar army to launch an overwhelming battle against them in order to have any hope of winning.
What she was saying now was to convey Li Dingguo's opinions and explain them to the high-ranking generals of the Fuxing Army.
"Humph! The Tartar army? We are not afraid of them!"
"As long as the current grassland overlord, the Later Jin Tartars, does not send their elite main force to attack us in a short period of time, we don't need to be afraid of the Mongol Tartars, who have now completely declined!"
"Yes, yes! Let those Tartars come! We will deal with as many as they come! It's a good opportunity for them to send us a large number of spiritual beasts, war horses, cattle and sheep!"
"The Mongols have lost their fighting spirit, so there's nothing to worry about! As long as we take precautions and don't get ambushed by their cavalry, we'll be fine."
"But they want to launch a sneak attack? It's impossible now! We have thousands of three-tailed iron-backed demon wolves here, patrolling the perimeter of the base every day. It's impossible for the Tartars to launch a sneak attack without being discovered in advance!"...
Since its establishment, the Fuxing Army has been winning battles one after another, which has made the current senior generals in the army not afraid of any enemies, including the Tartars, and their morale is very high.
After Hongmei finished speaking, the commanders of the various combat camps began to discuss with high morale.
"Alright, the commander-in-chief has made a decision. Everyone please be quiet and follow his orders!"
Hongmei waved her hand to stop everyone from talking and spoke solemnly.
As soon as she finished speaking, there was silence at the scene, and everyone turned their eyes to Li Dingguo who was sitting in the upper seat.
"Well, Hongmei is right. I have thought about it again and again and have made a decision."
Li Dingguo nodded indifferently and said, "Passively taking a beating has never been the style of our Fuxing Army."
"If the enemy can come, I can go too!"
"Why should we anxiously wait for those enemies, including the Tartars, to attack us and conduct passive defensive operations?"
"Our Renaissance Army has completed the regularization of the five major legions. Each combat battalion has now formed a good combat capability, which is much better than before."
"Our army has always relied on the model of fighting to support fighting, and has grown rapidly in battles with the enemy. This fine tradition must not be lost in the future!"
"From now on, our army will increase the scale of fighting to support the war!"
Li Dingguo stood up suddenly and announced loudly, "The enemies we face are getting stronger and stronger. We must speed up the development and growth of our Fuxing Army so that we can have the confidence to face more and more enemies in the future!"
"Three days later, the five major armies of the Renaissance Army will continue to fight in rotation!"
"The combat battalions of each main combat corps will sweep all the way to the northern prairie and advance across it!"
"The Xuanwu Corps that are left behind will be responsible for continuing to clean up the remaining Tatar tribes along the Jialu River. At the same time, they will block the section of the Jialu River outside the pass to prevent the enemy from going north along the Jialu River and attacking our army again!"
"We must make good use of this precious time before the Tartar army arrives, and through the bloody training method of fighting to support fighting, we will build our Renaissance Army into a truly strong army!"
"This round of fighting against these small and medium-sized Tatar tribes can rescue a large number of Han compatriots who were abducted by the Tatars, so as to continue to expand the size of our army!"
"We must turn everything from those Tartar tribes into food for our army, and quickly make the Renaissance Army grow stronger!"
After Li Dingguo gave his order, he discussed some details with everyone and then adjourned the meeting.
These high-ranking military officers left excitedly and made various pre-war preparations as quickly as possible according to the new round of battle plans issued by the military.
(End of this chapter)
