Chapter 94: Rebellion Suppressed Successfully
The year-end between year 32 and 33. The ruts and hoof marks on the north and south banks of Yongshui were no longer updated.
Wu Fei left two thousand elite soldiers in Lu City, along with a steady non-commissioned officer in charge, and ordered him to strengthen the city defenses. Then he led the remaining four thousand main forces back to Zhenshui Land.
Wu Fei learned from intelligence that Wei Guan had already withdrawn his large army.
Because not only did Wu Fei here need to gather food and grass, but Wei Guan’s side gathering troops for battle also had to worry about food and grass. It could even be said that Ji Fei’s difficulty in borrow grain from the noble families was greater than Wu Fei’s.
Time went back to October. At that time, Ji Fei rallied and had the idea of retaking south of Yongshui, for which he gathered food and grass for sixty days for a large army. — Wu Fei had scouted this point.
According to Wu Fei’s own standard normal process, after gathering troops and food and grass, they should immediately cross Yongshui to reach the south bank, then leave a month to besiege the city. The Yao Army side would be under immense pressure.
But the subsequent situation was that after Tang Du’ao, as the vanguard of the Guan Army, was defeated, the various large armies gathered by Wei Guan in Yongzhou became uncoordinated, with each more cautious than the last. The generals’ so-called “observe the situation” wasted more than ten days in vain, consuming food and grass for nothing.
This was comparable to the eighteen vassal lords campaigning against Dong. Unlike the eighteen lords against Dong, Wu Fei would not send a Hua Xiong to challenge and let the enemy regroup morale. Instead, he directly greeted them with despicable tactics across Yongshui.
Ji Fei, the Prefect of Yongzhou, now had control over his large army under his command just like Wu Fei back in his first battle when guarding that grain station, controlling the various squad leaders under him.
At that time, Wu Fei was nominally the superior officer of the various laborer squad leaders, but he couldn’t hold them back during a great victory, nor drive them during a small defeat and setback.
Now, the various large armies under Ji Fei were all locally assembled, so each leader had ties to the local noble families. Some were directly collateral disciples. After Tang Du’ao was defeated, these private generals faced the south of Yongshui uncertainly, all wanting others to test first, then observe themselves. This mutual “yielding” turned into jointly persuading Ji Fei to wait.
Thus, while these noble families who surrendered to Wei Guan were “self-righteously clever” in observing, they faced Wu Fei’s set of operations without any bottom line.
Wu Fei let Tang Du’ao return, then a wave of rumors forced him to suicide, skillfully pinning the blame on the various forces in Yongzhou.
Thus, just because of some rumors, this large army in Yongzhou became panicked. Morale could not be rallied.
By year-end, Wei Guan dared even less to advance his large army to south of Yongshui. Once besieging a city for more than twenty days without taking it, he would be riding a tiger and find it hard to dismount.
Just in time, the Wu Family Army (Wu Hengyu) in Zhenzhou in the south was ferociously powerful.
Wu Fei: As long as Wu Hengyu launches an attack, everything will turn out fine. When the siege turns into rout, Wu Hengyu pursues and kills at the tail, it will collapse completely! No, it won’t collapse completely across a thousand li; the entire Yongshui blocks it, and they will successively fall into the river.
If it really followed this script, Wei Guan’s morale was already unstable, and a hard poke might directly pacify him.
The Yongzhou side recently checked the almanac and knew expedition was inauspicious, so they also called off the troops.
…Geese began forming V-shaped flocks flying south…
Yongzhou side called off troops, so Wu Fei here also stopped playing with them.
On the way back with the troops, Wu Fei reviewed and summarized this operation: The entire campaign could roughly be divided into three phases: “Entry”, “Expansion”, “Capture”.
Among them, the “Entry” phase: Dispatch a small number of elite troops to closely watch the enemy. At the same time, bypass enemy heavily defended areas with a ten-thousand-scale large force, entering enemy lax zones. Thus, the enemy’s original strict formation on the front becomes useless, and they are led by the nose to change the main battlefield.
The “Expansion” phase is the deployment of campaign defense and campaign offensive forces. Like placing knife and fork in the most handy position on a dinner plate, after large-scale mobile forces complete infiltration, seize important transportation routes and strategic points, complete garrisoning, deploy defensive camps, hand over to follow-up second-line troops for garrison as the dinner plate, then field troops shift to positions suitable for renewed mobile attack, as the dinner knife.
Taking this time as example, after Wu Fei completed the large camp north of Zhenshui, relying on waters and mountains quickly turned into a solid shield. Prince Lelang charged with mobile troops and didn’t win, then Wu Hengyu’s “sword” came from behind, and a decisive battle decided the outcome.
The “Capture” phase is to first crush the enemy main force, then after gaps appear in enemy troop deployment, our side seizes initiative, targets enemy vital points, and further eliminates enemy forces through forms like surround point to aid attack.
For example, after the Lao City siege, Wu Hengyu’s one aid-attack thoroughly cut off Prince Lelang’s last mobile combat possibility, so he didn’t come out, and subsequent other cities seeing this also surrendered one after another.
Wu Fei wrote his “military strategist thesis” on the silk book, roughly summarizing the entire campaign progress and planning his future command methods!
Wu Fei: The core is relying on the non-commissioned officer group’s professional advantage in the drill manual for marching, to conduct large corps infiltration and seize campaign initiative.
This matches Principal Chang Shen Kai’s “ideal” progress in the campaign that was originally going smoothly under “final pacification”. The principal dared to have such “ideal” because he drew from his own successful experience of personally leading hundreds of thousands of stalwart soldiers to campaign against Beiyang Warlords Sun #F and Zhang* Chang, winning a complete victory!
And here, personally leading one to two ten thousand stalwart soldiers, infiltrating behind, dealing with this bunch of even more backward vermin, naturally can also win a complete victory. Wu Fei: I can now feel this vibrant, everything-competing realm.
…Transition divider…
However, just as Wu Fei groped out modernized army operations, he also saw desolation outside the horse cart, feeling that the battle tactics he pondered did not match the era.
After all, the large troops were still borrowing grain and water around, arduously gnawing dry rations.
Wu Fei: Large infiltration requires modernized logistics support. If the enemy implements scorched earth policy, it will lead to Napoleon’s fate in the Russian campaign.
Wu Fei said heavily: “And in the current feudal era, situations like scorched earth policy occur frequently. Certain areas, after troops pass repeatedly a few times, the corps will quickly consume all remaining supplies in the area. Then comes plundering, fleeing; that is the effect of scorched earth policy.”
The Beiyang in late Qing, though beginning to develop toward modernized armies, could not be supported by era conditions. After the Qing court fell, Yuan Datou as a military strongman stepped down, these Beiyang Warlords who studied modernized regulations, after mixing war on vast lands, quickly regressed to feudal warlord state.
Beiyang Army needed disbursement fees, needed to send teams themselves to scour countryside for food.
Japanese army later was the same; troops were completely troubled by “maintenance issues” locally, and due to drastic cultural differences, various behaviors overstepped severely, causing fiercer resistance, further consuming organization, losing regular army decisive battle capability.
Wu Fei summarized: “To maintain modernized troops, must have coastal and river shipping, railways and locomotives to timely transport surplus supplies from outer domains to military zones; otherwise, modernized troops in the area can only do large-scale infiltration once! The second time will be hampered everywhere due to supply difficulties.”
When Wu Fei led the troops back along the way, he saw a scene of desolation. For hundreds of li along the way, no village had people, occasionally seeing one person who was a village elder left behind, prepared to stay in the village to be buried, basically not afraid of death at all. After Wu Fei dismounted and personally asked the old man the situation, he learned that the people in his village had fled, some hiding in the mountains; in short, they would only return after the world stabilized.
This scene made Wu Fei very silent, not just sighing over destruction caused by military. Even more frustrated for having solved the problem halfway and discovering overlooked limiting conditions.
Military developing toward modernization is correct, but the world has no modernization. The military system he groped out is like a strong man hunched in a narrow box fighting rats.
…Withered vines, old trees, dusk crows, broken halberds, desolate city, armored horse…
Wu Fei’s four thousand troops took forty days to rush back, catching the last wave of decisive battle.
Wu Fei and Wu Hengyu were both summoned back. Wu Hanluan detained Wu Fei and Wu Hengyu in the main tent, equivalent to simultaneously removing both their command rights.
In these three days, he re-merged the two originally separate Northern Army Wu Family Army troops, adjusted and mixed the garrisons of various camps, and conducted integration.
A month ago, right after the Lao City campaign ended, the non-commissioned officers Wu Fei brought out and those under Wu Hengyu were all bragging about how awesome they were in this battle.
So when Wu Fei’s returned troops merged camp with Wu Hengyu’s troops, the two forces started clashing. For a time, due to arguing whose merit was greater in the battle, multiple fights broke out.
Among them, a very serious incident was in the brothel in Lao City, where two groups met, initially over one woman, then each called reinforcements for a big brawl.
Wu Hanluan dispatched troops wearing ghost-face masks to quell the chaos, executed three on the spot after interrogation, then carried out punishments.
Similar fights would still occur next.
But neither Wu Fei nor Wu Hengyu intervened, because any statement would be seen as favoring one side!
The current fights could only be ordered by Wu Hanluan, the old marshal, for all sides to have nothing to say!
Two days after this incident, in the military tent, Wu Hanluan had Wu Fei conduct statistics on merit awards and punishments for this battle. Wu Fei spent two days completing all battle merit statistics.
Wu Hanluan at the head seat nodded, and asked Wu Hengyu at the lower seat: “What are your thoughts?”
Wu Hengyu looked at this merit narrative and couldn’t pick faults, so he turned to Wu Fei sitting beside him, the writer of the “merit table”: “Why didn’t you let me meet others these two days.” (Being cooped up in the tent for two days was stifling)
Wu Fei unceremoniously looked at him: “Big brother, you’re invincible and indestructible on the battlefield, but your weakness is soft ears. Award and punishment matters cannot avoid you, but after explaining to you, if you leak it early to your subordinates, then get influenced by their complaints, wouldn’t that make it hard for me?”
If not same camp and he couldn’t beat him, Wu Fei would unceremoniously berate Wu Hengyu: “A dog can wag its tail, but the tail can’t wag the dog.”
Wu Hengyu: “You’re glib-tongued, I won’t argue with you!”
Wu Hanluan watched the two bicker, smiled without speaking. Knocked the table and nodded: “No more arguing. If Hengyu has no objections, you go execute these awards and punishments.”
Wu Hengyu: “Lelang City isn’t down yet, and our army is awarding merits early?”
Wu Fei couldn’t hold back: “Big brother, why are you being so nagging. The people below are all waiting now. If we don’t award a wave early, how will they have the mind for the next round of decisive battle?”
Wu Hengyu looked at Wu Fei, Wu Fei also seriously looked at Wu Hengyu. Then added: “No matter what awards or punishments, there will inevitably be complaints in the army. If the next Northern Army commander isn’t the first to scale and seize the city, he can’t suppress this resentment.”
Wu Hengyu upon hearing seriously asked: “You want me to decide everything?”
Wu Fei immediately replied: “I want to go back south to farm, but I’m afraid after I leave, the batch I brought will be half-hearted and cause you trouble.”
After the three talked, they summoned the officers outside the tent to receive the commander’s final decision.
After the time of one incense stick, on the drill ground, Wu Hengyu presided, leading the merit awards, and the crowd whispered seeing no sign of Wu Fei.
Especially making the officers and soldiers who went north with Wu Fei a bit panicked, but soon rewards came down. Their merits were greater than expected, so after rewards ended, they neatly knelt on one knee and shouted: “We pledge to fight to the death for the general!”
As for Wu Hengyu’s faction soldiers, though somewhat awkward, they also followed orders and accepted such merit distribution. A rift ended thus. The army began marching.
As the large army marched, the imperial envoy of the court’s fourth urging to expedition happened to run into Wu Hengyu pulling camp, and he immediately demanded to advance with the army.
This imperial envoy holding the tally stood under the Wu Family Army Da Yao flag, walking at the very front, announcing to all sides in Zhenzhou that court government soldiers were coming to reclaim Lelang City.
…Two days later…
The large army marched to under the city. At this time, on Lelang City battlements hung strings of skulls, like a devil city. One by one red-eyed mad soldiers stood on the city wall waving their notched great sabers, and the blades emitted intense red light, as if carrying flames.
However, with horns sounding, rounds of catapults madly smashed, and corpses on the city wall quickly mixed with collapsing bricks and tiles.
Then, during the siege, after insiders in the city fired signal flares, Wu Hanluan ordered Wu Hengyu to scale the city.
Wu Hengyu accepted the order, quickly shouldered a man-high shield, mixed in the siege soldiers, rapidly approaching the city wall. There weren’t many crossbowmen on the city wall. This was because Prince Lelang was too brutal and wasteful; resources needed for strong bows couldn’t be gathered at all.
Thus, Wu Hengyu himself first scaled and ran up the city wall, stepping on broken armor crossbow bolts inserted as footholds in the wall, holding the man-high shield like an umbrella blocking all “juice” and “stones” falling from above while climbing.
After Wu Hengyu rushed up the city wall, the Star River Spear in his hand suddenly extended, fiercely sweeping. The six surrounding mad soldiers flew out like oilseed heads under a boy’s stick, and the armored soldiers following Wu Hengyu up the wall, relying on armor, fought these red-dyed muscle “demons” called mad soldiers.
After Wu Hengyu swept back and forth over a hundred steps on the city wall, large batches of mad soldiers fell from the wall like chess pieces dropping from a tea table, and the city wall was thoroughly cleared.
By the time the third wave of Da Yao Army soldiers scaled the wall, there was no resistance, and the city interior was also chaos.
…City market scene…
Prince Lelang, searching for Wu Hengyu for the final battle, led troops passing Vegetable Market Mouth, suddenly felt something unusual, and when passing some alleys, discovered clusters of strangely hooded people.
These hooded attackers suddenly erupted, charging into Prince Lelang’s army ranks, madly stabbing with small daggers.
Mad soldiers immediately cleaved back with cleavers, but these black-robed people, before being stabbed dead, spat saliva at the mad soldiers and showed mocking smiles.
After Prince Lelang’s mad soldiers chopped the strange people dead, they found these bodies had massive stitching marks, as if corpse assemblies; looking closely, the stitching lines were actually line worms. After being chopped, after the time of one cup of tea, the mad soldiers spat on found their bodies itchy, looking closely, line worms entering and exiting their bodies.
Thus on streets big and small appeared such a scene: mad soldiers walking then squatting in corners, starting to scrape flesh on themselves with knives for surgery, picking out the bugs. These scenes of constantly cutting own flesh with knives were bloody and eerie. City citizens whose “blood battle madness” hadn’t deeply entered their brains had red in pupils fade, fearfully hiding in houses, listening to flesh-scraping and bone-scraping sounds.
And very strangely, after Wu Family Army fully entered, these tapeworms causing chaos disappeared from the mad soldiers’ bodies; accurately, burrowed back into bodies integrating into body tissues.
Wu Hengyu finally caught Prince Lelang, nailed him to the ground in three moves, and just as he was about to finish him, Wu Fei rode over on dragon horse shouting: “Spare him under the blade.”
Then dragged the imperial envoy over. The Da Yao imperial envoy glanced and confirmed it was him. After proclaiming the decree and rebuking, Prince Lelang roared about Emperor Shu’s hypocrisy and childhood bias against him. Under Wu Hengyu’s spear, he twisted and struggled, breaking a rib trying to break free.
Wu Hengyu still finished him in one move, huge head fell, dying with eyes wide open.
Wu Fei then ceremoniously apologized to the imperial envoy: “My lord, this is our sin.” — Beside him, Wu Hengyu full of killing intent wouldn’t bow.
Wu Fei also wanted to be tough, but considering Emperor Shu had eyes on him, might go to Yao Capital in future, so now put on a show.
Wu Fei: What if Emperor Shu is petty.
As for whether “Prince Lelang cursing” was something Wu Fei overlooked?
Wu Fei: “He was already a dead man. After all, the imperial envoy’s demand for live capture wasn’t out of old sentiments, but must confirm if he was executed on the spot.”
The imperial envoy’s face turned deathly pale, came to his senses and said: “The rebel prince sought his own death. I will report clearly to Your Majesty; you need not worry.”
