Voluame (First Half) (1/2)

Voluame (First Half)

<blockquote class="Quote">

After learning of the defeat at Qinzhou, the King of Northern Han a On the twenty-second day of the fourthled the re Afraid of Yong’s reprisals, the entire population—including the young and elderly—began to flee north Traveling only thirty li¹ a day, the for renowned for his defensive abilities, Duan Wudi, volunteered to serve as the rearguard and escorted the populace north

2</sup> beforetroops between Xinzhou³ and Daizhou”Zizhi Tongjian</e Records Voluant chaeneral’s residence in Qinyuan, I pointed at the black and white stones on the chessboard I tirelessly taught, “A gahly be divided into three phases The opening, the y, the opening is akin to two sides a and deploying troops If there is an error in the opening, it is sie As a result, oneJust like this invasion of Northern Han, on the surface it was only our Yong’s Zezhou ar Northern Han’s Qinzhou army However, Northern Han externally possesses the support of Southern Chu and has also aroused internal strife in Great Yong In addition, aside from the Qinzhou army, Northern Han alsostrike It could be said that their opening was far-reaching and e

“However, the Imperial Court was able to exploit Southern Chu’s internal disagree’s internal turmoil, we have adopted certain methods to control its development As a result, these two factors did not affect the situation As for formal battle, aside frosun to support us Regardless of both planning beforehand or the numbers of the army that were assembled, they surpassed Northern Han These are foundations of our victory

“As for thebetween the two opponents It could be said that the fate of most battles are determined in this phase This tiamble between our ar defeat will be suffered Our army suffered three consecutive defeats at Anze, Qinyuan, and Qin River Valley However, the cohness personally fighting hard at the head of the rearguard made it possible to lure the enemy troops into our trap If this wasn’t the case, the areatest joke in the world

“As for the endga At present, our army controls the situation However, if we do not consolidate at every step, there is the possibility of failure or of being dragged down along with the enemy”

Presently, it was already the thirtieth day of the fourth h rather than saying captured, it was better perhaps to say that the Northern Han army had abandoned Qinyuan on their own initiative On the twentieth day of the fourth month, the remainder of the Daizhou army had rendezvoused with the remnants of the Qinzhou army under Lin Bi’s leadershi+p and returned to Qinyuan with Duan Wudi’s support Based upon the intelligence gathered by our ar had already issued orders to recall Lin Bi back to Jinyang He had no other choice in the matter

At present, if Northern Han dispersed its troops, the only result would be to watch the, they could preserve their strength In addition, Jinyang was the Northern Han capital and strategically located If Jinyang did not fall, even if Great Yong besieged the city, it would be difficult to hold the other cities of Northern Han As a result, retreat was the only choice However, it was only natural that our army would not allow the eneun to advance swiftly, sweeping all opposition before us

There was naturally no need for me to accompany the military As such, I had remained behind to oversee Qinyuan Of course, I was not alone Jing Chi had also remained behind in Qinyuan to recuperate This tih his life had been preserved, if he did not convalescence for at least half a year, it would be absolutely impossible for him to return to the battlefield As for militarybetter to do, I dragged Jing Chi to play weiqi with me Because of his coarse temperament, he was not interested in him to obediently learn how to play and also seized the opportunity to teach hihter If he wanted to have the responsibility of being a commander-in-chief, he was still quite far fro across fro Chi’s face appeared quite good though he looked at the chessboard with a pale coht his furtive yawn and shot hi to brush it off, he asked, “Sir, how is our arently shookIt was better for me to speak of the current situation As for how much he could absorb, it would be up to hia a a’s location and said, “At present, the th is aarrison of a hundred thousand troops, there are another fifty thousand garrison troops froions While the combat potential of these troops is unbalanced, they can still fight In addition, the defeated Qinzhou ar and Duan Wudi still has several tens of thousands of troops Co’s Daizhou ar at least another fifty thousand troops back to Jinyang As a result, the entirety of Northern Han’s strength is concentrated in Jinyang They hope to defend Jinyang With this, Jinyang will have apossesses high walls, a deep h provisions to last a year If defended by elite troops and capable generals, they will be able to delay our aric battlefield If we cannot capture it, even if we conquer the rest of Northern Han, we can’t hold it As a result, this final battle will not be easy If the Imperial Court wants to win a total victory and prevent us froame will be to compress the space in which the enemy army can exist and sever any external support”

Hearing this, Jing Chi’s gaze i at Yano that the barbarians have invaded? Could it be that the Daizhou ar, I responded, “The situation in Daizhou is extraordinarily tense At present, eight tribes of barbarians have already united to reestablish the Khanate, enthroning Wanyan Najin and furiously assaulting Yanmen Pass Besides, since the core of the Daizhou army was taken away by Lin Bi, once Yanmen Pass falls, the barbarians will be able to penetrate deep into the territory to loot and pillage without li Xinzhou and Jinyang covetously If Daizhou could withstand the barbarians, that would be for the best However, with the current situation, if Daizhou ultimately cannot be held, its populace and soldiers will retreat to Xinzhou With Northern Han facing eneroup up with those defending Jinyang When the tithened, it is our ar the barbarians’ invasion If sootiating with the barbarians, using gold and silk to entice the barbarians into beco our enemy, then our army would definitely fall into a nasty predica’s tactics are not inferior to Long Tingfei’s She has already been selected as Long Tingfei’s successor and led the survivors back to Jinyang If she took charge of Jinyang’swould bethe Heavens”

After studying theChi asked, “Once the Princess of Jiaping learns of the situation in Daizhou, won’t she travel day and night to rush back to Daizhou? Hoould she have the ?”

“It’s not bad that you thought of this point,” I replied with a smile “However, it is presently impossible for Lin Bi to return to Daizhou After His I Pass, he did not head directly for Jinyang and instead took a detour to Loufan Pass Right now, Daizhou has already been cut off fro as Loufan Pass is heavily garrisoned, ill be able to hold the barbarians off in Daizhou, watching both Daizhou and the barbarians suffer Once Jinyang has been captured, ill be able to pick up the pieces⁴ at leisure When the time comes, the barbarians will definitely try to seize Daizhou We can take this opportunity to annihilate the core of the eight barbarian tribes If this happens then it will be impossible for the barbarians to recover in less than a decade In addition, it will be easier for us to govern Daizhou with its ar this, Jing Chi felt a chill as he re too callous? If this happens then wouldn’t the warriors of Daizhou be wiped clean out? Although your elder pissed reatly ad and the Daizhou army”

Because of his discontent, his tone had become a bit peculiar If in the past, he would definitely not have dared to speak in such a way Glaring at hith is not weakened, are you tellingChi hemmed and hawed, afraid to retort However, there was clear opposition in his eyes Seeing this, I smiled and said, “There is no need for you to have such a look on your face His Imperial Majesty has already rejected my plan Upon further contemplation, His Imperial Majesty believes that it will be impossible to annihilate the barbarians in one stroke Daizhou is still needed in the future to defend against the barbarians If Daizhou suffers heavily, its ability to resist the barbarians in the future will be severely iuard over Daizhou for generations, never valuing power, riches, or honor Although the Lin family’s position in Northern Han is celebrated, their faovernment salaries and rewards are used on military expenditures and financial support In addition, they have not coh the Northern Han King is an in-law of the Lin family, aside from this war that determines Northern Han’s survival, the Daizhou arn That they have en was not a result of their relationshi+p as in-laws, but rather because of the weighty support of Northern Han for Daizhou From this, the Lin family is not wholly loyal to Northern Han Their fealty is to the entire Central Plains and the common people, not to any dynasty This Lin family are simple subjects As a result, His Imperial Majesty not only does not want to annihilate the Lin fath

“His Imperial Majesty has stated that the Lin family has benefited Daizhou’s people As the northern frontier’s iron wall, they cannot be em were adhered to, not only would it be unfortunate for the Lin fa in the destruction of our defenses, it would also result in the deep loathing of Great Yong by the populace of Daizhou This would be harmful to our future administration of the north That is why His Imperial Majesty has decided to try to recruit the Lin family Even of the Northern Han Royal Family His Imperial Majesty has no wish to exter Chi was overjoyed, blurting, “I was about to say that His Imperial Majesty would definitely not ehout his life, His I the loyal and righteous with courtesy and respect If it were on the battlefield, it would not be unusual for the entirety of the Lin faainst the Lin fa that His I, Jing Chi felt the hairs on his neck stand, i Zhe Jing Chi could not help taking a furtive gli Zhe’s face, al Zhe did not mind as he played with the stones in his hand However, noChi looked, he felt as if that s Chi shi+fted backwards andyou”

“I wasn’t bla “Look At present, His Isun have already split apart in the attack His I the Qinzhou ar the conquered lands Before our arate all resistance or drive the However, you cannot participate Who let you be so gullible and allow a spy from the Devil Sect to serve at your side? Not only were you seriously injured, you also allowed fifty to sixty thousand Northern Han troops escape

“When it co contributions after the war has ended, because of the e penetrating strike after breaking through Hu Pass, you will still be heavily punished even if His Imperial Majesty does not mind First, popular senti to others⁵ Frouard, it was still a defeat Atup for your earlier reat deed as surrounding and annihilating the Northern Han ar to dereliction of duty, it looks like you will only have toil and no credit”

Jing Chi felt choked with resent words Although he becaloo Zhe very quickly ceased his an to point at theChi relaxed He was so Zhe’s disposition Since he was subjected to Jiang Zhe’s e As a result, Jing Chi felt reassured as he listened to Jiang Zhe explain how to deal with the endga weiqi stones to indicate the positions between the armies, I pointed to Qinzhou and stated, “Qinzhou is the capital of the province and the location of Long Tingfei’s anizing its ar to retreat In order to force the enehness, the Prince of Qi, has disse army would massacre each city we ca our army’s advance have all fled towards Qinzhou proper As the population of Qinzhou has fought against us for years under Long Tingfei’s command, they have always been very anxious In addition, with Long Tingfei’s death, they have lost all confidence That is why they have taken everyone, young and old, to flee to the north

“The influx of refugees reaching Qinzhou proper has made it basically impossible to defend unless Lin Bi and coees froenerals can do such a thing, it will be impossible to placate the Qinzhou army who are linked in countless ways to the Qinzhou coardless of royal orders or survival, the Northern Han ar

“Originally, I only wanted the Northern Han arht that there are still foolishly sentimental individuals? Duan Wudi has already volunteered to serve as the rearguard At present, the refugees can only travel a few dozen his own troops nu less than twenty thousand to slowly cover the rear, His Iht Do you knohy Northern Han would believe the rumors that ould massacre everyone in the cities we capture? The Prince of Qi has raised your banner in the advance guard, stating that you only suffered a h injured You want to slaughter in retaliation”

This tiazed at me In comparison, I chuckled heartily With this, I had co Chi murmured, “In any case, I’m completely out of luck It would’ve been fine if I were the one being sent to slaughter, but now I have to bear the false reputation”

Although the expression onit difficult to resist a sh he had spoken softly, I heard every word clearly Seeing that Jing Chi was already beginning to tire, I had him retire and rest while I returned to ed to Duan Wudi, containing many of the scrolls andwith hih he was a military leader, he was quite conversant with the classics and the histories Looking at the notes andwas a bit shallow, their co up the notes I had not finished reading yesterday, I began to thuh the text The hts he had garnered during his studies, literary annotations, and also so so to play a key part in the endga Chi, I only explained some of the military situation There were other matters he had no need to understand