The ministers did not retreat; instead, they all hung their heads dejectedly, not moving an inch.
Xie Lanzhi watched as the ministers' joy turned to sorrow, their morale severely dampened. She could understand them; just yesterday came news of a victory, the sinking of two iron ships, and the ministers were still holding a celebration banquet that evening.
After midnight, news came that the Delta had been lost.
The news came that Xie Ji had led 5,000 men to retreat from Luerqu, and 3,000 of them had been killed in action.
Now, the entire territory of the Yue Kingdom and Shi Kingdom in the Delta, spanning 300,000 kilometers of land and 1 million kilometers of coastline, has fallen into the hands of the foreign pirate group, God As.
The Shenyas Legion, numbering eight thousand, landed and began their attack on the southern region. This time, it was her homeland.
Xie Lanzhi rose and stood between the ministers and the emperor. She said, "Abandon illusions, gather the strength of the entire nation in the Southern Region, the new capital of Tianjing, and the Nine Jin, and fight against the sea monsters!"
"I will organize a force of ten thousand soldiers."
"Ten thousand gunners and arquebusiers, counterattack the super fleet!"
The ministers all looked up. Then they saw the Emperor on the dragon throne; she finally smiled slightly, her expression brightening from gloomy to cheerful. She didn't seem as dejected as they had imagined.
They are the only ones who feel frustrated.
Si Xitong stood up, rolled up her sleeves, and shouted, "By imperial decree, Xie Lanzhi, the Grand Marshal of the Xie Clan, is hereby ordered to immediately lead a force of ten thousand soldiers to set sail from the coast of Huayin Kingdom with new treasure ships to meet the sea monsters!"
Xie Lanzhi nodded slightly to Si Xitong: "Lanzhi, receive the imperial decree!"
Her nodding posture wasn't quite standard, but it was extremely intimidating. Her eyebrows were sharply raised, her beautiful face was flamboyant, and she exuded a fierce and overwhelming aura of battle spirit.
Xie Lanzhi stepped down from the hall, followed closely by Xie clan generals, one after another, their imposing presence commanding thousands of troops.
As she stepped out of the Golden Palace, Xie Shangguang held aloft a golden halberd. Xie Lanzhi casually took the halberd and held it behind her waist, giving Xie Shangguang a special look.
Xie Shangguang's resolute face: "This subordinate will defend the Kingdom of Huayin!"
Xie Lanzhi turned and left without hesitation. She and a group of generals were about to enter the battlefield.
Si Xitong, inside the Golden Palace, withdrew her gaze, closed her eyes, and concealed the last trace of emotion.
With her imposing and dignified countenance, she took her seat and announced, "All ministers, listen to my command: from this moment forward, no soldier or civilian of the Great Jin shall leave their post or their home without permission."
"We swear to fight to the death for me, and to live and die with the Great Jin Dynasty!!"
A note from the author:
Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 2022-02-23 21:14:40 and 2022-02-24 20:49:59!
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: Bad words are everywhere, and Ling Moyu 10 bottles;
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 225 The Victory of a Ten-Thousand-Man Army!
This war is not only about recovering the Yue Kingdom and the Shi Kingdom to defend Tianjing, but also about the founding war of the Great Jin Dynasty.
Everyone quickly recovered from their initial dejection and gradually realized the extraordinary nature of this war. It was different from traditional wars, and also different from the wars against the Northern Xiongnu. It was a true war of foreign invasion!
Compared to the invasion by the Shenyas pirate group, the Northern Hu Xiongnu invasion can only be considered a civil war!
The curfew in the new Tianjing became increasingly strict; no one dared to go to sea without a maritime ban, and merchants who had previously petitioned officials to allow navigation no longer dared to bring up the matter. Local governments strengthened patrols and coordination.
Fortunately, road construction had been carried out everywhere in the previous two years, making the roads accessible in all directions, and communication between the land routes to the State of Lu and then to the State of Huayin was very fast.
The states of Huayin and Lu received news that they might encounter a pirate invasion within a day. Anyi and Gongfu Ling expressed disbelief, asking how there could be such fast ships that could arrive in a single day.
Xiwei specifically revealed the intelligence from his investigation: the Shenyas pirate crew's ten super fleets could travel at a speed of twenty kilometers per hour.
Gongfu Ling and Anyi fell completely silent. Gongfu Ling, terrified, considered fleeing to Tianjing. But then he realized that with the fall of Lu, Tianjing would be the next destination. It made no difference.
While An Yi was frightened, he didn't forget to ask his two older sisters, Xie Lanzhi and Si Xitong, what they thought was a good way to deal with the situation.
Xiwei did not disclose the details.
Meanwhile, the northern region was still embroiled in civil war. Prince Li Li and the northern army had just raised an army to establish Wu Yuejun as the new Khan. Then came the news that the delta had been lost, and Xie Ji and his eight thousand men had been scattered by artillery fire.
Xie Ji narrowly escaped with his life and was taken back to Luerqu. News of the Delta's expenditure of eight million taels of military funds to destroy the two iron ships also reached the Northern Region.
Li Li took the initiative to prepare his troops for battle.
Wu Yuejun took the initiative to contact Xie Jun at Luerqu to ask if they needed any help, especially since they had Type 94 cannons that could assist them.
When Xie Jun replied to Wu Yuejun that the Type 94 cannon, being a short-range artillery piece, could not harm the sea monster, Wu Yuejun finally fell silent.
He took the initiative to contact Li Li to sign a temporary cessation of the civil war agreement, allowing Li Li to lead his troops into Luerqu, and everyone would help fight against the foreign invaders together.
Li Li agreed.
On the same day, the Northern Hu and Xiongnu received a notification from the new Tianjing and the Northern Regions, inviting them to cooperate in resisting foreign tribes.
The Northern Xiongnu did not respond. Liu Zi and the Northern Xiongnu ministers all thought the same thing: let the military forces of the northern region of Tianjing be wasted on the sea monster, and then they could reap the benefits when the two sides fought each other. Some of the Northern Xiongnu even fanned the flames, saying: "This is karma for the new Tianjing! Even if they raise an army, it will be the new Tianjing that is attacked!"
The Northern Xiongnu have not issued an official response, but their true intentions are obvious to everyone.
Not only the people of Xin Tianjing, but also the people of Huayin Kingdom in the Central Alliance, the Hu people of the Northern Region, and so on, were angrily cursing the Northern Hu Xiongnu for being shameless and not knowing what was important.
Even when they were fighting together against the enemy, they were still thinking of betraying the new Tianjing.
The Northern Hu and Xiongnu lived in the Central Plains for generations and reigned as kings for a hundred years. Even though they fought and killed each other in ordinary times, they were still neighbors who loved and killed each other in terms of relationships and blood ties.
Now that their neighbor's house is on fire, they still don't understand the situation and are gloating.
The Northern Hu and Xiongnu can no longer expect anything.
Anyi volunteered to fight against the Northern Hu and Xiongnu, and Huayin State deployed troops to guard the front gate of the new Tianjing to prevent a surprise attack by the Northern Hu and Xiongnu.
General Yang Wei of the Imperial Guard expressed his support for the former ruler of Anyi's proposal. Duke Fu Ling of Lu felt that his relationship with the new Tianjing was one of mutual dependence; if the new Tianjing were to fall, his life would be difficult as well. Therefore, he allied with Anyi and Lu to guard against the Northern Xiongnu.
When the Northern Hu and Xiongnu heard that Anyi and Gongfuling intended to deal with them, they mocked their overestimation of their abilities. Even if the Northern Hu and Xiongnu temporarily retreated, they were not people that the two countries could offend.
The Northern Hu and Xiongnu planned to teach Anyi and Gongfuling a lesson.
Shortly after, Si Xitong ordered the delivery of two Changhong cannons, each with one hundred shells, to the two countries. He also dispatched Xie Ying, a newly promoted commander of the Imperial Guard, to assist the two countries' defenses.
Xie Ying had made contributions to the Central Alliance, and her official position was personally applied for by Ma Hong.
Now, as Si Xitong's right-hand man, Ma Hong's task is to wait for Xie Lanzhi's orders.
In the newly established Tianjing Military Affairs Department, one general after another received their orders and quickly boarded carriages, forming a grand procession that left the city gates. Each general commanded at least a thousand men.
Of the five generals, excluding Xie Ji who was stationed elsewhere, two were members of the Xie clan and served in the Imperial Guard.
The remaining three were led by Ma Hong and Ma Hu, and the last one was Zhang Changle, the commander-in-chief of the Western Guard.
The army of ten thousand men set sail from Weidu, followed by twenty large treasure ships that spread out along the Red River, the Deer Canal, and the inland waterways of Lu State and the Central Alliance.
Mu Ye, commander of the Shi Kingdom, continued his attack on the enclave held by Xie Guang, hoping to seize the plank road. However, he was recalled by Arsen, Marius, and Joseph, the leaders of the Shenyas Pirate Gang, who ordered him to use the Shi Kingdom as a base to invade the Southern Region.
Makino replied that attacking Joseph's enclave would be much more effective, and there was no need to go to great lengths instead of seeking help from nearby locations.
Joseph believed that attacking Tianjing from the south would be the same, only at a higher cost. He also felt that Muye's tactics were too time-consuming and inefficient.
Joseph made it clear that he needed efficiency! A mere 300,000 kilometers of land wasn't enough for them to demand compensation from the Southern Central Plains. Unless they terrified the Southern Central Plains, they wouldn't pay for peace. In that case, the battles fought by the Shenyas Legion wouldn't even recoup their costs.
Makino still thought the enclave was better, but he couldn't persuade Joseph otherwise. Joseph directly sent Scott with four thousand men to attack New Tianjing from the Southern Region.
This is the shortest route.
Mu Ye was very dissatisfied, believing that the Southern Region was not like the spineless Shi Kingdom or Yue Kingdom, and that their military strength and customs were completely different. He also warned Joseph that being impatient for quick success would lead to failure.
This time, Joseph simply didn't reply. He couldn't be bothered with him.
Scott mocked him, saying, "Makino, you need to be mindful of your position. Even if Duke Alexander approves of your strategy, it doesn't mean the leader agrees."
"With such heavy losses on my end, how can the commander trust you? Don't forget that I lost two iron ships precisely because I followed your orders!"
As he spoke, Scott deliberately vented his anger at Makino for his defeat.
He said sarcastically, "Don't forget your origins, you're from the Central Plains! You might even betray the God As Legion in the end!"
"I can't trust you!"
"How can we trust someone who would betray even their own hometown!"
Faced with his impotent and furious accusations, Makino remained silent with a gloomy face.
Scott became even more smug, convinced he was right, and said that Scott was speechless.
Makino did not stop Scott. Scott led four thousand men, pushing ten Com pulley cannons, to invade the southern border. It was originally at the border, a two-day walk away, but Scott took a full five days to reach the southern region.
The southern border was a field where the harvest had just been completed.
Scott led four thousand men across the farmland into the southern border region. Before he could even see them, a cannonball hit him right in front of him, exploding in black smoke.
The next moment, the Southern Region launched a preemptive attack on the invading Scott and other sea monsters.
They were still using the Type 94 cannon, which Scott considered the most useless, and some were even still using old-fashioned cannons. The difference was that the Southern Region used a bunch of weapons that Scott looked down on to unleash a barrage of shells.
Scott and his four thousand men were instantly driven back to the border.
"Retreat! Retreat!" Scott was the first to run back, not to mention the other pirates. They didn't even know where to fire their cannons; they were surrounded on all sides, and they couldn't see a single person from the Central Plains. Their cannonballs were raining down on them like they were free.
Just like the Central Plains people they encountered at sea before. A domineering and all-encompassing fighting style!
Scott never expected that his retreat with four thousand men would lead him into an encirclement in the Southern Region.
The matriarch and the elders were all brave and skilled generals in their youth. Now that they are retired, they can no longer go to the battlefield due to old age and weakness, but that does not mean they have forgotten how to deploy troops and fight!
Moreover, they have lived in the Southern Region for decades and know every grain of soil there by heart.
No sooner had Scott's four thousand men entered the Southern Region than Xie Bing ambushed them from the rear, lying in ambush on various paths.
The head matriarch's order was even more stern: "Don't hold back on ammunition. As long as you fire it all at Hai Kou, you're a true hero of the Xie family!"
The Xie soldiers of the Southern Region never had the right to touch the cannons and cannons before, but they had been training regularly. Now, in war, they don't even have to fight hand-to-hand; they can kill several pirates by simply setting fires from a distance.
Xie Bing and his men were incredibly happy.
Five thousand cannonballs rained down on Scott's escape route, and no matter which direction he fled, he was met with long-range fire. When Scott had nowhere left to run, he grabbed a pirate to shield him from the cannon fire, thus narrowly escaping death.
Scott was surrounded by the sound of artillery fire. When he spotted the Shermans hiding in the woods to the east, they were firing at him with Type 94 rifles, which he looked down upon.
Scott immediately pointed to the grove of trees to the east and shouted, "Counterattack! Counterattack to the east! Those damned Central Plains people are over there!"
As soon as he finished speaking, another pirate fell at his feet, his limbs flying everywhere and blood flowing all over the ground.
Scott then noticed that his men had dwindled to only three hundred.