Chapter 785
A Letter from Ma Xiuying to Su Yunjin
The Han Prince's Palace, the highest military conference hall!
Chen Jiu Si sat in the main seat of the conference hall, with the top executives of the entire Han Prince's Mansion sitting below him.
On the left is the military representative, Ni Wenjun, and on the right is the civilian representative, Hu Weiyong.
Among the bystanders were Prince Ruyang and Wang Baobao, who was now crestfallen and had lost his former arrogance.
This crushing defeat was a huge blow to Wang Baobao, even making him doubt his military abilities and whether he was really suited to be a marshal.
Originally, he wanted to secure greater benefits for his sister and his nephew whom he had never met, but now he has gone from making a fool of himself to making a complete fool of himself.
This even caused the Prince of Ruyang to lose face. If it weren't for Chen Jie's intervention, the Prince of Ruyang would have resigned from his position as the Dean of the Huangzhou Military Academy.
How shameless!
The Prince of Ruyang always felt that Wang Baobao had strong military talent, at least 90% of his own strength. As it turned out, his military talent was indeed quite good. However, he had a fatal flaw: acting impulsively.
This is a major taboo for a leader. You can have all sorts of flaws, but you must never act impulsively.
An incompetent general can lead to the downfall of an entire army. Wang Baobao's foolishness turned a well-intentioned campaign of besieging a point and attacking reinforcements into two battles of annihilation.
What was supposed to be a resounding victory was turned into a narrow one by Wang Baobao, which was utterly humiliating.
The Prince of Ruyang was so angry that he hadn't given Wang Baobao a kind look for the past two weeks. Wang Baobao was also quite frustrated. If Chen Jie hadn't thought he was too unlucky, he wouldn't have let him participate in this meeting.
"Alright everyone, let's get straight to the point. The main reason I've gathered you all here today is because of a small change that has occurred."
Chen paused for a moment and said, "You all should have heard the news by now. Liu Bowen, that Mr. Qingtian is quite capable. He went to Dadu and actually persuaded the emperor to send Prince Aluhui of Yangdi to lead an army of 50,000 south. They are now heading straight for Luoyang."
"Yesterday I sent someone to inform the Luoyang garrison that Ding Pulang and Ou Puxiang were leading their 50,000 Buddhist soldiers to the Jiujiang battlefield to participate in the final decisive battle. Now that the enemy is coming, how should we resist them? I would like to ask for your opinions. Should we let Ding Pulang and Ou Puxiang lead their troops back?"
Upon hearing this, everyone was taken aback. Ni Wenjun spoke first: "This military order cannot be changed so frequently. We would rather send other troops to take over than let the Buddhist soldiers return. Otherwise, it will inevitably lead to a collapse in morale and greatly diminish the prestige of the King of Han!"
Hu Weiyong said, “Commander Ni is absolutely right. How can orders be changed so frequently? Besides, although the troops in Dadu are numerous, they no longer have any elite soldiers. Zhu Chongba is different. Zhu Chongba has now mobilized nearly 300,000 troops, all of whom are elite soldiers and generals. If we do not deal with them properly, we may face disaster!”
After hearing Hu Weiyong's words, the others also disagreed with recalling the Buddhist soldiers.
At this moment, Zhou Chu spoke up: "King of Han, how many men do we have left in our reserves? Can we spare 30,000 troops?"
Chen Jie said, "We still have 30,000 reserves. What do you want to do?"
Zhou Chu said, "Since this is a decisive battle, I can't just stand by and do nothing. Give me these 30,000 new recruits, and I'll lead them to defend Luoyang. We will not lose it!"
Upon hearing this, Chen Jie frowned slightly. Zhou Chu was fine as the head of the police force, but if you asked him to be the commander-in-chief of an army, he might not be able to lead the troops well.
Commanding such a large-scale army is no small matter.
Imagine your company has a thousand employees, and you're organizing a large team-building event. You're responsible for arranging the entire process, from departure to return: how to depart, what to do in case of emergencies, what to feed and drink, where to use the restroom, what activities to do upon arrival, and how to bring them back.
If you can take over this whole system, then you'll be considered a top-notch logistics specialist.
This is leisure, while Chen Jiu Si is fighting a war, risking his life.
Moreover, he was not in charge of a thousand people, or even ten thousand, but thirty thousand.
Even with Zhou Chu, his longtime comrade-in-arms, having ample experience in managing patrol units, leading 30,000 new recruits to block 50,000 Mulan cavalry was still too risky for such a massive military operation.
Therefore, this matter needs to be considered carefully and should not be decided hastily. After all, these are 30,000 reservists, who are new recruits. Without the guidance of veterans, it is unknown how much combat effectiveness they can exert.
Previously, troop replenishment involved replacing the unit based on the number of losses suffered, thus ensuring that experienced soldiers mentored new ones and maintaining the unit's basic combat effectiveness.
Now that all the combat-capable troops have been deployed to the decisive battle, only new recruits can be used to resist the iron cavalry sent by the imperial court.
Zhou Chu's expression of determination was not accepted, so Ni Wenjun thought for a moment and said, "How about I take 30,000 men to defend Luoyang?"
Looking at Ni Wenjun, Chen Jie was reluctant. Although Ni Wenjun held a high position as the deputy commander of the entire army, his strategic ability was really average. His strength lay in his personal combat skills; he was good at charging into battle.
Apart from Ni Wenjun, almost everyone in the military was sent to the Poyang Lake battlefield.
Seeing that Chen Jie really couldn't send out any troops, someone slowly spoke up: "How about I go?"
Upon hearing the voice, everyone looked over and were surprised to see who it was—it was the old man himself.
Prince Ruyang!
These words were actually spoken by the Prince of Ruyang, which startled even Chen Jie. He looked at the Prince of Ruyang and said, "Your Highness, what is this?"
The Prince of Ruyang said, "My good-for-nothing son has caused such a disaster. As his father, I must atone for his sins!"
Then, the Prince of Ruyang looked at Chen Jie and said, "So, Chen Jiu Si, are you comfortable handing over your men to me?"
After saying this, the Prince of Ruyang looked at Chen Jie.
Without the slightest hesitation, Chen Jie said, "If I could get your help, Father-in-law, I would be more than happy to do so. You can mobilize those 30,000 troops at any time, and I will go with you at any time."
Upon hearing this, the Prince of Ruyang looked at Chen Jie and said, "Treat my Ya Ya well. I will accept your enemy from the north."
"Father!"
Seeing the Prince of Ruyang act this way, Wang Baobao immediately shouted, "You don't need to do this!"
Wang Baobao understood how heartbroken the Prince of Ruyang was to make such a decision. After all, the Prince of Ruyang was once an emperor of the Great Qian Empire, and even now he still harbored a deep attachment to the Great Qian.
Now, if we ask the Prince of Ruyang to lead his troops to resist the Great Qian, it would be like forcing him to kill his own brothers, which would be fratricide.
What immense pain this is! He will become a sinner of the Mulan people, and he will never be forgiven by the Eternal Heaven!
Wang Baobao really couldn't imagine how conflicted the Prince of Ruyang must have been in his heart to make such a decision. It was all his fault, all his fault!
If it weren't for my own greed and recklessness, why would my father have gone to such lengths?
If my father were to bear eternal infamy because of this, I would never be able to atone for it even if I were to die a hundred times.
Wang Baobao thought for a moment, then looked at the Prince of Ruyang and said, "Father, don't go. I'll go instead. I'm the one who caused this trouble, so I'll go."
As Wang Baobao spoke, the Prince of Ruyang looked at him and said, "Go! Are you going to throw these 30,000 men onto the battlefield to die? Kuokuo, you're not even fit to lead my horse now. You want to go in my place? I won't allow it."
"The Prince of Ruyang roared angrily. Upon seeing this, Wang Baobao immediately stood up and knelt before Chen Jie, saying, "Prince of Han, I beg you, give me command of this army, let me go, don't let my father go, don't put him in a dilemma!"
"I beg you!"
At this moment, Wang Baobao lowered his proud head. He would rather kneel before Chen Jie than let the Prince of Ruyang lose his last shred of conscience.
Chen Jie looked at Wang Baobao and then at the Prince of Ruyang. Actually, it would be fine for Wang Baobao to go. Although he was a defeated general, his military ability was absolutely first-class. Apart from the Prince of Ruyang, Xu Da and Zhang Dingbian probably had no one who could say that he was superior to Wang Baobao militarily.
Including Chen Jie himself.
It's clear that Aruhui, who was sent by Dadu, is no match for the military genius Wang Baobao, so it's better to send Wang Baobao instead.
Therefore, Chen Jie was somewhat moved, but at this moment, he saw the Prince of Ruyang frown and say, "It's no use if you agree to him. I will not let him lead the army to war. If he throws these 30,000 men onto the battlefield in Luoyang, how can Ya Ya and I still have the face to stay in the territory of the Prince of Han?"
"Kuo Kuo, if you don't want your sister to be put in an embarrassing situation, you'd better give up your useless idea!"
After saying this, Wang Baobao knelt down and said, "Father, I really know I was wrong. Please give me another chance!"
The Prince of Ruyang said, "I can give you a chance, but who gave the 50,000 soldiers who died tragically in Hongdu a chance? They were the last reserves of our White Deer Army!"
"You dumped everything in Hongdu for me, and you expect me to forgive you? You have the nerve to say that!"
Wang Baobao's face changed color, showing that he was really in pain. However, Prince Ruyang had no intention of forgiving him and just looked at him coldly.
Seeing this, Ni Wenjun said to Zhou Chu, "The old prince's family discipline is really strict."
Zhou Chu said, "The White Deer Army was all trained by the old prince, just like his own sons and nephews. This kid Wang Baobao abandoned 50,000 men in Hongdu."
"The fact that the old prince didn't kill him with a single blow is already a sign of great favoritism."
"Yes, if my son squanders my family's wealth like this, I'll chop him up alive."
As Ni Wenjun was speaking, Zhou Chu chuckled and said, "Ni Shuai, don't brag. You dare to touch your precious daughter? Sister Hua would chop you to pieces!"
Upon hearing this, Ni Wenjun said, "Hehe, I definitely wouldn't dare touch my daughter. I just said it was my son."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Chu looked at Ni Wenjun, and Ni Wenjun looked at Zhou Chu. The two couldn't help but smile at each other.
"Ahem, alright, let's both be more composed and watch the show."
Ni Wenjun cleared his throat to suppress his laughter. The reason he could laugh was that Wang Baobao had lost the core of the White Deer Army, and those White Deer Army guys were already disobedient. Now that Wang Baobao had wiped them out, it might not necessarily be a bad thing for Huangzhou Prefecture.
At this moment, Chen Jie also saw the pain in the heart of the Prince of Ruyang, and he also saw that his third brother-in-law, Wang Baobao, had truly realized his mistake and bowed his head to him. Once he bowed his head, he would never be able to stand up straight for the rest of his life. This was a good thing for Chen Jie.
This can be considered as indirectly winning over Wang Baobao.
At this point, Chen Jie stepped in as a peacemaker: "Father-in-law, I think Kuokuo knows he was wrong. Nobody's perfect. Why don't you forgive him for my sake? He'll definitely never dare to do it again."
"Yes or no!"
Chen Jie kicked Wang Baobao, who immediately said in a tearful voice, "Yes, yes, Father, I know I was wrong."
The Prince of Ruyang looked up and saw Chen Jie's smiling face. In the past, the Prince of Ruyang might not have given Chen Jie any face, but things were different now—Chen Jie was now the Prince of Han, and more importantly, his daughter had even given birth to his child.
Whether in terms of status or personal feelings, Prince Ruyang had no choice but to give Chen Jie face.
Besides, he didn't really want to do anything to Wang Baobao. He was cursing Wang Baobao in order to save him. After all, it was better for him to curse than for Chen Jiu Si to curse.
Seeing Chen Jie plead for mercy, the Prince of Ruyang said, "Fine, for the sake of the Prince of Han, I will spare you this time. However, it is impossible for you to lead troops north alone."
"Father!"
Wang Baobao immediately tried to say something, but the Prince of Ruyang didn't give him any face and said, "Stop talking nonsense."
Seeing this, Wang Baobao looked at Chen Jie with pleading eyes.
Seeing this, Chen Jie said, "In that case, let Father-in-law take the lead this time, and you, Third Brother-in-law, can act as the vanguard officer and do more for Father-in-law."
"Okay, that works!"
Wang Baobao's eyes lit up instantly. Ruyang Wang frowned, and Chen Jie said, "Father-in-law, please give your son-in-law some face and also give my third brother-in-law a chance."
Upon hearing this, the Prince of Ruyang looked at Chen Jie and said, "Fine, since that's the case, I have nothing more to say. If it weren't for you, I would never have let him off so easily."
"Yes Yes!"
Chen Jie nodded, and then immediately issued a military order, appointing Chaghan Temur as the commander-in-chief to lead 30,000 reserves to Luoyang for garrison duty. Wang Baobao was to redeem himself by serving as the vanguard officer and going on the expedition with the army.
Having confirmed this, Chen Jie in the north was no longer worried. With the Prince of Ruyang there, the north would certainly be safe.
Then he can wholeheartedly fight this decisive battle with Zhu Chongba!
The Battle of Poyang Lake is recorded in history as a major battle between Chen Youliang and Zhu Chongba. Chen Youliang was defeated and killed, and the world fell to Zhu. Will history repeat itself this time?
The conference lasted all day, outlining a series of plans in preparation for the final showdown. That evening, Chen Jie, feeling somewhat tired, arrived at Su Yunjin's room.
But then they saw Su Yunjin sitting at her desk with a candle lit in front of her and a letter in front of her.
Chen Jie walked over to Su Yunjin and said, "Why aren't you asleep so late?"
Upon seeing Chen Jie, Su Yunjin immediately said, "Husband, you're back! I had something to discuss with you!"
Chen Jie asked, "What is it? Who sent this letter?"
Su Yunjin then said, "This is a letter from Sister Ma Xiuying. She said that the Laba Festival is in two days, and she wants to invite me to the Wangfutai in Poyang County on the east bank of Poyang Lake to drink Laba porridge together and pray for my husband."
"Should I keep the appointment?!" (End of Chapter)