NOVEL NEXT chapter 21
Chapter 21: Decision
The generals of Da Xia gathered in His Majesty’s hall.
This matter was not discussed with the civil officials, because it involved the military affairs of the empire. From both a logical and jurisdictional standpoint, civil officials should not be involved.
Of course, Qin Ji had his own selfish motives. Now, those civil officials were all closely watching him, and he did not want to be controlled by them.
The generals first paid their respects to His Majesty, then exchanged pleasantries with Qin Ji for a while, and immediately started the meeting. Qin Ji first explained the current situation. The generals fell into a brief silence upon hearing the current situation.
They were aware of the situation on the battlefield. Due to Xia Yuxiao and Qin Ji’s consistent insistence on central command over the army, the border troops in the frontier regions were not the true regular army of Da Xia. In Qin Ji’s previous world, they were basically equivalent to militia. But even so, the generals present knew that Han Yin City was very difficult to breach.
Now, a series of inexplicable phenomena in the north reminded everyone present of an undeniable fact: there might really be a problem in the northern frontier.
“The defense of the northern frontier is based on a military-political integration approach, with city defense as the foundation, and mobilized by the local prefects. The biggest problem might lie with those prefects.”
The prefects of the northern frontier regions often had more power than those in other regions of the empire, mainly because the border troops were under the command of the local prefects (of course, if the central government of the empire issued a mobilization order, the local prefects must obey the central command). This system was mainly to prevent the empire from being unable to respond in time when the northern royal court attacked.
Now…
“Your Majesty, with all due respect, I believe we should immediately dispatch troops to the northern frontier. On one hand, to stabilize the northern people’s morale, and on the other hand, to confirm whether the prefects of the nine northern prefectures have betrayed the court. As for the last aspect, it is to promptly drive away the northern barbarians.”
Qin Ji said.
“I agree with the Grand Commandant’s view,” General Bai was the first to speak. “The sooner we act, the more advantageous the situation will be for us. If we lose the opportunity to act quickly, then…”
“I understand.”
Xia Yuxiao said.
The problem in the northern frontier was very serious, but in Xia Yuxiao’s view, there was another very serious matter.
That was how many troops to mobilize and whose troops to mobilize.
Should she mobilize General Bai’s troops? He was indeed a good choice. General Bai was adept at using troops and had repeatedly achieved unprecedented successes. In terms of commanding an army, General Bai was not even inferior to Duke Anguo. Moreover, General Bai was not on Qin Ji’s side; he was still a centrist, or rather, he was loyal to Da Xia rather than the emperor or the Grand Commandant.
Although Xia Yuxiao did not like such people, at least she would feel more at ease with him.
In any case, Qin Ji definitely could not go personally. Not to mention that if Qin Ji left, all the military affairs in the country would fall on her shoulders, which she could not handle. On the other hand, if Qin Ji left, it would also be very dangerous—what if he took control of the border troops in the northern frontier?
Xia Yuxiao had no doubt about such a possibility; she had to consider such a danger.
Other generals were either unstable or more deadly—the supporters of the former princes, handing over the troops to them easily, were only slightly less dangerous than handing them over to Qin Ji.
“General Bai, if it were up to you, what would you do?”
Qin Ji suddenly asked.
“Me?” General Bai looked at the map, thought for a moment, and then pointed to Hanyin City: “I wouldn’t attack Hanyin City. I think, instead of running over to attack Hanyin City and suffering heavy casualties, it would be better to try crossing the river from the plains to the east, circling back from the other side of the mountains, and surrounding Hanyin City from the outside.”
“Seal the bottle neck, close the door and beat the dog, right?”
Qin Ji immediately understood his meaning.
The location of Hanyin City was in the great canyon area of the Hanyin Mountains. It was like a bottle cap of the Xia Kingdom, blocking this narrow bottleneck, and beyond the bottleneck was the vast northern plain of the Great Xia.
And General Bai’s idea was to bypass this bottleneck, directly attack from the other side of the mountains, which was the direction the northern barbarians came from, and trap the enemies of Hanyin City in this narrow bottleneck.
“Yes, exactly in this way. If you need detailed battle strategies, I can provide them immediately after making military decisions.” General Bai said steadily.
As expected of a fierce general of the empire, his fighting style was so fierce, directly entering the enemy’s territory, circling back, and then surrounding the enemies of the Hanyin Mountains. In this way, all the nearby cities would be blocked. Once Hanyin City was taken, if any traitors were found, the army could rush out of the canyon and eliminate those who turned against them.
“If this matter is entrusted to General Bai, what is your success rate?”
“Not sure. Given the northern army’s harassment this time, there must be someone supporting them, so I’m not sure how much success I can guarantee…”
“Based on your estimation, what is the approximate success rate?”
“Preliminary estimate, about seventy percent chance of resolving the crisis.”
“Why only seventy percent?”
“Seventy percent, and that’s assuming our prefects over there don’t turn against us,” General Bai said solemnly. “There’s no way I can completely empty the troops, so the manpower this time might not be sufficient. If we really encounter a betrayal, I would consider requesting support from the empire.”
“I hope your request for support won’t be necessary.”
Qin Ji said, and General Bai just smiled.
“Then, this operation is entrusted to General Bai. You are allowed to mobilize fifty thousand troops.”
Xia Yuxiao said.
Fifty thousand troops seemed like a small part of the active troops of the Great Xia, but to Qin Ji, it was not a small number. The Great Xia had vast borders, requiring troops to guard them, and now a batch of military reforms was to be carried out, so those troops couldn’t be used. Qin Ji had three hundred thousand troops, but unless Xia Yuxiao completely broke with him, she wouldn’t easily mobilize Qin Ji’s three hundred thousand…
Plus the troops maintaining basic stability in various places, after excluding these, fifty thousand was not a small number. Many countries would consider it good to have a total troop size of fifty thousand.
After receiving the order, General Bai immediately prepared for the expedition.
And these deployments were not just a rough strategic concept; everyone gathered in the main hall to discuss the specific military command details for execution…