Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 831 - 690: Unmovable as a Mountain, Silent as a Forest

Chapter 831: Chapter 690: Unmovable as a Mountain, Silent as a Forest

"Damn it!"

Dasiming, upon witnessing the scene below, dared not stay in Zhongxiang Government any longer. He immediately gathered the heavenly levels in the city and left using the Ziwu Optic Disk.

She knew that Master Zhongliu had been spying from outside, waiting to settle the score with her. And with the fall of Zhongxiang, unable to leverage the city’s defensive Arrays, Dasiming would never choose to confront Master Zhongliu here.

If she fought with all her might, she might not necessarily lose.

Yet, Dasiming dared not get injured now, for she was the linchpin holding Xiangyang together. If she and Master Zhongliu both suffered, then County Prince Fenyang, Li Xuan, and Shaofu, Yu Jie, would unabashedly slaughter their way into the army ranks of Xiangyang Fan.

On the route of retreat, Dasiming turned to Lord of Baihu Palace, Shi Tianze, and earnestly asked, "Why is this happening? I have seen the son of Prince Xiang handling the military affairs quite systematically and rewarding his subordinates generously. How could it have come to the entire city surrendering?"

The treasury of Xiangyang Fan was ample, and this time they brought Silver Coin and gold totaling five million taels.

The son of Prince Xiang was not stingy at all, and allocated all of it for the army use.

Lord of Baihu Palace, Shi Tianze, responded with a wry smile, "Palace Master, however hefty the reward, it still can’t compare to one’s own life and property."

He said solemnly, "Palace Master, you must know, in the past when the Great Jin invaded southward, it was unstoppable in the Central Plains. With merely thirteen cavalrymen, they could rout a Zhao army of ten thousand and then pursue them for a hundred li. They claimed that the Jurchens are unstoppable when they number less than ten thousand, and invincible when they number over ten thousand."

Dasiming couldn’t help but fall into contemplation. Although the incident Shi Tianze mentioned was unrelated to today’s battlefield, she roughly understood his implication.

Lord of Baihu Palace, Shi Tianze, looked towards Zhongxiang City in the back, "The current state of the County Prince Fenyang is just like that. Over the past month, he has consecutively won several battles, annihilated Shulv Ping in the Battle of Chengde, triumphed over the famous general Liang Heng at the battle of Chaobai River, captured Tuotuobuhua alive in Xuanfu, and quelled the rebellion of Prince Ning within two days. Therefore, his momentum has built up, and his spirit swallows thousands of miles like a tiger.

Now that this man is advancing with 350,000 heavy troops via waterways, who in Zhongxiang’s defending army wouldn’t fear him? The bombardments from the Yangtze River naval gunships have also made many Zhongxiang commanders realize that the city cannot be held for long, leading to the eventual surrender being a natural outcome. The County Prince Fenyang, with the demeanor of a Divine General and carrying an overwhelming force like a giant wave, naturally frightens the soldiers and civilians in an extraordinary way.

Under such menacing force, how many would dare to challenge it? Who would want to throw away their lives resisting his invincible military might? This, too, is military strategy—not fighting yet conquering the enemies’ morale."

Lord of Qinglong Palace, Si Shenhua, upon hearing this, scoffed, "Brother Shi, you’ve left out a phrase, haven’t you? Now, the people’s hearts are with Jin, and the momentum is with Jin; thus, the County Prince Fenyang naturally meets no obstacles. What we are doing is like going against heaven, moving upstream, going against the fortune of the times—caught in a dilemma, with no progress in either direction, and the journey is far from over."

Shi Tianze looked sideways at Si Shenhua with some dissatisfaction, but he didn’t retort.

That was because, harsh as Si Shenhua’s words were, they spoke the truth.

In the fourteen years following Tumu Fort, despite internal strife and external threats, the Jingtai Emperor administered governance favoring the lower social echelons, sparing the populace to such an extent that the lower class still favored The Court.

Dasiming’s expression had since returned to calm, "Let’s return to Xiangyang."

She thought if Zhongxiang couldn’t be held, then there was no point in continuing to defend Yicheng behind it.

Yicheng, being built near the river and surrounded by plains, definitely couldn’t withstand Li Xuan’s massive army of 350,000 land and water forces.

Indeed, the day after, when the gunships of the Yangtze River naval forces approached Yicheng, the city was already filled with white flags before a single cannon was fired.

The defender of Yicheng was the confidant of the son of Prince Xiang and had indeed attempted to resist. However, his control over the Yicheng garrison was almost non-existent, and he eventually committed suicide at the residence of the Youji General in the city.

By this time, Li Xuan’s army of hundreds of thousands was surging forward like a landslide, swiftly conquering places like the Qianhu Office in Yi Yang, Nanzhang, and Lumen Mountain to the south of Xiangyang, where they submitted to his forces like bending reeds in the wind, capturing all in an instant. Wherever the army’s spearhead pointed, it swept through like autumn winds through fallen leaves, sweeping across a thousand miles.

The counties that the son of Prince Xiang had occupied over a month were lost in just a few days, clean and clear.

It was not until this great army reached Xiangyang that their unstoppable momentum was halted.

Xiangyang is a formidable city of the world, not only with its tall and robust walls but also a very wide defensive moat, the widest part of which spans two li, hence it is called ’iron-cast Xiangyang.’

During the Later Zhao period, it was built as a military fortress. During the Mongo-Jin period, the Court paid extra attention to this ’hub of seven provinces, connecting the river to the sea, controlling the heart of the world,’ and fortified it multiple times.

Especially after Prince Xiang was conferred here, even greater attention was paid to the city defenses.

After the fall of the Zhongxiang Government, the son of Prince Xiang, Yu Qiyong, abandoned any hope of resisting step by step, line by line. He gathered all his capable troops in Xiangyang and concentrated all his artillery here.

Dasiming, learning from the lesson at Zhongxiang, not only borrowed 2,000 soldiers from Prince Yi, Yu Jianshen, but also scattered a large number of Taoist boys from the Jinque Palace among the troops of Prince Xiang’s army to help Yu Qiyong supervise the war.

These Taoist boys, who were like servants in the Jinque Palace, actually had strong cultivation, generally all at The Third Door, totaling over seven hundred.

So, when Li Xuan led his great army to the city, Xiangyang was already fortified by Yu Qiyong as tightly as a sealed drum.

Inside the city were exactly 140,000 troops; all the walls were like bronze and iron barriers, with ample grain and military supplies, and exactly fifty Hongyi Cannons aimed at the river. From various directions on the walls, there were also a total of more than two hundred cannons.

By this time, inside Li Xuan’s sleeve, there were several dozen letters of capitulation.

However, he merely glanced at Xiangyang from a distance and knew that the city was not easy to take, unlike the previous instances where it would fall after a single assault.

He also couldn’t use the gunships to bombard the walls, as the Yangtze River naval gunships were equipped with flanged cannons. These cannons, structured somewhat like revolvers, were good for rapid loading and firing, but their range and power were much inferior to that of the Hongyi Cannons.

Even in the age of ironclad warships, those battleships often found themselves at a disadvantage when confronting shore batteries.

Li Xuan straightforwardly abandoned his plans for a rapid capture of the city. He first dispatched a troop to take possession of Fancheng, across from Xiangyang, and then dutifully set up camp around Xiangyang to prepare for a siege.

Compared to Xiangyang, Fancheng’s defenses were much weaker, earning it the saying, ’iron-cast Xiangyang, paper-mache Fancheng.’

In fact, Fancheng too was a stronghold; the issue was that the city was located on the northern bank of the Han River, while the principal defenders of Xiangyang were of the Southern Dynasty, thus giving out the impression of being ’paper-mache.’

The son of Prince Xiang had not put much effort into Fancheng, where the garrison was less than two thousand men. Thus, the city had already raised the surrender flag before Li Xuan’s troops could even arrive.

In the following days, Li Xuan did not rush to attack the city but devoted most of his energy to "reorganizing the army" and "fortifying the camp."

Why is it that some historical commanders could consistently win with an army of thirty to fifty thousand, but when commanding hundreds of thousands, they often suffered defeats by smaller forces?

A large part of the reason lies in the decline of organizational power.

Commanding thirty thousand troops against an enemy is vastly different from commanding hundreds of thousands, requiring several times more organizational ability.

At this time, only forty thousand troops under Li Xuan’s command were directly trained by him; the rest were cobbled together from various sources.

The army included one hundred and forty thousand soldiers from Ning Wang’s Sin Army, twenty thousand Liaodong Cavalry, thirty thousand Nanjing Forbidden Army, forty thousand Huguang Standard Soldier Camp, and thirty thousand Huguang Weisuo troops.

After moving forward to Xiangyang, his army gained an additional seventy thousand troops who had surrendered from Xiangyang.

It was clear that Li Xuan’s control over his vast army had weakened significantly.

He couldn’t even recognize all of his fourth-rank officials and above, let alone assert control or organize effectively.

Such an army might press on with momentum, but was not suited for gritty battles.

Although people of the time regarded Li Xuan as a military deity and considered him one of the most illustrious commanders after Xu Tiande, the King of Zhongshan, and Chang Shiwang, the King of Kaiping, in the Jin Dynasty.

But Li Xuan had one advantage; he knew his capabilities, neither overestimating himself nor becoming complacent.

He acknowledged that many of his victories had relied heavily on new weapons and tactics.

In terms of military doctrine mastery, he might not measure up to many commanders of his era; he hadn’t even fully studied military texts like "Art of War" and "Six Secrets of War."

His understanding of troop deployment and formations of this era largely came from memories of his youth, teachings from Li Chengji, and his own explorations.

Therefore, Li Xuan spent time traveling between military camps, understanding each unit’s leadership, the morale of the troops, the military situations, and so on, attempting to gain control over his forces; meanwhile, he followed the example of Zeng Guofan—building strong defenses and engaging in dull warfare.

The core of the latter’s military philosophy was to secure an invincible position for oneself.

Li Xuan not only focused on fortification, commanding all units to build high walls and deep trenches, but also personally managed the logistics to ensure ample supplies and smooth operations.

This was not problematic since the operation was conducted along the river. Duan Dong’s naval forces held absolute supremacy on the river.

This nearly four-hundred-thousand-strong army was delayed outside the city for more than ten days before they commenced the formal siege.

Li Xuan remained calm and cautious, advancing step by step.

He first spent five days building three earthen hills and artillery platforms two miles from the city walls, placing one hundred and twenty Red General Cannons and over three hundred flanged cannons on them.

Then, with the covering fire of forty thousand rifles from Shenji Camp and the intense bombardment, he drove Ning Wang’s Sin Army and the surrendered troops of Xiangyang to gradually fill in the defensive moat,

At that time, the coldness in the eyes of Dasiming within Xiangyang City slightly eased,

In her view, the Xiangyang rebel troops had finally stemmed their losses and were no longer collapsing at the slightest touch as before. The morale of the troops within the city had also stabilized somewhat.

If they had managed to hold out for twenty days, then holding for another half year should pose no issues.

However, at her side, Lord of Baihu Palace, Shi Tianze, couldn’t help but smile wryly, thinking that the County Prince of Fenyang truly lived up to his reputation as an unbeatable military deity!

In his view, the County Prince of Fenyang was the most formidable opponent any commander could have—managing armies multiple times larger with stability and careful planning.

This man knew when to take risks and when to be prudent in his military strategies.

He could definitely be described as "unmovable as a mountain, yet cautious as moving through a forest," overwhelming with mighty momentum, leaving no opportunity for his enemies.

Shi Tianze had initially thought of suggesting to the son of Prince Xiang a surprise night raid from the city, but after Li Xuan’s army arrived on the first night, he abandoned the idea.

While Xiangyang City seemed to have held out for twenty days, any commander with a keen understanding of military tactics could see that all they could do now was await their end with eyes closed.

Meanwhile, outside the south of Xiangyang,

Dou Zilong, formerly the Zongbing of Nanchang and right wing commander of Ning Wang’s forces, while idling, looked up at the city walls and exclaimed, "Prince Fenyang is truly benevolent."

His deputy commander responded with a smile, "Isn’t that the truth? Not only are Prince Fenyang’s tactics exceptional, but he is also truly commanding."

Originally, filling the defensive moat was an undertaking certain to inflict heavy casualties, as historically recorded in numerous sieges.

All past commanders would forcibly conscript civilians to fill the moat since the lives of civilians were considered cheap.

However, with the help of earthen hills and artillery platforms on three sides of Xiangyang, the Jin Army managed to suppress the city wall’s gunfire, sparing most of these penal soldiers from death or injury.

Dou Zilong and his accompanying surrendered troops, when initially chosen as ’forlorn hope’ expected to be sacrifices to the cannons or sent to their deaths,

Yet, contrary to his expectations, the County Prince of Fenyang employed his troops with caution, and even showed considerable care for these penal troops.

Although their food and provisions were inferior compared to Shenji Camp and other military units, it certainly wasn’t mistreatment.