Fan Cun rode his warhorse, returning with Liu Fa.
From the south bank of the Yellow River to the capital, the journey took a full ten days.
After all, following the two continuous pursuits, they had only managed to snatch a single night’s sleep in six days, and nearly all the soldiers were exhausted to the limit.
Now returning to the capital, there naturally was no need to travel so quickly.
Even Fan Cun, after driving the Jin soldiers down from the Yellow River, had slept like a log for two days before slowly waking up.
The faces of all the soldiers were brimming with joyful smiles.
When had they ever won such a great victory?
On the way here, they had killed so many Jin soldiers that it beca numbing—not just the hand wielding the sword, but their very senses had dulled. So much so that, even now, it felt like living in a dream.
Could it be that the invincible Jin soldiers were defeated in such a rout by us?
A 100,000-strong army, and only 30,000 made it back?
How exhilarating!
Before, few soldiers of the Qi Dynasty truly wished to fight.
After all, even after a victory, the rewards went to the nobles above, while they themselves got barely anything. If they lost, they could even lose their heads—how could they possibly want to fight?
Not to ntion that losing was the most likely outco.
But now, not only had they won, but they could also share in a massive amount of spoils, which suddenly raised their morale.
As for Liu Fa, he now respected the new emperor even more.
He had never imagined that a war could be fought in such a manner!
Now he sort of understood why the new emperor had told him that in warfare, montum mattered most.
If they had followed Liu Fa and Zhong Pingyuan’s initial thoughts, it would have rely been the Western Army clashing with the Jin soldiers and the Jin soldiers withdrawing with composure. Although it seed they had lifted the siege of the capital, the Jin’s main force remained undamaged, and within a year or half, they would co southward again.
At that ti, they would have no strategy but to keep on fighting.
Too passive.
The new emperor’s tactics, on the other hand, were quite risky, but at the sa ti, the rewards were enormous!
He seized upon two key points: the Jin soldiers’ contempt for the military strength of the Qi Dynasty’s army and their reluctance to abandon the wealth and supplies they had plundered. Step by step, he set up the snare.
First, he used the Western Army in a standoff, feigning weakness to make the Jin soldiers believe the Western Army would crumble in open field battle and thus unwilling to retreat. During that window, he consolidated the political affairs within the city, centralized authority, and anwhile, issued imperial decrees summoning the reinforcents.
Then, when the Jin soldiers realized the ferocity of the Western Army, the emperor took advantage of their underestimation of the reinforcents, setting up an encirclent, tightening the noose gradually.
And by the ti the Jin soldiers truly grasped the situation, realizing they were trapped, the emperor struck with thunderous force, chasing them to the southern bank of the Yellow River, maximizing the fruits of victory.
This battle was not for the re gain or loss of a city or territory, but to annihilate the Jin’s viable military force!
Liu Fa knew that the Jin soldiers rose up relying on a minority of military aristocrats.
Led by Wanyan Sheng, these military aristocrats had made enormous contributions in the establishnt of Jin Country. Apart from these elite Jin troops, the rest were assorted militias, cannon fodder with little combat ability.
And the greatest vulnerability of the Jin people had always been their small numbers.
This battle decimated the elite forces of the Jin soldiers; now, the problem wouldn’t be whether the Jin would invade the south again, but whether they could even maintain effective governance.
After all, they hadn’t even really assimilated the lands north of Yan and the Cloud region and were constantly dealing with various powers and ethnic groups rebelling.
The great defeat in the battle against Qi would instantly explode the internal conflicts within Jin.
Qi might not even need to launch another attack; the Jin could fall into chaos on their own.
In short, although this battle took huge risks, its every detail was intricately linked—it was heralded as the greatest victory since the establishnt of Qi!
This made Liu Fa deeply admire the new emperor, feeling as though his own understanding of military strategy had ascended to a new level.
anwhile, during the uneventful march, Fan Cun was chatting with Emperor Taizu.
Emperor Taizu spoke dismissively, "Your constitution is still too weak. To be so exhausted after rely chasing for three days."
Fan Cun felt sowhat helpless, "Your Majesty, not everyone is a workaholic like you! Chasing and slashing people without sleep for three days and nights, even an iron man would be worn out.
"Doing this sort of thing too often shortens one’s lifespan!"
Emperor Taizu pondered for a mont and nodded slightly, "Hmm, that’s true. Now that I think about it, Emperor Taizong of Liang, who was hailed for ’his martial prowess that surpassed his age and pacifying the four quarters,’ died at fifty-two, maybe also because he fought too fiercely in his youth."
Fan Cun was a bit surprised.
Huh, even a workaholic like you can be considerate of ordinary people?
The cited Emperor Taizong of Liang was, of course, recognized as the most formidable emperor of all ti. Not only was he exceptional in warfare, but his governance was equally peerless. As long as he lived, most of what he did seed almost miraculous.
Except for so confusion on issues such as appointing an heir, he could be said to have reached the pinnacle of what an emperor could be.
Speaking of illustrious emperors through the ages, Emperor Taizu could undoubtedly be ranked among the top contenders. In a comprehensive assessnt, he was still not quite at the level of Emperor Taizong of Liang. But in one aspect, Emperor Taizu could confidently claim victory—his longevity.
Emperor Taizong of Liang lived to be only fifty-two, while Emperor Taizu lived well into his seventies.
Moreover, in his later years, Emperor Taizu neither obsessed over immortality and elixirs nor indulged in extravagance or despotic cruelty. Apart from reluctantly executing many potential threats to the dynasty due to the early demise of the Crown Prince, it could be said that until his death, he maintained the virtues of an enlightened ruler.
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