Ever since the Eldest Prince entered Ying Capital City, marking a new phase in the war, the atmosphere within the Left Army had been grave.
To establish strict military discipline, three assistant commanders and nine commanders were executed. The Eldest Prince, who had been gentle on the journey, personally oversaw the executions, wielding the Sword of the Son of Heaven.
Afterwards, one commanding general was beheaded for failing to observe commands.
Though the commanding general of a local garrison could not compare in status or significance to those in the great Northern or Southern Armies, he was still a commanding general!
He was executed without a second thought.
Several hundred people were implicated, all sentenced to penal servitude, specifically road and bridge construction.
It was then that the military leaders of the Left Army truly realized that the Eldest Prince genuinely had the blood of the Ji Family flowing through his veins!
The Ji Family was ruthless, not only towards foreign tribes. For centuries, Ji emperors had succeeded their fathers and personally led expeditions into the wilderness. Consequently, Yan State hadn't had to fret about the expenses of supporting the Clans for a long ti; the n of the Ji Family fought so many battles that only a precious few survived to return.
Internally, the Ji Family was also ruthless. The current Emperor had trampled the powerful families, causing countless heads to roll. Noble families that had thrived for centuries and esteed literati clans were uprooted entirely.
The Crown Prince's matriarchal clan, and those of other princes, had seen several of their own clans decimated by imperial decree.
Deng Jiuru was no fool. His ability to lead his military-aristocratic family testified to his competence. However, people, swayed by changing circumstances and their positions, often suffer from an unavoidable sense of overconfidence, always believing they will be "the special one."
This had led him to beco complacent at first.
The Eldest Prince didn't lay a hand on Deng Jiuru. When the Prince began to consolidate his control over the Left Army, Deng Jiuru sensed the unusual shift in the wind and imdiately panicked.
The old general stripped naked, prostrated himself before the Prince's tent, whip in hand, pleading for punishnt. Where was any trace of the ruffianly arrogance he'd displayed when, feigning madness, he had falsely used the Prince's na to dispatch vanguards and demand grain and n from local authorities?
Others initially thought the old general was attempting a gambit, feigning retreat to pressure the Prince, but he went a step further. When the Eldest Prince erged with a smile and asked, "General, have you perhaps misunderstood Wujiang?" the old general imdiately shaved off his beard and hair, demonstrating his submission and atonent.
This was an act of utter self-abasent, demonstrating an almost ruthless level of submission; he had figuratively thrown his own face into the mud and trampled on it repeatedly.
Precisely because of Deng Jiuru's prompt and total capitulation, the Eldest Prince's purge of the Left Army did not provoke any significant backlash. Internally, the Yan Army maintained a harmonious front for the ongoing war.
So astute observers, or those simply watching from afar, couldn't help but marvel. It was no wonder the Deng Family had survived the Emperor's 'trampling of the great houses.' Their ability to 'see rain on a clear day'—their keen foresight—was truly admirable.
At the sa ti, many couldn't help but feel a little perplexed.
The developnt of great families and their marriage alliances with the Royal Family had always been considered the best way to secure future wealth and peace. How had it, in the current dynasty, beco a death warrant?
The disciplining of the Left Army yielded significant results. Under the Eldest Prince's "thunderous" actions, the Left Army had indeed beco as "docile as a lamb." As the new phase of the war comnced, the Left Army, from top to bottom, diligently executed every order issued from the command tent.
Thus, it was said that killing couldn't solve a problem entirely, but it could make that problem seem less pressing.
.....
「At this ti,」
Deng Jiuru, in the Left Army's main command tent, had just received news from the front. A contingent of his forces, originally assigned to a feigned attack, had found enough ferryboats and managed to cross to the opposite bank ahead of schedule. Simultaneously, the rebel army stationed on that bank had unexpectedly offered to surrender.
This was tantamount to throwing open the main gates of the Wang River defensive line and welcoming them in.
Yet Deng Jiuru didn't rush to order an advance. Instead, he maintained the pace of sending reinforcents to the opposite bank and ordered the forces that had crossed to build fortifications and consolidate their positions. Simultaneously, he dispatched reconnaissance parties to scout the surrounding area on the far bank.
He also quickly sent a ssenger to the central command tent to report this military developnt to the Eldest Prince.
This wasn't because Deng Jiuru had been thoroughly cowed by the Eldest Prince's display of authority, to the point of becoming timid and hesitant on the battlefield. As a veteran general and the head of the Deng Family, how could he lack genuine ability?
His current caution stemd from an old general's instinct.
Things were proceeding too smoothly, so smoothly that it made the old general uneasy.
Of course, this golden opportunity lay before him. To change the entire war situation with a single battle and secure the greatest honor was naturally vital for the Left Army in its current predicant.
But no matter what, he had to report to the central command and hope for their support.
News was constantly arriving from the opposite bank.
Batch after batch of armored soldiers and warhorses were sent across the river, and fortifications were steadily being erected on the other side. Reports from the scouting parties also ca back repeatedly: on the far bank, no traces of enemy ambushes were found.
Several commanding generals and assistant commanders under his command were all requesting to press the attack. After all, if they didn't seize this opportunity to decisively breach the enemy line, and the wild people reacted by sending troops to plug the gap, everyone would be forced back into a stalemate.
However, Deng Jiuru still didn't issue the order for a large-scale river crossing.
He made no response to his subordinates' repeated inquiries.
User Comments
0 comments from readers