Nick stared blankly at the battle report in front of him, which was full of bitterness and heartache. What was supposed to come finally came. Although he has never had the habit of regretting what has happened, this time Nick truly realized the cruelty of war. Thirty thousand men were wiped out in ashes just because of one of his decisions.
Only then did Nick realize that his decision to send troops to Liujiatun to seize this key point was actually the stupidest decision. The purpose of seizing the key point was to ensure that the army went north. And if the army really wanted to make up its mind to go north, why not do it all at this time? The army decisively abandoned the city? This two-step approach was completely a compromise decision between my inner desire to give up Qinghe and the Prime Minister's request to ensure Qinghe, but it was this decision that led to such serious consequences. Nick, who was left alone in the room, looked into the distance through the light mist floating in the coffee cup. The strong aroma of coffee now had no appeal to him. The convulsions after waves tore at the depths of his heart and face. The confusion revealed has not been seen for countless years.
The gains and losses of Liujiatun are no longer important to Nick now. What is important is that the loss of the 30,000-strong army is another big blow to the confidence and fighting spirit that was finally built up. The Prime Minister has sent letters repeatedly asking to ensure Qinghe, which shows that the domestic nobility They have joined forces to force the prime minister into a situation where he cannot retreat. At this point, he can only obey. The military is subordinate to politics. As an old soldier and a military commander in charge of the overall situation, Nick sees this point more clearly than anyone else. Although he has always adhered to the principle of administrative rather than military service, he knew that in the empire, if the prime minister did not fully support him, once the short-sighted nobles took control of the power, the army would have no choice but to die on the bed in mediocrity. Well, instead of that, Nick would rather choose to die vigorously, so that he could always write a vivid note in the enemy's military history or his own history.
No matter what, since Li Wufeng helped him make this determination, he could only go on this path. However, the loss of the 30,000 troops was really unacceptable. Although there was some fault in Chirif's command and he underestimated the enemy, but The main problem still lies in his own mistakes in decision-making. It would have been nice if he could have made up his mind from the beginning, but looking back on it now seems worthless. Nick sorted out his thoughts and tried to restore himself to his original calm and peaceful attitude. mentality.
"Well done, Jin Chen. This time, the Nanjie Locke Front finally took a breath of bad breath on behalf of the people in the northwest. Zhan Botao was given full responsibility for the defense of Liujiatun and its surrounding areas, and the Kaman people were locked up in Liujiatun. To the south, I want to see where Nick's 70,000 to 80,000 people are fleeing. This is called beating the dog behind closed doors!" Although it had been more than a day since he received the battle report, Wu Feng was still immersed in the joy of this crucial victory. , after all, it is crucial to lock Nick, who is regarded as the undefeated genius of the Kaman people, to death in Qinghe, so that he will never be able to stand up again. This battle is crucial.
"Your Highness, in fact, my performance in this battle was not as good as His Highness praised me. This Golden Roc Medal is a bit deserved for me. I think the main reason for this is the situation in Kaman. This is caused by the general climate. The Kaman people suffered such a big loss. As you said, Gomez was almost forced to hang himself by the nobles in the Kaman Empire. He could only barely deal with the nobles by ordering the military to firmly guard Qinghe. Pressure, this is also the key to the defeat of the Kaman people in Liujiatun." There was no arrogance on Bo Jinchen's face. In his own opinion, this was just a normal interception, but due to some External reasons affected the trends of both parties, allowing our side to gain the upper hand.
"Without Gomez's brutal interference in the army's tactical arrangements, my subordinates are thinking of following Nick's own wishes, probably to completely abandon Qinghe Pinglu and return to Yulin to set up defenses. In that case, if Nick personally leads the army back north, I I think the outcome of this battle will be completely different. And once these 100,000 troops really return to Yulin, we will be much more passive in the subsequent battles."
Bo Jinchen's words should be said to be in line with the actual situation of this battle, but Wu Feng had his own considerations. The looting of Yinchuan and Qingyang by the Kaman people was a great loss to the Western Xinjiang regime and himself in terms of credibility and popular support. A big blow. Both himself and the Xijiang regime were in urgent need of a victory to reverse the negative impact, and the Liujiatun battle happened to meet this opportunity. In fact, this battle did have far-reaching implications for the entire second phase of the campaign. influence, so from all aspects, he must make the brilliant achievements achieved in this battle known to all people in Western Xinjiang.
"Jinchen, you don't have to be too humble. Just because you can order the troops to take the first step, you deserve this Golden Roc Medal! If you give the Kaman people an extra day or two, they can easily attack Liujiatun." Stand firm. If our cavalry wants to break through their defenses, we don’t know how much more it will cost. If we want to pull out this nail and close this door, our Western Xinjiang Army will at least lose less than the same price. And now we We defeated 30,000 enemies with less than 3,000 men. Could it be said that the more than 20,000 troops of our Western Xinjiang Army’s preserved division are not worth a few Golden Roc Medals?!” Wu Feng leaned forward and leaned against him. In the chair, he laughed loudly: "Jin Chen, don't worry too much. Do you think it's a bit strange to get the first Golden Roc Medal from the Protectorate of Western Xinjiang just after you joined our Western Xinjiang camp? Are you afraid of other colleagues? Jealousy and jealousy? Hehe, the purpose is to make them jealous. If you have the ability, you can earn it yourself. If you don’t have the ability, just stay here and cool off! But you can rest assured about this. Whether it’s jealousy or jealousy, our officers and soldiers in Western Xinjiang will never do it. Because of this, he will bring his emotions into the war. If this happens, I'm afraid he won't be able to wear the medal on his chest, and the noose will be put on his head!"
Bo Jinchen smiled bitterly. If he said that no one would envy him for receiving such an honor, then of course no one would believe it. Not to mention that he had just joined the Western Xinjiang and surrendered to the Taiping Army. Even Zhan Botao had already joined the Western Xinjiang. Some people are dissatisfied with the fact that a general whose family is quite influential in the northwest of Xinjiang received the third-level Golden Roc Medal. They think that he was just lucky enough to catch up with this battle. If it had been anyone else, he would have achieved such results. However, Bo Jinchen, who had been among the senior leaders of the Taiping Religion for a few days, certainly knew that the political significance of this battle was more important than the military significance. Cong Wufeng personally ordered the Government Affairs Office to have major newspapers and periodicals in Western Xinjiang immediately publish the news. The details of the Liujiatun victory were published on the newspaper, which shows that they attach great importance to this matter. They also specially asked the Government Affairs Office to invite some reporters to interview the more than 10,000 Kaman prisoners captured. The significance behind such a high-profile publicity and exaggeration can be seen. Just imagine. If he refuses again, he will inevitably make His Highness the King of Qin unhappy. But for pushing himself to such a high position, he can only be more careful with his tail between his legs.
"Okay, Jinchen, I don't think we need to waste our energy discussing this matter. The procedures for your and their awarding of honors are already in process. I hope that the efficiency of the people at the Military Affairs Administration will not be too low. We'd better Let’s focus more on the next stage of the war. Zhan Botao has three army infantry divisions guarding Liujiatun, and a Sixth Cavalry Regiment to assist. I think Nick is unlikely to draw any more from his limited troops. The troops have gone north, and what they need to face now is probably the Kaman people from the north. However, the Kaman people may not be able to organize an effective attack wave in a short period of time. You better think about our next strategy, you and I tonight Go and attend the welcome and celebration banquet prepared by Grand Duke Allen for us. I think Grand Duke Allen and the others will be very interested in hearing this idea."
Finally returning to the topic, Wu Feng is also considering this issue. Since Nick's tens of thousands of troops have been locked in Qinghe Mansion, and his first army has also marched towards Anyuan, the Jerok Defense Forces who were originally eager to recapture Fanlin People started to make noise again, and the word "recovery" became the word Wu Feng heard most in the past two days. Even Anne, who accompanied him to visit and inspect Jerok, probably couldn't resist his father's persuasion, so he made an exception and put down his airs to ask himself to think about it. The possibility of regaining Fanlin.
To be honest, Wu Feng has not not considered the possibility of regaining Fanlin. Retaking Fanlin can force the Kaman army in Yulin to voluntarily give up all the results of Kaman's southern expedition and return home. However, there is support from Yulin to the east of Fanlin. , and Maili is personally in charge. Although there are only 50,000 soldiers, according to intelligence, during the period when Fanlin City fell into the hands of the Kaman people, its city defense facilities have been improved a lot, and the loss of Jiama was even more serious. This has sounded the alarm for the Kaman people. Would it be a good choice to attack Fanlin at this time
Watching Bo Jinchen leave, Wu Feng closed his eyes and pondered a little tiredly for a while before he softly said to Qin Shuangying, who had been massaging his head next to him: "Go and invite Duke Jacques to come in."
"You mean, Barins and the others are showing signs of instability?" His eyes suddenly flashed, Wu Fengyi shook his head as if in disbelief, "My Lord Duke, do you think they have a chance of success in doing this? Unless they are crazy."
"Your Highness, we cannot underestimate their potential power. Maybe they don't dare to do it now, but that doesn't mean they won't do it in the future. Lan Meng is also very close to them now. I believe the intelligence provided to you by your intelligence officer will confirm it. This." The humble look on his face was as if he was meeting a king. As the chief minister of the Jerok Principality, he knew very well that everything he had now was given by the young man sitting opposite him.