Novellv Chapter 2705 Promotion and Title: Duke of Hedong
Chapter 2705 Promotion and Title: Duke of Hedong
Chapter 2705 Promotion and Title: Duke of Hedong
Xue Rengui's 200,000-strong army split into several routes, and with Ji Chengfu's main infantry and cavalry forces proving ineffective in the short term, they surged towards Dongye Road and Jianye Road in a grand and imposing manner.
After that, Yue Fei's million-strong army officially crossed the Yunling Mountains, and the entire Wangbei Road was under the shadow of Yue Fei's iron hooves.
Then Bai Qi, almost at the same time Yue Fei entered Wangbei Road, split his forces into two groups. One group cooperated with Xue Rengui to occupy Dongye Road and Jianye Road, while the other group entered Wangbei Road and pressed towards Xingwu Road.
Within a short month thereafter, the three routes of Dongye Road, Jianye Road, and Wangbei Road had all fallen into the hands of the Han army.
At this moment, it is only July, not yet August.
The campaign began in April, and in just over three months, such tremendous results were achieved. Moreover, the cost was not too high. Even the Han Dynasty did not expect the campaign to conquer Qian to be so successful.
Some Han generals even believed that the Great Qian was so weak that even without the cooperation of the Ming Dynasty, the Han Dynasty alone could take it down.
Of course, most of the Han generals were still very clear-headed and hadn't become that arrogant. If it weren't for Zhu Ming's cooperation, and it was just their own side, the outcome of this battle would have been completely different.
It should be noted that the number of troops mobilized by the Daqian Dynasty on the southern front was not much less than that on the northern front. If it weren't for Zhu Ming on the southern front, the Daqian Dynasty certainly couldn't have mobilized all of its troops there, but it could have mobilized at least 400,000.
If the northern front of the Great Qian Dynasty were to receive an additional 400,000 troops, would Xue Rengui still be able to influence the entire war situation as before?
At that time, would the Han Dynasty be able to sustain the war against Qian with its existing troops? It is highly likely that more troops would need to be mobilized to participate in this war.
However, if further troop deployments are made, it could very likely lead to the collapse of the western front.
Therefore, the high-ranking generals and strategists of the Han Dynasty were still clear-headed. Without Zhu Ming's cooperation in the south, this battle would not have been something that the Han Dynasty alone could have won.
In fact, the reason why the Han Dynasty was able to make such a smooth progress in this battle was not only because of its well-trained and brave soldiers, but also because of the surrender of the Tian Qi forces before the battle. This allowed the Han Dynasty to open up a second front in a logical way.
Without this strategic move, if the entire Han army had concentrated its forces to conquer the Tianling Mountains, given their treacherous terrain, they might still be struggling to advance beneath the mountains, let alone achieve the current results.
Just as it was incredibly difficult for the Northern Barbarians to conquer Tianlang Pass or Zhongxing Pass, it wouldn't be much easier for the Han Dynasty to break through the Tianling Mountains head-on.
With Yue Fei's troops now officially in the territory of Daqian, the Luo Wang (Net of Heaven) has found it much easier to transmit messages. After all, when it comes to long-distance communication, the use of troop transport vehicles makes it much faster than human or carrier pigeons.
Even if the Luo Wang (a powerful online organization) could mobilize martial arts masters, or even grandmaster-level warriors, to deliver messages when necessary, let alone grandmaster-level warriors, even if a celestial-level warrior were to deliver a message, it still wouldn't be as convenient as a warhorse.
Even without considering the consumption of internal energy, the consumption of physical strength must be taken into account. Using manpower to transmit messages over long distances is simply impractical and cannot compare to the power of horses. This is precisely why the status of Celestial-level martial artists in the Northern Barbarians is much lower than that in the Central Plains and the Southern Barbarians.
While horsepower could never match the troop transport vehicles that travel day and night over long distances, the connection made by troop transport tracks made it much easier for the Luo Wang to cross the Yunling Mountains to deliver messages. It was precisely because of this that, by the end of August, news of the capture of the three major provinces of Daqian—Dongye, Jianye, and Wangbei—had already reached Wang Yu, who was currently in Shenglan Province.
At the end of August, Shenglan Road was in the hottest part of summer.
When Zhu Yuyan entered the main tent with the message from Luo Wang, Wang Yu was studying the sand table.
Even though the markings on the envelope already indicated that this was a piece of good news, Wang Yu was still quite surprised when he saw the contents.
It took Wang Yu quite some time to process this unexpected piece of good news.
"Take this out and give it to Yuwen Chengdu, so he can spread this message throughout the entire army." Wang Yu handed the urgent report back to Zhu Yuyan.
"We must let the whole army know that on the southern battlefield, three routes have been captured, and Xue Rengui and Yue Fei fought well."
Zhu Yuyan responded and turned to leave. Not long after, the voice of a messenger came from outside the tent, one after another, from near to far, spreading the message throughout the entire camp.
"Great victory! Great victory in the south! Dongye, Jianye, and Wangbei have been captured!..."
First, those near the central camp heard it. Some froze, some looked up, and some stopped what they were doing and pricked up their ears. Then the news swept through the entire camp like the wind, from one tent to another, from one group of people to another.
The soldier wiping his sword stopped, the cook feeding the horses straightened up, and the general patrolling the camp reined in his horse. No one spoke; everyone listened, listening to the voice repeat itself over and over.
Wang Yu stood outside the tent, watching all of this. When the messenger's voice gradually subsided, he turned to Yao Guangxiao beside him and said, "Draft an imperial edict."
"General Xue Rengui, who led the army, won two great victories, defeating the famous general Ji Chengfu of the Great Qian Dynasty and conquering three routes in succession. Xue Rengui's achievements surpassed those of all the armies. He was enfeoffed as the Duke of Hedong, with a fief of three thousand households, a reward of five hundred gold coins and one hundred bolts of brocade. This proclamation was immediately issued to the entire army."
Yao Guangxiao responded by laying out paper and picking up a pen. Wang Yu paused for a moment, then added, "Furthermore, the merits of Yue Fei, Bai Qi, and other meritorious generals will be recorded together once the fighting has subsided."
"This time, I will first allocate a batch of gold and silver from my private treasury to purchase chickens and sheep to reward the troops under Xue Rengui's command."
The news spread quickly again, this time even more excitedly than before. Everyone was risking their lives, fighting on this battlefield, all for the sake of promotion and advancement.
The emperor's decree was to tell all his soldiers that as long as they made meritorious contributions in the Han army, they would not be overlooked, and all the glory and wealth could be earned through their military achievements.
The thought that they might receive gold, silver, land, or even a noble title after making contributions, even if it was just a minor one, stirred the blood of all the soldiers.