September 27th, it was a crisp autumn day in Qingzhou Province.
Inside the city, scholars, merchants, and common people went about their daily lives as usual; not a trace of war could be smelled here.
However, the council hall presented a different scene. The battle report from Yizhou would take at least ten days to arrive, and by the time it reached Qingzhou Province, Yizhou would have already been besieged by barbarians for ten days. Whether the city had fallen was also unknown.
After receiving the battle report, Xiao Ming immediately summoned his civil and military officials to prepare for this barbarian invasion.
“Your Majesty, the barbarians’ conquest of Songzhou must be in collusion with Tibet, otherwise the barbarian army could not have appeared so openly outside Songzhou City.”
Zhan Xingchang was the first to step forward and speak after receiving the news.
Xiao Ming frowned deeply. Tibet was the most unstable factor on the southwestern frontier of the Great Yu Empire. Since the founding of the Great Yu Empire, it had fought Tibet at the border three times, with two victories and one defeat. The most recent war was ten years ago.
At that time, Luo Quan personally led his army and attacked the Tibetan camp by night, killing fifteen thousand Tibetan soldiers before frightening the Tibetan army away.
Fei Ji then sighed and said, “Your Majesty, Great Ancestor established the capital in Chang’an precisely to awe foreign barbarians like Tibet and the Golden Tent Khanate. Now, Qingzhou Province is thousands of li away from Tibet, and its deterrent effect on Tibet is far less than before. It is understandable that Tibet has now been bribed by the Golden Tent Khanate.”
Niu Ben had long been impatient. He said, “You civil officials are too indecisive. Now the barbarian army has reached Yizhou City. The only course of action is to dispatch a large army to eliminate the barbarian army outside Yizhou City.”
Pang Yukun said, “I believe the barbarians’ intention this time is plunder. Winter is approaching, and the barbarians, having suffered in previous years, will surely plunder enough supplies before winter arrives. The battle report states that the barbarian army is primarily cavalry, specialized in plunder, which also clearly shows their intention.”
The ministers spoke one after another, each with agitated expressions, speaking passionately. Compared to the Chengqing Hall in Chang’an five years ago, the ministers at this time were more focused on discussing how to deal with the enemy, rather than being terrified and at a loss.
Xiao Ming was secretly pleased with this change. The current Great Yu Empire, under his rule, was vastly different from when Xiao Wenxuan was on the throne. The repeated victories in battles against the barbarians had made the ministers shed their fear of them.
Looking at the ministers in the council hall, Xiao Ming said, “Regardless of whether the barbarians are colluding with Tibet, the urgent matter now is to drive the barbarians out of Bashu, lest the thirteen prefectures of Yizhou Province suffer a barbarian pillage.”
The barbarians’ passage through Tibet was utterly unexpected by everyone in the court. At this moment, Xiao Ming recalled that in contemporary history, Kublai Khan once used Tibet as a route to bypass the heavily guarded northern defenses of the Song army to attack Dali. This current event bore striking similarities.
After a moment of contemplation, he continued, “Immediately issue my decree, ordering Lu Fei to lead two tens of thousands of troops to reinforce Yizhou, and Qi Guangyi to lead his three tens of thousands of cavalry to go together, and by all means, annihilate the invading enemy.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Niu Ben said solemnly.
Having settled this matter, Xiao Ming continued, “Although the affairs of Yizhou Province fall under the jurisdiction of the Grand Council, all you beloved ministers must provide full assistance and not delay the war.”
Fei Ji, Pang Yukun, and the other civil officials immediately bowed in affirmation. They knew in their hearts that the current imperial court was no longer the imperial court of the past.
Now, in the imperial court, ministers each performed their respective duties: those responsible for government affairs handled government affairs, those responsible for fighting handled fighting, and those responsible for laws handled laws.
So this battle in Yizhou Province was ultimately the responsibility of the Grand Council. Their only role was to cooperate with the Grand Council by providing grain and fodder and conscripting common people.
The war was urgent, so Xiao Ming said no more. After assigning tasks to the ministers, he had Niu Ben stay and dismissed the other ministers.
After everyone left, he said to Niu Ben, “This time, you will deploy ten thousand musketeers equipped with new firearms to Yizhou to dampen the barbarians’ arrogance.”
Niu Ben’s expression shifted slightly. The six thousand musketeers Xiao Ming spoke of were all equipped with Conqueror Muskets. In the past six months, the military machinery department had delivered a total of fifteen thousand Conqueror Muskets to the army.
Currently, there was still a large batch of firearms being modified in the military machinery department. They were preparing to gradually equip the entire Great Yu Empire army with these long-range rifled muskets.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Niu Ben nodded heavily.
He could discern from Xiao Ming’s tone how angry he was at this moment. Yizhou Province was known as the “Land of Abundance,” an important production area for raw silk, grain, and tea in the Great Yu Empire.
Moreover, the autumn harvest was about to begin. The barbarians’ disturbance this time would hinder the Great Yu Empire’s recovery and also affect its foreign trade.
“Also, take advantage of this war to deploy twenty thousand men to Juehua Island. I want the barbarians to know that it’s not just them who can burn, kill, and plunder,” Xiao Ming said, gritting his teeth fiercely.
This barbarian sneak attack by way of Tibet caught him off guard. Although he had always been wary of Tibet and had stationed thirty thousand conscripted cold weapon troops in Songzhou, these thirty thousand cold weapon troops were no match under the offensive of sixty thousand barbarian cavalry and eighty thousand slave soldiers.
Niu Ben’s eyes were sharp. He said, “Your Majesty, I believe it is time to expand the army. A mere one hundred thousand troops are simply insufficient to defend the Great Yu Empire’s vast territory. Even if these troops cannot be equipped with firearms, using armor and swords is still better, otherwise, the incident in Songzhou will constantly repeat itself.”
Xiao Ming’s brows furrowed deeply. At this moment, he deeply understood how easy it was to conquer the Great Yu Empire, but how difficult it was to defend it.
Globally, the Great Yu Empire was undoubtedly in the worst geopolitical environment. Compared to island nations like Britain and Japan, which did not border any countries, the Great Yu Empire was surrounded by numerous neighboring countries. Most importantly, not a single one of these countries was benevolent.
To prevent these surrounding barbarians from raiding and leaving, he had to establish a ring of fortresses across the Great Yu Empire’s vast territory to defend against invasions.
Therefore, local defense alone would consume a large amount of the Great Yu Empire’s military expenditure. This was also one of the reasons why successive dynasties rarely launched distant expeditions. In an agrarian society, a little domestic turmoil would deplete funds, and distant expeditions would only lead to faster decline.
In contrast, Britain and Japan had no such worries. They simply did not need to defend their homelands; their armies only needed to be used for offense, and their offensives were mostly for plunder.
Simply put, fighting wars was beneficial to them. The more they fought, the richer they became; the richer they became, the more they fought.
“Then how many troops do you think the Great Yu Empire should maintain at present?” Xiao Ming asked.
“If there were no firearms, the Great Yu Empire would need at least one million two hundred thousand troops. Currently, in my opinion, at least five hundred thousand troops are needed: over three hundred thousand for defending our territory, and over one hundred thousand for conquest.” Niu Ben said slowly