Due to the chaos of war and the difficulty of travel, it was already seven days later, on the 28th day of the first month, when Xiao Ruxun received the urgent appointment order issued by the Cabinet.
At that time, Xiao Ruxun had already used her position as the viceroy of the four borders to transfer back the main force of 100,000 soldiers from the west of Yulin. She also ordered the garrisons of Xinzhou, Taiyuan, Qi County, Xiaoyi, and Fen Prefecture to be garrisoned. The remaining 50,000 cavalrymen were ordered to march south to Wenquan County, southwest of Xiaoyi.
It had to be said that the situation Xiao Ruxun faced at that time was very serious. The reason why the soldiers in Yulin and Taiyuan obeyed the order and went south was not because of his status as acting governors, but because they were afraid.
Everyone knew how Taiyuan was lost. Those fellows were afraid of losing Taiyuan and had no choice but to retreat from the frontlines, afraid that they would become Wang Shiyang's sacrificial objects or scapegoats.
When they arrived at the frontlines, they found out that Wang Shiyang had already shouldered all the responsibilities and did not drag anyone down with him. At the same time, they heaved a sigh of relief and began to relax. They began to obey Xiao Ruxun's orders on the surface but disobey in secret.
The civil officials of the Daming Dynasty were numerous, and so was the army. Where there were people, there would be Jianghu. This was for sure. Xiao Ruxun was from Ningxia. If the Ningxia soldiers came, they would naturally be very respectful to Xiao Ruxun because he was one of their own.
The border troops of Xuanfu and Datong, the Qi soldiers of Shandong, the Southern soldiers of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the Sichuan and Guangdong soldiers of Sichuan had all fought side by side with Xiao Ruxun on the battlefield in Korea and received the favor of Xiao Ruxun. They would certainly obey Xiao Ruxun's orders.
Although the Liaodong soldiers under Li Rusong had disagreements with Xiao Ruxun, now that Li Rusong had taken the lead in obeying the orders, the Liaodong soldiers and the Jurchen soldiers would naturally obey them.
But other than that, the five towns of Gansu, Yulin, Taiyuan, Ji Town, and Guyuan had no dealings with Xiao Ruxun.
In the Daming Dynasty's army, strangers were enemies. Not to mention where you were from, you were either on their side or an outsider. Outsiders had to be guarded against. No matter how famous you were, it didn't matter if no one saw you.
These border towns all had their own small mountain peaks. They were tyrannical in their own homes all day long, but they were also united against outsiders. This town was wary of that town, and that town was wary of that town. They were wary of each other.
Even the neighboring towns of Great Xuan, Taiyuan, and Yulin were like this, not to mention Xiao Ruxun who was born in the northwestern border town of Ningxia.
Even if you're famous and have glorious battle achievements, you're not one of us. We can't listen to you, or you'll harm us.
This was a habitual way of thinking.
Besides, even though you, Xiao Ruxun, are famous, your position as governor was given to you privately. It doesn't count. Everyone obeyed your orders out of respect for Wang Shiyang, not because you're the acting governor. In any case, when the new governor arrives, you'll have to abdicate, won't you?
Therefore, although these infantry troops were stationed according to Xiao Ruxun's orders, there was a problem with the 50,000 cavalrymen who were ordered to go to Hot Springs Town.
They did come, but they stopped 15 li northeast of Hot Springs Town and did not advance any further. Tai Yuan Town's cavalry and Yu Lin Town's cavalry had split into two groups and stopped to rest. They turned a deaf ear to Xiao Ruxun's orders for them to quickly advance, refusing to obey and repeatedly prevaricating.
The commander-in-chief of Taiyuan Town, Dong Yikui, had already died in battle. Wang Shiyang urgently transferred Dong Yikui's younger brother, Dong Yiyuan, to take over as the commander-in-chief of Taiyuan Town. However, Dong Yiyuan hadn't arrived yet, so the troops of Taiyuan Town were like a group of dragons without a leader. Under the command of the deputy commander-in-chief, Li Wei, there were a few guerrillas defending the town.
When the battle broke out, the commander-in-chief of Yulin Town, Da Yun, had just been transferred away. When Wang Shiyang's order came, the deputy commander-in-chief of Yulin Town, Wang Wei, led the tens of thousands of troops to Taiyuan Town.
Wang Wei's desire for merit and stability in his position as commander-in-chief of Yulin Town was the reason why he took the initiative to attack the north. As a result, Taiyuan Town was lost and the war collapsed. Although Wang Shiyang took the initiative to take the blame, Wang Wei naturally didn't dare to go forward under these circumstances.
The troops of Taiyuan Town also had the same idea. The two troops felt guilty and were afraid that Xiao Ruxun would do something. Therefore, the two troops stopped there and didn't want to go forward, which made Xiao Ruxun very angry.
Xiao Ruxun wasn't Wang Shiyang. He didn't plan to do anything about what had happened before. After all, Wang Shiyang had already taken all the responsibility. Xiao Ruxun still wanted to use these troops to counterattack. He had called them over with good intentions to share some of the credit with them, but in the end, the troops of Taiyuan and Yulin Town didn't know what was good for them!
He had already surrounded the last ten thousand troops of the Northern Barbarians in Hot Springs Town. As soon as the main army arrived, he would immediately give the order to attack, annihilate the Northern Barbarians in one fell swoop and at the same time prevent any of them from escaping. In this way, it would be difficult to accomplish with less than twenty thousand troops under his command.
Xiao Ruxun was also very angry that his good intentions were treated as ill-intent.
"Give them another order! Pass it down in the name of the acting governor! If they continue to shrink back and advance, then punish them for the crime of being too timid to advance! "
Xiao Ruxun sent another batch of messengers.
To be honest, this was the first time he had encountered such a situation after so many years of war. In the past, it was either people like Li Rusong who didn't stop giving orders and only wanted to fight, and they would be obedient after a beating of the rod. Or it was a group of defeated troops without a leader, and they could directly win over the hearts of the people.
But these fellows were organized and had a complete system. They advanced and retreated at the same time. Moreover, he was still the acting governor. These border generals probably didn't think that the imperial court would really hand over the position of governor to him, and that there would definitely be a new civil official to take over, so they didn't take him seriously from the bottom of their hearts.
Moreover, he was from Ningxia Town, and he didn't do them any favors in the previous battles, so it wasn't surprising that the troops of these two towns ignored him.
But now that the situation was tense, Xiao Ruxun was anxious to finish off the last of the Northern Barbarians army. It must be known that the main culprit of the Northern Barbarians' invasion to the south, Prince Tualik of Shunyi, was currently surrounded in Hot Springs Town. He was still waiting to kill the Northern Barbarians, capture Tualik alive, and present him to the emperor as a captive, but these fellows actually shrank back and did not advance!
"Bastard!"
After being brushed aside once again, Xiao Ruxun was eating when he heard the news. He smashed the bowl in his hand onto the ground.
He felt a dark emotion spreading in his heart.
At the side, Li Rusong couldn't stand it anymore, but he also understood why Xiao Ruxun wanted to wait for the army to be ready before going out to battle.
Because it would be a pity if the big fish like Tualik was let go, so he wouldn't easily go out to battle unless he was absolutely certain. Now, he could still wait for a while to deplete the strength of the Northern Barbarians, killing two birds with one stone.
But the troops of Yulin and Taiyuan were too much.
I asked you to come and share the spoils, but you didn't come!
"Commander, why don't you just let I bring the troops to capture those two commanders and take over their military power, then beat them up! How can we let those two cowering scoundrels delay the battle? "
Xiao Ruxun frowned and sighed.
"I'm just a commander after all. Without the imperial court's edict, they won't recognize me as the acting governor. They don't even believe that I'm the governor. They're here because they're afraid of being implicated by the past, so they're here to scout for information. But now, they're obviously obeying my orders on the surface, but secretly disobeying me.
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