Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 462 - 258: Establishment of the Zhao Yi Army

Chapter 462: Chapter 258: Establishment of the Zhao Yi Army

General Deng was stunned by Zhao Haiping’s resounding words.

Clearly, General Deng Yuanjing had not expected Zhao Haiping to come up with such a game-changing strategy.

On one hand, General Deng Yuanjing was an ancient after all, and the Great Sheng Dynasty was a feudal dynasty enveloped in the shadows of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism. Thus, although General Deng advanced beyond his times in military theory, his thoughts were not much different from those of General Han Fuyue.

On the other hand, the situation General Han Fuyue faced was indeed insolvable.

When later generations studied history, they often sighed deeply for General Han Fuyue, and two topics were most discussed.

The first was, if General Han Fuyue had not been recalled by the twelve gold medals initially, could he have indeed accomplished the grand feat of reclaiming Yan Yun and striking directly at the heart of the enemy?

The second was, if General Han Fuyue had refused the imperial edict and even donned the yellow robe on the spot, how far could he have gone?

Regarding the first question, studies by later generations tended to be optimistic.

This was because General Han Fuyue had already shattered the elite forces of the Jin, and even the Jin themselves had been planning to retreat from Yan Yun. The turning point of the great war had passed, and continuing the fight would only lead to diminishing returns and increasingly favorable outcomes.

However, regarding the second question, studies by later generations were overwhelmingly pessimistic.

The reason General Deng said such an action was nearly impossible was also his professional analysis as a dedicated military strategist.

Because his army was not a private force, launching a rebellion required a stable base, a continuous source of troops, sufficient logistical supplies, and a compelling reason to rebel.

And General Han Fuyue had none of these.

As General Deng analyzed, the large army led by General Han Fuyue was entirely supplied by the court. Once the court cut off supplies, the army and the horses would consume enormous amounts, and where would these supplies come from?

Moreover, once a rebellion began, the other armies did not need to encircle and suppress, but simply had to retreat, exposing General Han Fuyue’s army in the midst of the Jin forces, ready to act.

At that time, caught between attacks from two sides, without supplies, and with the soldiers’ morale inevitably scattered, defeat was certain.

Thus, from General Han Fuyue’s perspective, obeying the edict was the only option.

By obeying the edict, first, it would preserve the army without giving the Jin an advantage; second, it would demonstrate his deep loyalty to the emperor and country; third, as long as he survived, there was still a chance for a comeback in the future.

Unfortunately, he miscalculated one thing, the shamelessness of Emperor Gaozong of Qi and Qin Huizhi.

Zhao Haiping had already seen the outcome of returning and naturally did not want to repeat the same mistakes. Even if it meant being abandoned by all, facing defeat and death, he was determined to fight to the end.

If the historical General Han Fuyue had rebelled, then he would not be General Han Fuyue; and if players in the instance followed the script as usual, they would no longer be players.

Even so, the problems General Han Fuyue faced at that time still existed.

How would Zhao Haiping resolve them?

To this, Zhao Haiping’s answer was, "However the Jurchens resolved it, I will resolve it the same way!"

Initially, the Jurchens expanded from the lands of Black Mountains and White Waters with just 2,500 cavalry, and within a dozen years, they launched the Jingping Rebellion.

At this moment, the Jin’s 100,000-strong army had been defeated by my hands. Even if I were left with just 2,500 men, why couldn’t I annihilate Jin and then Qi?

These words left General Deng Yuanjing speechless.

It sounded... quite sensible...

At this time, after all, he was merely a heroic spirit, responsible only for strategizing for the player. The real decisions were still up to the player.

Thus, General Deng could only watch as this slice of history in the instance unfolded in a direction unpredictable to everyone...

Zhao Haiping made up his mind and said to the messenger outside the tent, "Transmit the order, beat the drums, gather the generals!"

...

Not long after, all the generals had arrived.

Zhao Haiping looked around at the generals inside the tent.

These generals were of various types. There were his relatives, Qi Dynasty generals who had brought their troops to join him, former Rebel Army leaders or leaders of scattered soldiers, and also generals directly appointed by the court and controlled by the emperor.

At this moment, the composition of Zhao Haiping’s army was about the same.

There were troops that had followed him through the migration south, others from different armies that had come to join him, those from the Rebel Army, and captives who had been reformed after defeating a puppet army.

In short, the composition of the entire army was quite complicated.

At this moment, Zhao Haiping’s status in the army was no different from that of General Han Fuyue. This powerful army had been trained by him and had also coalesced because of him.

Without him, the various factions within this army would quickly fall apart.

If Qin Huizhi and the treacherous emperor used some tactics again to deliberately divide and disintegrate this army, then its collapse would come even faster.

Once Zhao Haiping, the supreme commander, was gone, and without the collective goal of reclaiming lost lands, this army would quickly corrupt and decline, completely losing its combat effectiveness within just a few years.

And all this, Zhao Haiping did not need to rack his brains to think about; he had already clearly seen what happened after General Han Fuyue’s death in history.

At this moment, the generals in the central military tent all looked towards Zhao Haiping, unsure of his intentions.