RPAGF Chapter 7201: This is the only way.
Chapter 7201: This is the only way.
Chapter 7201: This is the only way.
"I thought you would agree, but I didn't expect you to refuse." Guo Jia, who had returned, looked at Chen Xi with a hint of disappointment and said.
“If you hadn’t come to me and had instead carried out the order directly, I would have been skeptical and wouldn’t have refused outright,” Chen Xi said earnestly. “But since you’ve come to me for advice, it’s impossible for me to agree. There are some things that are beyond our comprehension.”
"It's a matter of methods, isn't it?" Guo Jia said calmly.
Guo Jia wasn't bothered by not gaining Chen Xi's approval, because he wasn't stupid. The reason he came to ask at this point was to determine if the matter could be kept from Chen Xi. If it could be kept from Chen Xi, then even if later generations speculated on this matter, it wouldn't be the mainstream view. But if it couldn't be kept from Chen Xi, then this speculation would become the mainstream view. And this wouldn't affect the historical evaluation of Guo Jia, or to put it more bluntly, Guo Jia didn't care much about this evaluation.
This thing affects how history evaluates an era. In other words, even in the grand and prosperous times created by our predecessors, there are still some completely rule-breaking behaviors that can occur, which can cause great misjudgments by later generations.
In other words, ideals and means, morality and reality, cannot coexist. To achieve a better result, one must resort to tricks, even unscrupulous means, in reality.
Guo Jia had also assessed this point, so when it was about to be carried out, he specifically came to Chen Xi to ask him to evaluate whether it was worth it. The final result speaks for itself. In Chen Xi's eyes, it was indeed not worth it. There was no need for any unscrupulous means. He could achieve the final victory with his own abilities alone. Since that was the case, why bother with tricks!
“Yes, it’s a matter of methods. There’s no need to resort to any means necessary. Punishing those mid-level officers on the front lines who haven’t reached the final stage isn’t that important to me.” Chen Xi looked southwest and shook his head. “They will naturally get their just desserts; it’s just that the time hasn’t come yet.”
Neither Guo Jia nor Chen Xi mentioned the soldiers currently on the front lines, because whether they changed personnel or not, and whether they followed Guo Jia's plan, Li You's plan, or Chen Xi's plan, it made no difference; the soldiers on the front lines would all suffer heavy losses this time.
The only plan that could reduce the losses of soldiers at the front was for Liu Bei to go to the front. All other plans were nonsense. Replacing generals on the eve of battle, replacing half of the mid-level officers at the front, would be a dead end. It would be a miracle if the fighting capacity didn't drop significantly.
It should be noted that even when dealing with Liu Ling, the more than 8,000 elites that Liu Bei and Chen Xi brought were only supplementary backbone personnel. A small number served as middle-level commanders, and most were only used to supplement organizational capacity, rather than directly replacing the previous middle-level personnel.
Because anyone with a brain knows what would happen if a highly organized group like the military suddenly changed its organizational nodes. Such a highly organized group requires its nodes to have not only individual strength, but also the speed of response to superiors and the ability to manage subordinates.
After a change of personnel, there will be a long period of delay in these two aspects: they may not be familiar with their superiors, and they may not trust their subordinates. You must know that on the battlefield, trust is sometimes more important than strength. After all, you can't expect every veteran to be like Jiang Guang, a pure steel beast who completely ignores trust and can charge into the enemy's lines without worrying about being killed.
Therefore, Chen Xi's plan, Li You's plan, and Guo Jia's plan are all essentially unable to avoid this point. Under the current circumstances, only Liu Bei's plan can reduce the losses.
Chen Xi deeply admired Liu Bei because Liu Bei was willing to take risks to do the right thing, and that was undoubtedly the right thing!
“Essentially, what we’re doing is no different. Whether it’s Wenru’s extremism, your methods, or my conciliation, there’s no real difference. As long as we touch the middle level of the Ganges at this stage, even more people will die.” Chen Xi sighed and said, “If the Kushan Empire can give us three years, or rather, if we can give ourselves three years, Wenru’s plan is perfectly acceptable, and your plan still won’t pass.”
Guo Jia's plan was perfect, but the problem lay in its perfection. When several very difficult problems are solved in one go by a single operation, that operation will inevitably be carefully analyzed, and Guo Jia's plan could not withstand such analysis.
Therefore, even if there is time, Chen Xi will not use Guo Jia's plan. He will only use it as an auxiliary tool and let Li You do this under other reasons, along with the reasons created by Guo Jia, instead of doing this based on suppressing the rebellion.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have three years, and you can’t delay for another three years either. If some things are delayed any longer, the subsequent troubles will be enormous.” Guo Jia sighed. As the first strategist of the Ganges Legion, he was well aware of the problems that would arise after the army was purged.
As for Chen Xi, he had a deeper understanding of this kind of thing. Putting aside everything else, just recalling the Soviet army after Stalin's purges, facing the early offensive of the German army, those battles that annihilated millions of soldiers, the Soviet Red Army's combat effectiveness was so low.
What a joke! To put it bluntly, wasn't that caused by the collapse of the Soviet Red Army's organizational capacity due to the Great Purge? Moreover, Chen Xi could clearly sense that if Li You and Guo Jia's methods were to be followed completely, then the entire Ganges Army would basically have to replace most of its middle-level personnel, which would be as severe as the Soviet Red Army after the Great Purge.
Even though Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, and others were not captured, the middle-ranking officers and deputy generals were all affected, so what are the follow-up issues...?
It would be no less than the Soviet Red Army after the Great Purge. Although Oswin's Kushan elite troops were not German, and Oswin did not have to face the extreme cold and blizzards of Eastern Europe, the losses would be absolutely devastating if a real battle broke out.
This is also why Chen Xi is currently handling the Ganges region with leniency and not allowing any cleansing. It's not just for the sake of those former acquaintances, but also for the ordinary young men and women from the lower classes who come to the Ganges to earn some merit and enjoy the benefits of this era.
Regardless of their motives, these people have come to the front lines to fight for their country and are prepared to die for it. If they can be allowed to live, then they should be allowed to live.
After all, it's not easy for anyone. These ordinary, ubiquitous young men are the foundation of this country. Under the leadership of the current Ganges middle-level leaders, these young men will definitely suffer casualties this time, and the casualties will be incomparable to those before. However, the scale of such casualties will definitely be less than the casualties brought about by changing generals and middle-level leaders.
Just like how the Soviet Red Army would have suffered less losses at the start of the war if it hadn't been subjected to the Great Purge, and the German army wouldn't have been able to easily break through its defenses. But conversely, if the Great Purge hadn't happened, those Soviet marshals who should have been purged might have made peace with Germany and overthrown the Soviet Union. So the choice was actually quite clear.
The situation in the Han Dynasty was infinitely better than that faced by the Soviet Union. However, Chen Xi was unwilling to let things escalate to that point. He did not want too many soldiers to die, nor did he want those middle-ranking officers who had once protected him with shields and spears to be treated so undignifiedly. That was why he was dragging things out, waiting for this battle to pass so that he could accumulate enough cards in his hand and then solve the problem all at once.
To be honest, this method isn't sophisticated; it's purely a matter of having immense power to pull off such a stunt.
However, even with just this one event, many people have questions about it.
Some questioned the current behavior of the mid-level officers, some questioned the tacit operations of the Bachu family, some were preparing for the dignified end of their former brothers, and so on...
In short, there were all sorts of options, and Chen Xi couldn't say anything. He could only choose the least extreme solution.
“Yes, there are no more than three years left, so when you urged Lord Xuande to go to the Ganges, although I hesitated, after much consideration, I still agreed.” Chen Xi sighed and said, “Because after all the plans, only Lord Xuande going to the Ganges could barely keep the situation under control and allow the middle-level officers to act according to the original plan.”
Just like during the Great Purge of the Soviet Red Army, Lenin was resurrected and personally carried out the task. This prevented the purge from escalating and gave him enough prestige to guide those less involved to make the right choices, thus ensuring the fighting capacity of the Soviet Red Army.
During Stalin's time, Lenin was already dead, but now, Liu Bei is still alive. As the object of worship for veterans on the front lines, and as people who are more or less aware of who they truly admire and worship, those people will restrain themselves to some extent. In this way, many people can be saved.
“Actually, retreating to Varanasi to set up defenses now is the most correct course of action,” Guo Jia sighed. “To be honest, if we were to engage in battle at that salient point of Varanasi, we might face enemies from three directions, but that strategy is not feasible.”
“Yes, Wen Ze can’t even come up with this plan,” Chen Xi sighed.
This is the biggest problem at present. Prayerga was captured by Yu Jin. Even if Yu Jin only considered himself, it is unlikely that he would be willing to give up Prayerga directly. Moreover, many of the mid-level officers stationed in Prayerga were also unwilling. Losing territory was a very serious problem in the Han Dynasty.
Therefore, when faced with the suggestions from the rear, this group presented a series of conditions, and in the end, the rear abandoned the suggestions.
To reiterate, strategists may seem important and powerful, but the commander-in-chief is the one who truly has the decision-making power. Strategists essentially only have the power to make suggestions; how to fight and where to fight are all matters for the commander-in-chief.
If they're giving you face and think your plan is good, they'll use it. But if they're not giving you face and think your plan is mediocre, people won't listen to you at all. Even orders from the rear are only of reference value to the front lines.
It's important to understand that even during the War of Resistance Against Japan and the War of Liberation, the People's Liberation Army required frontline generals to take initiative, actively assess the situation, and make correct judgments. Of course, it was also said that the Party commands the gun and that the Central Committee issues military orders, etc. But the latter is just the general direction. How to fight on the front line still needs to be delegated to the front line, because opportunities for combat are fleeting.
Therefore, since ancient times, generals and commanders have always held the greatest power on the front lines. They are the ones who issue orders, while others merely offer suggestions.
Guo Jia, Li You, Fa Zheng, Xu Shu, and others were able to wield their advisory authority as effectively as issuing orders when they were at the Ganges River. This was largely because their advice was correct, and they had excellent relationships with the frontline commanders, with no conflicts between them. Furthermore, the frontline commanders were reasonable and knew how to fight. If they had been dealing with those eccentric individuals, whether strategists or generals...
The strategist must be the one who died!
If they're being polite, they'll call you strategist; if they're not, they'll just execute you for disrupting morale.
So when faced with Yu Jin's resistance to retreating to Varanasi and his detailed explanation of the reasons, Liu Bei and Chen Xi didn't say anything and just let Yu Jin set up defenses there. However, Yu Jin made a very important point in his reply: abandoning Varanasi now directly shows a clear mentality of being cowardly before the battle even begins. They should fight a battle first, and if they can't win, they can retreat.
Yu Jin's talent for leading legions gives him a great advantage in chaotic battles and retreats. In his view, if he can't win, he can simply retreat. Even if morale is low and people are wavering, the super-strong defensive power brought by the steel will not be affected by the morale of the troops.
Willpower is reflected in reality along with talent, but willpower is not weakened by talent. So, there is still a minimum level of combat power.
Even if Oswin were a superman, he couldn't possibly make the fighting ability of ordinary Kushan soldiers reach the level of ordinary Han soldiers. Putting aside everything else, their steel armor alone was something that ordinary Kushan veterans couldn't handle.
Dual talents, or even the Royal Guard level, do greatly influence an individual's combat power by reflecting their will in reality. But how many dual talents and Royal Guards are there?
How much of the entire Kushan Empire can afford to give Oswin to fight this war?
Okay, even if Oswin, this superman, were to gather all the Kushan's dual talents and the Royal Guard, in such a decisive battle, the Royal Guard would only number around 20,000 to 30,000. Half of them would have to be used to fill the legion as the backbone. The remaining Royal Guard that could serve as the legion would probably be Oswin's main force. The other officers and soldiers would probably be a mix of Royal Guard and dual talents.
In other words, in the final battle, the largest force used to cover the battlefield was still the ordinary first-talent regular soldiers. At this level, how should I put it, Yu Jin did not think the Han Dynasty would lose at all. The Han Dynasty was basically perfect at the first-talent level.
The adaptive and armored strategy is currently unbeatable at the first talent level, especially after Zhu Jun introduced adaptive mixed units, namely shield guards, greatsword shield guards, and crossbow shield guards. The mixed first talent shield guards can easily wipe out any first talent elite legion. This is the victory of armor.
To be honest, these mixed elite shield guards are considered mid-tier even among dual-talent legions. Legions that can withstand such attacks are among the top-tier dual-talent legions. The problem is that the Han Dynasty has many of these; they are the basic legions used by the Han Dynasty to expand its battlefield.
While the performance of top legions is indeed crucial in imperial warfare, as they can be quickly broken through enemy lines under the command of renowned generals, and then penetrate and tear the lines apart, thus achieving a breakthrough and directly shattering the enemy's lines.
If a large-scale army can suppress the enemy, then even if the top-tier army manages to penetrate and cross the enemy lines, other armies will find it difficult to keep up with the pace of the top-tier army and thus will be unable to break the enemy's battle lines.
In fact, this is also the tactic that Yu Jin uses most often at this stage, because he is good at fighting in chaotic battles, so he often does this kind of thing. In addition, the shield guards have a very high margin for error, which allows Yu Jin to often achieve excellent results with this style of play.
Therefore, after carefully understanding the situation at the front and the mentality of officers at all levels, Yu Jin felt that this battle was still worth fighting and that a direct retreat was impossible. Putting aside everything else, the current situation was not suitable for retreat. The Han Dynasty had won all the way, and if they suddenly retreated, not only would the soldiers at the front be unable to understand it, but even Yu Jin himself could not understand it.
So let's be realistic and assess the strength of these Kushan elites first. If they're not strong enough, it's better for the Han dynasty to keep the Prayaga in their hands. If they are strong enough, even if Yu Jin can't beat them, they can still run away.
In any case, regarding the claim of banning, he had already made arrangements for his escape route. If he really couldn't defeat Oswin, he would quickly lead his main force in the Prayaga region to retreat while fighting, and he had already ordered the construction of a large number of fortresses within a 200-kilometer range between Prayaga and Varanasi.
Of course, such fortresses are meaningless against a large army, since the Ganges is a plain that people can easily bypass. However, they are still good for stalling for time.
As for the issue of the army's cloud aura, Yu Jin said that Xu Shu had already accumulated a batch of super-model cloud aura over a long period of time, which could be used to protect the army during its retreat, so there shouldn't be much of a problem.
These detailed reports and arrangements gave Liu Bei and Chen Xi a sense of helplessness, but also a sense of security; Yu Jin was indeed a very reliable guy.
However, as the saying goes, it doesn't matter if we can't win; the Han Dynasty can afford to lose. But it's better to avoid rushing in to your death. What we need right now is for Yu Jin to stall for time.
"Master, there is urgent intelligence from the Ganges." Just as Chen Xi and Guo Jia were talking, the Chen family's steward came to inform them urgently.
I can't get up, I absolutely can't get up, sigh.