Republic October 1797.

Dali country, Qujing.

A battle, or rather, a one-sided killing has just ended.

Li Jinghuai, commander of the Dali Expeditionary Force of the Chinese Empire, walked on the streets of Qujing, looking at the buildings and corpses that were still smoking on both sides of the road, while listening to the staff officer next to him explain the results that had just been summed up:

"Sixty thousand enemies were annihilated, of which about 22,000 were killed, and the rest were captured. I don't know how many enemies have fled, but the Duan clan should not be able to reorganize them into an army - the main force of the Dali Kingdom has been destroyed. ”

"Our troops lost 55 killed, 107 wounded, and suffered minor losses."

Annihilated 60,000 enemies with less than 200 casualties.

This kind of brilliant result could not even make Li Jinghuai sigh more, because the Chinese army had achieved even more brilliant results than this, more than once.

It can even be said that in recent years, there have been such a thing or twice a year.

For example, last year's extermination of Jiaozhi, the year before last's rescue of Yongzhou, and another example, this year Li Jinghuai has not received specific news, but he thinks that it must be another brilliant victory in the Nanyang naval battle.

There are too many victories, so it's not worth rejoicing.

What's more, before the battle of Qujing, Dali had been waiting for the results of the negotiations in Jinling from top to bottom, and no one thought that Li Jinghuai would suddenly attack, so that the Qujing defenders were destroyed before they entered a state of combat readiness.

This is also the reason why the Dali army is weaker than the Jiaozhi thieves.

There is a feeling of victory.

However, it is good to win at the minimum cost, anyway, the winner is not to blame, and the loser has no right to blame.

And the emperor ** externally, there is no opponent at all.

Li Jinghuai said as if talking to himself: "It seems that we don't have to wait until the end of the year to destroy Dali." ”

"Militarily there are no problems." His front-line chief of staff replied: "But what about Jinling?" ”

At the beginning of the extermination of Jiaozhi, Feng Sanhu killed all the Jiaozhi envoys, and those people had never been to Jinling at all.

But this time to destroy Dali, Li Jinghuai was relatively soft-hearted and let the envoys pass.

When they face the saint, regardless of whether the emperor accepts Dali's surrender or not, as the commander of the front-line army, Li Jinghuai should not be arbitrary and preemptively launch an attack - the decision should have been with the emperor.

"There won't be much of a problem over there in Jinling." Li Jinghuai shook his head and said very bluntly: "We are soldiers, and soldiers take obedience to orders as their duty, and the order I got before I set out on the expedition was to destroy Dali, and before the new order arrived, I could only carry out this order." ”

"And ......, why should we care what Jinling thinks?"

"Huh?" This sentence shocked the chief of staff.

"You have to remember that our commander-in-chief, the commander-in-chief, is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince." Li Jinghuai said coldly: "If the official family and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince disagree, I support and only support His Royal Highness the Prince." ”

The chief of staff smelled a little danger, but he still subconsciously agreed: "Me too!" ”

"So, don't you think Your Highness has been the crown prince for a long time?" Li Jinghuai grinned, revealing a row of Bai Sensen's teeth: "The empire was actually opened up by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, the Crown Prince is filial and gives up the throne to His Majesty, we have no right to object, but this time is too long, Your Majesty has enjoyed it for so long, it should be enough, right?" ”

"I think the empire needs a real, absolute authority."

"I agree, but ......" the chief of staff thought for a moment, and finally said seriously: "This is the decision of His Highness!" I will never oppose His Highness's decision, even if I feel unreasonable! ”

If you are against it, you are against the prince, then you are the enemy!

The Chief of Staff didn't say this, but his eyes made his thoughts clear.

"Hehe, what do you want?"

Li Jinghuai smiled:

"I mean, His Royal Highness is conducting a national inspection, and I estimate that he will come to Dali at the end of this year, and at that time, I hope we can persuade him together - at least after this inspection is over, the emperor can be the emperor in peace, and we will unite around His Highness and work hard."

It's not that Li Jinghuai didn't think about the military advice, but this thought was just a flash, after all, without Xu Shiyang's approval, he couldn't even take his own guard company with him.

Even if the soldiers below dared to rush into Yanjing with guns, it was estimated that if they were glanced at by the prince, they would immediately shout long live.

This kind of authority is unshakable, Li Jinghuai asked himself, he would not make much difference in the face of Xu Shiyang.

That's his Li Jinghuai's father-in-law!

Then again, Li Jinghuai and Feng Sanhu are both sons and nephews of Xu Shiyang, and it is not difficult to imagine why Xu Shiyang sat on the throne for so long by Xu Muhe.

However, it is one thing to be able to understand, and quite another to be willing to accept it.

"The empire needs a real core for the next big development."

Li Jinghuai said calmly:

"After His Highness has inspected the whole country, he must have a far better understanding of all aspects of the empire than His Majesty who traveled in Jinling—already a lot more."

"Why should the empire have two heads? If Your Majesty likes to play, then you will be promoted to the Supreme and have fun. ”

No one knows that there are only two years left in the five-year agreement between Xu Shiyang and Xu Muhe, but not only Li Jinghuai, but also the military, the cabinet, and the top and bottom of this empire, there are already many people who feel that Xu Muhe has been the emperor for too long and too long, and the real commander in their hearts should be only Xu Shiyang.

It is natural for the grandson to take over after a few decades, but where is the reason for the father to enjoy the fruits of his son's construction.

"If it's just persuasion, I can join you." The chief of staff said seriously: "But if you want to do anything else, don't blame me for sending the gendarmerie." ”

The Chief of Staff of the Front has the duty to direct the gendarmerie to maintain military discipline, and the gendarmerie has the right to detain officers and soldiers of the front who are disloyal in their ideology.

Including high-ranking officials at the rank of lieutenant general.

"Heh, what do you really think I can do? I reckon that if I dare to disadvantage His Highness, my guards will be the first to shoot me, well, no, maybe I will shoot myself first. ”

Li Jinghuai said self-deprecatingly:

"But as the saying goes, there is still a thing between thinking and getting, if we want to persuade the prince confidently, we have to show acceptable results."

"Send troops immediately, before His Highness arrives in Dali, we will pacify the entire territory of Dali!"

According to the plan, after the troops of Guizhou Province and Gui Province under the command of Li Jinghuai met in Qujing, they would divide their forces again, one of which would go straight to Kunming, and the other would attack Wusa in the north, so as to take over the Sichuan Provincial Army, which was confronting Dali and the local Tusi army on the Chishui River.

After that, the nature of the operation was basically detached from the main battlefield and belonged to the category of law and order warfare.