vrcanaries Chapter 148 Calculating the Commander's Eight Characters
Chapter 148 Calculating the Commander's Eight Characters
During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han
Liu Che grew angrier the more he listened, his eyes practically spitting fire!
He has always been tough on the Xiongnu! He even mobilized the entire nation to wage war against them!
Let alone forty li, even one li is our territory, how can we just hand it over!
In another timeline, Emperor Yongzheng also learned that his decision was highly controversial, but he was also helpless. It wasn't that he didn't want to send troops to reclaim the territory, but he was simply powerless to do so!
……
Lin Ke sighed silently. At that time, the fourth brother really didn't have much energy to deal with the Annam issue. Perhaps he wanted a better external environment so that he would have time to recover the Northwest.
However, Yongzheng's military capabilities were indeed lacking, and the attempt to recover the Northwest ultimately failed.
……
Lin Ke's voice continued in the live broadcast room: "Although Yongzheng himself was a terrible military man, his military record after taking the throne was quite good. Whether it was suppressing the Qinghai rebellion in the second year of Yongzheng's reign or suppressing the Tibet rebellion in the sixth year of Yongzheng's reign, he did a good job!"
Nian Gengyao: Didn't I do this?!
"Moreover, his policies of recovering deficits and reforms reversed the situation in the Qing Dynasty. At least the national treasury was no longer empty, and 5500 million taels of silver were saved up."
"More importantly, the Qing government's annual revenue could reach as high as 1500 million taels of silver. In the end, what are wars all about? They're all about money!"
"With the financial backing, Yongzheng was ready to deal with the Dzungars. But his father, Kangxi, failed in his three campaigns against the Dzungars. Could he succeed this time?"
A scion of a prominent family in the Song Dynasty: I've discovered he's a master at managing the economy! He turned a loss into a profit in just a few years!
A certain romantic and talented scholar from the Tang Dynasty: But if he weren't good at diplomacy and military affairs, I wonder what the outcome would be this time!?
Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty: ...
"Then, in the seventh year of Yongzheng's reign, another very coincidental thing happened: the leader of the Dzungar Khanate, Tsewang Arabtan, died, and his son, Galdan Tsering, took over the throne."
"After receiving the news, Yongzheng felt that this kind of transition was the most likely time for trouble to occur, so the fourth prince immediately ordered two armies to attack the northwest from the two northwest directions respectively."
"The commander of the western route is our old acquaintance, Yue Zhongqi, the Governor-General of Sichuan and Shaanxi, while the commander of the northern route is Fu Erdan, the Grand Minister of the Imperial Guard."
"From a military perspective, the Qing Dynasty still had a clear advantage, but! Just as Yue Zhongqi finalized the names of the commanders of each battalion, the fourth prince's old habit resurfaced!"
Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty: ? ? ?
Zhu Baba of the Ming Dynasty: We know! You've fallen into superstition! Hahahaha, this is hilarious! The descendants of the Jurchens are truly something else!
First Emperor, Ancestral Dragon: ...
Big Han Liu Zhuzhu (rolls his eyes): ...
"That's right, he's fallen back into his old habit of calculating birth dates and times. He insisted on getting the birth dates and times of these commanders from Yue Zhongqi, saying he wanted to calculate them."
Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (speechless): ...
"After calculating, for example, he said that Admiral Feng Yunzhong's fortune seemed to have passed, and he could only maintain a neutral stance, while General Zhang Yuanzuo was in excellent condition, with his fortune at its peak, and everything was auspicious for him, etc."
"To this, I say, fourth brother, you should just give up! The worst thing you can do before this battle is micromanagement!"
"When Yue Zhongqi received this imperial edict, I wonder if he was so angry that he cursed! After all, this is really outrageous. I think throughout history, there is probably no one else who would do this kind of fortune-telling before a battle!"
Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty: Fourth Prince! What were you thinking?! ...? %... (using very vulgar language)
General Judy: Although luck is necessary in war, I'll admit defeat if I don't lose with this kind of operation!
Big Han Liu Zhuzhu: This is truly eye-opening! How can someone be so obsessed with the Eight Characters (Ba Zi)?!
……
"If the fourth brother could think about the wars in which emperors of past dynasties guided their generals, which one of them won? Unless the emperor wasn't a homebody and was skilled in martial arts, like Zhu Di, Zhu Yuanzhang, and Li Shimin."
"Isn't this just an amateur trying to instruct an expert? But did Yue Zhongqi have a choice?!"
"Yes, he had no choice. After all, Yongzheng was the emperor! Imagine someone who can barely draw a bow with four and a half pulls trying to teach a general who has fought in battles how to deploy troops. Isn't that just too ridiculous!"
Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty: ...
"And when an emperor gets involved in micromanagement, he doesn't just make one mistake; for details, you can refer to Emperor Xuanzong of Tang!"
Emperor Li Longji of the Tang Dynasty (in retirement): ...
"The fourth prince was no exception. In the eighth year of Yongzheng's reign, the Dzungars sent an envoy to seek peace. Yue Zhongqi was afraid that there was a trap involved and wanted to refuse."
"A major event occurred in the capital that year: Prince Yi, Yinxiang, passed away. This was a significant blow to the fourth prince and also weakened his resolve to fight. As a result, he agreed to the Dzungar's request for peace."
"However, his actions are truly perplexing. The fourth prince actually demanded that Yue Zhongqi and Fu Erdan, the two main generals of the Northwest, go to the capital together to discuss future plans with the Dzungar envoy."
"What I don't understand is, why did he recall these two generals? Isn't he afraid that the Dzungars will start another war? After all, without a leader, what are they afraid of?"
Big Han Liu Zhuzhu: ? ? ?
Emperor Zhao Kuangyin of the Song Dynasty: Will this thirteenth prince be so angry he'll come back to life?!
Li Erfeng of the Tang Dynasty: First, he calculated the birth charts of the generals, and then he didn't want to fight anymore because the thirteenth prince died! His military skills were indeed a fatal flaw!
Emperor Zhao Kuangyin of the Song Dynasty: If you ask me, his biggest flaw is his reliance on fortune telling. What's the point of consulting fortune tellers during a war? Isn't that just asking for trouble?!