Therefore, the Ming army captured a large number of civilians in this battle.
So much so that we haven’t finished counting yet!
Apart from the prisoners, the most important thing left is the capture of war horses and weapons and armor.
"In this battle, our army captured a total of more than 7,000 war horses and 10,000 slave horses."
"Tens of thousands of armor sets were seized, but most of them were damaged or even beyond repair!"
"There are countless swords, guns, arrows, spears, etc., as well as 43 red cannons used by the Qing army, and more than 120 small cannons of various calibers..."
The reason is that most of the armor seized this time was damaged and could not even be repaired.
That's because most of these armors were ripped off from the Eight Banners soldiers of the Qing Army.
When the Ming army finally surrounded and killed the Eight Banners soldiers of the Qing army who were stubbornly resisting, they used artillery to attack and fire.
Many Eight Banners soldiers of the Qing army were torn apart by solid artillery shells and shotguns even with their armor on.
Such armor has no repair value at all!
The biggest gain of the Ming army in this battle, apart from beheading Shang Kexi, King of Pingnan, and annihilating all the Eight Banners soldiers under his command, was actually the horses.
Whether it is a war horse or a rogue horse, they are all precious to the Ming army!
Zhu Hongyu sat behind the case and asked.
"What about our army's battle losses?"
"What are the casualties?"
The official who came to report pondered for a while, and then spoke.
"During this battle, our army suffered a total of nearly 5,000 casualties!"
"Among them, more than 2,340 were killed in battle; more than 1,650 were disabled, and more than 1,000 were slightly injured!"
Zhu Hongyu nodded slightly and said.
"Post-war casualties and disability pensions must be implemented as soon as possible!"
"In terms of food and treatment, try to favor the wounded barracks!"
After that, he arranged for everyone to go to work.
"Report to His Majesty the Supervisor State that Xinhui Kaicheng has surrendered!"
"The common people in the city took the heads of the Qing guard generals and county magistrates, and took the initiative to ask for surrender to the Ming Dynasty."
A messenger rushed into the account and reported to Zhu Hongyu.
Zhu Hongyu nodded slightly after hearing this unexpected news.
"well done!"
"Go down and rest!"
The messengers withdrew, but the smile on Zhu Hongyu's face remained.
Not long after, another messenger ran in from outside. Zhu Hongyu's expression changed and he asked.
"Did someone surrender again? Or was there another place dedicated to the city?"
The messenger gasped and spoke.
"Back, back to Your Highness!"
"It's the news from Luzon over there!"
"Princess...Princess has given birth to a boy!"
"My Ming Dynasty has a national foundation!"
When Zhu Hongyu heard this, he was stunned.
Calculating the time, it is already November of the 17th year of Yongli. Taking into account the time it took for the news to come from Luzon, it is indeed time for Li Lingxiu to give birth!
Then, what followed was waves of uncontrollable ecstasy.
Zhu Hongyu even burst out laughing uncontrollably.
We just won the decisive battle of Xinhui last night and beheaded Shang Kexi, and today the news came that the princess was giving birth!
With double happiness coming, there is no room for him to be unhappy!
…
The Ming army won the decisive battle in Xinhui, and the Qing Dynasty Pingnan King Shang Kexi was beheaded by the formation. The news that all his troops were wiped out spread quickly as if they had wings.
After cleaning up the battlefield in Xinhui, the Ming army returned to Guangzhou City with a large number of prisoners and seizures.
The entire prefectures and counties around Guangzhou were decided by word of mouth in an instant.
Or local officials simply cut off their braids and changed their flags to the Ming Dynasty.
Or the local landlords and gentry incited the local people to revolt, captured the state capital, chopped off the heads of loyal Manchu officials, and offered soil to the Ming Dynasty in exchange for surrender.
As Zhu Hongyu had guessed, after the Ming army fought the decisive battle with the main force of the Qing army, there was no need to attack the city.
The place must be determined by word of mouth!
The whole of Guangdong changed hands quite quickly.
Zhu Hongyu led the team back to Guangzhou and was not in a hurry to spread the military government's ruling order in Guangzhou.
Instead, we prioritize military expansion!
The Liberation Army set up the Guangzhou Recruit Camp in Guangzhou City and began large-scale recruitment.
We also gathered refugees near Guangzhou, distributed land to the refugees, and resettled them in farmland.
It is not feasible to allocate farmland directly to refugees. Even if we do not care about the grudges of rice promotion and rice enmity, directly allocating land to ordinary refugees will affect the morale of the Liberation Army.
Therefore, the method adopted by Zhu Hongyu was to cultivate the fields and then collect rent!
Only when those people pay rent for a certain period of time can the fields become theirs.
Of course, in the process of reclamation, seeds and farm tools were all provided by the court.
But it’s a loan and must be repaid!
At the same time, the Ming army’s military operations did not stop!
Along the entire Pearl River waterway, the Ming army attacked cities and villages with the support of local forces, and defeated the scattered Qing armies that resisted one by one.
In just over a month, most of Guangdong changed its flag and returned to the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, for the time being, the only place where the military government can effectively implement its rule is in the Pearl River Delta.
Even further away, most are local autonomous!
When appointing local officials, unless the surrendered officials have a bad reputation or are greedy, they will be liquidated.
Under normal circumstances, the former Qing court officials who surrendered to the Ming Dynasty were directly retained.
In those places where the former Qing court officials were liquidated, Zhu Hongyu selected local leaders who raised flags to return to the Mingyi Army, or local famous gentry to serve as local officials.
It embodies a basic principle, if you hang out with me, you will get an official position!
For now, there are only two things the military government has to do at the local level, one is to recruit soldiers, and the other is to collect taxes.
As for talking about other things, let’s leave it aside for the time being.
Of course, the main reason is that Zhu Hongyu doesn't have time to sort out internal affairs now.
Although the Ming army defeated the main force of the Qing army in Guangdong, the Qing government still had many more troops.
Heavy troops can be mobilized from Fujian, Hunan, Guangxi and other directions at any time to press them over.
For Ming Dynasty, the most important issue at present is the military issue.
As for local governance, there is no need to worry about this.
You can wait until the military threat from the Qing army is completely eliminated and then sort it out slowly.
In the past, when Zhu Hongyu heard people say that "compromise is the art of politics", he didn't feel much about it, but now he understands it deeply.
He wants to bring political power to the countryside, crack down on local tyrants and evil gentry, curb land annexation, and liberate peasant tenants...
Lots of ideas!
But the reality is that in order to resist the military pressure from the Manchus, Zhu Hongyu had no choice but to compromise with the landlords and gentry.
Because without the assistance of the landowners and gentry class.
No matter what, it was impossible for Zhu Hongyu to convert the manpower and material resources of the Guangdong occupied area into the war potential of the Ming army in a short period of time.
To put it bluntly, without the support of the landlord class and the gentry class, the Ming army would not have been able to fight the decisive battle of Xinhui.
How could it be possible to successfully capture most of Guangdong and actually control the Pearl River Delta, the most prosperous area in Guangdong, in just over a month?
I'm afraid we are still attacking one city after another!