As Liang Shicheng was killed in the mutiny, the river defense of the small southeast imperial court immediately collapsed, and the garrison troops in the cities along the river surrendered one after another.
Everyone knows that the Song Dynasty is completely over!
The Ming Dynasty's river defense troops stationed in Huainan took the opportunity to cross the river to take over the city.
It only took seven months for these new Huainan troops to be reorganized.
Wang Yuan took a thousand heavily armored guards and went south to reorganize the army as an envoy of the Qing army. With the cooperation of Fang Mengqing, the envoy to the left of Huainan Province, he killed and exiled more than 2,000 people to complete the matter. In addition, Zhu Guoxiang was enthroned.
Opportunity to pardon tens of thousands of soldiers who participated in the mutiny!
And because they were about to attack Zhong Xiang and be on guard against Song Huizong, the Huainan New Army retained a total of 60,000 men.
Among these 60,000 people, nearly half were from the old Song Xiang army. In addition, there were a large number of bandits, bandits, gangsters, and rangers.
The old Song Xiang army was mainly composed of the grain army and the gang army. To put it bluntly, they were the transportation troops that escorted the grain and Huashi gang.
During Wang Yuan's reorganization, those who disobeyed orders were booby-trapped and killed if they could. Those who could not be booby-trapped were directly sent to charge into the formation with heavy-armored guards. Those who escaped into the mountains were also suppressed and appeased, luring their generals to kill the rebel leaders and accept their recruitment.
The combat effectiveness of these 60,000 Huainan new troops is extremely weak, with an armor coverage rate of less than 30%, and the armor is mainly made of leather, cloth, and paper armor.
But it was placed on the north bank of the Yangtze River, which was more than enough to defend against the small imperial court in the southeast, because there were also some well-matched opponents on the other side of the river.
Now, they crossed the Yangtze River in large numbers and marched southward, easily occupying various states and counties.
Moreover, the discipline was relatively strict, and there were no troubles. At most, it was just a few sergeants who bought and sold by force. Because they made trouble in Huainan last year, those who took the lead in disobeying orders were either dead in their graves, or were exiled to southern Sichuan to deal with the barbarians.
"General, Zhejiang Zuobuzheng has arrived!"
"Follow me out of the city to meet you."
No matter how crazy Li Bao was, he didn't dare to neglect him. He had just made a surprise attack on Hangzhou, and the imperial court appointed Zhejiang Zuobu envoy, and the person who came was Zhang Gen's younger brother Zhang Pu.
Arriving outside Jiangning City with his own soldiers, Li Bao saw a civil servant and immediately stepped forward to salute: "I have met Zhang Buzheng."
Zhang Pu took Li Bao's hand and said: "The general is really a peerless general. He was able to capture the southeast so easily. It is really a blessing to our Ming Dynasty."
Li Bao said: "It's still early to capture the southeast. Jiangdong Road only occupies half, and Liangzhe Road only occupies one-third. Although all the state capitals have issued notices, local officials are mixed, and many of them took advantage of the chaos to cause trouble.
people."
"As long as we can spread the word, it will be easy to manage from now on." Zhang Pu said with a smile.
"That's what Zhang Buzheng said." Li Bao agreed with a smile, but he was actually quite disdainful.
Because Zhang Pu belongs to the die-hard Cai Party and is Cai Jing's charge general.
Zheng Juzhong was away from the court for half a year when Ding You went to mourn. When he came back, he found that his base was gone. Most of his close associates were impeached and dismissed from office by Zhang Pu.
However, Zhang Pu also had a very good reputation, because all the people he impeached were corrupt people, and he did so under the guise of cleaning up redundant officials.
For example, when Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty served as a military advisor and captured Quzhou, the bastard prefect was impeached and dismissed from office by Zhang Pu.
Li Bao looked down upon Zhang Pu's background in the Cai Party, and felt that this person could quickly rise to power in the Ming Dynasty by leveraging Zhang Gen's influence.
In fact, Cai Jing has a large number of capable ministers and officials!
Regardless of their personal ethics, they are capable of doing things and are much more useful than Wang Fu's gang.
After Cai Jing stepped down and Wang Fu came to power, he began to oust Cai Dang frantically and got rid of many officials who could still do their jobs, which put a heavy foot on the accelerator for the demise of the Song Dynasty.
Including Li Gang, strictly speaking, they are also Cai's party.
Moreover, some of Zhang Gen's actions were in coordination with Cai Jing, intentionally or unintentionally, but they were also actions that benefited the country and the people (such as requesting the abolition of the Huashi Gang).
Although Zhu Ming did not question Zhang Gen face to face, he seriously suspected that a large number of officials were forming gangs under the banner of Cai Jing and were secretly supporting Prince Zhao Huan.
The factors that caused this situation were, firstly, that Zhao Kai passed the examination as a prince and secondly, that Zhao Kai's son was ranked higher than the prince when he was canonized.
Both incidents poked holes in the hearts of upright ministers, and behind Zhao Kai stood Zheng Juzhong, and Wang Fu inherited Zheng Juzhong's political assets. The civil servants who had placed their hopes on the prince had no choice but to side with Cai Jing.
Then he competed with Wang Fu and Zhao Kai.
Cai Jing's own attitude changed several times.
At first, Cai Jing supported the prince Zhao Huan and asked his confidants Liu Bing and Liu Huan to serve as the prince's sacrifice. As a result, the two brothers were demoted one after another.
Cai Jing was too frightened to get involved, but he had to compete with Zheng Juzhong and Wang Fu, so he acquiesced to certain officials who relied on him to cause trouble.
When the struggle was at its most intense, it was Song Huizong who personally took action and had the prince's family members executed for treason.
Cai Jing was horrified and completely gave in.
Afterwards, Cai Jing returned to the prime minister, claiming that he was blind, and letting his son take full power in government affairs. This was also an attempt to get rid of these princelings, which resulted in the collapse of the hidden princeling alliance.
By the way, almost all of Yuwen Cuizhong and Yu Wenxuzhong's family belong to King Yun's party members.
In addition, Zhu Ming recruited Ge Shengzhong, whose brother Ge Cizhong was also in King Yun's party.
The two groups of people who were confused because of the dispute over the reserve position are now officials in the new Ming Dynasty. They did not take any action on the surface, but in fact they secretly took sides. King Yun's party was severely suppressed because the prince
The party’s boss is now Zhang Gen!
Of course, they can no longer be called princelings and princes. They are just a continuation of the struggle for the throne of the previous dynasty.
"Where did the fight to the west end?" Zhang Pu asked.
Li Bao said: "The entire territory of Chizhou has been occupied. Quan Bangyan stationed troops in Jiangzhou. When he learned that the Jiang defense on the flank collapsed, he moved at least 20,000 people to Pengze."
Zhang Pu smiled and said: "I can write more than ten letters in hand to persuade Jiangxi officials to submit to the imperial court and cut off Quan Bangyan's retreat. When the time comes, he will naturally be willing to lead his army to surrender."
This was Ju Ming's original intention. He wanted to pacify Jiangxi through the Zhang family. Otherwise, why would he throw Zhang Pu to Zhejiang?
The administrative divisions of the Song Dynasty are very interesting. Jiujiang, Hukou, Nankang, Duchang, Poyang, Fuliang, Shangrao, Guixi, Qianshan... these places were not classified as Jiangxi Road, but were classified as Jiangdong Road.
Strictly speaking, Zhang Gen is not from Jiangxi, but a serious Jiangdong person.
"Then the chief envoy will be overworked." Li Bao pouted. The prince sent a civil servant to persuade him to surrender, and his achievements in conquering the southeast would be greatly reduced.
But it doesn’t matter, I still have a backup plan——
Defeat Fujian!
…
Jiangzhou (Jiujiang).
In Jiangxi and the western part of Jiangdong Road, Quan Bangyan is no longer the top leader.
Because Song Huizong didn't trust him very much, he sent his immediate superior, Song Huizong's cousin Xiang Ziyi.
Fortunately, Xiang Ziyi did not give random instructions, and the two of them cooperated quite happily.
"Is there no news from Your Majesty yet?" Quan Bangyan asked.
Xiang Zikai shook his head and sighed: "I sent many people to search, but there was no news. However, I found Cai You. Tong Guan sent a secret message from Fujian, hoping to establish another clan as the emperor. He has already found a clan.
"
Quan Bangyan said: "Xinzhou and Raozhou have changed their flags, and the governors of the two states have also written letters to persuade me to return... to join the bandits."
"Oh, vote." Xiang Ziyi sighed.
Quan Bangyan was quite surprised: "You are His Majesty's cousin, and you are actually willing to surrender to the new dynasty?"
Xiang Ziyi asked back: "If you don't surrender, do you still have to fight stubbornly? Although you have tens of thousands of soldiers, there are only a few thousand who can actually fight. It is only the strong city of Jiangzhou that can stop Prime Minister Zhong. Now the counties behind him are turning to Xinjiang in large numbers.
Chao, where do you get the food for tens of thousands of people? You don't dare to divide your troops and go back to suppress it. Li Bao's army may come at any time. Tong Guan has been suppressing bandits in Fujian for half a year, but he can't even wipe out a few bandits in the mountains. He can stop them.
Li Bao’s Tiger and Wolf Master?”
After hearing these words, Quan Bangyan felt a sense of relief.
Xiang Ziyi was the emperor's cousin, and Tong Guan was the emperor's confidant. It was reasonable for the two of them to insist on not surrendering. But why didn't you surrender? There was no need to be buried with the old Song Dynasty.
Moreover, the soldiers under his command may have been plotting to submit to the new dynasty.
Zhang Pu's letter was of nuclear bomb level. He personally wrote the letter as an endorsement, and Zhang Gen was still the prime minister of the new dynasty. Jiangxi gentry encouraged the prefect to surrender.
Even some local wealthy families, especially the Xinzhou and Raozhou families, are already preparing their descendants to take part in the imperial examinations of the new dynasty!
If there is no place to supply food and grass, what will the soldiers in Quan Bangyan's hands eat?
Xiang Zikai personally wrote the surrender form, and then had Quan Bangyan also sign it, and the two sides of the Yangtze River were handed over peacefully.
The main reason why things went so smoothly was that Song Huizong disappeared, and the "capital" Hangzhou was also gone. How could local officials persist?
Soon they received a reply from Zhang Pu, along with the appointment edict of the new Ming Dynasty.
"Could it be that the Ming Emperor gave Zhang Pu two blank edicts, otherwise how could he be so quick?" Xiang Ziyi said dumbly while holding the appointment edict.
Quan Bangyan also had a look of astonishment on his face and guessed: "Maybe the Ming Dynasty court has determined that you and I will lead the troops back to justice."
Xiang Ziyi said with emotion: "With the Holy Emperor in the court, it is no wonder that the old Song Dynasty overthrew so quickly. Even I, a cousin of the emperor of the old dynasty, can be a high official in the new dynasty."
These two people all became the chief envoys to Jiangxi, Quan Bangyan was the chief envoy to the left, and Xiang Ziyi was the chief envoy to the right.
Both are talented people, and allowing them to take charge of Jiangxi can achieve a smooth transition.
As for the reform of the system in the future, such as the sharing of land between people and the like, other officials will have to be transferred, and Zhang Pu will also have to be transferred far away from Zhejiang.
In addition, their military power will be stripped away, waiting for Li Bao to send people to reorganize.
The administrative divisions also changed. Jiangnan West Road was changed to Jiangxi Province, and some prefectures and counties were delimited by Jiangnan East Road, which was roughly equivalent to the scope of Jiangxi Province in later generations.
Jiangdong Road was cut in half, merged into Liangzhe Road, and renamed Zhejiang Province.
This is very different from the provincial planning of later generations!
It means that the areas north of the Yangtze River in Anhui Province and Jiangsu Province will all be counted as Huainan Province from now on, and the provincial capital will be in Huai'an.
The areas south of the Yangtze River in Anhui Province and Jiangsu Province, together with the Liangzhe Road, are merged into Zhejiang, and the provincial capital is located in Hangzhou.
This method of administrative division is extremely beneficial to the economy, and it is also very convenient to collect money and grain.
But separatism is easy to occur. The Manchu rule was to prevent separatism!
It doesn't matter whether Zhu Guoxiang or Zhu Ming is the father and son. The two Huaihe Rivers and the two Zhejiang Provinces are rich lands, and waterways extend in all directions. If you dare to rebel in these places, as long as the court is not corrupt, the rebels can be crushed easily.
As for the end of the dynasty, what should be done? Children and grandchildren will have their own blessings.
Li Bao sent his lieutenants to Jiangxi to take over the troops, while he himself returned to Hangzhou to wait for the monsoon and ocean currents.
The troop transport ship was mixed with a group of maritime merchant ships and marched toward Fuzhou in a mighty manner.
Repeat the old skills to gain military glory.
Conquering Fujian is just a basic exercise. If he still has the strength to spare, Li Bao would also like to capture Guangdong!
As for the mess in Zhejiang, let Zhang Pu clean it up slowly. Civil servants who want to take advantage and gain credit have to put in a little hard work and sweat.
