At the end of October, Song Yang really returned this time.
After staying in Jiannan Road for a few days, I learned what I needed to know and what I could do.
I packed my things and headed back home.
However, the return route this time is different from the way back.
He was going north from Jiannan Road and had to go to Shannan West Road first.
There is no way, the road on the Central Guizhou Road is too difficult to walk.
Once you go once, you don’t want to go a second time!
It will be much easier if you choose to transfer to Shannan West Road.
Song Yang deeply recognized a classic quotation in his heart.
If you want to get rich, build roads first!
"When the situation stabilizes, we must build the Central Guizhou Road!"
Song Yang made up his mind deeply.
There are always rebellions on the Central Guizhou Road. In addition to the mountainous area, the main reason is the impassable roads.
The roads have been built, the mountains and outside are connected, the people know more about it, and their living conditions have improved.
Naturally, no one has the heart to engage in rebellion every day.
Building roads to get rich is a matter of fundamentally eradicating the soil that breeds rebellion, so Song Yang paid attention to it.
Of course, this is just a plan now, and there is still a long way to go before it can be implemented.
The whole north is at war, and the Central Guizhou Road and Jiannan Road have just been recovered. There are too many places where manpower and material resources need to be expended.
Jiangzhou's little heritage can't afford to carry out large-scale projects.
After leaving Yizhou, Song Yang looked back at Chengdu. There was no Wuhou Temple or Du Fu Thatched Cottage in the city.
The people and things of this era were completely different from those in Song Yang's memory. Without recalling what Song Yang wanted, there was no need to stay any longer.
The team slowly set off, heading north.
On the way back, Song Yang only brought Wang Yongning's 5,000 Yuezhou soldiers with him.
Niu Laosan temporarily stayed in Jiannan with his Fengzhou soldiers.
A few days ago, Xiao Yuebai, who was said to be vigorous and resolute, took 20,000 troops from his own army to train on the plateau. This made the border guard seem quite empty.
So Xiao Yuebai asked Song Yang for some manpower to help guard the border and prevent the Tibetans from advancing eastward.
Song Yang definitely wanted to support this matter, so he asked Niu Laosan to stay for a while.
On the one hand, they guard the border, and on the other hand, they help Jiannan Road reform its military system and move closer to the Renaissance Army.
Tubo will take it back sooner or later, and Xiao Yuebai's 20,000 troops may not be enough.
Song Yang planned to let them adapt and recruit a batch on the spot.
"Okay, General Xiao. Don't send me off, go back."
When they arrived at the border of Jianzhou, Song Yang said to Xiao Yuebai.
When Song Yang left Yizhou, Xiao Yue sent him all the way to Jiange in vain.
Beyond that is the boundary of Shannanxi Daoli Prefecture under the jurisdiction of Li Chengen.
"My lord, take care. The situation in Jianzhou is slightly stable, and I will go to Jiangzhou immediately to see you." Xiao Yuebai said, cupping his fists.
"Okay. You have to keep an eye on the side affairs. If there is any big change in Tubo, please immediately ask Shannan West Road for help. I will tell Li Chengen." Song Yang gave instructions.
"Don't worry, Your Majesty, the general will understand. The road from Yizhou is being repaired. Once the road is repaired, the message delivery will be much faster."
"Tsk tsk. It's good to build roads and give the people a livelihood. However, the blocked waterway is a big problem. When the war in the North ends, I will send people to open the Yangtze River waterway as soon as possible." Song Yang said with a smile.
Xiao Yuebai raised his own funds for the repair of the overland road, and Song Yang really couldn't afford to take care of it so far away.
In the past two years, the land in Sichuan has been prosperous, and Xiao Yuebai has accumulated a lot of wealth.
Now that he has taken refuge with Song Yang, the military expenditure has been reduced a lot.
He wants to take out the money and invest it in infrastructure construction.
In fact, there is a waterway connecting Yizhou to the Yangtze River, but the gap in this waterway is so great that it is impossible to navigate.
Moreover, after the natural disaster, several canyons were collapsed and blocked, making it even more difficult to sail.
Song Yang had always wanted to open up the waterway, but he never had the conditions.
Firstly, the strength is insufficient and the technical conditions are insufficient. Secondly, the Qianzhong Road and Jiannan Road here have not been taken back.
Now that the site has been taken back, Chen Fu can lead people to explore the technical aspects.
If you have explosives in hand, if it doesn't work, just blow them up and open them bit by bit, and you can always open the waterway.
"If the waterway can be opened, the land in the middle of Shu will no longer be blocked. It will really benefit the country and the people!" Xiao Yuebai said with some joy.
"Yes. I will keep this in mind. When a few major things are settled, we will study the land and water matters. I will need your cooperation then."
"Yes. If the general's cooperation is needed, the general will definitely go all out."
"Okay! Let's stop here and go back. We've been sent all the way."
"My lord, take care!"
Xiao Yuebai stood at the border, watching Song Yang go away, feeling a little lucky in his heart that Daqian still had such a wise king who could lead Daqian to rise again.
Xiao Yuebai's grandfather was a general who followed Emperor Taizu to conquer the world. The Xiao family's recognition of Daqian was unusual.
Before meeting Song Yang, Xiao Yuebai planned to go to the mainland to find the descendants of Dagan and support a Dagan after pacifying Jiannan Road and Central Guizhou as well as the Tubo people.
Now that Song Yang has appeared, his desire to be loyal to Daqian can be directly attributed to Song Yang.
…
Leaving Jianzhou is Lizhou. As soon as they left the border of Jianzhou, Li Chengen led his people to greet them.
"Your Majesty, Li Cheng'en, goes to see the prince. The prince is a thousand years old, a thousand years old!"
Li Chengen received a notice from Song Yang a few days ago, saying that he wanted to take the Shannan West Road.
He immediately set off and came from Nanzheng to Lizhou.
Hurrying slowly along the way, we happened to catch up with Song Yang at the border of Dalizhou.
"Master Li, get up. It's been a hard journey." Song Yang waved.
"It's not hard work. Your Majesty, you went on an expedition to the Central Guizhou Road and put down the Jiu'an Rebellion. It's really a great achievement for your hard work. It's an honor for me to come with you." Li Cheng'en nodded and bowed.
After Li Chengen took refuge with Song Yang, he only met Song Yang once in Jiangzhou.
Song Yang had a good impression of him.
Under his governance, people's livelihood on Shannan West Road has recovered very well.
The people don't have to worry about food and drink, and their accommodation is guaranteed.
After taking refuge in Song Yang, Shannan West Road, under the guidance of Jiangzhou and the help of Shannan East Road, has now achieved self-sufficiency in all state capitals.
Moreover, the grain output in Yangzhou, Liangzhou, and Jizhou is still very rich.
After the Northern Expedition, Li Chengen also sent grain and grass to Wei Nan.
In addition, in order to cooperate with the Northern Expedition, Li Chengen also sent state troops to deploy troops on the border of Xijing Road, which also put a certain amount of pressure on the Luoxi Group and helped disperse a certain amount of troops on Weinan's side.
Join Li Chengen, and Li Chengen will lead the way.
Song Yang wanted to go to Nanzheng first. After Shannan West Road was recovered, he had not been there yet.
This time I happened to take a look at the livelihood development of Shannan East Road.
On the way, Song Yang and Li Chengen talked about the Tibetan harassment on Jiannan Road.
Li Chengen said that he had also heard about it, and in order to deal with emergencies, he had deployed 30,000 troops in Lizhou, who could go south at any time to support the defense of Jiannan Road.
"My lord, the areas in Tangzhou, Wuzhou and other places on the Longyou Road that were originally controlled by thieves have sent people to contact them some time ago, saying that they want to surrender."
"Xiaguan didn't know at that time that you were coming to Shannan Road, so the document was sent to Jiangzhou."
Li Chengen talked about Longyou Road.
A few years ago, Longyou Road was conquered by the Luo Xin Group, and the area east of Liangzhou was the territory of the Luo Xin Group.
The bandits are now weak, and the Northern Expeditionary Army is in disarray.
Some state capitals southeast of Longyou Road and close to Jiannan Road and Shannan West Road are already looking for a way out for themselves.
Song Yang thought for a moment and came up with three ways to receive it.
"Those who obey the order will accept everything as ordered."
"Those who value people's livelihood will remain in their original posts."
"Those who live in the fish and meat village will be demoted to common people."
"Those who can accept these three points are allowed to surrender. Those who don't accept it, just wait for the army to press on the border. You have to put pressure on the border. If conditions permit, you can use force at any time."
After hearing Song Yang's words, Li Chengen immediately clasped his fists and said: "I will strictly implement the prince's three strategies. The troops of the prefectures in Longyou Road are not strong. If we send troops, we will definitely be able to win them smoothly."
Li Chengen's current status was also earned through hard work. In the past few years, civil unrest was severe, but Li Chengen calmed down the war and trained a good army.
"Okay. You make your own decision. If you can recruit surrender, try to recruit them. After all, once the troops are mobilized, the people will be hurt. Longyou Road is not where the main force of the bandits is, so don't make a big show of it."
"Yes! I understand!"
How to take over the vacillating state capitals on the east side of Longyou Road was decided after a while of discussion with Song Yang.
The three policies for incorporation serve as guiding opinions and are the prerequisite for recruiting and incorporating those state capitals.
Li Chengen's execution ability is pretty good, and he may not be able to defeat the Luo Xin Group, but there is no problem in dealing with those state capitals that are defeated by the wind.
…
It was already November 6th when we arrived in Nanzheng.
Passing through some prefectures and counties on the way, Song Yang also saw the lives of the people on Shannan West Road.
Basically consistent with the reports from the spies and Li Chengen, Song Yang also had a deeper impression of Li Chengen.
Song Yang arrived in Nanzheng and had just settled in his residence when an urgent letter of 600 miles came from the north.
Xijing Chang'an is restored!
After Wei Nan captured Luoyang, he immediately sent his troops to Xijing, fought a small battle, and then advanced the troops to Chang'an City.
Chang'an City was not a strong city to begin with, and it was never repaired after the natural disaster.
As soon as the army arrived, the bandit generals who defended the city casually fired a few cannons and then surrendered.
"Haha! Okay. Well done. Let Wei Nan go north to Guannai Road and Hedong Road, and strive to recover the area south of Taiyuan before the Spring Festival!"
Song Yang was overjoyed when he got the news.
Luoyang was a place where thieves and soldiers were heavily hoarded. Once Luoyang was captured, the only important town left for thieves in the area west of Luoyang was Taiyuan.
After Jiang Gong retreated from Luoyang, he ran all the way to Taiyuan without stopping.
Wei Nan can now calmly and steadily take over a large area south of Taiyuan.
"Master Li, there is something else I need you to do. We will send people from Shannan West Road to the north. We will take over the people who are needed in the North."
Song Yang greeted Li Chengen.
"Yes. I will arrange it immediately," Li Chengen said happily.
Ask him to send people to the Northland, and the people who make arrangements will be his cronies.
Although it does not mean that installing cronies will cause trouble, it is also a manifestation of Song Yang's trust in him.
Soon, Li Chengen drew up a list.
Song Yang took a brief look at the list and nodded: "Okay, let's arrange it like this. Let Qiao Jinglong fill in the remaining positions."
Li Chengen was a man who knew how to get things done, so Song Yang asked him to fill in people in the north.
But he will not push his nose and face and arrange for everyone.
If he needs a hundred people, he will be satisfied if he can arrange thirty for himself.
Song Yang agreed directly after seeing the list, and Li Chengen also knew that he had done the right thing.
"Get these people ready as soon as possible. We will set off within seven days."
"Yes! I understand."
On November 7, Li Chengen packed three thousand shi of grain and some meat and headed north.
This is the labor reward that Song Yang ordered to send to Wei Nan.
Let Li Chengen go and see him off, and ask him to take the Liangzhou soldiers to Chang'an and other places to stop west of Luoyang.
Qiao Jinglong in Luoyang will make arrangements so that the vacuum area caused by the retreat of the traitors can quickly settle down.
Although troops were also needed on Longyou Road, Lizhou also had to leave spare men to deal with the possibility of Tubo's eastward invasion.
But there are not many people that Li Chengen can gather together.
Li Chengen was going to Chang'an this time to deliver food. When he returned to Nanzheng, he would take the state soldiers and officials to be mobilized to the north.
Moreover, if you want to send someone to take over the Northland, you can't just have one, you have to bring state soldiers with you.
According to preliminary estimates, more than 50,000 state soldiers can be mobilized.
These troops have been able to quickly stabilize the vacuum area to the west.
On that day, Song Yang left Nanzheng together with Li Chengen. Li Chengen went north and Song Yang went east.
Li Chengen took the land route, and Song Yang took the water route.
Get on the boat from Nanzheng and take the Han River to Xiangyang.
Although we were going down the river, it still took us seven and a half days to walk from Nanzheng to Xiangyang.
Although the waterway upstream of Xiangyang can be used for boating, the water pattern is complicated, so the boatman has to be very careful, and the speed of the boat has never been increased.
Fortunately, we arrived in Xiangyang without any danger.
The day we arrived in Xiangyang was already November 15th.
The Central Route Army and the East Route Army also welcomed Song Yang's arrival on this day and received good news.
Yu Ming captured Xinyang on November 6th, the day Song Yang arrived in Nanzheng!
The Luo Xin Group was finally defeated under constant bombardment with artillery and explosive packets.
As soon as Xinyang fell, Luo Xin left the city and fled north.
Yu Ming arranged an ambush in the north of the city, but still let Luo Xin run away.
Luo Xin divided his troops into three waves, with the first wave attracting ambushes.
The next two groups bypassed the ambush and ran away directly.
I have to say that Luo Xin is very talented in running away.
Luo Xin didn't dare to stop along the way and ran directly from Xinyang to Kaifeng.
Yu Ming also chased him all the way, hanging tightly on the rear of the car.
The Luo Xin thieves had just defeated Xinyang, and their morale was low. In addition, Luoyang had been captured by Wei Nan, and there was no response from the west of Kaifeng. It made little sense to continue to hold on to Kaifeng.
So Luo Paopao abandoned the city and fled to the north of the Yellow River.
It is late autumn now, and although the Yellow River is not frozen, it will not last long.
Luo Xin thought about using this time to reorganize his morale or think about his next retreat.
At this time, Yu Ming's victorious troops were resting and reorganizing their troops in Kaifeng, while waiting for Song Yang's order.
Xinyang and Kaifeng were captured one after another, exceeding expectations during the expedition.
And because of the lack of ships, Yu Ming did not rush across the Yellow River.
After stopping the army in Kaifeng, he immediately sent a message to Song Yang.
On the East Route Army side, Qi Shu's side also moved relatively quickly, and Xuzhou was captured at the end of October.
After that, the Eastern Route Army went all the way north and recovered Yanzhou and Yizhou successively.
The remaining bandits of the Eastern Route Army had already fled to Qizhou. Uncle Qi had planned to annihilate the bandits south of the Yellow River in one go.
As a result, a large number of Japanese pirates were discovered in Yizhou harassing local people.
Uncle Qi had to stop and launch a campaign against Japanese pirates in Yizhou, Haizhou, Mizhou and other places.
Although the Japanese pirates were ferocious, they could only die under the bombardment of firearms.
It's just that they are relatively scattered and have many forces.
Uncle Qi estimated that it would take at least three months to completely eliminate the Japanese pirates in Henan Province.
From the mouths of captured Japanese pirates, we know that there are more Japanese pirates along the eastern coast of Hebei Province, north of the Yellow River.
Song Yang looked at the reports from the middle road and the east road, and leaned on his chair to ponder for a while.
"Old Qiao, send some more state soldiers to go north. There are too many places to recover in the north, and Yu Ming doesn't dare to rush in now."
"In this case, let him stabilize himself and stop first after holding the south bank fortresses such as Baima and Puzhou. Wait until the people behind him catch up and the rear is stable before letting him continue."
"It's the prince."
"Tell Wei Nan not to push too hard in Taiyuan. Allow the bandits to surrender, disperse them and integrate them into civilian households. The bandit leaders will be exempted from all charges and remain as local officials."
"yes!"
"As for Uncle Qi... try your best to recruit and surrender the East Route bandits. Tell them that if they can cooperate with the East Route Army to attack the Japanese pirates, it will be a crime and meritorious service. According to military merit, they will be exempted from previous crimes and will be rewarded separately."
"yes!"
"Also, Gao Junyan, please intensify the crackdown on Japanese pirates. Then urge the Tokyo Battalion to eliminate all Japanese pirates south of the Yangtze River within half a year!"
"yes!"
"We also need to send a letter to Jiangzhou and ask Lao Fang to recruit people from all over the south of the Yangtze River to speed up the acceptance of the north. We also need to speed up the production of weapons and equipment. Fighting against Japanese pirates will also consume a lot of ammunition."
Song Yang said one thing, Qiao Jinglong wrote one thing, and soon he wrote a long article.
"Your Majesty, are you focusing your strategy on Japanese pirates?" Qiao Jinglong looked at the contents on the paper with some confusion.
In his eyes, the Japanese pirates were nothing more than scabies, but the bandits wanted to destroy Da Gan.
"The thieves were defeated on all three fronts, and their power is gone."
"We should put the pressure on it, but we don't have to put in too much energy."
"The Japanese pirates are different. They have occupied large areas in the north and along the coast."
"If we don't pay attention to them, when they become common, more Japanese pirates will come from Japan. Then it will be more difficult to fight against them."
Song Yang frowned and explained.
His antipathy towards Japanese pirates is extremely strong.
Originally, we planned to completely defeat the bandits in the North and free up our hands to deal with the Japanese pirates.
Unexpectedly, the Japanese pirates have already arrived in Yizhou!
In other words, coastal areas such as Haizhou, Mizhou, Laizhou, and Dengzhou have been completely controlled by Japanese pirates.
Song Yang could not ignore the people there.
It would be better to eliminate Luo Xin later than to drive the Japanese pirates out of Daqian as soon as possible.
After Qiao Jinglong heard what Song Yang said, although he didn't quite understand it, he would still implement it immediately.
The documents were distributed in all directions, and all state governments sent state soldiers to respond.
Wan Qianyan was the first to arrive, bringing with him fifteen thousand Xiazhou soldiers from Yiling.
After coming under Song Yang, in order to focus on development, disarmament was carried out everywhere.
The basic number of state soldiers is maintained at around 20,000.
Wan Qianyan brought fifteen thousand with him, and the remaining five thousand was only enough to guard the house.
The next day, Bai Wenju also came.
He only brought 10,000 troops and horses, but this was all Song Yun's troops and horses.
Because during the previous Northern Expedition, Song Yun had already sent 10,000 Yingzhou soldiers to support the Wei-nan Northern Expedition.
In the next few days, soldiers from various states arrived, forming an army of 90,000.
With Bai Wenju and Wan Qianyan as the chief and deputy commanders, they immediately set off north to Henan Road to take over various areas to recover.