Chapter 439 The Tang Dynasty is going to move the capital again
Li Xuan wanted to attack Guangxi first before the Ming army could react, defeat the Ming army in Guangxi first, and avoid the Ming army in Guangxi and the Ming army in Huguang from merging.
It is inevitable that the Ming army will mobilize a large number of troops to suppress the Tang Dynasty in the next few months. Where will these troops come from? On the one hand, they are the remaining local guardsmen in Guizhou and the newly recruited soldiers; on the other hand, they are
They are drawn from Huguang, Guangxi, and even Yunnan, Sichuan and other neighboring provinces.
If the scale of the war expands and becomes protracted, then it may be possible to draw troops from other provinces, such as Southern Zhili, Guangdong, Henan, Shaanxi and other regions. It would not be surprising even to draw border troops.
However, without going into details about the follow-up, at present, the greatest threat to the Tang Dynasty is the Ming army in the Huguang area and Guangxi area.
Huguang is a large province, close to the south of the Yangtze River, and has relatively convenient water and land transportation. Marching into Huguang will easily lead to the suppression of a large number or even hundreds of thousands of Ming troops. Li Xuan is not willing to imitate King Ning's rebellion and foolishly go to the Yangtze River Basin to seek death!
In Guangxi, the mountains are high and the emperor is far away, and the mountain roads are difficult to travel. This is certainly a difficulty, but it is also extremely difficult for the Ming army from other provinces to come!
Otherwise, Li Xuan would rather go to Huguang!
When talking about Guangxi, we have to mention the local toast!
When it comes to the situation of chieftains in Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi and other places, it cannot be said clearly in a day or two. In short, in these southwestern regions, especially in areas that have not changed their native soil and returned to their hometowns, the actual number of local hereditary chieftains is
Rule the local area and have military, judicial and other powers.
However, these chieftains also need to be loyal to the central court and pay taxes in the name of tribute. At the same time, when the court recruits troops, they also need to send troops to obey the command of the court.
In Guangxi, there are naturally a large number of chieftains, and the chieftains in some prefectures and counties are relatively strong, especially the Cen family in Tianzhou.
But it is worth mentioning that although the local chieftains in Guangxi are relatively powerful, like those in Guizhou, they are still not as powerful as the local government.
Even for a local snake like the Cen family in Tianzhou, during a rebellion launched by Cen Meng more than 20 years ago, his father-in-law had to turn his gun and join the imperial army to attack his son-in-law Cen Meng's rebels in order to preserve the entire family.
That's all.
In fact, after the middle of the Ming Dynasty, although the chieftain system in the southwestern region was still preserved and still had its own military and judicial powers, it was actually no longer comparable to previous years.
Otherwise, when the Ming Dynasty later tried to reform the land and return it to the locals, these chieftains would not have dared to give up and obediently give up the official title of hereditary chieftain, like a native emperor.
Before the First Infantry Brigade entered Guangxi, Li Xuan also learned about the situation in Guangxi in detail through various channels!
After a detailed study, he believed that when he marched into Guangxi, the local chieftains would not cause him much military trouble. The real trouble would be his future rule.
Because if we just talk about military affairs, the Ming army in Guangxi is still dominated by guards. There are dozens of large and small guards. In fact, both quantity and quality are enough to crush the local chieftains. Now the local
Although the chieftains still have troops, they are no longer the main local defense force.
The reason why later generations have a high regard for the chieftain power in Guangxi, especially the local White Wolf Soldiers, is mainly because of the Anti-Japanese War and the performance of Mrs. Wa's wife!
But this does not mean that all the local chieftains in Guangxi are so powerful!
Especially since the power of the local chieftains has been weakened by the Ming Dynasty using various excuses and reasons, it has become increasingly weak.
Take the Cen family in Tianzhou where Mrs. Wa's family is known to many people as an example!
Now the magistrate of Tianzhou is Cen Zhi, and this person is the grandson of Cen Meng, who rebelled back then. In other words, his grandfather and father both died in the hands of the court because of the rebellion. The Ming Dynasty had no control over the Cen family in Tianzhou.
It's strange to have a favorable impression. Local officials and court officials like to do something to weaken the Tianzhou Cen family whenever they have nothing to do.
For example, if there is a war in another place, the first thing you will think of is sending the Cen family from Tianzhou to the battlefield. What? If you don't go, this is a rebellion and must be encircled and suppressed!
According to the original historical time and space, it would not take long for Cen Zhi to be transferred by the imperial court to Hainan to put down the Li rebellion, and eventually die in battle!
But a few years later, the imperial court recruited the Cen family of Tianzhou to send troops to Jiangnan to fight against the Japanese. At this time, the Cen family basically could not find an adult man who could lead the army.
But the court's orders had to be obeyed. In the end, Mrs. Wa Shi had no choice but to go to war with her children and grandchildren. The result was good, but several of her sons and grandchildren died!
After the Anti-Japanese War, Mrs. Wa was called an anti-Japanese hero, but the Tianzhou Cen family was basically doomed!
From this perspective, we can see that in the past few decades, the Ming Dynasty has spared no effort to attack the Tianzhou Cen family and other local chieftains in Guangxi who participated in the rebellion. What will be the result of this continued attack?
The power of the local chieftain is naturally getting weaker and weaker, and there is even only one nominal chieftain left. The military strength is actually worrying!
An obvious example is that when Mrs. Wa went on an expedition, in addition to the soldiers and horses from Tianzhou headquarters, she also summoned the troops from many nearby chieftains and even most of the chieftains in Guangxi.
However, the White Wolf Soldiers, who recruited more than half of the Guangxi chieftains, had a final total strength of 100,000 soldiers.
More than 7,500 people!
This number is actually not worth mentioning compared with the Ming Dynasty's army from several provinces that currently faces more than 100,000 troops in the future of the Tang Army!
When marching into Guangxi, what really worried Li Xuan was not the obstruction by the local chieftains, but the main force of the Ming army in Huguang and Guangdong and Guangxi.
The main force of these Ming armies must number at least 30,000 to 50,000 people. If the local Ming army generals are more shameless and recruit more young men, it is possible to have 70,000 to 80,000 people.
In a barren Guizhou, Zhu Zhihai was able to recruit fifty or sixty thousand people. It was not unusual for Huguang and Guangdong and Guangxi to raise an army of one hundred thousand. It was even possible to double the army to two hundred thousand.
of.
In addition, he is even more worried about the recruits in coastal areas who have been fighting Japanese pirates all year round!
After the middle period of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming army in inland and coastal areas recruited troops to the point where they became the main force of the Ming army!
In the future, if he needs to face the encirclement and suppression by so many main forces of the Ming army, Li Xuan will have to adopt a more radical and even risky strategy, and taking the initiative is such a risky strategy!
If the march south to Guangxi goes smoothly, at least he will be able to defeat the main force of the Ming army in Guangxi before the Ming Dynasty reacts!
In this way, not only can the threat from the Guangxi direction be eliminated, but a stable rear line can also be established. There is no need to worry about tens of thousands of Ming troops coming from the Guangxi direction to pierce their own chrysanthemum.
When fighting, the first thing you must protect is your anus. Otherwise, if you are fighting happily in front and someone sneaks up from behind and stabs your anus with a thick and long weapon, it would be weird if you don't lose miserably!
In addition, after taking Guangxi, not only can we establish a solid rear and protect the Chrysanthemum, but we can also make plans for Guangdong and Huguang, and if we retreat, we can defend Guangxi and Guizhou.
Even if it cannot take over the world by then, it will be much easier to separate local areas!
Yes, until now, Li Xuan still does not believe that his Tang Dynasty can really overthrow the Ming Dynasty in just a few years. At present, his biggest ambition is to separate several provinces.
Then rely on the development of these provinces and establish a truly modern army. At that time, it will be time to sweep across Kyushu and unify the land of China.
Now, we still focus on self-protection!
The attack on Guangxi is such a self-protection strategy, or it can also be said: attack instead of defense!
The First Infantry Brigade went on an expedition and took away most of the artillery in the Third Guard Brigade and the artillery battalion, including five 500-jin artillery pieces and three 800-jin artillery pieces. Even half of the cavalry battalion was taken away.
, and also took away half of the baggage regiment.
These auxiliary units that were taken away also adopted new designations one after another. The artillery unit established a new Second Artillery Battalion, the cavalry unit also established a new Second Cavalry Battalion, and even the baggage unit also established the Second Baggage Regiment.
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Two full brigades plus a number of independent troops, the total number of soldiers in this army exceeded 13,000, with Hao Bainian as the commander-in-chief!
At the same time, in order to recruit local troops as much as possible to replenish new troops and recruit grain and grass to supply the army, Li Xuan also dispatched many officials from the cabinet to be on call at any time. The front-line army captured a county, established political power in that county, and then began to recruit grain and grass and collect resources.
Recruiting soldiers.
Before the army entered Liuzhou Prefecture in Guangxi, Li Xuan had already appointed the prefect of Liuzhou Prefecture in the Tang Dynasty in advance. This person was none other than Ma Wei, the former left minister of the Ministry of War!
This person strongly requested that he return to Liuzhou to serve. Why, he naturally went back to take revenge.
Li Xuan had promised him back then that when the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty destroyed Liuzhou Mansion, it would be the time for Ma Wei to take revenge!
Li Xuan could imagine that after Ma Wei followed the army back to Liuzhou, he would probably cause a bloody storm in Liuzhou, and he didn't know how many people would be confiscated and exterminated by Ma Wei in retaliation!
The 1st Infantry Brigade and the 3rd Guards Brigade went south to Guangxi, while the 2nd Infantry Brigade also moved westward and northward with the 1st Guards Brigade and the 2nd Guards Brigade. They are currently seizing other places in Guizhou Province, and even want to take Guiyang
Beat it down too.
Liping Mansion has also returned to calm. Li Xuan led the Fifth Infantry Regiment, the Seventh Guards Regiment and other troops back to defend Xingquan Mansion. After all, there is Huguang to the east of Xingquan Mansion, although there is no news yet.
Huguang has begun to mobilize troops to march westward, but it is necessary to go back and prepare in advance!
Now that most of the army is out, Xingquan Prefecture is too empty, and many workshops of the Ministry of Industry in Xingquan Prefecture are still producing a lot of guns, ammunition and other ordnance for the army, so the base area of Xingquan Prefecture still needs to be protected.
, avoid being taken away by the Huguang Ming Army!
But as soon as he returned to Xingquan Mansion, Liu Bagou came to him and said that he wanted to move the capital!
Moving the capital? Not long after we moved to Xingquan Mansion, we have to move again? If we move, it will be easy for him, Li Xuan, and it will be easy for the royal family, but the workshops of the Ministry of Industry are not so easy to move.
And this is not the most critical issue. The most critical issue is where to move?