Chapter five hundred and thirty seventh I came to see my conquest
Moving the capital to Zhaoqing after going south was already decided before going south to Guangxi, so even before taking Zhaoqing, the officials of the Tang Dynasty began to prepare for this.
After Hao Bainian captured Zhaoqing, the entire Tang Dynasty set off a wave of capital relocation!
Major General Li Chunjing, commander of the Third Army who led the army to fight in the western region of Guangxi, specially returned to Wuzhou on a navy return transport ship in order to accompany His Majesty into Zhaoqing when the capital was officially moved.
However, it is naturally impossible for many generals below Major General Fang Xitong who are fighting in Guizhou to return to Wuzhou. Wars there are more frequent and more difficult.
According to the battle report of the Second Army, after a large number of Ming troops from the Huguang direction entered Guizhou, they have successively conquered many places, including Zhengtai County, the land of Longxing in the Tang Dynasty, and Tonggu Acropolis, where large-scale battles broke out
Waiting for the city, there was a follow-up report from the northeastern part of Guizhou that another Ming army of about 10,000 people had entered from the northeastern part of Guizhou and attacked the city all the way. They successively captured Tongren Prefecture, Sinan Prefecture, Si Nan Prefecture, and Si Nan Prefecture.
The state capital, and the Tang Dynasty bandit camp in Shiqian Mansion even turned against them. The Ming army captured Shiqian Mansion without a fight, making Fang Xi Tong furious to death.
The situation in the northeastern part of Guizhou is quite bad now. The territory in the northeast has basically been lost. Only the remnants of the Second Guard Regiment and some of the above-mentioned robbery camps in many prefectures and counties are left. About 4,000 people are guarding Zhenyuan Prefecture.
However, it is conceivable how low the combat effectiveness of this force, which is composed of the remnants of the garrison regiment and the pirate camp, is. It is still unknown whether it can withstand the attack of tens of thousands of Ming troops.
As for Xingquan Prefecture and Liping Prefecture, it is the core offensive area of the Ming army. Thirty thousand troops are in this area. Although Xingquan Prefecture is still holding on and most areas of Liping Prefecture are still safe, it is still difficult to attack.
It's very hard.
As the main force, the regular army has suffered hundreds of casualties, and currently in eastern Guizhou, there are only a few thousand regular troops.
Although the reason why the Ming Dynasty Army was able to conquer the above-mentioned places so quickly was because the Second Army voluntarily abandoned these places to shrink its troops and defend Xingquan Prefecture and Liping Prefecture, in any case, the Ming Army made progress smoothly and recovered
He visited many places. It was said that after receiving the good news from the frontline army, Zhang Yue, the governor of the four provinces who was still busy raising the army in Shaoyang, was quite pleased. He had already sent many good news to the capital, saying that he had regained a certain
In a certain prefecture and county, many thieves were killed.
I just don’t know how Zhang Yue would feel after knowing that Wuzhou and even Zhaoqing had been lost. After knowing that Wuzhou and Zhaoqing were lost, would the big guys in the capital have doubts about Zhang Yue’s strategy of attacking Guizhou first and then Guangxi?
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These are unknown to outsiders, at least not to the Tang Dynasty.
Now from the perspective of the Tang Dynasty itself, the battle in eastern Guizhou is extremely difficult. Major General Fang Xitong, commander of the Second Army, has given up the siege of Guiyang, leaving only a garrison and a number of bandits.
The camp was located outside Guiyang City to contain the Ming troops in Guiyang City and prevent them from pursuing them.
However, he had already led the main force to rush eastward for several days. However, the distance was too far, and the mountain road was rugged and difficult. When Fang Xitong led other troops of the Second Army back to Liping Prefecture and Xingquan Prefecture, I am afraid that
We have to go in March.
Because now and even in the next month, Xingquan Prefecture and Liping Prefecture can still only rely on their existing troops to fight.
The situation is quite critical.
Under such circumstances, the generals of the Second Army would naturally not be able to attend the capital relocation ceremony, but there would certainly be no shortage of congratulatory memorials.
The senior generals of the Second Army will not come back to participate in the ceremony of moving the capital into the city, but this does not affect the grandeur of the ceremony to move the capital into the city. Most of the civil and military officials of the Tang Dynasty, three academicians, ministers of various ministries, and ministers are all
They gathered in Wuzhou and prepared to follow Li Xuan to Zhaoqing.
At the same time, the preparation work in Zhaoqing has also entered the final stage. The officials responsible for presiding over the welcoming ceremony in Zhaoqing have decorated the entire Zhaoqing Mansion. The main streets have been paved with loess and hung in the city.
There are a large number of royal flags of the Tang Dynasty, which can also be regarded as the unofficial national flag "Yellow Background Green Dragon Flag", and there are also military flags commonly used by the navy and army "Red Dragon Holding Sword Flag".
The defeated soldiers, idlers, etc. in the city have already been cleared out in advance. Zhaoqing is a city scheduled to be the capital, so security cannot be taken lightly. Not only the defeated soldiers and green-skinned hooligans are also being eliminated.
It was clean, but all the gentry families whose family members were officials in the Ming Dynasty were also forcibly moved out.
Nowadays, only ordinary people are left in the city, and there is basically no trace of the wealthy gentry.
Maybe one would say that in this way, wouldn’t Zhaoqing City be reset to zero?
How can it be!
After Li Xuan moved the capital here, a large number of officials and their families would come together. This group alone would number at least 5,000 people. The Guards would also be stationed in the city, as well as army and naval forces.
They will also be stationed near the outside of the city. Zhaoqing will definitely be more lively than before.
And this is the huge influence brought by the administrative center of an empire.
After everything was ready, Li Xuan also formally led hundreds of officials, the Guards, the Sixth Infantry Regiment and other troops to march eastward. In addition to these official personnel, there were also many officials, family members of soldiers, and
Businessmen, gentry, landlords and others who were closely related to the Tang Dynasty would also accompany Li Xuan's team to march eastward.
There are nearly 20,000 people in this huge team. In order to ensure safety, some people will take boats, while some people will march on the shore.
Li Xuan, on the other hand, boarded the Xingquan, the largest ship currently owned by the Tang Dynasty and the largest warship in the navy, and headed for Zhaoqing.
The Xingquan is a very typical sand ship. The largest warship in the Tang Dynasty's navy, its predecessor was not a gunboat in the hands of the Ming army. On the contrary, it was just an ordinary merchant ship before, and it did not originate from the Ming army.
What was seized in his hands was the trophy of the extremely powerful tax inspection team.
The tax inspection team that first arrived in Wuzhou started tax collection work with great enthusiasm, and found that a shipping company actually refused to pay taxes. What is there to say? They directly inspected the assets. It happened that this shipping company had a large ship returning from Guangzhou.
As a result, this sand ship weighing a full 130 tons became the trophy of the tax inspection team.
Because of its large tonnage and the fact that it was a new ship, the Navy could not let it go. They simply ordered it and installed a few more cannons to serve as the new flagship of the Tang Navy.
Although the Xijiang waterway is only an inland river and the water depth is relatively shallow, the traditional ship type of sand boat has the characteristics of shallow draft, so if you are careful, you can still use it barely.
Now that Li Xuan is going to Zhaoqing, he will naturally take the Xingquan, the largest and safest ship. To put it bluntly, this ship is big enough. Even if it encounters an accident and sinks, there will be enough time for him to escape.
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Accompanying the Xingquan heading east were many other warships and numerous transport ships of the Navy, as well as a large number of ordinary ships belonging to the Logistics Department.
Because these ships are generally very small, although they carry not much cargo and people, the number of ships is quite large. The entire fleet has more than a hundred ships.
Of course, most of them are small wooden boats that can only carry a dozen or twenty people!
There is a fleet of boats in the river, and a large number of troops and other personnel are accompanying them on the shore, including the Guards Cavalry Battalion, which is marching on the shore.
The fleet's eastward movement was not very fast, and could even be called slow. It took until the second day of March to arrive outside Zhaoqing!
After arriving outside Zhaoqing City, Li Xuan and all the officials put on their uniforms. Even the ordinary soldiers in the army put on clean military uniforms, which must be shown when entering the city.
Best grooming.
Like when he entered Liuzhou City, this time Li Xuan once again refused the dragon sedan carried by thirty-six people arranged by the Ministry of Rites, and insisted on riding a war horse into the city.
Although a group of civil servants, especially officials from the Ministry of Rites, said that this was not in line with etiquette and was detrimental to His Majesty's majesty, Li Xuan had already made up his mind to let the world know that he, Li Xuan, was an emperor on horseback.
The world was conquered by personally leading the army and commanding the army, not by sitting on a sedan chair carried by thirty-six people.
So Li Xuan insisted on riding a war horse into the city, but the other officials naturally objected and had no choice but to obey.
This time's city entry ceremony basically replicated the last ceremony of entering Liuzhou City, but the scale was much larger and it took longer.
On this day, Li Xuan rode a pure white war horse, wearing a military uniform with dragon patterns, a sword hanging on his waist, and black leather gloves on his hands, and set foot on Zhaoqing City surrounded by a cavalry battalion of the Guards.
He announced his arrival to the whole city of Zhaoqing with the sound of horse hooves!
He announced his arrival to the Guangdong and Guangxi regions with a loud salute!
He announced his arrival to the land of China with the footsteps of tens of thousands of troops entering the city!
He came with swords and spears, muskets and cannons, and an army of 100,000 men!
He came, bringing death and rebirth, destruction and construction!
After Li Xuan rode into the city, he stopped in the city street and turned over to dismount. His long leather boots stepped on the streets of Zhaoqing City. Then he squatted down slightly and stretched out his hand with black leather gloves to grab it from the ground.
Pick up a handful of dirt, then stand up and face the civil and military officials behind you, raise your hands, let the dirt flow from your fingers, then turn around and mount the horse again, urging the horse forward, while murmuring: "I'm here, I'm here.