The iron ore and associated copper mines on Qiongzhou Island were more important than the Qiongzhou Island itself to the Tang Dynasty, which was eager to develop industry, especially military industry.
Now that Qiongzhou Island is almost ready to be captured, we will consider developing the mineral resources of Qiongzhou Island in the future!
It is not easy to develop the iron ore and associated copper mines on Qiongzhou Island. The current population of Qiongzhou Island is sparse, and it has always been the place of exile for the Central Plains dynasty. And because it is in a tropical climate, the climate is very
It is easy to cause acclimatization, which is more serious than the miasma in Lingnan area.
In ancient times when medical standards were severely inadequate, it was actually very difficult to develop islands like Taiwan and Hainan Island on a large scale. Forcing immigrants from other places would easily lead to large-scale deaths of immigrants.
In addition, iron ore transportation is also a very big trouble. The iron ore in Qiongzhou Island is not on the seaside, but dozens of kilometers away from the seaside. Moreover, the mountain roads are difficult to travel and there are few human traces. If you want to transport it in such deep mountains and old forests,
Transporting iron ore is no ordinary trouble.
However, no matter how troublesome and difficult it was, Li Xuan decided to give it a try. Anyway, he was not ready now, and he did not need to carry out mining on a large scale. With the current steel production capacity of the Tang Dynasty, he could not absorb too much.
Iron ore!
Nowadays, the iron ore in the small iron mines in Guangdong and Guangxi can meet the demand. It can be seen that the Tang Dynasty's steel smelting production capacity is actually very low.
Therefore, he decided to try small-scale mining in the early stage. The method used was natural and pollution-free manual mining. As for industrial large-scale mining, he could only wait until steam engines, railways, etc. were developed.
After taking Qiongzhou Island, Li Xuan's worries were settled. Next, he naturally had to continue to focus on affairs in the inland areas.
However, it is not a war, because the large-scale operations of the Tang Dynasty have basically stopped. After several months of large-scale operations, all the troops fighting abroad are basically at the end of their strength and need a certain amount of time to rest and replenish.
to restore combat effectiveness.
The Army also needs to take this opportunity to adjust the establishment of various units and completely reorganize the main force of the six infantry divisions. At the same time, it is also preparing to take advantage of the current gap period to conduct one-on-one operations against the numerous illegal armed forces in Guangdong, Guangxi, and Guizhou.
Clean up.
Due to tradition, the current Guangdong, Guangxi and Guizhou regions under the Tang Dynasty, like the Ming Dynasty, have a large number of local armed forces and landlord armed forces. They exist in various names and in large numbers.
Although they no longer dare to resist the rule of the Tang Dynasty, various armed rebellions will always occur from time to time, and the most common one is the armed resistance of landlords and various bandits to resist taxes.
The agricultural tax and commercial tax implemented by the Tang Dynasty were of great benefit to ordinary people, but they were not so friendly to large landowners and businessmen, especially those who liked to evade taxes.
Therefore, various types of armed tax resistance are always happening. In this regard, Li Xuan also maintains tough measures as always. Regarding various rebellions, Li Xuan's views are very consistent with Zhengde's views: resolutely suppress them and set an example to others!
Emperor Zhengde did not hesitate to use the power of the entire Ming Dynasty to suppress the pseudo-Tang Dynasty. He did not even accept the surrender of the officials and generals of the pseudo-Tang Dynasty. He only maintained one attitude, that is, kill, kill, kill!
The same goes for Li Xuan in the Tang Dynasty. For all kinds of armed rebellions, no matter whether the opponent is a famous gentry or a bandit or gangster, there is only one word: kill!
It can be seen from the consistent attitude of these two dynasties towards rebellion that the Tang Dynasty actually regarded itself as an orthodox dynasty, not just some bandits.
In the past, suppression of this kind of rebellion relied mainly on local capture and robbery camps. However, the weak strength of the capture and robbery camps was often unable to do so. Even if they encountered larger-scale landlord armed forces or bandits, they would not be able to defeat them. In the end, they were often defeated.
The military is needed to help suppress bandits.
In the past, it was precisely because the robbery camps were unavailable that the Tang Dynasty abolished them all and strengthened the power of local patrol police to deal with ordinary security incidents and fight against some small-scale armed rebellions.
Due to the acceptance of the elite forces that were laid off from the bandit camps, the patrol police forces in various places have been greatly strengthened. Basically, the patrol police at the county level are enough to deal with an armed rebellion of dozens of people.
If you encounter a large-scale armed rebellion, you can directly request assistance from the military. The military will often station a certain amount of reserve troops in important areas.
For example, in the Guangdong area, there are currently three divisions, two mixed regiments, and two temporary regiments stationed there.
Even in Guangxi, there is still a fourth division!
There is also a second division in Guizhou and a third division in southwestern Huguang.
Based on the current control area and military regulations, it is barely enough to suppress the local area. As for if it is not enough in the future, we will just form new troops in the future.
Relying on these forces, Li Xuan is preparing to launch a large-scale operation against bandits, directly using a large number of regular troops to eliminate many illegal armed forces in Guangdong, Guangxi and Guizhou.
From now on, there can only be one armed force under the rule of the Tang Dynasty, and that is the King's Division of the Tang Dynasty. Except for the King's Division of the Tang Dynasty, any other armed force is illegal and is not allowed to exist.
This clearing operation can also verify the changes in the organization of the Tang Dynasty King's Division, allow the troops to adapt first, and at the same time allow a large number of new recruits to see the blood, and play a role in training the troops.
After the suppression campaign was over, troop training was completed, and all units were fully staffed, it was time for the Tang Dynasty King's Division to launch a new large-scale attack on the Ming army.
In late August, the Army's Second Mixed Regiment in Qiongzhou Prefecture sent back good news, saying that it had successfully captured Qiongzhou Prefecture, and several other counties were subject to notification. At this point, the entire Qiongzhou Prefecture was under the control of the Tang Dynasty.
On August 29, Li Xuan officially issued an edict for large-scale bandit suppression, requiring all troops to disarm and eliminate all types of bandits, thieves and other illegal armed forces in the defense area.
Therefore, starting from the beginning of September, although the Tang Dynasty King's Division suspended large-scale external offensives, it carried out frequent internal activities to eliminate all kinds of chaotic armed forces.
Most of the troops dispatched are teams and battalions. In addition, in rare cases, because the situation is serious, regiment-level troops will also be dispatched.
However, there are still no illegal armed forces worthy of letting the Tang Dynasty King use an entire division to attack.
After all, these illegal armed forces are just ordinary bandits, thieves, and landlord armed forces. They cannot be as large-scale and organized as the Ming army.
This campaign of suppression was also quite successful. Starting from the beginning of September and continuing until October, the Tang Dynasty King's Division eliminated more than 500 groups of illegal armed forces, killed more than 2,000 people, and captured more than 30,000 people.
After identification, it was found that most of the more than 30,000 captives were ignorant people who were held hostage.
But even if they were abducted fools, since they took swords and spears to fight against the Tang Dynasty King, then the above-mentioned fools who were held hostage were also treated as ordinary prisoners of war on the spot!
Those who have a good attitude, must surrender life or death, swear to serve the Tang Dynasty, and be loyal to the eternal sage Li Xuan, and those who pass the overall quality in all aspects, will be able to get the opportunity to enter the new barracks and become a King of the Tang Dynasty in the future.
Division soldiers, thus becoming a glorious cannon fodder soldier in the Tang Dynasty!
Prisoners who have a good attitude and are willing to surrender, but whose quality is slightly poor and cannot be selected into the regular army will be incorporated into the reclamation regiment, where they will carry out reclamation or other auxiliary work under the arrangement of the military, and contribute to the rise of the Tang Dynasty.
The power of Weibo.
As for the people who had bad attitudes and were kidnapped, as well as the main backbone, they continued to stay in the prisoner-of-war camps and were then arranged to do various coolies, mainly building roads, water conservancy facilities, mining, etc., to contribute to various construction projects of the Tang Dynasty.
Make a contribution.
Now the Tang Dynasty is preparing to carry out large-scale water conservancy facility construction in several major grain-producing areas, especially the Pearl River Delta and Wuzhou and Xunzhou in Guangxi, to increase grain production in the above-mentioned areas.
Not to mention that if Qiongzhou Island, which had just been conquered recently, was to develop iron ore, the demand for coolies would be huge.
After this period of intensive suppression of bandits, the results were quite remarkable. In addition to killing many people and capturing many prisoners, they also seized a lot of trophies. Although the equipment of these illegal civilian armed forces was poorer, there were also some landlords' armed forces whose equipment was not as good as that of others.
What's worse, there are stainless steel Japanese swords, armor, crossbows, bows and arrows.
All these things added together allowed the Tang Dynasty King to seize tens of thousands of useful iron knives, thousands of steel knives, hundreds of armors, and thousands of crossbows and arrows.
In addition, some horses, ordinary livestock, grain, etc. were seized.
Calculated in this way, the Tang Dynasty King's Division not only did not suffer any losses through the suppression of bandits, but also made a lot of trophies.
Of course, the biggest gain that this bandit campaign brought to the Imperial Army of the Tang Dynasty was not the trophies, but the rapid improvement of the security situation under the Tang Dynasty. At least when the caravans were transporting goods,
Don't worry about meeting a group of bandits just walking to a certain hill. Just jump out and shout that I drove this road and carried this tree.
In addition, a very important point is that through this bandit suppression campaign, the troops of the Tang Dynasty King's Division have also been trained to a certain extent, especially the newly reorganized main divisions. The large number of new recruits during the period have been put into actual combat.
opportunity, and saw blood, which is very important for the subsequent large-scale offensive.
Yes, after several months of rest, the Tang Dynasty King Division has been reorganized and fully equipped, and is ready to launch a new round of large-scale offensive!
This time, Li Xuan's target is not one or two places, but the entire southern Huguang area. He wants to push the front from the current southwestern Huguang northward to Dongting Lake to gain access to the Yangtze River!
Once Changsha is captured and the opportunity to enter and exit the Yangtze River is obtained, the Tang Dynasty King's army will have a very large strategic space in the future. They can cross the river to the north of Huguang, and then continue all the way north to Henan. If they go further north, they may be able to reach the capital.
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If you want to go east, you can go all the way along the Yangtze River and only hit the Qinhuai River!
After winning the Qinhuai River, Li Xuan thought about holding an oiran competition to select the eight beauties of Qinhuai who belong to this era, and then let them kneel in a row in front of him...