Du Zhikuan's choice was the same as what he told the people of Hexi County and Hetai County: If you don't come to save me, I will surrender directly.
Not only did he say it, he actually did it!
Du Zhikuan's surrender and Guang'an County falling under Lin Ziran's control greatly affected the situation in Nanhai Prefecture.
Not to mention other places, at least Hexi County is worried.
Before the Nanhai Navy could kill him, Hu Shiming from Hexi County had already sent someone to say that Hexi County recognized Lin Ziran's status as the governor of Nanhai Prefecture. Hu Shiming also said that he could publicly declare his allegiance to Lin Ziran.
But Lin Ziran rejected his surrender!
Because Hexi County Hu Shiming's surrender was conditional, he hoped that Hexi County would continue to maintain a semi-independent state, not only handle internal affairs on its own, but also continue to maintain financial independence and retain a large number of troops.
Even Hu Shiming said that the Hexi cavalry would follow Lin Ziran's orders in the future.
But Lin Ziran still rejected him!
He does not want nominal surrender or allegiance, what he wants is to bring the entire Hexi County under his control.
He will never allow a semi-independent vassal town to appear on his territory!
Lin Ziran gave Hu Shiming two choices. One was to declare his surrender. Hu Shiming could continue to be the county governor of Hexi County, but only as the county governor. The internal affairs of the entire Hexi County must be under the unified management of the state government, and the financial affairs
Under unified management, the most important thing is that the Hexi Army accepts reorganization and is completely integrated into the South Navy system.
No surprise, Hu Shiming rejected Lin Ziran's conditions.
Since everyone has refused, war is inevitable.
In fact, the Northern Expedition this time included the attack on Hexi County. The troops who entered Guang'an County simply rested for a few days and then directly marched westward.
At the same time, the Third Division in the northwest of Luo'an County also crossed the northwest defense line and launched an attack towards Hexi County.
This time Lin Ziran concentrated three cavalry brigades, three infantry divisions and numerous artillery units to launch an attack at the same time.
Considering that the opponent's cavalry troops were numerous and highly mobile, they did not adopt a rapid attack mode. Instead, they engaged in positional warfare and a war of attrition.
Attacking the opponent's defense line will cause a certain amount of damage to the enemy, but it does not directly break the enemy's defense line, but allows the enemy to see the hope of holding the defense line, so as to continuously reinforce the troops.
Just five days later, the governor of Hexi County, Hu Shiming, announced his surrender in desperation.
At the beginning of the battle, although the defense lines on the east and that side had not been lost, the Hexi Army suffered heavy casualties. Such heavy casualties directly caused the Hexi frontline troops to be unwilling to continue the fight.
Unlike many troops from the vassal town who surrendered to Lin Ziran in the past, when they saw no hope of victory and suffered heavy casualties, they didn't care what Hu Shiming thought, and the frontline troops surrendered themselves.
Within five days, 30,000 Hexi troops, most of whom were cavalry troops, declared their surrender.
In fact, when Hu Shiming announced his surrender, his troops were still loyal to him, and there were only more than a hundred guards left in the governor's mansion in Hexi County.
At that time, there were actually more than 3,000 garrison troops in the city, but these 3,000 garrison troops had already surrendered directly. In order to present Lin Ziran with a certificate of surrender, they attacked the county governor's mansion on the spot, trying to arrest him.
Hu Shiming.
Therefore, Hu Shiming did not actually surrender to the Southern Navy, but to the Hexi County garrison that betrayed him!
At this time, Hu Shiming's end was even worse than that of Du Zhikuan!
Du Zhikuan managed to control some of his troops in the end, and when he was forced to surrender, he surrendered directly to Lin Ziran, not to the rebels who betrayed him, so it was a relatively decent ending.
Lin Ziran gave him a false position as a senior consultant and allowed him to keep part of his private property. Now he has already brought his family to Luohai City, living a low-key and comfortable life as a rich man.
Even at this time, Du Zhikuan was already planning a comeback.
It's not that he wants to rebel, become a vassal or something like that, but he wants to make a comeback in today's Southern Navy system. There is no hope of continuing to join the army, but he thinks he can become a civil servant, such as continuing to be a county guard or something like that.
It's alright.
As for Hu Shiming, when he surrendered to the rebels, Lin Ziran's army was still dozens of kilometers away.
He was captured by his betrayed subordinates and forced to surrender.
Lin Ziran didn't have any special feelings about Hu Shiming. Strictly speaking, he didn't even have a close contact with Hu Shiming.
Although he had never met most of the other vassal towns that had been defeated by him before, they had communicated and dealt with each other through letters. As for Hu Shiming, Lin Ziran had never had contact with this person before.
So I didn't even meet him, I just ordered him to be placed under house arrest.
At this time, Hu Shiming was no longer important to the Southern Navy and even to Hexi County.
After taking Hexi County, there was no need to attack the other counties and the message was passed down directly. However, even so, Lin Ziran sent troops to control these areas one after another to lay the foundation for the subsequent establishment of administrative institutions in Hexi County.
Some of these local administrative officials can continue to be used, while others cannot.
In addition, what is more important is to continue to eliminate the remaining armed forces in the local area. Regardless of whether they are the remnants of the regular army in the Hexi Army or the militia groups, they are all being cleaned up and rectified.
The South Korean Navy has done this kind of thing many times, and it is done with ease.
In the early stage, some relatively large militia groups and remnant soldiers were first eliminated, and then administrative rule was established with each county as the center, and armed patrol police were established to suppress the local areas.
Subsequently, a garrison division and an engineering division were formed on the spot.
When he was in the Liangluo area, Lin Ziran had already tasted the benefits of forming a garrison division. This kind of garrison division could be equipped with captured Fuyuan breech-loading rifles and smoothbore field artillery. It could consume these captured weapons and would not be used by the regular army.
Weapons can save weapons expenses, and the salary is also relatively low.
To put it bluntly, it saves money!
Later, an attempt was made to form an engineer division.
This engineer division bears the name of an engineer, but in fact it is a construction force under militarized management, used to repair infrastructure, water conservancy facilities, and even railways in various places.
The main purpose of hiring this engineer is not for anything else, it is purely to place a large number of surrendered troops.
Many soldiers who surrender want to continue serving in the army, and now the selection of personnel for the regular army of the South China Sea is very strict. Even the selection of soldiers for the garrison division is relatively strict.
It is true that many surrendered soldiers cannot be selected to continue serving in the army. However, if they are directly let go, many of them will not be able to find jobs and cannot go home to farm. These people will easily cause local riots when they return to their places.
The Southern Navy has always been very cautious in dealing with these surrendered soldiers who cannot and cannot continue to join the army, but have nowhere to go. In the early days, they were reorganized into patrol police in various places and recruited into factories in various places. Now, they have even formed
Engineer Division.
Turn them into a construction team wearing military uniforms and holding hoes and shovels!