Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 244 Decision-making
Before resolving the threat from foreigners or having a navy strong enough to keep the enemies out of the country.

The coastal area is actually a weakness for the Tang Dynasty.

Every additional coastal city means an additional weakness.

Therefore, Zuo Zongtang did not recommend that the Tang army continue eastward to capture Shanghai.

Even though the Shanghai Small Knife Society has now agreed to the Tang Dynasty's offer of amnesty!
He also did not recommend that the Tang army continue to move eastward!
By being able to capture Jiangning and annihilate the main force of the Qing army in Jiangnan, the Tang army's plan of eastward expedition would have been successfully completed.

If we go further east, there will be complications!

After the war between the Tang Dynasty and the foreigners is over and this worry is resolved, it will not be too late for the Tang army to move eastward.

When the others heard this, they had different opinions.

Zhao Xiang stood up and said.

"Your Majesty, I have a different opinion."

"Jiangnan is an important financial and tax base for the Qing court. Now that the main force of the Qing army has been annihilated by our Tang Dynasty, the hinterland of Jiangnan is empty. If our army does not march eastward to capture the entire territory of Jiangnan."

"Wouldn't that be like letting the tiger go back to the mountains, giving the Qing court a chance to accumulate strength and make a comeback?"

Bai Yuanqin on the side also agreed.

"Your Majesty, I agree with Commander Zhao's opinion."

"Jiangnan is right before our eyes, within easy reach. Wouldn't it be a pity if we don't take it?"

"If the Qing demons take this opportunity to organize troops in Jiangnan to resist again, then won't our Tang Dynasty have to launch another expedition to the east?"

“How do we calculate the wasted manpower and material resources?”

Zhao Xiang and Bai Yuanqin were both military generals, so they naturally supported continuing the Eastern Expedition.

Because only by continuing the Eastern Expedition can they continue to gain credit from it.

This is the simplest truth!
Ye Zhisheng, Director of the Logistics Department, spoke up.

"I do not agree with the opinions of Commander Zhao and Chief of Staff Bai."

"It's easy for our army to continue to move eastward, but what about the victims in Nanjing?"

"If we don't first settle these disaster victims and rush east, who will be able to take responsibility if a popular uprising breaks out in Nanjing?"

Li Yi changed Jiangning to Nanjing, clearly intending to make Nanjing the capital. It is estimated that he will soon order the imperial court to move from Guangzhou to Nanjing.

At this juncture, if a civil uprising broke out in Nanjing, it would not be a good thing for the Tang Dynasty.

Inside the military tent, two groups of people were arguing with each other, each holding their own opinion.

Li Yi remained silent, frowning in thought.

After a while, seeing that they had almost finished arguing, Li Yi made the decision.

"The Tang Dynasty's eastern expedition strategy has basically come to an end. It is not appropriate to create any more complications."

"However, this does not mean that our army will stop in Jiangning."

"All units of our army should immediately prepare for the campaign to march eastward to capture Zhenjiang and Yangzhou. This eastern expedition will end with the capture of Zhenjiang and Yangzhou."

"After we capture Zhenjiang and Yangzhou, the main force of the army will set off to return to Guangzhou!"

There are many reasons why Li Yi made such a decisive decision.

One reason is that Li Yi was about to announce that the Tang Dynasty would establish its capital in Nanjing and was preparing to move the capital from Guangzhou to Nanjing.

Li Yi was going to use this opportunity to show his determination to march north and unify the north and the south, and his determination not to be content with either side.

In other words, Nanjing will be the capital of the Tang Dynasty for some time to come.

The capital is naturally not suitable to be the first line of defense against the enemy.

It is natural to capture Zhenjiang and Yangzhou, build a defense line, and create a strategic depth for Nanjing.

The second reason is that Zhenjiang and Yangzhou were both important nodes in the Qing Dynasty’s north-south grain transportation.

After the Tang army captured Zhenjiang and Yangzhou, they could cut off the Qing government's grain transport, increase the cost of transporting grain for the Qing government, and indirectly hinder the Qing government from continuing to obtain money, grain and other supplies from Jiangnan.

Third, it can slightly appease the pro-war factions in the army and stabilize the morale of the troops.

It can be said that it accomplishes multiple things with one stone!
Everyone was still arguing, but when Li Yi made the decision, all the generals of the Tang army bowed down one after another.

"I will obey your orders!"

With Li Yi's current prestige, he can make decisions on his own, and no one dares to oppose his decision.

After that, Li Yi continued.

"After our army captures Zhenjiang and Yangzhou, the General Staff should immediately prepare to build coastal defense batteries in Zhenjiang and Yangzhou, organize defense lines, and be ready to meet the enemy in Zhenjiang and Yangzhou."

"Well, when building the forts and fortifications, try to recruit civilians and craftsmen from Nanjing, and treat it as relief work!"

Although Li Yi felt that the foreigners might not dare to advance westward along the river from Shanghai and go deep inland to attack Nanjing.

But you can’t say for sure!
You should know that during the First Crow era, the British army advanced westwards from the mouth of the Yangtze River, penetrated deep into the inland, captured Zhenjiang, cut off the grain transport, and forced the Qing government to sue for peace.

This time, the foreign expeditionary force had the help of the Qing government to guarantee their logistical supplies. Under such circumstances, the possibility of the foreign expeditionary force fighting deep inland was not only possible, but also very high.

Of course, regardless of whether these foreign expeditionary forces would attack Nanjing, it was definitely right for Li Yi to deploy defenses in Zhenjiang and Yangzhou in advance.

If they really come, that would be the best, and the Tang army’s preparations would not be in vain.

It doesn’t matter even if they don’t come, just think of it as work-for-relief.

Anyway, there are so many displaced people in Nanjing City, and we have to provide relief.

Upon hearing this, all the generals responded in unison again.

Li Yi continued.

"Besides that, we will prepare for the ceremony and specific matters of worshipping the Xiaoling Mausoleum."

"I plan to go to the Xiaoling Mausoleum first and then go to Nanjing."

This is not quite accurate, because Li Yi is actually in Nanjing. It's just that this city belongs to the outer city, not the inner city!

The city of Nanjing at this time was astonishingly large, covering an area of ​​230 square kilometers, and was one of the largest cities in the world.

However, precisely because Nanjing is so large and covers so much land, the outer city is not actually a city, but a large rural area.

Therefore, in the traditional cognition of people of this era, the outer city is not considered Nanjing, but the inner city is.

What Li Yi meant by entering the city here is actually the inner city.

Upon hearing this, all the generals bowed and accepted the order, indicating that they understood.

Li Yi's intention to pay homage to the Mausoleum of Emperor Xiaoling was actually the same as his purpose of changing Jiangning to Nanjing and preparing to make Nanjing the capital.

To put it bluntly, it is for political needs!
He wanted to establish his capital in Nanjing and pay homage to the Xiaoling Mausoleum to show the world that he was determined to fight a northern expedition and would never settle for a side.

And further win the hearts of the people around the world!

Well, people all over the world have completely different attitudes towards separatist regimes and world orthodoxy.

There is no room for separatist forces in China.

Either you unify the world or you are unified by others. There is no third option.

Since Qin Shihuang unified the country, unification has been the general trend and the inevitability of history.

Li Yi naturally understood this!
……

After the meeting, the generals of the Tang army began to busy themselves with their own affairs.

Li Yi stayed in the military tent to handle various military affairs.

For example, determining military merits, drawing up promotion and demotion lists, planning food and logistics, etc.

Li Yi has to worry about a lot of things.

Just as Li Yi was dealing with military affairs, a notification sounded outside.

Afterwards, Li Hongzhang walked in from outside with a report in his hand.

After coming in front of Li Yi, he began to report.

"Your Majesty, the specific losses incurred in the Nanjing fire have been tallied."

"Your Majesty, please have a look!"

Since Luzhou surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, Li Yi summoned Li Hongzhang to meet him.

After the meeting, Li Yi threw Li Hongzhang into his secretariat, responsible for following him and assisting him in handling various affairs.

Li Yi planned to keep Li Hongzhang by his side first to give him some experience and then give him important tasks.

Although Li Hongzhang was a corrupt official in history.

But compared to his abilities, corruption is not actually a big problem.

To give an inappropriate example, if the officials under him can help Li Yi complete the industrial revolution and make the pie bigger overall, then Li Yi actually doesn’t care about the little they secretly put into their pockets.

Just consider it as dividends to the project managers below!

There should always be some preferential treatment for capable people, right?

Also, for a country, corrupt officials are not actually scary.

What’s scary is that officials only take bribes and do nothing.

This is the real sign of the country’s demise!
For example, it is well known that the level of corruption in Victorian Britain was the highest in the world.

However, Britain relied on this group of corrupt officials to create the glory of the British Empire.

Make Britain the most powerful country on the entire planet!
The reason for this is that although British officials of this era were corrupt, they actually did things even when they were corrupt.

The negative example is naturally our Qing Dynasty.

Although the national strength of our Qing Dynasty is not as good as that of Britain, the level of corruption among officials is just as high.

But one of them was the British Empire that dominated the world, while the other was attacked by the European powers and even the Japanese devils in turn to improve their record.

The fundamental reason for such a big difference is that the corrupt officials in Britain are both corrupt and do their work, while the officials in our Qing Dynasty are only corrupt and do not do their work.

Then, you will understand everything!

Anti-corruption has always been a false proposition. As long as the world is governed by humans, corruption will never be eradicated.

Of course, if you insist on changing the concept and renaming corruption as "political donations" and then declare that corruption has been completely eradicated, then I can do nothing about it.

Therefore, Li Yi still values ​​Li Hongzhang very much.

Well, the kind that is willing to reuse a person even though one knows he has shortcomings.

Li Yi took the report from Li Hongzhang and began to read it.

Li Hongzhang started reporting from the side.

"Your Majesty, the fire in Nanjing has reduced the entire Ming Imperial City to ashes. Important buildings such as the Jiangning General's Mansion and the Liangjiang Governor's Mansion have all been burned down."

"In addition, a total of 32,000 houses were burned down, nearly 4,000 Nanjing residents were killed, and more than 21,000 people were burned."

"Nearly 100,000 people were left homeless by the fire..."

Li Yi couldn't help but look solemn when he heard this.

He is really a little numb now.

Thirty thousand houses needed to be rebuilt, more than 20,000 people were injured, and 100,000 people were left homeless...

How much does it cost to resettle this guy?!

Li Yi now hates that bastard Yiliang even more.

Damn you Yiliang, I swear to kill you!!!
(End of this chapter)