Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 512 Recapture of Anxi
"Mom, I'm hungry..."

"My dear girl, when Father comes back with firewood, he can start cooking."

"Oh dear... oh dear..."

In the dead of winter, hundreds of thousands of tents are being erected on tens of thousands of acres of land outside Yongjia City in Wenzhou.

The scene was filled with women comforting their children, children crying, and adults sighing.

Most of them were ordinary people who had been forced to leave their homes by the army and come south to the unfamiliar city of Yongjia.

The tents erected by these people stretched as far as the eye could see, almost covering all the land outside the city where one could stand, and even the mountains outside Yongjia City were filled with tents.

"General, there are more than 200,000 people here, and more than 200,000 people in Angu and Hengyang to the south."

"With so many people now turning their backs on King Gao in Fujian, how should we settle them?"

Standing before the Yongjia city gate, Zhang Xun, the thin and slightly bitter-looking governor of Wenzhou, looked at Wang Zhongren, who remained unmoved, and felt a bitter taste in his mouth, not knowing what to say.

Originally, it was thought that hundreds of thousands of people would be moved to Fujian, but now Li Bo in Fujian has surrendered to Liu Jilong, and all the people have been detained in Wenzhou.

Given the situation in Wenzhou, it is simply impossible to accommodate so many people. Every extra day these people stay increases the threat they pose to Wenzhou.

Faced with his question, Wang Zhongren seemed to have aged several years. He glanced at him and said wearily, "This is what you, as the Prefect of Wenzhou, should do, not me."

"This..." Zhang Xun couldn't help but feel a bit angry upon hearing this, after all, Wang Zhongren had directly relocated hundreds of thousands of people from Ming and Taizhou, and he hadn't received any news about it at all.

Now that these people are no longer migrating, Wang Zhongren intends to dump these hundreds of thousands of people, similar to disaster victims, onto him for disposal.
Just as he was about to say something, a fast horse galloped along the horse path on the city wall. The general on horseback dismounted and bowed when he arrived in front of Wang Zhongren.

"General, all the ships have been requisitioned, a total of 326 vessels of various sizes, enough to carry 30,000 troops to Chaozhou."

"However, Fuzhou has hundreds of official and merchant ships. If Li Bo leads his army to launch a surprise attack on our forces, then I'm afraid..."

The general's words made Wang Zhongren sigh. Li Bo surrendered too quickly; he hadn't even had time to react before Li Bo's men blocked the official road into Fujian by cutting down trees.

His only option now is to sail south by sea.

Fortunately, the wind is favorable now, and it will only take ten days to travel from Wenzhou to Chaozhou, provided that we are not attacked by Li Bo.

Of their more than 300 ships, only 42 were official vessels. Although the remaining multi-story ships and merchant ships were equipped with winches and crossbows, many of the smaller vessels would still be at risk of capsizing if they were attacked.

Thinking of this, Wang Zhongren felt a surge of anger rising in his chest: "Li Bo..."

He wanted to lead his army to attack Fujian, but given the speed of the Han army, there were probably already quite a few Han soldiers entering Fujian.

In this situation, he had no choice but to seize the opportunity and, before Li Bo could react, abandon the hundreds of thousands of people and head to Lingnan by sea.

Thinking of this, he immediately said, "Order the three armies to board ships and set sail south across the sea tomorrow!"

"Yes!" The general replied without hesitation. Wang Zhongren turned and left, completely disregarding how ugly Zhang Xun's expression was.

After they left, Pei Hongtai, the magistrate of Yongjia County who was standing next to Zhang Xun, frowned and bowed to him, saying:

"My lord, this group of people brought hundreds of thousands of people to Wenzhou, but now they are ignoring them and taking away the money and grain from the state's granaries."

"If the people rebel afterwards, how should we deal with it?"

"Hmph!" Zhang Xun snorted coldly upon hearing this. He also disliked Wang Zhongren and his group very much, but in chaotic times, those without soldiers were considered lowly, so he dared not do anything to Wang Zhongren.

After a cold snort, he could only try to salvage the situation by saying, "They will cross the sea to the south tomorrow. In that case, after they cross the sea tomorrow, you should lead the yamen runners and the people back to Tai and Ming prefectures, and at the same time present a letter of surrender to Li Yangchun."

"I thought Gao Pian was someone who could achieve great things, but now it seems he's no different from Dong Chang and Song Wei."

“Alright!” Pei Hongtai agreed without hesitation. After all, he was originally from the Pei clan of Hedong, and his family was all in the north. Naturally, he was unwilling to follow Gao Pian in establishing a separatist regime in the south.

Now that Gao Pian has been defeated and retreated to Lingnan, he can take this opportunity to return to the north, seek an official position in the capital, and live out the rest of his life in peace.

As he was thinking this, the Southern Tang army began unloading all kinds of money, grain, and merchant ships that night. The cargo holds of all kinds of ships, large and small, in Wenzhou Port outside Yongjia City were almost full.

Many Japanese and Silla merchants whose merchant ships were robbed recorded their experiences of being robbed by Wang Jung-im. However, these small merchants in a chaotic world naturally went unnoticed.

Wang Zhongren's army carried money and grain all night long until dawn. Then, more than 300 ships of various sizes set sail and headed south along the coast.

Compared to the frequent typhoon season in summer, the Fujian Sea is very calm in winter, with waves only a few feet high, so Wang Zhongren can calmly head south.

No sooner had he left than Zhang Xun sent men to Taizhou to seek the protection of the Han army, and at the same time dispatched yamen runners to send back all the people who were willing to return.

Li Yangchun learned of this three days later.

"Wang Zhongren is indeed a remarkable figure for decisively abandoning so many people to flee to Lingnan, but he burned down the counties of Taizhou, and our army has to make up for it. This is truly despicable."

"What's there to be afraid of? Our navy is almost catching up with them, and then their tens of thousands of troops will all be buried at sea!"

On the city wall of Linhai, the seat of Taizhou, Li Yangchun looked at the houses in the city that had been burned to ruins, and heard the complaints of Deng Yan and others. His brows were furrowed and his heart was filled with anger.

Wang Zhongren's 5,000 troops left to cover the rear have all been defeated and captured, but the cities of Mingzhou and Taizhou have been basically burned down.

Besides the people living in the countryside, he also forcibly relocated the people living in the cities of Mingzhou and Taizhou to Wenzhou.

Now he's just packed his bags and left, leaving Li Yangchun with a mess. How can he calm down?
"How many days have Yang Xingmin and the others been gone?"

Li Yangchun turned to ask Deng Yan and the others, among whom Liu Song bowed without hesitation and said, "We set off three days ago, so we should be a day behind them."

"However, Wang Chongren will need to bypass Fuzhou, which will inevitably take up a lot of time. Perhaps he can catch up."

Knowing that Wang Zhongren would flee to Fujian, Li Yangchun naturally made arrangements for a backup plan.

After he sent the imperial edict from his prince to Yang Xingmin and the others, Yang Xingmin and the others immediately pledged their allegiance to him. He then took the opportunity to arrange for Yang Xingmin and the others to lead the navy in pursuit.

At the same time, after learning that Li Bo in Fujian had surrendered, he sent a fast horse to Fujian, ordering Li Bo to lead his navy to block Wang Chongren from heading south.

Wang Zhongren left him with such a mess, so naturally he couldn't let him leave so easily.

Even if we cannot annihilate his entire army, we must sever his arms so that he cannot calmly rush to Gao Pian's aid.

Thinking of this, Li Yangchun turned and walked down the city wall, his face dark as he prepared to present a memorial to Liu Jilong.

Given the situation in eastern Zhejiang, with hundreds of thousands of people like disaster victims urgently needing resettlement, he couldn't make the decision on this matter himself and had to wait for his own prince's decree.

"Rustling...splashing..."

As Li Yangchun dispatched a fast horse to Jiangling, on the gloomy Minhai Sea, hundreds of ships that Wang Zhongren had been sailing for half a day were slowly moving south with the monsoon winds.

From Wenzhou to Chaozhou, once you follow the winter monsoon, as long as you don't encounter a typhoon, the entire shipping route is basically safe.

However, Wang Zhongren was not a businessman; he needed to be concerned not only about natural disasters but also about man-made ones.

"At this rate, if we travel a hundred li a day, we will enter the sea near Fuzhou in four days, and arrive in Chaozhou in ten days at the latest."

Inside the ship's cabin, a merchant responsible for directing Wang Chongren's fleet was sweating profusely as he continuously briefed Wang Chongren on the voyage.

Seeing that Wang Zhongren did not make things difficult for him, he continued, "If Your Excellency is at ease, you can reach Guangzhou by boat in a maximum of twenty days."

"Hmm." Hearing this, Wang Zhongren felt slightly relieved. At the same time, he looked at the gloomy sea outside the cabin. He had a feeling that there was some indescribable monster hiding in the seabed, which made him uneasy.

"I hope he's just overthinking it..."

Wang Chongren breathed a sigh of relief, then walked out of the cabin and surveyed the fleet from the deck.

The fleet, consisting of more than 300 official ships, civilian ships, and merchant ships of various types, varied in speed.

The fast ones can travel 150 li a day, while the slow ones can only travel 100 li.

In order to take everyone with him, Wang Chongren could only proceed at the slowest possible pace.

The entire fleet occupied several miles of sea. Even with the waves crashing against it, they could only shake the outermost, tall official ships, but could not harm the smaller ships that were protected inside.

After observing for half an hour and confirming that there was no danger, Wang Zhongren returned to his cabin to rest.

So for the next few days, he spent almost all of them in this peaceful environment.

It wasn't until the fourth day, after entering the sea near Fuzhou, that he gradually became nervous. From day to night, he barely got any rest.

Amidst his anxiety, the entire fleet passed through the Fuzhou Sea unscathed, which suddenly relieved his tense nerves. After instructing everyone to be careful, he returned to his cabin to rest.

After he lay down, the fleet rounded the larger island south of Fuzhou and then began heading towards the sea off Quanzhou.

From dusk to nightfall, and from nightfall to dawn, the sleeping Wang Zhongren felt as if he were in a state of chaos, rising and falling.

He wandered through the chaos, but could not find a way out, until a piercing whistle sounded, and the chaos in front of him shattered, startling him awake.

"Beep--"

The piercing whistle continued to sound even after he regained consciousness, and the cabin was filled with the sound of hurried footsteps.

"Commander! Enemy attack!!"

The constant knocking on the door immediately snapped Wang Zhongren, whose head was still somewhat foggy, out of his daze. Without even putting on his boots, he hurried out.

"What happened?!"

Wang Chongren looked at the panicked generals outside the door, and then looked in the direction they were pointing.

More than a hundred ships appeared in the sea ahead, blocking the way. Among them, dozens of ships were particularly tall and large, clearly official vessels.

"You bastard, you've come here to wait for me!"

Wang Zhongren gritted his teeth, but quickly realized what was happening. He then said, "The civilian ships should take a detour, while the government ships should launch an attack to cover the civilian ships!"

Under his command, the fleet of more than 300 ships was immediately split into two. More than 40 official ships slowly sailed out, while the rest prepared to bypass the battlefield and calmly retreat towards Chaozhou.

"Brother Huayuan, I thought Wang Zhongren could easily evacuate with so many ships."

"His dream is probably going to be shattered; I've prepared more than just this one trick for him."

On the deck, when Yang Xingmin and Qian Liu looked out at the fleet that was several times their size, their eyes were filled with surprise rather than fear.

Because Wang Chongren kept waiting for the slower warships, he was a whole day slower than Yang Xingmin and the others had anticipated.

Yang Xingmin guessed that Wang Zhongren would be extremely vigilant when passing through the Fuzhou Sea, so he did not choose to confront Yang Xingmin in the Fuzhou Sea, but instead chose the sea area north of Quanzhou.

As it turned out, his prediction was correct; Wang Zhongren indeed followed the steps he had designed, step by step walking into his trap.

"Split up the warships, entangle their warships, and leave the opportunity for Li Shijun and Li Dalang to show their strength!"

Yang Xingmin waved his hand, and the flag bearers beside him immediately began waving their command flags.

Before long, more than a hundred warships of various sizes began to separate from the left and right, forming a pocket that surrounded the more than forty warships led by Wang Zhongren.

"put!"

Faced with this situation, Wang Zhongren launched an attack without hesitation.

Ballast stones were carried onto the deck one by one, and the winches and crossbows on the deck were cocked by manpower. Then, as people stepped on the mechanism, they shot out chisel arrows that were ten feet long.

"Whoa..."

"Bang bang bang!"

In an instant, hundreds of chisel-shaped arrows pierced the air, most of them falling into the sea, while a small number pierced through the Han army's warships and tore their sails.

Faced with this situation, Yang Xingmin did not immediately order a counterattack, but continued to wait for the warships to surround him.

Once the fleet had completely surrounded Wang Zhongren's forty-odd warships, he finally waved his command flag: "Release!"

Shortly after the command flag was waved, the winches and catapults on the warships began to operate, sending hundreds of chisel-shaped arrows flying through the air, along with dozens of catapults that soared through the air.

"puff!!"

Huge stones fell into the sea, creating splashes several feet high, while countless chisel-shaped arrows suppressed more than forty Southern Tang warships, rendering them unable to retaliate.

The chisel-shaped arrows pierced the ship's hull or even penetrated the deck, but they did not cause much damage to the soldiers. During the quarter-hour engagement, the number of casualties remained in the double digits.

Instead of engaging in close combat, they continued to probe each other with ranged weapons.

In the midst of this probing, someone suddenly pointed into the distance in a panic: "Marshal!"

Wang Zhongren suddenly looked in the direction the man was pointing, and saw that in the direction of the nearly three hundred troop-carrying warships that had circled this sea area, dozens more warships had appeared.

"It's Li Bo!!"

Wang Zhongren was filled with rage. He had recognized his old rival, Yang Xingmin, during the battle.

The warships that have reappeared in the distance now belong to Li Bo, who has betrayed the Han army and surrendered.

"That bastard, worse than a pig or a dog, if I manage to escape alive today, I will make him pay for his crimes in blood!!"

Wang Zhongren gritted his teeth and waved the command flag, ordering before anyone could react: "Order all ships to break out towards Zhangzhou!"

Wang Zhongren, who had long anticipated that the Han army would ambush him along the way, initially deployed his soldiers on larger ships with higher speeds.

The situation is hopeless right now, so the only option is to preserve the troops and take advantage of the situation to break out.

If we succeed, we won't be afraid of not having a chance to make a comeback.

"Beep--"

Under his command, the piercing sound of wooden whistles rang out continuously, and more than forty Southern Tang warships began a frantic breakout southwards.

Seeing that his goal had been achieved, Yang Xingmin decisively waved his command flag: "Get on them! Use the gunwale to hold them off!"

"Yes!" Qian Liu chuckled, then commanded over a hundred warships to surround Wang Zhongren and his men in layers.

"Bam—"

"kill!!"

When the ships collided, huge iron hooks caught the Southern Tang army's warships, and countless Han soldiers began to jump the gangplanks and engage in close combat with the Southern Tang soldiers.

"Ignore them, break through!"

Wang Zhongren made a resolute decision, abandoning the entangled warships and choosing to protect the main ship in its attempt to break through the encirclement.

"Boom bang bang..."

"Uh-huh!!"

On the gray sea, waves crashed in layers, but at this moment the sound of them hitting the hull was insignificant. Instead, the sounds of warships colliding and soldiers shouting battle almost drowned out the sound of the sea.

Wang Zhongren led more than ten warships to break through the encirclement, at the cost of leaving behind nearly thirty warships that were entangled by the Han army.

More than ten warships headed straight for the distant battlefield. Yang Xingmin, seeing this, said with a grim face: "Most of them are new recruits. Persuade them to surrender and tell them that Jiangxi has been recovered by our army. If they do not want to die in a foreign land, they should surrender quickly!"

At Yang Xingmin's prompting, calls for surrender began to circulate. The new recruits, who were originally from Jiangxi, began to waver upon hearing of the loss of Jiangxi.

Especially after someone shouted phrases like "returning to one's roots" and "dying far from home," these Southern Tang soldiers, who had originally been fiercely rebellious, suddenly hesitated.

"I surrender!"

"I surrender! I surrender! Please don't kill me!"

"surrender……"

In less than the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, the thousands of abandoned Southern Tang soldiers laid down their weapons and surrendered. Seeing this, Yang Xingmin asked Qian Liu to take more than ten warships to guard them, and then led the rest of the warships to chase after Wang Zhongren.

Meanwhile, as Wang Zhongren gradually approached the southern battlefield, he saw dozens of warships flying Han army flags constantly attacking and trying to recruit the soldiers under his command.

Upon seeing him arrive, many soldiers who had been wavering regained their composure, and Wang Zhongren quickly made his choice.

"All troops, don your armor and attack Quanzhou Port!!"

Wang Zhongren was well aware that there weren't many troops in Fujian, and although the land route from Quanzhou to Zhangzhou and Chaozhou wasn't easy, it wasn't like the route from Wenzhou to Fuzhou, which required detouring through Jianzhou.

He could have led his soldiers to Quanzhou, and then taken half a month's worth of provisions to Chaozhou by land.

Once they entered Chaozhou, the problems the army encountered would be solved, and Yang Xingmin and his men, lacking sufficient troops, would naturally not dare to pursue so many of them.

His idea was not wrong, but when he put it into practice, he realized that he was terribly wrong.

Under his command, dozens of civilian ships rushed towards Quanzhou Port. However, before they could enter the port, they felt the ships rocking.

"What happened?!" "The ship's cabin is flooding!!"

In an instant, Wang Zhongren rushed to the side of the ship and looked down. He could vaguely see the outline of the ship in the dark seawater.

Yang Xingmin had anticipated their attack on Quanzhou, so he chose to sink ships to blockade the port, thus thwarting Wang Zhongren's plan.

"Asshole!!"

Wang Zhongren was both shocked and frightened. With the help of those around him, he quickly went to the ship behind him that was not in danger.

Once his feet were back on the deck, Wang Zhongren knew that all he had left was to make a drastic decision.

"Withdraw the troops! Withdraw the troops to Chaozhou!"

He no longer commanded the warships in battle, because he had never commanded naval battles before, so he chose to let each warship break out on its own.

After he issued his order, the more than twenty large ships he led took the lead in breaking through to the south.

When the Han army's warships came to block him, he chose to cut off his own tail to save himself, ordering his guards' warships to engage them while he led the other ships southward.

“Bang bang bang!!”

The crossbow bolts rained down like a sudden downpour, and Yang Xingmin caught up from behind.

"Ignore them, retreat to Chaozhou!"

Wang Zhongren did not want to perish at sea, much less be captured, so he could only keep ordering a retreat to the south. Yang Xingmin, seeing his obstinate retreat, couldn't help but angrily curse him:
"Gao Pian actually entrusted 40,000 troops to such a cowardly man!"

Although furious, Yang Xingmin did not let Wang Zhongren go easily, but continued to lead his troops to pursue and kill him.

Knowing that Wang Zhongren was not good at naval warfare and had few warships, he continued to pursue him, occasionally recruiting the warships that had fallen behind.

The entire naval battle did not last long, only a little over half an hour. Wang Zhongren abandoned his army and broke through the encirclement with less than a hundred warships, leaving behind a large number of ships and soldiers.

Without hesitation, the ships and soldiers on board surrendered decisively after seeing Wang Zhongren's ship sailing further and further away and realizing they had been abandoned.

Yang Xingmin left Qian Liu, Li Bo, and Li Shenfu to clean up the battlefield, while he took advantage of the situation to continue the pursuit.

The two sides fought their way from Quanzhou to Zhangzhou, then south to Chaozhou. After Wang Zhongren fled into Chaozhou Port like a stray dog ​​with his warships, Yang Xingmin reluctantly circled the port a few times before ordering his troops to withdraw.

"Marshal, be careful!"

When Wang Zhongren's feet touched the ground again, his legs went weak because he hadn't had a proper rest for many days. Fortunately, he was supported by those on either side.

He couldn't help but look back, only to see that of the hundreds of ships that had set out, fewer than sixty remained.

The soldiers who were disembarking were like frightened birds, each with a look of fear on their faces, still recovering from the chase they had just experienced.

Wang Chongren's situation was quickly reported to the emperor by Chen Yao, the prefect of Chaozhou, and sent to Guangzhou, from where it was delivered to the front lines in Shaozhou.

"put!"

"Boom!"

Under the gloomy sky of Shaozhou, the Han army outside the city was constantly attacking Qujiang City with cannons.

The Southern Tang army inside the city constantly urged the people to repair the city walls after each bombardment, patching and mending them to get through the crisis.

The sound of artillery fire had subsided, but the memorial before him was still not finished.

In this battle, our army suffered 22,657 casualties or missing persons, and 257 ships were lost...

Faced with the near annihilation of his 30,000 troops, Gao Pian simply took a few deep breaths to calm himself before finally offering his assessment:

"As long as Wang Lang is still alive, the situation here is nothing."

“The hometowns of these Jiangxi soldiers have all been captured by the rebels. Even if they are brought back to Lingnan, they will not submit willingly. It’s better if they die in battle.”

As Gao Pian spoke these words to comfort himself, how could he possibly bear to part with the money and provisions for more than 30,000 soldiers and more than 300 ships if he could?

But what's done is done, and simply blaming Wang Zhongren won't change the outcome. It's better to appease him and ask him to help defend Chaozhou.

"By imperial decree, Wang Zhongren was appointed as the prefect of Chaozhou, to lead the army to defend Chaozhou and build warships."

"Yes!"

Gao Pian issued the edict as if nothing had happened, while Gao Qin bowed and responded with concern, then said:
"Qujiang City has been under attack for several days. The rebels seem to be waiting for something. Should our army continue to hold out against them?"

Eighteen days have passed since Gao Pian arrived in Shaozhou. In those eighteen days, Jiangxi, Jiangdong, Liangzhe, Qianzhong, and Fujian have all been lost.

Now, he only has Lingnan Province left, while the Han army has begun to advance towards Lingnan after recovering the various provinces.

It is New Year's Eve, the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month. After today, it will be the second year of Tianfu (the fourth year of Qianfu).

He had exhausted all means, but the gap in strength between the two sides was simply too great. Gao Pian intended to become Wang Dao, but Liu Jilong made him the Jiang Zong and Xiao Moke of the Southern Chen.

"Fate is cruel..."

Gao Pian inwardly mocked himself, but after a moment he forced himself to look at Gao Qin and asked, "How many soldiers, horses, and provisions do we have left?"

Seeing his question, Gao Qin looked embarrassed and, under his gaze, said with difficulty:

"Our army currently has nearly 100,000 troops, including those from Annam, but only about 80,000 if we exclude Annam."

"The rear supplies are only enough to sustain the army for four months, but the early rice harvest will not be until the end of May."

"Furthermore, the treasury holds less than 170,000 strings of cash and silver, barely enough to pay the army's wages for six months, but after six months..."

Gao Qin didn't know what to say, but Gao Pian breathed a sigh of relief after hearing it, as long as there wasn't a shortage of money and food right now.

"I understand this matter. Tell all the prefectures to defend it strictly and hold out until summer. The main force of the rebels will inevitably retreat, and the pressure on our army will be greatly reduced."

"Yes……"

Upon hearing his father's words, Gao Qin said nothing more, but respectfully bowed and left the government office.

Not long after he left, the sound of cannons rang out again outside the city. Gao Pian felt his thoughts were in disarray, and he had completely lost his previous sharpness and spirit.

He was well aware that he still had troops and could negotiate with Liu Jilong to secure better treatment after surrendering.

He himself didn't know what he was insisting on, but in short, he didn't want to surrender to Liu Jilong like this.

As he pondered, the sound of firecrackers began to echo across the land north of the Yangtze River, and the new year arrived as scheduled.

"Crackling..."

Looking at the firecrackers crackling and popping in the brazier, Liu Jilong slowly put down the memorial in his hand.

"With the help of Biao, he has recovered Jiangnan. At present, he will leave the northern troops in Jiangnan and lead 40,000 Jianghuai troops to Fujian."

"Chen Ying led the northern troops to Jiangxi, while Wang Shi led 40,000 Jianghuai troops south to Qianzhou, approaching Shaozhou."

"Cao Mao and Chen Jingchong transferred 40,000 northern troops back to Jiangbei, and mainly used the original Shannan East Road troops and 40,000 Jianghuai troops to gather 100,000 troops to continue attacking Lingnan."

"Wang Jian's 30,000 troops from Dongchuan should be able to adapt to the climate of Lingxi. Let him continue to lead the troops to attack Lingxi. If the troops suffer injuries or illnesses due to the local climate, troops will be drawn from Cao Mao and Chen Jingchong."

It is now the fourth year of the Qianfu era, and Liu Jilong has begun to arrange for his army to take turns attacking southward.

In another month, the temperature in Lingnan will begin to rise. Only the soldiers from Jianghuai and Bashu can adapt to it somewhat, while the northern soldiers in the army will definitely not be able to adapt.

Withdrawing them in advance was also to protect them; otherwise, with current methods, it would be difficult to save them.

Thinking this, Liu Jilong looked at Jing Xiang, who was writing the daily records and imperial edicts: "How many officials from Sichuan has the court recruited?"

“One thousand two hundred and forty-six officials and five thousand six hundred and twenty-four clerks.”

Without hesitation, Jing Xiang answered, and then said, "According to the old system of the Kaiyuan era, there are seventy-nine prefectures and four hundred and fifty counties south of the Yangtze River."

“Aside from Qianzhong Circuit and Jiannan Circuit, there are ninety-two other tributary prefectures.”

"The governors and governors of these tributary prefectures were hereditary chiefs of local tribes, and their household registrations were not recorded in the Ministry of Revenue."

After Jing Xiang returned from persuading Zhang Ji to surrender, he did not mention his own merits or promotion, but continued to work as a court attendant.

In order to answer Liu Jilong's questions, he had long since memorized all the relevant books and regulations concerning Jiangnan, so that he could answer them off the top of his head whenever Liu Jilong asked.

Opportunity favors the prepared mind, and Jingxiang is undoubtedly that kind of person.

"This number of officials is not enough to control the entire Jiangnan region."

"How many officials can Dongchuan select in the next three years?"

Liu Jilong continued to inquire, and Jing Xiang roughly estimated: "The number of clerks is about 15,000, while the number of officials depends on the selection situation in various places, but it will probably not exceed 4,000."

Upon hearing this, Liu Jilong knew that he needed to keep the powerful families of Jiangnan in check for at least three years before he would be qualified to take action against them.

Three years is too long; he can't possibly stay away from Luoyang for three years. Therefore, he has to find another way to resolve this matter.

Thinking of this, he took a deep breath and said, "What if we transfer the officials who have adapted to the Jianghuai region to Jiangnan, and transfer the officials from Dongchuan to Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian, and Lingnan?"

Upon hearing this, Jing Xiang was filled with thoughts. After a short while, he bowed and said, "If that's the case, we can at least control most of it. We just need to wait until the end of this year to continue recruiting officials from the Dongchuan Official School, and we can completely put these hot and humid places under the control of the imperial court."

“However…” Jing Xiang hesitated for a moment, and Liu Jilong glanced at him, his eyes encouraging him to speak.

Encouraged by Liu Jilong, he then said, "Your Highness's thoughts are naturally beneficial to the people, but people's hearts are not what they used to be, and I am worried..."

Jingxiang knew that Liu Jilong wanted to overthrow the world dominated by powerful families and let ordinary people step onto the stage of history in batches.

But once these ordinary people step onto the stage of history, how many of them can maintain their original aspirations?
“Say what you want to say, there’s no need for all this.”

Liu Jilong continued to encourage him, having high hopes for Jing Xiang. Jing Xiang didn't disappoint him, and after some hesitation, said:

"I have perused historical records, including those of ancient chieftains, nobles of the pre-Qin period, powerful families of the Han dynasty, aristocratic clans of the North and South, and contemporary aristocratic families..."

"The ancestors of these people were just Chinese, but they gradually became nobles by chance after making contributions."

"After they became nobles, they did not show the same sincerity they had when they were Chinese. Instead, they became wary of the Chinese around them and only wanted to keep power firmly in their own hands and that of their descendants."

"I believe that selfishness is human nature, and no one is willing to give up the power and wealth they have acquired."

"That's just how the world is. The law of the jungle will never change. Once the weak become strong, they will inevitably continue to devour the weak to strengthen themselves. They will never help other weak people become as strong as themselves."

"If everyone is strong and everyone wields power, what use is power?"

Jing Xiang didn't dare to be too blatant, but Liu Jilong already understood his meaning.

It simply means that, as time goes by, the actions of these officials who came from humble backgrounds will gradually resemble those of the powerful and influential families of the past, only with a different name.

“I understand what you are saying and thinking, but if we do not change the cause just because the result is bad, then the people will have no hope of getting ahead.”

"From nobles to powerful families, then to powerful clans, and now to commoner officials, the world has always been moving closer to the common people."

"At least with a fairer official education and imperial examination system, more and more ordinary people will be able to enter the imperial court."

"Even if only one person out of hundreds or thousands is truly concerned for the people, the system is still a success."

As soon as Liu Jilong finished speaking, Jing Xiang opened his mouth, unsure of what to say.

Seeing his reaction, Liu Jilong raised his hand to signal him to listen to him, and then said, "When the new dynasty is established, you will know the meaning of what I am saying today."

"Yes……"

Upon hearing Liu Jilong's words, Jing Xiang immediately bowed in respect, and Liu Jilong continued to give instructions:

"The northern soldiers who retreated north were given a three-month leave with pay. After three months, they returned to their original garrisons and were to be reassigned later."

The northern troops marched south for more than half a year, and if the preparation time is included, it took almost a year.

Having just experienced war, what they undoubtedly wanted most at that moment was to go home.

These days, Liu Jilong can see from the reports submitted by various armies that the number of deserters is constantly increasing.

The number of deserters last month alone reached more than 3,200, which shows how much the soldiers miss their homes.

It would be good to take this opportunity to let them go home and rest for a while, otherwise the desertion situation will only get worse.

Thinking this, Liu Jilong continued, "Order the Southern Office to transfer officials from Jianghuai, Dongchuan and other places, as well as officials whose ancestral home is here, to various prefectures and counties in Jiangnan, and replace them with officials who graduated this year."

“I hope to see population maps and land registers for each prefecture and county next year, instead of copying the old ones.”

"Yes!" Jing Xiang noted it down, while Liu Jilong continued to watch the firecrackers exploding in the brazier, lost in thought.

A moment later, when footsteps sounded outside the Sizheng Hall, Liu Jilong slowly looked up and saw Zhao Ying rushing over.

Seeing the joy on Zhao Ying's face, Liu Jilong knew that good news had arrived.

"Your Highness, news of victory has arrived from Anxi and Fujian!"

As expected, the two reports of victory made Liu Jilong stand up, and Zhao Ying also quickened her pace and handed the memorial to Liu Jilong.

Liu Jilong first opened Anxi's memorial, which read that Zhang Huaishen had led his troops to recover one town and five prefectures, including Gumo, Wensu, Weitou, Shule, Yandu, and Biancheng, capturing 16,657 households and 89,770 people from the Hu, Yi, and Man tribes, as well as tens of thousands of cattle and horses and more than 300,000 herds.

"it is good!"

Seeing that Shule Town, one of the four towns of Anxi, had been recovered, it meant that the area south of Tianshan was basically under the control of the imperial court, although there were still two kingdoms within kingdoms, Khotan and Zhongyun.

However, under the Chinese tributary system, these two countries with imperial troops stationed there were undoubtedly considered inner vassal states.

"Congratulations, Your Highness, on the recapture of the entire Anxi territory. Now, only the various tributary governorates of Beiting and key locations such as Gongyue and Suyab remain to be recaptured."

Zhao Ying congratulated Liu Jilong, but while Liu Jilong was pleased, his gaze continued to follow the contents of Zhang Huaishen's memorial.

As expected, Zhang Huaishen was "demanding" people from him and proposed to relocate these nearly 90,000 Hu people to Hexi and even the Central Plains.

Zhang Huai had his reasons: these Hu people, mainly Uyghurs, were always a source of instability. Shule was far from Kucha and Tingzhou, so it would be safer to move them eastward.

In addition, after they are relocated, the more than 300,000 mu of farmland they previously cultivated will become the existing farmland of the immigrants.

It must be said that Zhang Huaishen's proposal was very much in line with Liu Jilong's view on the Western Regions, which was to settle immigrants and ensure that this area would always remain Han territory.

Today, the population of the Western Regions has plummeted to its lowest point in history due to the fragmentation by the Tibetan and Arab powers, as well as the massacres perpetrated by the Tibetans.

If we fail to seize this opportunity and turn the Western Regions into Han territory, future generations will likely blame themselves for missing this golden opportunity.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong couldn't help but stroke his mustache, and then said: "Imperial edict, ordering Grand Protector Zhang Huaishen to relocate 60,000 Hu people and distribute them to various prefectures in Hexi, and to send 30,000 surrendered soldiers from Jiangbei and their families to the Western Regions."

The 30,000 surrendered soldiers and their families numbered nearly 200,000.

Nearly 200,000 people migrated to the Western Regions. Even if only one-third of them could reach Shule, it would still be a great achievement for the Han people.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong added, "If there are migrants along the way who are unable to move due to wounded soldiers, they should be settled on the spot and not treated harshly."

"Yes." Zhao Ying agreed without hesitation, and Liu Jilong, in high spirits, continued to open the memorial from Fujian.

This memorial was jointly written by Li Bo and Yang Xingmin. It described how they defeated Wang Zhongren at Haida in Quanzhou, captured more than 20,000 surrendered soldiers, and seized nearly one million strings of cash and grain.

Liu Jilong was unsure whether the two men had concealed anything, but even if they had, the money and grain worth a million strings of cash were still a great achievement.

"These 20,000 surrendered soldiers will be temporarily moved back to Jiangxi and imprisoned, and after Lingnan is recovered, they will all be relocated to Lingxi for resettlement."

"Li Bo, the Fujian Inspector, was appointed as the Zhejiang East Inspector, and Yang Xingmin was appointed as the Fujian Inspector. They were ordered to register the people and measure the land."

"Prefect Qian Liu, Li Shenfu, and Sima Yuan Xi, among others, are all appointed as Grand Masters of the Silver Seal and Purple Ribbon, and their official positions will be determined after the reconquest of Lingnan."

Fujian may seem easy to control, but in reality, it is difficult to control due to the scarcity of arable land.

Yang Xingmin was only an observer, and he had no military support to establish a separatist regime. Moreover, Li Yangchun was about to lead his troops into Fujian. Even if Yang Xingmin had other intentions, Liu Jilong believed that Li Yangchun could stop him in time.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong closed the two memorials and turned to look at the map behind him.

On the vast map, only a corner of Lingnan has not yet been painted red, but given the situation in Lingnan, it is only a matter of time before this place is recovered.

The one who should be worried now is not Liu Jilong, but Gao Pian, who has retreated to this place.

"More than twenty years of hard work have finally come to fruition today..."

(End of this chapter)