There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 468 First enter Guanzhong, then await the opportune moment.

The Han army captured Kaifeng, and although Liu Yong, the governor of Henan, escaped, it didn't matter much.

High-ranking officials, including the Henan Provincial Surveillance Commissioner, the Henan Provincial Education Commissioner, and the Kaifeng Prefect, were all implicated.

Wanyan Dai, the Henan Provincial Surveillance Commissioner, had been bedridden for a long time, and now he was finally able to be released. He was directly carried to the execution ground by the Han army and beheaded.

Wang Linshu, the Henan Provincial Education Commissioner, was a Han official in charge of education and had not committed many atrocities against the people. Therefore, after surrendering, he was given a lighter punishment, only being forced into slavery in a brick kiln.

The Kaifeng prefect, Alijing'a, hadn't done much wrong either, so he shouldn't have had to die, but he was a Manchu and belonged to the Eight Banners!
The Eight Banners were the original sin, so even though they surrendered, they were still unforgivable and were sent to the execution ground to be beheaded.

Wang Jue, the magistrate of Xiangfu County, is currently on temporary leave to continue in his original post, assisting the Han army in managing Kaifeng City, because his official position is too low and he has taken the initiative to act as a guide for the Han army.

The gentry and powerful families in the city had already cut off their queues before the Han army entered the city, and were happy to welcome the great Han army.

After a few days of simple rest in Kaifeng, the Han army was about to cross the river to the north to attack Weihui Prefecture (Xinxiang) when a messenger came across the river to report the news.

"Weihui Prefecture has been taken over by your Heavenly Principles Sect?" Wei Xinrong asked with some surprise.

The messenger hurriedly replied, "Reporting to the general, Weihui Prefecture has indeed been captured by our leader. Please send your heavenly troops across the river to the north to take over Weihui Prefecture."

The capture of Weihui Prefecture by the Heavenly Principles Sect was both unexpected and reasonable.

Historically, Weihui Prefecture was the largest stronghold of the Heavenly Principle Sect, even larger than the Heavenly Principle Sect in Caozhou Prefecture.

At the beginning of the Tianli Sect uprising, the main force was the followers of Huaxian County in Weihui Prefecture, which quickly expanded and spread to three provinces.

The reason Lin Qing is more famous is simply because this guy led about 200 thugs and managed to take down the Forbidden City, and almost captured Emperor Jiaqing.

With Weihui Prefecture captured by the Heavenly Principles Sect, the overall situation in Henan was basically settled.

Wei Xinrong made a decisive move and divided his troops into three groups.

Liu Tie, commander of the Eighth Division, was sent south to attack the White Lotus Sect's old base in Henan—Nanyang Prefecture and Ruzhou (Linru).

Li Yongwu, commander of the Ninth Division, then attacked westward to Luoyang and Shanzhou (Sanmenxia), the only route from Henan to Shaanxi.

Wei Xinrong personally led the main force of his 7th Division across the Yellow River to incorporate and integrate the Tianlijiao Righteous Army in Weihui Prefecture, while continuing to attack the remaining Huaiqing (Qinyang) and Zhangde (Anyang) prefectures north of the Yellow River.

If it weren't for the severe shortage of food supplies, and the fact that the Wangwu and Taihang Mountains separated Shanxi to the north, which even the elite Han army couldn't cross after winter, it would have been difficult to do so.

Wei Xinrong even considered marching north to seize a large piece of territory from neighboring Shanxi.

After the Han army captured Kaifeng, the White Lotus sect suffered the most, apart from the Manchus.

Not only did the Manchus suffer a crushing defeat in Henan and lose all power to resist, but the Han army also seized their territory as a last resort.

Liu Zhixie, who had just opened up Tongguan from Shanzhou, was so angry when he saw the urgent report delivered by the messenger that he almost exploded: "Damn it (similar to 'your mother' in Henan dialect), the Nie family emperor has gone too far in bullying me!"

"Master, I am willing to immediately lead the veteran brothers of the sect back to Nanyang Prefecture and show those Han soldiers the might of the White Lotus Sect!" Li Jie immediately volunteered.

Last time in Xuzhou, he was badly defeated by the Han army and was captured before they even met. He later learned that his captors were not the main generals of the Han army, but just some of their subordinates.

A commander of the Han army, with a total of only 2000 men, utterly crushed Li Jie, who initially commanded tens of thousands of troops and held the home advantage in Xuzhou.

This made Li Jie feel extremely embarrassed. Tens of thousands of people were fighting against 2000 people. Not only could they not win, but they also lost so badly that they were captured alive by the Han army.

Therefore, Li Jie always wanted to find an opportunity to fight the Han army again.

In this guy's view, the reason he couldn't defeat the Han army before was because he was unprepared, caught off guard by a surprise attack, and had to fight hastily.

Now that we've given him time to prepare, even if we can't win, we won't suffer such a humiliating defeat! Li Jie volunteered for the fight, but Liu Zhixie, burning with anger, didn't agree for a long time.

Having seen this, strategist Zhang Yanshan had a pretty good idea of ​​what was going on. He cupped his hands and said, "Master, Commander-in-Chief Li, please calm down and hear me out!"

Li Jie wasn't really interested in listening, but Liu Zhixie immediately spoke up: "Strategist, please speak!"

Zhang Yanshan said, "We don't need to worry about the Han army capturing Nanyang; we can even abandon the important city of Luoyang. Our most urgent task should be to capture Xi'an as soon as possible, and then take over the entire Guanzhong region!"

Before Liu Zhixie could even speak, Li Jie couldn't hold back any longer.

Li Jie didn't give Zhang Yanshan too much face, but gritted his teeth and said, "Strategist, aren't you just boosting the morale of others and diminishing the prestige of my White Lotus Sect? My White Lotus Sect may indeed be no match for that Han army, but the Han army has bullied us to our doorstep. If we don't fight back, wouldn't the whole world look down on my White Lotus Sect?"

Zhang Yanshan was speechless when he heard Li Jie's words. This was about fighting for the world, not a village brawl.

So what if they look down on us? As long as we can win the world, what does it matter if we suffer a little humiliation?
Of course, Zhang Yanshan, as a strategist, couldn't say it like that. After carefully considering his words, he said, "Master, the world is now in a period of dynastic change. The Manchus have lost their power, and heroes from all over the world are vying for it. The Southern Han have already occupied the Jiangnan and Huguang regions, which are rich in resources and granaries. Now they have also captured Kaifeng, which is equivalent to taking over half of the Central Plains. If our White Lotus Sect wants to achieve anything, the Central Plains, a land of four war zones, is no longer a viable option. The only chance is to take over Shaanxi with all our might!"

Li Jie didn't speak, not because he didn't understand, but because he saw that Liu Zhixie hadn't expressed his support for him from beginning to end.

This guy wasn't stupid; he naturally noticed Liu Zhixie's indecisiveness.

As expected, Liu Zhixie quickly raised his hand, indicating that Zhang Yanshan should continue.

Zhang Yanshan said, "Shaanxi was known as Guanzhong in ancient times. It has many natural passes and is easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is not easy to become a battleground like the Central Plains. Guanzhong is bordered by Longyou and Hexi to the west, Hetao to the north, Shanxi and the Central Plains to the east, and Hanzhong and Bashu to the south. It can be a solid foundation for emperors."

"Moreover, Guanzhong is rich in lakes and rivers, and is known as the land and sea. The land here is easy to cultivate, and it is also an important town on the Silk Road to the Western Regions. It is densely populated, and Guanzhong has always been an essential passage for goods from the Central Plains to go west."

"As for the Central Plains, if my White Lotus Sect insists on protecting the Central Plains to the death, even if we manage to protect it, so what?"

"When Emperor Taizu of Song first established the dynasty, he sought to move the capital to Luoyang in the west, intending to relocate it to Guanzhong. However, his ministers opposed this, citing the enormous cost. Emperor Taizu sighed, 'Moving the capital to Luoyang is only temporary; for long-term stability, we must first establish it in Chang'an.' The reason was simple: to leverage the natural defenses of the mountains and rivers while eliminating the expense of a large army. If the capital were established in Kaifeng, there would be no natural defenses around it, and within 100 years, the nation's manpower would be exhausted. Sure enough, the Northern Song Dynasty met its demise after just over a century. The crux of the problem lay in the neglect of the army, with Kaifeng maintaining a massive army year-round."

Upon hearing this, Li Jie finally realized that returning to Nanyang now seemed to bring them no real benefit.

Seeing that Li Jie was persuaded, Zhang Yanshan immediately added, "Master, Commander-in-Chief Li, although Shaanxi is located in the northwest and is quite poor, from the perspective of the overall situation, Shaanxi is actually in the central region. Taking Shaanxi would allow us to possess the strategic advantage of its mountains and rivers, and also give us a commanding view, overlooking Sichuan and Chongqing from Hanzhong. With Guanzhong and Chongqing under our control, we can achieve the same unification as the Qin King who swept across the six kingdoms!"

Zhang Yanshan wasn't lying; even during the Ming and Qing dynasties, Shaanxi remained a strategically important and financially vital region.

If the White Lotus Sect could quickly take over Shaanxi, it could indeed rely on the Yellow River, Yangtze River, Huai River and other water systems to gain a commanding position over the Central Plains and Sichuan.

In the words of the ancients, Guanzhong is like a great bird looking down from a high place, with its long beak pointing towards the Central Plains, Shanxi being its left wing and Jingxiang being its right wing.

Gu Zuyu, a loyal official of the late Ming Dynasty, said: "Relying on the wealth of Guanzhong, even small forces can quickly become powerful by occupying Guanzhong. Relying on the strategic terrain of Guanzhong, even if the forces in Guanzhong are weaker than those in the Central Plains, they can still achieve great things. If ordinary people control this place, if they want to show their talents one day, a great disaster will occur."

Although it may imply references Li Zicheng, it also fully illustrates the strategic importance of Guanzhong during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Seeing that Liu Zhixie was still hesitant (unable to swallow his pride), Zhang Yanshan added fuel to the fire: "Master, if I may speak frankly, do you intend to remain the Master for the rest of your life? And Commander-in-Chief Li, do you want the current Nanyang Prefecture, or do you want to conquer the entire world for the Master?"

After the two sentences were spoken, both of them understood.

Liu Zhixie immediately nodded: "Then let the Han army take over all of Henan and let them continue fighting the Qing demons! Let's go to Shaanxi first, and after we've conquered the whole of Shaanxi, we can then compete with the Han emperor for the throne!"

The next morning.

Liu Zhixie decisively ordered his troops to break camp and set up camp, intending to capture the nearby Huayin County and Tongzhou Prefecture (Dali) before winter, so as to gain a foothold in Shaanxi.

As for Tongguan, an army was also left behind to block the Tongguan pass and prevent the Han army from advancing down the Yellow River.

……

(End of this chapter)