I want to be emperor

Chapter 302 Angry Chongzhen
With the capture of Changsha, Luo Zhixue has decided to return to the court with his troops to prepare for the subsequent eastward campaign.

However, before returning to Wuchang, he had to make arrangements for the follow-up Chunan War.

The first thing is to promote Han Ziping, the commander of the South Route Army and concurrently the commander of the Fifth Division, to lieutenant general.

Han Ziping's promotion did not come as much of a surprise. Before the Chunan War, Luo Zhixue chose him as the commander of the Fifth Division, and formed the South Route Army with the Fifth Division as the core. He already had the idea of ​​letting Han Ziping sit on one side. .

And when Han Ziping later served as the commander of the South Route Army and the commander of the Fifth Division, he did not live up to his expectations.

Before the official launch of the Chunan War, Han Ziping led a group of generals from the South Route Army and staff officers to formulate a detailed plan for the Chunan War. The Chu Army was able to take Linxiang and Changsha so smoothly, and at the same time The ability to completely wipe out the Zuo Army of the New Standard Army in the Yiyang Suburbs Battle was due to the strategic plan formulated by Han Ziping before the war.

After the start of the battle, Han Ziping, the commander of the South Route Army, became a nominal figure for a while, and more often participated in the battle as the commander of the Fifth Division, and the performance of the Fifth Division was also remarkable.

And these were enough for Luo Zhixue to finally make up his mind to support Han Ziping to truly coordinate the war in southern Chu.

After Han Ziping is promoted to lieutenant general, he will command the fifth division, the temporary fourth mixed regiment, the second mortar regiment, the third garrison division, the sixth garrison division, the eighth garrison division, and the newly organized tenth garrison The division fought in the south of Chu.

Because there are many troops under overall command and a wide area, it is necessary to face the Ming army in the directions of southern Chu, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Jiangxi at the same time.

In addition, there are also a group of generals waiting for promotion, so Han Ziping is no longer suitable to continue to serve as the commander of the fifth division, and has to make room for other meritorious generals.

Because the division commander of the fifth division will be qualified by Lin Siyong, the deputy commander of the division, and his rank will also be promoted from brigadier general to major general.

Lin Siyong is also a veteran general in the Chu army, and this person was born in the Ming army, but he was only a low-level sentry officer when he surrendered, so he was basically not affected by some negative effects of being demoted after he surrendered. Starting from a low-level job, because he could read and write, he entered the camp school to learn, and then he became the battalion commander step by step, the regimental commander, the brigade commander, and the deputy division commander.

During the Battle of South Chu, Lin Siyong and Han Ziping did a pretty good job as a partner, so they were promoted this time.

After Han Ziping and Lin Siyong were promoted, the main generals of the South Route Army were basically in place.

On the third day of May, the Chu army, which had rested in Changsha for several days, attacked again. Han Ziping led the fifth division and other troops to go straight to Hengyang.

There are not many defenders in Hengyang. Even if Yang Sichang moved in with some troops after breaking through the siege, there is no possibility of resisting the offensive of [-] to [-] Chu troops.

Yang Sichang did not defend Hengyang at all, but fled south directly with more than 6000 defeated soldiers, and fled all the way to the Zhaoqing area of ​​Guangdong. Recalcitrant in complex mountainous areas.

After Han Ziping led his army to take Hengyang, he did not continue to pursue southward. Instead, after leaving a part of the garrison, he led his troops to Baoqing Mansion and took Shaoyang and other places.

As a result, the main plain areas in southern Chu, that is, densely populated areas and important grain-producing areas, are basically under the control of the Chu army.

Although the Southern Route Army will continue to fight against the Ming Army and fight for other areas, the strategic goal of the Chu Army has actually been achieved in the entire Chu Nan offensive.

On May [-], after seeing the situation in southern Chu stabilized, Luo Zhixue did not stop in Changsha, and directly led the Guards Division and the Ninth Defense Division back east.

The defense of the Chunan region will be fully handed over to the South Route Army Command.

In order to better rule the southern part of Chu, Luo Zhixue also set up a provincial administrative organization "Governor of Southern Chu" for the first time.

Before that, because the ruling area was not too big, and the capital of the Great Chu Empire was in Wuchang, there was not much need to set up a governor-level institution.

However, after taking most of southern Chu, many places were too far away from Wuchang, and at the same time, the number of state capitals under the rule of the Great Chu Empire increased significantly, so it was no longer suitable for directly ruling state capitals.

For this reason, when Luo Zhixue was still in Changsha, he decreed to set up the Governor's Office of Southern Chu, and appointed Dong Minghui, the prefect of Yuezhou Prefecture who was more familiar with the situation in Southern Chu, as the first Governor of Southern Chu.

The jurisdiction of the Governor of Southern Chu will cover all the prefectures in the Southern Chu area except Hantian Mansion and Jingzhou Mansion, including Yuezhou Mansion, Changsha Mansion, Changde Mansion, Hengyang Mansion, Baoqing Mansion, Chenzhou Mansion, Yongzhou Mansion and four provinces.

The governor’s resident is Changsha. At the same time, along with the establishment of the governor’s office, there are three judicial and taxation agencies independent of the governor’s office: the Chunan Procuratorate, the Chunan Trial Court, and the Chunan Taxation Court.

From the establishment of this institution, it can be seen that the governor of the Great Chu Empire is different from the governor of the Ming court. First of all, the governor does not have military power, nor does it have taxation power, and even judicial power is subject to certain restrictions.

The main authority of this governor lies in administrative power, which is somewhat similar to the chief envoy of the Ming court, but has higher authority than the chief envoy of the Ming court, and has certain judicial powers.

Because the Procuratorate and the Trial Court are under the dual jurisdiction of the Governor's Yamen, the Gyeonggi Procuratorate, and the Trial Court.

On the whole, the governors of the Great Chu Empire were between the governors of the Ming court and the chief envoys.

The establishment of the Chu Nan governor also means that the expansion of the Great Chu Empire has embarked on a new high-speed lane.

On the way back to Wuchang after leaving Changsha, Luo Zhixue once again ordered the formation of the northern Chu governor's yamen, the establishment of various courts in northern Chu, and appointed Gan Xiuming, the prefect of Xiangyang, as the first governor of northern Chu.

The governor's jurisdiction of Northern Chu is Xiangyang Prefecture, Yunyang Prefecture, Junzhou Prefecture, Anlu Prefecture, Jingzhou Prefecture, De'an Prefecture, and Huangzhou Prefecture.

As a result, the huge Huguang was divided into three parts by Luo Zhixue. The northern part was the governor's jurisdiction of Northern Chu, and the south was the governor's jurisdiction of Southern Chu. The governor's jurisdiction of the Great Chu Empire was a whole provincial institution, and the governor of the Ming court Jurisdictions pay more attention to military functions.

In addition to the two major governors of Chubei and Chunan, there is still a special Hantian Mansion in the Huguang area.

As the capital of the capital, Han Tianfu will naturally not be included in any governor's jurisdiction, but will directly belong to the jurisdiction of Gyeonggi.

After arriving in Wuchang, Luo Zhixue once again ordered the establishment of a governor of Henan, temporarily stationed in Nanyang City.

This governor of Henan seems to be quite vain, because the Henan region controlled by the Great Chu Empire currently only has Nanyang Mansion and some mountainous areas in the southwest of Ruzhou, and there is even a part of Nanyang Mansion that is still under the control of the Ming army. .

That is Ye County, which is now Zuo Liangyu's base camp. If the Chu army did not make up their minds and mobilized tens of thousands of main forces to go north for the Northern Expedition, it is basically impossible to expect to be able to kill Zuo Liangyu and conquer Ye County.

However, even though there was only a lonely Nanyang Mansion, Luo Zhixue directly established the governor of Henan, established the governor's office and the four courtyards.

After all, the governor of Northern Chu can't manage the affairs of Nanyang Mansion, and the central government is too far away.

At the same time, the affairs of the governor of Henan are not only limited to Nanyang Prefecture, but also include the establishment of underground regimes such as prefectures, prefectures and counties in the surrounding enemy-occupied areas, to investigate the local situation in advance, to collect various information, and to lay the foundation for the subsequent formal rule. Base.

Therefore, regardless of the actual ruling area of ​​the governor of Henan, there is only one Nanyang Prefecture, but in fact, under the governor of Henan, the Yamen of Ruzhou Zhizhou, the Yamen of Henan Prefecture, and the Yamen of Runing Prefecture will be successively established.

Even Kaifeng Prefecture, which is far away from the Chu army's control area, will send a small number of people to set up the prefect's Yamen of Kaifeng Prefecture locally and start secret work.

It has been a consistent tradition of the Great Chu Empire to set up secret yamen in enemy-occupied areas in advance, to carry out intelligence collection, personnel recruitment and other work.

Not only in Henan, but also in other places, but there is no actual control area in other places, so there is no big fanfare to set up a governor's office.

The establishment of three governors' jurisdictions was a major move in the internal affairs of the Great Chu Empire promoted by Luo Zhi after the Battle of Changsha.

Through the establishment of three governors' jurisdictions, the Great Chu Empire finally built a multi-level local governing body of central-province/direct-government-government/provincial-government-state-county/prefectural-government-state-town-village.

At the same time, the official system has been further improved, and a channel for official promotion has been established, although it is relatively crude.

It will not be the same as before, where there is a situation where the prefect and the minister, two positions with a huge gap in level, are transferred to each other.

It was when Luo Zhixue was further perfecting the internal affairs in Wuchang and making various preparations for the subsequent war eastward.

In the Forbidden City in the north, it is immersed in gloom!
"It's all a bunch of trash, a bunch of trash!"

"It's all good-sounding, but in real battle, they're all useless, they're all rats!"

"What did he tell me at the beginning? He said that as long as he surrounds and defends the city, he can suppress the Chu thieves, and after he stabilizes his position, he will send troops to counterattack Chubei and wipe out Luo Ni in one fell swoop."

"But now, how did he do it..."

"Changsha fell, Hengyang fell, tens of thousands of troops were completely lost, most of southern Chu fell into the hands of bandits, and even the most important areas of money and food were lost."

"The situation in southern Chu is so corrupt, how can he, Yang Sichang, be worthy of my trust?"

"That's fine, he actually dared to flee without a fight, directly abandoning Hengyang, and directly led his army to flee to Guangdong. Such a rebellious minister, not killing is not enough to comfort the souls of tens of thousands of soldiers!"

Chongzhen looked at the news from the south, saying that it was Yang Sichang who fled without a fight in Hengyang, his hands were shaking uncontrollably...

I am even more angry and desperate than after receiving the Linxiang fiasco, Yiyang fiasco, and Changsha being breached!

Linxiang and even Changsha were defeated. Although Chongzhen was also very angry at the time, he also knew that the Chu thieves were coming fiercely, and it was possible that they could not hold on.

Although it failed in the end, it still went through stubborn resistance.

As for Yang Sichang, although Chongzhen issued several decrees in a row to punish him, even the title of the right servant of the Ministry of War was removed, and the title of the right deputy capital imperial envoy was also demoted to the right censor after the Battle of Changsha.

However, he still did not take off Prime Minister Yang Sichang's title of military affairs of the five provinces.

Chongzhen, in his heart, still hoped that Yang Sichang would be able to take the crime and make meritorious service.

However, when he saw Yang Sichang abandoning Hengyang directly and fleeing to Guangdong with the remnants of the defeated general, the anger in his heart could no longer be restrained:

"Yang Sichang lost the city and land, and fled before the battle. The Jin Yiwei immediately arrested him and sent him to Beijing to await trial!"

(End of this chapter)