I want to be emperor

Chapter 380
Once Guilin is finished, Liuzhou, the next important town in the hinterland of Guangxi, may not last long.

Not to mention, Xiong Wencan also got the news that the Chu thieves in He County had already crossed the mountains and ridges, and directly killed the front line of Huaiji. Although these Chu thieves came here with light clothing, they did not carry any heavy artillery to attack the city. Relatively poor.

However, if the siege lasts for a long time, it is estimated that Huaiji will not last long.

This piece of bad news spread continuously to Wuzhou and to Xiong Wencan's ears in just half a month.
Even though Xiong Wencan didn't go to the front line in person, and didn't see even a Chu thief with his own eyes, he also knew that the main fronts in Guangdong and Guangxi had all collapsed...

Guangdong and Guangxi are probably going to be over.

Facing such a predicament, Xiong Wencan didn't even have the mood to lose his temper with his subordinates.

Xiong Wencan acted like this, and all the civil and military officials under his command also sighed.

Times are tough!
At this time, Xiong Wencan didn't know that what happened to the Ming army in Guangdong and Guangxi also happened in Fujian and Zhejiang.

In order to carry out the Northern Expedition smoothly in the later period, the Great Chu Empire did not let the Ming army in Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and Zhejiang lag behind. It was cruel, thinking that it would take down all the southern provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian and Zhejiang in one go.

Then turn around and go to the Northern Expedition!
For this reason, the Great Chu Empire even suspended the Jiangbei fortifications in a certain sense. The Fourth Division said it was going to attack Yangzhou, but it had already arrived outside Yangzhou for several days, so it didn't launch a strong attack on Yangzhou!
reason?

Because the ammunition is not enough for now!
In the last one or two months, including the follow-up one or two months, the material supply direction of the Great Chu Empire is mainly in Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian and Zhejiang regions. As for other places, it is enough to maintain the status quo.

Although Jiangbei can also obtain strategic materials, it is not that rich. Therefore, if the Fourth Division wants to attack Yangzhou City, which is a real hard bone, it may have to wait a little longer for more ammunition to arrive.

At the same time, a large amount of ammunition was transported to Zhenjiang through the Yangtze River, and then changed into inland river boats, along the Jiangnan canal all the way to Ningbo, and then continued to be transported southward by land or river, for the Sixth Division and No. The 12th Mixed Brigade provides all kinds of ammunition and other materials.

Provide sufficient ammunition supplies for the large-scale war that broke out on the front line in Zhejiang.

The current high level of the Great Chu Empire has great ambitions!
The senior generals headed by Xu Zhixian, in the follow-up period when the entire empire can rest assured and concentrate all forces on the Northern Expedition, the strategy formulated by the South before the North is to take Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and Zhejiang together in a short period of time. Take it down.

This short period of time will not exceed half a year at the longest.

That is to say, before the arrival of autumn, the Chu army should fully capture Fujian, Zhejiang, and Guangdong and Guangxi.

To prevent them from causing trouble during the subsequent Northern Expedition of the Great Chu Empire.

However, although the Great Chu Empire seems to have a large scale in Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian and Zhejiang at the same time, it seems that it will consume a lot of money and will interfere with the preparations for the Northern Expedition, but in fact it will not.

The battles in Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian and Zhejiang seem to have affected many places, and the actual number of troops participating in the battle is also large, and a lot of food, grass and ammunition need to be consumed.

However, there is a very clear difference between this and the Northern Expedition.

That is, the troops who went south to participate in the war, the food and grass they consumed did not need to be transported from distant places by the Great Chu Empire.

Because the adjacent areas such as Hengyang and Changsha in the south of Chu, central and northern Jiangxi in Jiangxi, northern Zhejiang in Zhejiang, and even the Jiangnan area are all grain-producing areas.

It was also easy to transfer food to these places in the past.

In addition, and more importantly, the four provinces of Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong and Guangxi have not been greatly affected by the climate environment, nor have they been affected by large-scale thieves and thieves, and the local agricultural production has remained within a normal range.

Even if this normal is already very fragile and reluctant, but there is always food, no matter what method the Chu army going south uses, it doesn’t matter whether it is seizing Ming army officials’ food, confiscating gentry hoarding food, collecting taxes normally, purchasing at market prices, etc. In the end, it is possible to get military rations.

However, in the case of the Northern Expedition, the Chu army did not bring a large amount of food. With the huge consumption of food and grass by the Chu army, they may either starve to death themselves, or forcibly rob the local people of their rations, resulting in a large number of people starving to death...

The northern provinces have been seriously affected by the small ice river. In addition, years of thieves, captives, and looting by officers and soldiers have led to a large-scale reduction in grain production. Before, they could rely on grain to solve part of the problem. However, after Jiangnan was occupied by the Chu army last year, water transport was cut off. Therefore, the northern provinces are in great shortage of food.

You must know that the grain transported to the north by water transport is several million shi every year. A considerable part of these millions of shi is for the pure consumer city of tens of 10 people in the capital, including the people, dignitaries and family members inside. Royal family, Beijing camp and other populations.

There is also a part that supplies the frontier troops in various places, such as the frontier troops in Jiliao and Xuanda, and a considerable part of their military rations rely on grain.

After the water transportation is cut off, this means that there is a shortage of millions of stones of grain. The officials, gentry, and frontier soldiers will naturally not let themselves starve to death. They will increase the scale of grain collection in the northern provinces. Whether it is the method of tax collection, whether the frontier army loots on its own, or whether it is purchased by grain merchants, it is always possible to get food.

However, it is inevitable that there will be a large-scale shortage of food on the market.

Once the Chu army goes north on a large scale, it is impossible to obtain food from the local area on a large scale.

Comparing this way, you will know that the attack on the southern provinces seems to be on a large scale, and the road is even more difficult.

But in fact, the difficulty of logistics supply in the southern provinces was far less difficult than that of the Northern Expedition, because a large part of the grain and grass could be collected locally instead of being transported thousands of miles from the rear.

Such a comparison, then you will know the difficulty of the Northern Expedition and the Southward Expedition.

The biggest difficulty is not whether the enemy is strong or not, but that there is a huge difference in the difficulty of logistics supply caused by a place with food and a place without food!
-

The Sixth Division and the No.12 Mixed Brigade, which received a large amount of supplies, especially ammunition supplies, launched a large-scale offensive on the front line of Zhejiang in April.

In addition, the main force of the Sixth Division moved from Ningbo Mansion to Taizhou Mansion.

The No.12 mixed brigade went south from Jinhua Prefecture to the state capital.

In fact, there is no skill at all in the southward strategy of these two troops. It is to divide the troops into two groups and push them directly.

Anyway, there is no large scale ahead, and the Ming army with combat effectiveness can stop them.

Not to mention stubbornness, in fact, when officials of the Ming court in many places saw the Chu thieves approaching, they either ran away early or simply surrendered.

When the No.12 mixed brigade entered the state capital, the local magistrates simply surrendered, and the next few county magistrates, except for one who ran away, the rest also surrendered.

All the responsible civil servants surrendered, turned around and knelt down to greet Master Chu, and shouted at Luo Zhixue, who was born as a thief, Your Majesty is wise...

Those generals are even more straightforward...

Before the Chu army came to kill them, they changed the banner first, and then took the initiative to contact the Chu army.

Under such circumstances, the No.12 mixed brigade marched into the Chuzhou capital without even fighting a battle with more than 500 people, and even sent people to several counties. The Chu Empire was ruled.

However, this made the tax officials who entered the state capital with the army very dissatisfied.

The local officials have surrendered. Whose house are they copying?

If you can't get money, the bosses above will go crazy.

Therefore, they don't care about that much, regardless of whether you surrender or not, the money has to be paid... At most, it is turning the house raid into a tax payment...

Our army came to your state capital from such a long distance, you have to express it, you have to pay this tax.

Also, if you say you want to surrender, you can't just surrender with nothing. You have to vote for something. You see, our army is short of money and food. You can just collect a few hundred thousand taels.

It’s not like we taxpayers don’t understand small places and poor people. You can just say as many as 10 taels.

What?You ask why each family has to donate their land after donating money and food...

You ask me, who the hell am I to ask...

In short, don't talk nonsense, and quickly hand over half of the land deed... This is for the sake of your surrender, otherwise, I ransacked my house in minutes, who would tell you to surrender and lose half.

As a result, some officials who surrendered were upset. The money and rations they gave to the army had already caused them a wave of blood, but they endured it in order to continue to be officials in the new dynasty.

But Nima even wants Lao Tzu's farm, this is too extreme, and I will never agree.

Scholars can be killed but not humiliated!
Then inevitably there will be some resistance...

Unfortunately, what the tax officials want is their resistance... If there is no resistance, how can they complete the task of expropriating money, grain and land!
If the task is not completed, the superiors will beat them!

Besides, if the officials and gentry all contribute their brains, not to mention the money, food and land collected, and these tax officials and the tax patrols below will have to drink northwest wind...

This followed a group of tax officials from the state capital and hundreds of tax patrols. The higher-ups did not give them much funding. The follow-up tax work had to be funded by themselves!

Besides, a large number of tax officials left their hometowns and ran to this ghostly place. Their purpose is also very simple: to get promoted and get rich!

Promotion is too far away from most grassroots taxpayers, but it is necessary to make a fortune.

And how do tax officials and tax patrolmen get rich?For example, when ransacking the house, steal some gold, silver, jewelry and jade into your pocket...

Otherwise, why do you think the tax officers and tax patrol officers of the tax department work so actively and work so hard!

When attacking the manors of tax-resistant landlords, the tax patrols were much fiercer than the army, and they rushed forward desperately.

Why?If you go late, you can't take advantage of the chaos!
You can't go slowly, and then put the gold, silver and jade in your pocket in public!

As a result, an unspoken rule gradually formed. When attacking the manors of tax-resistant landlords, those who want to make a fortune rush in at the forefront, and the first to rush in put money in their pockets. Close one eye.

As for those who followed in, don't count on it.

Therefore, when the tax police were fighting, their tactics were very poor, and the military quality of the tax police was not good. Well, after all, these are composed of a group of scumbags, so you can't count on them too much.

However, the courage to fight is absolutely second to none!
(End of this chapter)