scourge the qing dynasty

Chapter 398 Expansion Site
The Wu army's civil war became more and more fierce, and the civil unrest in the Qing Dynasty became more and more troublesome. The Fatty Army who ruled the south of the Yangtze River also ushered in a golden age of development and expansion. It didn't even need the Fatty Army. The Fatty Army's territory is close to the prefecture and county. The Jiang Shu Jiang Biao had already flown to Nanjing like snow flakes, took the initiative to cut their braids and change their banners, and accepted the jurisdiction of the Fatty Army.Refugees from the flooded areas of the Yellow River and hungry people from the north flooded into the south of the Yangtze River like a tidal wave, which brought sufficient soldiers and labor resources to the Fat Army, and accelerated the recovery of the war-torn land around the south of the Yangtze River.

This is driven by the general trend and the will of the people. Among the territories of the major forces in the world, only the Fatty Army has the lowest taxes, the most abundant food, and the most stable public security and political situation. The common people hope to live and work in peace and contentment under the governance of the Fatty Army At least they would not starve to death; officials, gentry, and landlords did not expect the Fat Army to give them their leftovers, but they longed for the legal protection of the Fat Army and the good security atmosphere created by the Fat Army. Otherwise, the more money and food they have in their hands, the more dangerous they will be.

In fact, there is nothing special about the administration of the Fat Army. It basically copied the civil administration model left over from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The so-called benevolent government praised by the gentry and the common people has only three points. One is to improve the Baojia system and organize a large number of Xiangyong maintains law and order, and focuses on cracking down on robbery and theft that disturb people's livelihood; second, vigorously protects the most important land ownership in this era, recognizes the land contract issued by the Qing government before, admits that the wasteland reclaimed by the people is owned by the people, and severely cracks down on illegal occupation The third is to vigorously develop the industrial and commercial mining industry, abolish the mining ban imposed by the Qing court, and allow the landlords and gentry in the controlled areas to hire northern refugees to open mines at a low price in exchange for money. A mouthful of food will not lead to civil uprisings due to the lack of food for refugees.

Of course, Fatty Army also has a few points in terms of governance that are quite criticized. For example, because the boss of the Fatty Army’s genius doctor and criminal department has some special hobbies, the crime rate of sex crimes in the Fatty Army’s territory is a bit high, and the crime of buying and selling women Occasionally, he would turn a blind eye and turn a blind eye to let it go; there is also the boss of the fat army, who had suffered because of his appearance, which led to a certain degree of obvious decline in the average appearance of the newly elected officials of the fat army .But fortunately, these are trivial matters in times of war, and it doesn't matter-it doesn't matter if an official is ugly, as long as he can serve the people, he is a good official, for example, a certain gangster; occasionally buying and selling women is always more straightforward than other warlords. Robbing women is good.

This is a worse world, and a not-so-perfect governance is a hundred times better than no governance. Compared with the tax of [-] yuan per mu on the land of the Wu army, compared with the poverty of the people and the soaring food prices in the areas controlled by the Qing Dynasty. Ten times, and compared to Geng Jun’s control of land, one or two taels of silver per mu of land plus fodder money, salt tax of two cents per month, and more than twenty kinds of exorbitant and miscellaneous taxes, the lowest tax and the best public security The place controlled by the Fat Man Army is undoubtedly the paradise in troubled times.In addition, there are quite a few good politicians in the area controlled by the Fatty Army, such as Mu Tianyan, Wu Xingzuo, Xie Dong, Li Zhifang, and Huang Ji are actually quite good at governing the people, so the Fatty Army really can't think of it. It is also difficult to get the support and aspirations of the people.

Thanks to the so-called benevolent government and good fortune, Fatty Lu's prestige and reputation also rose. In the land controlled by the Fatty Army, the gentry and common people only knew that there was a thousand years old king of Yue, but not a long live emperor Zhou.In the fat army that has expanded to more than 25, although the main backbone is still the old Wu Jun, the new soldiers and grassroots generals only know to follow the Yue King Qiansui, and most of the severely diluted Wu Jun old people have forgotten to follow Wu Lao The traitors endure hardships and suffer, but I only remember eating and drinking hot and sleeping with beautiful women by Fatty Lu's side.As for Fatty Lu's direct line team and the nearby Guangxi team, there have been calls for Fatty Lu to be called emperor.

In view of the favorable situation and the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for expansion, even though the Li Tianzhi Army of the Fat Army is still fighting Geng Jingzhong's army in Zhejiang, there are still strong voices within the Fat Army to open up the second and third battlefields. Gao Dejie on the northern line unanimously asked for permission from Fatty Lu, returned to Nanjing on the same day, and made a request to Fatty Lu face-to-face, requesting to send troops to attack Qingzhou Prefecture, which is empty in the surrounding defenders and refuses to surrender voluntarily. Further expand the territory and strengthen the strength.

Gao Dejie, who is good at cavalry combat, simply proposed to launch the Northern Expedition immediately, taking advantage of the Qing court's breathlessness to take down Shandong and Zhili, open trade channels with Mongolian tribes, and obtain war horses through trade or war. Form more fat army cavalry to lay a strong cavalry foundation for the next national battle of the fat army.

Of course, Fatty Lu didn’t want to give the Qing Dynasty a chance to breathe, and he wanted to launch the Northern Expedition even more than Gao Dejie. Taking advantage of the Qing Dynasty’s chance to take the south of the Great Wall in one fell swoop, he even sent troops to the southern front Before, Fatty Lu had considered temporarily reconciling with Geng Jingzhong, concentrating his efforts on killing the Qing court, which was still in the wind, and cutting off the last lifeline of the Chinese nation's sworn enemy, the Qing Dynasty Eight Banners, so Dang Gao Dejie once again proposed in person. During the full-scale Northern Expedition, Fatty Lu couldn't help being tempted again.

"My lord, don't miss this opportunity. I won't let you miss it." Gao Dejie emphasized incessantly: "Now the Manchu court basically doesn't have a decent army in Shandong, Zhili and Shanxi. The Yi army was blocked to the west of Huaiqing Mansion by General Cai Lu who suddenly turned against him. If our army takes the opportunity to launch the Northern Expedition, not only can we quickly take Zhili Shandong, but also minimize the loss of our army."

"My lord, the last general also thinks it's time for the Northern Expedition." Han Daren echoed: "Although Zhili and Shandong are relatively poor and don't have much money to fish for, they have a large population and many qualified soldiers. With our military strength, who in the world can be our opponent?"

After all, Han Daren also volunteered to serve as the forward of the Northern Expedition, and even proposed for the first time that he was willing to serve as the deputy of his arch-rival Gao Dejie, who was at odds with him. He obeyed Gao Dejie's dispatch and jointly launched a fatal blow to the Qing court. His attitude was sincere. Gao Dejie was a little moved, and his impression of Han Daren improved greatly.Fatty Lu sat next to the map of the whole country, resting his cheeks in his fat hand and meditating. He didn't say a word for a long time, until Gao Dejie and Han Daren's saliva was exhausted, and then Fatty Lu suddenly said, "The time for the Northern Expedition is not yet ripe." .”

"Not mature yet?" Han Daren was stunned, and hurriedly asked: "My lord, why is the time for the Northern Expedition not ripe yet? We have wiped out all the elite main forces of Mangou, and the only one left who can fight is the Packed Army. There are only more than 3 people, we only need to kill this dog-man army, and there will be no more troops in the Man-dog court to stop us."

"My lord, the reason why Zhu Yuanzhang didn't go straight to Beijing during the Northern Expedition." Gao Dejie also said doubtfully: "It's because Mangou still controls the entire north of the Yellow River plus Shaanxi and Gansu, and there is still Wang Baobao's elite army in Shanxi. That’s why we adopted a step-by-step strategy of the Northern Expedition, cutting off the Yuan Dynasty Yuxi first and then attacking Beijing. Now that we have basically wiped out all the main forces of Mangou, why can’t we go straight to Beijing?”

"The time for the Northern Expedition is not yet ripe. The problem is not with the enemy, but with ourselves." Fatty Lu said in a deep voice, "Our control area is still too small. The northernmost point is the Yellow River in Huai'an, and it is 2000 kilometers away from Beijing." Duoli Road, rushing straight to Beijing, before the newly occupied land is consolidated, the logistics problem of food, grass and luggage is difficult to solve. Use the army to protect the grain roads, recruit civilians on the spot to ensure logistics, or send civilians from the rear of the south of the Yangtze River to escort food, grass and luggage Ensuring logistics will greatly increase our logistical and financial burdens."

"Can……."

Han Daren was about to open his mouth to make an opinion, but Fatty Lu interrupted him with a wave of his hand, and said with a smile: "I know what Brother Daren wants to say, do you want to suggest to me, adopt our previous tactics of rushing thousands of miles to attack Nanjing City, and send an elite team to rush thousands of miles to attack the city of Nanjing?" Beijing City, take Beijing by war, and then consider logistics issues?"

Seeing Han Daren nodding, Fatty Lu shook his head, and said calmly: "This tactic works in Nanjing, but it doesn't work in Beijing. Let's not say that the distance is twice as far. Zhili and Shandong are not richer than Jiangnan. In Jiangnan we Just relying on the issuance of military currency can supply some food and grass on the spot, but Zhili and Shandong can’t do it. They are not grain-producing areas, and the famine is already serious. People's hearts, the food and grass collected on the spot are not enough to sustain our army to march for more than 2000 miles and conquer many fortified cities."

"One more point." Fatty Lu tapped the location of Zhejiang on the map again, and said with a smile: "Li Tianzhi is still fighting for territory with Geng Jingzhong in Zhejiang, and launching the Northern Expedition before driving Geng Jingzhong back to Fujian will further aggravate our situation." The burden of money, food and logistics, if there is a sudden change on the southern front, we will not have a reserve team to reverse the situation."

"Then let me go to Zhejiang." Han Daren volunteered again: "General Li Tianzhi's team is the weakest among our four major armies, and they still beat Geng Jingzhong to death, retreating steadily, and let the last general lead the west. The army on the front line went to reinforce the southern line, and kept Geng Jingzhong's child back to his hometown within three months."

"I only need two months!" Gao Dejie raised two fingers not to be outdone.

"Why do you use a butcher's knife to kill chickens?" Fatty Lu put a tall hat on Gao Dejie and Han Daren with a smile, and said with a smile, "The reason why I didn't dispatch you two and General Wang Xu this time in the southern expedition to Zhejiang is because There are two reasons, one is that I want the Suzhou Legion to gain experience, and the other is that the two of you are too ruthless to kill Geng Jingzhong in Zhejiang Province, and Zheng Jing will be cheap."

Gao Dejie and Han Daren laughed together, saying that Fatty Lu was right. If the two of us or Wang Xu were allowed to go to the south line, then Geng Jingzhong's main force would have no chance of escaping back to Fujian. Killed by them all.

"Let's do this." Fatty Lu made up his mind, pointed to the map and said, "Let's do this first. Brother Dajie, you send troops from Yangzhou to the north to capture Xuzhou and Haizhou (Lianyungang), the last two state capitals in northern Jiangsu, and the cities in southern Shandong. The four state capitals of Yanzhou, Yizhou, Jining, and Caozhou are up to you. Of course it’s best if you can take them down. It doesn’t matter if you can’t take them down. I’ll send you a few people from the Gongcao Yamen. After taking these places, immediately Organize the local people to start dredging the canal, and dredge the canal grain road for our comprehensive northern expedition."

Gao Dejie immediately agreed, patted his chest and promised to complete the task. Fatty Lu nodded in satisfaction, then swiped his fat finger, pointed at North Anhui and said to Han Daren: "Brother Daren, you temporarily hand over the defense of the western front to Li Mao. Send [-] troops to attack Luzhou, Fengyang, Sizhou and Guide, and join forces with Brother Dajie in Guide or Caozhou, push our defense line to the hinterland of the Central Plains, and take down Mangou's last grain-producing area in the Central Plains. But remember, you can’t hit Anqing and Lu’an, if the Mangous in these two places take the initiative to attack, they will be beaten away.”

"Understood." Han Daren snapped his fingers, and said with a sinister smile: "You don't need the lord to instruct the general to understand. After taking down Anqing and Lu'an, the beggars will come to the door."

Gao Dejie rolled his eyes, and began to despise Han Daren, who ignored the poverty of his allies, but did not object.Fatty Lu smiled, refused to answer this question, pointed to Guide and Caozhou area and said: "Brother Ren, Brother Dajie, the reason why I want you to join forces in Guide and Caozhou area is because there is another task for you. This area is the junction of the four provinces of Anhui, Shandong, Henan, and Jiangsu. The strategic location is very important. Our army is going northward in two directions. The Mangou court is afraid that our army will go all out to the north, and it is likely to use the last force to stop it in this area... "

"The lord wants us to have a decisive battle with Mangou's last army in this area?" Gao Dejie came to his senses.

"That's right." Fatty Lu nodded, and said in a deep voice, "Cai Lu should not be able to stop Tong Guogang's coat army. If there is no accident, within a month at most, Tong Guogang's coat army will be able to defeat Cai Lu and reach Caozhou In the area with Guide, no matter whether you have reached this area to join forces or not, they should stay and garrison or take the initiative to attack to prevent you from going north."

Speaking of this, Fatty Lu smiled, and said lightly: "Although this full-dog army has not been formed for a few years, and its military discipline is notoriously corrupt, it has been trained in many battles and has combat effectiveness and experience. Let them go back to Beijing, it will be difficult for us to fight the Northern Expedition in the future, you must work together and unite."

"My lord, don't worry, none of the dog-coated soldiers can escape!" Gao Dejie and Han Daren clasped their fists together and said loudly.

"Then I'll leave it to you." Fatty Lu stood up and greeted with a smile: "The specific details of the Northern Expedition, as well as the list of expedition personnel and weapons and equipment, will be discussed at the court meeting tomorrow morning. Let's go and drink."

Gao Dejie and Han Daren agreed together, and accompanied Fatty Lu out of the signing room and went to the banquet hall to have a banquet. On the way, Fatty Lu had to chat with Gao Han and his family, and even took time to ask Gao Dejie A personal matter, "Brother Dajie, my little cousin Qin Mo went to practice with you, how is his performance? His son Qin Shou, I heard that he has already studied and practiced martial arts with your second son, did he listen to you? If If you are disobedient, hit me hard and don't give me face."

"Brother Qin Mo is very good. I put him in the artillery team to learn. He learned very quickly and is very accurate in shooting." Gao Dejie replied smoothly: "As for Qin Shou's nephew, he is a bit naughty and stubborn. A young son and daughter are messing around, and I was hung up and whipped a few times, but they are much more honest."

"That's good, that's good." Fatty Lu nodded happily, smiling sincerely.Gao Dejie secretly wondered, "Qin Shou is just the prince's nephew, how could the prince tell me to teach him a lesson without giving him face?" But Gao Dejie didn't take such trivial matters to heart, and soon forgot in the back of the head.

........................

Because of being surrounded by enemies on all sides, the Fatty Army has always been in a state of combat readiness. In addition to the fact that the soldiers are not allowed to leave for more than one day and can return to the team to fight at any time, food, grass and military supplies have also been stored in major towns early on, so the details of the two Northern Expeditions have been finalized. five days.On the 5000th day of the twelfth lunar month, the main forces of the two fat armies departed from Yangzhou and Taiping Mansion respectively to go northward, one led by Gao Dejie with [-] troops, went northward along the canal, and pointed directly at Xuzhou, and the other led by Han Daren, crossed the Yangtze River Via Hezhou, which is already under the control of the Fat Man Army, all the way to Luzhou City, an important town in Anhui.

At the same time, on the Zhejiang battlefield, the poor Geng Jingzhong was about to be tortured by the fat army led by Li Tianzhi to the point of madness. The Qing soldiers who came and Prince Geng confronted each other head-on, forcing Geng Jun and the Qing soldiers to bleed together, consuming Prince Geng's precious main force bit by bit, and Prince Geng, who had to spare his strength to beat Zheng Jing, was unwilling Dare to waste, the two battles ended in vain, so Prince Geng was forced to withdraw his troops and return to the city to garrison.

Hiding behind closed doors in the city of Yanzhou, you can spend food and grass with the Fatty Army. Although Prince Geng is not short of food for the time being after the end of the autumn harvest, the rich and powerful Fatty Army has the advantage of Qiantang River water transportation, and is not afraid of confronting Prince Geng. Economic money and food, and at the same time, the Fatty Army does not attack the city, but uses superior cavalry to continuously attack Lord Geng's army out of the city. When they encounter Lord Geng's scout squad, they are all wiped out. When they encounter the brigade, they call their companions to come and fight. It made Prince Geng's team dare not go out of Yanzhou City at all.

In this way, it took almost a month in Yanzhou and the Fatty Army. As the emergency documents from the rear of Fujian came like snowflakes, the other two southern expedition troops of the Fatty Army, Guo Yingfu Army and Yang Yingyuan Army, gradually went south and entered Jinhua Mansion and Jinhua Mansion respectively. In Taizhou, Prince Geng finally lost his temper, and was forced to leave a lone army behind the Yanzhou Palace, and personally led the main force to retreat to Lanxi.Li Tianzhi immediately divided his troops, and the cavalry sent out to chase down the main force of Prince Geng, who had few cavalry, and delayed the retreat of Prince Geng. The main force of the infantry immediately launched a fierce attack on the city of Yanzhou. After guarding Yanzhou for only one day, he opened the city gate and led more than 4000 Geng troops in the city to surrender to Fatty's army. Li Tianzhi took this surrendered army as the vanguard, and chased and killed Prince Geng's main force at full speed.

After finally escaping to Lanxi, Prince Geng's [-] troops on the northern line had only a little over [-] left, but before Prince Geng could catch his breath, the main force of the fat man's army came up like a gangrene, using The small town of Lanxi could not accommodate so many opportunities for the Geng army, and once again launched a decisive battle with Lord Geng.The furious Lord Geng rose up to fight back and won an unprecedented victory over the Fatty Army, beating Li Tianzhi back to Sanhe Pass. In less than two days, Li Tianzhi posted up Yanzhou Geng Jun, who had surrendered to the Yanzhou army. As soon as he made a move, he invested in the elite of the Fatty Army. Surrender troops, and continue to see-saw consumption with Lord Geng's team whose morale is once again low.

After repeated seesaws like this, Prince Geng, who was almost tortured madly, was forced to divide his troops. He was led by Bai Xianzhong all the way, and retreated to Quzhou from Xianxia Pass to Fujian to rescue the precarious Fujian battlefield. To keep a piece of land in Zhejiang.As a result, as soon as Lord Geng divided his troops, the Fatty Army immediately divided up, leaving 2 people stationed in Lanxi Town to monitor the main force of Lord Geng. Cut off Bai Xianzhong's retreat.

The more than 150-mile road from Lanxi to Quzhou City gave the Fat Army ample room to play. After only one day, the cavalry of the Fat Army led by Zhu Sanshui penetrated in front of Bai Xianzhong and blocked Bai Xianzhong on the west bank of the Qujiang River. As the army retreated, the main force of the Fat Army's infantry led by Li Tianzhi came again, double-teaming Bai Xianzhong back and forth, and for the first time invested in the Mihao rockets that the Fat Army had used sparingly on the southern front. Taking the opportunity to rush and fight, more than [-] people were beheaded, and more than [-] prisoners were captured. Countless people fell into the water and died or were missing. Instead of chasing and killing, he calmly turned around and returned to Lanxi, recuperating and preparing to attack Jinhua.At the same time, Guo Yingfu of the Fat Man Army also broke through Yiwu, went to the north of Jinhuafu City, and returned to the army with Li Tianzhi in Jinhua Mountain.

Prince Geng has just received the news of Bai Xianzhong's fiasco, and another bad news from the eastern front of Zhejiang. Yang Yingyuan, the fat man's army, has broken through Ninghai and is approaching the capital city of Taizhou. Zhu Feixiong, the sailor of the Geng army stationed on Niutoushan Island, can't hold back the fat man's navy, Li Guodong. The boats were full of cannons, and they couldn't bear the bribe of the traitor Tian Fengji's money and official positions. He put down his weapons and surrendered to the Fatty Army, becoming the glorious leader of the Fatty Army's navy going south.

Hearing these two pieces of news, Lord Geng was completely desperate. If Qingzhi continued to entangle with Li Tianzhi, a rascal, not to mention that Zhejiang was difficult to keep, even the cost of returning to Fujian to drive away Zheng Jing would have to be exhausted.In desperation, Prince Geng had no choice but to send an envoy to contact the Fatty Army again, proposing that as long as the Fatty Army agreed to a truce, they would stop chasing and fighting. Prince Geng was willing to give up Quzhou, Taizhou and Jinhua, and only keep Wenzhou and Chuzhou. territory.

Fatty Lu's old running dog Li Tianzhi answered the envoy of the Geng army in this way, and said with a smile: "I am sorry to trouble you to report to Lord Geng. A truce is fine, but our Lord Lu requires two conditions for the truce. One is all the land in Zhejiang, and the other is that the prince Paying tribute to our Great Zhou and accepting the orders of our Lord Lu, two conditions are indispensable."

"General Li, it is impossible for our lord to agree to such a condition." Geng Jun's envoy said with a mournful face, "Little emissary has the courage to warn General Li in his personal capacity. Your army has been chasing and killing our army all the way. The soldiers and horses are very tired. It is becoming more and more difficult to transport food and grass, and if the fight continues, it will be bad for our army, and it will also be bad for you, General Li, and it will ruin your invincible reputation as a general."

"Thank you for your kind reminder, you are telling the truth." Li Tianzhi said with a smile: "But it doesn't matter, I never care about the reputation of being invincible, and it doesn't matter if I suffer a few defeats. Also, as for the fatigue of our soldiers, it doesn't matter If you stop, we will stop. My brothers have plenty of time to rest. If you run slowly, we will chase slowly. If you run fast, we will chase fast. Anyway, we will have time to rest, but what about your army, wait Back in Fujian, will you have time to rest?"

Li Tianzhi's rogue has reached this point, the envoy of Geng Jun couldn't cry anymore, so he could only bite the bullet and say: "General, what about the food and grass? The envoy reminds the general again that as long as Jinhua is passed, the water volume of Yongkang River will be reduced." But there is no way to support your army to transport food by water. Does your army really want to fight with our army and let Zheng Jing choose the cheap one for nothing?"

"There is no waterway, we can go by land. Anyway, Zhejiang has been ravaged by you like this. The homeless people have gone to sea. As long as you can afford to pay for food, are you afraid that you won't be able to hire people to transport food?" Li Tianzhi said with a smile: "Indeed Your army, if the Prince of Yanping takes down Yanping Mansion, which is under attack from both sides, and takes away your largest grain production area, your army will still have to buy the rations needed for Fujian, right?"

Envoy Geng Jun was completely speechless, and tears really leaked from the corners of his eyes. Seeing his pity, Li Tianzhi put away his hippie smile and said with a smile: "Your envoy, don't worry. For the sake of your sincerity, I will give You have a way to make a difference."

As he said that, Li Tianzhi picked up two letters from the table and said: "These two letters are from Guangdong Shang Zhixin, Lord Shang, one is for me, the other is for our Lord Lu, and the other is for Lord Lu." I dare not open my letter without permission, but Lord Shang has passed me a letter, and your envoy can copy a copy and bring it back to Lord Geng, so Lord Geng will naturally not blame you for being an envoy to our army in vain."

"What did Lord Shang say to the general in the letter?" Geng Jun's envoy asked tremblingly.

"What do you think?" Li Tianzhi asked with a smile: "Gaozhou, Lianzhou, Leizhou, Luoding and Zhaoqing of Lord Shang are in the hands of our Great Zhou army, while Chaozhou, Jiayingzhou and more than half of Huizhou were robbed by Zheng Jing. In fact, only Guangzhou, Shaozhou, Nanxiong and a small part of Huizhou are controlled. How could Prince Shang be satisfied with such a small piece of land? With the news of Nanzheng's war against your army, don't you want his relatives to help him find some money from other places to make up for the loss?"

"boom."

Envoy Geng Jun sat down on the ground, his face was as pale as a dead man, and his teeth could not help but fight.Li Tianzhi looked at him sympathetically, and said: "Your envoy, don't worry, Lord Shang didn't say that you must cut meat from your body. As long as Lord Geng agrees to our conditions, Lord Shang will not only not attack your army, but will definitely do it." Send troops to help your army, attack Yanping Prince from north to south, and recover his lost land in Guangdong by the way."

(End of this chapter)