Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

Chapter 1250: It’s All Salt’s Fault

Huangmei County, Huangzhou Prefecture, Huguang, located at the end of Wu and the end of Chu, is a small town with a long history. The culture of Jingchu and Wuyue blended here, giving rise to the Huangmei Opera, which is famous throughout the country. The people here worked from sunrise to sunset and rested from sunset, and their lives were originally very comfortable. But with the arrival of the 150,000 troops of Chuo Siji, the general of the Eastern Expedition of the State of David and the King of Qin, from Wuchang, the originally quiet town became noisy and lively. Some peddlers who are good at doing business have the idea of ​​​​taking advantage of the military masters, and they chatted with the quartermasters who went out to buy. Once a deal is made, it is a hundred times better than usual.

Although the Eastern Guards led by the King of Qin had 150,000 troops, they were mainly composed of surrendered troops. The real Mongolian troops were no more than 20,000, and their combat effectiveness was not as good as that of the Central and Eastern Guards. However, the young prince seemed to be full of confidence, and it took only seven days to march from Wuchang to Huangmei. Then there was no more, and he led the army to station in Huangmei for a month, refusing to move forward half a step. This made the generals of the David Kingdom anxious, and they all advised the commander to hurry up and march, so as not to miss the opportunity to make military achievements, but the prince seemed to be in a trance and ignored them, saying that he had already made plans and would naturally launch them when the time came. No one knew what the commander meant by the time, anyway, time passed day by day, and the soldiers were bored, so they practiced their troops in the camp, and the shouts of killing shook the sky, attracting many people who watched the excitement from afar.

One day, Chuo Siji was handling official business in the camp when his personal guard came to report: "Your Highness, the deputy commander wants to see you." The deputy commander was Xi Rimo, the deputy general of the Eastern Expedition. He was a veteran of three dynasties and the "Wolf of Oirat" among David's "Three Heroes", with outstanding military exploits. Hearing that he wanted to see him, the young King of Qin did not dare to neglect him and ordered someone to invite him in.

"Your Highness has stationed troops in Huangmei, neither advancing nor retreating. I believe you have a plan to defeat the enemy. Please give me your advice!" Xi Rimo asked anxiously as he entered the tent.

"Before we set out for the expedition, my father Khan gave instructions to my second elder brother, fourth elder brother and me in person: We must pursue Wu Sangui's direct troops relentlessly and annihilate them resolutely, without giving them a chance to breathe; we must use force as the main method and induce surrender as the auxiliary method against pro-Wu forces; and we must use inducement to surrender as the main method and force as the auxiliary method against neutral forces. Most of the enemies our Eastern Route Army faces are neutral forces who are wavering. I have already sent people to various places to induce surrender. The reason why we are stationed in Huangmei on the border of Huguang is to put pressure on those local governors and governors-general." Chuo Siji no longer concealed his thoughts to this old minister and told him everything he was thinking.

"Oh, I wonder if your Highness's attempt to induce surrender was effective?" The Wolf of Oirat became interested. He was an old warrior and naturally knew that defeating the enemy without fighting was the best strategy.

"Haha, those governors and governors-general are all old hands in the officialdom. The Governor-General of Jiangnan and Jiangxi Lang Tingzuo, the Admiral of Jiangnan Liang Huafeng, the Governor of Jiangning Han Shiqi, the Governor of Anhui Zhang Chaozhen and others were polite to the envoys I sent. Their letters back were also polite. They wrote a lot of polite words like 'I have long heard of your name' and 'It is well-known to my ears', but they did not mention the matter of surrendering to David," Chuo Siji smiled and ordered people to serve fragrant tea to the old general.

Xi Rimo, nicknamed "The Wolf of Oirat", naturally had some wolfish nature. Hearing that the officials of the southern provinces were so unimpressed, he flew into a rage and said, "Since those officials of the Pseudo-Zhou are unwilling to surrender, I am willing to lead my army from Xingguo Prefecture to attack Jiangnan!" This old general had fought for his entire life and saw at a glance the favorable conditions that his side had: the Wei army had occupied Xiangyang and entered the Jianghan Plain, and crossed the Yangtze River (Yangtze River) to control the entire Wuchang Prefecture, which was equivalent to gaining a solid foothold on the south bank of the river. It was completely possible to move south from Wuchang, so that the vast river would no longer be a barrier to the enemy. He even sent people to secretly survey the terrain of Xingguo Prefecture in Wuchang Prefecture, believing that it was an excellent springboard to the south.

"What you said is indeed a good plan, but the Wu army has deployed heavy troops in Dehua, Ruichang, Wuning, Ningzhou and other places in Jiangxi, and has the support of Mufu Mountain, Jiugong Mountain, Taiping Mountain and other mountains. It is not easy to go south from Wuchang. In addition, persuading surrender is not without gain. I still caught a big fish. Qu Jinmei, the governor of the grain transport of the pseudo-Zhou Dynasty, was promoted in name but transferred in secret because of Wu Sangui. He was unhappy and has sent someone to deliver a surrender letter." After saying this, Chuo Siji proudly ordered his personal guards to bring a letter to present to Xiri Moqiao.

The position of the Governor of the Canal was extremely powerful during the Ming Dynasty and the early Qing Dynasty. Its full title was "Governor of the Canal and Military Affairs, Governor of Fengyang and Other Places, and in Charge of the Canal". He was a high-ranking official stationed in Huai'an Prefecture, South Zhili. He not only managed the canal that stretched for more than 1659 miles, but also served as the Governor of Lufeng, with the power to manage the government affairs of the four prefectures of Fengyang, Huai'an, Yangzhou, and Luzhou, and the three prefectures of Xuzhou, Hezhou, and Chuzhou. Although he no longer served as the Governor in the th year of Shunzhi () and his power was reduced, he still had more than civil and military officials, more than warehousing, shipbuilding, and canal guarding soldiers, and was in charge of the large-scale Qingjiangpu Shipyard. However, since the Wei army captured Beijing, the grain transport has become an empty talk. Except for the "Cao Biao" under his personal command, the Governor of the Grain Transport has lost the so-called power to control the grain transport guards and offices in the eight provinces of Shandong, Henan, Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Hubei and Hunan.

Qu Jinmei was originally the governor of Guangxi in the Qing Dynasty. Five years ago, Guangxi needed a lot of military pay for its troops. Governor Qu was short of money, so he petitioned the Qing court to change the three prefectures of Hengzhou, Yongzhou and Baoqing in Hunan from the Lianghuai Salt Area to the Guangdong Salt Area. These three prefectures originally belonged to the Lianghuai Salt Area, close to Lianghuai and far from Guangdong. With this change, salt merchants had to transport salt from Wuzhou, Guangxi, through Guilin, across Lingqu, to Quanzhou, and then into Hunan. The doubling of the distance of the salt road led to a sharp rise in salt prices. "Each package of Huai salt weighs eight pounds and four taels, and the current price is only one coin and a zero." Guangdong salt detoured from Guangxi to enter the three prefectures, "each pound of silver is more than seven or eight cents," several times more than Huai salt. As a result, Guangxi's fiscal revenue did increase a lot, but it was a hardship for the people in the three prefectures. They had cheap Huai salt but could not eat it, so they had to buy much more expensive Guangdong salt, and they complained. Hu Wenxue, the imperial censor of Lianghuai Salt, and other officials were indignant and severely reported Governor Qu. The Qing court actually knew the difficulties of Governor Qu. If Guangxi had not suffered from wars and people's livelihood was not difficult to raise, how could it come up with such an idea that would make people scold it? I didn't want to pay attention to it, but at this time, the loyal minister, Wu Sangui, the King of Pingxi, submitted a memorial, severely accusing Governor Qu of harming the people, saying that the people of the three prefectures suffered from this evil policy, and countless people lost their homes, abandoned their jobs and fled. Request the court to stop recognizing Guangdong taxes and continue to eat Huai salt, and dismiss the governor Qu Jinmei who harmed the people, and replace him with Jin Guangzu, the governor of Guangxi. The King of Pingxi was powerful, and Jin Guangzu had secretly surrendered. This move was ostensibly for the people's livelihood, but in fact it was to expand his power in Guangxi. The Qing court saw this little calculation clearly, but it was helpless that things were different now. Everyone was counting on Wu Sangui to send troops to resist the Wei army, so they had to give him face. However, if they completely followed Wu Sangui's will, they were afraid that he would underestimate the court. After several years of delay, Emperor Zhenwu Jidu finally agreed to allow Hengzhou, Yongzhou and Baoqing prefectures to continue to use Huai salt when he was at his wit's end, and appointed Jin Guangzu as the governor of Guangxi. However, he did not dismiss Qu Jinmei, but promoted him to the governor-general of the grain transport system.

Governor Qu naturally had some estrangement from Emperor Zhaowu of the Great Zhou, and he usually kept his dissatisfaction hidden in his heart. But after receiving the letter of surrender written by Qin Wang Chuo Siji, he didn't care about the distinction between Han and Hu, and made up his mind to surrender to the Kingdom of David.

"Great! Since ancient times, 'to guard the Yangtze River, one must guard the Huai River'. I heard that the Governor of the Grand Canal is stationed in Huai'an and has tens of thousands of troops under his command. If he is willing to help me, taming the two Huai regions will be a piece of cake! No wonder Your Highness is not in a hurry to go to the battle, it turns out he is playing a big game! Hahaha~" Xi Rimo was so happy that his eyebrows were dancing.

The saying "to defend the Yangtze River, one must defend the Huai River" makes sense. In history, whenever the North and the South confronted each other, as long as the Huainan area could be defended, the southern regime could live in peace in a corner, or even go north to compete for supremacy; once the Huainan area was lost, the southern regime often had only the ability to defend until its demise. There are two reasons: First, although the surface of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River is vast, it is not entirely a natural barrier with turbulent water. In many places, not only the water flow is not fast, but the distance is also extremely narrow, which can be used as a breakthrough point, such as Caishiji, Guazhou, Tianjia Town and other places. If the southern regime wants to set up defenses everywhere along the Yangtze River, the military force is not enough; second, the political and economic centers of the south are basically located on the banks of the Yangtze River or not far from the Yangtze River, and there are no natural barriers to defend in the areas south of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Once the Yangtze River defense line is breached, the Jiangnan regime has no buffer at all. Because of this, the southern regime regards the area south of the Huaihe River as a key buffer for defending the Yangtze River. It was also because of this that the Wolf of Oirats laughed heartily when he heard that there was an internal supporter from the Zhou Dynasty's grain transport governor, and that the conquest of the Huai River region was just around the corner.

"What you said is all old news. Now that I, David, have taken over Dadu, the grain transport has long been abolished. The 'grain transport commander' can now only mobilize more than 3,000 grain transport troops directly under his command and can no longer control the grain transport garrisons in various provinces. However, according to Qu Jinmei's words, a large amount of grain accumulated over the years is stored in the Changying Warehouse in Huai'an, and he is willing to donate it all to our army. It seems that I am going to make a fortune," Chuo Siji joked with a smile.

Hearing that the Grand Canal Governor Qu Jinmei only had more than 3,000 troops, Xi Rimo's face stiffened and he muttered, "More than 3,000 people, they are really 'not salty as salt, and not sour as vinegar'."

"Puchi~" Chuo Siji laughed and said slowly: "I plan to send troops to Anqing in a few days and then capture Hefei. Although Qu Jinmei has few subordinates and is not good at fighting, he is in charge of a large number of grain ships and boatmen. If he defected to us, it means that the Wu army in Xuzhou cannot reinforce Hefei by ship. It will be much easier to capture Hefei. Moreover, Qu is the governor, and even he surrendered to me, David, which is bound to shake the enemy's morale and attract more officials from Wu and Zhou to surrender."

"Your Highness is right. I am short-sighted and did not see this." Xi Rimo laughed and asked for battle loudly, "The key to attacking Huai lies in Hefei and Yangzhou. I am willing to be the vanguard to capture Hefei for the entire army."

"I am naturally relieved that you are willing to be the vanguard. But Jizhou General Xuan Youcai made a request before you the day before yesterday, and I have already agreed. I am really embarrassed to change my mind," Chuo Siji looked embarrassed.

(End of this chapter)