Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 914 Class Antagonism
Sun Kewang's Daxi is very different from the Ming Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty in terms of regime structure.

To a certain extent, the Ming Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty were governed by gentry and nobles, while Daxi was a bunch of mud legs.

Sun Kewang's reforms in Yunnan dealt a severe blow to the gentry. When he enriched himself by plundering the wealth of the gentry, he also won the support of the people at the bottom, and his strength grew rapidly.

In Sun Kewang's view, the biggest bottleneck in the development of his strength is population.

Zhang Xianzhong killed many scholars in Sichuan, and also exterminated many wealthy families, so the Western Army was not welcomed by the gentry in Sichuan. Bai Wenxuan and others were not wrong to worry.

However, Sun Kewang is not relying on the gentry now. The gentry is only a minority. He wants to mobilize the people at the bottom. Daxi is still a peasant regime in essence.

In history, Sun Kewang relied on the two poor provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou to support 20 soldiers, mainly because he suppressed the landlords and gentry and mobilized the enthusiasm of the people at the bottom.

It’s just that in history, because he had Yongli in his hand and held the banner of the Ming Dynasty, although he suppressed the gentry, many scholars still took refuge in him for the ideal of restoring the Han Dynasty, so that he had enough talents to implement it. According to his policies, govern the region according to his policies.

The situation is different now, Sun Kewang has no status, and he attacked the gentry, so a large number of scholars fled to the area ruled by the Ming Dynasty, resulting in a shortage of talents in Daxi.

Sun Kewang is very clear about this, but he does not intend to please the gentry, and even if he pleases, it will not be effective. His current foundation is still at the bottom of the people, and it is not yet ready for feudalization.

Only when the strength reaches a certain level and has the potential to separate one side, or even fight for the world, will the gentry be willing to take refuge in them. At that time, it will be the best time for feudalization, from protecting the interests of farmers to protecting the interests of gentry.

Sun Kewang has also taken some measures to deal with the urgent shortage of talents, that is, open a course in Yunnan to obtain a scholar, and those who pass the exam will be given 300 taels of silver immediately. People serve him.

Although these people are uneven, they are still barely maintaining the operation of Daxi.

It should be enough for him to achieve such an achievement in just two or three years, but he is not satisfied.

For a small country, the best way to survive between the two powerhouses is to please both sides without offending them, but Sun Kewang doesn't believe in fate and is unwilling to just be a vassal. He has his ambitions.

The reinforcements of the Ming army will enter Guizhou within three months. Sun Kewang has no profit in Guizhou. Although the south and west of Sichuan are poisonous, the huge population makes him salivate.

Those who dare not gamble will never win.

After receiving He Tengjiao's letter, Sun Kewang ordered his troops to retreat and divert to occupy southern and western Sichuan, in order to suppress the gentry in the two places as soon as possible, mobilize the poor people, and stabilize his foundation.

In doing so, he coveted Sichuan's wealth and huge population, and He Tengjiao's joint guarantee. The most important point was Zhang Xianzhen's threat at the beginning. The Ming Dynasty had the power to destroy him, and he feared the Ming Dynasty's revenge. .

Guangxi, Guizhou and Yunnan in the Ming Dynasty were too similar, and it was precisely because of the similarity, coupled with the strong national power of the Ming Dynasty, that if they were crushed, they would not be able to resist, even united with the Kingdom of Jin. There is not only a difference between the north and the south, but also a difference in terrain between the region and Yunnan, and he dared to prey on him, to a large extent, because the Kingdom of Jin did not have the strength to destroy him.

In late November, Sun Kewang led his troops to leave Annanwei, but despite He Tengjiao's guarantee, he still let go of 1 people, and then transferred another 1 people from Yunnan to the Yunnan-Guizhou border, and asked Bai Wenxuan to lead 2 people to guard against the Ming Dynasty in Guizhou. Army, he led 4 people to march to southern Sichuan.

When the Western Army appeared in southern Sichuan, the Zhenwu Battalion had already withdrawn to eastern Sichuan, and the southern and western Sichuan were already in a state of anarchy.

Before Li Dingguo and Fan Yiheng withdrew, they naturally communicated with the gentry of the two places, and some of the gentry withdrew eastward with the Ming army, but there were still a large number of people who were reluctant to part with their family property and chose to stay.

The gentry and aristocrats left behind had no affection for the Western Army. Sun Kewang's reform in Yunnan was to cut off the flesh of the gentry. If someone wanted to destroy Sun Kewang, these gentry would support him with both hands and even provide money and food to support it.

This phenomenon is not only in Sichuan, Guangdong and Guangxi near Yunnan, and even the gentry in Huguang are more afraid of Sun Kewang. Many wealthy families and business houses in Guangdong and Guangxi have already begun to lobby officials in the court to let the government strengthen the defense of Guangdong and Guangxi, so that The imperial court eliminated Sun Kewang as soon as possible.

This dislike for Sun Kewang and Daxi Army came from class differences and was planted in his bones.

The gentry and aristocrats who chose to stay in southern Sichuan and western Sichuan have almost the same attitude towards Sun Kewang. Some of them formed a stronghold to protect themselves and did not cooperate with Sun Kewang. West Sichuan and South Sichuan.

The reason why this part of the gentry chose the Kingdom of Jin is because after the Sinicization of the Kingdom of Jin, it essentially became a regime that safeguarded the interests of the Han gentry. Chinese law, wearing Hanfu, and using Chinese characters, some gentry, out of self-interest, would rather the Jin army occupy southern and western Sichuan than see Sun Kewang rule them.

It's just that although they want to lead the way for Jin Jun, Jin Jun is lacking in energy now.

At this time, the main force of the Jin army was in eastern Sichuan. Although there were gentry leading the way, there were not many troops to occupy southern and western Sichuan. Besides, not all the gentry were willing to join the Kingdom of Jin. However, the Jin army's partial division only occupied some areas near the Chengdu Plain.

In Guizhou, after finding out that Sun Kewang had indeed transferred to southern Sichuan, He Tengjiao was finally relieved and still ordered Chen Youlong to guard Guizhou, while he led [-] elite troops to support eastern Sichuan from Guiyang.

Hauge’s raid on the Ming army in eastern Sichuan was very smooth at first. The Jin army lured Yuan Zongdi to Hezhou. Wang Yingxiong, the governor of Sichuan in the Ming Dynasty who came to support him, forced him to commit suicide in defeat.

At this time of the war, for Hauge, the general situation was basically settled. He only needed to besiege Yuan Zongdi, and the whole Sichuan was at his fingertips, but he did not expect that Wang Deren actually rushed to Chongqing.

When Wang Yan realized that the Kingdom of Jin might renege on the contract, he hurriedly dispatched Wang Deren's troops into Sichuan to strengthen the defense of the Ming army in Sichuan. The arrival of this force brought a slight change to Hauge, who was already victorious.

Originally, the Jin army only needed to surround Hezhou, and when the food in the city was exhausted, even if the main force of the Ming army in Sichuan was wiped out, Wang Deren's 3 people provided Yuan Zongdi with the possibility of escape.

For a while, Hauge had no choice but to change the original siege plan. On the one hand, he ordered his soldiers to attack Hezhou day and night to annihilate Yuan Zongdi, and on the other hand, he asked Wu Sangui to guard Fotu Pass to prevent the Ming army from breaking the siege.

(Thanks to Zimo, Wallace, and Yunqishi for the rewards, thank you for your monthly pass, recommendation, and subscription. I just got home yesterday, but I found out that I forgot to unplug the power after a few days back. The computer may have been damaged by lightning and cannot be turned on. Recently, all the codes are on mobile phones, which are relatively slow. Wait for the notebook to arrive, and then update it.)
(End of this chapter)