Chapter 1199: Adding Two More Circuits

The one who had been ordered to return to the capital to report the victory and present the military situation in Dali was Li Shoujie, Chief Inspector of the Southwestern Field Headquarters. It had been some years since Emperor Liu had sent him out of the capital, and he had remained there for several years. Serving under Wang Quanbin, he had also caught up with this southern campaign and earned some merits in the eastern route army.

New clothes are not as good as old ones, and old acquaintances are not as good as old friends. Seeing someone who had gone out from his side return with achievements, Emperor Liu felt some joy in his heart. He specially bestowed imperial wine and had him sit down to report.

Li Shoujie was now thirty years old, no longer the young man he once was, but compared to the past, he was also more composed and steady. Unlike his father, the Marquis of Chenyang, this man, as his name suggested, was a person of propriety and discipline.

"... Commander-in-Chief Wang led the army south, pressing directly toward Shanshan. Along the way, all who saw them surrendered without a fight. After breaking through several layers of enemy resistance, the main army smoothly arrived at Shanshan's prefectural seat. This place is a key stronghold in central Dali, and its ruler and ministers gathered over thirty thousand motley troops, intending to hold the city and resist stubbornly.

Shanshan's city walls are not as sturdy as those of Yangjuemi City, and the terrain is treacherous, but our army has confidence in certain victory. However, in compliance with the court's policy of pacification through persuasion, Commander-in-Chief Wang sent envoys to summon their surrender, which was rejected.

To reduce casualties in storming the city, our army spent twenty days surrounding Shanshan, cutting off communications, blocking enemy reinforcements (though by that time Dali had no more relief forces to speak of), isolating all news, reducing it to an isolated city, while replenishing supplies and forging heavy siege equipment.

After everything was prepared, starting from the twenty-fifth day of the tenth month, our army launched ten consecutive days of assaults on Shanshan City. Under our army's powerful offensive, the defenders of Shanshan suffered heavy casualties, the city walls were on the verge of collapse, and the morale of the defending troops gradually declined day by day. Our army's casualties were kept within two thousand men.

With no outside reinforcements, lacking supplies within, soldiers in chaos, and morale low, at the end of their rope, we again sent surrendered officials to urge their capitulation. Pressured by the desperate situation both inside and out, the ruler and ministers of Dali finally decided to surrender!

Additionally, Duan Sicong, the King of Dali, after being besieged, saw his illness worsen and passed away in the city on the third day of the eleventh month. His son Duan Sushun hastily succeeded to the throne and thus chose to surrender and submit..."

After hearing Li Shoujie's report, the smile on Emperor Liu's face grew even wider. He said, "Wang Quanbin's use of troops is becoming more and more seasoned!"

Summing up his account, one could see that in the Battle of Shanshan, the Han army's progress had been fairly smooth. Though it had dragged on for a long time, the difficulty was not great, and casualties were kept under control.

This was a completely different style from the earlier battles. At the start of the campaign, Wang Quanbin sought speed and efficiency, not hesitating to take risks, penetrating deep into barren lands, crossing deadly terrain, and forcefully attacking Yangjuemi City. At that time, in the process of breaching the city, he was also unsparing of cost, disregarding casualties, with an offensive so fierce it was like an autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves—full of momentum.

The result was that Yangjuemi City fell, but the western route army suffered over half casualties. By the time of the Battle of Shanshan, with the situation clear and victory assured, Wang Quanbin once again changed his previous fierce style, turning instead to seeking stability—steady and sure, mindful of casualties, applying both political and military pressure simultaneously, and taking Shanshan at modest cost, capturing the ruler and ministers of Dali and extinguishing Dali's last force of resistance.

"Now that Shanshan City has fallen, there should be no more power within Dali that can obstruct the imperial army! Taking the entire southwestern region is within sight!" Emperor Liu nodded and said.

Li Shoujie clasped his hands and said, "After the ruler and ministers of Dali surrendered, Commander-in-Chief Wang has already dispatched troops in separate detachments to occupy the southern part of Dali, coordinating with the army of Guangnan West Circuit to mop up remaining rebels and the disloyal, striving to take all of Dali's former territory within this year, and to report another joyful message to Your Majesty and the court at the Lantern Festival of the seventh year of Kaibao, to celebrate the occasion!"

"Good!" Emperor Liu could not have been more satisfied. Looking at Li Shoujie, he continued to ask, "And what about that Duan Sushun?"

"To answer Your Majesty, Duan Sushun and his royal clan and ministers are temporarily detained at Shanshan, awaiting the court's decree. Commander-in-Chief Wang intends that once Dali is completely pacified, they will be escorted back to the capital, and the captives presented at the palace gates!" Li Shoujie replied.

"With the Dali campaign settled, it fulfills my wish and also relieves the court of a great burden!" Emperor Liu said.

Though the southern expedition against Dali had taken less than half a year from the dispatch of troops to now, in that half year, the cost borne by the court had been considerable indeed.

The combat troops, auxiliary soldiers, and civilian laborers who entered Dali territory numbered no more than one hundred thousand in total, but behind them, the various categories of personnel supporting the logistics of this campaign added up to nearly two hundred thousand, of which at the peak, one hundred thousand laborers alone were invested in clearing roads and building routes.

As for the consumption of military supplies, that was an astronomical figure. Just on military expenditure alone—not to mention the allocations from the Finance Commission—the autumn taxes of the three circuits of Chuanshu for the sixth year of Kaibao were all spent on it. As for the consumption of grain and fodder, the nearly four hundred thousand shi of military grain stored before the war had been consumed completely...

"Send someone to the Hall of State Affairs to summon the Duke of Yu, Zhao Pu, and Li Ye. We should carefully discuss the arrangements for what comes next, and it's time to put forward some concrete measures for post-war management!" After a moment's thought, Emperor Liu gave his orders.

"Yes!"

Soon, the principal leaders of the Hall of State Affairs came upon imperial summons to jointly discuss the various matters of post-war management for Dali. This was not a difficult problem. As early as when Yangjuemi City fell and the major breakthrough was achieved, there had already been some conception of this matter, and some measures had been discussed among the Emperor, the Crown Prince, and the chancellors.

Therefore, when it actually came to the implementation stage, there was not much dispute in the discussions and promulgations. Basically, it was built upon the pacification proposal Zhao Pu had put forward two months earlier, refined and improved.

The implementation of the native chieftain system throughout Dali's territory was the foundation—the most powerful weapon for incorporating the various large and small tribes and making them submit. Under this premise, in the major cities, however, the court's rule also needed to be strengthened, with officials directly appointed to govern—such as in Yangjuemi City, Jianchang, Nongdong, and Shanshan. Yangjuemi City was renamed Tianxing Prefecture.

As for the Dali royal house, they were all to be relocated inland. Pacification was pacification, but according to Emperor Liu's will, eliminating their influence was a matter of urgency—how could he think of using their influence to appease Dali?

As for the former upper-class nobles of Dali such as the Dong, Gao, and Yang clans, not a single family was to be left behind—all were to be relocated out. This was also Emperor Liu's style of conduct; he showed no mercy even to the powerful clans of Jiangzhe, let alone these southwestern local magnates. At the same time, only now, with the army pressing down and able to withstand the upheaval, was it convenient to act—to deal the swift blow without dragging things out.

At the same time, after taking Dali, the administrative divisions in the southwestern region would also need to change, for the newly incorporated territory was by no means small.

Even without Emperor Liu giving his say, watching Wei Renpu and Zhao Pu exercise their judgment, their opinions were fairly unified: establish one circuit on the basis of Dali's former territory, and split off a portion to merge into Guangnan West Circuit, and combine another part with a section of southern Chuan and the Qianzhong region to establish another circuit. It was very clear—these were the three provinces of Chuan, Gui, and Dian...

The newly established circuit on Dali's former territory naturally could not continue to be called Dali. Emperor Liu directly named it Yunnan. Together with Qianzhong Circuit, the Great Han had added two more circuits on top of Annam.

The candidate Wei Renpu proposed for Yunnan's first administrative chief was also surprising—Quan Shixiong, Prefect of Cangzhou. He was a surrendered official of the Meng Shu. Since submitting to the court, his official career had risen steadily. His promotion speed was not particularly fast, but he was indeed accepted by the court, and his circumstances were comparatively good among surrendered officials.

Having served in Cangzhou Prefecture for many years, being promoted in one stroke to Administration Commissioner of Yunnan Circuit was another breakthrough. This also symbolically indicated, from the side, that the Chuanshu region had thoroughly integrated into the Great Han's ruling order, and that local talent there would henceforth be discovered and employed by the court.

As for garrison troops, a large number would remain stationed for a short period, then gradually be reduced according to the actual situation, following the model of Annam. On the Annam Circuit side, since its pacification up to now, the southern expeditionary forces had still not fully withdrawn, and the rotation garrison system would likely not be formally implemented and rolled out until the seventh year of Kaibao.

As for Wang Quanbin, Emperor Liu planned to recall him, entrusting Yunnan's military affairs to Wang Renshan.

After the discussion concluded, Chuigong Hall gradually fell quiet. From the Crown Prince on down, no one dared to rashly break the silence, for Emperor Liu wore a contemplative expression, seriously thinking about something.

After a long while, Emperor Liu raised his head and said with a light smile, "Since the beginning of the Kaibao era, the court has fought quite a few battles, large and small, and achieved no small number of victories. Yet for those with merit, there has been no formal enfeoffment of ranks and rewards.

So then—let the Hall of State Affairs, the Bureau of Military Affairs, and the Ministry of War compile statistics on the generals and officials who have shown outstanding performance in civil governance and military achievements over these years, listing their merits, and I shall confer ranks according to their contributions!"

"Yes!"

When Emperor Liu's words fell, the expressions of the several ministers present all shifted. Nearly six years had passed, and Emperor Liu had not bestowed a single noble rank—though there had been a few examples of stripping and revoking them.

Clearly, once this news spread, it would likely stir up another storm. It could be imagined that the scale of this rank-conferral would be far smaller than that of the grand ceremony at the start of Kaibao, but precisely because of that, the disputes might be even more intense.

Emperor Liu's elevation of the Great Han's noble ranks was showing increasingly obvious effects as time went on.