Chapter 204: Sorting Out the Interior

Hearing Shi Rongxuan's question, there was silence below.

Abandoning the Western Expedition and focusing all efforts on the Northern Expedition.

It sounded nice to call it a strategic adjustment, but in reality, it was because they couldn't block the imperial army's encirclement from all sides and could only go all-in to fight for their lives.

"Holy Emperor, if we change the strategy, we will become wandering bandits!"

Wu Zekai said with a heavy tone.

The White Lotus Holy Kingdom, spanning multiple provinces, was a major force in the eyes of the world, and at the very least, a separatist regime.

Once they focused all efforts on the Northern Expedition, they would inevitably have to abandon their current foundation.

It would be fine if they succeeded, but if the Northern Expedition suffered a setback, they would become wandering bandits in the true sense and could only wander around.

"Wandering bandits are good!

Wandering around, just in time to see this ten-thousand-mile landscape.

Since ancient times, the transformation of a true dragon has always required experiencing tribulations.

Since I started this great cause, with the help of you gentlemen, everything has gone smoothly.

The current tribulation should be Heaven seeing that we were too smooth and sending down a test.

My beloved subjects, are you willing to go through hardships with me and create the ten-thousand-generation foundation of the Holy Kingdom?"

Shi Rongxuan said heartily.

At this moment, the White Lotus Sect leader who once possessed great ambition had returned!

The monarch woke up from his life of luxury, but the group of subjects underwent a qualitative change.

Only after having obtained something would there be the pain of losing it.

The White Lotus Sect of the past had nothing and was barefooted and not afraid of those wearing shoes, so they dared to fight.

Now the situation had changed, and they had enjoyed wealth and glory.

Asking them to return to the past and continue a life of displacement, many people were already unaccustomed to it.

"We are willing to go!"

What they thought in their hearts didn't matter; when they needed to state their position, everyone was surprisingly uniform.

There was nothing to criticize; the situation developing to this step was destined from the beginning of the uprising.

Raising an army to rebel and bring disaster to the world before the world was in chaos naturally meant paying the corresponding price.

Judging from the rebellion process of the White Lotus Holy Kingdom, they didn't make any major mistakes, nor did they break out into fierce infighting.

The biggest strategic mistake was that the timing was wrong.

If it were a few years later, waiting for Great Dayu's national strength to fall a few more points, everything would be different.

"With the help of you gentlemen, why worry that the great cause won't be achieved!

Since we have decided to leave, then hurry up and transfer the supplies.

Take everything that can be taken; burn everything that can't be taken with a fire—don't leave it to the enemy.

The grain among the people should also be collected; leaving the people with two months of rations is enough.

I want to leave a mess for the enemy and consume the pseudo-dynasty's financial and material resources as much as possible!"

Shi Rongxuan ordered coldly.

The road of rebellion was destined to be full of blood and wind.

From the uprising until now, his blade had already been stained with too much blood.

At this moment, for the sake of strategic needs, he naturally didn't mind adding another stroke.

Choosing to leave the people with two months of rations was not because Shi Rongxuan was benevolent, but because this number happened to be right on the mark.

If too much grain was left, they could hold on until the autumn harvest.

The pseudo-dynasty would only need to provide symbolic disaster relief to survive the grain crisis.

If too little grain was left, even if the pseudo-dynasty wanted to carry out relief, it would be too late to transport the grain over.

Encountering such a special situation that transcended human power, the pseudo-dynasty's imperial army could naturally and with a clear conscience leave it alone and directly push the responsibility to them.

Limiting it to two months was just enough time for the pseudo-dynasty to mobilize grain.

This was a cunning plot.

Vigorously carrying out disaster relief would inevitably consume a large amount of financial and material resources, further striking Great Dayu's finances.

If they gave up on disaster relief, they would lose the hearts of the people.

"Holy Emperor, if we do this, it is very likely that the two Guang regions will become a living hell.

If the Holy Kingdom wants to fight back in the future, I fear..."

Before Wu Zekai could finish, the Pingnan Prince Fu Haoxuan interrupted.

"Prime Minister, to achieve great things, one must abandon the benevolence of women.

If you are hesitant, then we might as well break up early.

Things like buying the hearts of the people can be operated after seizing the world.

From ancient times to the present, it has always been that he who wins the world wins the hearts of the people!"

The White Lotus Holy Kingdom's actions immediately attracted the attention of various imperial armies, and the news was reported all the way to Xu Wenyue's hands.

Looking at the tricky news, Xu Wenyue directly lost his mood for the New Year.

The rebel army's methods were too vicious; if the response was slightly careless, he would be ruined.

"The White Lotus Sect wants to carry out a strategic contraction and is concentrating all efforts on scavenging supplies; the Guangxi side is about to face big trouble.

Do you gentlemen have any response strategies?"

Xu Wenyue asked helplessly.

The rebel army hadn't abandoned Guangxi yet, but the documents urging for grain from the Guangxi side had already been sent over.

Compared to the past, this time the Guangxi Provincial Governor's request was much lower.

Regardless of what kind of grain it was, as long as it could be eaten, the Guangxi side wouldn't refuse.

The lower the requirement, the more it could prove the severity of the problem.

Just raising military grain made Great Dayu exhausted.

Involving the rations of millions of people, even if only one meal was provided every day, it was still a huge expense.

"Grand Secretary, according to the situation reported by the Guangxi side, I fear no amount of grain can fill that bottomless pit.

Unless we strike first to destroy the rebel army's grain-collecting operation, otherwise the subsequent disaster victims alone could drag us to death!"

Lu Jingxuan said with a frown.

The rebel army didn't act like humans and could make a mess in Guangxi; they could do the same in Huguang.

Recapturing lost territory—what was recaptured was all trouble.

Thinking of millions of people needing the yamen to take out money and grain for relief, he felt terrible.

Recognizing the severity of the problem, he couldn't care about the New Year and only thought about solving the rebel army quickly.

"Provincial Governor, it's difficult!

During the New Year, it is the time when the soldiers' longing for their hometown is most intense.

If the soldiers have no heart to fight, taking action rashly will easily lead to problems.

Our encirclement strategy from all sides has finally begun to show results; we cannot let the rebel army take advantage of the opportunity to jump out of the encirclement net.

Judging from the intelligence gathered, the rebel army seems to intend to abandon the two Guang regions and march straight to Nanjing."

Yu Xiuwen said with a solemn expression.

Judging from the rebel army's military adjustments, the enemy's next attack direction was either Huguang or Jiangxi.

At this moment, Jiangxi was on high alert, fearing that the rebel army would break through the defense line.

To deal with the rebel army's attack, Huguang and Jiangxi regions also organized local militias, but the scale was not large.

Great Dayu was still very cautious in the supervision of civilian armed forces.

Currently, the largest militia had a scale of less than a thousand people.

Such a team hadn't undergone systematic training, and no one had a bottom line on how much combat effectiveness they had.

"Next, the military pressure on Huguang and Jiangxi will be the greatest; the armies in both places should not be moved rashly.

However, the armies of the four provinces of Yunnan-Guizhou, Guangxi, and Fujian should not be left idle.

We must recapture as much lost territory as possible before the rebel army withdraws; we absolutely cannot let the enemy scavenge the grain and grass in the local area.

Not to mention that the imperial court's finances are tight and there isn't that much disaster relief money.

If the worst situation really happens, even if the imperial court allocates funds, we won't be able to buy enough grain.

The imperial court's support for the local area is limited; everyone must learn to be self-reliant."

Xu Wenyue said with a heavy tone.

He, the Grand Secretary, knew the situation of Great Dayu best.

With the continuous surge in population, the domestic grain production was no longer abundant.

In peaceful times, it was basically usable.

With the outbreak of the White Lotus Sect rebellion, leading to a decline in grain production in several provinces, a gap appeared all at once.

If they transferred grain from other major grain-producing provinces to fill this huge pit, the grain price would inevitably rise to the sky.

By then, I don't know how many people would starve to death among the people.

Deep down, he hated the two, Yin and Zuo, who triggered this rebellion to death.

Originally, the civil official struggle was just a point; it didn't work here either, and now he just wanted to kill these two goods.

Receiving the Governor's military order again, it was already the seventh day of the first lunar month.

Inside the Liuzhou Prefectural Yamen, the atmosphere was exceptionally tense.

To solve the grain crisis, the Guangxi high command had made great efforts, which was how they cleaned up the mess left by the rebel army.

They hadn't lived a good life for a few days before they were about to face a new mess.

"Grand Secretary's meaning is very clear: the disaster relief grain the imperial court can take out is limited; we should raise a portion of money and grain ourselves.

Does anyone have any good suggestions? Say them out quickly!"

Provincial Governor Zhang Sihan said with a headache.

The rebel army's methods were too vicious and hit Great Dayu's soft underbelly.

If effective measures couldn't be taken, in the coming year, the number of people starving to death would be countless.

"Now the imperial court is in difficulty; can we organize the gentry and merchants to donate grain?"

As soon as the Liuzhou Prefect finished speaking, he was met with a roll of eyes from everyone.

They had seen unreliable ones, but they had never encountered one so unreliable.

The gentry and merchants remaining in the Guangxi region had all been scavenged by the rebel army once.

One by one, they were poor to the point of clinking; it would be good enough if they didn't ask the imperial court for relief.

Expecting these people to take out money and grain to solve the mess created by the rebel army was simply impossible.

"Are there any other suggestions?"

Zhang Sihan asked with a frown.

The plan was too rotten; he was too lazy to comment and chose to skip it directly.

Deep down, he had already decided to find an opportunity to get rid of the Liuzhou Prefect; otherwise, this guy would definitely cause a big mess in the future.

"The guards snatched and planted a batch of military fields, totaling over a million mu; shouldn't they be able to take out a portion of grain?"

Provincial Surveillance Commissioner Zhou Zhenbang asked.

Currently, the most active in restoring production in Guangxi were the guards in various places.

Li Mu, who sat on a large amount of free labor, would circle land to reclaim wasteland the first time after recapturing a place.

Relying on the large amount of labor in his hands, the land plowed last winter reached as high as three million mu.

"Don't count on it. The output of the guard military fields not only has to feed the great army.

There are also nearly three hundred thousand exiled prisoners counting on the output of the military fields to survive.

With the continuation of the great war, the number of prisoners will continue to increase.

Guangxi's grain production is too low; it's difficult for the guards to be self-sufficient.

Unless the Provincial Governor's Yamen can guarantee that no more prisoners will be exiled later, otherwise the grain gap in the guards this year will exceed five hundred thousand shi.

If the guard army is to participate in the suppression war, then the gap will continue to increase."

Li Mu deliberately exaggerated.

Possessing a large amount of young and strong labor, it wasn't difficult for the guards to be self-sufficient in grain.

But being able to be self-sufficient didn't mean he could tolerate being targeted by others.

Anyway, how much land the guards reclaimed, the outside world couldn't figure out; just crying poor was the right way.

"Military grain must be prioritized; Grand Secretary has an order: anyone who dares to reach out to military grain will be treated as treason.

Commander Li need not worry about the military grain gap; the imperial court will make up for this gap.

The military expenses allocated by the imperial court to the Guangxi field army this year include one million taels of silver, eight hundred thousand shi of rice, salt...

Among them, the Yangzhou Camp and Yangzhou Navy take thirty percent in total, the Huai'an Camp takes twenty percent, the Guangxi recruited troops take fifteen percent, and the guard army takes thirty-five percent."

Jia Bo immediately pacified him.

In wartime, guaranteeing the supply of military grain was a must.

The Guangxi field army, which was highly valued by Grand Secretary Xu, belonged to the first class in logistics supply.

The grain and pay allocated by the imperial court could basically reach eighty percent.

The Ministry of Revenue wouldn't use paper money to deal with it, and the officials responsible for execution wouldn't dare to embezzle too much.

Relatively speaking, the treatment of the guard soldiers was still the lowest.

It looked like they took the largest share, but they couldn't stand the large number of guard soldiers; these allocations belonged to the nature of subsidies.

According to the rules, Great Dayu's guard troops had to prepare their own grain and grass to go to the battlefield, and the imperial court would only be responsible if it exceeded the service period.

Being able to get this money, besides considering the special situation in Guangxi, Jia Bo also contributed a lot.

Hearing the specific numbers, many officials at the scene had their eyes shining, but they quickly calmed down.

Now was not a good time to reach out for money; if they were caught reaching out, they would really lose their heads.

After entering Wuchang Prefecture, Grand Secretary Xu had already beheaded quite a few officials as a sacrifice to the flag.

The various battlefronts being able to stabilize was, to a certain extent, killed out by Xu Wenyue.

Whoever poked the mess would be the one to be operated on.

Regardless of which road of gods and ghosts was behind them, they were all killed without exception.

Relying on the high-pressure policy, the wind of dragging feet internally was curbed.

"If the money and grain can be guaranteed, recapturing the entire Guangxi territory within the year shouldn't be a big problem.

However, I have no way to deal with the grain gap.

If it really doesn't work, you gentlemen can share it among yourselves and each think of a way to solve a portion of the gap.

With your connections in the court, you shouldn't be unable to get back one or two thousand shi of grain each, right?"

Li Mu said with a half-smile.

This was the most commonly used method for later bureaucratic officials when encountering troubles that had to be solved.

Anyway, there were no quality requirements for disaster relief grain; as long as it could save lives, it was fine.

The group of officials at the scene were all starting from the fourth rank; it was impossible for them not to have connections behind them.

If they really couldn't get grain, they could solve the problem by spending their own money.

Although paying to work wasn't popular in Great Dayu, sometimes to keep their official hats, bleeding a little was acceptable.

Completing it according to the minimum standard, preparing two thousand taels of silver was enough.

"If everyone has no better way, then let's implement it according to Commander Li's suggestion!

I know everyone is in a difficult position and might not be able to save face, but for the sake of the people of the world, I hope everyone will do their best.

This Governor will take the lead and be responsible for solving the gap of fifty thousand shi.

The rest will be allocated according to the rank, with a twenty percent reduction for every half-rank lower."

Zhang Sihan's decision deliberately left out Li Mu and Jing Yifeng.

Great Dayu's Provincial Governors were mostly of the second rank or senior second rank; Zhang Sihan, who had been demoted, now had the treatment of the junior second rank.

The Guangxi Regional Military Commissioner and Guangxi Regional Commander, however, held the rank of senior second rank.

Doing this was entirely forced by necessity; allocating money and grain to military generals was forcing people to loot with troops.

Not only would it fail to solve the problem, but it would also make the situation even worse.

Great Dayu's military discipline was already hard to describe; if they were stimulated again, it would be even more unwatchable.

If things went wrong, the soldiers below, when forced, might even rob them, the old masters of officials, together.

There were historical lessons for this.

Almost every three to five years, there would be officials who didn't believe in evil and tried it, and then it would be a mutiny package.

Lightly, they would lose their official positions; heavily, they would go to see their great-grandmother on the spot.

"Provincial Governor, you say you came down from the Ministry of Revenue, so a few tens of thousands of shi of grain is nothing.

But we who came down from the clear-water yamen are different.

Don't talk about tens of thousands of shi; even a few hundred shi, this old man can't solve!"

Zhou Zhenbang immediately sprayed angrily.

He could see it; today's meeting was aimed at them.

Completing the task was the Provincial Governor's wise leadership.

Once the task couldn't be completed, they would bear the reputation of incompetence.

If they wanted to intervene in government affairs later, they wouldn't have any confidence in their speech.

Under such circumstances, he naturally had to struggle hard.

"I think Magistrate Zhou is not unable to solve it, but doesn't want to solve it.

The White Lotus Sect rebellion was able to progress so smoothly because there were White Lotus Sect spies mixed into the court.

His Majesty is clear-sighted and threw the treacherous officials into prison, but there are still fish that slipped through the net outside.

Magistrate Zhou, since you took office, you haven't done a single right thing and have only done things that hinder the suppression.

Don't you need to explain it to everyone?"

Zhang Sihan immediately squeezed him.

He was demoted to Guangxi from the Ministry of Revenue, and the two, Yin and Zuo, had contributed a lot.

If he hadn't reacted fast enough and found a new backer in time, he would have been taken down when Zuo Guangen fell.

Even if he dodged the first round of liquidation, the radical Qingliu party members led by the two, Yin and Zuo, still wouldn't let him go.

Now that the two were in prison and the radical Qingliu faction had suffered a setback, he naturally wanted to seek a counterattack.

When Zhou Zhenbang was in the capital, he had a good relationship with the two, Yin and Zuo, and belonged to a member of the radical Qingliu party camp.

After entering Guangxi, Zhou Zhenbang didn't cause him less trouble.

To solve this trouble, Zhang Sihan had started laying out early, deliberately inducing Zhou Zhenbang to offend people.

The result was very obvious; this Provincial Surveillance Commissioner who came from a big sprayer background was simply not an opponent.

After mouth-popping a few times as a matter of course, he offended the military completely, and even Provincial Administration Commissioner Jia Bo found him unpleasant.

"Stop talking nonsense!

This official stands straight and sits straight; how can I tolerate your attack as a remnant of the eunuch party!"

Since they had torn their faces, Zhou Zhenbang also revealed his background without any politeness.

Regardless of how he washed it, the black history of following the eunuch party in front was Zhang Sihan's biggest stain.

"Magistrate Zhou has gone too far; here are all the pillars of our Great Dayu, and there will be no remnants of the eunuch party."

Li Mu reprimanded unhappily.

He didn't want to intervene in the conflict between the two.

But Zhou Zhenbang was too ignorant and caused him trouble again and again.

Although supervising external officials was the duty of the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner, he couldn't keep staring at him!

Even if there was something beyond the rules, the Army Supervisor and the Provincial Governor didn't say anything; how could the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner have a share in intervening.

Since this guy was ignorant, he would teach him to be sensible.

It looked like he was just refuting the viewpoint, but in reality, he was telling everyone that the eunuch-overthrowing action was over and he opposed continuing to engage in implication.

In other regions, his opinion was nothing, but this was Guangxi.

"Commander Li is right; we, the loyal subjects of Great Dayu, will not be with the eunuch party.

What is feared is that someone harbors evil intentions, deliberately provoking civil strife and destroying the great cause of suppression."

Jing Yifeng followed up.

"You..."

For a time, Zhou Zhenbang was so angry that he couldn't speak.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 205 =====