Chapter 232: Pre-war Preparations

After dividing the forces, Li Mu directly led his own troops to bypass Shaozhou City and headed straight for Yongzhou Prefecture.

This time it was not a deep penetration by an isolated army; Yongzhou not only bordered Guangdong but also closely bordered Guangxi.

Even if a mishap occurred in Shaozhou, the army's retreat route would not be cut off.

If the rebel army truly had such a large appetite and wanted to swallow his 40,000-strong army in one bite, it would actually be a good thing.

"Commander, we just received news from Yongzhou that the rebel army is planning to transfer materials.

However, within the rebel army, there is a serious disagreement over the issues of marching north to the Central Plains and marching east to Nanjing.

Both sides are arguing endlessly, and the rebel leader cannot make up his mind for the moment."

Hearing the news brought by Xiang Xinghan, Li Mu frowned slightly.

He could not care less about the rebel leader leaving Yongzhou.

But he was very greedy for the treasures and materials the rebel army had plundered.

A large portion of the wealth and goods plundered by the White Lotus Sect rebel army in the Liangguang region was stored in Yongzhou.

If he could intercept these things, it would be enough to make him the richest man in the Great Dayu.

Even if he took a discount and only kept one-third of it, it would be enough to make him rich overnight.

"Arrange for people to continue watching; once the enemy transports materials out, report it immediately."

Li Mu ordered immediately.

War wealth delivered to the door—it would be a waste not to take it.

He was not alone now; besides the tens of thousands of troops and soldiers' families under his command, he was also supporting a large number of refugees and convicts.

And this was just the beginning; as the war continued, the number of prisoners of war and refugees would continue to increase.

Only by being there personally did he understand why military officers of all dynasties liked to slaughter prisoners.

It wasn't that they were heartless, but mainly that they couldn't afford to support them.

The money and grain allocated by the court were barely enough to supply the army.

Suddenly having tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of prisoners of war, left no choice but to raise the butcher's knife.

At the very least, Li Mu had received hints from civil officials many times, hoping he could share the burden for the court.

It was just that in this regard, his moral bottom line still existed, and he could not do the deed of mass slaughter.

He simply pretended not to understand the hints from the civil officials.

Whoever was not afraid of leaving a bad name for ten thousand years could go and issue the slaughter order themselves; in any case, he would not do it.

The population of Guangxi was originally small, and with the support of military farmland output, the pressure was not very great.

After entering Guangdong, the situation changed.

The local yamen were unable to take over the large number of newly added prisoners of war and refugees, so he had to solve it himself.

Li Mu did not dislike it; population itself was wealth.

Prisoners of war were all able-bodied men and belonged to free labor; sending them directly to the mines could immediately create wealth.

Settling refugees was more troublesome, but it only required advancing the initial food expenses; subsequently, they could support themselves.

It was just that because of this, his purse quickly shriveled.

To avoid bankruptcy, he had to develop more sources of wealth.

No matter what kind of business it was, it couldn't compare to a "no-cost" business.

Li Mu's requirements were not high; as long as he could plunder a few months' worth of materials from the rebel army, or treasures of equivalent value.

……

Yongzhou City.

"Humph!

That bastard Li Mu is eyeing us.

From Lianzhou to Guilin, then from Guangdong to Yongzhou, that bastard has been chasing us relentlessly.

My dear ministers, who is willing to share the burden for the Emperor and kill this bastard!"

It could be seen that Shi Rongxuan was furious, throwing even his monarchical dignity to the side.

The ministers below also showed a spirit of shared hatred against the enemy.

It was just that when it came to volunteering, everyone regained their rationality.

The three-province allied army of Liangguang and Fujian claimed to have an army of 300,000.

Even if halved, there were still 150,000 troops.

From the intelligence gathered, Li Mu was exactly the Regional Commander of this army.

To defeat this imperial army, unless elite troops were drawn from the front line, success would be difficult.

"Holy Emperor, the puppet court's army has been chasing us from behind; this is not a solution.

I propose drawing troops from various regions to launch a decisive battle with the puppet court in Yongzhou.

Only by defeating that thief Li Mu can we march north and east with peace of mind!"

Wu Zekai was the first to state his position.

Since the Holy Emperor had proposed annihilating the imperial army led by Li Mu, he, as the Chancellor, had to find a way to accomplish it.

Relying solely on the Yongzhou army was not enough to defeat the enemy, so he would draw troops back for reinforcements.

However, specifically where to draw the troops from involved the strategic route dispute between the eastern expedition and the northern expedition, so he wisely chose to avoid it.

"Hmm!

The evil thief Li Mu is the most vicious in using troops; without superior military strength, it is difficult to take advantage.

To defeat him on the battlefield, it is indeed necessary to draw troops from the front line.

The Jiujiang side is entering a critical moment, so we will not draw troops back from there this time.

We will draw 100,000 troops back from the Xiangyang battlefield and the Linjiang battlefield respectively, and draw another 100,000 troops from other secondary battlefields.

Added to the Yongzhou troops, the total military strength will reach 400,000.

I will use these 400,000 troops to turn Yongzhou into the burial ground for the thief Li Mu!"

Shi Rongxuan said viciously.

Being chased from behind was an indelible humiliation for any monarch.

To reshape his monarchical prestige, he needed to climb up from where he fell.

Especially in this process, the White Lotus Holy Kingdom had also suffered losses in troops and generals.

Standing from Shi Rongxuan's perspective, if Li Mu hadn't popped out to cause trouble, Liangguang wouldn't have fallen.

If it weren't for the mishap of losing Liangguang, they would be blossoming everywhere now.

While attacking Huguang and Jiangxi, they could also launch attacks on Yungui and Fujian.

It's quite possible they would have already taken half of the Great Dayu and established his own hegemony.

Of course, the premise for all this was that the Great Dayu did not react and let them attack from all sides.

Looking at the entire history, no dynasty had ever had smooth sailing in the process of rebelling.

Basically, those who rebelled first would suffer the strongest backlash and find it difficult to reach the end.

If the elite troops in the north of the Great Dayu moved south in large numbers, the situation would be very different.

Looking at the overall situation, the Great Dayu court still had quite a few elite troops and strong generals.

It was just that they were constrained by financial resources, plus the national policy of "using civil officials to govern the military" dragging them down, leaving them no way to let these people perform to their heart's content.

"Holy Emperor, drawing so many troops back at once will inevitably affect the war situation on the front line.

Especially the Xiangyang battlefield, which is also at a critical moment at this time.

The puppet court's reinforcements are no more than a few hundred miles from Xiangyang City.

Once we draw the main army away, the enemy is very likely to pounce immediately.

If one is not careful, the great cause of the northern expedition will be destroyed in one fell swoop!"

Shi Qichuan spoke up to oppose.

Which was more important, the northern expedition or the eastern expedition? No one could say clearly for a while.

But one thing was certain: drawing troops like this at the moment was very unfavorable to the northern expedition army.

The Great Dayu court had always had a pattern of being strong in the north and weak in the south militarily.

Plus, the troops from the northern provinces had not suffered losses on the battlefield, so their enthusiasm for support was much higher.

The Henan region's Yu army had already entered Xiangyang a month ago.

Xu Wenyue, relying on the support of reinforcements, had constructed the Xiangyang defense line.

Otherwise, the remaining troops in Huguang alone could not possibly be the match of the northern expedition army.

"There is no need to worry about the northern expedition; news has come from the Guanzhong region.

Not a drop of rain has fallen in the northwest region this year, and the Central Plains region has also been affected by the drought; signs of unrest have already appeared.

If the puppet court dares to mobilize the Guanzhong army, we will support the sect members in the northwest to launch an uprising."

Shi Rongxuan said calmly.

The benefits of having wide social connections were now being manifested.

There were many factions within the White Lotus Sect, and no one could integrate all the sect members.

Before raising the army, his influence as the sect leader was limited to the faction he himself belonged to.

However, with the success of the rebellion and the development and growth of the White Lotus Holy Kingdom's power, the gold content of him as the Holy Emperor was also continuously increasing, gaining the recognition of most sect members.

Originally, he needed heavy bribes to gain the support of sect members in various places.

Now, he didn't need to do anything, and sect members would take the initiative to come to the door to provide help.

He knew these people were all aiming for the "merit of following the dragon," but Shi Rongxuan was not a nitpicker.

As long as they were willing to defect and sell their lives for him, what kind of purpose they held was not that important.

"Holy Emperor, besides that thief Li Mu, we also need to be vigilant against the puppet court's Xiang Army militia.

In the past three months, we have defeated the enemy army three times.

Every time after being defeated, the enemy could recover quickly, and their combat effectiveness had improved significantly compared to before.

Especially in recent days, the puppet court's militia has begun to absorb imperial army soldiers scattered among the people.

If not taken seriously, that thief Bai Yifeng is very likely to become the second Li Mu in the future!"

Wu Zekai added.

Troubled times produce heroes.

Originally, Bai Yifeng was just an inconspicuous scholar; under normal circumstances, he would have participated in the imperial examinations time and time again until his fighting spirit was worn out, living out the second half of his life in a muddle.

The appearance of the White Lotus Sect rebel army allowed Bai Yifeng to grasp the opportunity of the government-run militia.

Relying on the support of his fellow villagers, he stubbornly pulled out a force.

Their combat effectiveness was indeed very average, but they won by the strong resilience of the troops.

The soldiers were mostly organized by village and stronghold; looking around, they were all their own people.

Even if they suffered defeat on the battlefield, they could support each other to escape, greatly increasing the probability of survival.

The backbone elites were preserved, and it wouldn't take long before they could make a comeback.

From a long-term perspective, this kind of landlord armed force linked by fellow villagers could bring them a threat no less than Li Mu.

"Hmm, it indeed needs to be taken seriously.

How about this: after we deal with that thief Li Mu, we will then conveniently deal with that butcher Bai Yifeng!"

Shi Rongxuan said coldly.

From his tone, it could be heard that his impression of Bai Yifeng was very poor.

The degree of disgust deep down was even above Li Mu.

After all, they and Li Mu were fighting head-on, with both sides serving their own masters.

Bai Yifeng, who commanded the militia army, was different; he couldn't beat them on the front battlefield and was always stabbing them in the back.

He especially liked to liquidate the families of soldiers who joined the White Lotus Sect.

Once falling into the opponent's hands, almost no one came out alive.

To cover up his crimes, village massacres and family exterminations happened from time to time, making countless White Lotus Sect imperial soldiers gnash their teeth in hatred.

……

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 233 =====