Chapter 315: Conspiracy Unfolds

"The enemy will send troops after the autumn harvest, and our plan is also to unfold after the autumn harvest.

Since we have to fight anyway, let's just fight a big one.

The Huguang, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang lines will all be battlefields; recover as much lost territory as we can.

The Emperor and the officials are all watching, so we have to make some noise!"

The Marquis of Marquis Wuyang said calmly.

Recovering Huguang grain is a strategic need, recovering Jiangnan is an economic need, and recovering Nanjing is a political need.

Among the three, recovering Nanjing is undoubtedly the most difficult.

The previous plan to take Nanjing directly by water was a strategy that could only be implemented when the lower reaches of the Yangtze River were in the hands of the court.

With the fall of Yangzhou Prefecture, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River have all fallen into the hands of the rebels.

The enemy only needs to blockade the river with shore artillery to cause heavy losses to the fleet.

To recover Nanjing, one must either complete an insertion directly from Jiangxi and Huguang, or fight all the way from Songjiang Prefecture by sea.

The promise to Emperor Emperor Yongning to recover Nanjing within the year refers to launching a major battle to recover Nanjing within the year, not representing that Nanjing can be captured within the year.

The rebel army has already become a climate and cannot be extinguished casually.

Recovering a few prefectures of lost territory to give the court an explanation is enough.

When the rebellion can be pacified, no one knows.

"If three lines are opened simultaneously, will the logistics pressure be too great?"

Jing Jing Guoliang asked with concern.

Fujian is not a grain-producing area, and the grain production in the province is barely enough for self-sufficiency.

Providing military grain certainly cannot be counted on.

Liangguang is not much better; if it weren't for the population reduction caused by the war, grain would also only be barely enough for self-sufficiency.

"Over the past year, we have been working hard to raise grain and grass.

The Governor's office allocated funds to purchase one million shi of rice from the Nanyang region.

At the same time, we organized fishermen to go to sea to catch fish, storing about twenty-five thousand shi of fish meat through pickling.

After the autumn harvest, this year's tax grain should also be in the warehouse.

Plus private procurement, the Liangguang region should be able to come up with three million shi to serve as military grain for subsequent operations."

Li Mu answered.

Purely from the numbers, three million shi is very huge.

But when really used on the battlefield, it's just that much.

From Huguang to Zhejiang, the battle line stretches for thousands of miles.

Once a full-scale war breaks out, the total force invested will be nearly two hundred thousand.

Plus the civilian laborers transporting grain and the livestock accompanying the army, the daily grain consumption is in the tens of thousands.

Fighting at one's own doorstep, it can barely support for a year.

If it's a long-distance expedition, how long these grains can last depends on the distance.

Of course, if it's defending a city, then it can be eaten well for two or three years.

Choosing to fight on all lines is mainly for the sake of money and grain.

The money and grain raised in Liangguang and Fujian cannot support the army for long-term operations.

Now being able to maintain such a huge military equipment is because the illicit money from the Shandong gentry case was intercepted.

The Ministry of Revenue did send people to ask for it, but the court owed huge military pay and rewards.

According to the rewards issued by the Ministry of War, a head of a true barbarian is rewarded with fifty taels of silver, and the reward for enemy generals is even higher.

The remaining miscellaneous soldiers are not worth money, but rewards also have to be issued.

Besides these clearly marked rewards, after winning a big battle, there must be some expression.

The army to save the capital killed wildly in Jinan Prefecture; the Great Great Dayu court alone had to pay millions of taels just to issue rewards.

After the rewards were paid, the bigger expenditure was the pension.

Regardless of the actual combat losses, the losses reported by the army to save the capital were close to fifty thousand.

According to the Great Great Dayu law, normal pensions would cost millions of taels.

The bad debts owed in the past were an even larger sum.

Subsequent recovery of lost territory also required the court to issue military pay.

Calculating with the account book, before adding up the arrears, the confiscated illicit money was leveled.

Of course, when dealing with stolen goods, the bureaucrats in the capital also made a fortune.

Confiscated land and mansions were all sold at bone-deep prices.

Turning around and selling them could make a big profit.

It's just that the quantity was too large, and it took a certain amount of time to process.

No matter how much illicit money there is, there is a day when it runs out.

Filling the previous arrears and dividing the loot internally, the final remaining cash was only over five million taels.

War is a gold-swallowing beast; just building military equipment cost one million taels.

It's mainly armor and firearms that cost money.

Li Mu had high requirements for the quality of these products; all products had to be engraved with the names of the craftsmen and the supervising officials.

If quality problems occurred, everyone in the production chain would have their heads dropped.

Strict quality requirements determined that production costs would not be low.

As of now, the armor production task had only been completed by ten percent.

Firearm production was slightly faster, completing thirty percent.

Being able to have such efficiency was because he took away the craftsmen in the Shandong region, enhancing Liangguang's military industrial production capacity.

Production speed was still increasing, but the growth rate was very limited.

According to this production speed, when the war broke out after autumn, armor would at most be delivered by one-fourth.

However, Li Mu was still satisfied; being able to produce firearms in time was already not bad.

"Since preparations are sufficient, then fight!"

"The enemy army sent themselves to the door, and we can save some effort."

Jing Jing Guoliang made a decisive decision.

The court and the public were all watching them, so they had to open the situation as soon as possible.

Wei Wei Jiarui bringing troops to the door himself was much less effort than them taking the initiative to launch an attack.

According to normal siege warfare, every city would have to pay a considerable price.

If the enemy army defended stubbornly and didn't come out, they really couldn't do anything about the rebels for a while.

Although the imperial army was trained more professionally and weapons and equipment were more advanced, the rebels were killed from a pile of dead people.

Deep down, he still couldn't help but rejoice that the White Lotus Holy Kingdom had split.

Otherwise, if the three rebel armies joined forces, the combat effectiveness they would explode would be even more powerful.

"If Wei Ni sends himself to the door, as the defending side, we should be able to take advantage of it.

However, the most troublesome is Fu Ni, who is ambitious and occupied Nanjing to establish a pseudo-dynasty.

Earlier, he organized a large army for the Northern Expedition; I'm afraid he has already killed his way into the Central Plains.

Influenced by the Northern Barbarian invasion, the military system in the north has been severely damaged.

The imperial army in the Central Plains is likely not the opponent of the rebel army.

For the sake of the country and society, we must take action and cannot let Fu Ni's conspiracy succeed!"

Li Yuan, on the side, reminded.

The court can't mobilize many mobile troops, and the various armies to save the capital have just returned, currently in a state of rest.

Sending them to Henan again is clearly making things difficult for them.

Tossing back and forth aside, the key is that the court still owes money and grain.

No matter how loyal the army is, it can't afford to be tossed like this.

"Then for the Zhejiang battlefield, launch an attack from the sea, quickly seize Songjiang Prefecture, and make a posture of attacking Nanjing.

Force Fu Ni to withdraw troops from the front line to return to Nanjing!

Commander Li, quickly come up with a joint operation plan to integrate the military forces of the various provinces."

The Marquis of Marquis Wuyang said with murderous intent.

Recovering Nanjing is the big cake he painted for the Emperor.

When the promise will be fulfilled is temporarily unknown, but the flames of war must be ignited.

Kunming Prefecture.

"What, you won't let us help?"

Governor of Yunnan Zhong Zhong Zhenyu asked in disbelief.

In the past, when suppressing rebels, they were urged to send troops.

This time he took the initiative to offer help, but was collectively rejected by the three major governors, completely beyond his expectation.

"My lord, it's not a direct rejection.

They still welcome sending troops to participate in the war.

However, the request for money and grain was directly rejected by them.

And they stated firmly: if the prerequisite for sending troops is to let them provide money, grain, and military equipment, they would rather not have our troops.

Not only us, but Guizhou also expressed the willingness to participate in the war, which was also rejected because of the money and grain problem."

Dou Dou Yutang said with a grievance.

After the White Lotus rebellion broke out, besides the soldiers below, he, this military preparation path, was also unlucky.

Often running back and forth, nominally supervising military affairs in the province, but actually becoming an errand runner.

The Liangguang army to save the capital had just returned from the north, and he rushed over without stopping to talk about the problem of joint troop deployment.

It's not that they like fighting, it's purely because they lost the battle earlier and are now "atoning for their crimes."

If they don't seize the time to perform, when the court holds them accountable, they won't be able to explain at all.

But the previous major battle emptied Yunnan's treasury.

Limited by local financial resources, now wanting to send troops to suppress the rebellion, money, grain, and military equipment are all problems.

Unfortunately, it's not just them who lack money; other provinces also lack money.

"Short-sighted!"

"I thought these three governors had great talents and could pacify the rebellion.

Now it seems they are just a group of selfish rats!

When they are confronting the rebel army, we kill into the rebel army's rear from the flank and wipe out the rebels in one fell swoop.

Such a perfect combat plan, they actually abandoned it because of a little money, grain, and military equipment!

..."

Zhong Zhong Zhenyu couldn't help but curse angrily.

The court didn't allocate funds, and the three governors didn't buy it, suddenly putting him on the rack.

Before the Great Great Dayu, whenever the dynasty entered the middle and late stages, the Yunnan-Guizhou region would break away from control.

After the Great Great Dayu was established, the court took a series of measures to strengthen control over Yunnan and Guizhou.

The most famous was the military household system, which directly immigrated hundreds of thousands of people by relying on this policy.

The price of stabilizing the local area was a sharp increase in government expenditure.

For a long time, Yunnan's finances were in deficit, and the taxes collected from the local area were not enough for the cost of rule.

Of course, the court didn't lose money in strengthening control over Yunnan.

Although tax revenue was insufficient, Yunnan possessed rich mineral resources.

Among them, silver and copper production had always topped the list among the provinces of the Great Great Dayu, laying the foundation for the Great Great Dayu's currency system.

Later, with the vigorous development of overseas trade, a large amount of silver poured in, making the money shortage a thing of the past, and Yunnan's status declined.

Although the profits from mining were rich, they had nothing to do with the local government.

The profits from official mines went into the pockets of officials.

Actual production capacity climbed year by year, but the data reported to the court decreased year by year.

The reason was very sufficient: the best quality ore veins had been mined out, and the quality of the remaining ore had decreased.

Generally speaking, these parasites would only stop when they dropped to near the break-even point.

The Emperor couldn't come to supervise personally, and sending an imperial envoy to rectify would only cause a temporary rebound.

Private mines go without saying; the Great Great Dayu Dynasty nationalized mining rights and prohibited private collection.

Since it was illegal mining, counting on them to pay taxes was clearly impossible.

Against this background, counting on local government offices to raise money, grain, and military equipment was almost impossible.

Having lost on the battlefield, "atoning for crimes" must be found back on the battlefield.

But participating in the war requires first solving the problem of money, grain, and military equipment.

Zhong Zhong Zhenyu had limited courage and didn't dare to touch the money bags of the vested interest groups, so he could only reach out to neighboring provinces for help.

Unfortunately, their previous combat record was poor, and they weren't taken seriously by others at all.

"Governor, don't be angry.

If they don't give money and grain, we can still go to Grand Secretary Xu.

He just transferred to Governor of Sichuan and is short of troops; we are sending charcoal in the snow now.

..."

Tao Tao Leqi, the Provincial Administration Commissioner, advised.

Not welcoming them to join, besides the dispute over money and grain, there was another important factor—the circle.

People were big shots of the noble faction; for their own governor, a civil official, to want to join, it was clearly asking for trouble.

Status and position were not equal, and the strength in hand was far worse.

Arriving at the noble's table, people didn't know how to arrange seats.

Rather than wronging oneself and forcibly integrating at any cost, it was also hard to gain people's trust.

"Commissioner Tao, I'm afraid this matter is not that easy.

Last time we were defeated, we caused a lot of trouble for Grand Secretary Xu."

Zhong Zhong Zhenyu said with a bitter face.

Last time, due to carelessness, they were ambushed by the enemy while pursuing, which ruined Grand Secretary Xu's siege opportunity.

Not to mention the loss of troops and generals, it also led to the bankruptcy of the suppression opportunity.

If it weren't for the fact that there were no high-ranking officials in the court willing to take over this mess, he wouldn't even have the chance to atone for his crimes.

"Governor, this is one time, that is another.

"The current situation has changed, and Grand Secretary Xu's status has also been impacted, so the demands naturally won't be that harsh!"

Tao Tao Leqi said with full confidence.

The ups and downs of an official career are always full of surprises.

Because of the unsuccessful suppression of the rebellion, the halo of being a Grand Secretary gradually vanished.

This caused the resurrected Xu Xu Wenyue to fall from being the Junior Grand Secretary to an ordinary cabinet minister.

His reassignment as Viceroy of Sichuan speaks for itself.

One must know that back in the day, Grand Secretary Xu served as the Viceroy of Five Provinces, possessing power that was truly overwhelming in the literal sense.

"Then send someone to test the waters!

We can relax the specific conditions slightly, striving to facilitate cooperation."

Zhong Zhong Zhenyu said with an expressionless face.

The rebel army in the Shu region is likewise no pushover.

If the main army really enters Shu to fight, whether they can handle the enemy is also an unknown.

However, the risk is high, and he can only follow along and place a bet.

If he wants to keep his current position, he must take risks when the time calls for it.

Nanjingcheng.

"Your Majesty, the plan has succeeded!"

"Under the guidance of our people, the pseudo-dynasty and Wang Wang Weijiarui both view each other as their greatest enemy and are busy reorganizing their troops for war.

According to news from our mole, they will start fighting after the autumn harvest!"

Hu Hu Yuzhe said joyfully.

Entrusting this task to him, a surrendered official, is enough to prove the high esteem Fu Fu Haoxuan holds for him.

Now that he has lived up to expectations and delivered an excellent answer, the heart that had been hanging in suspense has finally settled.

(End of chapter)