Chapter 316: The Look You Hate Most

"Good!"

"Once they start fighting, we will have no worries behind us.

Next is to contact the fellow believers of the Heavenly Principle Sect in Henan, the Pure Water Sect in Shaanxi, and the Wenxiang Sect in Shandong, and launch an uprising together after autumn!"

Fu Pingnan Fu Haoxuan was overjoyed.

The Northern Expedition is not easy to succeed; wanting to vie for the Central Plains without cavalry is a joke.

The Wu Kingdom broke away from the White Lotus Holy Kingdom, which doesn't mean it cut off contact with the White Lotus Sect.

The past relationship was still maintained.

Earlier, the Northern Barbarians invaded and severely damaged many armies of the Great Great Dayu.

The Xuanfu, Datong, and Shandong garrisons were almost wiped out, and the Capital, Taiyuan, Among Guangxi, Guangdong, and Min Kaifeng garrisons also suffered heavy losses.

Now is the time when the Central Plains region has the emptiest military strength.

The threat from the south has also been dragged down by allies; now is undoubtedly the best time for the Northern Expedition.

If this opportunity is missed, once the Great Great Dayu catches its breath, it won't be so easy to enter the Central Plains again.

"Your Majesty, the contact work is not going very smoothly.

The Great Great Dayu's control over the northern provinces is far tighter than that over the southern provinces.

Since the failure of the uprising launched last time, the believers scattered in various places have suffered cruel suppression by the pseudo-dynasty.

They haven't recovered their vitality to this day.

Although they are interested in the plan we proposed, they are suffering from the destruction of their missionary system.

In a short time, they are unable to mobilize the believers scattered in various places."

Right Chancellor Yang Yang Jingren said with a nervous expression.

He didn't want to pour this basin of cold water.

But the White Lotus Sect branches in various places were one worse than the other.

Shouting slogans is fine, but counting on them to stir up chaos and restrain the main force of the Great Dayu army is hopeless.

The reason for all this has a direct relationship with the reforms during the Tianyuan Emperor period.

Although most of the Tianyuan Emperor's reforms failed, they achieved certain results in strengthening control over the local area.

Under the original basic management system, the Lijia system was strengthened, and the road permit system of the early founding years was restored.

Ordinary people wanting to go out first had to obtain a road permit issued by the government, which greatly suppressed population mobility.

This restriction system also curbed the development of the White Lotus Sect.

The gentry groups in the southern provinces were powerful and had always been the main force resisting the Tianyuan Emperor's reforms.

Based on the principle of opposing whatever the enemy supports, these measures to strengthen local governance became a dead letter in the southern provinces.

Northern provinces often had trouble, and local officials wanted to keep their official hats, while local gentry wanted a stable living environment.

In implementing reform policies, they performed quite well.

Different implementation intensities of policies directly led to different results.

It was the same resentment, but because the road permit system was abolished in the southern provinces in the middle of the dynasty, it provided a hotbed for the breeding of rebellion.

Northern provinces had little population mobility, and the difficulty of local networking was great.

The local Lijia system was strict, and coupled with the proximity to the capital, even if a rebellion was stirred up, it would soon be extinguished by local government offices.

"Try your best to contact them; not only these organizations, but other anti-Great Dayu forces are also our allies.

As long as they are willing to rise up, all conditions can be discussed.

I don't expect them to severely damage the pseudo-dynasty, as long as they can distract the enemy's energy, we haven't wasted our effort."

Fu Pingnan Fu Haoxuan said with a frown.

Although deep down he was very dissatisfied with such an answer, reason still made him control his emotions.

The White Lotus Sect branches in the north were severely damaged; this is a realistic problem.

Investigating the reasons, it was mainly because the organizational structure was bloated and backward, increasing the risk of exposure, and they were caught by the government.

This can only prove that the ability of these branch sect leaders is incompetent.

One cannot blame the incompetence of allies on one's own people.

"Your humble servant obeys the decree!"

Yang Yang Jingren agreed immediately.

The Emperor lowered expectations, so the next work would be easy to do.

As long as an uprising is launched, regardless of the final result, it will distract the enemy's attention.

Shu region, White Lotus Sect camp.

"How is the contact with fellow believers?"

Wei Hao asked with concern.

Entering Shu to fight was very successful; what was troublesome was after entering Shu.

The local people didn't welcome him, this outsider who brought slaughter.

The gentry and merchants had long been offended.

To stabilize people's hearts, he urgently needed to obtain the support of the local White Lotus Sect.

The troublesome part was that there were quite a few branch sect organizations of the White Lotus Sect in the Shu region.

Wuwei, Longhua, Hongyang, Maitreya, Wenxiang, Luodao...

All kinds of messy branch sect organizations could basically be found here.

Hanging the same name, in reality, there was not much connection between them.

Making so many signboards was mainly to fool the government.

Once discovered by the government, immediately change a signboard and re-infiltrate into Buddhism and Taoism.

Many believers didn't know that the sect they joined was the notorious White Lotus Sect.

Of course, this practice of constantly transforming signboards also affected the believers' faith while fooling the government.

Compared to White Lotus Sect organizations in other regions, the faith of believers in the Shu region was basically at the bottom.

While believing in the Bright King, Maitreya, and the White Lotus Holy Mother, local believers also believed in other gods and Buddhas.

Wei Hao led his army into Shu without getting the coordination of the local White Lotus Sect.

It wasn't that these people changed their nature and gave up the idea of rebelling, but that their own influence was insufficient to complete the coordination task.

During the Mongol Yuan period, the Shu region was the region where resistance against foreign invasion was most intense, and the local people were less than one in ten.

After the Great Great Dayu was established, although the population recovered quickly, the population pressure was still smaller compared to other provinces.

People in other regions rose up, that was because they couldn't live on.

The Shu region was wealthy, and the local population hadn't exceeded the critical point, so the people's lives were still passable.

Preaching in normal times was fine, but asking everyone to take the risk of losing their heads to follow them to rebel was difficult.

"Your Highness, our people have communicated with them, and the effect is not optimistic.

Unless we can take out actual things and let everyone see tangible benefits, it will be difficult to obtain the support of the locals."

Xu Xu Yanyu said with a solemn expression.

They had long been skilled in the tricks of winning people's hearts.

Slaughtering gentry and merchants and distributing land fairly would immediately win the support of local people.

It sounds simple, but it's hard to do.

In the early stages of rebellion, they indeed wanted to do this.

But as the stall kept getting bigger, problems gradually appeared in the specific implementation.

Later, they gradually realized that with their own organizational ability, they were insufficient to complete this strategy.

Wanting to seize the world, one must seek the support of scholars.

The contradictory side appeared.

Wanting to win people's hearts, one must strike hard at the gentry and redistribute social wealth.

But doing so would offend scholars and affect their goal of seizing the world.

The peasant uprisings in history, no matter how fierce they were, all ended in failure, largely because this part wasn't handled well.

The heroes who could seize the world were mostly late to the scene.

It wasn't that coming late was easier to seize the world.

It was mainly because the work of offending people had been finished by the previous rebel armies.

The original vested interest groups had been killed off, and the obstacles hindering the redistribution of social resources no longer existed.

Hatred was drawn by others, and later, as long as one did a good job of distributing benefits and trained an elite army, there was a chance to replace them.

"Tell them, the era of 'Are kings and nobles born with high status?' has arrived.

The collapse of the Great Great Dayu has become a foregone conclusion; if you want to seal your wife and shade your children, then follow me.

Capturing the Shu region, at worst, we can have decades of wealth.

If the heavens protect us and we luckily seize the world, I will share the world with everyone!"

Regardless of whether it can be done, the cake still has to be painted.

Compared to the other two rebel armies that carved up the four provinces of Huguang, Jiangxi, Nanzhili, and Zhejiang.

Wei Hao, who led his army into Shu, had the worst development.

As of now, he only occupied the eastern part of Sichuan, and there was still a long way to go before capturing the Shu region.

So much so that when painting the cake for everyone, his confidence wasn't enough.

"Your Highness, rest assured, your humble servant will definitely persuade them.

The rise of the anti-Great Dayu wave in the world is very favorable to our rebel army.

The pseudo-dynasty has no ability to invest more resources in the Shu region; this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I don't believe they won't be moved!"

Xu Xu Yanyu said with feigned confidence.

The boss had made a decision, so the little brother could only agree.

The White Lotus Sect in the Shu region was divided, and with so many small hills, one could always fool a few over.

Living in a professional rebellion organization all year round, it was impossible not to have ambition.

The current stalemate was nothing more than the benefits not being in place.

Time flies, and it was the autumn harvest season.

The army was still training, but Li Mu's focus had shifted from training to the autumn harvest.

By means of black eating black, the number of military fields in Liangguang reached a staggering number.

In the feudal agricultural era, land is the most precious means of production.

The harvest of military fields would directly relate to the subsequent major battle.

Purchasing grain from the people was just an excuse.

If he really did that, the grain prices in Liangguang would have to be hyped to the sky.

The previous grain storage, besides a portion from overseas, was more contributed by the garrison.

It's just that Li Mu turned it around and sold it to the Governor's office at the outside market price.

Not only grain, but strategic materials such as salt, sugar, and oil were all handled by him.

There was no problem with the purchase price, and there was no problem with the quality and quantity of materials, so the Governor's office naturally wouldn't make extra trouble.

Changing to an official with weak connections, even if he had money in hand, he wouldn't be able to buy so many materials.

"Marquis, this year is a bumper harvest; this is part of the account for the autumn grain.

The specific data will have to wait for a few days before it can be registered and put into storage."

Lan Lan Linjie said happily.

Compared to the previous situation of spending more than earning, this year was undoubtedly a big bumper year.

Relying on unified planning and planting, the economic value of large-scale agriculture was gradually reflected.

The economic crops planted in the first half of the year made Li Mu a small profit.

The produced white sugar and vegetable oil, besides leaving for self-use, were all purchased by the military.

No need to worry about being impeached for favoritism; these things were rare in the Great Great Dayu Dynasty, and many times one couldn't buy them even with money.

Yet the soldiers couldn't do without these strategic materials.

"It seems everyone has put their heart into it; there should be quite a surplus in the garrison's public account this year."

Li Mu said with a smile.

Just the data of three garrisons had over 1.5 million shi of autumn grain.

Different from ordinary garrisons, Li Mu had high requirements for the training of garrison soldiers, on par with recruited troops.

High-intensity training was all fed by money and grain.

Half of the grain collected would be used in the soldiers' daily training.

The remaining grain was still not a small number.

"Marquis, garrison production is gradually getting on the right track, and subsequent military grain supply will be guaranteed.

After the new grain is put into storage, the old grain should also be cleared out.

Influenced by the approaching war, grain prices should rise again.

After the war breaks out, find an opportunity to sell it to the Governor's office; there should be no small gains."

Lan Lan Linjie reminded.

Eating old grain and storing new grain is the norm in the Great Great Dayu Dynasty.

Ordinary people, wanting to play like this, didn't have the capital.

Those who could really do this were the landlords.

"En!

Then do as you say.

But don't deliberately hype up grain prices; the Governor's office is not rich either."

Li Mu nodded and said.

Nominally, it was the Governor's office purchasing, but in reality, the one responsible for execution was still himself.

As an official with integrity, Li Mu attached great importance to his eating manners.

He wouldn't do things like looting a burning house and making a fortune from national disaster.

"The student understands, and will definitely not cause chaos!"

"Marquis, after checking by our people, there are also many places in the Liangguang region suitable for salt production.

Now there are over a million people in the garrison, and the daily salt consumption is not a small number.

If self-production of salt can be realized, another expense can be saved."

Lan Lan Linjie proposed excitedly.

In the past, he definitely wouldn't have come up with such an unorthodox idea.

The Great Great Dayu Dynasty implemented state monopoly on salt and iron, especially the control of salt, which was even stricter.

Once discovered by the court, it was a capital crime of losing one's head.

However, this is one time, that is another.

In the past, Li Mu's body wasn't hard enough, and he couldn't participate in high-end games.

With the change in status and position, he also became one of the powerful, and taking a share of the pie was in line with national conditions.

"You can try to refine salt, but the produced salt can only be sold secretly.

Our identities are not convenient to show up, and partners must be carefully selected.

Even if an accident occurs, it cannot involve us!"

After speaking, Li Mu suddenly felt something was wrong.

Originally, he was deeply disgusted by such actions of hollowing out the Great Great Dayu, but now he suddenly found that he had also become one of them.

Facts once again proved that as long as the benefits are large enough, everything is possible.

Of course, he could still find excuses and comfort himself by raising military expenses.

But fake is fake in the end.

If he really wanted to raise military pay, he should reform the tax system and increase the court's financial income.

Selling private salt, what kind of thing is this?

"Marquis, rest assured, the student knows the importance.

If a change really happens, I will definitely notify you at the first time and will never cause a big mess!"

Lan Lan Linjie guaranteed immediately.

In the Liangguang region, the face of Li Mu, this Provincial Military Commander, was still very easy to use.

Wanting to suppress a matter, it didn't take any effort at all.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 317 =====