Chapter 56

After the military meeting ended, Li Mu walked out of the government office with a complicated mood.

Everyone knows military affairs, but only limited to theoretical knowledge, and leading troops to fight is the first time for everyone.

The weakest North City Battalion Commander Office is responsible for public order in the city and concurrently serves as a reserve force.

The other four major battalion commander offices are each responsible for one direction; although the military strength distribution has been taken care of, war is not just about having troops.

Taking Li Mu's South City Battalion Commander Office as an example, it was assigned 1,500 local government troops and 6,000 young and strong men.

The total military strength is nearly 8,000, which is enough from the numbers.

The difficulty lies in management.

Among the Yangzhou city government troops, there may be people from the salt merchant group, so they cannot be entrusted with important tasks.

For safety's sake, the generals must use their own people.

The original company commanders are now all doing the work of battalion commanders, and Li Mu still feels that there are not enough military officers.

"Everyone, the opportunity to make contributions and establish a career has arrived!

Everyone work harder; before the rebel army hits, train the soldiers first.

The retainers under your command should have participated in defending the city; let them pass on their experience to the newcomers.

The rebel army is just a group of mobs; as long as you don't let the enemy coordinate from inside and outside, there's nothing to worry about.

Choosing to defend the city is out of caution; when the Capital Battalion's great army comes, we will take the initiative to attack and sweep away the rebels in one fell swoop!"

No matter if others believe it or not, Li Mu's face was full of confidence.

As a recruitment officer, he had already taken the highest quality soldiers into his pocket first.

"Battalion Commander, other things are easy to say, but the soldiers lack weapons!

6,000 young and strong men, more than 5,000 are holding bamboo; it's too disadvantageous to fight on the battlefield."

Battalion Commander Yun said with a difficult look.

Sharpening bamboo into spears sounds very beautiful, but it will suffer a big loss on the battlefield.

"Just make do with it; the rebel army's situation is even worse than ours.

The court controls ironware, and even if the Lianghuai families hid weapons and armor, they couldn't hide much.

Not to mention we are the side defending the city, with the solid city wall as a reliance, the enemy army simply can't attack.

Are we still afraid of being besieged by the rebel army without reinforcements?"

Li Mu decisively chose the topic-shifting method.

Weapon insufficiency is a realistic problem; even if measures were taken earlier, it's just a drop in the bucket.

What is needed now is to stabilize people's hearts; only when the generals have the confidence to win will the soldiers below have confidence.

The worst situation is being besieged by the rebel army.

Yangzhou's geographical location is special; it is one of the most important commodity trading centers of the Great Dayu, and there is no shortage of grain, cloth, or salt.

Defending for a year or half a year is not a problem at all.

Time is on the side of the defenders; the longer the time drags on, the more pacification troops the court will have.

……

"Grand Secretary, this place is about twenty miles from Tai'an City. Do you think we should enter the city tonight, or enter the city tomorrow?"

The middle-aged man stepped forward to ask.

"Xiancai, I have told you many times.

The situation in Lianghuai is urgent; we must speed up, why don't you listen to advice!"

Grand Secretary Xu scolded his subordinate unhappily.

Setting off one after another, the great army has entered Lianghuai for more than ten days, and he, this Imperial Envoy, is still dawdling in the Shandong region.

While saying they need to speed up, he travels every day in an eight-bearer sedan chair, and the speed simply cannot be increased.

Doing such a performance is not because Xu Wenyue is pretentious, but purely because of political needs.

The Lianghuai families rebelling shattered all the Cabinet's plans.

Carrying the crime of treason, the salt merchant interest group being liquidated has become a foregone conclusion.

If they go early, what should they do if the Qingliu Party colleagues implicated in the treason case come to beg for help?

Refusing to save them directly would seem too heartless and would seriously affect his reputation within the Qingliu.

Reaching out to save people is a taboo.

If he is caught by the Eunuch Party, it's quite possible he, this Grand Secretary, will also be dragged in.

"Grand Secretary's lesson is right; the subordinate was reckless!"

He Xiancai immediately admitted his mistake.

As soon as the words fell, the cavalry on the side immediately whipped their horses to leave the team and headed straight for Tai'an.

The Grand Secretary is heading south, and the local officials along the way definitely want to take the opportunity to perform. Everyone's enthusiasm is hard to refuse, and Xu Wenyue is not a person who doesn't understand human feelings.

Sending people to notify in advance is the goodwill he released.

Only those who are on the same path can enjoy this treatment.

If they are not on the same path, no matter how well they arrange it, he, Grand Secretary Xu, will stay in the post station to show his integrity.

……

Taizhou City.

"General Huang, hurry and order to restore order in the city!

If this continues, this city will be ruined!"

Zong Guangtai opened his mouth to persuade.

The great army broke Taizhou for two days, and the looting lasted for two days. The prosperous Taizhou City was directly reduced to a human purgatory.

The main general Huang Renlong, who came from a salt-smuggling background, ignored everything in the city and let the soldiers vent in the city.

"Mr. Zong, our soldiers have no military pay, and their income depends on everyone looting.

If I order to stop it, I will cut off everyone's path to wealth.

It won't be easy to get everyone to sell their lives later!"

Huang Renlong said disdainfully.

These days are what life is; in the past, when he followed the Zong family to sell salt, he earned a few hard-earned money and was bullied every day.

He only hated himself for having no knowledge at the beginning, thinking that the Zong family was heaven.

Now it seems they are just a group of pedantic scholars, and they are not even decisive when rebelling.

Now the Taizhou righteous army, the Zong family is only the boss in name.

The troops that can fight the most are all his Huang's troops.

If it weren't for the common enemy of the court, he would have already turned against the Zong family.

Really thinking it's still the beginning, a group of scholars still want to drive him to sell his life, it's simply wishful thinking.

"General Huang, according to the agreement of the meeting, after the Taizhou righteous army broke Taizhou City, they should immediately march to Yangzhou Prefecture.

We have occupied Taizhou for two days, and it's time to consider sending troops, right?"

Zong Guangtai endured his anger and said.

Facts proved that the salt smugglers below were indeed unreliable.

They are all short-sighted people; as soon as they have a little strength in their hands, they become lawless, and even the main family is not in their eyes.

It's all the fault of the Great Dayu dynasty's prosperous literary style; affected by the general environment, these noble children are all studying literature.

A nest of scholars, when it comes to raising the banner of rebellion, the disadvantages are revealed.

Planning and strategy are no problem, but the work of fighting and killing can only be handed over to outsiders.

Salt smugglers are inherently unruly; in the past, they had official identities, which gave them an innate advantage, allowing these people to listen obediently.

After raising troops to rebel, the original awe slowly disappeared, and everyone had their own ideas.

There are too few people who have the ambition to compete for the world; more just want to make a profit and have no worries about food and clothing for the rest of their lives.

Rebellion has been going on until now, and it's not just one or two private salt sellers who have run away halfway.

Someone like Huang Renlong, who has ambition, is already a leader among the rebels.

"Mr. Zong, please rest assured; this general is not a person who doesn't care about the big picture.

First take Yangzhou, then capture Nanjing, and stabilize the southeast.

This general has kept it in his heart!"

……

(End of chapter)