In order to avoid irritating the Ming Dynasty, but also to leave the whirlpool around the imperial capital, so as not to let himself go deep into it and be completely engulfed.
Zhong Yu's expansion this time was not towards the northern provinces of the Ming Dynasty, or the central and western provinces, but towards the six southern provinces.
The six southern provinces of the Ming Dynasty bordered the Wei and Han empires. Only one of the six provinces was inland, and the rest were frontiers. War had been ravaging the south for a long time.
However, the six provinces have become much more peaceful in recent years. The reason is that behind the two empires of Wei and Han, there is a Tang Empire that is expanding violently and is so powerful that no one country or place can stop it.
In the past 30 years, in order to resist the invasion of the Tang Empire, the five countries surrounding the Tang Empire, namely Han, Wei, Daqi, Wu, and Yue, formed an offensive and defensive alliance to jointly curb the expansion of the Tang Empire.
However, although the strength of the offensive and defensive alliance was three times that of the Tang Empire, they were at odds with each other and were incompatible with each other. The Tang Empire continued to seize on their weaknesses and slowly eroded them.
Especially in recent years, as the Tang Empire has become more powerful, its attacks on neighboring countries have become more powerful.
South Korea and Wei were the first to bear the brunt and were regarded as the main targets by the Tang Empire. Over the years, they had each lost territory in two or three provinces and suffered a great loss in strength.
Under such circumstances, with too much to take care of themselves, how could South Korea and Wei have any spare power to invade the seemingly unified and powerful Ming Empire in the north
Therefore, in the past 30 years, the six southern provinces of the Ming Empire have rarely encountered wars. Their economy and people's livelihood have developed rapidly, and there is almost a trend of catching up and surpassing them to become the five eastern provinces.
These six southern provinces are the Ming Empire's largest source of money and food besides the five eastern provinces. As long as Zhong Yu captures these six provinces, the strength of the Ming court will be weakened by half.
By then, the Ming Dynasty will really be able to survive and fight against the Jin Empire in the seven northern provinces, and will no longer have the energy to go south to pacify Zhong Yu, the biggest rebel.
Because the Ming court did not have the money to organize troops to go south to quell the rebellion, two fronts were opened at the same time.
The 400,000-strong army was divided into three directions and attacked the areas bordering the six southern provinces and the five eastern provinces, striving to capture the six southern provinces as quickly as possible and with the strongest attack power.
Smoke of gunpowder has once again ignited in the six southern provinces that have been at peace for 30 years.
This time, the six southern provinces combined have only 300,000 troops, and the army has been neglected for a long time. It is not known whether it can stop Zhong Yu's menacing attack.
…
Northern Jiangxi Province, as a province bordering Dongjiang Province where Zhong Yu made his fortune, became his main target this time.
Zhong Yu personally led a main force of 200,000 troops, preparing to wipe out the northern Jiangxi Province in one fell swoop.
Things went smoothly, and he conquered three state capitals along the way until he came to Jinhua Mansion and Guobei County, where he stopped for a while.
To be honest, since Zhong Yu came to the world of Liaozhai, except for the Huangshan Demon King he met at the beginning, in the following days, he continued to conquer all directions, and his army was invincible wherever it went.
But no matter how many enemies he encountered and how many opponents he defeated, he unexpectedly never encountered a demon. This gave Zhong Yu the illusion that he was not in a world where monsters and monsters were rampant in Liaozhai.
In fact, it's quite normal when you think about it. Ever since he came to this world, Zhong Yu has been leading an army to fight, surrounded by tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of troops. Even when dealing with government affairs, there are thousands of fourth-level soldiers guarding him.
With such a strong strength, even a sixth-level expert would not dare to say that he could win it and escape unscathed. Naturally, let alone those lowly demons in the world of Liaozhai.
Encountering such an evil force with soaring momentum is an army. If it is a ghost, it will be rushed away by this evil spirit and its soul will fly away immediately. Even demons will be restrained by magical powers and will be immediately surrounded and killed by soldiers.
Under such circumstances, how could any blind demons and ghosts dare to block the way of the army, and die in front of Zhong Yu, a strong man who had killed the Demon King of Huangshan Mountain.
So it's no wonder Zhong Yu has such a dreamy feeling.
When the previous monsters heard the news about Zhong Yu, they either stayed away or found a secret place to hide, refusing to show up.
Faced with these demons, as long as they were not seeking death, Zhongli, who was eager to conquer the city, naturally ignored them subconsciously and did not take care of them.
After all, after the demon king of Huangshan caused such chaos in the Ming Dynasty, more than 99% of the low-level demons in the Ming Dynasty went to Dongjiang Province to follow the banner of the emperor's demon king and rebel together.
And some of the remaining monsters in the Ming Dynasty are all powerful in their own right, with fifth-level or even sixth-level cultivation, and at worst, fourth-level strength.
These people don't even bother to come under the Demon King of Huangshan to be his dog legs. They would rather have the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix, but they still understand.
So I just stayed where I was and watched it change.
However, this has also resulted in a current situation, that is, the remaining demons in various parts of the Ming Dynasty are basically very powerful, and ordinary people cannot suppress them at all. Even the local state garrison is powerless.
Most people who want to slay demons end up falling into a trap.
I don't know how many outstanding children of famous sects and wealthy families lost their lives because they wanted to be in the limelight when they were young and went to kill demons.
In Guobei County, Jinhua Prefecture, where Zhong Yu's army is currently passing, there is a powerful demon, Grandma Dryad.
This tree demon grandma is the transformation of a thousand-year-old locust tree. It has been cultivated for thousands of years. Its roots and branches are endless, forming a large forest with a radius of dozens of miles in Guobei County.
There is a temple in the woods called Lanruo Temple. It was a famous temple in the entire northern Jiangxi Province hundreds of years ago. The eminent monks in the temple are as virtuous as the clouds, and the Buddhist teachings are widely promoted and highly respected by the surrounding believers.
However, this prosperous temple was destroyed with the rise of the Dryad Granny.
When Grandma Dryad had just become a climate and had some magic power, the eminent monks in the temple had already discovered it.
However, based on the Buddha's compassionate thoughts, they did not directly kill the demons. Instead, they chanted sutras day and night in an attempt to influence the tree demon grandma.
Unexpectedly, demons are demons, and their murderous nature is hard to change. Especially when the tree demon grandma discovered that devouring human blood and souls could greatly increase her magic power and speed up her cultivation, she became even more rampant and devoured passers-by.
Especially when she couldn't help but swallowed a little novice monk who had some magic power, and when her strength improved for several years, the tree demon grandma even regarded the monks in the temple as fat meat.
Then the angry monk fought with the tree demon, but unfortunately he lost. The monks in the temple fled to death, and it was completely deserted.
The reputation of Lanruo Temple for being haunted by monsters also spread, and the entire Jinhua Mansion was feared, and they no longer dared to go dozens of miles around.
The dozens of miles of forest transformed by the Dryad Granny have become a forbidden area, and the locals will change their color when they mention it.
Only some outsiders who don't know the situation will foolishly run into the woods and be confused by the female ghosts raised by the tree demon grandma. He lost his life in the confusion of love, and his soul was swallowed up by the tree demon grandma and turned into nourishment for cultivation.
(End of chapter)