Compared with the armies of Yuguo, the Southern Expedition Army of the Ming Dynasty looked much better.
Not to mention the 200,000 old troops, many of them have fought with foreign armies, especially when they were invaded by the Jin Kingdom in recent times. The battles were even more dangerous, and the casualty rate before the battle was huge. With the increase, those who can survive are undoubtedly the elite.
Let's talk about the 300,000 new troops. Because of the improvement policies of the Ming Emperor in recent years, the reputation of various places has been much better. The lives of the people are not that difficult, at least they can survive.
Therefore, the local people who had received these benefits had a much better impression of the emperor, and their sense of cohesion and identification with the Ming Dynasty was unknowingly increasing day by day.
Needless to say, the level of loyalty and temperament of the soldiers selected from these people are far beyond those of the soldiers under Zhong Yu who thought they were participating in the rebellion. This is the name of righteousness.
Even if Zhong Yu is not a subordinate of the Ming Dynasty and has already raised the flag to rebel, you can distinguish the difference between Yu Yuguo and the Ming Dynasty. In addition, many local improvement policies have been implemented, which has made people's livelihood much better, and their families have some surplus.
But the local people still didn't buy his account and thought he was a rebel.
The management of the Ming Dynasty for thousands of years is not a joke, at least it has been deeply ingrained in the hearts of the people. All local people recognize their identity as the people of the Ming Dynasty from the bottom of their hearts.
This has almost formed a kind of traditional culture, which is engraved in the bones and cannot be forgotten.
With 500,000 soldiers who are brave and good at fighting and not very afraid of death, as the Southern Expedition Army, facing a group of enemies with low morale, unstable military morale, and some even thinking of defecting, the war will naturally be unfavorable.
There was a decisive battle between the two sides with 300,000 large armies each. However, in just three days, it ended with the complete defeat of the Imperial Kingdom.
Among the 300,000 troops, 100,000 from Yuguo fled back to the rear. After being collected, they were reorganized and became an army again.
There were about 100,000 troops who were defeated and captured by the Ming army. After a little persuasion, they directly changed their flags and magnificently became the regular army of the Ming Dynasty, representing the first king division.
Another 50,000 people even defected during the war and committed evil acts against their companions.
It was precisely because of the betrayal of these people that the imperial army of 300,000 was completely defeated in three days. It was unable to even stop the Ming army at all. It was extremely incompetent.
Only 50,000 soldiers actually died on the battlefield. There are 20,000 to 30,000 of these troops who are Zhong Yu’s confidants brought to this world from all walks of life, and there are also 20,000 to 30,000 troops who were trained during this period. They have such a sense of belonging and loyalty to Zhong Yu’s country that they fight to the death. war.
More than half of the 300,000-strong army had their hearts set on the Ming Dynasty, and the remaining 100,000 were wavering, like grass on the wall. Only 50,000 were reliable, but they all died in battle.
From this we can see how unstable Zhong Yu's empire is.
If more than ten or twenty years pass, Zhong Yu, with his benevolent policies, tough tactics, and huge army, may slowly and subtly change the minds of the people at the bottom of the Ming Dynasty, and even the top brass may It can make them truly return home.
However, this is obviously unrealistic. Zhong Yu does not have that much time to rest, and the Ming Dynasty cannot wait here for that long.
After the defeat of the 300,000 troops on the front line, Zhong Yu's defense line shrunk in an all-round way. He no longer engaged in decisive battles with the Ming Dynasty in the field. Instead, he relied on their respective first interests to defend the city, intending to slowly wear out the Ming Dynasty.
Yuguo tends to be on the defensive in terms of war.
Just when Zhong Yu was about to hold on, the Ming Dynasty had no intention of stopping the war.
Collected 100,000 surrendered troops, and plundered some money and grain from the local area. After transporting it to the rear, the court used it to form a new army. In addition to the money and grain collected through taxation and other means these days, another 100,000 people The army was successfully formed and slowly sent to the front line.
About a month after the decisive battle, money, food and reinforcements from the rear arrived at the front. Together with the remnant soldiers, the Ming army not only did not decrease, but expanded in a circle, with a total of 700,000 troops moving toward Zhong Yu. The defense line was pushed away.
After Zhong Yu lost 200,000 troops in the previous battle, the number of troops deployed on the defense line was only 800,000. He still had a slight advantage in numbers and occupied a good location to defend the city.
However, this did not make Zhong Yu feel at ease, because according to his investigation and estimation, among the 800,000 troops, 200,000 of the Ming Dynasty surrendered troops and 100,000 of the 200,000 new troops were basically unreliable.
They all look towards the Ming Dynasty in their hearts, and for whatever reason on the battlefield, they may be able to take refuge with the Ming Dynasty at any time.
Among the remaining people, we have to exclude the 100,000 defeated troops. Their morale has been exhausted. If they encounter the Ming Dynasty army that defeated them on the battlefield, they will definitely collapse at the first touch, causing the collapse of the entire war situation.
In other words, the only people Zhong Yu can truly trust are the 300,000 direct troops, plus about 100,000 new troops whose loyalty can be guaranteed because of his kindness and loyalty.
With these strengths, even if there is a slight advantage in geographical location, I want to fight against Qi Ruhong. The Ming Dynasty's Southern Expeditionary Army, which was at its peak, was still very powerful and could only be said to be barely able.
The Ming Dynasty's attacks began one after another.
Those unstable armies, Zhong Yu, all sent direct line guards. As a supervising team, anyone who had the idea of escape or surrender would be directly killed as long as there was the slightest sign to deter the morale of the army.
Such high-intensity pressure allowed these wallflower troops to really start to exert their strength. They fought vigorously on the battlefield. Although they often suffered defeats, they did not collapse at the first touch like before, or even defected directly.
However, losing territory one after another is inevitable, and Zhong Yu has long been mentally prepared for this.
Now Yuguo's goal is to delay.
He used his own territory and strong troops to slowly contain the Ming Dynasty's army on the battlefield, and then used the Ming Dynasty's continuous reinforcements to bleed him, thus exhausting the last trace of the Ming Dynasty's heritage.
When Ming's strength is almost exhausted, its finances will collapse. It is estimated that the Jin Dynasty in the north will not be able to bear it anymore and will send troops south to invade the Ming Dynasty again.
At that time, it will be another protracted war. After such a long battle, the Ming Dynasty was able to cultivate a group of troops capable of conquering and fighting. However, in a long-term war, it is definitely not the opponent of the Jin Dynasty that is resting and recuperating. The final failure will definitely be Can't get rid of it.
Zhong Yu estimates that this process will take 3 to 4 years.
With Yuguo's current territory and foundation, this amount of time can be afforded and delayed.
(End of chapter)