In fact, after the Ming Dynasty regained the six southern provinces, although its strength was restored to some extent, at least its strategic depth was expanded by more than half. But the overall strength has not increased much, but has declined.
The six southern provinces had just been captured by Zhong Yu not long ago. Although Zhong Yu's capture process was relatively peaceful and there was no major war, the overall impact was still some, and there was some damage to the economy and people's livelihood of the six provinces.
When the Ming Dynasty sent a large army to regain the lost territory, the war was even more fierce. One wanted to get back the lost land, and the other wanted to delay the time. The two sides fought without holding back at all, how cruel they were. How come.
In this process, it is common to forcibly dispatch strong men to defend the city, or send cannon fodder to mine mines, or even directly and senselessly kill civilians to vent their anger.
Under this situation, people everywhere are miserable. Not only are their lives not guaranteed at any time, but they also have to face high taxes imposed due to the war. Each and every one of them is forced to lose their family and property, and they have to sell their children and daughters to survive. .
And this situation lasted for three full years in the entire six southern provinces. Three years was a short period of time, but that was for a dynasty or a cultivator. For ordinary people, three years is not a short time, equivalent to 1/20 of their life.
Three years of military disasters, coupled with a period of natural disasters, caused epidemics due to too many dead bodies that had not been dealt with. The plague was rampant everywhere, and the six southern provinces could be said to have become a complete hell on earth.
By the time the Yuguo forces completely withdrew from the six southern provinces and the Ming Dynasty once again regained its southern territory, this land had become completely deserted.
The six provinces originally had a combined population of more than 80 million, but now there are only 20 to 30 million left. In addition to some casualties due to war, most of them are due to large-scale population deaths caused by famine and plague.
Fertile fields everywhere were abandoned, cities and towns were ruined, and the people had no food left at home and were looking for food in the wilderness. Everything they thought was edible or inedible was eaten up.
The Ming Dynasty took over such a mess. For the sake of its own righteousness, it naturally could not ignore it and had to find a way to deal with it.
Therefore, the money and grain that the Ming Dynasty was already short of were slowly allocated to the south. Officials from various places embezzled a sum and then distributed it to the hungry and thirsty people. They slowly guided them to restore the production economy and rebuild the southern sixties bit by bit. Province.
This is not an easy task. It is expected that it will take at least 34 years of hard work to restore the stability of people's livelihood in various places and no longer cause large-scale population exodus due to famine.
Under such circumstances, it was naturally difficult to maintain the Ming Dynasty's crusade army, which numbered one million.
It's not that the Ming Dynasty couldn't form such a large army, but that the money and food in the treasury was really difficult to support the relief of the six southern provinces, and it had to maintain a large army for crusade.
So the princes of the imperial court thought about it again and again, and after some discussion, they made a stroke of their pen.
This million-strong army left 400,000 as garrisons in the six southern provinces. On the one hand, they suppressed the scattered bandits and defeated the army, and on the other hand, they were alert to the attacks of South Korea and Wei in the south. From then on, they took root in the six southern provinces.
Although the number of the remaining 600,000 troops is still large, the imperial court's rear can barely maintain the expedition of 600,000 troops.
The foundation of Yuguo in the four eastern provinces is not comparable to that of the six southern provinces. Although it is not deep, there is no situation where all the soldiers have defected as before.
Among the four eastern provinces, Dongjiang Province has the deepest roots because they were abandoned by the imperial court and were no longer legally the land of the imperial court. As a rebel, Zhong Yu saved this land from the hands of the Demon King of Huangshan and saved these people from being used as food by those demons. He was born with such an aura.
Therefore, Dongjiang Province has the deepest foundation, and the soldiers recruited from here have the least sense of belonging to the imperial court, and even have a trace of hatred.
As for the other three surrounding provinces, although they were not abandoned by the imperial court, they were not affected by the demon clan's cholera.
But they had seen what happened to Dongjiang Province with their own eyes before. Although they didn't say it with their mouths, they still felt a little bit sad about the death of a rabbit and a fox.
During the days when the Huangshan Demon King was in rebellion, the people in the surrounding provinces were on tenterhooks. They were afraid that if the Huangshan Demon King would lead his troops to attack, the imperial court would compromise and give them to the Huangshan Demon King. As food.
In this atmosphere of thoughts, when they heard the news that the Demon King of Huangshan was killed by a rebel army and all the demons were expelled and annihilated, they could not hide the excitement in their hearts on their faces.
Therefore, they cannot be said to reject the rule of Yuguo at all. Although they have certain feelings for the rule of the Ming Dynasty, they are basically in the same position.
Recruiting large armies from these three provinces, although we cannot expect their morale to be very high, we can still barely believe that they will not be defeated just after the battle, or even directly defect.
Relying on this not-so-deep foundation, Zhong Yu began a large-scale military expansion in the four eastern provinces when the Ming Dynasty attacked the six southern provinces.
The four eastern provinces are located in the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty, with fertile land and a large population, gathering countless elites of the Ming Dynasty.
When recruiting troops and horses here, not only do you not have to worry about money and food, there is enough to squander it at will. It is also because of its large population that it can obtain better sources of troops.
In such a situation where there are many people and money, as soon as the recruitment order was issued, 400,000 troops were recruited in an instant, and there was a steady stream of people coming to join the army. I am afraid that by the time the war begins, Zhong Yu will be able to recruit millions The army is out of the question.
With such a sufficient number of soldiers and horses, and the loyalty of the soldiers and horses can be guaranteed, the Ming Dynasty's wish to easily take over the four eastern provinces can be said to be wishful thinking.
The sweetness released before was enough, and it successfully caused the Ming Dynasty to relax its vigilance.
From the fact that there is no strong person above the sixth level at all, taking action on the battlefield, it can be seen that the Ming Dynasty is also quite afraid of the strong people above the sixth level on the Yuguo side.
Obviously, the Ming Dynasty has been completely immersed in this game of low-level soldiers deciding who owns the territory.
The strong men of the sixth to seventh levels of the Ming Dynasty were no match for Yuguo, and sending an eighth-level strongman to take action was against the rules. It would easily arouse the hostility and sanctions of the eighth-level masters from surrounding countries.
A game like the one now in which the outcome of the game is decided solely by the soldiers at the bottom not only frustrates Zhong Yu's plan to delay time, but also frustrates the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty's heart.
(End of chapter)