Bang Bang Bang ~

Firecrackers burst out, gongs and drums rang out in unison, and the curtain slowly came down on the second year of the big competition.

Because Sima Yu was away on the expedition, there was no large-scale official celebration in Qilin City.

However, the people in the city also spontaneously organized lively celebrations, especially some wealthy merchants in the city contributed to decorate the Qilin City with great prosperity.

With the continuous expansion of the Yangwu Army, the merchants of the counties under its rule began to explore outward, and the footprints of the Yangwu Army merchants have spread all over the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

The abundant products and the stable and open foreign trade policy made the entire Yangwu army naturally become the commercial center along the route, and merchants could be seen everywhere, and the merchant ships on the river were also coming and going, and there was an endless stream.

As the origin of the merchants of the Yangwu Army, the commercial development of Qilin City, which is adjacent to the Yangtze River, is even more amazing, and it is a commercial holy place in the hearts of merchants from all over the world, and is respected as the commercial capital.

After the establishment of the Qilin Business Alliance, Liu Yunling had ordered someone to secretly conduct statistics, and the wealth of the wealthy merchant groups in the entire Qilin City accounted for almost one-third of the civilian merchant power under the rule of the entire Yangwu Army, which can be seen in its size.

The second year of Taisho is the most important year related to the rise of the Yangwu army. In this year, the Yangwu army marched south and north under the command of Sima Yu, first went north to annihilate Ai Nengqi and annexed Chenshi County.

Then he went south to repel the army of 10 Pakistans, and the eastward expedition suppressed the invasion of the Beishan tribes, gathered more than 400,000 Beishan tribes, and emptied the mountains and forests for hundreds of miles southeast of Xiangjia Town, which became a natural depth barrier for the Yangwu army to the outside world.

After sweeping away the threat on both sides of the northeast, Sima Yu brazenly launched a war to unify Yongzhou, and under the two-way attack of the Yangwu army, the Qin Wangfu was defeated, and the Qin King Sun Kewang was nowhere to be found.

After defeating Bai Wenxuan and Su Dingfang one after another, and forcing Feng Shuangli to surrender, he not only brought the three major counties of Wujian, Laisu, and Jinzhu under his rule, but also collected more than 150,000 troops.

On the last day before Chinese New Year's Eve, facing the encirclement of more than 30,000 cavalry and 40,000 infantry of the three armies of He Bayun, He Basheng, Hu Lüguang, and Li Dingguo, Zhang Wenhuan, who had no way out, had to lead 30,000 remnants of the army to surrender.

In the first battle of Pinggang City, Kong Youde's army outside the city also dropped thousands of corpses under the continuous shooting of the cavalry of the Yangwu Army, and fled back to Pinggang City in embarrassment.

In this battle, Sima Yu defeated the ambition in Kong Youde's heart, and the entire southern part of Shimo County was beaten to pieces under the strategy of tens of thousands of cavalry, and hundreds of thousands of people were displaced.

Except for the 30,000 troops stationed in Baisha County to guard against the Liangshan Army under Kong Youde, there are no extra troops available, and hundreds of thousands of displaced people may directly shake the foundation of Kong Youde's rule.

At the same time that Kong Youde's army was fighting lively, in Zhongba County, with the destruction of Kong Youde's naval division responsible for assisting the Liangshan army, tens of thousands of Liangshan troops did not dare to move a single inch under the siege of tens of thousands of troops led by Qin Liangyu.

Coupled with Li Dingguo's national surrender, as well as the more than 100,000 troops gathered on the border, in the face of the unstoppable Yangwu Army, Yue Zhongqi's forces entrenched in Honglu County, and the three major families in Shuangshi County successively announced the surrender of the Yangwu Army.

At this point, after a year of campaigning, Sima Yu finally completed the unification of Yongzhou in the situation, plus Zhongba County, Yangwu Army already has 11 counties under the rule of the Yangwu Army, thousands of miles from southeast to northwest, and the total population under its jurisdiction has exceeded 5 million.

Such a force in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River is already considered first-class, even compared to the forces of Shu State, Later Qin, Hou Shu, and Prince Su Haoge who are entrenched in Shu in the upper reaches.

However, Yongzhou, which has just completed its unification, still has countless problems to deal with, and the newly acquired seven counties have been extensively damaged due to the perennial war, and various places are in urgent need of repair and reconstruction.

In the conquest war, more than 200,000 troops from Bai Wenxuan, Feng Shuangli, Li Dingguo and other units were successively recruited, which had surpassed the regular army under the command of Yangwu Army, and it was necessary to reorganize as soon as possible.

The forces of all parties that have surrendered also need to be integrated and pacified, otherwise the slightest carelessness may cause great turmoil again.

On the sixteenth day of the first month of the third year of the Great Controversy, the sky was just dawning, and the meeting hall of General Yangwu Mansion in Qilin City was full of people.

In order to deal with these problems, Sima Yu specially convened this meeting just two days after the Lunar New Year, except for Qin Liangyu, who was outside because he was leading the troops, including a number of officials from the entire Yangwu General's Mansion, as well as officials from all over the country and the main generals of the army who came overnight yesterday, all of them all arrived, including almost all the high-level officials of the entire Yangwu Army.

Hundreds of people gathered in the conference hall of less than 3,000 square meters also looked a little crowded.

A group of people with different expressions stood in four columns in the hall, and there was an occasional buzzing whisper in the corner.

This is the first meeting of the Yangwu Army in the New Year, and it is also the only meeting held by Sima Yu in person for several months, which is of great significance!

In addition, there are many new faces in the entire general's palace and the army, and many people are also looking forward to and apprehensive about the convening of this meeting.

"General Yangwu has arrived!"

There was a high-pitched sound of announcing the door outside the door, and Sima Yu, dressed in a Ming Huang general's uniform, stepped through the door surrounded by several maids and guards.

"Meet the Lord!"

The people in the hall hurriedly stopped talking and bowed to Sima Yu in unison.

"Get up!"

Sima Yu's right hand was weakly propped up, and his eyes swept through the hall, imprinting all the expressions on everyone's faces.

"Lord, now our army has completed the unification of Yongzhou, starting from the Beishan Provinces in the south, bordering Luzhou Baiyun City in the north, the area is thousands of miles wide, and the people under the rule of five million people, should be called the emperor and the country, with the hearts of the people!" As soon as everyone stood still, Guo Yuan, who was at the top of the leftmost column, came out and bowed down to Sima Yu and said.

As the first old man to serve Sima Yu, as soon as he was put into Sima Yu's command, Guoyuan almost shouldered the heavy burden of government affairs of the Yangwu Army, and for a long time in the process of Sima Yu leading the troops to fight, he was in the rear to coordinate the logistics supply of the army, stabilize the base camp, promote the development of the territory under his rule, and made great contributions to the rapid rise of the Yangwu Army.

Now, although Sima Yu has also joined top talents such as Wang Meng and Xu Shu, Guoyuan's status is still unshakable.

"Lord, what the governor said is reasonable, the name is not right, the words are not good, now the lord has just unified a large area of Yongzhou, and the people of these newly joined areas do not have a high degree of recognition of our army, and some of the new officials and generals are also different, and the rule of our army has not really entered the hearts of the people. At such a moment, if the lord is called the emperor and the country is founded, it will definitely make the lord's prestige greater, the people in the newly attached areas under his rule will be attached, and all the generals under his command will have hope, and the hearts of the people will be settled! ”

As soon as Guoyuan's words fell, Xiang Lang, the head of the General's Mansion, hurriedly came out and echoed in his voice, and his generous statement continued to echo throughout the hall.

"Please also ask the lord to ascend to the throne to calm the hearts of the people!"

Seeing this, the other people in the hall also knelt on the ground one after another, bowed down and said in unison to Sima Yu.

"However, in a mere land of thousands of miles, ruling millions of people, vainly claiming to be the emperor is just a joke, and it will also make the officers and men of our army lose their enterprising spirit. However, what you and all the brothers under your command want, I, Sima Yu, will never be treated badly, although I am not the emperor, but I can first call the king the mansion to calm the hearts of the people. Now that Yongzhou has been decided, the great enemy of the Quartet has been destroyed, the surrender has been surrendered, and there are still few threats, and the top priority at the moment should be to calm the people's minds, develop the localities, and reorganize the armament. Here, I also assure you that when our army can govern thousands of miles of land and cover tens of millions of people, that is, when the emperor is founded, all those who have meritorious service will be seriously injured. So, now let's think about the king first! ”

Sima Yu got up slowly, looked at the important ministers kneeling in the hall, and slowly paced forward, and his low tone and confident voice sounded unhurriedly in the hall.

"My lord, the southwest land, the terrain is vast, the mountains and forests are dense, and the barbarians are rampant everywhere, and it is a poor place for other forces, and it is difficult to develop. But for our army, it is an excellent place to prosper. With the strength of our army, we should be able to expand our power at the fastest speed, and the materials are sufficient, the population resources are abundant, and we can quickly develop all parts of the country, based on the southwest, and then take advantage of the situation to dominate the south along the river, and take advantage of the southern foundation to compete with the north and the Central Plains, and retreat to defend a country with geographical advantages. Yes, it is better to be called the king of the south! ”

Sima Yu's words fell, the hall fell a little silent, and Shi Guoyuan, the head of the General's Mansion, spoke up again, his face did not show disappointment because Sima Yu refused to be the emperor, but the words in his mouth were prepared, obviously this scene was just arranged in advance.

In the first month of the third year of the Great Dispute, Sima Yu proclaimed himself king in Qilin City, called the king of the south, and established the famous southern king regime.