The Shiliang ambush was brilliantly successful, with a total of more than 3,000 Qing troops destroyed, but Tian Jianxiu's First Army of the Northern Expedition also exposed many problems.

After Li Yiliang's ace brigade divided the enemy, the other divisions did not follow up and surround in time, and were gathered together by the Tianyou soldiers and the green battalion soldiers, retreated into Shiliang Town, and the first army was forced to fight a hard battle, and there was a stubborn resistance to the reinforcements sent by Kong Youde, so the number of casualties increased significantly, and also reached about 2,700 people.

After this battle, part of the main force of the First Army temporarily retreated to Hefei, Kong Youde was hit on the head, and did not dare to advance lightly, and Tun Buer was also blocked in Shucheng, and the battle situation temporarily fell into a stalemate...... Taking stock of the results of this stage, the first army eliminated more than 5,000 Qing troops, but they also had more than 4,000 casualties, basically disabled, if Kong Youde eased up, and Tun Buer pounced on Hefei together, the first army of Yan zhòng would fall into passivity, Tian Jianxiu immediately ordered a retreat, the first army units at the same time out of the battle, alternate cover, retreat to Chuzhou on the north bank of the Yangtze River, Tun Buer and Kong Youde found out that the Chu army moved, sent troops to pursue, several contact battles, The First Army suffered nearly 2,000 casualties before withdrawing all the way from Chuzhou to Jiangpu County, and finally threw off the pursuers.

When the battle report reached Nanjing, there was a lot of discussion for a while, and there was nothing to say, and the Chu army also praised and criticized such a result.

It stands to reason that the First Army fought well, eliminating more than 5,000 Qing troops in total, and once captured such an important city as Hefei. But the First Army itself also suffered more than 6,000 casualties, in the large-scale battles since the formation of the Chu army. This is the first time that the battle loss ratio has exceeded 1 to 1. The Chu army had just won a brilliant victory in Ningzhen, and the appetite of the whole army was nourished. Many people only look at the battle loss ratio and casualty figures, thinking that it is not a victory, or even a defeat.

The reaction from the outside world is even more complicated.

It has been three months since the Chu army entered and occupied Nanzhili, and after a short honeymoon period, the number of dissatisfied people gradually increased, and Wang Kefan did not get used to them, he should have conscripted troops, collected taxes and taxes, and became the governor of the Northern Expedition for less than two months. There is a rumor among the gentry in Jiangnan that they are "poor and unbridled", and the ordinary people also lamented that Liang Guogong fought very well and asked for money even more, which was only a little worse than the Manchu Tartars......

According to the general practice, the three provinces of Jiangnan had just been recovered, they had been subjected to the exploitation and enslavement of the Manchus, and after several years of war and devastation, they should have been exempted from taxes for two to three years. At least some of them should be exempted, and the Longwu court originally wanted to do the same, but Wang Kefan insisted on starting to collect taxes at the end of the fifth year of Longwu. In particular, commercial taxes, mining taxes, and so on were levied heavily to maintain huge military expenditures.

The Chu army vigorously expanded its strength and replaced its weapons and equipment. Compensate the fallen and arrange for the disabled veterans. Wang Kefan also wants to expand the arsenal and build a new Shanghai. To build a huge trading fleet, the silver was spent like flowing water, but because the Longwu court fought with the Western Army, it did not pay the Chu army a penny of military pay for these two months, Wang Kefan could only open a knife to Jiangnan, levy additional taxes, persuade military salaries, and even eat large households in the name of punishing traitors, so as to barely maintain the balance of financial revenue and expenditure.

In this way, he offended a lot of people.

Ordinary people forget the pain after the scar, and only care about their own immediate interests, although the Chu army beat away the tartars, but they want to take money from my pocket to pay the military salary, this pain is real.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, for the benefit of commercial tax and mining tax, the Jiangnan gentry and the emperor represented by the Donglin Party fought inextricably, the two sides came and went, all kinds of tricks were almost all used, the Wanli Emperor withstood the pressure to send a large number of mine supervisors and tax supervisors, and pulled a lot of silver to the treasury, in order to have the glory of the three major levies of Wanli, but was scolded by the Donglin Party, the mine supervisors and tax supervisors were described as greedy vampires, like street rats everyone shouted and beaten, after Emperor Chongzhen came to power, he gave up this income very generously, The country soon became poor and bare-bottomed, thus forming a vicious circle, and in just a dozen years, he became the king of the country.

Now that Wang Kefan is attacking the commercial tax and mining tax again, of course the Jiangnan gentry are unwilling, but they dare not oppose it openly, but they are secretly dissatisfied in their hearts.

After a ravage of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the landlords and merchants of the three provinces in the south of the Yangtze River were severely attacked, and under the fact that things are not people, they have long lost the sharpness and heritage of the year, although Wang Kefan is not like the Manchu Qing Dynasty to burn and loot directly, but whoever dares to take the lead will be put on a big hat of "traitor", no one can stand it. Jiangnan was occupied by the Manchu Qing Dynasty for three years, and some gentry and merchants with a net worth and status had more or less cooperated with the Qing court, and no one's ass was clean, Chu Jun held a bright knife, and his eyes kept sweeping on everyone's buttocks, so everyone had to close their mouths and obediently send silver.

For Tianfu, Wang Kefan was relatively restrained and did not levy additional taxes.

The impact of commercial tax and mining tax is small, and the interests of the wealthy businessmen suffer the greatest loss, but the land endowment affects all aspects. In China at this time, the main structure was, after all, an agrarian society, and once the land levies were excessively levied, in addition to the small and medium-sized landlords, ordinary peasants such as yeoman farmers and tenants would also be harmed...... But having said that, the field tax and the poll tax are the bulk of the fiscal revenue, Wang Kefan could not be generous and exempt from the tax, he imitated the Manchu Qing Dynasty slightly reduced the proportion by two percent, starting from the autumn tax of the fifth year of Longwu, and soon put the year-end poll tax target down to the state capitals, and must be fully deposited in the treasury before the New Year.

The collection of taxes has always been an opportunity to make a fortune, and among officials at all levels, some people have taken the opportunity to increase the proportion of tax collection, or deliberately conceal and omit reports, so as to enrich their own pockets...... In this process, a group of "Beijing officials" appointed by the Longwu Imperial Court were dismissed, and the "Chu Election Officials" filled their positions, and the Chu Xun Group's control over the three provinces in the south of the Yangtze River was further strengthened, but Wang Kefan knew that the current "mixed and matched" political pattern in the three provinces of the south of the Yangtze River was inherently flawed, and it was impossible to fundamentally eradicate corruption by relying only on movement-style rectification. There is still a long process to completely digest this territory.

In this campaign to clean up the rule of officials. Most of the local officials in Jiangnan passed the customs safely, and they trembled under the rule of the Manchu Dynasty. Don't dare to take a step beyond the thunder pool, just returned to the Ming Dynasty, they are all more careful, there are not many officials who violate the law and discipline, and when they saw Wang Kefan suddenly use thunder methods, they all secretly called it lucky.

All in all, after a three-month run-in period, the gentry and common people in the three provinces south of the Yangtze River obviously fell to a higher level of support for Wang Kefan, but they were only dissatisfied. Before the outbreak of contradictions and conflicts, Cheng Dù heard that Tian Jianxiu took the initiative to abandon the defense after capturing Hefei, and the casualties of the First Army of the Northern Expedition were nearly half, and some gentry and officials expressed sincere condolences to the Chu army, all kinds of regrets and feelings, all kinds of moving and expressing their attitudes, and when they turned around and went home, more than half of them were happy in their hearts, and even celebrated with their crowns.

"Wang Kefan is a martial artist after all. Although it was rampant for a while, he still lost to Mr. Liuxiu in one move. Wan Yuan Ji hurried to Guo Weijing's residence, and broke into the study directly with great excitement, no longer caring about the calm bearing of the feudal officials. Xi said: "Although Wang Kefan is in charge of the military and political power of the three provinces south of the Yangtze River, the burden of the Northern Expedition still falls on his shoulders after all. Hahaha. The Chu army only sent a partial division to the Northern Expedition, and lost more than 6,000 people in one battle. If you do this a few more times, Chu Xun won't be in trouble......"

Emperor Longwu joined forces with the civil officials. and Wang Kefan snatched the fruits of the victory in the battle of Ningzhen, and finally the majority of the head belonged to Wang Kefan, civil officials like Wan Yuan Ji felt very depressed, but three months later, they suddenly had a feeling of taking a step back and opening the sky, although Wang Kefan held most of the power in the three provinces south of the Yangtze River, but had to fight hard with the Qing army.

"It's just more than 6,000 people, and it can't hurt the vitality of the Chu army." Guo Weijing was sitting in front of the table, his face was gloomy, his brows were furrowed into a Sichuan character, and when he heard Wan Yuanji's emotion, he didn't have any joy, and handed over the Tang newspaper in his hand: "Look at it, there is bad news, Liuzhou is lost." ”

"What?" Wan Yuanji's hand shook, Tang Bao fell to the ground, he quickly leaned over to pick it up, and looked at it carefully. The battle report on the Tang newspaper cannot be too detailed, but it only describes an overview, the Longwu army held Liuzhou for three months, and after repelling the attacks of the Western Army many times, Liu Wenxiu personally went to the front line to command the battle, and launched a continuous onslaught on the two damaged places on the city wall, and finally broke through Liuzhou, and the Longwu army was wiped out nearly 10,000 people, and the remnants fled to Guilin, Xunzhou, Xiangzhou and other places.

"After the rebels have won a great victory, they will definitely invade Guilin, how can this be good?!" Wan Yuan rubbed his hands in a hurry, and sighed: "Alas, Zhao Yinxuan's soldiers and horses don't know if they have entered Guangxi, and how many defenders there are in Guilin City, otherwise, I will transfer another army and horses from Fujian to go back." ”

Emperor Longwu called on the world's soldiers and horses to Qin Wang, Wan Yuan Ji transferred the Jiangxi army from Jiangxi, and sent the most elite Zhao Yinxuan and Hu Yiqing back to Guangxi, which has been gone for a month, but there is no mention in the Tang newspaper, and it seems that it has not yet arrived in Guilin.

"Fujian to Guilin is thousands of miles away, far water does not quench the thirst of the near, and it is too late to transfer troops, and the soldiers and horses besieging Yanping Mansion must not withdraw from the siege." Guo Weijing frowned and said: "Of course, Guilin must be defended, but for the sake of safety, I have to ask the governor to rush back to Jiangxi and make plans to move to Ganzhou." ”

Guo Weijing belongs to the backbone of the Southern Party, according to his original intention, he hopes to let Emperor Longwu stay in Liangguang, and Guilin will retreat to Guangzhou if it is lost, but he trusts the imperial party more and has chosen Ganzhou, Guo Weijing can only act according to orders.

Wan Yuan Ji showed a hint of joy, said yes again and again, suddenly his face changed, and he asked again: "Liuzhou is lost, is there any movement between Tan Xiao and Zhou Guodong?" ”

With the tightening of Guangxi, the Chu army continued to increase troops to Xiangxi during this period, and the total number of troops has exceeded 15,000, but they have been staying in the border area of Hunan and Guizhou.

Guo Weijing lowered his eyes and shook his head silently. Since the turmoil in Jiangnan, there has been a deep rift between Emperor Longwu and Wang Kefan, and although they have formed an alliance again because of the accident of Yongwang Zhu Cihuan, they can never return to the close alliance relationship they had before.

"Mr. Liuxiu is relieved, if there is any accident in the holy car, it will not be beneficial to Wang Kefan, he will not stay put, what he wants is nothing more than to blackmail the court and reap some benefits." Wan Yuanji's eyes flashed, and he said: "The villain tempted him to take advantage, why don't the imperial court give Chu Xun a southwest errand, such as granting Wang Sheng the governor of Pingxi, and he is willing to fight if he wants to come to the Chu army." ”

The Yunnan-Guizhou region has been occupied by the Western Army, and the false profits here are ceded to the Chu army, and a high-ranking general of the Chu army like Wang Sheng is given an empty official position, luring the Chu army and the Western army to grab territory, and Guilin will naturally reduce the pressure greatly.

Guo Weijing shook his head: "This method has been tried a long time ago, it is useless, Wang Kefan is unmoved." ”

How much food there is, how much food to eat, the territory occupied by the Chu army is already large enough, and it has not really been digested, and if it reaches out to the southwest, the battle line will be too long, and Wang Kefan will not be fooled at all......

Wang Kefan's Chinese military camp was also discussing the Guangxi war situation and the Northern Expedition.

Regarding the battle in Guilin, Wang Kefan's instructions to Tan Xiao and Zhou Guodong were very simple, pay close attention and act with the camera. Judging from all aspects, if the Western army persecuts too tightly, the Chu army will fight with them sooner or later, one is to clarify their territory, and the other is to protect the safety of Emperor Longwu, Yongwang Zhu Cihuan is Sun Kewang's puppet, although there is a contradiction between Wang Kefan and Emperor Longwu, it is impossible to run to Sun Kewang as a younger brother, if Emperor Longwu is really in danger, Tan Xiao and Zhou Guodong will act immediately.

As for the Northern Expedition, they were all battle plans that had been formulated a long time ago, and they were very simple to deal with.

For Tian Jianxiu's First Army of the Northern Expedition, Wang Kefan clearly proposed a commendation, it doesn't matter if outsiders don't understand, and there is no need for the Chu army to explain to them, but there can be no misunderstanding between his own people. The First Army was ordered to go out as soon as it was formed, most of them were new soldiers, and the lone army went deep into a basic draw with the Qing army, which had far exceeded Wang Kefan's expectations, and even felt a little overjoyed.

Not to mention the one-to-one battle loss ratio, it is one point five to one, two to one, Wang Kefan can accept it, the musketeers of the Chu army are like products on the assembly line, as long as the food and salary are enough, a new first army can be formed soon, so it is worth fighting with the Qing army.

In fact, if Tian Jianxiu was sent reinforcements in time, such as Wang Jincai's Second Army, or even a few more divisions from Nanjing, Tian Jianxiu could fight better, and it was possible to hold Hefei, but the Chu army was now fighting on several fronts, and there were not enough resources and troops to fight another large-scale battle in Anhui, so it could only cut the flesh with a small knife and pull it slowly. (To be continued......) R1292