The news of the return of the Taiping Army not only shook the entire Songjiang, but also quickly spread throughout the Qianyuan Empire over time.

The suppression of the rebellion of Wudou Midao had just begun, and the Taiping Army, which had previously thought it had been resolved, re-emerged, undoubtedly disgraced the empire and the center. However, the significance of the loss of Daqingguan soon made the central princes realize that the severity of the problem is no longer just a matter of face.

In the worst-case scenario, the entire South-East will fall!

This is by no means just an unfounded speculation, but the result of careful consideration by Minister of War Feng Wu. Once the Taiping army took control of Daqing Pass, they mastered the Empire's access to Songjiang by land. The severance of this passage not only meant that Songjiang County had effectively entered a semi-isolated state, but also that Tiannan County had lost direct land contact with the Empire. If Chen Wu's Taiping army colluded with the Omani kingdom to the south......

Feng Wu had every reason to believe that once the news of the change of hands of Daqingguan reached the south, Saladin, the ambitious emperor, would definitely win over Chen Wu at any cost. Although the strength of this group of thieves may not be strong, its existence will be like a thorn, which will greatly increase the pressure on the Tiannan Legion.

But on the contrary, the empire has no way to take the Taiping Army now.

Even His Majesty Qianyuanji had to accept this depressing news after he fired again at the court meeting. He could only hope that the defenders of Songjiang County could be safer, stop the possible south of the thief army, and maintain the current situation in Songjiang County as much as possible. When the Empire achieves a decisive victory in the counterinsurgency on the side of Wudou Midao, it will immediately shift its focus.

However, no one knows how long this period will be.

Feng Wu discussed with several heads of the Military Intelligence Agency that even the most optimistic estimates would take at least half a year to adjust. If there are any twists and turns during this period, such as the defeat of the pacification of Wudou Midao, or the war between the Lena Dynasty and the Kingdom of Oman and any progress, then the process of strategic adjustment is likely to take more than a year!

It's been too long.

In the imperial court, far-sighted ministers have already felt this.

At the same time, while testing the pressure on the Chengguo Gongqian Taizhuo and the Songjiang County Government, everyone couldn't help but pay attention to a problem again.

That's Chen Wu's origin!

Previously, with the "annihilation" of the Taiping Army, the rebellion of Wudou Midao, the attention of this issue fell for a time and became uncared for. But with the Taiping army's miraculous crossing of the Bayan Mountains, appearing in Songjiang County, and capturing Daqingguan in a battle, anyone can see that the Taiping army's actions were planned from beginning to end. This strategic shift to the east, jumping out of the encirclement and seizing the Daqing Pass, the whole process is like a smooth flow, and it is a very clever plan.

If Chen Wu was really just a farmer, it would never be possible to have such a skill.

This is enough to show that either Chen Wu's origin is problematic, or there is a mysterious force behind him.

Even Qian Yuanji agreed with this inference.

For this reason, Ji Junchen, director of the Military Intelligence Bureau, was under great pressure. His successive negligences in the Taiping Army and the Wudou Rice Road caused the empire to fall into a passive and deadlocked. In the view that "it is difficult to solve the Taiping Army without understanding Chen Wu's origins", Ji Junchen had to send more capable generals to form a special team to investigate Chen Wu's related matters.

However, progress has not been satisfactory.

At this time, he couldn't help but think of the unverified top-secret classified secret report from the Military Intelligence Agency's archives again.

Do you want to investigate in that direction?

Ji Junchen was a little troubled.

………

The news also reached Tiannan County.

The governor of Tiannan County has always been familiar with military affairs, so as not to drag down the Tiannan Army. After receiving the news, he knew very well what this meant, and immediately ordered people to try his best to block the news, and at the same time sent an urgent official letter to inform General Leji. On the one hand, it is to let Leji prepare early, and on the other hand, it is also to delay the time when the black guards of the Kingdom of Oman learn about this.

However, the Governor of Tiannan County did not know how effective this method would be.

What he didn't know was that the blackcoat was quite lucky in this matter. As early as when the news of Daqing Pass being breached by the Taiping Army came, the intelligence officers of the black-clothed guards in Tiannan County happened to know about it. By the time the Governor of Tiannan County learned the news and launched a blockade, the Black Guard's spies had already taken action immediately.

Only one day later than General Leji, the news reached the fortress of Nanfeng and began to be conveyed to the Kingdom of Oman.

The empire, once a vassal state, was originally a principality with only four counties. At first, due to the decline of the country's strength, the army was only 100,000 at the minimum. However, with the efforts of the last two emperors, the national power of the Kingdom of Oman has continued to increase, and its military power has also grown rapidly. By the time of Saladin's reign, he had annexed several small southern states, expanded his territory to seven counties in one fell swoop, and the total number of troops had skyrocketed to nearly 400,000!

Compared with the Qianyuan Empire, which was attacked from many sides, the strategic environment of the Oman Kingdom was much better. It is bordered by the sea on almost both sides, and on the west side is a large swamp, and the only border with the big country is on the side of Tiannan County.

Such geographical conditions led the Kingdom of Oman to concentrate on the use of troops against the empire almost without worrying about the constraints of other enemy countries.

As the news was delayed for a few days, crossing the Red River Valley and Chiang Mai Plains to Walanga, the Kingdom of Oman, Saladin, who was preparing for the Northern Expedition, was almost overjoyed. Although the Qinghu Hutong sent to Taiping County earlier was suspicious, some people who fled back said that it was killed by the Taiping army. But after the analysis, many people in the black guards disagreed, suspecting that Hutongguang was involved in the internal struggle between the Taiping Army and the Good Friends Association on his own initiative.

But whatever happened, the Kingdom of Oman had come with great goodwill this time, and no one thought that the Taipings would do anything about it—unless they were an irrational madman.

It is obviously impossible for a madman to do such a big thing!

Therefore, at Saladin's request, the black-clothed guard once again sent a capable general, preparing to disguise himself and infiltrate Songjiang County and secretly contact the Taiping army. And this time, the easy journey of the mission will be much simpler than infiltrating Taiping County. Once successful, the meaning and credit far exceed the latter.

Anyone with some qualifications is eyeing this errand.

Saladin naturally didn't mind the slightest dirtiness of the intelligence services, and he didn't even mind sending diplomats with him when necessary. After arranging this, his attention was immediately turned to speeding up the dispatch of troops. Seeing the hope of defeating the Tiannan Army and breaking through the Nanfeng Fortress, Saladin temporarily revised his plan and prepared to mobilize an army of 320,000 in one go!

This is a scale that was not seen before when the Hue dynasty was annexed.

With the exception of the 30,000-strong army guarding Varanga and a handful of local troops, the entire kingdom of Oman was almost overwhelmed.

………

Oman is not alone in the reaction.

Since the empire is located in the center of the Eastern Continent, any major event that occurs in its power territory may affect the entire Eastern Continent. The fact that Daqingguan was seized is still further fermenting, and it has been spread to farther countries one after another, influencing more forces and figures to make decisions.

The history of the Qianyuan Empire in "Empire" has changed beyond its appearance in the continuous agitation of the Taiping Army.

Many of them are too far away, and they have nothing to do with the Taiping Army for the time being, so let's not talk about them for the time being. Just those directly related to the Taiping Army have a large number of changes. For example, after the Lin family got the news, they sent Lin Xing and Lin Yue from the Lin Mansion to the manor outside the city the next day, but the treatment was better; For example, a large number of robbers and horse bandits in Yuanshan County and even Yanyun County, like sharks smelling blood, excitedly approached the outside of Daqing Pass, thinking that a feast had been ushered in; For another example, some depressed talents quietly set their sights on Songjiang.

At the center of the whirlpool, Chen Wu's Taiping army was certainly not idle.

In the eyes of outsiders, the main force of the Taiping Army is still comfortable in Daqing Pass. It replaces the Imperial Card to collect taxes every day, and after the switching time, it will also train regularly on the school field. But in fact, some of the volunteer battalions that had not been damaged much before had already disguised themselves as the chamber of commerce in Songjiang and left Daqingguan in batches.

After hundreds of horse teams went out to "sweep" under the banner of the Taiping Army, the official road outside Yuyang Mansion was deserted, and no one dared to come out casually. These disguised soldiers of the Volunteer Battalion changed their identities once in the middle and withdrew to Dingguang County.

The Taiping army that stayed behind before already knew that General Tiangong led everyone to win another battle, and there was definitely no need to worry about morale. But after all, it was the first time to stay away from the army and stay alone in the empty city, and the mood was inevitably a little nervous. Now that the volunteer battalion army has arrived, the Taiping army left behind can't help but come completely down-to-earth.

After the two parties converged, the Taiping army took Dingguang County as the foundation and began to develop steadily according to Chen Wu's requirements.

If the army wants to develop, the easiest way is to continue to expand!

Naturally, the recruitment here can no longer be like in Taiping County, where hunger is used as a means to recruit the other party with a little food.

Songjiang County is even more affluent, even in Dingguang County, there are very few people who can't eat. In order to smoothly complete the new batch of army expansion plans, the Taiping Army has prepared two means, both soft and hard!

The so-called hard is very simple, it is to forcibly recruit people.

In the feudal era, it was the most direct way to expand the army, and when you saw what you were looking for, you would directly force them into the army. Of course, the Taiping army did not look down on this rudimentary method, and they used administrative methods similar to those of the government, setting standards and posting announcements.

All strong men in the family who are between two or more years of age between 16 and 30 years old and who are not in good health must send one of them to join the army. If there is only one young man of the right age, because he wants to make a living, he can be exempted, but as a price, he must pay a "military tax" of one silver coin every month.

There is a population table registered by the Dingguang County government, and the Taiping Army is not worried at all that no one dares to hide it and not report it. Anyone who violates the rules will be punished with heavy fines.

As for the soft means, it is easy to understand.

All the soldiers who are conscripted are given a high settling-in allowance, and after passing the training, they also have a lot of money every month!