Zhu Ji, the lieutenant general of the Beijing camp, was also a brave and skilled fighter. He found it pleasing to the ears when these guys in the observation group were bragging.
However, as one of the generals commanding the battle, Zhu Ji still wanted to suppress their arrogance, so he said, "Don't underestimate the rebels. Their weapons are inferior, their equipment is poor, and defeating them is nothing to be proud of."
After a pause, he added, "Your Majesty sent us here to help, firstly to lift the siege of Guiyang as soon as possible, and secondly to let the officers and soldiers see blood and grow as quickly as possible in actual combat."
Huang Degong blinked his eyes, unconvinced. Not only had he seen blood, he had also chopped off a head, and that was two years ago.
Cao Bianjiao nodded in agreement and said, "Defeating the rebels is easy, but annihilating them is difficult. Shuixi is four thousand miles long, with deep mountains, vast forests, and numerous valleys. It's difficult to penetrate deeply without being familiar with the terrain."
"It all depends on the transportation of food and supplies," Xu Hongyu echoed. "If the army advances deep into the enemy's territory and their food supply is cut off, they will suffer a disastrous defeat."
Sun Yingyuan, who was not far away, also heard it, but he just smiled faintly and did not tell them the emperor's secret order.
Now that the breakthrough in the middle has achieved its goal, the time to finally relieve Guiyang will depend on the progress of the other two armies.
At that time, Wang Sanshan led 30,000 troops to successively recapture Pu'an and Xinxing, and opened up the passage to the upper six guards of Guizhou.
The official troops of Yunnan and Guangxi successively recaptured the two cities of Pingyi (now Fuyuan, Yunnan Province) and Zhanyi, basically eliminated the rebels in Yunnan, and entered Guizhou to participate in the war.
Under the attack of these three armies, the Shuixi rebels' siege of Guiyang was on the verge of collapse. An Bangyan had no choice but to lead his troops to retreat to Luguang River. The June siege only resulted in heavy casualties.
But this was not the turning point for the Ming army to launch a large-scale counterattack and attack Shuixi directly, but the beginning of "long-term siege, repeated attacks from all sides, gradual cleansing, and once and for all."
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Whether it was pacifying Liao and destroying the slaves, or suppressing Shuixi, neither of them could achieve a quick and complete victory. This made Zhu Youxiao very depressed.
The Jiannu were good at field battles, fierce and daring, and their combat effectiveness was superior to that of the current Ming army; the Shuixi rebels were not very strong, but they had the advantage of terrain.
Although the times were different, Zhu Youxiao had seen movies and TV shows in his previous life that depicted the difficulties of suppressing bandits in the southwest.
Of course, Zhu Youxiao had to thank Xiao Ji for showing him those scenes that flashed by like a movie, giving him the means and opportunity to change history.
If the She'an Rebellion had been allowed to develop along its historical trajectory, it would have lasted another sixteen years.
Sichuan Governor Xu Keqiu died, Guizhou Governor Wang Sanshan died, and Lu Qin, the top general in the southwest, committed suicide after his defeat. More than 400,000 civilians fled into Guiyang City, but only more than 20,000 were left during the October siege.
Zhu Youxiao would not sit idly by and watch the tragedy happen, but he only had one chance to change the course of history.
Then, the future developments, at least the war in the southwest, would no longer be something he could predict or easily control remotely.
Therefore, Zhu Youxiao had to seize the most critical opportunity to break the deadlock and deploy the correct policies and strategies to quell the rebellion so that the future course and outcome of the war would not be worse than in history.
Moreover, Zhu Youxiao's goal was no longer just to suppress the rebellion. He would not tolerate the fact that the Shuixi An clan was still powerful after more than a decade of war.
The chieftains had to be eliminated, the system of native officials returning to common people had to be implemented, and war was inevitable. It was just that it broke out at the wrong time, forcing the Ming Dynasty to fight two wars simultaneously.
Therefore, in the long run, appeasement of She Chongming and An Bangyan is absolutely impossible. It is inevitable, and since it has already begun, we must eliminate them once and for all, leaving no tails.
Zhu Youxiao sat in the imperial chair and dictated the imperial edict, "Order the Ministry of War to issue a document, the Beijing and Guangdong Firearms Bureaus each to send 2,000 Lumi muskets, and Fujian Province to send 2,000 bird muskets, to be divided among the Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Chu armies."
"Order the Beijing Battalion to dispatch instructors to the Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Chu armies to teach them firearm tactics."
"In the Jin Dynasty, Zhu Xieyuan was appointed Minister of War, in charge of military affairs in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Hubei, and Guangxi, and was bestowed with the Imperial Sword."
"Lu Qin was transferred to Guizhou as the general, stationed in Zunyi..."
"Xu Cheng was promoted to the general of Sichuan and stationed in Bijie..."
"Guizhou Governor Wang Sanshan stationed his troops in Guiyang, and General Zhang Yanfang stationed his troops in Puding..."
"Qin Liangyu led the army in battle, making outstanding contributions. She was granted the title of Lady, an imperial decree, and a promotion to the second rank. She was also promoted to Commander-in-Chief, granted the title of Deputy Commander-in-Chief, and awarded a thousand taels of silver, as well as a set of armor, a ceremonial sword, a brocade robe, and an imperial mirror..."
"Appoint Ma Xianglin as the Envoy to Shiqu, Qin Minping as the Deputy General, Qin Yiming and Qin Gongming as the Lieutenant Generals, and grant them armor and silver rewards."
"Orders to encircle and suppress the various Shuixi rebel groups. Select elite troops, recruit mountain dwellers, and form a mountain combat unit. Quality is more important than quantity. The deadline is six months..."
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