When Li Qin saw the muskets they had made, he had already decided to prepare to form a musket battalion.
Under Li Qin's orders, all departments of the imperial court will do their utmost to supply these artisans with materials.
Let them focus all their efforts on producing cannons and muskets.
After arranging everything, Li Qin returned to his residence.
He arrived at the military intelligence room he had just set up. Inside, Gu Deyuan and other core advisors were all present.
In fact, in addition to holding official positions in the Great Wu court, they all served as their own subordinates.
It can be said that they were both Emperor Zhu Qizhen's subjects and his subjects.
He had also developed a ruler-subject relationship with them.
As soon as Li Qin entered the military affairs room, he saw a map of Shanxi hanging on the wall.
This is his next goal.
Upon seeing Li Qin enter, everyone present bowed to him.
After gesturing for them to sit down, Li Qin took his seat in the main seat and, after scanning the crowd before him, began to ask:
"How is Jiang Xiangyang from Datong doing?"
"Returning to my post, after negotiations with Jiang Xiangyang, the Governor-General of Datong, he agreed to join us in attacking Yang Zhiyong in Taiyuan, and allowed my army to pass through Datong to attack Taiyuan."
Gu Deyuan stepped forward and reported to Li Qin with his head bowed.
Li Qin nodded in satisfaction after hearing his words.
After deciding to head west into Shanxi, he knew that Jiang Xiangyang of Datong was a key figure he needed to win over.
So during this period, I have been trying to contact and win over Jiang Xiangyang.
Finally, he won him over and got him to agree to send troops to follow him. At the same time, he sent his army through Datong to attack Taiyuan in Shanxi.
In that case, including Zhang Hengshuo of Zhending and Li Xuanshang, who was stationed in the three prefectures of Henan on the north bank of the Yellow River.
I can attack Yang Zhiyong from the east, north, and south.
The breach of the Yellow River in Henan created a vast floodplain and turned Henan into a disaster area; this impact was two-sided.
Although it temporarily prevented his southward advance, it also prevented the southern court and other regional generals from launching a northern expedition.
There is no major threat to his south for the time being.
His eastern side is the sea, which means that the pressure he now faces mainly comes from the Tatars to the north and Yang Zhiyong to the west.
He wasn't too worried about the Tatars.
At the border, there is a well-developed Great Wall defense system to deal with them.
Although he has crippled many parts of this system, it can still be used after some repairs.
Li Qin has ordered his younger brother Li Wenqi to lead troops back to Liaodong to organize and train local militia and strengthen Liaodong's defenses.
At the same time, he sent Wei Xiaokuan, his most capable defensive commander, to assist him in defending Liaodong.
In Jizhou, Li Qin sent Zhou Wentong with his troops to garrison the town.
In Xuanfu, there were Wang Taihe and Dugu Yu.
Datong, on the other hand, has Jiang Xiangyang, who has already submitted to him.
He led his army to garrison the capital, and behind him, in the Zhili region, he had an army of over 100,000.
He wasn't too worried about the Tatar invasions.
His current strategy towards the Tatars is still primarily one of appeasement and defense.
As for going out of the pass to fight proactively, he had never even considered it.
Because it's a very simple cost issue: once they leave the pass on a large scale, they'll be fighting against those nomadic tribes on the grasslands.
Regardless of the final outcome, this is an extremely unprofitable business.
Even if I were to launch a large-scale campaign, it should be after I have conquered the world.
Instead of now, when we still have many enemies around us, we can't afford to waste our manpower and resources on them.
Therefore, our overall military strategy against them is primarily defensive, with small-scale counterattacks as a secondary measure.
At the same time, in terms of political strategy, the main approach should still be to win them over.
Let's look back and see if there are any suitable women in the royal family who can be sent for marriage alliances.
Although it is shameful, in chaotic times, the cost of morality is very high, and he cannot afford to pay it.
In chaotic times, it's all about who has the most ruthless principles.
Soon, as the chaos intensified, cannibalism was no longer just a few words, but a pile of meat in a pot.
With going south temporarily impossible and going north too costly,
His next objective was to launch a westward offensive against Yang Zhiyong.
After this period of preparation, and with some intelligence provided by the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
Yang Zhiyong had been actively preparing in Taiyuan. He was also the most steadfast of all the feudal lords in the land in recognizing the Jinling court as the legitimate ruler.
Originally, Li Qin planned to directly destroy the Jinling court.
But for now, I have to deal with you first.
According to intelligence, he has taken over most of Shanxi during this period by leveraging the prestige of the Yang family.
He has gathered some local troops, and now he should have 80,000 to 90,000 soldiers under his command.
However, the only ones with any fighting ability were the original 50,000 troops under his command.
Including the troops under his command, including those of Jiang Xiangyang in Datong and Qin Chenyao in Shandong, he currently commands approximately several hundred thousand troops.
Our forces far outnumber his.
Moreover, geographically, we are in an absolute advantage.
With the capture of the three prefectures in Henan and Hebei, the entire Taihang Pass in Shanxi is now basically facing us.
This means that one can launch an attack from any direction.
He was forced to disperse his already limited forces throughout Shanxi.
It is difficult to form a joint force.
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