Li Qin looked at the map of Shanxi in front of him, thinking about what he would do if he led his army to attack Shanxi.
Although there may be some difficulties, we are faced with our absolute military superiority.
Taking Shanxi is only a matter of time.
What worries Li Qin the most is the situation in Shaanxi, which lies behind Shanxi.
If the Yang family behind Yang Zhiyong were to control Shaanxi, the two would become one and support each other.
This Shanxi is going to be tough.
However, the situation in Shaanxi is currently unclear.
The Yang family has been in the Northwest for many years, with deep roots and many of their members serving in the military. Many officers have also been promoted by them and have benefited from their family's influence.
Even Hong Chengchou, the governor of Shaanxi, had to outwardly comply.
However, a letter from Hong Chengchou made him realize that Hong Chengchou and the Yang family were not of one mind.
Moreover, in addition to this, there are the four northwestern garrisons, whose grain supplies have been deprived of government allocation.
So we had no choice but to go to Shaanxi to find food.
Can the Yang family and Hong Chengchou handle the troops of the four garrisons?
If I attack Yang Zhiyong, the Yang family in the Northwest will likely provide him with their full support.
Li Qin took out the letter that the Yang family had given him back then.
During this period, letters kept being sent to him from within the Yang family.
Especially the letter sent after the establishment of the Jinling court.
They said that once he went south and destroyed the imperial court in Nanjing, they could use the momentum to overwhelm the stubborn faction within the Yang family.
They supported Zhu Qizhen as the only legitimate emperor of Great Wu, and followed his lead without question.
In these letters, they mentioned the Yang Zhiyong brothers in Shanxi because of the death of Yang Shizhong.
In addition, their profound education made them one of the most stubborn representatives of the Yang family.
Li Qin looked at the letter from Yang Sizhong of the Yang family.
There were also letters that Hong Chengchou sent to him privately.
Originally, he planned to first head south, take over Jinling, and destroy the Jinling court.
After Yang Sizhong seized the opportunity to defeat the stubborn faction within the family, he became the new patriarch.
With the support of the Yang family, it will be much easier for me to attack Yang Zhiyong in Shanxi or continue westward into Shaanxi.
However, it is now unlikely that they can march south and destroy the Nanjing court first.
His only option was to head west into Shanxi, but this required cutting off Shanxi's support from Shaanxi.
These internal conflicts in Shaanxi can be used to our advantage.
If we make good use of these contradictions and let them fight amongst themselves first, they will temporarily lack the energy to support Shanxi.
This would leave Yang Zhiyong from Shanxi completely isolated and helpless.
I can go all out and quickly take down Yang Zhiyong from Shanxi.
Of course, military force is one aspect, but political efforts are also necessary.
Li Qin presented the surrender benefits he had prepared long ago.
First, all generals and officials in various regions who surrender to him will retain their original official positions, and those who have rendered meritorious service may even be promoted and ennobled.
You can even turn this official position into a hereditary one within your family.
Secondly, if ordinary people surrender, they will not become slaves, and if they are talented, they can even become officials.
Third, if your superior is unwilling to surrender, you kill your superior to surrender, and he will be granted an official position based on his merits.
He and his staff in the military intelligence room had formulated many such surrender conditions during this period.
Although there have been similar systems before, this is the first time that such a large-scale compilation and release has been undertaken.
Li Qin looked at the surrender terms and then ordered his men to distribute them to various places.
Special attention should be paid to distributing and spreading the information to Shanxi.
Li Qin knew that loyal ministers like Yang Zhiyong were ultimately a minority, and most officials and generals in the world were just ordinary people.
After all, serving someone is still serving them, and they even receive very good treatment from them.
Then why bother working so hard?
Li Qin knew that as these surrender terms spread throughout Shanxi, they would greatly shake the will to resist of those officials.
This will greatly reduce the cost of conquering these regions.
Li Qin then began to tally the number of troops he could mobilize.
He had 140,000 troops marching south across Hebei, including those lost in Kaifeng and those who suffered non-combat casualties.
There were still more than 130,000 Wu soldiers left. Along the way, they collected more than 20,000 Wu soldiers who had surrendered in various scattered prefectures and counties in Hebei and Henan.
All of Wu's surrendered soldiers were incorporated into the Green Standard Army in the capital.
Currently, there are 50,000 Green Standard Army soldiers around the capital, more than 20,000 of its own elite troops, 50,000 new recruits from Liaodong who are undergoing formation training, and tens of thousands of Jurchen troops.
There were more than 130,000 people in total. If you include the more than 14,000 troops in Xuanfu, as well as the local militia they recruited during this period, there were more than 20,000 people in Xuanfu.
Zhou Wentong was also recruiting garrison troops in Xuanfu.
His younger brother, Li Wenqi, also had more than 8,000 men in Liaodong, and was recruiting and training local militia to assist in the defense of Liaodong.
The armed forces directly under his control totaled nearly 300,000 troops.
This doesn't even include the military forces he indirectly controlled, after all, Qin Chenyao in Shandong also had 70,000 troops under his command.
With Qin Chenyao's complete submission, he could now basically mobilize these 70,000 people through Qin Chenyao.
There are also 80,000 men under Jiang Xiangyang of Datong. Although they are in a highly independent state, they are still his subordinate troops.
He himself wanted to attack Yang Zhiyong in Taiyuan, and Yang Zhiyong also said he would send troops to follow him.
By this calculation, his forces, including both direct and indirect subordinates, numbered approximately 400,000.
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