As the sun shone on the ground of the palace.
Li Qin slowly stood up and looked at the four people beside him.
He shook his head, thinking, "I can't play like that again next time."
After getting up and having the men help him dress, Li Qin left the palace.
Seeing Qi Duchen, who had been guarding outside all night, Li Qin patted him and said:
"You worked hard last night, I'll reward you with a few princesses later."
"No need, now that you're in a position of power, you should take care of yourself too."
"The brothers are all counting on you."
Qi Duchen, also sporting a dark circle under his eye, said helplessly to Li Qin.
Li Qin looked at Qi Duchen, who had grown up with him in the Li family, and said:
“You grew up with me, so we’re practically family. I’ll find you a few more later.”
Li Qin patted Qi Duchen in front of him with a smile and said.
At the same time, although Li Qin was smiling as he looked at Qi Duchen in front of him, he was thinking about other things.
That is, this kid has been his personal guard captain for too long.
I know too much about myself.
Most importantly, he knew everything about his life, from sleeping with the former Crown Princess to staying overnight in the palace.
It's like a friend who grew up with you since childhood.
He knows all your dark history.
He's currently conquering the world, so he could be of use.
Once the country is pacified, we should find a way to keep him quiet about these secrets.
Then Li Qin said to Qi Duchen:
"Take them back to the mansion secretly and leave them to the madam's arrangements."
"yes."
Li Qin stood on the high platform of the palace, looking at the rising sun.
Sooner or later, I will stand openly and proudly in the palace.
Let's wait a little longer.
Shanxi has now been captured, and Hong Chengchou of Shaanxi has also submitted a petition to surrender.
The entire north has nominally come under his control.
His next goal is to head south, to attack Nanjing, and to destroy the imperial court there. This will be his top priority.
The Shandong navy was already taken over from Qin Chenyao.
We will soon expand our navy based on this.
If I were to head south to Jiangnan, I would need to use my navy.
According to intelligence from the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Lianghuai region has basically returned to order under Hu Zongxian's governance.
Moreover, he also selected able-bodied men from among the disaster victims to form his army.
Although he didn't care about their fighting strength, their sheer numbers were overwhelming.
With the breaching of the Yellow River's banks, the Huai River basin has become a flood-prone area.
Everywhere was muddy swamps, and rivers and lakes were everywhere, making it unsuitable for his cavalry to roam.
Moreover, according to intelligence, Yang Zhiyong, who had previously escaped from Shanxi, led a large army to occupy Runing Prefecture.
Hu Zongxian, who came to support Lianghuai, had tens of thousands of troops under his command, which did have some fighting power.
However, if he were to lead his army south to fight to the death, he could overcome any of these difficulties.
However, when they reached the Yangtze River, they did not have a strong navy.
Now, facing Zheng Chenggong and his Fujian navy, who are now blocking the Yangtze River.
I really don't have any good solutions right now.
After all, you can't expect him to send his army on horseback to the Yangtze River to clash with Zheng Chenggong's navy.
Therefore, it is necessary to build a navy.
Of course, the area north of the Yangtze River, where the Huai River region is located, still needs to be fought.
Even if we can't take it because of the presence of the Fujian navy in the Yangtze River, we still have to take the land north of the river.
We must do our best to compress the opponent's strategic space.
This would push the battle lines of both sides southward from the current Shandong border to the Yangtze River basin.
As for Henan, which is located next door...
Li Qin still gets a headache just thinking about it.
With the breaching of the dike by Dong Zhonglou, the governor of Henan, Henan was completely transformed from a piece of fertile land into a pot of boiling water.
Not only did it taste bland, but it was also scalding hot.
The production order in Henan has been completely disrupted, and peasant armies are everywhere.
If I wanted to attack Henan, I would not only have to spend money, food and troops to wipe out the countless peasant armies.
Even if he conquered Henan, he would still be facing a Henan whose production order had been disrupted and which was completely unable to be self-sufficient.
We also had to constantly allocate food and supplies to them, expending manpower and resources to help them restore order.
If this isn't handled properly, those people won't have enough to eat, and they'll immediately rebel again.
It can be said to be extremely difficult to handle.
Moreover, there is another possibility in Henan, though it is very small: that is, to let them continue to fight each other at will.
If no one intervenes, it's like raising a venomous insect; what if a venomous insect king eventually emerges?
Why don't we try recruiting a few of the bigger leaders first?
Should we try making a move first?
According to intelligence, the biggest forces in Henan right now are peasant leaders like Li Hongji and Zhang Bingwu.
How about trying to recruit them?
However, the only targets I can fight next are Huaihe River Basin and Henan Province.
Li Qin then decided on the order of the two campaigns: first, to march south and attack the Huai River region.
First, take control of the Huai River region and try to cross the Yangtze River. If we really can't cross the Yangtze River, then we'll think of a way to solve the Henan problem.
If we were to attack Jiangnan, we could try contacting the governors and generals of Huguang and Lingnan to see if we could encircle the Nanjing court in Jiangnan.
Luoyang, Henan.
After Yang Zhiyong left, the area was immediately occupied by a peasant army from the vicinity.
The few remaining citizens of Luoyang, already ravaged by war, immediately scattered and hid again upon seeing another peasant army enter.
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