In mid-November of the first year of Longwu, Xiao Ruxun summoned the Cabinet, the General Staff Department, the Ministry of War, and the military to officially announce that the war in the southwest had begun.
From this moment on, the war had already begun.
In this battle, nearly 200,000 troops and an equal number of auxiliary soldiers would be mobilized to carry out the war and pacify the Yang family in Bozhou.
As for the specifics, Xiao Ruxun had already discussed with the General Staff Department and sent the marching order to Wuchang and Chengdu prefectures.
In this battle, the main force of the Black Tortoise Battalion in Wuchang prefecture and the 30,000 Sichuan soldiers under the administration of Sichuan's Minister of State would attack Bozhou from both sides. The Black Tortoise Battalion in Wuchang prefecture would be the main force with the Sichuan soldiers as support.
At the same time, the 30,000 soldiers of the White Tiger Battalion had already been secretly dispatched to Wuchang prefecture to meet up with the Black Tortoise Battalion. After entering Guizhou, they would split up into eight groups to attack Bozhou from all directions. No matter what, they had to uproot Yang Yinglong.
Before the war, several months of intelligence gathering had also achieved a major breakthrough.
The Black Water Troop's branch in Sichuan had devoted most of its forces to the intelligence spying in the Bozhou area. They had accurately grasped the geographical situation of Bozhou and many other elements. They even had a full evaluation of Yang Yinglong's war potential.
The Black Water division had exerted their infiltration and bribery to the extreme. Yang Yinglong was unpopular. Not only was he tyrannical, but he also killed his wife because he favored his concubine, Madam Tian, causing public anger. As a result, the Black Water division's bribery operation was very successful and they obtained a lot of military intelligence.
By mid-October, all of Yang Yinglong's trump cards had basically been figured out. Xiao Ruxun's request to the army was to compress Yang Yinglong's forces into Hai Long Camp within 15 days of the war and mobilize more than 200 Hongyi Cannons to take turns to bombard Hai Long Camp's defense line, gradually breaking through it, and ending the war in Bozhou within a month.
The reason why Xiao Ruxun was able to advance for 15 days was because he had a good understanding of the Sea Dragon Fortress. This fortress was once used to resist the Mongols and Yuan Empire. Needless to say, it was very sturdy and caused a lot of trouble for the Mongols.
When it came to Yang Yinglong's era, Yang Yinglong mobilized eighty thousand laborers and craftsmen. In four years, they expanded the castle and the palace on the original site. They built twelve passes from front to back, and built a huge rampart on the mountain within a five square kilometer area. The buildings were all built with huge stones weighing a thousand jin. The city gate was engraved with the name of the pass, and on top of the gate were built arrow towers, warehouses, barracks, and water dungeons.
To build such an impregnable pass under that kind of geographical advantage, it was as if even thousands of soldiers and horses would not be able to do anything if they retreated within.
The Ming Army had used more than 200,000 troops to attack for several months before taking down Hai Long Moat. Xiao Ruxun did not intend to delay for so long. With his current firepower configuration and the elite level of the army, half a month was enough to take down Hai Long Moat.
Back then, the French army thought that the Maginot Line of Defense was impregnable!
The Soviet Union's national anthem was called "Unbreakable Alliance"!
History had proven that regardless of whether it was a sturdy castle wall or a country's military alliance, once it was called "unbreakable", it was akin to raising a death flag for oneself.
Yang Yinglong had said that his Hai Long Moat was a place that no army in the world could take down.
But Xiao Ruxun did not believe that it was unbreakable because he could know the conversations between Yang Yinglong and his confidants.
There was intelligence that said that Yang Yinglong's chief strategist, Sun Shitai, had once suggested that if Yang Yinglong wanted to rebel, he should go straight to Chengdu and take down Sichuan. Using the geographical advantage of Sichuan, he could then negotiate with the central government and even fight for the benefits of separating Sichuan.
But Yang Yinglong did not pay attention to him. To be precise, Yang Yinglong did not have the mental preparation to separate a region. He had always wanted to use his own military power to deal with the central government and gain benefits. But he underestimated the determination of the new dynasty, the Daqin, to pacify the Southwest Chieftains.
But after Xiao Ruxun heard about it, he became wary of this Sun Shitai.
This person was said to be from Zhejiang Yuyao, a person who grew up in the land of scholars. But he actually became the strategist of a chieftain like Yang Yinglong and accompanied him in a rebellion. This was really interesting.
But Xiao Ruxun had to admit that this person had a sharp eye and was very shrewd. He had a considerable military mind and could see through Xiao Ruxun's weakness with one look.
Currently, Sichuan was still a weak area under the rule of the Daqin. They had less than 30,000 soldiers and the Chieftains were entrenched in various places. The areas that Wang Xiangqian could effectively control were the areas around the Chengdu plains and a few large cities. Most of the other places were not within his control.
So Xiao Ruxun wanted to use the name of this war to set off a wave of carnage here and take full control of this place.
If Yang Yinglong didn't want to keep his ancestral land in Bozhou from the beginning and attacked Sichuan fiercely, the Sichuan troops would really not be able to withstand the charge of his more than 100,000 soldiers.
Not to mention how good Ma Qiancheng and Qin Liangyu were, and how invincible the white stick soldiers were, when there were so many of them, their fighting strength was really quite laughable.
Otherwise, Xiao Ruxun wouldn't have mobilized the elites of the White Tiger Battalion and the main force of the Black Tortoise Battalion to launch an attack on Yang Yinglong like Mount Tai.
Yang Yinglong being able to rebel was also not a simple matter. He also had capable people around him.
This Sun Shitai was indeed not simple. If he led this war, many things would probably be difficult to push forward. So after thinking for a while, Xiao Ruxun came up with a solution.
Sometimes, even if you knew that some people shouldn't be suspected, you just couldn't control your suspicions and just had to suspect them.
Moreover, it didn't mean that it would be fine if the master didn't suspect you. If your subordinates and colleagues became suspicious of you, it would still be difficult to do things.
Because there were always more fools and fewer smart people.
Xiao Ruxun asked Wang Xiangqian to write a letter to Sun Shitai to recruit him into the Sichuan government. He gave him the position of Chengdu County Magistrate of Sichuan, Rank 7.
This recruitment letter was open to the public and was directly sent to the Bozhou government. Yang Yinglong was the first to see it. Then he smiled and handed the letter to Sun Shitai. After reading it, Sun Shitai also smiled and stroked his beard.
"They underestimated Teacher's ability. If you ask me, Teacher should at least be the administrative envoy of Sichuan."
Yang Yinglong read this letter as a joke. The others also laughed it off, and Sun Shitai himself didn't care.
Wang Xiangqian waited for ten days without receiving a reply, so he sent a second letter. This time, he gave Sun Shitai a promotion to the position of Chengdu Magistrate, Rank 4.
Yang Yinglong still laughed, and Sun Shitai shook his head with a bitter smile. Everyone also laughed it off.
Another ten days passed, and there was still no reply. Wang Xiangqian started to make a big move. This time, he promised Sun Shitai the position of the administrative envoy of Sichuan, Rank 2!
The full name of Sichuan was the administrative envoy of Sichuan, which was equivalent to the Sichuan provincial government. The administrative envoy of Sichuan was a high-ranking official in Sichuan. Wang Xiangqian was the Governor of Sichuan, and his position was higher than the administrative envoy. He represented the central government to control the administrative envoy.
However, before Sichuan was completely under the control of the central government, there was no need to set up an administrative envoy. Wang Xiangqian alone could manage it, and Xiao Ruxun also didn't have a suitable candidate. This position was vacant, and now it was used.
This time, the situation was different. At first, Yang Yinglong was still smiling, but the more he looked, the more he felt uncomfortable. When his subordinates heard the news that Wang Xiangqian recruited Sun Shitai to be the administrative envoy of Sichuan, their faces all changed. This was not a small position. To them, this was a big position, a big position.
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