The ethnic composition in Guangxi was very complicated. Most of the area was occupied by various Chieftains. Although the policy of reunification had been continued, the Ming government often used the Wolf Soldiers to fight. Politically, it was impossible to oppress them. Instead, they had to give them benefits.
In general, it would be easy to gain a foothold in Guangxi if they could get the support of the Hun people.
Cen Dalu clearly knew that Xiao Ruxun had the ability to become the central government, so he convinced his Tianzhou region to support Xiao Ruxun. Not only that, he also used money and food as bait to persuade several prefectures to support Xiao Ruxun. At most, the remaining prefectures would not cooperate, but they would definitely not oppose.
They did not care much about the change of the Han emperor. As long as it did not harm their interests and did not disturb their lives, it would be fine.
In any case, Xiao Ruxun did not need to completely occupy Guangxi. As long as they did not block his way and could provide support, it was enough. It was worth it to spend some money.
The smoothness of Guangxi could be said to be unexpected. It was a little too smooth, and it gave Xiao Ruxun a big surprise. On August 3rd, 80,000 troops entered Zhennan Pass. On August 13th, Nanning City's gate was opened, and Nanning was under Xiao Ruxun's control.
By the time Guang Xi was pacified, on the 27th day of the eighth month, Guilin had already been conquered by Xiao Ruxun. The 80,000 strong army had already expanded by half, reaching a total of 120,000 people. Of which, 30,000 were Wolf Soldiers, while the remaining 10,000 were Han Soldiers of Guang Xi. The entire Guang Xi Treasury's military resources were also opened up to Xiao Ruxun.
There were many troops in Guangxi, and many of them were strong. However, many of them fled after fighting with the Zhennan Army.
Some of them surrendered after being defeated and surrounded. They did not struggle and did not seem to have the will to fight. However, after joining the Zhennan Army, they were obviously much more ferocious.
Furthermore, the 30,000 Wolf Soldiers were truly ferocious. Under the leadership of Cen Dalu, they dared to fight against the elite troops of the Zhennan Army. It was only in terms of organization and equipment that they were inferior to the Zhennan Army. Therefore, it was not a lie that the Guangxi Army was good at fighting.
Meanwhile, in Guangdong, the army of twenty thousand had expanded to almost forty thousand. Similar to what Zheng Ying had encountered in Ningbo Prefecture, the soldiers who had given up on resisting and joined the rebel subjugation army turned around and attacked the soldiers of the other city guards. They were much more ferocious than before.
When Chen Lin wrote the letter to Xiao Ruxun, she still had some doubts about this. This was because the navy under his command was the same. Before, they had looked sickly, but now they were fierce.
Xiao Ruxun understood why.
It was just like after the Manchurian Qing entered the Great Wall, the Ming Army surrendered to the Manchurian Qing. When they were fighting the Manchurian Qing, they were like a bunch of losers; as soon as they heard 'the Tatars are coming', they would immediately scatter like birds and beasts. However, when they turned around and attacked the south, they became like wolves and tigers, killing people as ruthlessly as the Manchurian Eight Banners.
This was the same principle. It was just a psychological factor.
When their backing was weak and the Ming government was in decline, they did not have the courage. On the other hand, when their backing was strong and the Manchurian Qing was valiant, their master gave them unparalleled confidence and courage. As a result, they shamefully changed from deserters to fierce soldiers, turning into a raging nest of losers.
It was the same now. When they encountered resistance, as long as a group of Zhennan Army troops lined up at the back and prepared for battle, the newly surrendered troops at the front could show some of their fearless attitude when they charged forward. With one charge, they would cause the opposite side to be utterly defeated. The speed of their progress was extremely fast.
At the end of the eighth month, all of Guangdong had been pacified. Guangxi was basically pacified. Yunnan had been conquered by Deng Zilong in the middle of the eighth month. Peace had already been restored. In Sichuan, the news was that progress was smooth. Liu Gu and Ma Wei's troops had expanded to forty thousand men. They were playing a triumphant song as they advanced toward the Chengdu plains. They did not encounter any major obstacles.
Because the incident in Yunnan had not yet reached Sichuan, Liu Gu used persuasion and deceit to convince many subordinates to surrender. Along the way, many passes were captured without shedding a drop of blood. This greatly reduced the losses of the troops and increased the speed of their advance.
The several routes of advance were all successful. On the other hand, the local government was defeated like a landslide. During this period of time, no less than five hundred officials were arrested, thirty-six were killed, and more than a hundred escaped.
In the beginning, the majority of the people were cursing Xiao Ruxun as a rebel. However, after being rebuked by Xiao Ruxun, it seemed that a portion of their attitudes had softened. Following the capture of Guangdong, Guangxi, and Yunnan, the number of people who had softened their attitudes had increased. They became well-behaved and no longer spoke.
However, the officials from the three provinces of Fujian, Zhejiang, and Nanzhi clearly had a much worse attitude toward Xiao Ruxun. They kept calling him a rebel and refused to relent. Xiao Ruxun did not pay attention to them. When the time came, he had plenty of ways to torture them.
Up until now, no one had surrendered to Xiao Ruxun and was willing to work for his army. Xiao Ruxun still brought some capable officials from Myanmar to barely manage the local administration and prevent the local areas from falling into chaos.
In view of the fact that the Ming government was only at the county level, according to the current structure, Xiao Ruxun still had sufficient manpower in his hands. It was not difficult for him to manage the daily affairs of a county.
Guangxi and Yunnan were basically in a semi-autonomous state. Only a few prefectures required officials to be stationed there. Most of them were managed by the local chieftains. If they cooperated with Xiao Ruxun and did not oppose him, then there would be no problems. Everything would remain the same and there would not be any losses.
Therefore, the Ming government did not have much control over these provinces. This could be seen from the attitude of the scholar-officials toward these places. However, these provinces were the first and most important line of defense to stop Xiao Ruxun from going north. If this line of defense was broken, the entire hinterland of Jiangnan would be exposed to the peak of the Zhennan Army.
This kind of local administrative foundation left the local areas without the slightest ability to defend themselves. Whether it was the Japanese pirates, the Mongols, or the future Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, and the Manchurian Qing, after breaking through the main force of the Ming Army, the local strategies were all broken with one attack. Some did not resist at all and directly opened the city.
This was the disadvantage of completely relying on the local gentry to govern themselves. This group of gentry took over the central authority and oppressed the local farmers, destroying the Ming Dynasty's ability to defend itself. When the Manchurian Qing came, the great rivers and mountains were handed over with both hands without any ability to resist.
Just like now, since Xiao Ruxun had entered the army, he had not lost more than 100 people in a single battle. Now, not only did the number of people not decrease, it was also increasing. Most of the local soldiers and generals fled, but there were also many soldiers and generals and generals who surrendered.
There were even soldiers and generals who took the initiative to ask if the Zhennan Army would pay them and if they would eat their fill. After the reply was given, they immediately gave up resisting and directly pulled their troops to surrender, saying that they wanted to suppress those heartless bastards who did not pay and did not eat their fill.
Then, when they turned around and attacked their own people, the fierceness was completely different.
The armaments, materials, and money in the provincial government warehouse were all taken by the Zhennan Army into their own pockets. The entire Zhennan Army was fattened up, and the motivation to continue to fight north was not too strong.
Therefore, Xiao Ruxun quickly formulated the next stage of the strategic goal.
He began to grasp Shen Yicheng's lifeblood. Xiao Ruxun led the main force to march from Guilin Prefecture to the direction of Changsha. His goal was to take down Changsha and then further advance to Wuchang and Jingzhou, and then advance to the direction of Nanjing.
Xiao Ruxun divided the cavalry Wild Lion Battalion to the Guangdong Front Army. The Guangdong Front Army, under the leadership of Xiao Ruzhi, marched all the way to Zhangzhou, Quanzhou, and Fuzhou. They set Fujian as the next target, and further joined up with the Zhennan Army, which had already established a foothold in Ningbo Prefecture, and the navy under Jiang Dahai, who had attacked Zhenjiang Prefecture and Nanjing and cut off the Grand Canal.
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