The Zhennan Army's journey on the Northern Expedition was smooth sailing. The Huguang and Fujian battlefields were one-sided. Wherever the army went, they conquered. The guards could not withstand a single blow. Most of them fled without a fight.
The minority who dared to fight were quickly defeated by the Zhennan Army. The rest were those who surrendered and joined the Zhennan Army.
More and more people were fighting, and more and more territory was being fought. The Zhennan Army's vanguard was getting sharper and sharper.
Meanwhile, on the battlefield in Zhejiang Province, Zheng Ying's troops who occupied Yinxian County were constantly expanding their forces. More than half of the Ningbo Prefecture had been conquered by these 5,000 soldiers. As the number of victories increased and the propaganda spread, these 5,000 soldiers began to expand like a rolling snowball.
By the end of August, Zheng Ying had occupied the entire Ningbo Prefecture, confiscated the properties of five local landlords, and distributed their land to them. His army had expanded to eleven thousand men. Ningbo Prefecture was no longer a problem, and it was time to attack other places in Zhejiang Province.
Speaking of which, these big landlords were really crazy. Only after Zheng Ying saw their real assets did he realize how excessive these people were.
Ninety percent of a county's fertile land was under their name, and less than ten percent of the fertile land was in the hands of some small landowners and rich farmers. The rest of the ordinary farmers only had some barren land, and most of them were tenant farmers or landless farmers.
After further investigation, it was found that these people did not pay taxes on their land. Because they were not from the families of officials, they had the privilege of not paying taxes. They used their connections to avoid taxes by relying on scholars. The only people who paid taxes in the whole county were the farmers who cultivated the barren land.
Because of Xiao Ruxun's order, the wealthy families who used their private soldiers to resist the attack on the Zhennan Army were all killed in the name of the traitor Shen Yicheng's accomplice. No matter who their backer was, it was useless.
If they dared to resist, they would be killed. Then, their property would be confiscated. Their money and goods would be taken away, and the land would be divided equally among the tenants. If there was too much left, they would find the original owner of the land and return it to him.
After a few times, all the influential clans in Ningbo Prefecture had become well-behaved. Initially, they were still cursing and swearing that Wu Qi was a bandit, but now, they didn't even dare to breathe loudly, and none of their disciples dared to step out of their houses.
After all, they did not have the strength to challenge the Zhennan Army, and the writings of scholars were useless against the Zhennan Army.
That was why guns and cannons were the most effective against verbal cannons.
Fortunately, the Zhennan Army was disciplined and did not kill people. They were only maintaining the original order so that some small businessmen could still do business on the streets.
The strange officials who replaced the original county magistrate to start a new administration did not seem to be as inactive as the original officials.
Unknowingly, the people's perception of this army that had suddenly appeared to "serve the heavens and punish the rebels" had changed.
Something was quietly growing.
The various divisions of the Zhennan Army progressed smoothly, riddling the Ming government's southern borders with thousands of holes. The hinterland of Jiangnan was completely exposed under the Zhennan Army's military peak. There was almost no army or power that could pose a threat to the Zhennan Army's attack.
Of course, this was almost, but not completely.
On the 15th of the eighth month, on the battlefield in Sichuan, the troops under Liu Gu and Ma Wei, who had been progressing smoothly, encountered a small problem.
According to the situation in Sichuan, Liu Gu and Ma Wei had been following the strategy of saying hello to the chieftains and going around them. When they encountered places governed by officials, they would attack or persuade them to stay behind and guard them.
Fortunately, there were many chieftains in southern Sichuan, and the places governed by Han officials were relatively few. Therefore, it did not take much effort. After capturing some passes, they smoothly advanced.
The two of them advanced separately. After capturing Dongchuan Prefecture, they went to Wumeng Prefecture and Mahu Prefecture, and then to Wusa Prefecture, Zhenxiong Prefecture, and Xuzhou Prefecture. Their goal was to join forces with Jianwei, capture Jiading Prefecture, and open up the road to Chengdu.
One persuaded the other to surrender, and the other persuaded the other to surrender. Along the way, they used deception and persuasion. After fighting a few battles, the number of troops increased. As for food and logistics, it was easy to solve. They could either open the warehouse to get food, or directly do business with the chieftains to buy food, or use the goods in the warehouse to exchange with them.
Just like that, their progress was smooth. Liu Gu even proudly said that with his reputation, he could lead Ma Wei to fight from Kunming to Chengdu without any obstacles. Maybe by the time they reached Chengdu, the Sichuan Inspector-General would have already run away, and Chengdu would be conquered.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, the other side directly slapped him in the face.
He was in trouble.
On the 15th of the eighth month, Liu Gu and Ma Wei led the troops to rendezvous at Muchuan Prefecture. After resting for a day, they reorganized the army, which had expanded to nearly 40,000 troops, and gathered the troops to advance north. Their target was Jianwei.
However, not long after they left, they received news from the sentries in front of them.
Half a day ago, General Xiao, the vanguard led by Liu Gu suffered a defeat ten miles south of Jianwei. Dozens of their men were killed, and they retreated in defeat. Now, they were gathering the defeated troops and planning to fight again. However, they might need reinforcements, because the enemy had a lot of people, about a few thousand.
Liu Gu was immediately stunned.
There were still people resisting?
"Who has such guts? They actually dare to resist? Aren't they afraid that I will directly lead the troops to kill them?! "
This matter in front of Ma Wei was still quite embarrassing for Liu Gu. He, Liu Dadao, was famous in more than half of Daming, and even more so in front of Ma Wei. In the end, he had just bragged and was slapped in the face, so it was no wonder that he was very angry.
"It's the White Pole Soldiers!"
Hearing this name, Liu Gu was stunned for a moment.
"The White Pole Soldiers? That's a little far. In other words, Chengdu is already prepared and is mobilizing troops? That's a little difficult. "
"White Pole Soldiers?"
Ma Wei asked curiously.
He was a little interested in this army that could defeat Liu Gu's vanguard.
Liu Gu said with a little fear, "Yes, the White Pole Army. It's an elite troop under the command of Zhongzhou's Shizhu Proclamation Commissioner Ma Qiancheng. This troop is quite famous in Sichuan. They can fight hard battles, are well trained, and have good equipment. The most peculiar thing is that it's a woman who trains them."
"A woman?!"
Ma Wei's eyes widened. "Are all the women in Sichuan so fierce? And they can even be officers? Are they aliens? "
Liu Gu shook his head.
"No, they are also Han people, but only this woman. Not others. But there are many chieftains in Sichuan, and some tribes do have women fighting. I don't know if it's because of the influence. This woman's surname is Qin, and she is Ma Qiancheng's legal wife. She helped Ma Qiancheng train the White Pole Soldiers."
Ma Wei suddenly became interested.
"A female general? I've never heard of a woman training an army. Not even the wife of a general, right? How did she do it? "
Liu Gu narrowed his eyes.
"I don't know much. I've only seen the White Pole Soldiers a few times. I heard that this woman has been practicing martial arts since she was a child, and she is familiar with military books. She is very talented. After marrying Ma Qiancheng, she persuaded Ma Qiancheng to train an army suitable for fighting in the mountainous areas of Sichuan.
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