The Rise of History’s Most Powerful Empire

In fact, after the Ming Dynasty regained the six southern provinces, although its strength has recovered somewhat, at least its strategic depth has expanded by more than half. However, the overall strength did not increase much, but declined.

The six southern provinces were just taken by Zhong Yu not long ago. Although the process of Zhong Yu's capture was relatively peaceful and there was no major war, the overall impact was still somewhat, and the economy and people's livelihood of the six provinces suffered some damage.

And when the Ming court sent a large army to recover the lost land, the war was even more tragic. One wanted to get back his lost place, and the other wanted to use this to delay time. The two sides fought without holding back at all. How cruel is it? how come.

In this process, it is common to forcibly deploy strong men to defend the city, or send cannon fodder to mine, or even directly kill civilians meaninglessly to vent their anger.

Under such circumstances, the people everywhere are miserable. Not only are their lives not guaranteed at any time, but they also face high taxes due to the war. They are forced to break their homes and money, and sell their children and daughters to survive. .

And this situation lasted for three full years in the six southern provinces. Three years is very short, but that is for a dynasty or a cultivator. For ordinary people, three years is not a short time, equivalent to 1/20 of their life.

Three years of military disasters, plus a period of natural disasters, the epidemics occurred due to too many dead bodies that were not dealt with, and the plagues were rampant everywhere. It can be said that the six southern provinces have completely become a hell on earth.

By the time the power of the Imperial Kingdom completely withdrew from the six southern provinces and the Ming Dynasty regained its southern territory, the land had become completely barren.

The six provinces originally had a combined population of more than 80 million, but now there are only 20 to 30 million left. Apart from some people who were killed or injured due to the war, most of them were caused by large-scale population deaths caused by famine and plague.

Good fields everywhere were abandoned, cities and towns were ruined, and the people had no food left in their homes, and they were looking for food in the wilderness. Everything they thought could or could not be eaten was eaten up.

The Ming Dynasty took over such a mess, for the sake of the righteousness of the court, naturally it cannot ignore it, and must find a way to deal with it.

Therefore, the money and food that were in short supply in the Ming Dynasty were slowly transferred to the south, and officials from all over the country embezzled a sum and then distributed it to the hungry people, slowly guiding them to restore the production economy, and building the southern six villages little by little. Province.

This is not an easy task. It is estimated that it will take at least 34 years of hard work to restore the stability of people's livelihood in various places and stop the large-scale exodus of people due to famine.

Under such circumstances, it was naturally difficult to maintain the crusade army of the Ming Dynasty, which had reached millions.

It's not that the Ming Dynasty couldn't form such a large army, but that the money and food in the treasury were really hard to support the relief of the six southern provinces, and it was necessary to maintain the army's crusade.

So the princes of the court thought and thought, and after some discussion, they waved their pens.

The army of one million left 400,000 as garrisons in the six southern provinces. On the one hand, they suppressed the scattered bandits and routs, and on the other hand, they were alert to the attacks of South Korea and Wei. Since then, they have taken root in the six southern provinces.

Although the remaining 600,000 troops are still large, the rear of the imperial court can barely maintain the expedition of 600,000 troops.

The foundation of the Imperial Kingdom in the four eastern provinces is not comparable to that of the six southern provinces. Although it is not deep, it is not like before when all the soldiers turned against each other.

Among the four eastern provinces, Dongjiang Province has the deepest foundation, because they have been abandoned by the imperial court, and legally no longer belong to the imperial court. And Zhong Yu, as a rebel, rescued this land from the hands of the Huangshan demon king, and saved the fate of these people from being treated as food by those monsters. He was born with such a halo.

Therefore, Dongjiang Province has the deepest foundation, and the soldiers recruited from here have the least sense of belonging to the imperial court, and even have such a trace of hatred.

As for the other three surrounding provinces, although they were not abandoned by the imperial court, they were not affected by the cholera of the Yaozu.

But they had seen what happened to Dongjiang Province with their own eyes before, and although they didn't say anything, they still felt a little sad psychologically.

During the days when the Huangshan Demon King was in chaos, the people in the surrounding provinces were very worried. They were afraid that when the Huangshan Demon King led troops to fight, the court would compromise and send them to the Huangshan Demon King. as food.

Under this atmosphere of thinking, when they heard the news that the Huangshan demon king was beheaded by a rebel army and all the demons were expelled and wiped out, they couldn't hide the excitement in their hearts.

Therefore, they are not against the rule of Yuguo at all. Although they have certain feelings for the rule of the Ming Dynasty, they are basically in the same position.

Recruiting troops from these three provinces, although they can't be expected to have high morale, it is still hard to believe that they will not be defeated immediately after the battle, or even defect directly.

Relying on this not so deep foundation, Zhong Yu started a large-scale military expansion in the four eastern provinces when the Ming Dynasty attacked the six southern provinces.

The four eastern provinces are located in the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty, with fertile land and a large population, gathering countless essences of the Ming Dynasty.

Recruiting soldiers and horses here, not only do you not have to worry about money and food, but also have ample supply, and you can squander it at will. It is also because of the large population that they can get better sources of soldiers.

In such a situation where people have money and people, as soon as the recruitment order was issued, 400,000 troops were recruited in an instant, and there will be a steady stream of people coming to join the army. I am afraid that by the time the war begins, Zhong Yu will be able to call up millions. The army is nothing to worry about.

With such a sufficient number of soldiers and horses, coupled with the fact that the loyalty of the soldiers and horses can be guaranteed, it is definitely wishful thinking for the Ming Dynasty to want to easily take over the four eastern provinces.

The sweetness released before was enough, and it successfully caused the Ming Dynasty to relax its vigilance.

From the fact that there is not a single strong man above the sixth rank at all, it can be seen that the Ming Dynasty is quite afraid of the strong men above the sixth rank on the Yuguo side.

Obviously, the Ming Dynasty has been completely immersed in this game where low-level soldiers decide the ownership of the territory.

The powerhouses of the sixth to seventh ranks, the Ming Dynasty, are not the opponents of Yuguo. Sending the powerhouses of the eighth rank violates the rules, and it is very easy to arouse hostility and sanctions from the eighth rank masters of surrounding countries.

Like the current game where the bottom-level soldiers alone decide the outcome, not only Zhong Yu's plan to delay time, but also the heart of the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.