Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 87: Restoration Army Governor's Office and Eastward Strategy

Looking at the angry Li Yi, the generals were filled with righteous indignation and cursed Xiao Chaogui for his despicableness.

At this moment, Wang An stood up and said.

"General, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is acting unfairly, the top brass are fighting for power, and internal strife is becoming increasingly serious."

"Even an old minister like the Southern King who worked hard and made great contributions died in internal strife. I think the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is not for us."

"Staying in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will not allow us to realize our ambition to drive out the Tartars and restore China."

"I also ask the general to step forward and lead us to break away from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, take up the banner of anti-Qing, and call on heroes from all over the world to fight against the Qing. We are willing to follow you through fire and water and die!"

Seeing this, all the generals stood up and advised in unison.

"Please lead us to escape from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom."

Upon hearing this, Li Yi did not agree immediately, but waved his hands repeatedly and said.

"No, no, how can this be done?"

"The King of the South has been very kind to me. If the King of the South dies, I will lead my people to leave the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. How will the world view me then?"

"How could Li do such an ungrateful thing?"

"Please don't mention this matter again!"

Upon hearing this, Fan Xiyuan immediately followed up with his persuasion.

"General, it is precisely because the Southern King has been so kind to you that you need to leave the Kingdom of Heaven."

"The death of the Southern King was caused by a traitor, but this traitor is a high-ranking member of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. If you don't leave the Heavenly Kingdom, how can he let you go?"

"By then, not to mention revenge for the Southern King, even you yourself will sooner or later die in the internal strife of the Heavenly Kingdom."

"The betrayal at Dahuangjiangkou is still fresh in our minds."

"I hope the general will think twice!"

Li Yi's expression wavered when he heard this, but he continued to shake his head.

"How can this be done?"

"The King of the South has just passed away. I can't let him down!"

Just then, there was a commotion outside the hall.

Chen Chengrong rushed in from outside, knelt in the middle of the hall, kowtowed to Li Yi and spoke.

"King Nan...King Nan died such a tragic death!"

"General, please remember our past friendship and avenge the King of the South!"

Upon seeing this, all the generals bowed down.

"General, please leave the Heavenly Kingdom as soon as possible and avenge the King of the South!"

"General, please leave the Heavenly Kingdom as soon as possible and avenge the King of the South!"

"..."

Seeing this, Li Yi had no choice but to speak "reluctantly".

"Well, all right!"

"You guys really made me suffer..."

Of course, this reluctance was just an act. Deep down inside, Li Yi's mouth corners were harder to suppress than AK.

After the three refusal scenes were over, Li Yi still sat upright in his seat, looked around, and spoke in a very dignified voice.

"The King of the South was murdered by a traitor and died tragically under the city of Yong'an. I, a former subordinate of the King of the South, am afraid that I will not be tolerated by others in the future."

"One is to avenge the Southern King, and the other is to protect myself. This is Li's decision."

"From now on, our army will change its flag and banner and officially separate from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom."

After speaking, Li Yi paused for a moment and then spoke.

"With 'expelling the Tartars, restoring China, revitalizing the mountains and rivers, and equalizing land rights' as the core program, the word 'Guangfu' was taken from 'Guangfu Shenzhou', and the Guangfu Army was established, and the Guangfu Army Governor's Office was set up."

"This general has appointed himself as the Grand Commander of the Restoration Army, and will be in charge of all military and political affairs under the Governor's Office."

"From now on, this general will hold high the banner of resistance against the Qing dynasty, and will not give up the ambitions of the Hongwu Emperor. I will fight to restore China, to restore order, and for all the people of the world!"

“I hope that you will continue to encourage each other, share the glory and wealth, guard against arrogance and impatience, remember your original intention, and always bear in mind our ambitions today!”

“And keep working hard for it!”

Upon hearing this, all the generals bowed down.

"We pay our respects to the Grand Commander. Long live the Grand Commander, long live the Restoration Army!"

"We pay our respects to the Grand Commander. Long live the Grand Commander, long live the Restoration Army!"

Li Yi nodded slightly.

"Generals, please don't hesitate to stand up!"

After everyone got up from the ground and sat down, Li Yi continued speaking.

"The establishment of the army has been finalized."

"Plus, the Qing demons are now paying attention to the Taiping Army. This is a great opportunity for our army to expand outward and gain more living space."

"Let's discuss this together. Which direction should our army move in next?"

As he spoke, Li Yi signaled for someone to hang up a map in the center of the lobby for everyone to see.

Upon hearing this, Fan Xiyuan stood up and pointed at the map and spoke.

"Reporting to the Grand Commander, I think our army's first step should be to capture Cenxi County and stabilize our rear, and then move north to capture Tengxian, Wuzhou and other places to open up a passage to Guangdong in the east."

"Once our army has gained a firm foothold in Wuzhou, we can go down the Xijiang River and drive straight to the city of Guangzhou."

"If our army can successfully capture Guangzhou and Guangdong and Guangxi can unite, then the foundation of the Governor's Office can be established and great achievements can be expected!"

At the end of the speech, Fan Xiyuan couldn't help but feel a little excited.

This was the development strategy of the Restoration Army that he and Li Yi had discussed privately for a long time.

What is the most important thing in conquering the world?
The first is money and food, the second is manpower, and the third is talent.

As long as we can capture Guangzhou, Guangdong and Guangxi will be connected.

Then you can get the money and food from Guangdong, the excellent military force from Guangxi, and the large number of outstanding talents who are willing to open their eyes to the world from Guangzhou.

Going east is indeed the best option for the Governor's Office at the moment!

After saying that, Fan Xiyuan continued.

"At the same time, our army can also send a small division to cross the Yunkai Mountains and head to Xinyi, Guangdong, to coordinate with Ling Shiba's troops in Xinyi."

"In this way, we can reinforce Ling Shiba's troops and serve as a support for each other to share the military pressure of Qing Yao."

"We can also use the offensive against Xinyi to make the Qing army think that our army's main attack direction is in Xinyi, thereby misleading the Guangdong Qing demons to deploy defenses in the direction of Xinyi."

"In this way, the Qing demons will inevitably relax their defense along the Xijiang River, and our army can take this opportunity to drive straight to Guangzhou through the Xijiang River!"

After listening to this, Li Yi nodded slightly, looked around, and then asked.

"Mr. Fan's suggestion is very good. Does anyone have any different opinions?"

Wang An heard this and stood up and spoke.

"Your Highness, I think that while our army is marching eastward, we can also send a detachment westward to capture Xunzhou."

"If our army can capture Xunzhou, we can recruit young men from Xunzhou as soldiers and get help from the people of Xunzhou. The prestige of the Governor's Office will surely be greatly boosted."

The main reason why Wang An wanted to attack Xunzhou was because he and Li Yi were both from Xunzhou.

In this era, if you want to conquer the world, you have to rely on your fellow countrymen.

If you can get help from your fellow villagers, everything will be twice as easy.

Li Yi nodded in agreement, and began to ponder in his mind. After a moment, he spoke.

"What you two said makes sense!" "In that case, let's take Cenxi first and then attack Teng County."

"After we capture Teng County, we can send out separate divisions to capture Xunzhou and go to Xinyi to support Ling Shiba's troops in the battle."

"Once all the Qing demons in Guangdong are attracted to Xinyi, our army will concentrate its main forces, capture Wuzhou, and march towards Guangdong along the Xijiang River!"

It is obvious that Li Yi regarded the attack on Xunzhou and Xinyi as part of a strategic fraud to mislead the Qing army into making military arrangements in Xinyi.

In his eyes, Xunzhou is important, but going east to Guangdong is still the first priority.

All the current actions of the Restoration Army must make way for the war to the east!

Upon hearing this, everyone clasped their fists.

"The Grand Commander is wise!"

Li Yi nodded slightly and then said.

"Pass the order down, all units of our army must immediately begin preparations for the expedition, without any mistakes!"

Upon hearing this, all the generals responded in unison.

……

Outside Guiyi Town, Zhaojia Village.

Zhao Tiegen was holding a hoe in his hand and wearing a straw hat to protect himself from the sun, and he was busy weeding the ground.

In order to prevent his clothes from being worn by grass leaves, he simply took off his clothes and worked in the fields naked.

After all, the skin can heal after being scratched and abraded, and it can even form thick calluses if it is scratched several times.

But if his clothes were torn or worn out, he would have no money to buy new clothes.

Unlike later generations when the textile industry was highly developed, clothes were actually a luxury item in this era.

For poor families, it is often a piece of clothing with patches on top of patches, and the whole family has to take turns wearing it.

Of course you have to treasure it!
The sun in May was very scorching, shining directly on Zhao Tiegen's body. Soon, a layer of oily sweat appeared on his back, wetting his dark skin and making it look shiny.

Zhao Tiegen was busy until noon, when he stopped what he was doing, wiped the sweat off his face, then straightened up and stretched his waist which was sore from bending over for a long time.

After doing all this, he put on the clothes he had taken off earlier and put aside, and sat on the ridge of the field with a hoe in hand.

He took off his straw hat and fanned himself while waiting for his wife to bring him food.

Although most people in this era only eat two meals a day, it is the busy farming season after all, so you have to eat something to fill your stomach at noon.

I looked up at the ten acres of paddy fields in front of me, and the lush and green rice that had already grown to a long section.

The fatigue in Zhao Tiegen's body receded like the tide in an instant.

That’s right, the land in front of you belongs to Zhao Tiegen.

To be precise, it was after Zhao Tiegen's son joined the army that the Li family army allocated the Anjiatian to the Zhao family.

Ten acres of land per person!
It doesn't sound like much, but in this era, ten acres of land is enough to make people willingly work for you.

Moreover, unlike distributing land to ordinary farmers, farmers need to pay ten years of rent before they can own the land.

The Li family army directly gave ownership of the land to the soldiers and their families to settle down.

In other words, as long as someone in your family is serving in the army, these ten acres of land will be yours!
When Zhao Tiegen thought about the harvest he would get during the autumn harvest this year, he couldn't hide the smile on his face.

Zhao Tiegen didn't have to wait long before he saw a man walking towards the ridge of a field in the distance.

Zhao Tiegen took a closer look and looked obviously surprised.

As the others approached, Zhao Tiegen couldn't help but ask.

"Second brother, shouldn't you be in the army now? Why are you back?"

The Zhao family had three sons in total. Unfortunately, the eldest son died of illness just a few years after he was born. Now there are only two sons left.

In fact, Zhao Tiegen originally wanted to join the army and buy ten acres of good land for his family.

But there was no way. Zhao Tiegen was old and in poor health, and the Li family army didn't want him.

Finally, after a fierce psychological struggle, Zhao Tiegen decided to let his second son join the army, while he would stay at home and farm with his youngest son, who had just turned ten years old.

Hearing this, Zhao He scratched his bald head shyly and said.

"Dad, we just received a military order. The army will be marching to the battle soon."

"Before we set out, the army gave us a day off so we could go home and visit our family."

As he spoke, Zhao He stepped forward and took the farm tools from his father's hands.

"Dad, please put aside the work in the fields for now. I brought some wine and meat from town when I came back this time. Let's go home and have some food and drinks as a farewell to me."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Tiegen asked with a look of surprise and worry on his face.

"Going to war? Going to war?"

"Is it the Qing Yao who is attacking?"

It had not been long since the Li family army took control of Cenxi, but Zhao Tiegen had already been influenced. When referring to the Qing army, he unconsciously used the derogatory term "Qing demons".

Zhao He shook his head and said.

"Dad, it's not mentioned above. I don't know about this either."

Seeing this, Zhao Tiegen stopped asking questions and nodded immediately.

"Okay, let's go home now."

The father and son walked together on the road and soon returned home.

He simply washed his hands and face and sat down at the dining table.

Zhao He's mother brought them a big pot of fragrant rice porridge, as well as a pot of cooked sweet potatoes and corn, which was the family's lunch.

Zhao He was carrying a jar of wine and a lotus leaf bag and placed them on the table.

The third brother Zhao Hu took the lotus leaf package and opened it. Inside was a greasy roast chicken, which made him drool.

Zhao He tore off a chicken leg and stuffed it into his third brother's hand.

Then he opened the wine seal, used one hand to suppress his third brother who was holding the chicken leg and eager to drink, and with the other hand he poured a full bowl of wine for himself and his father.

Zhao Tiegen picked up the bowl filled with wine, took a small sip, showed an expression of enjoyment, and spoke.

"Good wine, good wine!"

"Come on, let's have a father-son clash!"

As they talked, the father and son clinked their glasses, and then Zhao Tiegen began to give instructions.

"Second brother, you are about to go to the battlefield. Daddy needs to warn you."

"When we get to the battlefield, you must listen to General Li, kill more enemies, and make more contributions. Even if you don't have to make great achievements, you must also be worthy of the land that General Li gave to our Zhao family."

"Otherwise, even if the military law allows you, I, as your father, will not acknowledge you as my son."

But what he urged was not that his son should be careful on the battlefield, but hide if possible to save his life.

Instead, he asked his son to work hard to kill the enemies and make more contributions!

The reason for this is actually because of the land!

The Zhao family was originally just a tenant family. They had no land of their own and in previous years they relied on renting land from landlords and doing odd jobs in the mines to make a living.

As a result, after working hard all year round, not only could they not fill their stomachs, but they also owed the landlord a lot of starvation.

Life is very poor!

Zhao Tiegen suffered enough from not having any land in the first half of his life.

It was also because of this that he sent his son to join the army after Li’s army announced that soldiers would be given land.

You know, this is his biological son.

As a father, how can you not love your son?
(End of this chapter)