In mid-April of the fifth year of natural selection (the twenty-sixth year of Qianlong's reign)
The war between Japan's northern and southern kingdoms had been going on for several months and was gradually coming to an end. As the northern kingdom's troops continued to press in, the emperor died of illness in panic. At this time, the emperor's son was too young, so he could only pass the throne to him first. His daughter became the new emperor.
Both sides of the war were jealous and killed each other's civilians. In addition, when the southern country was in short supply of military rations, many civilians were killed to serve as military rations. This battle has directly caused the death of nearly three million people. In addition, a large number of people died of starvation, freezing, and disease, not counting them. It is initially estimated that the total number of people killed in this battle exceeded 5 million.
For Japan, which has a population of only more than 30 million, this is definitely a heavy casualty.
The Southern Kingdom has become lifeless at this time, and the civilians are spending their days in dire straits. Their empty eyes do not reveal any hope for the future, as if they are living just to wait for death. So much so that even the southern army lost its initial vigor and became dead and in chaos.
There was no hope at all in the Southern Kingdom. Out of animal instinct, many Southern civilians began to flee to the Northern Kingdom in order to get a chance of survival.
However, the war between the two countries had wiped out all the surrounding villages for nearly a hundred miles. It was not easy for just three or five people to escape through this uninhabited area and reach the North Country. But once there is a large-scale escape, it is easy to alert the southern army, and then they will be surrounded and hunted.
Therefore, there are many people who escape, but not many people can actually reach the North Country.
The North Kingdom also began to implement the policy of de-emperorization, completely eliminating any information about the Japanese emperor, and equating belief in the emperor with belief in a cult.
During this period, many turmoils broke out in the Northern Kingdom, but they were all bloody suppressed by the powerful force of the Yi army.
In order to continue to survive in the Northern Kingdom, Shintoism, as the state religion, did not hesitate to revise its dogma and changed all the words originally used to support the emperor to loyalty to Emperor Yi, in exchange for Daiyi's support for Shintoism.
Obviously, their bet was right. Shintoism once again gained official recognition and better helped the Yijun to dismantle the emperor's influence on the lower class civilians.
In the same month, Kyoto was besieged, and the female emperor successfully escaped from Kyoto with her royal family members when it was captured.
On the way to escape, the tragic experiences along the way made the newly-elected female emperor deeply aware of the suffering of the people in the southern country. Therefore, after arranging for her younger brother to leave, the Empress Empress Inomachi devoted herself to the Northern Army camp and asked to see Emperor Zhang Rui to end the war in Japan.
After receiving the news that the Japanese Emperor was coming to surrender, Kai-Fu Lee did not dare to show any slightness and could only arrange a ship to escort the female Emperor to Guangzhou to face the Holy Spirit.
After losing control of the emperor, Maori Chong is now at the end of his rope, making the final fight against the trapped beast.
In the same month, Qianlong, who had been planning for a long time, knew that he could not delay it any longer. If the war in Japan continued, the war in Japan would be over, and the strength of the Yi Dynasty would once again rise to a new height.
Everything seems to be the will of God, and history seems to want to correct its own trajectory.
Originally, in order to prevent himself from accidents, Zhang Rui had been living in the palace and rarely going out. However, at this time, Zhang Rui was led by something to leave the palace and go to other provinces. , and then was assassinated and disappeared for nearly a month. Although he finally saved the day and escaped, it also brought considerable turmoil to the empire. ①
After learning about Zhang Rui's assassination and disappearance, Queen Zhu Wanying seemed to be aware of the issues Zhang Rui mentioned to her some time ago. It should be Zhang Rui's explanation as if he had a premonition.
"If one day I suddenly disappear, you must be strong, protect yourself and your children, and bear the burden of the entire empire."
Although Zhang Rui did not explain to Zhu Wanying why he had to explain this, Zhu Wanying just thought that Zhang Rui might be too tired, and comforted him and said: She will definitely do it.
Shortly afterwards, Zhang Rui was assassinated outside. Everything happened so suddenly that Zhu Wanying, who was still breastfeeding, lost her tenderness and replaced it with a cold look.
Soon, the seemingly weak Zhu Wanying controlled the courtiers with the help of the Shadow Guards and Shadow Guards arranged by Zhang Rui. At the same time, she took over the Tiger Talisman and took control of the Guards, the strongest army left by Zhang Rui in the Guangdong and Guangxi regions.
Regarding Queen Dayi's temporary rise to power, the three top generals of the Guards, Chen Side, Gao Liang, and Wei Xin, seemed to have received instructions from Zhang Rui and expressed firm support.
Immediately, Zhu Wanying convened a meeting of the cabinet and six ministers to discuss countermeasures.
The next day, the Da Yi court released news that the assassination of Emperor Da Yi was purely a rumor spread by the Qing Dynasty. Emperor Da Yi went out incognito to investigate and deal with corrupt officials privately. During this period, he had been contacting the court to handle government affairs, so the people could relax.
As soon as the news came out, the originally panicked people felt relieved.
And if Zhang Rui is really in trouble, there will be His Highness the Crown Prince and His Highness the Second Prince.
As long as Da Yi himself is not in chaos, he will still be the most powerful existence.
After Qianlong received the news that Zhang Rui had been assassinated and disappeared, he immediately tore up the agreement and mobilized the three groups of troops that had been prepared.
Order: Fucha and Fu Heng led the Eastern Route Army with 80,000 troops from Shandong to attack Jiangsu. Zhang Jia and Agui led the South Route Army with 100,000 troops from Hebei and marched into Anhui. Wuya and Zhaohui, who had already pacified Northern Xinjiang, led the West Route Army. One hundred thousand entered Hubei from Shaanxi.
At this time, after losing the rich land in the southeast, the Manchu Qing Dynasty could barely support more than 500,000 troops. These troops also had to guard against the resurgence of Xinjiang, guard against the constantly invading Tsarist Russian army, and guard various places to comfort them. , so being able to mobilize nearly 300,000 troops for the southern expedition was Qianlong's greatest effort.
If the Manchus were defeated again in this battle, whether the Manchus could defend the natural dangers of the Yellow River would also be a question.
After taking control of the entire Da Yi court, Zhu Wanying also found information in Zhang Rui's study that only the emperor could know about the distribution of military forces.
The current main army forces of the Yi Dynasty can be roughly divided into seven. Except for the special guards, each unit is about 30,000 to 50,000 people. They are:
The Tiger Army stationed in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is currently led by Li Guozhong (Army Commander) and Jiang Hong (Junzheng); the Chiye Army stationed in Anhui, Jiangxi and parts of Henan is currently led by Wang Yan (Army Commander) and Li Yu (Junzheng); the Zhongyi Army stationed in Hunan and Hubei is currently led by Ma Jiulu (Army Commander) and Qian Lushan (Junzheng);
The Suzaku Army stationed in Fujian and Taiwan is currently led by Li Zhongyi (Commander) and Wu Dashan (Junzheng); the Sharp Knife Army stationed in Guizhou and parts of Sichuan is currently led by Li De (Commander) and Xu Daliang (Junzheng); the Zhongyong Army stationed in Yunnan and Myanmar is currently led by Zhang Zhishan (Army Commander) and Liu Zhe (Junzheng);
The Guards are stationed in other areas and related checkpoints. The Guards has three commanders: Chen Side, Gao Liang, and Wei Xin.
Yi Dynasty also has three major naval military regions, namely the Guangdong Navy, Fujian Navy and Zhejiang Navy.
The Guangdong Navy is in charge of Nanyang, Luzon, the Strait of Malacca, etc., and is currently led by Luo Danchen (Commander) and Wang Mingli (Military Commander); the Fujian Navy is in charge of Fujian, Ryukyu, Japan and other areas, and is currently led by Lin Yiyou (Commander) , Zhu Wang (Military Commander); the Zhejiang Navy governs the Yellow Sea and Korean waters, and is currently led by Zhang Cheng (Military Commander) and Chen Hui (Military Commander);
In addition to the navy, waterways also include naval forces, such as the Yangtze River Navy, Dongting Lake Navy, Panyang Lake Navy, etc.
The distribution of forces crosses each other. If one party makes any changes, it will be quickly surrounded by the forces of the three parties, thereby eliminating the threat.
In addition, the empire also has a unique marine force, numbering about 5,000 people. It is currently led by Officer Hong Xi and is directly under the command of Zhang Rui himself.
Although the number of troops in the army is much smaller than that of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, their strength is incomparable to that of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties. Especially after so many years of peaceful development in Da Yi, the popularity of firearms in the army has reached nearly 100% coverage.
Judging from Da Yi's current military strength, unless more than half of Da Yi's troops are committed to the Manchu side to deal with Guangzhou at the same time, there will be no possibility of Da Yi's fatal collapse.
Note ①: There was originally a longer story here, but considering that some people may find it objectionable, and because I want to quickly end this book that I have been writing for six years, I will not write this story again. If the economic strength improves in the future, I will consider writing it again.
