Wen Anzhi was also very moved by the people's attitude.
This is not surprising. He was the same at the beginning. He felt the difference between Su Yonglin and his men and was deeply moved, so he took the initiative to join them and has been fighting all the way until now.
Nowadays, these people are just walking the same path he once walked. Looking at these people, he seems to see his former self.
So he said something.
"The Ming Dynasty is a country that supports the people and makes decisions. The Ming Army is also the soldiers of the people. The purpose of fighting is not for merit or glory, but for us people to live a good life and have enough to eat.
If you are willing to become a citizen of the Ming Dynasty and join the army of the Ming Dynasty, that is of course a good thing, but the Ming Dynasty prefers that you live. Unless it is absolutely necessary, you must live well. Only by living can you do more things.
Don't beg for death at every turn, don't cherish your own life. Only when you are alive can you have everything, and only when you are alive can you move forward. Who knows that you will not be able to make greater achievements in the future? "
After this conversation, a considerable number of young and strong men in Xiangfan signed up to join the Ming army, and a considerable number of recovered women collectively petitioned to work in the factories in the Ming Dynasty.
Whatever the reason, they don't want to stay here.
This place has brought them too much pain and suffering. Staying here is nothing but pain and suffering. They really don’t want to remember it.
Zhang Yuejing and Wen Anzhi took some time to organize the work here and began to arrange for the people in Xiangfan to go where they wanted to go and do what they wanted to do.
The men who signed up to join the army were admitted into each army according to the vacancy quota, and then collectively entered the recruit camp to start training. After the recruit training was completed, they could officially enter the army to serve.
Their family members will also become dependents and enjoy a series of preferential tax policies and political rights in accordance with the "Military Family Preferential Treatment Law" in the Ming Dynasty.
As for those women who were eager to leave here and start a new life, Wen Anzhi also fulfilled their requests. After asking their families, a considerable number of them were willing to leave Xiangfan with them and go to their new homes to start a new life.
So Wen Anzhi arranged for these people to go to handicraft factories in Henan and asked the local government and factories to arrange them properly.
As for those who are still willing to stay locally, they will naturally be given proper resettlement in accordance with the consistent policies of the Ming Dynasty, and there will be no shortage of land and housing allocation and tax preferential policies in the future.
The Xiangfan area gradually stabilized.
With the Xiangfan area stabilized, there would be no unrest in other places, and the Ming army's operations would proceed smoothly.
What happened in the second city of Xiangfan quickly spread to Zhongdu.
This time, Su Yonglin was not as happy as when he learned that Li Xianzhong had been annihilated.
He was silent for a long time while looking at Zhang Yuejing's description of the entire battle process and the specific situation in the Second City of Xiangfan, as well as the collective request for punishment from the cadres of the Henan Corps Renaissance Association.
At the same time, senior cadres at the Renaissance headquarters were also informed of these things, and they were silent for a long time.
"I thought I would be happy after the victory in this war, but in fact it seems not to be the case."
Su Yonglin put down the battle report in his hand: "Xiangfan has been taken, the Lin'an reinforcements have been wiped out, the land of Jinghu is within easy reach, and the Southern Song Dynasty can be destroyed with a snap of the fingers, but I am not that happy. Everyone, the war in Xiangfan has given us a wake-up call. .
What we are facing is a group of scum, beasts, things that cannot be considered human at all. They only see results and no process. If possible, they will even drag everyone to die with them. They will never give up anything they can. The possibility of staying alive and continuing to do whatever you want.
We don't need to be gentle or give any preferential treatment to this group of people. We should adjust our strategy and deal with this group of people. We don't need to accept their surrender and can just annihilate them on the spot.
We fight all the way so that the people can live a good life, get rid of cruel exploitation and oppression, and have enough food and warm clothes. But if we can't even save their lives, everything else is just a joke. "
Su Yonglin decided to do something and make some changes. He didn't want to see what happened in the Second City of Xiangfan again.
But the good news is that there aren't many cities where this might happen next time.
In the Southern Song Dynasty, there were not many strong defensive cities comparable to the two cities of Xiangfan, and most of the cities did not have that resistance.
This battle fully demonstrated the powerful combat effectiveness of the Ming army's artillery.
During this war, the Ming army's powerful long-range strike firepower greatly suppressed the Song army, caused huge damage to the Song army, and greatly reduced the damage to the Ming army.
According to the actual battle damage and the analysis of the staff headquarters, the Ming army did gain a huge advantage by relying on artillery in this battle. All strategic goals that originally required human lives were achieved with artillery. The artillery also greatly increased the number of Song troops. military casualties.
Throughout the Battle of Xiangfan, the Ming army suffered almost no battle losses in the early stage. The largest battle losses occurred in the final storming of Xiangyang City.
After seven days of forcibly attacking Xiangyang, 796 soldiers of the Ming army were killed and thousands more were injured ranging from minor to serious. The losses were relatively serious.
But in exchange, more people survived, and more people survived without being humiliated and beaten by the Song army.
And a series of subsequent actions won the hearts and minds of the people in Xiangfan.
In response to this situation, Su Yonglin chaired a joint meeting of the Privy Council, the General Staff Headquarters and the Military Affairs Department of the Fuxinghui to discuss Zhang Yuejing's self-imposed punishment.
Some people have pointed out that Zhang Yuejing's behavior caused a large number of casualties in the army, and these casualties did not need to occur in the first place, at least not that many.
The use of new weapons greatly reduced the losses of the Ming army. He could have continued to besiege Xiangyang, waited for the Sichuan-Shu Song army to come for reinforcements, and then surrounded and annihilated the Sichuan-Shu Song army, forcing the Xiangyang Song army into a desperate situation. By then, he might have been able to gain victory with smaller losses. victory.
Some people think that what the Song army did was too bad and completely beyond the scope of all their pre-war deductions. Zhang Yuejing stormed Xiangyang, saved tens of thousands of people, and did not let them continue to be tortured to death by the Song army. This was the right behavior.
Moreover, he attacked Xiangyang with sufficient confidence, and it was not an irrational decision. Under the premise that the basic results were achieved, what Zhang Yuejing did was not considered a mistake and should not be punished.
Few people hold the former view, and the reasons are very good.
There are many people who hold the latter view, and the reasons are very good.
Everyone discussed and discussed, and gradually reached a consensus on the basic conditions for Zhang Yuejing to win the war. The Ming army's strategic goals were successfully achieved, and the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty was inevitable.
The only point of discussion is whether Zhang Yuejing should attack Xiangyang.
After a heated discussion, the final decision rested with Su Yonglin.
Su Yonglin patiently listened to the heated argument with everyone in the congregation, and then spoke slowly.
"Purely from a military perspective, Zhang Yuejing does have a better choice to make. He can continue to surround Xiangyang, squeeze out the last remaining mobile forces of the Southern Song Dynasty, and maximize the benefits for our army's victory. There is no doubt about this. …”
As he spoke, he saw someone raising his hand to speak, and waved his hand to tell him not to rush.
"I haven't finished speaking yet, don't worry, I am analyzing this matter from a purely military perspective, but as we all know, the military is a continuation of politics. For the overall situation of the country, the military can never exist independently of politics.
The military goal we want to achieve in this battle is to eliminate the main mobile force of the Southern Song Dynasty, destroy their ability to launch an offensive, occupy Xiangfan, and cut the Southern Song Dynasty in two. We have already achieved this military goal, but what about our political goal in launching this war? "
Everyone looked at each other.
Kong Maojie raised his hand.
"Killing people and killing people completely destroyed the courage of the Southern Song Dynasty to resist the Ming Dynasty, causing it to be in chaos. The power of the internal peace faction increased greatly, and the power of the war faction declined greatly, and they trapped themselves to death."
Xin Qiji also raised his hand.
"The first battle destroyed the morale of the Southern Song army and made everyone in the Southern Song Dynasty accept the fact that the Ming Dynasty was about to overthrow the Southern Song Dynasty. When the Ming Dynasty went south in the future, the Southern Song Dynasty's resistance would be minimal and meaningless."
Su Yonglin nodded slowly.
"These are all political goals, but not all of them. We destroyed the hearts of the people in the Southern Song Dynasty. Did we increase the hearts of the people? I think this is very important. The officials of the Southern Song Dynasty regarded us as enemies, and the powerful private landlords naturally also regarded us as enemies. enemy.
Affected by them, not to mention all, a considerable number of people in the Southern Song Dynasty regarded us as enemies. We marched, they ran away, we attacked, and they were afraid. Is this our goal?
Of course this is not the case. The people of the Southern Song Dynasty have never been our enemies. The officials, army, and landlords of the Southern Song Dynasty are our enemies. And how can we let the people know that we are not their enemies? Just rely on your mouth to say it?
Of course not, of course we need to personally express that we do not regard them as enemies, but as our own people. We need to treat the people of the Southern Song Dynasty in a completely different way from the way the Southern Song Dynasty treated the people, and even risk our own lives to save them. "
