After the capture of Junzhou, Xiang Nan opened warehouses to release grain, exempted and exempted taxes, punished corrupt officials, and established his glorious image of being "benevolent and righteous, upholding justice for heaven, upholding crimes against the people, and eradicating violence to bring peace and justice".
Xiang Nan is well aware of the principle that "the right person will get more help, but the wrong person will get less help".
Some people rebel only for their own interests, like mountain kings, robbing food, money and women. As soon as I made some achievements, I started to enjoy myself and started to fall.
Even if the people support them at first, they will eventually oppose them and cast aside them.
There are countless similar examples throughout the ages.
Xiang Nan has great ambitions and will not be limited to the small interests in front of him.
Therefore, although the rebel army is now short of food, money, and people, he still chooses to open warehouses to provide relief, reduce taxes, and benefit the public.
And his actions also won him the support of the people.
When the army set out, the team that originally had only 3,000 people quickly expanded to 10,000 people.
Moreover, Xiang Nan's slogan of "doing justice for heaven" has been completely shouted, and it soon spread to all women and children in Jingxiang.
Even children can sing, "There is a dragon on Wudang Mountain. Emperor Zhenwu teaches magical skills, opens warehouses, releases food, kills corrupt officials, and practices justice for heaven."
After capturing Junzhou, Xiang Nan took advantage of the situation and attacked Xiangyang.
As a large city, Xiangyang was originally guarded by 20,000 troops.
But Xiang Nan single-handedly attacked the city tower, opened the city gate, and let the rebel army enter the city.
Although Xiangyang's garrison numbered over 10,000, none could defeat Xiang Nan.
After the rebels entered the city, they started hand-to-hand combat with the defenders.
The city was invaded, and the morale of the defenders was already very low. Xiang Nan raised his sword again, and in the first round, he killed the defending general under his horse.
After losing their commander, the Xiangyang defenders lost morale and quickly surrendered.
Xiang Nan took the opportunity to capture Xiangyang City, and then proclaimed himself General Zhenwu, and his army was officially named Zhenwu Army.
…
At this time, Xu Shouhui in Anhui, Zhang Shicheng in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Han Shantong in Ganzhou, Fang Guozhen in Taizhou... all established their own political power one after another, and some of them became kings and hegemons.
Xiang Nan, a mere general, seemed to have no standing in front of these princes.
But Xiang Nan knew that becoming king was not a good thing. The sooner you become king, the easier it is to become a target of attack. Just like the Three Kingdoms era, Yuan Shu was the first to proclaim himself emperor, but he was also the first to be besieged and killed.
Xiangyang is a battleground for military strategists. After it is occupied, it should be dealt with more carefully. Otherwise, "losing Jingzhou due to carelessness" will happen again.
After capturing Xiangyang, Xiang Nan disrupted and reorganized the original Xiangyang garrison, eliminated the old, weak, sick and disabled, and finally formed two armies of 6,000 men each, and then sent an army north to attack Zhengyang.
At the same time, a series of tasks such as census, land distribution, disaster relief, and investigation of unjust cases were carried out in Xiangyang.
He wants to make Xiangyang his base, so he naturally wants to manage it well.
Unlike some anti-kings. After seizing the territory, instead of protecting the territory and the people and eradicating violence, they resorted to expropriation and expropriation, asking for money, food and grass from the people in the city, and even committed rape, robbery, burning, killing and smashing, and committed all kinds of evil.
Such people can only be called "anti-thieves" and are despised by all people.
Xiang Nan naturally wouldn't be like this.
He knows that the people are wealth, and only by treating them well will they truly support him.
Therefore, he will try his best to help people do good deeds and do practical things.
…
Under his careful management, the people in Xiangyang City, despite the war, not only were not harmed, but also benefited.
In particular, Xiang Nan confiscated the land of corrupt officials, local tyrants, and evil gentry and distributed it to the people for farming. Moreover, after destroying the deeds of sale and usury IOUs they signed, they even gained the support of the people in the city.
Because of this, Xiang Nan received the support of public opinion.
After people in many areas learned about this, they were eager for Xiang Nan to call over.
Even children know, "The true martial arts army is for the poor. It kills corrupt officials and bad people. It divides the fields and gold and silver. With the true martial arts army, the people can stand up for themselves."
Under such public praise, Xiang Nan's momentum naturally increased.
Upon seeing this, various sects and forces from all over the country came to vote one after another.
In less than a month, Xiang Nan's army had expanded to 50,000 troops, and its power had expanded from the previous two cities to half of Jiangbei Province.
Compared with Han Shantong, Xu Shouhui, Fang Guozhen, Zhang Shicheng, etc. who achieved success early, they are not behind at all.
…
In the following six months, Xiang Nan fought steadily and successively conquered Nanyang, Suizhou, Xinyang, Jingzhou and other places, and his power became stronger and stronger.
And because wherever he went, he opened warehouses to provide relief, divided the fields equally, settled unjust cases, tried corrupt officials... and did a series of things to win the hearts and minds of the people, so the people became more and more supportive.
As the saying goes, if you get the right way, you will get more help, but if you get the wrong way, you will get less help.
Because what Xiang Nan did was deeply popular with the people, when other rebel kings still needed to forcibly recruit soldiers and people, Xiang Nan was able to respond to a hundred calls and recruit millions of troops anytime and anywhere.
Of course, because there are not that many weapons or that much food and grass for the time being, Xiang Nan maintains a total force of only 100,000. Unlike other rebel kings who always gathered millions of soldiers.
However, although Xiang Nan only has 100,000 troops, they are all elite soldiers. And these 100,000 elite soldiers are enough.
When the Mongols launched an expedition to the Western Regions and reached Eastern Europe, the number of troops they used was only 200,000.
Moreover, mobilizing too many soldiers will cause a lot of trouble.
The first is the supply of food and grass. One hundred thousand elite soldiers must consume two thousand shi of food a day. In ancient times, grain output was very low. An acre of wheat produced less than one stone, and an acre of rice produced only two stones. Therefore, a day's ration for 100,000 people is equivalent to the output of more than 1,000 acres of land.
If there were one million soldiers, the number would have to be increased ten times, which would be a huge burden on logistics.
Moreover, only 100,000 elite soldiers were recruited, but the remaining 900,000 people could engage in farming, business, and work, and contribute to the development of the base area.
On the contrary, if millions of soldiers are gathered, no one will cultivate the land, no one will make goods, no one will transport them, and no one will buy or sell them, which will bring agriculture, industry, and commerce to a standstill.
Secondly, when there are too many soldiers, it becomes difficult to manage them.
It is said that big trees have dead branches, not to mention the ancient belief that "good men should not be soldiers". Most of the people who are willing to become soldiers are scoundrels, and they become soldiers just to gain this skin.
Many soldiers took advantage of the war to rob, extort, rape and plunder, and committed many evil deeds. Therefore, there is a saying that "bandits pass like a comb, soldiers pass like a grate".
When soldiers do evil, they are even more hateful than bandits and bandits.
Therefore, Xiang Nancai refined his troops and streamlined his administration, and was extremely strict with his subordinates. Wherever he went, he followed the three rules and made no mistakes. If there is any violation, even if it is a disciple of a well-known and upright sect or a subordinate who has made great military achievements, he will be severely punished.
Over time, the reputation of Xiang Nan's Zhenwu Army rose sharply, and in the eyes of the people, it was no less than that of Prince Yue Wu Muyue's Yue Family Army. Because of this, more and more talents are coming to seek refuge. The world gathered together to respond, and the food and scenery followed.
(End of chapter)
