Volume 1 Jiangdong Fengyun Chapter 56 Strategic Objectives
"Jiang Qin of Shouchun/Zhou Tai of Xiacai, greet the lord!" Jiang Qin and Zhou Tai took off their armor at the same time and bowed down.
"Get up quickly...with the help of Youping and Gongyi, we can win the four counties of Jiangdong!" Bai Tu praised without paying any money.
Gan Ning watched from the side with a frown on his face.
Although they were all pirates, there were still some differences between them - if Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin didn't become pirates, they would either go home and be honest men, or take a gamble and join a feudal lord. Without special opportunities, it would take an unknown amount of time for them to become a captain... and if Gan Ning didn't work hard to be a pirate, he would have to return to his hometown, accept his family's recommendation, and become a county magistrate with a rank of 600 stones or something. After a few years, he might be able to become a prefect, but he would not be happy at all.
It is this difference that makes Bai Tu's appreciation have completely different value in their eyes.
However, Jiang Qin and Zhou Tai did not immediately and unconditionally flatter Bai Tu. They also asked Bai Tu about their old subordinates.
Gan Ning had mentioned before that not everyone could join the army, but they would be properly arranged - this was Bai Tu's promise, and Gan Ning didn't know how it would be arranged.
Anyway, if these people are allowed to roam freely, they may not commit crimes, but most of them will become idle and cause trouble to the local people after spending all their severance pay.
"Don't worry, both of you. From now on, the governor's office in Yangzhou will have a Ministry of Works under it. We will need a large number of workers, and all treatment will be preferential. A few hundred people... are just a drop in the bucket." Bai Tu said.
"Ministry of Works? The lord means... to make them craftsmen?" Jiang Qin was still a little worried. These guys were clumsy and would end up doing only hard labor.
"Don't worry, you can learn if you don't know how. Just like papermaking and printing, other people didn't know how to do it before... There will be work if you really can't learn it. In the future, the Ministry of Industry will be a very important department... Well, a very important government office, the kind that allocates 'laborers' who are in short supply." Bai Tu said.
"Thank you for your care, my lord!" Jiang Qin said immediately.
At this point, the first battle with Yuan Shu came to an end.
Bai Tu also rewarded people according to their merits. Chen Gong and Lu Bu ranked first, Gan Ning ranked second, and Ding Feng, Zhou Tai, Jiang Qin... also received rewards.
At the same time, with the captives brought back by Gan Ning and others, Zhang Xun brought 20,000 troops to Jiangdong, Bai Tu captured more than 10,000 captives, and more were searched and brought back...
As for the Ji Zao soldiers who could not be found and did not die on the spot, they will dissipate after a period of time. Instead, the Ji Zao soldiers who died in the battle need to be dealt with.
After discussing with Chen Gong, Bai Tu decided to employ these captives, who were more in number than all the troops under their command - otherwise they could choose to divide them into laborers.
When officers command captured troops, they will not be able to use them as they wish immediately, and they will be more easily instigated due to the influence of their place of origin. For example, if Bai Tu immediately used them to attack Huainan, they would be easily instigated by the enemy's generals to defect.
However, Bai Tu was now eager to take advantage of the opportunity when Yuan Shu was hurt and conquer the four counties of Jiangdong as soon as possible, so he did not want to waste these troops.
All officers below the rank of Dubo in the army were demoted, sergeants who could not be demoted any further, and generals above Dubo who were untrustworthy were dismissed - killing prisoners was an absolute taboo in Bai Tu's eyes, so they were all taken to Cheng Ji, who directly overdrew manpower and broke their military tokens, and then... he processed Qu'a's household registration and made him an ordinary person from then on.
Of course, Bai Tu looked through the list of junior officers above Du Bo several times and confirmed that there was no one familiar on it...
Later, with the hundreds of pirates brought by Gan Ning who could join the army... no, soldiers, Bai Tu directly incorporated them into the army, not fearing that the surrendered people, who accounted for less than one-third of the grassroots, would cause trouble.
Bai Tu was also in the army, and he declared to the surrendered tribes of Huainan - don't miss Huainan, it won't be long before Jiujiang and Lujiang, which were supposed to be part of Yangzhou, will return to the jurisdiction of the governor!
At the same time, focusing on the present, Bai Tu also ordered General Gan Ning to be the governor of Danyang and lead an army of 5,000 to station in Danyang County in order to gain complete control. After that, he could recruit 5,000 new soldiers in spring and summer and train the navy in Wuhu.
He appointed Chen Gong as the governor of Wujun, and ordered him to lead 5,000 surrendered soldiers and 2,000 former troops from Qu'a to attack Yan Baihu in the south and seize the entire territory of Wujun.
As for Yuzhang and Kuaiji, Bai Tu was not worried. As long as he could recapture Danyang and make Yuzhang connected with Bai Tu's seat of government again, Hua Xin had no reason to oppose him, a legitimate governor of the court who was also a "great scholar".
Similarly, as long as Yan Baihu of Wujun is eliminated, the famous Wang Lang should also come directly to surrender - this is the benefit brought by Bai Tu's reputation. This kind of great Confucian scholar who has no intention of separatism is not a threat to Bai Tu.
As for the county magistrates and other officials at all levels under Hua Xin who had sidelined him, Bai Tu had no better solution for the time being. He could only rely on the fact that he was more powerful than Hua Xin to intimidate them first.
In fact, this is also the constraint brought by the "aristocratic family". These local officials in Yuzhang are not spies sent by Yuan Shu, but an extension of the local aristocratic family power.
They supported Yuan Shu, which is why Hua Xin's decrees could not be implemented beyond his jurisdiction.
For now, Bai Tu has no better solution, but in the future... Bai Tu has plenty of solutions, papermaking and printing are just appetizers!
Originally, Bai Tu had hesitated whether to do the opposite - let Gan Ning go to Kuaiji, and then directly train the water army, or the navy, in Kuaiji.
In this way, after success, whether going north to Liaodong or south to Yizhou, there will be huge strategic benefits.
After a little hesitation, Bai Tu temporarily suspended the naval plan - building long-distance sailing ships would require a large amount of manpower and material resources, and even after unifying Jiangdong, it would not be possible to do it just like that.
More importantly, Bai Tu remembered something...
If we calculate the time, Yuan Shu should have proclaimed himself emperor next year. However, after Yuan Shu proclaimed himself emperor, a major event happened - there was a severe drought in Huainan that winter!
Moreover, it was a drought that occurred only once in a century, and coupled with the man-made disaster caused by Yuan Shu's rebellion, it directly caused a sharp decline in the population in the Huainan area. In the words of historical records, people were "eating each other."
How severe is this drought?
Not only were most of the common people's homes empty, but even the army could not hold out in Huainan - the armies of Cao Cao, Lu Bu, and Sun Ce, who had been besieging the false emperor Yuan Shu, all had to withdraw from Huainan.
The drought had the effect of "fortifying the city and clearing the fields", and even Cao Cao, who controlled the heartland of the Central Plains, could not withstand the consumption of food and fodder!
So in the end, Yuan Shu was not defeated and killed, but died on the road after escaping Shouchun with great difficulty and hatred...
Bai Tu was unable to find specific information about the drought on his hard drive, but a simple guess is that this natural and man-made disaster that caused the once prosperous Huainan to become completely desolate, and which did not begin to revive until Deng Ai built Huainan into the granary of the Wei State, could not have failed to affect Jiangdong.
Moreover, Bai Tu’s goal cannot be to “keep himself safe”, he must also take the opportunity to conquer Jiujiang and Lujiang, and even...if the people in Guangling and Runan are also suffering from drought, Bai Tu must also help Liu Bei and Cao Cao share the burden.
It can be said that in history, whether it was Cao Cao, Lu Bu, or Sun Ce, they did not dare to touch this "burden" even if Huainan was left for them to pick up for free, precisely because they had no food, and could only take over Huainan, which was already empty, the following year.
Therefore, no matter whether it is fried steel, poured steel, sea ships, heavy crossbows, or magic weapons and armor, none of them is as important as food at this time!
With the current agricultural technology in Jiangdong, rice and wheat are usually rotated and two crops are harvested a year. Now the spring ploughing is almost done. If a severe drought starts next winter, there won’t be much time left for Baitu…
The only option is to take over the four counties of Jiangdong as soon as possible and then stockpile food like crazy!
