I wield power with my innate talents, and forge the Heavenly Court.

Chapter 77 Future Plans
Faced with the possibility of an attack by the militia at any time, many landlords and wealthy people in the countryside were worried that even if they could not sell many of their properties.

They would also temporarily abandon fixed assets such as land and houses, and first bring gold, silver, supplies, and their families into the county town or prefectural town.

After all, the People's Salvation Army seemed only interested in the countryside and not in attacking county towns.

Naturally, they would then have to find a way to enter the county town and the prefectural city.

With the arrival of such a large number of wealthy landowners carrying large amounts of gold and silver, the prefectural and county towns of Liang Prefecture instantly became bustling and prosperous.

For a time, the county magistrates and the prefects of Lintao and Gongchang were filled with a mixture of joy, anger, and fear.

As the county town and prefectural town of Gaoxing became more prosperous, they were able to make more money off the government, which was also a rare achievement.

However, the presence of such a powerful force in the two prefectures also posed a tremendous threat to them.

If their story were reported to the imperial court, they would face immediate dismissal from their posts, which was naturally unacceptable to them.

At this moment, they no longer cared whether launching a military campaign at the time of Emperor Tianqi's death and the ascension of the new emperor would displease the new emperor, Chongzhen.

Immediately, they began to mobilize troops, intending to completely wipe out this group of bandits and rebels who had taken over the two prefectures.

However, even if they wanted to, they couldn't send troops immediately.

Now, after annihilating more than a thousand government troops, the People's Salvation Army can no longer be treated as ordinary mountain bandits.

Before setting out to war, all kinds of food supplies, weapons, armor, and so on need to be properly prepared.

Even if most of these funds don't ultimately reach the soldiers, they still need to be allocated over a considerable period of time.

Lintao Prefecture was alright; it had planned to suppress the militia before, but the plan was thwarted by the ascension of the new emperor.

Now, they no longer cared whether it would displease Emperor Chongzhen; their priority was to suppress this group of bandits and rebels.

However, even though they were prepared, they did not take action immediately.

Because they had already made contact with the prefect of Gongchang Prefecture.

The two governments decided to send troops together to suppress and wipe out the People's Salvation Army in one fell swoop.

However, Gongchang Prefecture was unprepared.

Therefore, it will take some time to mobilize troops, gather military equipment and supplies, etc.

They had agreed on a time to launch a joint attack on October 20th to suppress and annihilate the People's Salvation Army.

The dynasty had already anticipated the next actions of the Lintao and Gongchang prefectures after annihilating the troops at Shouyang Pass.

However, he had no other choice.

We can't just let the soldiers run rampant while they just hide everywhere.

At that time, the prestige that the dynasty had worked so hard to build, the agricultural community organizations, and so on, would inevitably suffer a devastating blow, which he naturally could not tolerate.

Therefore, he had no choice but to annihilate that group of government troops, even if it attracted the attention of the Ming Dynasty court.

Moreover, he is no longer as weak as he once was.

Perhaps they would not be able to withstand the encirclement and suppression by the entire Ming Dynasty.

However, he was still confident that he could resist the attack from the mere two prefectures.

Even, complete occupation.

Upon returning to Weiyuan County, Wang Chao immediately summoned Wang Dahu and others.

"leader!"

"leader!"

In the council hall of the Bird and Mouse Mountain recruit camp, everyone bowed to the dynasty before taking their seats on both sides.

Well, in the People's Salvation Army, there is no rule that the leader sits in the main seat and everyone else must stand.

The dynasty combined the ancient practice of emperors and ministers discussing matters with modern meeting models, and simply built a rectangular table in the council hall, with everyone sitting on both sides.

On the table, besides the tea in front of everyone, there was also a sand table.

Of course, given their current capabilities and technology, the sand table they create is somewhat abstract.

After all, they didn't have any professional personnel; they were just doing a simple shaping based on a rough terrain map.

However, it is sufficient as a general reference for distinguishing and deploying troops.

In the future, once qualified personnel are trained, a more complete sand table can naturally be created.

"I summoned you here today to prepare for the possible encirclement and suppression by government troops that could arrive at any time."

After listening to Wang Chao's words, Li Yu immediately smiled and said:

"Haha, I don't think those soldiers are anything special. They were still utterly defeated by us."
If they want to come, then let them come.

"Then we'll take them all down."

Although the others didn't speak, their expressions were all somewhat relaxed.

After these battles, they realized that the Ming Dynasty's army was rotten to the core and had virtually no fighting power.

In reality, they are not much better off than the farmers who cultivate the land.

Seeing the expressions on everyone's faces, Wang Chao couldn't help but frown slightly.

Their easy victories in these battles have made them somewhat arrogant.

Yeah, I'm getting a little carried away.

Without hesitation, Wang Chao's expression turned solemn, and he spoke in a deep voice:
"Apart from the more than 1,000 soldiers at Shouyang Pass, were the other troops we encountered any different from the peasants?"
Moreover, how many of the more than one thousand officers and soldiers at Shouyang Pass were actually soldiers?
Apart from Shen Changquan's two hundred personal guards, the rest were just some old, weak, sick, and disabled people.

How many usable soldiers did you recruit from among them?

When it came to the end, Wang Chao looked at Wang Sanshun.

"This"

Wang Sanshun's expression changed slightly, and then he spoke:
"If we judge by the standards of our militia, apart from Shen Changquan's two hundred personal guards, we have less than five hundred usable soldiers. The rest are all old, weak, sick, or disabled, and are utterly useless."

Wang Sanshun's words immediately caused Wang Dahu and the others, who were smiling, to gradually lose their smiles, and a look of surprise flashed in their eyes.

They knew that many of the more than 1,000 soldiers at Shouyang Pass were old, weak, sick, or disabled.

However, they never expected it to be so exaggerated.

As for why they are unaware of the specifics...

They only cared about fighting, not about what to do with the prisoners.

The People's Salvation Army is different from the armies of the world today. Most armies in the world today, especially those of different factions within the same country, will select some combat-ready soldiers after capturing enemy troops and incorporate them into their own forces.

Of course, these soldiers were mostly used as cannon fodder.

However, regardless of the circumstances, they will indeed be absorbed by various armies.

However, in the People's Salvation Army, all regular soldiers must undergo recruit training in the recruit camp before being assigned to various units as needed.

In other words, the various units of the Salvation Army were not qualified to recruit personnel independently; they could only recruit new soldiers from the recruit camps.

Of course, given that the current regular army of the People's Salvation Army consists entirely of extraordinary soldiers, they look down on ordinary people.

Because of this situation, Wang Dahu and his men had no idea how many qualified soldiers the captured officers and soldiers could select.

Only Wang Sanshun, who was in charge of the selection, instructors Wu Ping and Chen Ying, and Wang Chaoqing were clear about it.

Therefore, Wang Dahu and the others were somewhat surprised when they heard that of the more than 1,000 soldiers at Shouyang Pass, only less than 500 were still usable.

However, at the same time, they also felt more relaxed.

This was the situation for the garrison troops at passes like Shouyang Pass.

Then other places must be even worse, so wouldn't it be easier for them to deal with them?
Seeing the expressions on everyone's faces, Wang Chao said in a deep voice:

"These armies in the interior of the Ming Dynasty are somewhat corrupt, but do you think those border troops who have been fighting against the Mongols and the Jurchen Tartars outside the Great Wall for many years are also so incompetent?"

Do you think that if we grow too big, the Ming Dynasty will send border troops to suppress us?

Besides, we only have this many people.

If the Ming Dynasty is truly determined to mobilize the entire nation to encircle and suppress us, how should we resist?

Hearing the seriousness of Wang Chao's words, Li Yu hesitated and said:

"That can't be right."

"No? Are you going to put our lives and safety at the mercy of the imperial court?"

"This"

Although the possibility that Wang Chao mentioned was extremely small, Wang Dahu and the others had to admit that it was indeed a possibility.

In particular, border troops were mobilized to encircle and suppress them.

It is indeed virtually impossible to mobilize the entire nation's resources to attack them now.

However, there is a high probability that they will mobilize border troops to encircle and suppress them.

They were indeed unsure of themselves when facing the border troops who had been fighting for years.

"What the leader means is..."
Should we avoid a direct encirclement by the government troops?

Wang Shi hesitated before speaking.

"of course not.

I just want to remind you not to get carried away.

You must be extremely vigilant in every battle, because any mistake could lead to a crushing defeat and the deaths of a large number of soldiers.

This time, some soldiers became somewhat reckless, and a mere few dozen dared to charge at a force of hundreds of officers and soldiers.

Most of these officers and soldiers were old, weak, sick, or disabled.

If they were any trained, regular soldiers, they would have died countless times over.
You can't expect our future enemies to be all old, weak, sick, and disabled like this, can you?

For a moment, everyone fell silent.

Indeed, they had only defeated some old, weak, sick, and disabled people; there was nothing to be proud of.

"What does the leader mean?"

Wang Dahu spoke in a deep voice.

"We will definitely fight."

The question we need to consider is how to fight it.

"As you can see, we now roughly occupy Weiyuan County, Zhang County, and the villages near Shouyang Pass, which is almost equivalent to surrounding Gongchang Prefecture."
Lintao Prefecture is adjacent to Weiyuan County.

Wang Chao stood up, picked up a long wooden stick, pointed to the rough map and sand table, and explained to everyone.

After Wang Chao stood up, Wang Dahu and the others also stood up in unison and looked at the place Wang Chao was pointing to.

"Chief, do you mean we'll take Lintao Prefecture, and also Gongchang Prefecture?"

Looking at the sand table in the center, showing the distribution of enemy and friendly forces, Wang Sanshun suddenly spoke up.

Upon hearing this, Wang Dahu and the others' eyes lit up.

Are they finally going to conquer the city?

"Ok!"

Wang Chao nodded, and then said:
"Not only the prefectural cities of Lintao and Gongchang, but also the county towns of several nearby counties were all captured in one fell swoop."
The Hezhou area of ​​Lintao Prefecture, as well as the passes of Anlong Pass and Tumen Pass to the west, and Jiehe Pass to the north, should also be brought under control.
The counties of Longxi, Anding, Ningyuan, Fuqiang, and Tongwei in Gongchang Prefecture should also be brought under their control.
In this way, a rough defensive perimeter can be formed to resist attacks from the surrounding areas.

"Isn't this a bit too much?"

Listening to Wang Chao's story, Wang Sanshun couldn't help but feel worried.

Even Wang Dahu and the others, who were initially very excited, now had serious expressions.

Can they really launch such a sudden attack on so many places and occupy such a large territory?
"Why think so much? The leader tells us to fight, so we fight."

Wang Erniu, who was usually taciturn and initially even unwilling to join the others in becoming an outlaw, spoke indifferently at this moment.

"Hmm~?"

Upon hearing this, everyone looked over in surprise.

"Why are you looking at me? I think following the leader is the right thing to do."

"If the leader says so, then we can definitely conquer these places."

Eh~?

Is this still the Wang Erniu they know? Has he become such a smooth talker?
Thank you all for your support!

Xinghuo expresses his sincere gratitude! ().:*

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(End of this chapter)