My Apprenticeship to Uncle Jiu: I Was a Warlord in the Republic of China

This made the New Guangxi Clique, which was already exhausted from fighting with the Old Guangxi warlords, complain bitterly and could only adopt a passive defensive approach.

However, how could their tired and weak army withstand the sudden attack from Jiang Li's powerful army with high morale, much stronger manpower, weapons and soldier quality?

So they soon could not resist and were defeated. When they saw how ruthlessly the Anmin Army attacked, they immediately knew their intention, which was to destroy them in one fell swoop.

So in order to protect themselves, they put aside their prejudices and found the old Guangxi warlords hoping to cooperate with them to jointly resist foreign invasion. Yes, in their eyes, Jiang Li, a warlord from Guangdong, was definitely a foreign enemy.

Do not believe?

You can tell from their governance policies that distributing land to farmers is a clear reversal of the natural order. It's obvious that they have been poisoned by Western ideas.

As for the Old Guangxi warlords, they actually knew the general situation of Jiang Li. They knew that it was necessary to join forces with the New Guangxi, but not now. They had to wait a few days to allow them to be weakened a little more.

By the time they drive away the Anmin Army, they can directly destroy Xingui and monopolize Guangxi.

However, what they did not expect was that the Anmin Army moved too quickly. After only a few days of delay, most of Xingui's territory had been captured.

At this time, the Old Guangxi side suddenly came to their senses and immediately united with the New Guangxi side. However, it was too late. Seeing that there was no reinforcement, many soldiers and middle and low-level officers on the New Guangxi side chose to surrender.

This is not to say that the Guangxi soldiers have poor fighting spirit, but because the ones who came were Jiang Li's Anmin Army. These poor families had long heard of Jiang Li's policies and the treatment of the Anmin Army.

Otherwise, if it were anyone else, they would never surrender.

With the addition of these surrendered soldiers, the attack of the Anmin Army became more successful, thanks to the generous food provided by Jiang Li.

Those surrendered soldiers immediately burst into great enthusiasm, because Jiang Li promised that those who performed well in this battle would be directly incorporated into the Anmin Army.

After hearing about the treatment of the Anmin Army, they immediately wanted to launch a crazy attack with all their might.

If nothing else, it was because of the terrifyingly high military pay that was paid on time and in full, and the fact that every meal included meat, which they had never imagined in their entire lives.

It was precisely because of their hard work that Jiang Li's original three-month occupation plan was completed a full month earlier and successfully in just two months.

After the battle, Jiang Li fulfilled his promise and distributed a large amount of land, money, grain and supplies. This reduced a lot of resistance in Jiang Li's subsequent process of clearing out bandits and cracking down on landlords and powerful people.

This war, from its launch to its end, took only three months, which included the time spent on eliminating bandits and cracking down on landlords and powerful people.

This can be said to be a very profound demonstration of the gap in industrial levels. You have to know that he has not yet completed the industrial revolution. He just got more machines and can produce more weapons on his own.

Since many surrendered soldiers joined the battle in the later stages, the casualties among soldiers were not too great. The total number of casualties was no more than 8,000, most of whom were injured.

As for the results of the war, they were huge. The total number of prisoners captured by the new and old Guangxi warlords alone exceeded 210,000, after most of the new Guangxi and a small number of old Guangxi soldiers were incorporated.

Jiang Li's army directly expanded by 120,000 to an astonishing 400,000 troops. Fortunately, wherever he went, he would confiscate the savings of the local landlords and powerful people for decades or even hundreds of years.

In addition, he had been doing business in Guangdong for many years and his financial situation was very good, otherwise it would have been difficult just to feed these soldiers.

It is worth mentioning that after Jiang Li expanded the army of 120,000, he still had a lot of soldiers from the new and old Gui warlords, as well as a large number of bandits and landlords who were not guilty of capital crimes.

In order to prevent them from causing any trouble, he still used the old method and directly sentenced them to three months of labor reform.

Let them build roads, bridges and dredge rivers, or reclaim land to build factories and houses. In short, let them work after eating, and don't let them have the opportunity to indulge in idle thoughts and cause chaos.

Just when construction was in full swing in Guangxi, William came again with news from Britain.

Jiang Li heard the news and it was not easy to avoid him. "I hope you don't do anything stupid. After all, we have known each other for many years and you have helped me a lot. I would feel a little embarrassed if I really killed you."

Seeing Jiang Li, William excitedly stepped forward and said to Jiang Li, "Jiang, I have already discussed it with Daying and Fuso."

"As long as you agree, Great Britain will fully support you, and Fuso will also control the speed of expansion. By then, all three of us can share enough benefits!"

Hearing this, Jiang Li shook his head and said, "Let me tell you the truth, William. We in the East are different from you in Europe. For thousands of years, we have been pursuing one thing, that is, great unification. We will not accept proposals such as cooperating with outsiders to divide up China!"

William's smile froze when he heard this. "Jiang, are you kidding? It's impossible for you to unify China with your strength. Besides, the top leaders of the British Empire would not want to see a unified country. Don't do anything stupid!"

Jiang Li shook his head. "It seems you still don't understand. Forget it. You've had a hard time coming here by boat. Just take a rest here first!"

Then he turned to Ah San and said, "Arrange someone to take care of William's food and daily life 24 hours a day. Try to satisfy his food needs. After all, he has helped us so much, we should not neglect him!"

After saying this, he turned around and left without caring about the confused William's shouting.

After a while, Ah San found Jiang Li and said, "Commander, why don't we just kill William? We are still feeding him well, isn't that a waste of food?"

"You know what? Great Britain is now at its peak. If possible, I still don't want to create such a big enemy. I'll just keep him around and wait for a while. If I can delay it until this matter is over, that would be the best."

"Even if we can't, we can still have more time to develop, and we will always have a better chance of winning if we fight!"

Ah San nodded when he heard this, and without saying anything more, he turned around and went to stand guard outside the door.

Jiang Li continued to read the latest news. The Japanese had completely occupied the three northeastern provinces and controlled Aisin-Gioro Puyi, pushing him to the front and making him the nominal emperor of Manchukuo.

The islander also issued a series of decrees through him, enfeoffing the warlords on a large scale. Most of their territories were unclear, so he wanted to take this opportunity to intensify the fighting between the warlords.

Of course, this method cannot be hidden from everyone. Even anyone smart enough can understand the conspiracy, but there are always some people who are overconfident or think they are smart.

They wanted to use this as an excuse to start a war and expand their territory.