Chapter 901

Nanchang.

Luo Xin took out his pocket watch from his bosom, checked the time, then ordered his soldiers to blow the charge bugle.

For him, the journey so far had not presented many challenges.

The Battle of Lin’an City did gain the merchants’ council a little time to stabilize in the south, but only a little. In such a vast region, the merchants’ council’s control was extremely weak.

Many times, it was simply that a powerful family in a certain city defected to the merchants’ council, rallied some private armies, and changed their allegiance. And the combat effectiveness of these powerful families was merely at the level of cold weapon armies from ten years ago.

Facing their firearms and cannons, these powerful families were fortunate to resist for even an hour. Many times, he only needed to dispatch a thousand men to reclaim a county town, and three thousand men to take a provincial-level city.

For example, the current Nanchang City. He now commanded only eight thousand soldiers, with the rest dispatched to simultaneously attack other prefectures and counties.

After all, relatively speaking, the merchants’ council’s influence in this region was still very weak. The difficult part was Lu Fei’s route.

“Boom, boom, boom…”

As the cannons roared, Nanchang’s city gate turned to dust in the explosion. The soldiers stood in three ranks, continuously firing at the soldiers on the city wall.

The Nanchang soldiers on the city wall had no weapons that could threaten them. This style of warfare had almost become the norm.

They were simply shooting at targets.

One by one, the Nanchang soldiers on the city wall fell. The city wall quickly descended into chaos. These soldiers had never experienced such an incredible war.

The legends from the north had become reality. Now, they only wanted to survive.

“Charge!”

As the order was given, the soldiers unhurriedly charged into Nanchang City. However, as soon as they entered the city, they saw some soldiers carrying white flags walking towards them.

They were used to this situation. In fact, this was what they taught. Before each siege, they would always issue threats in advance, demanding that the enemy surrender with white flags.

Only if the enemy did not accept would they attack.

Bypassing these surrendered soldiers, the imperial soldiers immediately stormed into the city. As usual, they immediately searched for council members in the city and arrested powerful families who supported the council. After all, if a city sided with the merchants’ council, it meant that most of the powerful families in the city had chosen the merchants’ council.

Luo Xin, escorted by his personal guards, entered the city. He ordered his division commanders, “Search meticulously! Not a single tael of silver from the powerful families’ homes can be missed! Think about the canned food you eat! Think about the hand grenades hanging from your waists! Without silver, you will have nothing!”

Luo Xin’s words made the soldiers even more excited. Now, confiscating the powerful families’ property upon entering a city had become their habit. They were even happy when more powerful families sided with the merchants’ council.

This way, they had a reason to seize their wealth.

Having easily captured Nanchang, Luo Xin unfolded his map. According to the current plan, the next step was Changsha. Then he would advance all the way to Guangzhou to rendezvous with Lu Fei.

Closing the map, he roared, “Faster, faster! The remaining matters will be left to the officials! We still need to continue southward!”

While they advanced southward, officials led by Fei Ji successively took over the cities they captured. Many of these southern cities had previously been under imperial management. Many local officials had previously traveled to the capital to meet Xiao Wenxuan and were very familiar with important ministers like Fei Ji.

Precisely because of this, they were able to quickly stabilize the captured cities. For some important cities, they also chose to station troops to prevent them from falling back into enemy hands.

On October 11th, after a brief rest, Luo Xin led his army to continue southward. In three months, he successively captured Changsha, Hengzhou, Yongzhou, Chenzhou, and Shaoguan, arriving at Guangzhou City by January of the following year.

At this time, Lu Fei had also successively captured Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Chaozhou, and Huizhou, arriving at Guangzhou City.

“Hahaha, Lu Fei!”

Outside Guangzhou City, Lu Fei was overjoyed. Since marching south, they had already fought a year of war. Now, they had captured most of the territory controlled by the merchants’ council, advancing triumphantly all the way.

Before them was Guangzhou, the largest and most prosperous city occupied by the merchants’ council. Once this place was captured, the merchants’ council would have no foothold left. The remaining battles could no longer be called war; they could only be called bandit suppression.

“Lu Fei.” Luo Xin walked towards Lu Fei. The two patted each other’s shoulders. He looked at the dust-covered but extremely lean soldiers behind Lu Fei and said, “Many are new faces. It seems this batch of new recruits has become veterans.”

“Indeed. To quickly take the south, batches of new recruits were sent to the battlefield. Now they have all become elites,” Lu Fei said with a smile.

Luo Xin nodded. Not only Lu Fei, but he too had brought out many officers from the Army Academy along the way. New recruits had also become seasoned veterans.

However, he was very fortunate. Having studied at the Army Academy, he now understood a principle: war was sometimes a competition of comprehensive strength.

This war was destined to be an overwhelming victory from the start. Firstly, this was a war of imperial unification, not a foreign invasion, so the common people’s resistance was not very strong.

Those who fought to the death were still the ones afraid of losing their status and wealth.

Moreover, the thorough reforms in the State of Chu had made many common people, who saw it with their own eyes, realize the benefits of following the imperial family. Conversely, the merchants’ council had committed many disgraceful acts this year.

After all, the council members were diverse and lacked discipline. Some council members were no better than bandits, and many common people deeply resented this.

“Hehe, this southern expedition has become a training ground for soldiers,” Luo Xin said, looking at Guangzhou City. “When do you want to start the attack?”

To defend this city to the death, the merchants’ council had deployed its last elite forces here. It was also said that the common people incited by the Azure Dragon King were also within the city.

“What’s the rush? Our two armies have just rendezvoused. Let the soldiers rest, eat their fill, and then fight. Come on, in this supply, the Emperor specially rewarded us with Qingzhou Province spirits to commend us. Let’s add some side dishes and relax tonight.”

Luo Xin licked his lips. Fighting was an extremely arduous task. This southern expedition saw few casualties among the soldiers, but many suffered from insect bites and poisonous mists. If not for the skilled physicians accompanying the army, he would have gone mad.

Now that Lu Fei suggested it, he truly wanted to relax his mind.

“Eat your fill, then go and hit them hard again!” Luo Xin said, pointing and cursing at Guangzhou City. Lu Fei heard this and immediately laughed.