Chapter 1 The Rapid Collapse

The rapid collapse of the Daoming Sect's main altar caused a huge shock to both sides. For the Daoming Sect, it was like kicking a hornet's nest. Large numbers of their affiliated troops began to fall into chaos. A large number of troops broke away from the front lines and rushed to the main altar, vowing to eliminate the enemy who had occupied the main altar and blasphemed the gods. Some high-ranking clerics also watched with their troops to see what would happen to the Daoming Sect. Those troops who had been coerced into joining quickly surrendered on the battlefield.

Yin Bo's forces did endure considerable pressure in a short period of time. Hundreds of thousands of troops attacked in shifts, without stopping, making them exhausted until the situation improved four days later. A sufficient number of airship squadrons had gradually gathered and carried out a full day of continuous bombing of the enemies gathered near the main altar, even covering Yin Bo's forces with napalm, which was a bit noisy, but it gave them a whole day to rest. Afterwards, friendly forces from three directions gradually advanced, getting closer and closer to the main altar, which gradually reduced the pressure they were under. After destroying the Daoming Sect's main altar, the large army in the Anqing direction, which had been in a defensive posture, also advanced. The Imperial Guards launched a full-scale attack from Anqing City, leaving less than six thousand people in the city, which was almost the minimum number of people to defend Anqing and maintain the city defenses. With the addition of this fresh force, coupled with the continuous flanking attacks by the armies integrated by Dai Yun and Fu Sinian, the battlefield quickly opened up.

Compared to the Anqing direction, the advance of Chun Nan's army at Xunshan Pass was even more alarming. This time, Chang Hongquan brought out all his resources, without holding anything back. His tactics were orthodox, leaving no flaws, but they were extremely firm. He relied on the quality of his soldiers, his command ability, and the extremely adequate intelligence support provided by Dongping to bully the Daoming Sect's miscellaneous troops. Although the resistance he encountered became greater and greater, Chang Hongquan advanced steadily, without changing his combat style. In the end, he was the one who was least afraid of a war of attrition. Since these Chun Nan soldiers could not participate in the conquest of Chun Nan, and after the unification of the continent, they would probably face inevitable cuts and reductions, this final battle had to be fought well no matter what. This was not just a matter of honor and face, but also related to their future treatment. The better they fought, the better severance terms they would get in the future, and the elite soldiers could join the army of the new dynasty. They already had experience fighting alongside Dongping, and they also had a certain understanding of Dongping's various tactics. Those among them who were interested in joining the new dynasty's army had already inquired about Dongping's army assessment standards, and the knowledge and experience they had accumulated was undoubtedly extremely valuable.

At least, after all these things, Ye Tao and Dai Yun had firmly controlled the command of the Xiling army. It was not the power nominally granted, but the real ability to have the final say and the rallying power to make the soldiers willing to die for them. They, as a couple, were very bold in employing people in all aspects, and they also knew how to bring out the abilities of each person. Ye Tao had to take into account the voice of the Xiling court, and he was always somewhat inclined towards the people they recommended, but Dai Yun completely ignored these things when she led the army outside. Those talented children of aristocratic families were picked out one by one and given greater power, and Dai Yun also intentionally or unintentionally "cared" about the future of these people. Dai Yun would often ask some talented generals in the military tent about their thoughts on Dongping, hoping that they would speak freely, and for those generals who felt good about Dongping, she would occasionally mention that she still had a lot of say in the various armies in Yunzhou and in the Blood Kirin Army, and she could recommend some talented generals under the age of twenty-five to enter these systems for further study... The basic meaning was: "Well, you know." Being able to go through the baptism of these two major systems, as long as they were willing, they could serve in the army of the new dynasty in the future, and after that, it would depend on their personal ability and good fortune. And there was also Fu Sinian, an out-and-out relative of the emperor, who was constantly beating the drums for Dai Yun, constantly sighing that he was related to the Yin family, and he probably wouldn't have many opportunities to lead troops in the future... The unity of the elite clan soldiers from various families in Dai Yun's hands was gradually strengthened in this subtle way.

How could the Yin family not know about Dai Yun's methods? However, they really didn't have much resistance to these things now. The Yin family could no longer control the army, but Ye Tao was willing to give Yin Bo a chance to enter the Blood Kirin Army and directly serve as a battalion deputy – not a reserve army battalion deputy, but directly sent to the central theater of war to command troops under Tan Xiaopei. And Tan Weixin had many tips for several children who might be involved in the Yin family's business operations in the future. Tan Weixin was the most famous god of wealth in the world. Over the past few years, it could be seen how much money the Ye Family Workshop and the Neifu's various businesses were making. Tan Xiaopei rebuilt the royal palace, greatly upgrading it, preparing for the future imperial career, but he didn't use a single tael of silver from the national treasury. The entire budget of 11.7 million taels of silver was fully allocated from the internal treasury. The Ye Family Construction Company now has a total of twenty-five construction teams. Except for two large construction teams specializing in the construction of ports and passes, one in Yazhou and one outside Yicheng, the remaining construction teams were transferred to fully invest in the construction of the imperial palace. Now, Dongping was openly building an "imperial palace" instead of a "royal palace". Don't underestimate the difference between these two words, everyone understood.

Dongping treated the Yin family really well. The Yin family was originally prepared to give up power, so naturally they would not have any resistance to Ye Tao, Dai Yun, and Tan Weixin's silent gradual winning over of soldiers and officials. But just when the Yin family thought that Ye Tao would quickly end the chaos in Xiling, Ye Tao ordered the entire army to suspend its advance and make it the top priority to stabilize the current controlled areas. The issuance of this military order, which shocked the entire army, was only twelve days after Yin Bo's attack on the Daoming Sect's main altar. Yin Bo's forces would naturally not be sacrificed. Although the military order to stop the advance had been issued, Ye Tao and Dai Yun still organized a battlefield situation in which all three directions were fully deployed to cover Dai Yun's elite forces in another raid on the Daoming Sect's main altar to meet Yin Bo's forces' breakout. The organization of an army of hundreds of thousands of people was something that not many generals could handle well, even in Xiling, but Ye Tao and Dai Yun simply issued a few orders, allowing each route to handle it on their own, and they performed almost perfectly, allowing Dai Yun to easily meet Yin Bo. Then, the three sides completely blocked the Daoming Sect's controlled areas, surrounding them without attacking, and each unit defended and trained in place.

It was not that Ye Tao didn't want to quickly resolve the battle, but that the logistics supply could not keep up with two national-scale wars. Suo Zheng personally flew back and forth twice to coordinate the logistics supply in Xiling. Although Tan Weixin was a genius, she was not in good health after all, and she was a woman, so it was not good for her to supervise on the spot. But Suo Zheng was different. He had been in the army for many years, but he had never led troops to fight. However, he had risen all the way up through his ability in logistics organization and management. Now he was a full-fledged Zhonglang General, and a solid figure among the top ten in the military. Organizing the logistics of two huge battlefields at the same time made Suo Zheng exhausted. Production was not insufficient. The Ye Family Workshop had fully switched to a wartime system, and various families in the country were also actively supporting it. Most of them were trying their best to supply the military. The several railway lines that Ye Tao had set up at great cost played a huge role, using the least manpower and material resources and the lowest cost to complete the transportation of massive amounts of supplies. But as the war deepened, the front-line distribution and transportation forces became increasingly tight, whether it was the Chun Nan or Xiling battlefield. The Chun Nan side could maintain a relatively orderly situation, but the Xiling side was completely caught blind. The main problem was that, apart from the Zhenzhou Army, the Jinzhou and Xiling Imperial Guards had never had any global logistics training or concepts. When weapons and other supplies were transported, the troops who handled them wanted to take as much as possible. This was understandable. The army needed to have a certain amount of surplus in hand. But when this surplus affected the overall situation, that was a problem. Suo Zheng decisively sent six transport battalions from Yunzhou to Xiling. This was another 20,000 people, plus a large number of horses and vehicles. The mobilization of these 20,000 people fully demonstrated Dongping's mobilization power and emergency delivery capabilities.

As soon as the transport battalions arrived, the situation immediately improved. These people were specially trained experts. The specific number of people in each unit was quickly grasped, and then the usual surplus and consumption were calculated and distributed according to the number of people. There would not be a single point less, but there would definitely not be a single point more. Originally, some people looked down on these rear soldiers who specialized in transportation, but gradually, those Xiling troops understood why those proud and brave generals from Dongping respected these transport battalion colleagues so much. They were really strong. The transport battalions gathered the largest number of strong men. After all, there were too many opportunities to move things around on weekdays, and their strength was built up. They were super capable of organizing weapons. Although they might not be very good at everything, there must be someone in every transport battalion who knew how to use all the weapons and supplies. Each transport battalion came with a field medical team of about 200 people. The methods of these doctors greatly increased the chances of survival for the soldiers. And the most surprising thing was that the transport battalion soldiers were also very strong in combat, definitely not second-rate troops. When asked about this, a transport battalion commander said coldly: "Preventing enemy attacks and robbery is only one of our jobs. Preventing friendly forces from taking too much and affecting our work is also an important task. Our own people are very capable of fighting, so we must be even more capable of fighting." As soon as this statement came out, the Xiling military from top to bottom felt a tightness in their hearts. Dongping's various army divisions of labor were really... a bit terrifying.

During the month-long rest period, Ye Tao and Dai Yun were able to better grasp the Xiling army and implement their will, and the entire logistics system and command system were also improved. During this month, in Chun Nan, Tan Weiming temporarily obtained command of the Blood Kirin Army and, through a series of arrangements, successfully resolved the threat posed by the three old generals in Chun Nan, and finally found an opportunity to capture the three old generals in one fell swoop. In the Yunhe Theater, there was no longer any force that could threaten Dongping's power, and a large number of materials could be quickly transported to the front line through the Yunhe Canal to accumulate, greatly reducing the logistical pressure and providing a solid foundation for the next large-scale military operation.

After a month of rest, Ye Tao still did not launch an offensive, but transferred a large number of officers and instructors to assign new training tasks to a large number of troops. Then, the troops who completed a training task would soon receive orders to carry out corresponding combat operations. Raids and sabotage by special operations battalions were already routine operations. And several exercises and actual battles of different scales, such as rappelling and paratrooping, made the Xiling generals' faces turn pale: These tricks could be used to directly raid the royal palace or the central army of the army. Mountain warfare, saturation bombardment, air-ground integrated mobile pursuit warfare, sniping and assassination combined with corresponding raid operations, and other advanced and complex tactics were constantly launched, and war examples were constantly formed, forming reports that were quickly distributed to officers at all levels. At this time, the Yin family completely understood what Ye Tao wanted to do. He was trying various new tactics, practicing various combat possibilities, and it seemed that he had endless ideas in his mind. The Xiling army was already completely under control, and there was no possibility of repetition. Then, these armies, in the case of completely not understanding the new tactics, could master them through training and actual combat. The difficulty of the new tactics could basically reflect the complexity of the tactics and the soldiers' ability to accept them. These tactics were only possible with the support of Dongping's military technology, and there was no need to worry about threatening themselves. On the opponent's side, there was probably no better training opponent than the increasingly chaotic Daoming Sect. The Daoming Sect had elite troops and miscellaneous soldiers, and their command ability and reconnaissance power were very average. With the scale of the battle strictly controlled, they could not make any waves at all. And every time Ye Tao chose an opponent, they were the kind of army dominated by fanatics. If they were not suppressed, it might not have much effect to rely solely on governance and education in the future... Although the training of Dongping's tactics killed Xiling citizens, surprisingly, the Xiling people did not have any opinions on this, except that they were indeed shocked by Ye Tao and Dongping's war strength. It should be known that Dongping was now conducting two national-level wars at the same time.

But the Yin family also had a depressed place. They clearly knew that because the situation in Xiling had stabilized, Tan Xiaopei had repeatedly urged Ye Tao to go back to preside over the battle against Chun Nan, while the affairs in Xiling were left to Tan Weiran and Chi Lei, this old pair, to handle. But Ye Tao was clearly having a great time in Xiling. The attempts of various tactics and the subsequent compilation of experience and lessons were almost all completed by Ye Tao and Dai Yun personally, while Tan Weixin had become so idle that she began to conduct a general survey of Xiling's economic situation and formulate a subsequent Xiling economic development strategy. This was actually not bad at all. For the Xiling people, for the officials and aristocratic families who cared about Xiling's future development, this was a good thing, but Ye Tao's family was clearly treating Xiling as a vacation place. Xiling was after all the remnant of the former dynasty and had the longest history. Those royal gardens, those ancient landscapes and buildings, and the magnificent natural landscapes all attracted Ye Tao's family. Ye Tao, Dai Yun, and Tan Weixin had run to many, many places. Even Tan Weishi, Sophie, and Dai Qiuyan came to Xiling for "tourism" later. But Ye Tao was still afraid of the tediousness of presiding over Dongping's national army and was not willing to go back.

But finally, Ye Tao still gave in, not because of anything else, but because Tan Weixin had to go back to Danyang, where the level of medical care was high enough, to recuperate. Tan Weixin was pregnant. For the Tan family, the Ye family, and even for the entire Dongping, this was something that everyone had absolutely not expected. Tan Weixin's body had finally recovered all its functions and was healthy and happy after years of recuperation... but she had suddenly become an elderly mother...

When this matter was reported to Danyang, Tan Xiaopei personally drafted a telegram and scolded Ye Tao fiercely, and stated that if he did not return to Danyang, then he would personally go to Anqing to arrest him. Ye Tao had no choice but to sigh and take his family back to Danyang. Before he left, Tan Weiran and Chi Lei had arrived in Anqing. After Tan Weiran teased her sister, she immediately took over Dai Yun's command. Chi Lei and Yin Bo jointly took charge of the attack in Anqing. Chi Lei was not much older than Yin Bo, but he was already a world-renowned cavalry general and had the reputation of being the number one scout in the world. The temperament, conversation, and ability that he had cultivated over many years of military experience had made Yin Bo submit to him in a few days. The two cooperated seamlessly.

After Ye Tao left Anqing, the Xiling Lord fulfilled his power as the supreme commander of Xiling for the last time, and issued a general attack order to the three armies, ordering a full-scale attack to completely wipe out the Daoming Sect's bandits. In fact, being able to let the Xiling Lord issue such an order this time, even if it was only a formal exercise of supreme power, made many people in the Yin family secretly happy. It should be known that the several armies under his command came from Xiling, Dongping, and Chun Nan respectively. Chi Lei and Tan Weiran had at least brought a small number of Northern Liao officers to study and train... Even in its heyday, Xiling had never had such a glorious thing. But after having this glory, the Xiling Lord also found that it could not be added to. When the great battle to wipe out the Daoming Sect was fully launched, he had already taken the most important group of people in his family, boarded an airship, and flew directly to Danyang to submit Xiling's last letter of credence to Tan Xiaopei...

Xiling merged into Dongping in such a form in just a few months, when Dongping and Chun Nan were fighting fiercely, which shocked Chun Nan up and down. Xiling's strength was above Chun Nan's. Perhaps it was slightly worse than Chun Nan in terms of financial resources and culture, but it was also very limited. But Xiling actually chose such a path. The role of financial resources and culture in dynastic wars was really not that great. Besides, even if Chun Nan was stronger than Xiling, could it be stronger than Dongping? The battle to wipe out the Daoming Sect was unremarkable. It lasted for less than three months and ended before the start of summer. Chi Lei and Tan Weiran were now very experienced in post-war governance and restoration. The two generals temporarily took charge of local administration, but they also did a good job, which really surprised the Xiling military and civilians. Who should be appointed to take charge of Xiling's territory, or should the several states of Xiling be governed separately, with only governors appointed and no more Jinglue Mansion? Tan Xiaopei had not thought about it, so he had to leave it as it was for the time being. Tan Weiran and Chi Lei cooperated with each other, coupled with the assistance of Sun Boping and Lei Huang, so he did not worry about any problems. And Xiling also proposed to send a large army to assist Dongping in conquering Chun Nan.

This was indeed a brilliant move. Xiling was almost surrounded by mountains on all sides, easy to defend and difficult to attack. Only a small number of troops were needed to defend the area and maintain political stability. However, the reorganization of a large number of Xiling armies required a lot of time and money. At least in the short term, Dongping did not have suitable personnel or the mind to manage this matter. And the Xiling army entered Chun Nan, on the one hand, to add bricks and tiles to Dongping's Chun Nan strategy, and on the other hand, the Xiling army leaving its original territory also made it easier for Dongping to strengthen Xiling's local governance. In the future, it could calmly reorganize Xiling's military strength, and even complete the reorganization and dismissal work on the land of Chun Nan. Tan Xiaopei quickly agreed to this request, which had many advantages, and appointed Fu Sinian, Yin Bo, and Yin Chi to command the army, and also temporarily transferred Zou Shuangwen to assist them in contacting the friendly forces. All parties were very satisfied with this arrangement.

Before the start of summer, before the typhoon season arrived, Yazhou completed the landing operation in the southern part of Chun Nan, and occupied the three most important ports of Xiazhou Port, Fuzhou Port, and Quanzhou Port, placing the entire fleet at Chun Nan's doorstep. Besieged on all sides, with no foreign aid, and internal worries, this battle became more and more difficult. In April, Chun Nan saw incidents of organized surrenders, and when faced with a large army pressing down on the border, they symbolically resisted for a while, or even surrendered the city without resistance. But the instructions from Danyang were as always: Steady advance.

Now Dongping wanted to prolong the war a little bit. Victory or defeat? Was this still a question? In terms of troop strength, troop quality, and all other aspects, Dongping had a comprehensive advantage, but Dongping did not want to pay too much loss and did not want to receive a broken Chun Nan. What was the point of fighting so lively on the surface? It was true to promote the work of persuasion and surrender in private. And the more serious problem was that after the battle against Chun Nan, Tan Xiaopei should claim the title of emperor, and this enthronement ceremony must be held in a big way, but Dongping had not completed even half of the various preparations. The imperial palace was still under construction. Could it be possible to hold the enthronement ceremony in front of a pile of scaffolding? Even if it could be delayed for a while after unification, by finding an auspicious day, it could not be delayed for too long. Now, all that could be done was to drag on the war. It should be known that before, it was planned to fight Chun Nan and then Xiling. It was estimated that it would take two or three years at the fastest, but now, Xiling surrendered like this... The large and small functional departments of Dongping's Internal Affairs Office, Ministry of Rites, and Inner Court were all embarrassed. Everyone did hope that the unification of the world could come sooner, but it should not be so fast.