Chapter 257 Jiaqing's Shock

Because of its unique geographical environment, the entire Sichuan Basin has had the characteristic of being in chaos before the rest of the world, and being at peace before the rest of the world, for thousands of years.

Sichuan is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and with Chen Gui's strategic layout before he established the country, he basically took control of all the strategic locations and maintained an offensive posture before withdrawing. Therefore, now that the Qing court wants to counterattack, it is difficult to find a suitable offensive route.

It is certain that they cannot break into Shaanxi, as the 800-li Shu Road is full of traps. Not to mention the Shu Road, even Hanzhong is not so easy to conquer, otherwise Song Jun would not have been able to hold out for so long against Lao Piao.

More than a year ago, the Huaxia tribe was so powerful, but it still stopped at Guangyuan, instead of taking Hanzhong and maintaining an offensive posture, because Hanzhong also had many passes that were difficult to attack.

We can fight in the direction of Hubei, but it is only easier to recapture Jingzhou, and at most we can take Yichang. If we continue to fight upwards, as the logistics line continues to lengthen, we will suffer more and more losses. In the end, it is very likely that the national treasury will be collapsed before we even reach Chongqing.

The fiscal revenue of the Qing Dynasty showed an increasing trend year by year, from more than 20 million taels in the Shunzhi period to more than 40 million taels at present, and then by the end of the Qing Dynasty it actually broke through to an astonishing 300 million taels.

Of course they do!
Fiscal revenue is not equal to fiscal surplus. The higher the fiscal revenue, the less money the imperial treasury has. During the reigns of Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, when fiscal revenue was low, the imperial court still had a relatively easy time, as there was always some silver in the treasury.

But in the late Qianlong period, things got worse and a fiscal deficit appeared. However, Qianlong left a fat sheep like Heshen to Jiaqing. Killing Heshen was equivalent to the court's fiscal revenue for 20 years. Can you believe it?
But it's the same.

As Jiaqing became rich, rebellions broke out constantly in various places, and hundreds of millions of taels of silver were consumed at a visible rate. After Chen the Executor came out of retirement, the consumption of the national treasury was further accelerated in the past one or two years.

Once a war starts, it costs money regardless of whether you win or lose.

After all, as the orthodox imperial court that rules the world, it can't just plunder the locals like Chen Gu did, right?

Besides, even if they plundered the local areas, the money would never reach the hands of the imperial court, it would only enrich the soldiers who plundered.

In a word, war is very expensive. Armaments, food, and soldiers' pensions all cost money. It costs money if you win the war, and it costs even more if you lose.

As soon as the army was mobilized, the money was spent like water.

"Your Majesty, after more than a year of recuperation, the rebels have become even stronger. Not only have they expanded from Sichuan to both Sichuan and Guizhou, but their military numbers have also increased several times, and their armaments will only become more abundant.

Now dealing with the rebels is no longer a simple encirclement and suppression, but a national war. The court should not consider which direction to attack from, but should launch an all-out attack, fighting in all directions, and once the fight begins, it must go all out.

Otherwise, it will be difficult to control its development." Song Jun suggested.

Jiaqing couldn't help but show a look of shock. Originally, in his opinion, although the rebels had occupied Sichuan, the imperial court had not gained any advantage in the war with the rebels over the past year or so, but the rebels had not launched a large-scale attack either.

The reason why the rebels seized control of Sichuan was simply because Sichuan was short of military forces, which gave the rebels an opportunity to take advantage of. The same was true for Guizhou.

If the rebels were really that powerful, they would not have been trapped in a corner of Sichuan for more than a year.

The reason why the imperial court did not make a big move to retake Sichuan was because the rebels were well-equipped, and even had long-sealed weapons such as sub-cannons. The imperial court was worried that the price would be too high, so it temporarily tolerated it. After more than a year of manufacturing, although there were many difficulties during the period, the imperial court finally produced a large number of sub-cannons. Now it is not difficult to retake the Qing rebels in Sichuan, but it is just a matter of considering how much it will cost.

But now Song Jun actually told him that this was a war involving the entire country?
"My dear minister, are you exaggerating?" Jiaqing frowned and said, "The rebels only occupy a small corner of Sichuan, with less than 100,000 soldiers, while our Qing Dynasty controls the entire country and has hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Are you overestimating Chen the Assassin by saying that it is a war for the whole country?"

Song Jun smiled bitterly and continued, "Your Majesty, the comparison of the military and national strength of the two sides is not so simple to calculate. When Taizu started his army, he only had 18 sets of armor, but the big and bloated Ming Dynasty was defeated by Taizu, ~!"

"Enough!" Before Song Jun could finish, Jiaqing shouted angrily, interrupting him and saying, "You actually compared the thief chieftain Chen Gu to Taizu, and compared my Qing Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty?"

Song Jun was stunned for a moment, then he quickly knelt down and said, "I acknowledge my guilt!"

Jiaqing looked at Songjun for a while with a cold light in his eyes, and finally waved his hand and said, "Forget it, you can leave."

Chen Gu had no control over which direction the imperial court chose as the main attack direction, but he thought that they could take over Yunnan and Guangxi first.

There are actually so many scholars in Sichuan. As long as they are allowed to serve as officials in Sichuan for a year and adapt to the operation of the Huaxia Ministry and the official atmosphere, they can be sent to other places to serve as officials.

As for problems such as corruption, there is actually no way to completely eliminate them. As long as the supervisory agencies are in place and the enforcement is strict, there shouldn't be any major problems.

"So, sir, your record department is very important!" Chen Gu said with a smile.

The sour scholar pulled the corner of his mouth and said, "I think you want to go to war yourself, right?"

"Well, I didn't expect that you would see through me." Chen Gu smiled and said, "I really want to go out for a walk. I'll leave the central control to you."

"The food and fodder must be sent before the armies move. If we attack Yunnan and Guangxi at the same time, will the food and fodder in Guizhou be able to keep up?" asked the sour scholar with a frown.

"It is definitely enough, sir, you are worrying too much. Even though ordinary people have no food to eat, the wealthy families actually have plenty of food. The roadblock seized several million dan of food in Guiyang, which is enough for fighting on two fronts.

Moreover, it does not take many soldiers to attack Guangxi. With the original 5,000 soldiers of the roadblock, it should be enough for me to bring another 5,000 soldiers. On the contrary, a lot of officials from various departments are needed!" Chen Gu said with a smile.

The sour scholar thought about it, nodded and said, "Okay, it would be good to speed up the attack."

When the Huaxia tribe conquers a place, it does not mean that they just have to eliminate the resistance forces. Instead, they have to govern the local area after they conquer it. In this way, when they conquer a province, they have to fight their way through it.

Moreover, the army needs to stay in each place for a period of time because it is necessary to deter local forces. When necessary, the army even has to personally suppress the local landlord armed forces.

After all, no one is willing to give up their land obediently.

(End of this chapter)