Rong An's attack on Guangzhou was very smooth. Most of Guangdong's troops were at the border between Guangdong and Guangxi to defend against Scar's army, while the remaining troops were confronting the Tiandihui headquarters in Humen.

So the whole Guangzhou was almost like an empty city to Rong An. In addition, Rong An was familiar with Guangzhou and could find people to cooperate with him from inside and outside, so it was no surprise that Guangzhou City was easily captured by Rong An.

Rong An then captured Panyu and moved to Humen, where he easily subdued the Qing army. After a series of open and secret struggles, he took over the position of the chief leader of the Tiandihui.

In the spring of the following year, Rong An took over the entire Guangdong. He then fought a battle with the main force of the Qing army in Guangdong, killed Guangzhou General Aisin-Gioro Shujing, and surrendered all the remaining Eight Banners and Green Camp troops.

Up to this point, the total strength of Rong'an was: 1,000 main forces of the headquarters, 2,500 Eight Banners soldiers, more than 10,000 Green Camp soldiers, 100,000 main forces of the peasant army, more than 100,000 miscellaneous troops, plus civilian laborers who transported grain, etc., and it was known to the outside world as an army of 500,000.

"Mr. Xu, do you think our army will have a chance if it enters Guangxi?" Rong An asked, looking in the direction of Guangxi.

Xu Dao shook his head and said, "It's not that there is no chance at all, but it's very difficult. Although our army is said to have 500,000 soldiers, there are only more than 10,000 people who can really fight.

There are 10,000 main forces of the Huaxia Army in the direction of Guangxi, and the Huaxia Army’s joint defense team is not just for show, so even if our army tries its best, it may not be able to take Guangxi.

And what would happen even if we took over Guangxi?

After that there are the three provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Hunan, which are meaningless.

We don’t have much chance to expand our territory now. At most, we can strive for a few prefectures and counties in Fujian, but that’s not very meaningful. Ultimately, the outcome will still depend on the front battlefield in the north.”

Rong An couldn't help but sigh and said, "Then let's start the beauty trap!"

Most of the areas where Fujian and Guangdong meet are mountainous, so there is not much point in attacking them. As for places like Putian, they have already been controlled by Cai Qian.

Therefore, Rong An did not expand his territory any further, so as to avoid conflicts with Cai Qian or the Huaxia tribe.

After taking over the entire Guangdong province, Rong An returned to Guangzhou. While continuing to do business with foreigners to make money, he also sent envoys to Wuchang to meet Chen Gu.

For more than a year, Chen Gu has been in Wuchang without moving.

After Yunhua conquered Hunan half a year ago, he continued to garrison in Jingzhou.

After Lao Piao conquered Jiangxi, Chen Gu gave him another 10,000 main troops and 20,000 joint defense troops. 5,000 main troops and 5,000 joint defense troops were stationed in Jiujiang, while Lao Piao took the rest of the troops to continue attacking Zhejiang.

After taking Shanghai at the beginning of the year, Lao Piao went up the river to capture cities and territories, and finally confronted the imperial army in Nanjing.

At this point, the entire area south of the Yangtze River and Sichuan was in the hands of the Hua Xia tribe and its allies. The Hua Xia tribe and the Qing court confronted each other in Wuhan and Nanjing.

In Wuhan, Chen Gu led 20,000 main forces and 30,000 joint defense teams to confront the 100,000-strong army of the Qing court. Both sides were tacitly waiting for the result.

Nanjing was much more lively. Jiaqing sent 200,000 troops to Nanjing City. After Chen Gu's several reinforcements, Lao Piao only had 20,000 main forces and 30,000 joint defense teams in total, which were the same number of troops as Chen Gu's headquarters.

However, Chen Gu gave Lao Piao more weapons, so although Lao Piao had fewer people, he was constantly trying to attack Nanjing City.

Although the Qing army in Nanjing City had a strength of 200,000, it had always been on the defensive.

The situation in the whole world unexpectedly became so strangely stable. The Huaxia tribe seemed to have lost the strength to continue to advance, and the Qing court seemed to have lost the strength to counterattack. However, everyone knew that this calm was only temporary, and everyone was working hard to improve their strength in order to kill the other side with one blow.

The Huaxia Department is working hard to train officials and reform the places that have already been conquered, intending to digest the existing territories more quickly and increase its foundation.

After the corruption case of the Military Equipment Bureau, Emperor Jiaqing of the Qing Dynasty seemed to have suddenly come to his senses. For nearly a year, he had been constantly rectifying the internal affairs, cracking down on corruption, confiscating property and exterminating families, reorganizing the army, building armaments, training new troops, and also constantly increasing his strength.

As a result, life would become difficult for the gentry and wealthy throughout the world. In the south of the Yangtze River, they would be taxed by Chen Shijun's land equalization policy, while in the north of the Yangtze River, they would most likely be confiscated and their families exterminated by Jiaqing.

On the contrary, ordinary people, both north and south of the Yangtze River, felt that their lives had suddenly become much better. Those south of the Yangtze River were able to get land, and the gentry and landlords north of the Yangtze River also became more polite to them.

The Dragon Boat Festival was approaching again, and Zheng Ming came to tell Chen Gu that Qing Gui from the other side was planning to compete with the Huaxia tribe in dragon boat racing.

"Tell me, what is the specific method of the competition?" Chen Gu asked with interest.

"On the Dragon Boat Festival, one side sends out two dragon boat teams, which row across the other side and then back to see who row faster." Zheng Ming said with a smile.

"There are only two days left. Seeing that Qinggui came prepared, I want to boost their morale!" Chen Gu smiled and said, "Just agree to it. Select dragon boat experts from the entire army and form two dragon boat teams."

"Leader, aren't you afraid of losing?" Zheng Ming asked.

"Lose?" Chen Gu smiled and shook his head, saying, "The North is not good at naval warfare. Even if Qinggui had prepared in advance, at most he had only practiced secretly. Even if we didn't practice, we wouldn't necessarily lose.

Besides, what if we lose?

The Qing army needs to boost morale, but we don't. On the contrary, we have won every battle since I started my army. I have a group of arrogant and brave generals under my command. It's better if we lose. Only after we knock down some of their arrogant flags can we learn from our shame and become braver. "

If he wins, he can undermine the enemy's morale; if he loses, he can destroy the arrogance of his own soldiers. For Chen Gu, winning or losing does not mean he will suffer any loss.

There is nothing else to do, so why not compare?

Eating rice dumplings and dragon boat racing to save Qu Yuan were also popular in this era, but only in the south. After all, people in the north were not good at water.

It was very easy to select two dragon boat teams in the south, and when everyone learned that they were competing with the Qing army, they became even more enthusiastic.

Because there were so many people who signed up, it took a whole day just to select the people, leaving them only one day for training.

After all, dragon boat racing requires teamwork, and the most important thing is cooperation, so after the people are selected, necessary training is essential.

Fortunately, those who dare to sign up are all masters, and one day of training is enough for them to become familiar with each other's strength, speed, habits, etc.

On the fifth day of May, two dragon boats crossed the Yangtze River and arrived at each other's camp.

(End of this chapter)