In this world, nothing is absolute.

For example, Zhu Xieyuan escaped, which strengthened the strength of the Northern Ming Dynasty, but also allowed Liu Buke to extract enough strength to defeat Sichuan.

Before this, Liu Bu wanted to take Sichuan with just the ten thousand people under Liu Kang, and even if he could take it, he would not be able to keep it.

Sichuan has more than 400,000 square kilometers, more than a dozen prefectures and more than 10,000 people. If it is divided into these dozen prefectures, its strength is quite weak, which is equivalent to not being enough. This is why even if they can defeat Sichuan, they cannot defend it.

Liu Bu understood one thing, so this time he sent Liu Kang to lead his army westward to attack Sichuan. His first wish was to hope that he could seize Chongqing, take down their gates to Sichuan, and then slowly plan to do so.

Since Liu Bu no longer has to use troops to the north for the time being and can draw a large amount of troops, he must be given priority to consolidation in the south.

The current strategic pattern of the Liu family is quite good. After Liu Bu sent troops to win the Battle of Yiling, their strategic pattern was unprecedentedly good.

The richest places in the Ming Dynasty were all under their control, and the worst was that Shandong was all under their control. This place was very close to the capital, which forced the emperor to dispatch heavy troops to guard Baoding and Tianjin to ensure that the enemy could not attack the capital from these two directions.

What's even worse is that the places where the Ming Dynasty's taxes are important, Jianghuai and Jiangnan have fallen into the hands of the Chinese army one after another. Without these places where the taxes are important, the Ming Dynasty's income has been further reduced, and it is very difficult to support so many troops.

There are quite a lot of problems with the Chinese army. The main thing about the Chinese army is that they have risen too quickly. In the short term, they have annexed so many places. Even if they have strong force and can forcibly occupy these places, it does not mean that they can rule these places permanently.

Now the Chinese Army can control these places because they cooperate with local tyrants and the two sides share the interests of the world.

However, this practice of dividing the world between the two sides is actually not worth promoting, and is not conducive to the rule of imperial power. In the long run, it is easy to cause unstable foundations.

So the Liu family and his son also realized a problem, and once they took their hands out, they had to rectify them internally.

The Chinese army can occupy these places in just a short period of time, but it will take a long time to truly control these places and make the local people, military and civilians return to their hearts. To this day, the Ming Dynasty still has so many loyal and righteous ministers, because after more than two hundred years of hope to support scholars.

The Liu family also wants to start raising scholars and hope.

So after repelling Zhu Xieyuan, Liu Bu's strategic plan was to stabilize the situation in the south and confront the Ming Dynasty's strategic confrontation.

The current strategic confrontation is also beneficial to the Chinese army, because the Chinese army controls wealthy places, all of which are rich and tax-heavy places, and these places will soon have a steady stream of output.

They will not be short of money, food, and population, which is a prerequisite for the rise of a great power.

The Ming Dynasty in the north was relatively miserable. They lost all the tax-heavy land and grain production areas, and they would be worried about taxes and grain.

Shortage of money and food is an extremely difficult problem. Not everyone is a monster like the Liu family father and son. Only they do not regard Qianliang as Qianliang and can easily get a large amount of money and food. This is a very deadly thing for the emperors and courts in the north and the south. If these things cannot be solved, let alone the division of the Chinese Empire, even survival will be a problem.

The strategic situation of the Ming Dynasty in the north is far worse than that of the Chinese Empire.

His capital was located in the Yanjing Mountains. Outside the Great Wall was Mongolia, their century-old enemy, and beyond Shanhaiguan, it was the Later Jin Kingdom. These forces were very powerful and had the ability to subvert the Ming Dynasty.

Under the suppression of these forces and the Chinese Empire, the Ming Dynasty was surrounded by wolves, which was very deadly.

If it was said before that the Ming Dynasty set up the capital in Youyan Land, it was the emperor who guarded the country's gates, which was very noble, but now it can only be described as a cheating father.

The area where the capital of the Ming Empire is located is under the attack of three forces.

As long as the other party attacks at any time, it can be crushed. What's worse is that there is no grain produced here, and a large amount of grain must be transported from other places. In the past, they used the canal strategy to transport a large amount of grain for them, but now the canal has been cut off and the south has been captured, and they cannot use this one. They don't know where to transport so much grain for the capital. If these problems are not solved, they should not talk about the issue of division of the north and the south and gain a foothold. What they are now considering is actually the issue of survival.

This is also the reason why Liu Bu realized this. Even if Zhu Xieyuan led more than ten armies to retreat north, the tiger returned to the mountain, and there were endless troubles. But he also knew that if this tiger ran to a barren place and a place where people could starve to death, he would not become a tiger, but he would probably turn into a local dog.

In other words, the form of competition between the Chinese Empire and the Ming Empire has changed. It used to be a confrontation of military forces, but now it may be a competition for resources. In this regard, the Chinese Army is already at the leading level, and the advantages they have are that the Ming Dynasty cannot have.

Therefore, many people expressed their anger and dissatisfaction with Zhu Xieyuan's escape and fleeing into the north. Only Liu Bu realized this until now. Zhu Xieyuan's staying may not be a good thing, and he may not be a bad thing if he escapes. In short, the Chinese army is facing choices, and his choices will have their own unexpected consequences.

But now, all Liu Bu’s plans are in his own vision.

The Chinese Empire occupied so many wealthy places and was so rich, which was when they fully expanded their army.

Although the current Chinese Empire has 200,000 troops, these 200,000 troops are actually not at all advantageous compared to the Northern Ming Dynasty. They are all elite soldiers and their combat effectiveness is stronger than the other party.

But their father and son also realized that if they wanted to unify the world, even if they had 200,000 elite troops, even if he had 200,000 elite troops, there would be fewer than a dozen provinces across the country. More than 10,000 people in a province could not be said to be a strong military force.

The father and son estimated that they would unify the world, based on the current control of the Ming Dynasty. If they wanted to maintain an absolute advantage, they would have to have at least one.5 million troops. If they were interested in the Northeast outside the pass, they were interested in Mongolia, and the distant Western Regions and the north and south roads of the Tianshan Mountains, they would need more troops.

So after Liu Bu beat Zhu Xieyuan away, he had to consider other urgently needed issues, that is, to expand his army with all his might.

The Chinese army was robbed of the world, so they must ensure strong enough force to defend the world.

In a word, it may be a bit ironic, that is, they may have conquered the world with 200,000 troops, but they cannot use 200,000 troops to rule the world, so it is imperative to expand the army.

It was also the reason why Liu Bu felt that he was not so anxious suddenly. Since the opponent ran away, let him run away. Anyway, there will be a battle between the two sides sooner or later. Today's Chinese army is still weak. When he expands to the million-level, it will be time for the other party to suffer.

Of course, this also made Liu Bu feel headache. When he was leading troops to fight, he had to think about it relatively simple. This was to use all means and resources to defeat the enemy. Now he faced more problems. Not only did he want to defeat the enemy, but he also had to consider how to expand his own power and how to rule the place.

After the Ming Dynasty ruled this area for more than 200 years, they were actually deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Until now, many people support the Ming Dynasty and work hard for them. After the demise of the original Ming Dynasty, there were still so many people who tried every means to fight against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty. This is a problem.

Liu Bu knew that the same thing was that he occupied the territory of the Ming Dynasty and defeated their army. It was just the first step, and the second step was to compete with the Ming Dynasty for the people's hearts.

Of course, if you want to do these things, the Chinese Empire is also in an advantageous place. The main thing is that they occupy wealthy places, produce grain, have enough resources, and have sufficient resources, so they can naturally do many things that win people's hearts calmly.

The Ming Dynasty in the north was relatively terrible, and the main problem was that they lacked money and food, which meant that many things they could not implement.

For example, the emperor and the court did not want to collect taxes, but it would not work. If the court did not collect, it would be destroyed, and there would be no food to be sent and no soldiers available.

The two sides are in a time to fight for the world to understand their hearts and fight for the world. On the one hand, they are light taxes and levies, and they are buying people's hearts. On the other hand, they are knocking on bones and sucking marrow, exhausting the waters and fishing. Everyone knows what the final result will be.

But for the Ming Empire, even though they knew the result, they had no choice, because they had to survive first and then consider other things. This is the idiom "Drink Dove" in quenching thirst. Although they knew it was poisonous, they had to drink it to quench thirst first in order to survive.

It was when Liu Bu realized these problems that he realized that I should not be in a hurry. He should digest the territory in front of him, expand his strength, and then slowly play with them. This is better.

This made his actions more relaxed and less nervous. He simply marched slowly, which allowed him to think about some things and plan for the future. Liu Bu led tens of thousands of elite troops to change from shortcuts to infantry and cavalry launching at the same time, and advanceing at the same time on land and water.
Chapter completed!