Chapter 67: The Dragon Raises Its Head (I)
The Daomen Qizhou Headquarters and Xiujing Camp clearly defined the combat objectives of the February Offensive in five points.
First, completely seize the territory of Ise and complete effective occupation.
Second, by conquering the Ise area, a strategic threat was formed to the Pingjing area, prompting the overall situation to change from defense to offense.
Third, by besieging and blocking the Sonnjo faction forces in Ise, luring the Sonnjo faction in other areas to rescue, and then implementing the strategy of besieging points and attacking reinforcements, effectively killing the Sonnjo faction's living forces.
Fourth, destroy the Ise Shrine and cooperate with various propaganda methods to severely damage the reputation of Tianmen and shake the foundation of Tianmen.
Fifth, in the process of marching into Ise, take advantage of the situation to open up the various command states and counties along the way, connect the points into lines, and connect the lines into surfaces, ending the jagged situation in the areas east of Ise and west of Musashi.
This February offensive was named "Dragon Head-raising", and it was also the first large-scale offensive carried out by the Daomen rebellion suppression army after landing on Fenglinzhou.
It can be seen that the key to "dragon raising its head" lies in the battlefield of Ise, which is roughly divided into three steps: besieging Ise, attacking reinforcements, and finally occupying it. This is also the key reason why Qingwei Zhenren asked Qi Xuansu to immediately replace the Onmyoji of the Tsuchimikado school to surrender Suzuka Gozen. When necessary, the Taoist sect needs a "nail" located in the heart of Ise.
The reason is very simple. The army is not an arrow from a string, but a kite that is released. The kite line is the logistics supply line. How far the kite can fly depends entirely on how long the kite line is. The army advances and must constantly conquer cities, and cannot bypass them, because bypassing a city is to bury a nail in the rear. This nail can cut off the logistics line at the lightest, and cut off the back road at the worst, or cut off the way for reinforcements, so generally speaking, it cannot be bypassed.
The Taoist army marched westward and conquered all the cities along the way, which was to pull out all the nails and ensure the smooth flow of the logistics line.
At the same time, the Taoist sect also intended to "build" a nail in Ise.
The successful surrender of Suzuka Gozen by the Dao Sect is equivalent to adding an unconquered city belonging to the Dao Sect in Ise out of thin air, which will make the Sonnong faction in Ise feel like a thorn in their throats, and they must always be on guard against the forces of Suzuka Mountain. The Dao Sect can even use its air superiority to land on Suzuka Mountain and complete a central flowering. Its strategic significance is very important.
The Ise Shrine also realized this, so after the intention of the Tsuchimikado-ryu Onmyoji was exposed, it would attack Suzuka Mountain directly at all costs, severely damaging Suzuka Gozen and the forces of Suzuka Mountain.
On February 13, Qi Xuansu sent back the news of Suzuka Gozen's surrender to the Dao Sect through a small "communication talisman formation" that he carried with him.
Compared with the mother-child talisman, the "communication talisman formation" that can only transmit text is not convenient, but its advantage is that the communication distance is longer and it is not easily disturbed. Even if the Yin Qi is all over Ise now, Qi Xuansu can still barely transmit the message. Under the same circumstances, the "mother-child talisman" will be blocked by the Yin Qi.
After receiving the news that Linglu Mountain had surrendered to Taoism, Qingwei Zhenren sent a second-grade Taoist certificate to Qi Xuansu through the "Xun Fu Array" and asked him to pass it to Linglu Gozen.
Strictly speaking, only the Grand Master can issue a first-grade Taoist certificate, and only the Deputy Master can issue a second-grade Taoist certificate. Although Qingwei Zhenren is a Canzhi Zhenren and one of the three "Crown Princes", he is still a second-grade Taiyi Taoist and has no right to issue a second-grade Taoist certificate. This certificate was issued by the National Master himself.
In the Taoist sect, the number of first-grade Taoist priests is no more than one hand, and the number of second-grade Taoist priests is also rare, and this level of Taoist priests also comes with the title of Zhenren, just like the emperor of the Great Xuan court is also not a Taoist, but also has the title of Da Zhenren, which can be said to be a great sincerity.
Qi Xuansu handed this Taoist priest certificate to Suzuka Gozen and explained the meaning in detail, and Suzuka Gozen was still quite shocked.
As far as she knows, the Taoist master of Fenglinzhou Daofu is only a second-grade Taiyi Taoist, but he is regarded as the "emperor" of Fenglinzhou. Now that she has a second-grade Taoist priest, she may not be as powerful as the Taoist master of Fenglinzhou when she sees him, but because she is half a guest, she does not have to stick to the difference in position, but her status is equal. Even if she made a mistake, Fenglinzhou Daofu would have to ask Jinque first if she wanted to deal with her. In a sense, this is still a talisman.
Qi Xuansu joked, "I will also call you Suzuka Immortal in the future."
Suzuka Gozen accepted it solemnly and asked Qi Xuansu to convey her gratitude.
???????????????????According to the instructions of Qingwei Immortal, Qi Xuansu left another "Xun Fu Array" he carried with him to Suzuka Gozen and told her how to use it. In fact, with Suzuka Gozen's pseudo-immortal ability, there is nothing he can't use, but different "Xun Fu Arrays" correspond to different arrangements of extinction texts. The so-called extinction texts, also known as "ghost books", "anti-books" and "water books", are texts written specifically for the dead. There are not many of them. The main contents are the twenty-eight constellations, the eight trigrams and nine palaces, the heavenly stems and earthly branches, the sun, the moon and the five stars, the yin and yang and the five elements, the sixty Jiazi, the four seasons and the five directions, and the seven-element calendar system. They are also important components of some special talismans and are now used as secret texts by the Taoist sect.
Qi Xuansu mainly told Suzuka Gozen the arrangement of the extinction text corresponding to Qingwei Immortal. From then on, Suzuka Gozen only had a single line of contact with Qingwei Immortal and was only under the specific command of Qingwei Immortal.
This is understandable. A pseudo-immortal like Suzuka Gozen is arrogant. Even if he surrenders to Taoism, he will never be ordered around by anyone. Qingwei Zhenren is different. In terms of realm and cultivation, he has the strength comparable to the immortals of longevity. In terms of status and future, he is expected to become the seventh generation of the Great Master. At the very least, he can succeed the national teacher and become the Great Zhenren of Taiping Dao. This is completely acceptable to Suzuka Gozen.
At noon on February 14, Qingwei Zhenren officially issued a blockade order.
At the same time, the power of the Sonnong faction in Ise began to shrink comprehensively.
At midnight on February 15, the Taoist army entered Duqi County. Within an hour, it successively defeated more than a dozen shrines, jinya, feudal castles, and strongholds, and completely occupied Duqi County.
At the hour of Mao on February 15, the Taoist stopped the attack and issued a notice to reassure the people.
All civilians stranded in Duqi County can guarantee their personal safety and property safety as long as they obey the dispatch and command of the Taoist. All captured Tianmen members, as long as they repent and turn against their own side, can be retained after being screened. If they have made contributions, they can also be granted official status in the Prime Minister's Mansion of Toyotomi.
On the same day, Grand Duke Maginot, the representative of Xiposozhou Company, asked to see the real person in charge of the army. The real person Qingwei declined this request and appointed Li Tiangang, the second deputy master of Fenglinzhou Daofu, to contact him on his behalf.
Maginot expressed the concern of the Holy Court for the war in Fenglinzhou.
Li Tiangang stated the position of the Taoist sect: Since ancient times, Fenglinzhou has been a vassal of the Central Plains. The war in Fenglinzhou is the internal affairs of the Taoist sect. The Holy Court has neither the need nor the qualifications to be concerned. The Holy Court should clarify the boundaries of both parties. Any act of crossing the boundary will be regarded as a provocation by the Taoist sect and will cause a reciprocal counterattack from the Taoist sect.
Maginot did not insist too much. After all, this is the sphere of influence of the Taoist sect. Even if the Holy Court has any dissatisfaction, it is powerless to express its dissatisfaction. It just turned to ask about the business that he cares about most.
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As the New World was discovered, Westerners built a large number of plantations and mines in the New World. In the early days, most of the workers in the plantations and mines were contract workers. They were poor immigrants from Western countries who crossed the ocean. These people signed contracts with plantation owners or overseas labor companies in their original places of residence. After arriving in the New World, they used several years of labor to repay the travel expenses paid for them. After the contract expired, they became free people.
With the development of plantations, there was a serious shortage of labor, so Western countries had to find new sources of labor, and the uncivilized natives in various places became their main targets for hunting labor. Using slave labor in plantations or mines is much cheaper than using contract workers, and it is easy to manage. Therefore, the slave trade has become a profitable business and has flourished greatly.
In the early days of the slave trade, Westerners organized so-called "hunting teams" to personally plunder slaves, sneak attack native villages, burn houses, and tie up natives and take them to slave ships anchored on the shore. They often trampled peaceful and quiet native villages into deserted ruins overnight.
However, they soon found that this method was too inefficient and too costly, so they changed their approach and used firearms and gunpowder to lure tribal chieftains in some coastal areas, instigating them to attack inland and instigate wars between tribes, so as to capture people from the other tribes in the battle and sell them to slave traders. Due to the instigation of Western countries, this kind of "slave hunting war" between tribes flourished for a time.
Xiposuzhou Company is one of the best among them, and it is notorious.
They knew that the Great Xuan Court and the Taoist sect were not engaged in the slave trade, so they found business opportunities in this Fenglinzhou war.
In Maginot's view, war will inevitably bring a large number of captives, which is a headache. After all, Orientals have always believed in the view that "killing captives is unlucky", but these captives cannot be released at will, so as not to cause greater turmoil and impact the fragile post-war order.
And they, Xiposuzhou Company, will just solve the problem of captives for their noble Oriental friends. The Taoist sect received money to make up for the losses of this war, and they could transport these captives to the New World, where they would spend the rest of their lives as slaves in plantations and mines.
Moreover, compared with those uncivilized indigenous slaves, these Fenglinzhou people are more suitable for some technical jobs, and there are even craftsmen among them, which is incomparable to those indigenous people.
In the words of the Orientals, this is a good thing that benefits both sides, or it can be said that each side gets what it needs.
After listening to Maginot's request, Li Tiangang sternly refused: "My Celestial Empire is rich in products. We can trade tea, silk, porcelain, and other bulk goods, but we don't sell people."
Maginot came with excitement and returned with disappointment.
However, he was keenly aware that this Fenglinzhou war was not a simple rebellion. The Taoist sect gathered people's hearts and attacked the nobles in order to take this opportunity to completely incorporate Fenglinzhou into the tribute system of the Central Plains Celestial Empire and make it a permanent vassal state.