After taking Suzhou, Jiangnan was fully in the hands of Zhu Yicheng, he could now free up his hands to send his troops south to support Wenzhou. But before the forwards to Wenzhou arrived at the front line, Lan Li and Nian Gengyao's troops had already withdrawn voluntarily. The battle of Taishun ended forty-seven days before and after.

In the battle of Taishun, Ma Gongcheng and Yang Xu's troops suffered a considerable loss, with an overall casualty of up to 60%. If Yang Xu had not been good at defending the city and commanding well, and the Penghu Navy had restrained Lan Yanzhen's joint naval division, Ma Gongxing had continuously sent troops to support and replace the front line in Wenzhou, especially Wu Sidao promptly supported the 3,000-man new force to Wenzhou, otherwise Taishun would have been almost defeated.

In this battle, Yang Xu insisted on Taishun and blocked Lan Li and Nian Gengyao's troops for 47 days, allowing the Qing army to make no progress under the city, and even the Ming army was able to successfully capture Hangzhou, Nanjing, Changzhou and Suzhou. Because of his good defense, he was praised by the army as the "copper wall and iron wall" after this battle.

As early as the news of Nanjing being captured reached Wenzhou, Lan Li and Nian Gengyao were shocked and wanted to retreat. Nanjing was lost, and two lonely cities in Changzhou and Suzhou were even more unpredictable. It was inevitable that the Ming army occupied the entire territory of Jiangsu. Lan Li was an old martial artist and would not see the situation that appeared. Not to mention Nian Gengyao, he knew better than anyone else what would happen next after losing Nanjing.

Facing Taishun, who could not conquer no matter how hard they could, the two barely fought for a few more days and voluntarily gave up, leading the army to voluntarily withdraw back to Fujian, relying on Fujian's mountainous areas to garrison, so as not to turn around and attack south after the Ming army took over Jiangsu. In addition, Lan Yanzhen's navy also retreated to Xiamen and Nanao to prevent Taiwan's Penghu navy from moving abnormally.

It is impossible not to say that their judgment and decision were very correct. Not long after they withdrew from Fujian, news of the fall of Changzhou and Suzhou also spread. Moreover, the Ming army in the north had completely solved the Qing army in Jiangsu and sent troops south to support Wenzhou.

From the time Zhu Yicheng sent troops from Ningbo to the end of taking Suzhou, after two and a half months, not only did his territory double but he also captured big cities like Nanjing, Hangzhou, and Suzhou, and even controlled the waterways from the Yangtze River Estuary to Nanjing to Taiping Prefecture (now Ma'anshan).

Due to the great victory of the Ming army, the pressure on the Qing army in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River suddenly increased greatly. In order to prevent the Ming navy from going up the river and reaching Jiujiang, the Qing army had to weaken the offensive to deploy defenses against the areas where the Ming navy might attack.

At the same time, in Jiangbei, because the Ming army occupied Nanjing, the Qing army was even more afraid that the Ming army would cross the river directly to attack the north, so they had to mobilize the army in Henan to Jiangbei, and jointly deployed river defenses from Tongzhou (Nantong)-Taizhou-Yangzhou-Chuzhou with Shandong Green Camp.

As a result, the pressure on the two units of Yuan Qi and Zhu Jiancai was greatly reduced, and they gradually stabilized their positions, forming a stalemate with the Qing army.

After occupying Jiangnan, Zhejiang and Taiwan, the Ming army's offensive slowed down. To be honest, although the gains in this battle exceeded expectations, which greatly increased Zhu Yicheng's power, he could not help but have "indigestion" after taking over so many territories.

Now, Zhu Yicheng's total strength has exceeded 100,000, but it is still difficult for these more than 100,000 people to control such a large area. Except for important cities such as Nanjing, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Suzhou, Songjiang, Taizhou, Wenzhou, Lishui, etc., with heavy troops stationed, the control of the other small prefectures and counties is not strong. In addition, this battle has captured more than 50,000 Qing army (including regiment training and bravery) and more than 30,000 local rebels need to be reorganized. In addition, the actual control of the cities occupied also requires manpower and time to deal with it. Therefore, when we learned that Lan Li and Nian Gengyao took the initiative to withdraw their troops, Zhu Yicheng only ordered to continue to garrison on the spot and did not allow the troops to attack Fujian.

"Congratulations to the governor!" Shortly after returning to Nanjing, Wu Sidao and his six ministries finally arrived in Nanjing. When they saw Zhu Yicheng, Wu Sidao bowed and congratulated him with a smile.

"Mr. Wu, you are here. If you don't come again, you will be lonely and frustrated." When Zhu Yicheng saw Wu Sidao, he was very happy. The battle was over, but what he had to deal with next was a lot of things. Although Liao Huanzhi provided assistance, the territory he captured this time was too large. In addition, there were the prisoners and reorganization work mentioned earlier, and other matters, Zhu Yicheng has been so busy these days that he didn't even have time to eat.

After listening to Zhu Yicheng's suffering, Wu Sidao immediately burst into laughter and told Zhu Yicheng confidently that he had made plans before he came. After explaining the plan to Zhu Yicheng in detail, Zhu Yicheng was immediately overjoyed and immediately called Liao Huanzhi, who was also worried, and asked them to resettle these government affairs as soon as possible.

"The state supervision is not urgent, but now there are three things that need to be arranged as soon as possible. I wonder if you have any consideration for the state supervision?" When Wu Sidao asked someone to find Liao Huanzhi, he asked Zhu Yicheng with a serious expression.

"Three things? Please give me some advice."

"First, reward all ministers!" Wu Sidao said: "This battle has shaken the foundation of the Qing Dynasty, especially after the recapture of Yingtian Prefecture in Nanjing, the world is shocked! The country is the lord of the Ming Dynasty. It should reward all ministers and amnesty to calm the people's hearts. At the same time, this move can make the world more willing to return to the country."

"I have considered this matter and I am just waiting for the teacher to come." Zhu Yicheng smiled.

Wu Sidao nodded with satisfaction and continued: "Second, please ask the supervisor to hold the imperial examination as soon as possible, recruit wise men, and inform the world!"

When Wu Sidao said this, Zhu Yicheng was stunned. He never considered the imperial examination. This was also due to his later educational thinking. After all, Zhu Yicheng was not a person of this era and was not very clear about the importance of the imperial examination. In addition, he was just a local rebel force in Ningbo before and did not have the qualifications to conduct the imperial examination. Even if the imperial examination was announced at that time, it would be a joke in the eyes of the world. Even if he later regained the position of the state supervisor in Ningbo, the territory was less than half a province, and there were strong enemies around him. How could he talk about the imperial examination?

But now it is different. After taking Jiangnan, Zhejiang and Taiwan, it has more than 100,000 troops. At this moment, Zhu Yicheng has completely gained the capital to challenge the Qing court. The gentry and scholars who were waiting and watching and thought that Zhu Yicheng was just a rebel who was in danger have gradually changed their attitude. Not to mention the others, just after Nanjing was taken down, the surrounding small towns were basically large troops to Houcheng, and many local officials even surrendered voluntarily. This situation was not visible when the rebel army first started, which is enough to show that people's hearts have changed with Zhu Yicheng's huge power.

Although Zhu Yicheng had already felt these things vaguely, he had not thought about them carefully. Now Wu Sidao's words made him realize it suddenly. Yes, this is a great opportunity to open the imperial examination. As long as the imperial examination is opened, the lack of talents in his hands will inevitably be greatly alleviated. More importantly, he can use this to pull all local gentry and most scholars into the camp of the Ming Dynasty, which is also of great benefit for safe rule and comforting the local area.

"Mr. I woke up the dreamer with one word, thank you all alone!" Zhu Yicheng stood up and saluted Wu Sidao solemnly thanked Wu Sidao. Wu Sidao had no time to stop her legs and feet, so he could only barely turn his body to show that he did not dare to accept the respect. But judging from his satisfied smile, he greatly appreciated Zhu Yicheng's ability to accept his words and respect his style.

"I wonder why the third thing that sir said is?" Zhu Yicheng asked after discussing the details of the imperial examination with Wu Sidao.

"How does the supervisor think about the current situation?" Wu Sidao did not immediately talk about the third thing, but asked about the current situation.

This situation is in front of you. Taking down Jiangnan and adding natural danger to the Yangtze River, Zhu Yicheng's general trend has basically been achieved. Although the Qing army is still strong, it is no longer able to make large-scale military operations against the Ming army in a short period of time. In Zhu Yicheng's view, the Qing army will temporarily take defensive measures against the Ming army, and at the same time mobilize troops from other places to first solve the problem of Yuan Qi and Zhu Jiancai's troops. After these two units are destroyed, the Qing army will no longer have internal worries and will be able to concentrate its forces to turn around and deal with the Ming army.

As for the Ming army, it also took a certain amount of time to digest the fruits of victory and accumulate strength to prepare for the next strategy. At the same time, the Ming army could not sit idly by and watch the two divisions of Yuan Qi and Zhu Jiancai be destroyed. After taking Nanjing, the Ming army had already occupied the benefits of the Yangtze River and could go up along the river to support Yuan and Zhu's two divisions at any time, and at the same time put pressure on the Qing army.

When Zhu Yicheng said these words one by one, Wu Sidao nodded slightly to express his approval.

"This time we took over Nanjing City, coupled with the previous Battle of Hangzhou and later Battle of Changzhou and Suzhou, how many Eight Banners were captured by our army?" Wu Sidao suddenly asked about the Eight Banners again.

"Nanjing City was previously the garrison of the Eight Banners of Jiangning in the Qing Dynasty. There were 5,000 Eight Banners soldiers in the entire imperial city, and less than 30,000 family members, young, women and children. After several battles, the Eight Banners' military strength was finally captured by more than 2,600 people. In addition, the Eight Banners prisoners in Hangzhou and Changzhou were more than 3,100 people."

"That is to say, the regent now has more than 33,000 people in his hands?"

"There are almost the same number. For specific items, please check the books. Since the Eight Banners were moved out of the Imperial City, they were temporarily placed in the south of the city to settle the land and have been registered. If the gentleman needs to do so, please let someone take the books..."

"No rush for now." Wu Sidao waved his hand and asked again: "Where are the civil and military civil and military personnel who were captured by Liangjiang Galli, Jiangning Weaver, Jiangning Weaver's Eight Banners Ginseng, Jiangning Weaver, and where are the civil and military personnel of the fifth rank and above captured?"

"These people were captured and were imprisoned in the former Liangjiang Governor's Office prison. What? Mr. Wu met them when he was traveling to the temple?" Zhu Yicheng joked.
Chapter completed!