This map, spread out, was square and about three feet wide, recording the terrain of the Southern Barbarian regions and the seasonal climates of some of the necessary passage points. For the Great Qian soldiers, it was a crucial treasure map!
Nanjiyun glanced at the Map for Pacifying the Barbarians, initially delighted, then with a look of shame: "Master..."
Tong Zhen waved his hand: "As your master, I naturally understand your difficulties. You feel that since I have come to the Southern Barbarians to atone for my sins, and now I lead the way and present this map, it is even more of a betrayal to my daughter? But you also know the harm of the Spring Return Sect. I believe the Great Qian royal army will not mistreat the Southern Barbarian people."
Nanjiyun still had a look of shame.
For a hundred years, the Southern Barbarians were not part of the Central Plains, only occasionally paying tribute.
The only recent interaction between the two sides was when the Southern Barbarian king and his officials were subdued by the divine might of the Heavenly General. After the barbarian retreat, they voluntarily presented a Southern Barbarian elephant.
This ten-thousand-jin giant elephant was also used in the State Affairs Selection of that year, as a prelude to attract participants. Xiao Qing thus posed the question: "What is the greatest thing in the world?"
To pacify the Spring Return Sect for the Southern Barbarians, such a reason was clearly untenable. In the eyes of the Southern Barbarians, it was merely an excuse to conquer them, and it would have been more justifiable to continue resisting.
But if this were the case, it was likely that Tong Zhen would never receive Meng Wuxin's forgiveness.
Tong Ping, who had been silent all along, suddenly said: "Senior Brother, you need not be troubled. Since Senior Brother is filial to Master, with Senior Brother's wisdom in commanding the army, you will surely win the forgiveness of that elder sister for Master in the end!"
Nanjiyun nodded solemnly: "Junior Brother speaks wisely. Nan Ba will go all out to help Master and the Southern Barbarian Queen recognize each other as father and daughter! With this map, our army can speed up its march and pacify the Southern Barbarians within two months!"
"No need, the overall situation is more important," Tong Zhen sighed.
Nanjiyun gave no indication of his thoughts, but he had already made up his mind.
For Tong Zhen's safety, Nanjiyun insisted on bringing Tong Zhen and Tong Ping back to the army, but not to Yizhou, so as not to make Tong Zhen break his vow of never returning to Great Qian.
After obtaining the Map for Pacifying the Barbarians, Nanjiyun reassembled his troops. The entire army advanced like a tiger with wings, accurately bypassing the miasma-infested areas along the route, and headed directly for the Southern Barbarian palace.
The Southern Barbarians had already lost thirty thousand men to the Great Qian soldiers. Faced with the divine descent of the organized Great Qian army, they all submitted and surrendered their cities.
At this time, the Southern Barbarian Queen Meng Wuxin was still unaware of all this.
One hundred li east of Liaodong, the Izumo Kingdom's army finally repaired the roads destroyed by the Taiji Kingdom and their forces were pressing towards the Liaodong border.
"Great Qian is facing enemies on all sides and has just fought a battle with the Xianbei. Their supplies and manpower are definitely insufficient. May the Emperor bless us, our army will surely win! With the northeast and east sea of Great Qian as a springboard, sweeping across the entire Great Qian territory is imminent. The beauties and silver of the Central Plains and Jiangnan will be within our easy reach!"
Under Ito Masamune's incitement, the Izumo Kingdom's army not only had no fear of Great Qian's heavenly power but also harbored ambitions of occupying the entire Great Qian territory.
From Taiji Kingdom, the Izumo Kingdom's fleet sailed south, heading straight for the Great Qian's East Sea region.
In Zhongzhou, the Liang Xiao oil field, which had just been named by Xiao Qing...
A large number of hastily made iron barrels were being transported by horse-drawn and ox-drawn carts to the East Sea military camp. The chains on the surface of the iron barrels dragged directly on the ground.
The soldiers were as quiet as cicadas, moving cautiously, fearing that the iron barrels would explode.
The Ministry of Works had already told them why the oil barrels needed an extra iron chain: this was the intention of the Marquis of Anguo. If you don't want to be blown up by the contents of the oil barrel, then obediently let the chain drag on the ground...
Along with the iron barrels, large numbers of carts covered with white cloth were also sent to the East Sea. The outside world was not aware of what was inside.
However, the news of Great Qian's discovery of "oil fields" was still quietly transmitted to the headquarters of various major powers by intelligence personnel through carrier pigeons.
"I heard those oils burn even better than firewood, but they are poisonous?"
A hundred li south of Luzhou, King Nan Xiao Chang and others showed looks of doubt.
Their understanding of petroleum was almost nil, and even after searching through ancient texts, there were only a few scattered sentences.
The historical records of the Great Zhou called this substance "stone lacquer" and "fierce fire oil." It was indeed flammable, but this was the first time they had heard of an "oil field" with several hundred million catties of petroleum.
"In any case, they dare not use petroleum to cook their meals, right?" Gongyang He said coldly.
Everyone nodded and breathed a sigh of relief, as if remembering something.
When marching and fighting, not every soldier could eat hot meals every day. This depended on whether enough firewood and stones could be found to build a fire. Unless the country was wealthy and could afford to mobilize a large number of civilians to transport firewood at any cost.
Petroleum, however, seemed to be easier to carry in large quantities than firewood. If the Great Qian soldiers could ensure hot meals in the wild, the boost to morale would be self-evident and greatly disadvantageous to the Jiaozhou army.
"There's movement in Wuronngzhou. Han Zhongyun has done a good job," Duke Degui said happily. "But our army must also take action to tie down the Jiangnan army in the Luzhou area!"
The Brocade Robe King nodded: "Unless our army suffers a major defeat, we must not retreat to Jiaozhou easily and miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a joint attack! The Spring Return Sect and our Sun-Moon Army have paid so much, even two sect leaders have been sacrificed, one can imagine."
Everyone agreed.
After years of planning, the Spring Return Sect had finally seized this rare opportunity, and even Izumo had sent troops!
And the Spring Return Sect had already been purged by Great Qian and Liang, and could not gain a foothold there anymore. They could no longer organize a joint attack of various countries.
After all, the Xianbei had been defeated, and Taiji could only be used once. Once Izumo withdrew from the peninsula, they would likely not have the capability to launch a second large-scale overseas expedition.
The new sect leader of the Spring Return Sect, Jian Beihai, the elder brother of Jian Nanfeng, now goes by the alias Jian Bei and serves as the commander of the Jiaozhou Allied Army.
Jian Bei said solemnly: "We cannot give up the attack. Liang Xiao is likely to personally come to Jiangnan. I have already studied Liang Xiao's combat methods. Both the Xianbei and the barbarians were annihilated by Liang Xiao's strategy of encirclement and annihilation! Therefore, our army must lengthen the front line, attack in multiple locations simultaneously, and employ multiple strategies to keep Liang Xiao running ragged."
"Indeed, even if one position is defeated, our army will not be completely wiped out, and we can make a comeback from other battlefronts!" Young Master Xiao Chan of the Brocade Robe greatly agreed.
After several rounds of meetings, the Jiaozhou Allied Army finally began to divide its forces to attack Luzhou, Hefei, Qiancheng, Yuzhang, and other places simultaneously.
The number of Jiangnan troops exceeded half of the combined forces of Jiaozhou and Liang, but due to the multi-point defense, they were still stretched thin.
While defending cities had an advantage, Jiaozhou and Liang also exploited the Great Qian soldiers' psychological inability to allow any civilians to be massacred, firmly holding the initiative on the battlefield and continuing to harass and wear down the enemy.
Behind the Jiaozhou army, there were also massive supplies of grain.
Facing the enemy's cunning strategy of dividing their forces, Zhuo Ying also had to notify various regions to guard strictly and not allow any losses.
Due to fighting on multiple fronts, Great Qian had no surplus energy to defeat the Jiaozhou and Liang armies for six months, and could only try to minimize casualties.
At the turn of autumn and summer, Liang Xiao personally led fifteen thousand Zhongzhou cavalry across the Yangtze River and arrived at a supply station in the Jiangnan region.
The generals looked back at the Yangtze River and saw the great river flowing eastward, ceaselessly.
Liang Xiao's expression was solemn, and he declared loudly: "Can you all achieve victory and return before this day next year?"
"We are willing to follow the Marshal and defeat the rebels within a year!"
The soldiers raised their arms and shouted.
Fifteen thousand men, following Liang Xiao, headed straight for Luzhou, traveling day and night.