Chapter 598: Ready to seize coastal counties!

Chapter 598: Ready to seize coastal counties!

As the saying goes, it is difficult to distinguish between the real and the fake, the real and the fake. Things in this world are often not as simple as they appear on the surface, but hide endless mysteries and changes. When the enemy thinks you are real, you may be fake; and when the enemy thinks you are fake, you may be real. This strategy of true and false, false and true is exactly what Wu She is good at.

During this waiting period, Wu She did not let Wu Yan idle. Various high-quality foods were continuously delivered to Wu She to nourish his body. These foods were not only delicious but also nutritious, which was undoubtedly an excellent nourishment for Wu She's body.

At the same time, whenever he had some free time, Wu She had someone take him to the vicinity of the military camp to observe the situation of the Southern Border Army. However, what Wu She showed Wu Yan was only a part of it. In fact, the army under Wu She's command was only 20,000 people.

It is not easy to use these 20,000 people to create the momentum of 200,000 people. First of all, a large number of military camps are needed to accommodate these soldiers so that the enemy's scouts can easily detect the existence of these military camps. Secondly, a large number of scouts are needed to move around to create the illusion of frequent personnel transfers. Not only that, the fire and cooking must also be made in a big way so that the enemy can see the smoke rising from a distance.

To achieve this goal, the daily workload was enormous. Soldiers needed to be busy setting up tents, placing flags, and constantly patrolling and maneuvering to create an atmosphere of a large army approaching. All of this was to make the enemy believe that Wu She really had 200,000 troops under his command.

Of course, Wu Yan must be convinced of this idea, otherwise wouldn't it be a waste of time to create an illusion? Therefore, Wu She must see with his own eyes that a large number of soldiers are training hard, and these soldiers are all strong and skilled. In this way, Wu Yan will be more convinced that the Southern Border Army is already sharpening its swords and ready to go. Only in this way can Gao Yao's goal be better achieved.

At the same time, Han Xin had already led 80,000 troops to prepare for battle near Kuaiji and Donghui County. This was Gao Yao's real goal - to seize the four coastal counties at lightning speed. Moreover, this action must be taken before other princes have a chance to react. The four counties are Donghui, Langya, Dongjiao and Qi County. They are all located in coastal areas, with rich resources and important strategic positions. There is no doubt that these four counties will become Gao Yao's real goal.

In fact, Wu Yan's speculation about Gao Yao was indeed very accurate. After each county he annexed, Gao Yao would spend a considerable amount of time to govern it. He would not rush for success, but would win the hearts of the people step by step. This steady and cautious strategy can be said to be a step-by-step approach without any sloppiness.

Wu Yan was still young after all, and his calculations for Gao Yao seemed a bit too rigid. Gao Yao did adopt a steady and cautious strategy, and he did not want to leave any opportunities for others to take advantage of, especially when his power was not strong enough. However, this also needed to be adjusted flexibly according to the actual situation.

Take Gao Yao's current situation for example. He only had the three counties of Nanhai before. It would take several years to annex the Zhentuo area and develop it. Later, he successively annexed the two counties of Bashu, Minzhong and Kuaiji. The scale of these places is quite large, and it also takes a lot of time to digest and integrate them.

Despite this, Gao Yao's every annexation was a big deal, and the territories he annexed were often comparable in size to his own territory. This meant that his territory had expanded greatly in a short period of time.

Although the population growth rate has not doubled, it has reached 60% to 70%, which is undoubtedly a considerable number. Gao Yao must treat such a huge population growth with caution.

The gap is huge. In order to fully integrate such a large-scale new territory into his own ruling system, Gao Yao naturally needs a lot of time to digest it internally. The implementation of government orders, the appointment and removal of personnel, and the establishment of various rules and regulations all take a long time.

But this time the situation was different. Although only less than half a year had passed, the situation this time was completely different from the counties and prefectures that had been captured before.

Dongting, Cangwu, Lujiang, and even Gudan counties had already been eroded by Gao Yao to varying degrees before they were recovered. In some counties, half of their territory had already been eroded by Gao Yao, and government orders had long been unimpeded in these places.

This means that Gao Yao had already established a certain ruling foundation in these areas and had a deeper understanding of the local conditions. Therefore, when he implemented new policies and systems in these areas, he encountered relatively less resistance and was able to achieve effective management and rule in these areas more quickly.

Coupled with the huge gap in treatment, the loss of people in the remaining territories was extremely serious. Many people chose to move their families to Gao Yao's command. After all, the ancients faced many difficulties when traveling far away. One of the important reasons was that they had no one to rely on and did not know how to survive in a strange place. Moreover, the journey was long and the transportation was inconvenient. Ordinary people did not have enough money to buy cattle and horses for transportation, let alone afford such expenses.

But Gaoyao was very close, and even if they just walked, two or three days would be more than enough. Moreover, Gaoyao treated them very well. Even refugees would be provided with food, and after they became naturalized, they would be provided with houses and farmhouses. The arrangements for refugees were very thorough, which led to a serious loss of people from these places. Moreover, after hearing Gaoyao's decrees, many people were eager to submit to Gaoyao as soon as possible.

In addition, Gao Yao also had excellent strategic vision and foresight. He knew that commerce and food were vital to the stability and development of a region, so he had already begun to carefully plan and make advance plans in these two key areas long before the war broke out.

Through clever business operations and effective control of food resources, Gao Yao succeeded in weakening the power of many warlords who might have posed a threat to his rule but who, without economic and material support, had virtually lost the ability to resist.