“... soldiers who have served under puppet governments and bandits who have been converted should be welcomed as individuals or as groups. They should be well-treated and repatriated”

The Central Plains of the empire consists of twenty-two provinces, three of the four major rivers in the empire, and a grand population of three hundred and thirty million million, far greater than Changtian’s forty million, while to the South are twenty-six million, and the mere four million in the Northern Regions.

The region is nearly devoid of any natural barriers, consisting of nearly entirely plains, along a few stretches of forests and mountains.

The Central Plain has distinct natural barriers to all sides, to the South, vast stretches of untraversable jungles and mountains, governed by small size kingdoms, which pay an annual tribe to the empire, to its North, the great Hejiang river runs rampant, stopping most invading army, and further blocked in the West by Taiping mountain, after crossing it, one would reach Changtian province. While the great ocean that borders the empire to the West named the Wu Ocean, appears seemingly boundless, as indicated by its name.

The three major rivers within Central Plains consist of Hejiang, where the black waters flow due to the fertility of the soil, Changhe, the longest river within the world stretching from the Tianshan mountains to the Wu Ocean, and Mingjiang, which had once been described by a travelling scholar to be so clear it reflects the moonlight, granting it the name of the bright river, eventually becoming widely used after a scholar emperor.

The capital of the empire was built between the closest point of the two great rivers of Mingjiang and Changhe, connected through a canal built in ages long past. The city wall surrounds an area of one hundred square kilometres and twenty meters tall. The city has a population of four million, which had never been reached before in history.

The imperial city, officially by the name of Longjing, the dragon capital, inspired by a myth that details of the creation of the two rivers, Changhe and Mingjiang, that they were in fact the remains of two dragons that had created the world, and the rivers were the products of their blood.

The myth had faded as time went by, yet the association with dragons had brought the river great prestige.

Longjing itself could be considered a melting pot of culture, Jesuits from the far eastern lands, female warriors from the Northern Empire, and the people across the Yunshan mountains consisting of nothing but desert, all collectively co-exist within the city.

The imperial family, surnamed Yang, had founded this city after they had united the warring states of the central plains, which were a result of the collapse of the previous dynasty.

The previous dynasty, named the Sang Dynasty, had focused much on repelling their nomadic neighbours and had thus based their imperial capital on the river of Hejiang, in Huxi province, yet it had ultimately become their downfall. The distance of the capital city was too great from the heart of the empire, leading to its provinces becoming rebellious and it's generals, ambitious.

The old imperial capital had originally been prosperous, yet after years of disunity, it had dropped and become merely the third-largest city within the empire. It had originally been named Dongjing, after its location and status, however, is now referred to as Dongan.

After Li Ming and her army had managed to cross Beixi bridge, the army had rested in Beixi town for a day, perhaps miraculously, Xu Jin had not led the chase, thus the soldiers, who had expected a hard battle, were greeted with only minimal resistance from the five thousand spearmen, who had not received any training.

While the soldiers were surprised, Li Ming, who had received information about their burnt food storages, had expected this turn of events, remaining on edge over the night, they ultimately became convinced their enemies had retreated. Li Ming, looking towards the East, she admired the majesty that could be seen.

The Sun had risen over the great Tianshan mountains, which had inspired the name of Tian for the continent after the discovery of new continents. Appearing scarlet red at first almost akin to blood, it soon became detaching the endless mountains ranges of Tianshan.

Tianshan mountains, which run from the Northern regions of the empire to Changtian province, separates the Great Sui Dynasty from the remains of the Tian continent. Specifically the Far East, which contains several kingdoms and empires, engaging in constant warfare, yet recently, it was rumoured that they had managed to discover a new continent, entirely separate from them by a great ocean, and had managed to arrive at the Great Sui Dynasty through boats after they had conquered the continent, from the west of the new continent to the east, creating a new route for trade to flow.

Regardless, their power had been greatly reduced as they had recently undergone the largest war seen in their region, the kingdoms had then temporarily formed a coalition against the Northern Empire, which was partially the reason why the raids throughout the empire’s land had been reduced. Ultimately, the war had ended in relative disaster for both the Far Eastern kingdoms and the Northern Empire, and their hold on the new continent had been weakened, with many becoming independent during the war, excluding the millions of civilians that had lost their lives during the war.

While the states in the continents became independent, they prospered while parts of the Far East scarred by war gradually declined.

Most notably, in the new continent, the sighting of gold had been recorded, which had resulted in many citizens of the Far East and even the Great Sui Dynasty to cross the great ocean that borders the empire in search of wealth.

Regardless, these matters are not on the mind of Li Ming, instead, she is currently occupied with looking at the troops that had surrendered a day before.

After they had entered Beixi town, the ill-trained spearmen, seeing the overwhelming forces of twenty thousand, along with the cannons and mortars that had crossed the bridge, had their already low morale had completely broken. Yet unexpectedly for them, they had not been executed as the norm for captured soldiers, instead, they were welcomed by the soldiers, who had given them food, and let them live in the same camp.

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That night, they saw something shocking, at first, they could not see due to the sheer number and distance, but a great deal of the army are women, nearly two out of every ten soldiers.

Yet the men within the army had treated them respectfully, without any harassment, except for one case, where a man had nearly raped a woman, yet before he was to, it was noticed and led to him being punished by dismissal as well as a hefty fine, which had all went to the woman.

All of the soldiers are carrying flintlock rifles, while mortars are shared between platoons, while many of the female soldiers also acted as medics, who were treating the soldiers wounded from the battle.

These spearmen were also astonished at their manner of speech and pattern, which were polite and courteous, similar to those of nobles, unlike the soldiers they were fighting, which had communicated in a rather coarse manner.

Yet perhaps most surprising was that none of the soldiers had looted the town after they had entered, they had instead treated it’s local residences politely, paying for food from their own pockets, while cordially asking to reside in the residence’s house.

This morning, they had all cleaned the bed that they had slept on, cooked for their host, and some had even cleaned the houses they had stayed.

The spearman, who had experienced all of this, was feeling a sense of shame upon themselves, both were soldiers, yet their behaviour is as different as heaven and earth.

Some spearman had even attempted to intimidate the soldiers in Li Ming’s army, aiding in the households, yet mainly failing, ultimately, with a defeated expression, they had later all gathered in front of Li Ming.

“You may go back to your hometown,” Li Ming had told the soldiers as if a matter of fact. The soldiers were already numb to this peculiar army and did not express much shock in their expression, instead, they felt an unknown desire.

“Is it possible for me to join your army,” one of the spearman asked. Li Ming appeared to have predicted this, with her typical smile, she told them.

“Of course, but after adequate training,” she informed them.

Yet that soldier appear not to be disheartened; instead, he had asked the training curriculum.

“Of course,” Li Ming answered,” Alongside the typical education on formations, firing a musket, and marching, you will also be taught to behave like the others.”

The soldier agreed on the spot, resulting in the smile of Li Ming grew even brighter, ultimately, she had them sent to one of the generals to be trained, avoiding Liu One, who was still mourning the death of Liu Four.

Around four thousand had joined her army, while the remaining one thousand had left for their homes.

Li Ming did not spend further time dealing with these men, instead, she had retreated to the commander’s tent in the military camp, and began creating a plan for her grand goal of overthrowing the monarch, beginning with a discussion with Xu Xiaomeng.

“Lady, how many soldiers are under the empire’s control?” Li Ming asked.

“Approximately one million, with half located within Changtian province, leaving one million within the Central Plains,” the silver bell-like voice answered.

“I see,” Li Ming responded, before continuing,” it would be far more difficult to engage in guerilla warfare in the Central Plains, perhaps we could focus on controlling the villages located on the rivers, deriving the imperial army of a crucial mode of transportation, yet it is not enough.”

“Instead, we will need to engage in typical warfare and sieges, yet our forces are too small to engage their main army., We will instead focus on attacking the weaker portions of the enemy, while at the same time build up our army, establish our own system taxation, law and most importantly, the system of democracy, which includes the collectivization of farms and production.”

“Unfortunately, this would make us rather unpopular, added with the fact that the Central Plains are experiencing a period of prosperity, to overtax the peasants would be difficult, despite the already over-taxation imposed upon them by the corrupt officials” Li Ming concluded.

“Sir, is it not enough to simply use the justification of Concubine Hu acting along with the Northern Empire, inspiring patriotism?” Xu Xiaomeng asked.

“Lady, it is not enough to simply do that, people of this era cares little about their ruler as long as they are well-fed, shelter, and have a family, politics are the last thing they would consider in their daily lives,” Li Ming corrected.

Xu Xiaomeng seemed to be listening attentively, before coming to a conclusion,” What sir is implying is to change the thinking of the peasants so they become more politically aware?”

“Perhaps so, however, as long as their standards of living improve, soon will they start becoming politically aware, we do not need to rush the matter,” Li Ming said,” Of course, that is my personal opinion, you are free to believe what you have just said,” she reminded.

The revolution had been incredibly rushed, perhaps more so than any other revolution, within three months, Li Ming had expanded her influence throughout the entirety of the Northern regions of the empire, made Xu Jin’s army retreat back to Changtian province, and is now beginning to enter the Central Plains.

Li Ming, who had stopped her conversation with Xu Xiaomeng, began tapping her slender fingers on the wooden table, on which a massive map of the empire is laid out, yet nothing more.

Nearby the city of Bingjiang, which Li Ming had marched from, lays the city of Dongan, which she had determined to be the target of her next military operation.

Dongan, with its history as an imperial capital, had walls ten meters tall, whilst within it lives more than one million inhabitants. The city itself sits on a hill, while protected by the Hejiang river, it is in an incredibly defensive position.

While it may be possible for Li Ming to successfully siege the city with her current twenty thousand troops, it would mean the deaths of thousands from the blockade, although if she allowed food were to be transported, it would lead to the local garrison to be well supplied, making the siege much more difficult.

Ultimately, Li Ming breathed out a long sigh. She had decided to temporarily pause the campaign until more troops are delivered, fortunately, the Northern Empire is still recovering from the massive war they had fought against the Far Eastern kingdoms, leading to a lack of raids and border conflicts, while Xu Jin had to return to Xuchang, allowing Li Ming to dedicate all her efforts towards the heartlands of the Great Sui Dynasty.

Li Ming begins writing a bamboo slip, planned to be sent to the young scholar and governor of Bingjiang, Ling Ping. Detailing information to increase conscription to include the villages she now controls, it also includes a severe note to increase the spread of republican ideas among the masses, so they would feel more inspired volunteer their service as well.

Paper had also been available, yet bamboo slips are much more popular due to its elegance, while Li Ming had no desire to use either of the two materials, Ling Ping had specifically requested the use of bamboo slips in their communications as officials.

While her current forces have gained military victory over Xu Jin, her pool of manpower is a matter of great difficulty, as it would be impossible to raise the same number of soldiers as the Great Sui Dynasty, which is in possession of the Central Plains and the South, while Li Ming only has the sparely populated Northern regions.

Li Ming’s calculation leads to possibly a sixth of the four million inhabitants to be conscripted, around six hundred thousand, yet it will negatively affect the Northern regions, leading to her ultimately deciding against the notion, instead she will begin to focus on expanding outward to increase her pool of manpower.

Looking towards the Sun that had risen to the middle of the sky, a strange sense of anticipation could be felt in Li Ming’s chest,