After feeling a little sentimental about his future longevity, Lu Yuan quickly regained his composure and began to think about what would happen to Nanhai Kingdom without the founding monarch after Yan Wangqiu's death.
And how should Chu State maintain its own interests amidst these changes?
After thinking quietly, he quickly conveyed the decree.
An order was sent to the country to transfer a forbidden army stationed in Baling City, the capital, to Yangshan Fucheng to monitor Nanhai and prevent Ningguo's movements in Yuzhang County.
It must be said that Yan Wangqiu's death was very untimely.
His death immediately broke the balance of power in the south.
The situation where the Chu State, Nanhai State, Ning State, and Su State were balancing each other, suddenly had a missing piece.
Nanhai Kingdom has lost its innate master and lacks top-level combat power. Coupled with the fact that the country's military equipment has been neglected all year round, it can be said that it is the weakest among the four countries.
Even the Su State, which had gone through domestic turmoil, was infinitely better than him.
And when surrounded by tigers, leopards, and jackals, an extremely weak, fat and oily lamb suddenly appeared. How could the predator next to him be willing to give up such a piece of fat?
There is no need to think too much. After the news spreads, Ningguo and Suguo will probably make new moves soon, tentatively extending their claws to Nanhaiguo.
No matter which of the two countries annexed the South China Sea State, this would be bad news for the Chu State and would directly increase the pressure on the southern border defense.
Therefore, in order to prevent this matter, or to prevent the other two countries from monopolizing the benefits, the Chu State must follow closely and get involved in the affairs of the South China Sea State, whether they like it or not.
Whether they divide it together directly, maintain the status quo, or help Nanhai State resist the invasion of the other two countries, Chu State must not be absent anyway.
The worst thing happened to be that Chu State had no spare power to intervene in this matter at this time.
At present, the Chu State is caught in the southwest war, and there is a threat from the Nanzhao Army in Xichuan County. It can be said that the war is on two fronts.
In order to deal with these two wars, four of Chu's nine forbidden armies were stationed in Qianzhong County and two were sent to Xichuan County. A total of 120,000 elite troops were unable to move.
Now in the country, Xichuan County has a forbidden army of 20,000 people. It has to guard against Zhou State, Liang State, and Ning State. The pressure is no less than that in central Guizhou and Xichuan.
Even if it weren't for the newly-minted grandmaster Zhou Qing over there, the surrounding countries would have lost their patience and started to attack the Chu State.
Three of the four counties of the Chu Kingdom were caught in the flames of war, or were likely to be caught in the flames of war. The situation in the remaining one, Dongting County, where the capital was located, was not much better.
Because in the north of Dongting County, the three mansions of Xiangyang County controlled by Ning State were stationed with 50,000 troops from Ning State, led by Wuxuan Hou Yang Jing.
To the east of Dongting County, next to Yueyang Prefecture where the capital Baling City is located, there is also a 50,000-strong navy led by Wucheng Hou Shangguanming in the naval camp of Chaisang Prefecture in Yuzhang County of Ningguo.
In the north and east directions, the two innate troops of Ning State combined a hundred thousand troops on land and water. It can be said that they are threatening the security of Baling City, the capital of Chu State.
Facing this threat, there is only one innate Lan Cai'er in Baling City, and there are two forbidden troops and Jinwu guards stationed there. The total number of them is only 44,000.
This meager strength is only half of Ning Guo's.
However, outside Baling City and in Dongting Lake, the Chu Navy that was previously trained by Chu Wei now has a strength of 30,000 people after nearly six years of training and expansion.
Counting this force, after mobilizing some soldiers from prefectures and counties, the troops Dongting County can mobilize can almost compete with Ning Guo.
But the above is based on the premise that Ning Guo does not add troops to the front line, so that the balance of power can be maintained.
In recent years, the State of Chu has continued to develop, and the State of Ning, which occupies the four counties of Jiangdong and has a stronger foundation than the State of Chu, has developed as well, and even more rapidly.
After replacing Qianyue, after six years of recuperation, Ningguo has almost healed the trauma caused by the nine years of war.
Not only has local agricultural production recovered significantly, but grain production has approached or even exceeded the Taiping New Year Festival during the Longqing period of the former Yue Dynasty.
The place is peaceful and the products are plentiful, so business travelers from all over the world naturally come to Ningguo, bringing a lot of wealth to Ningguo.
There is no shortage of money, food, and stability. The men in Jiangdong who were lost due to the large number of conscriptions in the past have quickly made up for it with the growth of the new generation.
Even because of the peace after the war, a baby boom broke out in Ningguo, and the population grew even more rapidly.
After all these accumulations, Ningguo's standing troops have now returned to 500,000, and they once again have the strong military strength of the world's hegemon.
Local warehouses have also stored enough food for the entire country's population for two years, which can be used for large armies to fight without food shortages for ten years.
There are also 40 million taels of silver saved in the national treasury, enough to support an army of 500,000 for several years of war.
It can be said that after six years of development, although Ningguo has not yet returned to the peak of its national power, it still has a lot of potential that can be tapped.
But if it wants, Ning Guo can also pull out 300,000 soldiers and horses at any time to fight foreign wars.
Three hundred thousand soldiers and horses.
Just thinking about this number makes people feel breathless.
Nowadays, the entire Chu State has only 220,000 soldiers and horses, including the soldiers from prefectures and counties, which is far less than the number of the other party.
Not to mention, the 220,000 soldiers and horses of Chu State were divided into four counties. The only ones that can be used to deal with Ning State alone are the 44,000 soldiers in Dongting and the 20,000 local troops. The prefecture and county are under attack.
Sixty-four thousand versus three hundred thousand, the disparity in military strength was five to one, which had to be said to be a despairing thing.
But now this matter has become a reality and has become a difficulty that Chu State has to face.
The only thing worth celebrating is that there are only four grandmasters in Ning State so far, which is only one more than Chu State...
No, now Ji Hui has defected to Chu State, and Lu Yuan is about to train the Yellow Turban Warriors. Counting these two innate combat powers, Chu State already has five innate combat powers.
"So, in terms of quantity, in terms of innate level combat power, I, Da Chu, have one more person than Bi Ning. This is the only advantage at the moment."
Thinking of this, Lu Yuan's face became slightly better, but his brows still did not relax, and he was still frowning: "It's just a slight advantage in top-level combat power. Faced with the huge gap in national power between Ningguo and Ningguo, it is still nothing. "
Although an innate grandmaster is strong, as long as the opponent is willing to pay the price and risk huge casualties to attack, even if the innate grandmaster makes a sneak attack day and night, he can only kill 30,000 to 50,000 people at most.
This small number of people is nothing compared to the huge number of Ningguo's 300,000 troops.
Even if he dies, he can always send additional troops and horses from the rear to replace him.
"So to close these gaps, there is really only one way left, to expand the army..."
Lu Yuan took a deep breath and made a decision in his heart.
Originally, when the Chu State had only three counties and seventeen prefectures, it could maintain an army of 240,000, which could protect the territory internally and defend against powerful enemies externally. It was indeed just enough.
However, as the territory of the Chu State expanded to the current four counties and twenty-five prefectures, it may even take over the five prefectures that originally belonged to the Xichuan Kingdom after sending troops to repel the Nanzhao army, expanding the territory to four counties and thirty prefectures. wide.
So after almost doubling the territory, there are still 240,000 troops. No, after successive losses, there are only 220,000 troops left, which is far from being able to meet the current needs of Chu State.
The current military expansion is no longer a need, but a necessity.
"There has been no fighting in Xiangyang County and Dongting County, and there has been no loss of troops and horses, so we can ignore them for the time being.
But Xichuan County lost 7,000 soldiers when they were in Jianchuan Kingdom. When Nanzhao's army reached Xichuan, the two sides tried to fight and lost more than two thousand transferred imperial troops.
All these losses added up to almost 10,000 people.
Although in the past few months, the county soldiers and the imperial army over there have also absorbed some good players from the county soldiers and militia, and added some people, but this is still far from enough.
Today, Xichuan County is still short of 5,000 county soldiers and 2,000 county soldiers. The two forbidden armies over there still have a gap of one thousand personnel.
These eight thousand people need to be replenished.
As for Qianzhong County, after more than a year of continuous recruitment and the conversion of some from the Forbidden Army, 10,000 county soldiers have been recruited. Of the 16,000 local prefecture and county soldiers, 10,000 were also recruited.
Now there are only six thousand county soldiers left.
As for the four forbidden armies here, after the losses in previous battles and the loss of transformed county soldiers, there are only about 50,000 people left.
The gap here is thirty thousand.
Calculated in this way, the two counties of central Guizhou and Xichuan, with all their troops and horses added together, have a personnel shortage of 44,000 people.
And if we include the recapture of the five prefectures of the Xichuan Kingdom and the capture of the two prefectures of the Huichuan Kingdom in Qianzhong County, these seven prefectures will also need to supplement the prefecture and county troops.
This would add another 14,000 people, leaving a shortage of 58,000 people.
In other words, just to maintain the current normal troop establishment of Chu State, I will have to recruit another 58,000 troops and horses, eventually making up for the 278,000 troops. "
When Lu Yuan thought about this, his heart sank and he felt strong financial pressure.
Although the tax revenue of Chu State has increased significantly now, it is enough to maintain the financial expenditure of 240,000 troops every year, and there is still a balance of more than one million taels of silver.
But the sudden increase of 38,000 troops, especially the 10,000 county soldiers who received military pay, suddenly increased the annual expenditure of two million taels of silver to the Chu State.
Although the above money is not unaffordable to Chu State today.
Even as production slowly recovers in Qianzhong County, Chu's control here gradually deepens, and it is expected that tax revenue will increase by several million taels in the future.
But the problem is that the above troops and horses are only the financial expenditure of Chu State if it does not expand its army.
But in today's complicated situation, it is impossible for Chu State not to expand its army.
Just like the current Qianzhong County, it is bounded by Dachanghe and Nanzhao to the west, and Dali Kingdom to the south. It borders these three powerful enemies. How can the 30,000 county and county soldiers close to Qianzhong County be able to defend it? Live in this territory?
Therefore, at least two forbidden troops must be left here, stationed in the west and south directions respectively.
Only by leaving one innate grandmaster to lead these 70,000 soldiers and horses, and to join forces with the vassal state of Kunhai and the Soviet Union and Song Dynasty in the United Alliance, can we barely withstand the pressure of the surrounding harsh environment and keep Guizhou. This is the foundation of Zhongjun.
The same principle applies to Xichuan County. After regaining the old land of Xichuan Kingdom, the new Xichuan County directly borders the great enemy Nanzhao to the south.
With Nanzhao's national strength, he could mobilize a hundred thousand troops at any time for long-term foreign campaigns. If we go all out, we can easily raise an army of 300,000 people.
We must be on guard against this formidable enemy.
In the north of Xichuan County, although it is Han China, there is not much threat.
But to the north of Han China was the behemoth Zhou State. In order to prevent the Zhou Kingdom from going directly south after conquering Han China, sufficient defense forces must be left in the north of Xichuan County no matter what.
Therefore, in Xichuan County, there must be at least two or even three forbidden troops, as well as an innate grandmaster to guard them.
Putting these two counties together, there would be five forbidden armies.
Then there were two forbidden troops guarding Xiangyang County. Together with Zhou Qing, the innate master, they were barely able to withstand the pressure of the three surrounding powers.
But now, a forbidden army there has been transferred to Xichuan County, which has directly weakened Xiangyang County's military strength by one-third, leaving a huge gap in defense, seriously affecting the security environment of Xiangyang County.
Therefore, it is urgent to replenish the Forbidden Army over there.
The last remaining county, Dongting County, is the capital of the country. After more than ten years of management, the entire Dongting County has a prosperous population and prosperous farmers and merchants. It can be said to be the true foundation of the Chu Kingdom.
A Dongting County is equivalent to half of the Chu Kingdom.
But in such an important foundation place, there are currently only two imperial troops and 20,000 county soldiers stationed there. The defense is quite empty.
To ensure the stability of this place, Dongting County must ensure the strength of at least four forbidden armies, plus 20,000 local county soldiers, to form a standing army of 100,000, so that it can barely withstand external pressure and withstand Ningguo's 300,000-strong army. threaten.
Finally, as for the navy, the originally scheduled 50,000 navy must be established as soon as possible.
Therefore, after all calculations, the Chu State needs to maintain 11 forbidden troops, 50,000 naval troops, and a total of 270,000 soldiers to barely guarantee the most basic self-defense strength.
Taking the above into account, Chu State still lacks three forbidden armies and 20,000 naval troops, for a total of 80,000 people.
The military pay for these 80,000 people, especially for an expensive unit like the Navy, costs another 7 million taels of silver a year.
And if Lu Yuan, in addition to self-defense, also wants to ensure a certain degree of foreign war capabilities, then on the above basis, he will actually need to add four more forbidden troops with 80,000 people.
Only in this way can one hundred thousand soldiers and horses be mobilized at any time to launch wars with foreign countries, just like when they attacked Dachowa Kingdom before.
If this arrangement is made, the annual expenditure will increase by 5.5 million taels.
To sum up, in order to meet the standards of self-defense, the Chu State still needs to recruit 138,000 troops and horses, which will increase the expenditure of 9 million taels of silver.
On the basis of maintaining a certain level of foreign war capability, the Chu State still needs to recruit 218,000 troops and horses, which will increase its expenditure by 14.5 million taels of silver.
The above two conditions, no matter which benchmark they are, are a huge financial pressure for Chu State.
“Now that I have opened up Qianzhong County, I will now regain the old territory of Xichuan Kingdom and increase the territory of fifteen prefectures at once, doubling the territory of Chu Kingdom.
To digest these territories, given the size of Chu State, it would take at least ten years.
Therefore, before digesting these territories, Chu State was unable to expand externally.
Therefore, within ten years, there is no need to think about foreign war capabilities for the time being, as long as the basic self-defense situation is ensured.
In this case, the Chu State only needs to maintain 11 forbidden troops, 50,000 naval troops, 104,000 local county soldiers, and 4,000 Jinwu guards in the capital, for a total of 378,000 soldiers and horses. Can.
As for military expenditure, it is around 25 million taels of silver.
According to last year's statistics, Dachu's original three counties now have an annual income of about 21 million taels of silver.
According to estimates from the Ministry of Household Affairs, after the initial management of Qianzhong County and the passing of the tax holiday, it should be able to provide about two million taels of tax revenue every year.
As for Xichuan County, if the Five Prefectures of Xichuan Kingdom are recovered and the people are relocated to operate there, it will soon become an important source of money and grain based on the strong foundation of this place.
The five prefectures of Xichuan Kingdom do not need to be large. They have one million people, and they can provide tax revenue of at least five million taels a year.
However, if people are moved from the country to the Xichuan Kingdom, the original local fiscal revenue will also decrease due to the decrease in population.
But these reductions should be controlled within three million taels of silver. Therefore, by moving people to Xichuan County, you can eventually earn about two million taels of silver. "
Lu Yuan calculated various gains and losses in his mind, and finally came to the conclusion: "In this way, after the two counties of Qianzhong and Xichuan are developed, the four counties and thirty-two prefectures of Chu State should be able to maintain an annual income of 25 million taels of silver." income.
If the situation is good, it may be possible to add another one to two million taels of silver.
In terms of military expenditure, domestic fiscal revenue is barely able to remain flat.
But a country's expenditures include, in addition to military expenditures, various administrative expenses, and salaries for officials.
The total administrative expenses are estimated to be about five million taels of silver per year.
So in the end, Chu State still had a fiscal deficit of five million taels a year? "
Lu Yuan was not too worried about the shortfall of five million taels of silver.
Since this expedition to the southwestern barbarians, what he has gained is not only the expansion of the territory of Qianzhong County, but also the accumulation of wealth over the years from the large and small barbarian countries in central Guizhou, including the Wuman Kingdom.
With Li Xiong's cooperation, not only the treasury of various countries were looted.
Even the local Yi tribes and wealthy Yi households had their family assets accepted by the Chu State.
You must know that there were originally millions of Yi people living within the territory of Qianzhong County.
Now all the wealth accumulated by the millions of Yi people over the generations has been taken over by the Chu State, making Lu Yuan suddenly rich.
Li Xiong previously looted the entire Xichuan and finally obtained wealth worth hundreds of millions of taels.
Now Lu Yuan looted the Yi people in Qianzhong County. Although the harvest was not as rich as Xichuan, he still gained wealth worth about fifty million taels of silver.
These harvests have been slowly turned into silver through various channels and entered the Chu State's treasury.
The Chu army was able to maintain hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses in central Guizhou and Xichuan, which was indispensable to the contribution of these wealth.
And in addition to these, Li Xiong is also constantly plundering the wealth of the Yi people in the Kunhai area, and then using the looted money to exchange for the food and weapons he urgently needs from the Chu State to maintain the relationship with the Great Chang The increasingly fierce war in Japan.
According to Lu Yuan's estimation, this Kunhai State transaction alone could earn the Chu State at least thirty million taels of silver.
Therefore, with these 80 million taels of silver, coupled with Chu's original savings, there will be no financial crisis within ten years.
"There is also an aid of three million taels of silver from the Nanhai Kingdom every year. But now that Yan Wangqiu is dead, I don't know if this aid will change."
Lu Yuan frowned, but quickly relaxed.
Regardless of whether there will be problems with Nanhai State's assistance, Chu State will not have any impact on it for the time being.
Is there any problem whether they give it or not?
The only thing that has an impact is the relationship between the two countries.
The ridiculous things that Yan Wangqiu's sons have done in the past two years have brought a lot of amusement to all countries in the world and have been made a laughing stock.
Lu Yuan did not have many expectations for these heirs. They could maintain good relations with the Chu State like Yan Wangqiu.
But in that case, he and his old friend's heirs would inevitably have a fight.
The only hope is that Yan Wangqiu made arrangements in advance before he died.
"What will you choose?"
After Lu Yuan finished writing various decrees on troop deployment and expansion, he had people send them to Baling City as quickly as possible.
Slowly walked outside the main hall, looking towards the south, his eyes focused.
