"After I leave, Kunhai and Chili will cooperate with Huang Zhenren to form a large army and attack the mainland of Nanzhao."
In the Chu army's camp, in the Chinese army's tent, Lu Yuan looked at the people arriving, Li Chuan, the general of the Chili Kingdom, and Li Xiong, the Duke of Kunhai. He solemnly ordered: "General Li, Duke Kunhai, I leave this matter to you. Yes, you must hold back the main force of the Nanzhao Kingdom so that they cannot aid the Jianchuan Kingdom from the north."
"Yes, I will obey the king's order!"
Two echoes sounded from below.
Li Chuan and Li Xiong both looked solemn, facing the majestic gaze of the king in front of them, and nodded solemnly.
"Um."
Seeing this, Lu Yuan smiled with satisfaction, and then said with relief: "I know that Kunhai Kingdom and Chili Kingdom have been fighting for years, and the people in the country are exhausted and the soldiers are exhausted. But we defeated Nanzhao Kingdom and contained it in Lihai This land is related to the stability of Chu in the southwest and Xichuan, and must not be ignored.
Gu Ke can assure you that after defeating Nanzhao this time, there will be no more wars in the southwest.
Even if there is, Kunhai and Chili will not be recruited again.
In the next few years, you can recuperate, restore your people's strength, and enjoy peace.
Therefore, in order to live a stable life in the future, in this final battle, we must do our best to help defeat Nanzhao alone.
Completely knock this arrogant little country back to dust. "
When the two heard this, they cooperated and both looked moved. Li Xiong added: "The king is so kind, and I am so grateful that I will burst into tears. In this battle, I will bravely go to the front and defeat the Nanzhao clown for our great Chu."
Next to him, Li Chuan also nodded quickly: "Chili Kingdom is also willing to do its best for Da Chu."
Lu Yuan smiled: "With Kunhai and Chili here, there is no need to worry about the southwest."
At this point, the plan to jointly send troops has been decided.
…
After agreeing to send troops together and comforting Li Xiong and Li Chuan, the two left separately to prepare for sending troops.
Lu Yuan was also preparing to break camp and go north, but not long before he had to deal with official duties, a military report from the north ruined his good mood.
In the big tent, the atmosphere was slightly solemn.
After reading the information, he held the report from Xichuan County in his hand. Thinking of the news that had been continuously coming back from Xichuan in recent months about Nanzhao's army provoking the border of Xichuan County of Chu State, Lu Yuan's expression turned cold.
Since April, with the Chu State again using troops against Dachanghe State.
On the Xichuan side, after accumulating enough food and replenishing their troops, the Nanzhao army also began to resume its attack on the Xichuan Kingdom.
The eldest prince of the Nanzhao Army, Zhao Changqing, personally led an army with 60,000 men to attack the Nanchong Banfu, the last territory controlled by the Xichuan Kingdom.
The battle lasted for more than a month and was extremely brutal.
Zhao Changqing personally wore armor and led his troops to attack the city several times, and almost captured the city several times.
If not for the fact that Lu Yuan had urgently dispatched a forbidden army to help defend him, and that the Holy Monk Ji Hui was holding his sick body, gritting his teeth and fighting for his life, with the help of the surrounding soldiers, he was able to repel him.
I am afraid that Nanchong Fucheng fell half a month ago.
But even so, after a month of bloody fighting, Nanchong Fucheng was already crumbling.
More than half of the eight thousand original defenders in the city had been killed. The Forbidden Army sent by Lu Yuan to assist in the defense had more than 7,000 casualties and could be said to have been disabled.
In addition, perhaps he was angry with the Chu army for aiding the Xichuan Kingdom.
After replenishment in Xichuan, the number of Nanzhao troops once again reached one hundred thousand. In addition to 60,000, as Zhao Changqing went to besiege Nanchong Fucheng, 10,000 were left to garrison various places in Xichuan, and the remaining 30,000 were used to attack the border of Xichuan County of Chu State.
Although the Chu army had 20,000 forbidden troops, 10,000 soldiers, 20,000 county soldiers, and militia groups of the same size stationed in Xichuan County, a mere 30,000 Nanzhao troops could not attack Xichuan.
But the disgusting thing is that after these Nanzhao troops tried to attack Xichuan County several times, they found that the opposite side was a hedgehog. They couldn't attack them at all. Instead, they were injured all over and killed more than two thousand soldiers and horses.
Next, they no longer tried to attack Xichuan County. Instead, they blocked the roads from Xichuan County to Xichuan Country, preventing people in Xichuan from escaping to Xichuan County.
Once this move is used, the effect is immediately extraordinary.
In just one month, those Nanzhao troops intercepted nearly ten thousand Xichuan citizens, directly cutting off most of Chu's channels for obtaining refugees in the Xichuan area.
That’s all.
What's even more infuriating is that after the Nanzhao troops intercepted the Xichuan citizens, they killed them wantonly, insulted women, mutilated young children, and even committed cannibalism.
Moreover, when doing many of the above things, he still tried his best to provoke and ridicule in front of the Chu army.
There were several times when the Chu army in Xichuan County couldn't stand it anymore and was seduced out of the city by the opponent, and several battles broke out.
Despite these several battles, the Chu army was not at a disadvantage, let alone allowed the opponent to take advantage.
But it seems that because of this, the brutal persecution of the refugees caught in Xichuan County by those Nanzhao troops intensified, which was outrageous.
Many of the above-mentioned actions of the Nanzhao army have been continuously reported to Lu Yuan through frontline reports and secret reports from the Imperial City Department.
After he found out, he was naturally extremely angry.
Although Lu Yuan is not a holy mother, let alone a good person, he still has a certain bottom line.
Just like he assimilated the southwestern barbarians and sacrificed countless southwestern barbarian men, but in essence, it was to achieve the goal of assimilation, not indiscriminate killing.
Moreover, Lu Yuan also made appropriate arrangements for the remaining southwest Yi women and children, and did not kill them blindly. Instead, he arranged for Chu men to get married, so as to support the survival of these Yi women and children.
Looking at the above, it can be seen that he has never simply slaughtered a certain group of people.
Even if the southwestern Yi men are consumed, it is in the name of recruiting militia groups to participate in the war. It is consumed through war, not simply massacre.
This point is essentially different from the pure massacre by the Nanzhao army.
One is to establish rules, and the other is to kill with pure desire.
Even though the behavior of the two seems to be somewhat similar, people's acceptance is completely different.
The Nanzhao army provoked the Chu army by massacring the people, which was not only outrageous, but also undermined Lu Yuan's foundation.
That’s a population of tens of thousands who can digest it quickly!
For Lu Yuan, who was already preparing to take over the Xichuan Kingdom, those Nanzhao troops massacred not the Xichuan citizens, but his Chu people.
Lu Yuan's heart ached when he thought that the luck provided by tens of thousands of people had been slaughtered in vain, and that the slaughter was still continuing.
This large population will be the foundation of Chu State in the future, and will be the cornerstone that can continuously provide luck.
Now being wasted without value was simply a crime for him who was used to being diligent and frugal.
In fact, he is indeed committing a crime, a heinous crime against humanity.
So after receiving the news and initially stabilizing the Chili Kingdom, Lu Yuan could no longer sit still and decided to immediately mobilize troops in Xichuan to educate the Nanzhao troops on how to behave.
How dare you be so arrogant on the territory of Chu State.
These barbarians who have been living in small places in the southwest for a long time are really arrogant and think that no one can control them.
Now that the Chu State has put down the war in the southwest, it is time for him to take action. It is time for the people of Nanzhao to see what Chu Tianwei's power cannot be violated.
Hence the scene today.
Lu Yuan summoned Li Chuan and Li Xiong to discuss the conquest of Nanzhao.
After finally collecting two dogs in the southwest, it was natural to make use of them at this time and let these two vicious dogs help their master bite the enemy fiercely.
In case the owner is away and no one is watching, the two vicious dogs will turn against the owner and bite the owner in turn.
Therefore, this is to send troops. If Chu State wants to move, Kunhai and Chili will also move.
Lu Yuan had decided that he would lead 40,000 imperial troops to Xichuan, join the local Chu army, and defeat the main force of the Nanzhao army there.
On the southwest side, Huang Xuan led the remaining 20,000 forbidden troops, as well as the 40,000 barbarian prisoners captured after several battles after crossing the river.
This army will move along the south bank of the Yangtze River from the Huichuan Kingdom to the Jianchuan Kingdom, thereby cutting off the Nanzhao Army's retreat and food routes in Xichuan, and completely blocking them here.
These guys are so arrogant and slaughter the future people of Chu in front of the Chu army. Then they will bear the consequences of doing so and don't go back in the future.
Lu Yuan has decided.
Even if the Nanzhao army prisoners were captured in this battle, they would not be killed.
But the fate of these prisoners in the future will also be to work as coolies, using up the last drop of their blood and sweat for the construction of projects in various parts of Chu State.
Only in this way can we atone for our sin of destroying Chu's fate.
At the same time, in addition to Huang Xuan, Kunhai and Chili will also send 50,000 troops each, and together they will have 100,000 troops. Then the innate masters of the two countries, namely Li Xiong and Li Chuan, personally led the attack on the mainland of Nanzhao.
These two newly acquired vassal states came to contain the local power of Nanzhao.
In this way, the war against Nanzhao will be fought from three battlefields by the northern, central and southern armies.
The North Army was led by Lu Yuan personally, and consisted of five forbidden armies, 10,000 county soldiers, 20,000 county soldiers, and 50,000 militia groups, as well as several thousand soldiers and horses remaining from the Xichuan Kingdom, and Ji Hui, a half-disabled innate. A total of about 180,000 people.
The army in the middle was commanded by Huang Xuan. It consisted of a forbidden army and 40,000 barbarian servants, totaling about 60,000 people.
The southern army was commanded by Li Xiong and Li Chuan. Each country sent 50,000 troops, totaling 100,000.
The combined forces of the three armies mobilized a total of 340,000 troops and horses, and the five Xiantians launched an attack on Nanzhao from south to north.
Such a powerful force, let alone just repulse the Nanzhao army in Xichuan.
Even if he directly destroyed the Nanzhao Kingdom, he could do it if Lu Yuan was willing to pay a huge price.
Therefore, when the whole plan was laid out in front of them, Li Xiong and Li Chuan, who were extremely exhausted at home, could not help but feel excited even though the war had just ended.
Both of them could see that facing Chu's three-pronged attack strategy, Nanzhao alone would be absolutely unable to withstand it.
After all, although the Nanzhao Kingdom was large, it only had the territory of two counties. Although Lihai is rich, it can only support one million people.
The entire Nanzhao Kingdom has a population of about 2.5 million. With full mobilization, at most 300,000 troops can be dispatched.
Now, Nanzhao's most elite army of 100,000 troops has marched north to Xichuan, hoping to seize this fertile land and embark on an expedition.
This army has been personally targeted by Lu Yuan, the King of Chu.
Jianchuan Kingdom, another Nanzhao's biggest loser, who could also send out 100,000 troops, also had Huang Xuan lead the attack, and once again defeated Nanzhao Kingdom.
So in the end, Kunhai and Chili countries only had to deal with the 100,000-strong militia-like army in Nanzhao.
Although after years of wars, Kunhai and Chili were poor and could no longer afford to maintain regular combat troops, so the only troops they had were militia troops.
But even among militia groups, there are differences between them.
The militia groups in Kunhai and Chili have long been familiar with war after years of war. Many of them have seen blood, and they have some battlefield valor.
However, Nanzhao Kingdom has enjoyed peace for a long time, and there has been no military activity in the country for many years.
For people who grew up in such an environment, it was really doubtful that the militia they recruited had some fighting strength.
Therefore, there is no problem at all with Li Xiong and Li Chuan, the "arrogant and powerful generals" they trained from the dead, and consciously fight against the "cowardly and cowardly" Nanzhao army.
Yes, there are indeed two innate masters in Nanzhao. In terms of top-level combat power, the two countries have little advantage.
But they didn’t even think about destroying Nanzhao Kingdom!
What Li Xiong and Li Chuan really wanted was to take advantage of this opportunity to go to Nanzhao to plunder some money, food and people.
In this way, the vitality of the two countries, which has been weakened year by year due to the war, can be restored.
After Lu Yuan demarcated the border between the two countries and terminated the battle for overlordship in Kunhai, the strength of Kunhai and Chili in the Kunhai area has almost been finalized.
Kunhai State has four lands. Although they are all fertile land, due to years of war, the total population of the country is only about 300,000.
Chili State has six mansions, occupying a corner of Kunhai, and the land is not bad. Although there has been no war in the rear areas, the population has been greatly reduced due to years of conscription and participation in the war. So far, there are only about 400,000 people left.
The combined population of the two countries and one county is less than 800,000, which is even more miserable than the previous two countries of Xichuan and Hanzhong.
This is evident from the devastation this war has had on both countries.
That's why.
Kunhai and Chili are now in urgent need of a large number of population supplements to restore domestic local production. At the same time, a large amount of money and food supplies were also needed to maintain the operation of the domestic court and government.
Regardless of the above, both countries cannot provide it on their own.
Therefore, in order to achieve the goal, there was only one choice in the end, which was to expand externally.
And as the two countries also surrendered to the Chu State, it was no longer possible for the two countries, which were originally in the Kunhai area and were the most suitable for their goals, to fight each other again.
Therefore, if you want to expand externally, you can only find targets from countries outside the surrounding Chu system.
Originally, Dali Country in the south was a suitable target.
In the first month of this year, after a year of sorting out, the rebellion in the Tonghai State area was successfully suppressed and the rule over the area was initially stabilized.
The State of Su officially announced that it would establish counties and prefectures in the Tonghai State area, establish Tonghai County, and establish four prefectures and forty counties, which was precisely the establishment of administrative jurisdiction over this area.
Following the Su State, also at the end of the first month, the Song State also formally established Yinsheng County in the Black Teeth Ten Kingdoms area and part of the southern Yinsheng area under its control, and established five prefectures and fifty counties, and began its own expansion of the southwest. The rule of barbarian areas.
The establishment of Tonghai and Yinsheng counties in the Su and Song Dynasties immediately cut off one-third of Dali's territory, causing the country to suffer heavy losses.
At the same time, in order to deal with the combined attacks of Su and Song, Dali had to station heavy troops in the Yinsheng area to deal with the aggressive offensives of the two countries, and was very busy.
At this time, if Kunhai and Chili go down from the north and attack the already empty Yangju Kingdom in the north of Dali, they will definitely return with a good harvest.
Even taking the opportunity to invade some territory is promising.
But after losing the southern part of Kunhai, Chili Kingdom no longer borders Dali Kingdom. If we launch an invasion against Dali, the ultimate winner will be Kunhai, our sworn enemy.
The thought of letting this sworn enemy take advantage made everyone in Chili Kingdom feel uncomfortable.
Moreover, if the strength of Kunhai Kingdom grows, the threat to Chili Kingdom will also grow. Of course, they cannot let this situation happen.
Same reason.
With an enemy like the Chili Kingdom watching from behind, Li Xiong did not dare to hand over his back, even if both countries were suppressed by the Chu Kingdom, and then attack the Dali Kingdom with confidence and boldness.
Secondly, with the surrender of Chili Kingdom, Dali Kingdom also became aware of the threat to its north. Since April, it has gradually sent more troops to the Yangju area to guard against the invasion of Kunhai Kingdom.
Kunhai and Chili are restraining each other inside, and Dali is on guard outside. They want to get an advantage in the Yangju area, but it's not that easy.
Therefore, although this plan has always been there, there has been no opportunity to implement it.
At this time, the sect leader issued an order to let his two younger brothers follow him to attack Nanzhao.
Li Xiong and Li Chuan combined their efforts and faced the strong pressure of Chu State and the greed of Nanzhao State, so they put aside their past grievances and sent troops to jointly attack.
So under the coordination of the Chu State, the war of the three kingdoms attacking Nanzhao and advancing simultaneously from the north, middle and south officially kicked off.
On May 20th of the sixth year of Shenwu, King Lu Yuan of Chu led 40,000 Chu troops to break camp and march north.
On the same day, the armies of Yukunhai and Chili, who were repairing the month, swore an oath outside Yangcheng and announced that they would respond to Da Chu and send troops to conquer Nanzhao.
On May 25th, Lu Yuan arrived in Huichuan Kingdom.
After meeting Huang Xuan again, he encouraged the other party's 20,000 forbidden troops.
This true protector of the country also officially swore an oath in the Huichuan Kingdom, and cooperated with Kunhai and Chili in the south to launch an attack on the Jianchuan Kingdom under Nanzhao.
Lu Yuan stayed here for two days, and with the help of his officials, he established a prefecture and county in Huichuan State.
Jianchang and Huichuan were divided into two prefectures based on their old areas. At the same time, officials were dispatched from the rear to take up posts in various prefectures and counties.
The four thousand county soldiers who were originally brought across the river were actually assigned to various places in the two prefectures to cooperate with the officials who came to take office and began to carry out preliminary arrangements and rule in the two prefectures.
After watching this place for three days, seeing that there was no problem, Lu Yuan continued to break camp and head north.
On the third day of June, Lu Yuan led an army of 40,000 to Yuzhong Mansion in Xichuan County, where he met the Chu army.
The battle between the main force of the North Road and the Nanzhao army officially started.
