On the third day of June in the sixth year of Shenwu, Lu Yuan led his army to Yuzhong Mansion in Xichuan County.
After arriving, he did not lead the troops to fight immediately, but checked the internal affairs of Xichuan County.
After several years of development, especially the rare peace after the war, various parts of Chu State have ushered in a wave of new baby boomers, and Xichuan County is no exception.
In the ninth year of Zenue Hongdao's reign, when it was still the Kingdom of Changsha, Lu Yuan conducted a census of the country's population.
At that time, there were 160,000 households and 830,000 people in Xichuan County.
After years of recuperation, the number of households has not increased much and is still 160,000. But the population has grown to 880,000, most of whom are newborns.
This rapid growth in population is still continuing. If it continues, in fifteen years at most, the population of the three prefectures of Xichuan County will exceed one million.
Lu Yuan was quite pleased with this.
For the Chu State, it was important to open up new territory, but increasing its population was even more important.
Because by opening up a new territory, the luck it can obtain is fixed and is a one-time gift. After it is given, it will not continue to increase.
But the population in the territory can also give luck.
The greater the population, the more luck will be given.
Nowadays, newborns are constantly being born in Xichuan, and the population is increasing at a high speed.
In the future, when these newborns grow up, no, even the moment they are born, they will already provide good luck to Chu State.
And when they grow up, they will be able to provide even more luck. And newborn babies can also continue to reproduce after they grow up.
It goes on and on and grows day by day.
It is conceivable that in the future, Lu Yuan will be able to obtain more luck, and the share of spiritual energy leveraged through these more luck will also be greater.
In this battle for spiritual energy in the end of the world, he has already occupied a firm share, and is rapidly expanding this share.
After looking at the natural population growth in Xichuan County, Lu Yuan looked at another demographic list.
Since the Nanzhao army made a surprise attack on the Xichuan Kingdom in June last year, the local people of the Xichuan Kingdom have continuously begun to flee to the surrounding areas.
There were not many directions for them to flee, and they had only two choices, either Han China in the north or Chu State in the east.
Among the two choices, Chu State is the most attractive.
Because Han China was weak, it had no advantage at all compared to Xichuan Kingdom.
The Xichuan Kingdom has been conquered by those enemies. The Han Dynasty has to deal with the Zhou Kingdom in the north, and another Xichuan Kingdom in the south. You can imagine the great pressure.
Many refugees who had a little knowledge and controlled a large number of resources and people, such as the powerful gentry or Jianghu people, knew that the prospects of fleeing to Han China were worrying.
If you run to Han China, you may be able to gain temporary peace, but when the Zhou Kingdom goes south or the Nanzhao army pursues you, it will be just as dangerous as it should be.
But Chu State is different.
This is a big country with four counties and hundreds of thousands of troops. Especially in Xichuan County, there are hundreds of thousands of troops stationed.
Going to such a place, both in terms of safety and future development prospects, is far better than that of Han China.
It is better to be a citizen of a big country than a small country.
…
So how to choose, in fact, many people have an idea.
So during the period when the Nanzhao army was raging, all the refugees who had the conditions chose to run to Chu.
In the second half of the fifth year of Shenwu last year alone, Chu State successively received almost 100,000 people from Xichuan State.
This year, as the atrocities committed by the Nanzhao army became more and more excessive, more and more people fled.
In the first two months of this year alone, Xichuan County received more than 70,000 refugees.
However, starting in March, those Nanzhao troops also noticed that a large number of people in Xichuan County were fleeing.
So we started, as mentioned earlier, to set up roadblocks on the main roads leading to Xichuan County to intercept and block the fleeing people.
After several months of blockade, a large number of people were intercepted, and a considerable number of them were tortured and killed.
But the number of Nanzhao's troops is limited after all. There are three prefectures on the border between Xichuan County and Xichuan Kingdom, and it is impossible for the other side to stop them all.
So in the past few months, more than 50,000 people from Xichuan have fled to Xichuan County.
Since the beginning of this year, after setting the strategy of conquering Da Changhe in the west and chasing the Zhao army in the north, Lu Yuan has decided to regain the Xichuan Kingdom.
Xichuan State has half a county and five prefectures, covering an area of 2,400 miles, which is not a small territory.
But now such a large territory has experienced serious population loss due to the disasters caused by the Nanzhao army and the flight of a large number of refugees.
Preliminary estimates indicate that the total population within the territory does not exceed 300,000, with an average of 50,000 to 60,000 people per prefecture. One word cannot describe the misery.
With such a small population, it is not enough to develop the newly recovered Xichuan County, or even to maintain local government rule.
Therefore, it is imperative to immigrate to Xichuan County.
Therefore, since this year, Lu Yuan has not sent the nearly 130,000 refugees to Qianzhong County as he did in the past.
Instead, he stayed and was temporarily placed in Yuzhong Mansion.
It is planned that after the Nanzhao army is driven away, they will be sent back to their place of origin to serve as a place to enrich the local population.
However, even if these 130,000 refugees were sent back, it would still be too few and far from enough for the land of the Five Prefectures west of Xichuan.
Therefore, immigration from the three mainland counties of Chu State to the five prefectures west of Xichuan County will soon become another major immigration project in the country.
However, the difficulties and resistance faced by immigrating to Xichuan County are much less than those faced by immigrating to Qianzhong County.
After all, as a mature land that has been managed by previous dynasties in Jinling for a long time, Xichuan County is famous for its wealth.
Jinguan City in Xichuan County, Baling City in Dongting County, Xiangyang City in Xiangyang County, etc. are among the most famous cities in the world.
Such a rich and fertile place is very attractive to those who are short of land in Chu and want to make a fortune.
Immigrating to Qianzhong County is a difficult place. Unless they are forced into a desperate situation, few people would go there.
But if it was Xichuan County, there would be quite a lot of people signing up.
Not to mention other places, the current Dongsan Prefecture of Xichuan County has become quite crowded for the local area after its population has gradually increased to 880,000.
After all, this is a mountainous area, there is not much farmland that can be cultivated, and the yield per acre is far less than that of those wealthy places.
…
There is a limit to the number of people that these three prefectures can support.
Relying on local food production alone to feed millions of people is the limit, and this limit is still based on the fact that local people's lives are quite difficult.
Although we are still far away from this limit now.
But the pressure of life has already emerged in some places.
Many people at the bottom with little land have no choice but to give up farming and choose to work in cities to subsidize their family businesses.
But in such a mountainous area, without established handicraft industry, how many people can the city support?
As more people come to work in the city, more people compete for various positions, and wages are lowered in disguise, making it difficult to earn much money from work. At most, it can only feed and clothe the whole family.
Moreover, this food and clothing line is slowly decreasing with the growth of population.
It is foreseeable that if industrial reform is not carried out and more handicraft industries that can bring economic value are introduced, then the people in this land of the Three Prefectures of the East will definitely become poorer and poorer.
However, how to reform and whether to reform are all matters for local officials and court ministers. Lu Yuan does not have time to take care of these, and he is not good at it.
He only knew a little.
The people of Xichuan County in Dongsan Prefecture have begun to feel the pressure of life and have greater willingness to immigrate.
"It doesn't take much. There are 880,000 people in the three prefectures. Just move around 200,000 people.
In this way, the remaining population will average more than 200,000 per prefecture, and each household will be allocated enough farmland. The local food production and living conditions will also be greatly improved.
Finally, in Xiangyang County and Dongting County, 100,000 or 200,000 people were relocated each, making a total of 600,000 people.
In addition to the refugees staying in Yuzhong Mansion and the remaining people in Xichuan Kingdom, there are millions of people.
These people are enough to support the development of Xiwufu in Xichuan County. "
Lu Yuan made a plan in his mind.
…
After making the decision, Lu Yuan did not delay and immediately wrote the imperial edict and sent it back to the country, allowing Cui Changqing and other ministers to make preparations and carry out the preliminary immigration work.
This time he commanded 200,000 troops, including more than 100,000 elite soldiers. With this huge army, it was no problem to drive away the 100,000 Nanzhao army.
Let alone expulsion, it is not difficult to keep all these people.
As for the eldest prince of the Nanzhao Army, a talented guy, Lu Yuan could easily defeat him with one hand.
That's all if he is not allowed to find the opportunity this time.
Otherwise, if given the chance, Lu Yuan would not mind killing another innate to achieve the achievement of four innate kills for himself.
It just so happened that the strength of the three innates of Nanzhao Kingdom was already beyond the scope of the category, and they were beyond the scope of a small country. Including the two and a half counties of Nanzhao, it already has some of the power of the Chu State before the conquest of the southwestern barbarians.
Facing such a small overlord in the southwest, Lu Yuan would have trouble sleeping and eating even if he regained Xichuan without some weakening.
An extremely aggressive country that can dispatch an army of 100,000 at any time, and has three innate masters at its disposal, is watching you from the side.
Just ask, who can feel at ease?
At this time, Lu Yuan could more or less understand what it was like for the former Emperor Hongdao of Yue and the current Emperor Jianwu of Ning State to face the Changsha State and the current Chu State who had gone ahead.
…
Come to think of it, they were also wary of the Chu State just as they were now wary of the Nanzhao Kingdom.
I wish I could eradicate this serious problem in one fell swoop, solve my own worries, and then concentrate on dealing with other big countries.
"However, things in this world can never go as planned. Just as the Ning State cannot attack and destroy the Chu State now, with the current power of the Chu State, it is still unable to attack the Nanzhao State.
This time, we can only eliminate and capture more Nanzhao soldiers to weaken the opponent's national strength.
At the same time, see if there is a chance to get rid of the eldest prince Zhao Changqing and cut off his arm. "
Lu Yuan's eyes were hot and his fighting spirit was high.
No matter which one of these two goals is accomplished, it will be a huge blow to Nanzhao Kingdom.
If both are completed, it will be equivalent to subtracting 20% of Nanzhao's national strength.
In addition to Huang Xuan of the South Central Route Army, Li Xiong and Li Chuan of the South Route Army, their respective gains were achieved.
After this war, it may be unthinkable to wipe out the Nanzhao Kingdom, but there is no problem in inflicting a heavy blow on the opponent, leaving it unable to recover for thirty years.
By then, Nanzhao, whose vitality was severely damaged, would no longer be able to pose a threat to Chu until it regained its strength.
If the other party wants to regain its strength, it will also face harassment from Chili Kingdom and Kunhai Kingdom.
Lu Yuan's two dogs were not just for guarding the door.
At a critical moment, he can also let the vicious dog out of the cage and run to bite the enemy.
This attack on Nanzhao does not mean that the war between Chu and the other party is over.
After recapturing Xichuan, the Chu army, which will enter a period of recuperation, may not take the initiative to attack Nanzhao again.
However, Kunhai and Chili, which are tired at home and in urgent need of large amounts of money and food for their population, are still hungry and need a lot of food to fill their appetites.
And where does this food come from?
It is impossible for Chu State to give, and even have to collect tribute from these two dogs.
In the end, only the neighboring countries of Dali and Nanzhao could give it.
With just a little guidance from Lu Yuan, the two vassal states could target Nanzhao and contain each other's pace of recovery.
As for Dali, Su and Song can handle it, so Lu Yuan doesn't need to worry about it.
After conquering Da Changhe Kingdom, Lu Yuan had already made arrangements for the remaining two Da Yi Kingdoms.
…
On the eighth day of June in the sixth year of Shenwu, I rested for five days in Yuzhong Mansion and inspected the internal affairs of Xichuan County.
Lu Yuan finally began to mobilize his troops and generals to attack the Nanzhao army.
Outside the city of Yuzhong Prefecture, the army was encamped, and the Chinese army had a large tent.
"Chu Wei, in this battle you will lead the navy, transport the army to the rear of the Xichuan Army, and help them land. Then lead the 20,000 naval forces in your hand to blockade the Yangtze River for me. No barbarian soldiers can be allowed to cross the river."
Lu Yuan looked at the many generals gathered in two rows below and said to Chu Wei, the navy chief and disciple at the front on the left.
"I obey."
When Chu Wei heard the order, he immediately went out to lead the arrows.
In this battle of Xichuan to conquer the barbarians, the two naval forces originally transferred will also participate.
Counting the 20,000 naval troops and the 180,000 land troops gathered in Yuzhong Fucheng, the total of 200,000 water and land troops is the total number of troops in this battle.
With this naval force intercepting the Yangtze River, it is enough to form a solid defense line.
…
How was the Zhou Dynasty's 300,000-strong army blocked by the Yue navy in the north of the Dongting River? Today, the Nanzhao army without a navy will be blocked in the north of the Xichuan River. They can only look at the Yangtze River and sigh.
Even a small number of Nanzhao troops were lucky enough to cross the Yangtze River and escape back to the south of the Yangtze River.
Later, in Jianchuan, which is adjacent to Jiangnan and Xichuan, there are also 60,000 soldiers and horses led by Huang Xuan. They will form a second line of defense to further block the deserters from Nanzhao in Jiangbei.
With such layers of defenses, those Nanzhao troops in Xichuan who wanted to escape had no choice but to follow the original route, risking a shortage of supplies and massive casualties, and crossing thousands of miles of uninhabited mountains again.
The two defense lines of the Yangtze River and Jianchuan will make any Nanzhao army who wants to escape south fall on this escape road.
"Han Shun."
After arranging the navy's tasks, Lu Yuan looked at another of his disciples, Captain Xichuan and General Zuo Han Shun, and ordered: "You will lead 10,000 county soldiers and 10,000 county soldiers. You have 20,000 imperial troops, and you lead these 40,000 people to board the ship with Chu Wei.
After arriving at the rear of Anyue and Panshi Prefectures in Xichuan County by water, they immediately led the army to capture the area.
Now the Nanzhao army is all in Nanchong. The front line of Panshi Erfu is empty, and there are not many troops in the rear.
After you occupy these two places, immediately build an interception line to block the Nanzhao army from escaping westward. "
When the Nanzhao army came out of the mountains, the place where they first appeared was Anyue Mansion.
Lu Yuan sent Han Shun to blockade the area, further blocking the opponent's escape south.
"I obey."
Han Shun followed closely and took the arrows to take orders.
"Li Liang."
Lu Yuan looked at another disciple, the rear general Li Liang, and continued to order: "I will give you a forbidden army, as well as the remaining 10,000 soldiers of the Xichuan Army, and 50,000 militia groups, totaling 80,000 troops.
I want you to lead this army, defeat the enemy in front of Yuzhong Mansion, and wipe out all the 30,000 Nanzhao troops on the front line of Panshi Mansion, leaving no one behind.
Could you possibly do it? "
At the junction of Yuzhong and Panshi Prefecture, 30,000 Nanzhao troops were stationed, responsible for monitoring the Chu army in Yuzhong Prefecture.
It was this group of troops that had previously been intercepting the refugees fleeing to Yuzhong Prefecture in Xichuan Kingdom.
The previous actions of killing the refugees and provoking the Chu army in Yuzhong Prefecture were exactly what this Nanzhao army did.
Lu Yuan hated these guys very much.
At this time, the order was given, intending to kill all the opponents without leaving a single one behind.
Faced with these murderous words, Li Liang also looked solemnly and said solemnly: "I obey your orders."
"Um."
Looking at this disciple, Lu Yuan nodded slightly, not doubting whether the other disciple could complete his order.
Among the many disciples, except Zhou Qing, Li Liang's ability is second only to Chu Wei, and he has always been entrusted with various responsibilities.
When he attacked Da Changhe State before, he led a partial army and successfully completed the task of capturing Nongdong State, and later cooperated with Li Xiong to capture the southern part of Kunhai.
In terms of military exploits, he ranks first among all generals.
The 80,000 soldiers and horses handed over to Li Liang this time were just to deal with a mere 30,000 Nanzhao troops. It was a matter of ease, and there would be no surprises at all.
"Lan Zhaoyun."
Lu Yuan looked at his father-in-law again and gave the same order: "I will also give you a forbidden army. You can lead it to attack Chengdu and capture Jinguan City, the capital of Xichuan.
This place is where Nanzhao's army garrisoned grain.
If we capture this place, we will feel that Nanzhao can provide enough food for a hundred thousand troops. There are only 3,000 defenders in Jinguan City now, can you possibly win it? "
As the leader of a sect, Lan Zhaoyun was a ruthless man who had started a rebellion before, so he was certainly not lacking in various means and abilities.
Previously, he also served as the front army to attack the Huichuan Kingdom, and has become a general of the Chu Kingdom.
After hearing the order, Lan Zhaoyun came out of the queue and said loudly: "I will come down to this city."
After completing the four-pronged arrangement, Lu Yuan stood up, looked around at the remaining generals, and said sternly: "The remaining generals will be led by Gu personally, leading two forbidden troops, totaling 40,000 troops, to attack Nanchong Mansion from the south.
Over there, the leader of Xichuan Kingdom and a forbidden army were guarding Nanchong Fucheng, attracting 70,000 Nanzhao troops, as well as the eldest prince of Nanzhao Kingdom.
The generals followed me and drove directly to Nanchong to cut off the retreat of the main force of Nanzhao army.
This time Zhan Gu wants to meet the eldest prince of Nanzhao Kingdom to see if he is more powerful than the great shaman of the Chili tribe! "
The murderous and confident words instantly infected many generals present, and they couldn't help but shout in unison: "Yes, I am willing to follow the king to kill the enemy!"
On the eighth day of the sixth month of the sixth year of Shenwu, the 180,000 Chu army in Yuzhong Prefecture divided into five groups, marched by land and water, and moved in full force to conquer the Nanzhao army.
