The war between Liang Guo and Lai Guo started five years ago, in the second year of Shenwu.
When this war began, only Liang and Liang participated.
But later on, as the war became more intense, especially after the Liang State invested half a million troops in this war, and the number of Xiantian Grand Masters dispatched increased to five.
The strength of Lai State was no longer able to resist Liang State.
Laiguo is only a small country with two counties. After Liang Guo invaded, it lost half of its territory, leaving only one county.
With this strength, even if they put all their efforts into it, including the common people, they can only pull out a few hundred thousand soldiers and horses at most, which is far inferior to the Liang Kingdom.
There are a little more innate masters. There are two innate masters in Laiguo. They have good background, but they are still far behind Liang Guo.
Therefore, in order to protect themselves, Laiguo asked Xu State for help and dragged the overlord of Xuzhou into this war.
With the entry of Xu State, Lai State indeed resisted the invasion of Liang State.
The State of Xu sent an army of 300,000 troops to the foreign country, as well as two innate masters. These supporting troops plus the strength of the foreign country itself, the strength is not much worse than that of the Liang State.
This is also true.
After Xu and Lai joined forces, they not only continued to lose ground on the battlefield, but even seized the opportunity to defeat Liang Jun, fought several small victories, and recovered some lost cities.
Although Liang Guo made a counterattack, he was powerless against the Lai and Xu coalition forces who were on the defensive and could not break through the front.
In the end, the war between Liang Guo and Lai and Xu ended in a stalemate.
No one can defeat anyone, no one is willing to give in, and everyone thinks they can win if they persist...
As a result, it became such a bad war where it was purely a matter of national strength and it was up to who couldn't hold on.
Regarding such a situation, in fact, except for the three countries involved, the surrounding countries are happy to see it.
After all, the Liang State was so powerful that it originally owned eleven counties. Counting the one county it occupied from the foreign country, it had a total territory of twelve counties.
In addition, it has more than ten innate masters in the country, a standing army of more than one million, a population of 40 to 50 million, and extremely ambitious ambitions for expansion...
With such a dangerous behemoth sitting next to him, anyone would feel terrified.
But now it's better.
This terrifying beast has set its sights on its prey.
Coincidentally, this prey is not without the ability to fight back, and it also has a powerful helper who can fight with it to resist the terrifying predator.
When the two sides fought, no one could do anything to the other, and the war dragged on endlessly.
Before the winner is decided, no one around them has to worry. Liang Guo, a predator, has turned around and is looking for trouble of his own.
No.
Because Liang Guo was held back, Ning Guo could develop its own internal affairs with peace of mind, slowly restore its strength, and accumulate strength for its ambition to reunify Yangzhou.
The Chu State can let go of the western expedition without worrying about pressure from the north.
Even the Zhou Kingdom could take advantage of the stability of the eastern border to send troops and horses to march south, defeat Han China in one fell swoop, and take back the lost territory of the three prefectures of Hanzhong.
Even Zhao State, the overlord of Jizhou, north of Liang State, took the opportunity to launch a war against the small countries in Jizhou, and it seemed that it gained a lot in the end.
in short.
Liang Guo was held back, and the surrounding countries breathed a sigh of relief, and then took advantage of the rare opportunity to develop themselves.
But now, the Lai country that tied Liang Guo's hands and feet was destroyed.
The other party annexed another country, and its territory reached an astonishing width of thirteen counties.
And after Laiguo was destroyed, only some small countries in the northeast region were left in Qingzhou, which were no longer under the control of Liang Guo.
These small countries basically only had a few prefectures or even a few counties. Just like the small southwestern Yi countries that Lu Yuan had wiped out during his Western Expedition, they had only a few soldiers and generals, and could not possibly be Liang's opponent.
Without much effort, Liang Guo can attack and destroy them, and then open up the land of two counties, and together with the entire Qingzhou.
If this is true, then Liang State will become the first country in the entire nine states to unify a large state.
Unifying a large state is something that no country or dynasty has been able to do since the Three Emperors in ancient times.
Liang Guo was able to achieve this, not only occupying the land of fifteen counties, but also possessing a territory far exceeding that of any other great country in the world.
This is something that is enough to shock the entire world.
"If the Liang State is really allowed to accomplish this, and if it is allowed to do so without any restrictions, then a huge mountain will be created out of thin air over all the countries in the world."
After reading the urgent letter from the north, Lu Yuan put down the letter in his hand and couldn't help but murmur.
Unifying a large state is something that all monarchs in the world dream of and want to achieve.
Just like himself.
Expelling the Zhou Kingdom in the north, conquering the barbarians in the south, and annexing Hanzhong and Xichuan in the west, it took nearly ten years of military force to capture the three counties of Yangzhou today. Including Xiangyang County in Yongzhou in the north, there are only three and a half counties.
The entire Yangzhou, including those Yi countries that have not yet been conquered, has a total area of about seventeen counties.
Chu State only occupies three counties, less than one-fifth of the total. It is still far away from unifying Yangzhou.
Not just Chu State.
Among the other countries in Kyushu, except for Liang, those big and hegemonic countries were more like the Zhou Kingdom, which occupied the territory of eight or nine counties in a state. A smaller number, such as Ning and Chu, only occupied three or four counties.
And the Liang Kingdom now has thirteen counties in the territory it actually controls. In addition, two more counties will be added soon, all of which will be controlled by Qingzhou.
In terms of strength, it has surpassed all the major powers in the world, and its strength is unique. It has the potential to sweep the world and unify the nine states.
The appearance of such a terrible enemy would make anyone feel uneasy.
The same goes for Lu Yuan.
Fortunately, although he was a little uneasy, he was not too afraid. Overall, he was still relatively relaxed and even a little happy to see it.
"The Liang Kingdom has the potential to unify Qingzhou, which is certainly worrying. But the one who should be most worried about this is not our Chu Kingdom.
After all, Chu State and Liang State are not directly adjacent to each other. They are separated by Xiangyang County of Ning State.
With Ning Guo as a barrier, even if Liang Guo wanted to conquer the south, Ning Guo would be the first to attack, not our Chu State.
In addition, between Liang and Ning, there is the natural danger of the Yangtze River.
Liang was from the north, good at riding and shooting infantry, but not good at boats. He had no navy. Even though Liang had millions of soldiers, he could only sigh and return home when he looked at the surging river.
Before Liang Guo formed a large-scale loss, there was actually no need to worry about its threat. "
The last time was the southern expedition launched by Liang Guo in the 28th year of Longqing's reign in Yue Dynasty.
At that time, the Liang State mobilized 500,000 troops and horses. In terms of the scale of the troops and the duration, they were no less than the current battle of Mie Lai.
But what is the final result?
In addition to relying on strong military strength to take away the three prefectures of Guangling County in the north of the Yangtze River, there was no gain.
Facing the natural dangers of the Yangtze River, 500,000 Liang soldiers were stationed in the north of the Yangtze River. They were firmly blocked by the 100,000 Yue navy. They tried their best to break through the defense line and crossed the river south.
In the end, it was only because of Zhou's invasion that the Yue State was forced to acknowledge the status quo and cede the Guangling Three Prefectures in the north of the Yangtze River to the Liang State, which was already effectively occupied by the Liang State.
An army of 500,000 people was mobilized and lasted for three or four years. I don't know how much money was spent on food, but the final harvest was only this little, which is not a shabby thing.
The same thing also happened in Zhou Dynasty.
Three hundred thousand Zhou soldiers were stationed in the north of the Yangtze River, but they were never able to go south. They slowly exhausted their strength. The Yue Kingdom led a group of princes under their command to find an opportunity and marched northward.
In the end, they were severely defeated and lost most of Xiangyang County and less than half of Hanzhong County. It was really miserable.
From the above two examples, we can see how powerful the natural barrier of the Yangtze River is in protecting Yangzhou.
Before the enemy had a navy, the Yangtze River was a natural city wall that no one could cross.
With this support and the fact that the Chu State's 50,000 navy had already formed, Lu Yuan would naturally not be too afraid of the threat from Jiangbei.
In the same way, Ningguo, which has a hundred thousand naval troops and has a greater advantage on the Yangtze River, will not have too much fear of Liangguo, which has risen to power.
There may be some worries between Chu and Ning, but to say how worried they are is simply over-worry.
Compared with them, the three countries of Zhou, Zhao, and Xu, which are located in the plains in the north and have little natural protection, and are bordered by Liang, are more worried.
Among them, Zhao and Xu are not bad. Although they border Liang, they are also separated by a big river.
Although this river is not as steep as the Yangtze River, and even freezes on the surface of the river in the cold winter, it is still a natural hazard, and as long as you take precautions, it can still play a great protective role.
At the same time, Zhao and Xu are bordering each other. If Liang really goes north, the two countries will assist each other, and their combined strength will not be inferior to that of Liang.
Liang Guo wanted to eat them, but it was not that easy.
But Zhou State was different.
The border between Zhou State and Liang State is Henan County and Nanyang County. These two counties are fertile lands, no less fertile than Yuzhang and Linhai counties of Ning State.
The two counties combined have tens of millions of household registrations, and have always been an important place for the Zhou Kingdom to provide troops and taxes.
At the same time, there are not many natural barriers between these two places and the Liang Kingdom. It can be said that there is no obstacle in the way.
The Liang army headed west, and without any effort, they could reach the capitals of the two counties and seize these two pieces of territory.
"In addition, Zhou State is now facing a snowstorm among the Tibetan people, and half of the country's troops have to be transferred to the western border, resulting in a lack of troops in other places.
In this way, it would be easier for Liang Guo to attack Henan and Nanyang counties.
With such a huge temptation, as long as Liang Guo has the ambition to unify the world, it is impossible not to be tempted.
By that time, there were the Tibetan people in the west and the Liang Kingdom in the east. Facing these two powerful enemies, the Zongheng Zhou Kingdom was so powerful that it was afraid that it would be stretched to its left and right, exhausted and unable to support itself. "
When Lu Yuan thought of this, his heart couldn't help but move.
Originally, he had made preparations and planned to rest in the past two years. After reorganizing and training the domestic money, food, soldiers and horses, he would take advantage of the time when the Zhou people's soldiers and horses were restrained in the western border, and go north to capture Hanzhong County.
Although this plan originally had a high success rate, considering Zhou Guo's strong background, it cannot be 100% guaranteed to be foolproof, and there is still a high chance of failure.
But now, if there is another Liang State to contain Zhou State in the east, it will further distract Zhou State's attention, weaken the troops it can mobilize, and leave its southern border empty.
Then the success rate of this sneak attack plan will be greatly increased.
I dare not say 100%, but there is a 90% or higher probability of capturing Hanzhong County, and then making it impossible for Zhou State to send troops to recapture it. Lu Yuan is still relatively confident.
As long as Hanzhong County can be captured, the Chu State can shield the west and north. There is no need to worry about external threats, and the south can be focused on conquering the Yangzhou counties.
As for whether Liang Guo really captured Henan and Nanyang counties, it would become extremely difficult to control. There is no need to worry about this.
If that day comes, then facing such a threat, the Zhao and Xu Kingdoms in the north, Zhou Kingdom in the west, Ning Kingdom in the south, and Lu Yuan's Chu Kingdom will naturally not be able to allow such a powerful enemy to grow up safely.
When the time comes, the Five Kingdoms' conquest of Liang, and even the Kyushu's conquest of Liang, will take turns.
Fighting for hegemony is not a game. No one will sit back and watch Liang Guo slowly grow stronger and rise.
Before he grows up, all countries should unite together to weaken and destroy him first. This is normal operation.
In the face of the five countries, or even the Jiuzhou countries joining forces, even if the Liang Kingdom unified Qingzhou and even captured the Zhou Kingdom's Henan and Nanyang counties, it would not be the opponent of all the countries in the world.
The geographical location of Liang State and the situation facing its surroundings are really bad.
When people competed in the world, it was said that the golden-edged silver-horned grass belly, Liang Guo occupied the position of that belly.
Surrounded by various countries, you can attack everywhere and conquer the world.
But in the same way, all countries in the world can also attack from all sides, which will make Liang Guo exhausted.
In comparison, Yangzhou, where the Chu State is located, is located in the south of Jiuzhou, and is supported by the natural danger of the Yangtze River. Its geographical location and national defense pressure are much better than that of the Liang State.
Definitely one of the best in Phnom Penh.
With just one Yangtze River, Lu Yuan could easily defeat other countries, slowly unify Yangzhou, and then accumulate enough strength to go north to fight for the world.
Of course, if we really have to wait until that day, it will be decades at the earliest.
Now, it is better to solve the financial problem of Chu State first.
…
Just when Lu Yuan received the report from the Imperial City Secretary, the news that Liang Guo attacked and destroyed the foreign country also spread among other countries.
Things were just as he guessed.
After understanding this, all countries immediately realized that it would not be too long before Liang Guo unified Qingzhou.
A true overlord of one state is about to take the stage on the world stage.
The countries surrounding the Liang Kingdom couldn't help but be greatly frightened.
Zhao State in Jizhou in the north immediately stopped its offensive operations in Jizhou after receiving the news.
Then all the 200,000 soldiers and horses who were conquering many small countries in the north were withdrawn and transferred to the south to garrison the Zhaoliang border.
The Xu State, which had previously been supporting the foreign country to resist Liang Guo's invasion, was even more alarmed in one day. Not only did it deploy the 300,000 troops and horses originally to assist the foreign country to guard the border. Immediately afterwards, they launched conscription in the country, and formed another 300,000 troops in one go, ready to go south to resist the invasion of Liang Kingdom at any time.
As for the Zhou Kingdom in the west, they were even more frightened about this matter.
Because he also realized that among the countries surrounding Liang State, he was the one most vulnerable to attack by Liang State.
Therefore, in order to resist the Tibetan people, Zhou State had already deployed nearly 400,000 soldiers and horses in Longxi and Hexi counties.
However, Zhou State still gritted its teeth and held on, and mobilized 100,000 troops and horses from all over the country and sent them to Henan and Nanyang counties to garrison.
But even so, the troops assigned to each county in Henan and Nanyang were only 100,000.
This small number of troops poses no threat to the Liang State, which is about to unify Qingzhou and has rapidly expanded its troops to more than one million.
Without natural dangers like the Yangtze River, Liang Guo could easily tear apart this weak defense line if he just wanted to.
It's just that this is the limit of the troops and horses that Zhou State can mobilize.
The total number of soldiers and horses in the Zhou Kingdom was only 800,000.
Of these 800,000 people, 400,000 are already in the west, fighting with the Tibetan people.
In the north, in order to resist Zhou's world enemy Wei, they had to leave 100,000 troops to garrison the northern border.
In addition, Guannei County, where the capital is located, and Hanzhong County, which had just been recaptured, also needed troops to garrison, each requiring an additional 50,000 troops.
Added up, there are already 600,000 troops.
Zhou Guo has sent all the remaining 200,000 available to the east, and there is really no spare time.
However, with the enemy at hand, Zhou State also realized that it had a shortage of soldiers and horses, so it had ordered Henan and Nanyang counties to recruit soldiers and horses on the spot, preparing to form 200,000 new troops in these two places.
In this way, counting the original 200,000, the total army is 400,000, which is barely enough to defend Liang.
As long as we can survive this period of time, we won't have to fear Liang Guo after we finish dealing with the Tibetan people and mobilize the troops from the west.
The above are the trends of the northern countries.
On the Yangzhou side, under Lu Yuan's instructions, the Chu State still did not take any action. It continued to save money and food and train troops and horses.
After all, Chu and Liang are not bordering each other. Although they can feel the threat from the north, the pressure is actually not great.
On the other hand, the Ning State has many borders with the Liang State, and the successive imperial courts of Jinling have actually had many conflicts with the Liang State, and they can be regarded as world enemies.
So after learning the news, Ning Guo strengthened the defense in the north.
It is said that they have planned to train 50,000 naval troops on the basis of the original 100,000 naval troops. At the same time, an additional 50,000 garrison troops have been added to Guangling, directly increasing the county's garrison to 200,000 troops.
In this way, including 150,000 naval troops and 350,000 land and sea troops, it is enough to protect Ningguo without any worries.
There was a lot of commotion around and everyone was making moves.
The Liang State is still very stable like the Chu State.
In addition to sending troops to garrison the old territory of the country, the remaining Northern Expedition Army did not disband, but continued to move toward the northeast.
It seems that they are preparing to attack and destroy the remaining small countries in Qingzhou first and unify the entire Qingzhou.
Before that, Liang Guo should not have any other movements.
During this period, the envoys sent by Lu Yuan to various prefectures and counties to collect statistics on the disaster finally came back with detailed information.
In the thirty-four prefectures of the four counties of Chu State, more than 113,000 households were affected by the snow disaster, of which more than 11,000 households suffered casualties, with more than 47,000 people dead.
A natural disaster killed the population of one or two counties in Chu State.
After receiving this news, Lu Yuan was very heartbroken. What he had lost was the foundation of Chu State and his own destiny.
If so many people moved to Qianzhong County, they could even directly stabilize a mansion, but at this time, their sacrifices were in vain.
This painful lesson is unforgettable.
Therefore, he then issued an order to all prefectures and counties. From now on, local governments must prepare for snow disaster prevention and link this matter with officials' performance evaluation to prevent those people from not paying attention to it.
Lu Yuan tried his best to prevent today's lesson from being repeated again in the future.
The rest of the effect can only depend on God's will.
