In the northern land, as time enters March, the ice and snow on the earth have completely melted, and everything has entered the season of recovery.
At this time, there was finally a commotion coming from the Zhou Kingdom.
In the tenth year of Chu Shenwu's reign, on the seventh day of March and the seventh year of Zhou Xianqing's reign, Emperor Zhou held a grand review of the armies outside the city. Fifty thousand imperial troops from the capital were practicing formations and shouting for death outside Chang'an City for several days.
Five days later, Emperor Zhou rewarded the disgusted warriors lavishly in the army, and then returned to the palace and ordered to recruit 150,000 troops from all over Guannei County to supplement the defense of the capital.
Because in recent years, wars have occurred frequently in the Zhou Kingdom. In order to supply the war supplies, they had to increase taxes and collect money and grain from the country.
At the same time, it was also affected by the cold disaster, and grain output was greatly reduced.
Under heavy taxes and natural disasters, the people in Zhou Dynasty became increasingly poor, and people without enough food could be seen everywhere.
There are many people selling their sons and daughters.
For the people at the bottom, let alone three meals a day, it is difficult to maintain even two meals a day.
Many people have not seen the color of flesh for several years, have difficulty eating for a year, and live miserable lives.
Therefore, after the news of the conscription spread, countless athletes from the pass were recruited, and there was an endless stream of people from all over the country joining the army.
This is not how much they support the court.
There is no other reason why so many people join the army. If they join the army, they will have enough to eat and a relatively good military salary, which can make their families live a better life. This is enough for the hungry and impoverished Zhou people today. Desperately.
Therefore, the news of the recruitment was only sent out for less than half a month, and the number of 150,000 people was recruited in an instant.
Countless people who were eliminated and those who came later beat their chests and wailed endlessly.
Some people couldn't bear to think about it, and even committed suicide because they didn't want to live in this dark world anymore.
This is evident from the Zhou State's oppression of the domestic people.
It is really not that easy to support an army of more than two million people with 20 million people.
However, after six or seven years, Zhou's people's and national strength had been squeezed to the limit, and it seemed to be a bit like the end of the dynasty.
If this abuse of people's power continues, perhaps it will fall apart and perish within a few years.
However, even if it were to perish, it would only be in a few years at the earliest.
Until this time, under the extreme pressure of the people's power, the Zhou Kingdom still seemed to be at its peak national power and its military was mighty.
There are 400,000 troops in He and Yang counties in the east, 300,000 troops in Shuofang in the north, and 400,000 troops in Helong in the Western Jin Dynasty. Now in the Gyeonggi Pass, the same number of troops has been raised to 200,000 troops.
The whole country's standing troops and horses have reached 1.3 million, which is second only to the Liang Kingdom in the east among the nine states.
In addition, there are also millions of civilians in the border counties.
It can be said that now in the Zhou Kingdom, every household has sent troops and every family has joined the army.
With Zhou's current seven counties, sixty-three prefectures, and 17 million registered residents, supporting such a large army means that the country's national power has almost been utilized to its limit.
Because of this, the Zhou Kingdom’s military prestige was second only to that of the Liang Kingdom among other countries, and it was regarded as one of the top three great powers in the world by everyone in the Nine Provinces.
At this time, such a hegemonic country was shamelessly broken by the Chu State and took advantage of the gap in the grain trade to send troops to seize Hanzhong County.
How could you endure such a shame and humiliation?
Therefore, the army in the pass had just been raised. After receiving the news, the surrounding countries all concluded that they were preparing to send troops to Hanzhong to regain face from the Chu State.
Similarly, when the news returned to Baling, Lu Yuan thought so after carefully checking and confirming the information.
In an instant, he couldn't help but become alert.
Although the number of the 200,000 Zhou soldiers is not large, it is almost the same as the Hanzhong soldiers, and there are mostly new soldiers, so there is no need to worry too much.
But it is difficult to guess how many innates the Zhou Guoguo will mobilize.
At that time, through the cultivation of Zhou's nobles and the recruitment of masters from the world, the eight pillar states of Zhou's front, east, west, left, right, north and south were all in place.
Even on this basis, two new generals of the Zhuguo, Upper and Lower, were added, directly adding up to ten Zhuguo.
But in this Northern Expedition, the Chu State successfully captured Hanzhong. Qingyunzi was also on the battlefield and directly killed Dongfang Wuyun, the general of Zhou State's Nanzhu State, causing him to lose an innate man.
Therefore, now, Zhou's Xiantian Pillar Kingdom has dropped from the original tenth place to nineth place, falling below double digits.
In the second county of Heyang on the eastern border of the Zhou Kingdom, there were two Zhuguo garrisoned to guard against the Liang Kingdom.
Shuofang County in the north also had two Zhuguo garrisoned to guard against Wei.
On the Helong front in the western border, four Xiantians led by He Basheng were gathered to deal with the Tibetan invasion every year.
The remaining two Xiantian were stationed in the capital Chang'an and Hanzhong County respectively.
Now that Dongfang Wuyun of Hanzhong County is dead, there are strong enemies on the three fronts of Zhou Kingdom in the north, east and west, and the innate masters in those places cannot be mobilized.
The same is true for the innate nature of Chang'an, the capital of the country.
The imperial city is located in the capital city. How can it be done without strong people to suppress it?
The innate here cannot move either.
Therefore, theoretically speaking, the Zhou Kingdom could not find an innate master to lead the army.
As everyone knows.
Countries going out for war, even those small countries with one and a half counties, all know that ordinary armies cannot go out without innate talent.
A large army without an innate master would be unable to deter powerful enemies and protect the entire army.
Therefore, without the innate master to lead the army, the Zhou Kingdom would naturally be unable to conquer the south, and Hanzhong would naturally have no worries.
But that's not what happened.
The nine innates on Zhou Guoming's face only represent the strength of Zhou Guoming itself.
The forces outside the Zhou Kingdom, that is, the immortal sect of Yu Chan Dao, are not included.
As long as Yu Chan Dao thinks, he can support Zhou's digital innates at any time and help them support the southern expedition.
In this way, even if the Zhou Kingdom could not find an innate master to lead the army, with the help of Yu Chan Dao, it could still launch this southern expedition.
The threat of an immortal sect can be known just by looking at Ziyun Dao.
The opponent's family alone easily dispatched four innates, and their strength could be described as arrogant.
Ziyun Dao is in Yangzhou, but it still divides the area with Feishuang Dao, and does not fully control the resources of the state.
But Yu Chan Dao is the only immortal sect in Yongzhou, which directly unifies the entire immortal cultivation world in Yongzhou.
From this point of view, in terms of emotion and reason, the strength of Yuchan Dao should be stronger than that of Ziyun Dao.
Based on this point, it can be deduced that if the other party supports Zhou State, then the benefits provided and the innate masters sent out should naturally be more.
Lu Yuan couldn't sleep when he thought that Yu Chan Dao might send four or even more Xiantian to join the Zhou Kingdom, and then this force would be sent to attack the Chu Kingdom.
Being targeted by an Immortal Sect is really too disturbing.
So in order to clear up the confusion, and also for peace of mind, Lu Yuan left Baling in person, rushed to Tianshou Mountain, and met with Feishuang Taoist Master Mo Li.
…
After a winter of emergency construction and large sums of money being spent, the construction of the sect in Tenshu Mountain has progressed extremely quickly.
However, in just four months, three palaces, twelve pavilions, and more than a hundred other houses have been built on the mountain. The prototype of a fairy gate station has emerged.
And that doesn't stop there.
Everywhere on the Tenshu Mountain, you can see strong men and craftsmen coming and going, traveling to various parts of the mountain. Under the command of the immortal Taoist priests, more palaces, pavilions, houses and pavilions are being built.
In addition, there are beautiful gardens everywhere, and stone paths and jade steps are also rapidly extending throughout the mountain.
Seeing the prosperity of this sect, Lu Yuan couldn't help but feel slightly moved.
Although he also learned about the situation of Tianshou Mountain from the report from the Imperial City Division, he was not ignorant of the place.
But the words on the paper are ultimately very shallow, far less than what you see with your own eyes.
Now that I have seen it with my own eyes, I know that Feishuang Dao has a profound foundation.
In just four months, a sect can be built in a decent manner and show its prosperity.
It's hard to imagine what the scene will be like after the other party is completely located here?
'Perhaps in the future, the area around Dongting Lake near Tianshou Mountain will be like Miluo Mountain in Guangling, turning half of the county into a dojo and attracting millions of believers, right? '
Lu Yuan had been to the vicinity of Tianluo Mountain and knew very well what kind of status Ziyun Road had in the north of Yuzhang County.
At this time, the Feishuang Dao Immortal Sect also settled in the Chu State, and gave it the status of national religion.
If they are really allowed to develop for tens or hundreds of years each, a Feishuang Road in Dongting County will surely rise out of control.
At that time, between the religious power and the imperial power, between the government and the Taoist temple, it will be difficult to say who the people of Dongting should respect and whom they should listen to.
When he thought of this kind of thing, as a king's instinct, Lu Yuan felt jealous and hostile in his heart.
However, now that Feishuang Dao and the Chu State have formed an alliance to advance together, and have a very good relationship with each other, there is of course no need to worry at this time, Feishuang Dao threatens the imperial power.
It will take a long time for the other party to develop.
Therefore, you can put aside this worry first and don't be in a hurry.
Therefore, thinking of the goal of this trip, Lu Yuan suppressed the strange color on his face, and then waited at the gate of Tianshou Mountain, waiting for Feishuang Dao to come to greet him.
Knowing that the King of Chu was coming in person, Feishuang Road could not help but be shocked. Soon Mo Li went down the mountain in person and welcomed Lu Yuan into the mountain gate.
Along the way, he was introduced to the beautiful scenery of the mountain, and every detail was mysterious. It could be said that he understood the mountain without any hesitation. He actually knew the mountain better than the locals.
It can be seen that in just a few months, Feishuang Dao has thoroughly studied Mount Tenshu.
Lu Yuan smiled and nodded, echoing a few words from time to time, and his fear of Feishuang Dao was raised a little more.
When they reached the mountain and the two entered the palace and sat down next to each other, Lu Yuan asked about the purpose of their trip.
"I dare to ask my friend, what is the strength of Yongzhou Yu Chan Dao? If they support the Zhou Kingdom, how many Dharma-protecting generals can they send?"
When Li Moli heard this, he was slightly startled, and then thought of the intelligence coming from the north in recent days. Suddenly he understood why the King of Chu came here.
Then he smiled and said: "It seems that Taoist friend is worried about the affairs in Hanzhong, worried about the newly captured land, and the good things are ruined by Yuchan Tao."
Lu Yuan nodded and did not deny: "Hanzhong is related to the peace of our northern border of Chu. Gains and losses here are enough to affect the rise and fall of the country. Although our Chu State has stationed heavy troops in Hanzhong, Yuchan Dao is the immortal gate of a state, and its strength Definitely not to be underestimated.
If you don't know the details of the opponent, you know what cards they will play.
Being so unprepared, waiting for the other party to take the initiative to attack, it was really uneasy in my heart. "
After hearing Lu Yuan's sorrow, Li Li couldn't help but laugh: "It seems that fellow Taoists don't know the slightest bit about the division of strength among our immortal sects."
He smiled, and then seeing Lu Yuan's confusion, he explained: "Fellow Taoist, you don't know. Since ancient times, the strength of our Immortal Sect has never been based on the vastness of its territory.
The size of the area occupied by an Immortal Sect can indeed enhance the strength of an Immortal Sect to a greater or lesser extent, but this enhancement ratio is minimal.
Possibly occupying a state will only strengthen a fairy sect temporarily and will not affect the overall situation.
The reason for this is that the root of us monks is the spirit of the immortal spirit.
Taoist friends should know that if we as monks want to improve our cultivation and achieve breakthroughs, in addition to relying on our own enlightenment and mind cultivation, breathing in the energy of immortal spirits and turning it into magic power is also the most important thing. It can even be said to be the way of immortality. fundamental.
Without the spirit of immortality, there is no way to practice Dharma.
You cannot become an immortal without cultivating the Dharma.
Therefore, the amount, richness, purity and specificity of the fairy spirit is the fundamental factor that determines whether a monk or even a fairy sect will be prosperous.
If the spiritual energy is insufficient, even if it occupies the entire Jiuzhou, it will not be able to support a single monk.
No matter how vast the territory it occupies, what's the use?
Same thing.
In today's age of the end of the Dharma, monks like us who want to cultivate immortality can only rely on fellow Taoists to obtain the spiritual energy from the spiritual jade through the legacy of our ancestors and breathe it out to practice and other adventures.
The most orthodox and mainstream method is to practice spiritual energy in the cave.
Therefore, despite the fact that Yu Chan Dao occupies the entire Yongzhou and is the leader in the world of immortal cultivation in Yongzhou, this is just a more pleasant name.
In the entire territory of Yongzhou, besides his Yu Chan Dao, are there any other monks?
It is said that he is the leader of the Yongzhou Immortal Cultivation World, but there is already a Jade Chan monk in the Yongzhou Cultivation World.
But just to entertain myself.
And in our land of Yangzhou, we have Feishuang Road and Ziyun Road. It sounds like two families are divided into Yangzhou, not as good as Yuchan Road's unification of Yongzhou.
But our two families each have cave-heaven cultivation, and they can continue to pass it on by themselves. How is it inferior to the Jade Toad Tao?
Among all the Immortal Sect Dharma Assemblies in Kyushu, in which one can I, Feishuang Dao, not share a seat with Yuchan Dao and be on an equal footing?
How is he better than me? "
When Li Qiye said this, he smiled confidently, without any humility in his tone.
When Lu Yuan heard this, he also realized that he had committed empiricism.
We have been fighting for hegemony in the mortal world for too long, and mistakenly applied the method of judging strength by the vastness of the world's territory to the world of immortality, resulting in cognitive differences.
Only then did Jin Moli wake up and understand the difference between the two.
really.
In the world of cultivating immortals, what matters is not the vastness of the territory, but whether the spiritual energy one occupies is sufficient.
Among the immortals and knights I had seen in my previous life, those great sects all built their mountain gates on spiritual veins with abundant spiritual energy!
Although there is no such thing as spiritual veins in the Kyushu Immortal Cultivation World where Lu Yuan is located, it is also very different from the Immortal Dharma System of those Jindan Yuanying.
But no matter how great the differences are, there are always some avenues that are basically interoperable.
If those spiritual veins were placed in Jiuzhou, wouldn't they be those cave heavens and blessed lands?
It's just that now those cave heavens and blessed lands are exhausted and can no longer produce fairy spirit energy. This is equivalent to the exhaustion of spiritual veins and has become an ordinary mortal realm, making it difficult for immortals to live.
According to this theory.
There is only one Jade Chan Dao in Yongzhou, which can only support this immortal sect. It can only be said that Yongzhou is barren, with only one spiritual vein left, and the rest cannot be used.
On the contrary, here in Yangzhou, there are two caves, Tianluo Mountain and Miluo Mountain, with two spiritual veins that can support two immortal gates.
From this point of view alone, Yangzhou’s heritage is much stronger than Yongzhou’s.
Yu Chan Dao's dominance in Yongzhou really doesn't mean anything.
Why do the Snowfield Tibetan people still occupy the entire snowfield?
But even if they sit on hundreds of thousands of miles of land, isn't their national power still inferior to that of Zhou, which has a territory of 30,000 to 40,000 miles?
What is the difference between periods?
Isn’t it just the availability of land?
Yuchandao just looks bluffing, and may not actually be that strong.
After Lu Yuan figured this out in his mind, he immediately relaxed a lot.
But he didn't really feel relieved, and continued with the question he started: "Fellow Taoist, wake up, I know it. It's just the strength of Yu Chan Tao, what is it? Is it possible to solve the mystery?"
Seeing that Lu Yuan had come to his senses, Li Li smiled with satisfaction, listened to his continued inquiry, pondered for a moment, and replied: "The strength of the Jade Toad Dao, how can I put it... is roughly on par with my Feishuang Dao. It's hard to tell the difference.
Moreover, the situation faced by Yu Chan Dao is actually much more complicated than that of Feishuang Dao.
Because the location of Yuhua Mountain, the gate of Yuchandao Mountain, is in Henan County of Zhou State.
Yes, Yuhua Mountain is located in Zhongzhou. No matter where the natural disasters are in the four poles in the future, they will not be able to affect the other party.
He doesn't have to be like Feishuang Dao and Ziyun Dao, who have to fight hard to break into Zhongzhou and hide an area as the basis for the inheritance of the sect for the sake of the sect's survival.
They already have a foundation in Zhongzhou.
Moreover, Henan County is close to the Liang Kingdom, and Yuhua Mountain is in the middle. It has connections with both Zhou and Liang countries, and has retreats from the east to the west.
Compared with the Zhou State, which only had two counties in Zhongzhou and was surrounded by enemies on all sides.
Occupying the entire Qingzhou, Liang State is now dominating the world. The Liang State, which is destined to be invincible in the future, is undoubtedly a better choice than the precarious Zhou State.
Therefore, even if it was limited to the location of the mountain gate, Yu Chan Dao had to support Zhou State and make some compromises.
But to say that he can lay a heavy foundation on Zhou Guo and do his best to help him is to think too much.
You must know that the east of Henan County is Xingyang County of Liang State, and the north is Hanoi County of Zhao State. It is at the turn of the Three Kingdoms, and anyone may attack in the future.
It can be said to be the center of the whirlpool.
The location of Yuhua Mountain is not only Yu Chandao's luck, but it is also his misfortune.
It is absolutely impossible for him to bet on a single country before the three surrounding countries know the outcome.
Playing both sides and splitting up the orthodoxy is his fundamental way out.
This time Zhou State gathered troops, and the two hundred thousand people sounded scary, but it was just a bluff.
Taoist friends have stationed heavy troops in Hanzhong, and there are also two real protectors of the country. With such strength, the Zhou people will not dare to invade.
No need to worry. "
Mo Li analyzed it carefully and finally made a conclusion.
After hearing his opinion, Lu Yuan also thought about it in his mind. At this time, the situation in the world could not help but nodded in agreement.
The situation in Yu Chan Road looks very good at this time.
But just like the Zhou Kingdom, it has a mighty army but is surrounded by enemies on all sides.
The reason why it can be maintained now is only through military force.
It's just that it looks scary on the surface, but is actually very weak.
The threat from this Immortal Sect can indeed be ignored.
So he couldn't help but salute to Mo Li: "I would like to thank my Taoist friend for clarifying my doubts. After listening to your Taoist friend's words, I don't have to worry about the Kingdom of Zhou in the north."
Afterwards, the two stopped talking about state affairs. Lu Yuan, who was relieved, also took this opportunity to discuss Taoism with Li Li.
These last batch of monks from the Nine Provinces Immortal Sect will soon go to the Northern Underworld Capital to ascend to the world.
Now for Lu Yuan, this is almost equal to the last opportunity to interact with his colleagues, so he must cherish it.
If you miss this time, it will be impossible to find someone to talk to in the future.
It is recorded that the King of Chu stayed in Tianshou Mountain and discussed Taoism with Taoist Master Feishuang for ten days before returning to the capital.
