Since two thousand years ago, the Linhai family crossed south, established its capital in Jinling, captured Jiangdong, and captured this place.
Since the establishment of a county in Yuzhang, Yuzhang has been a land of plenty since ancient times.
The territory of Yuzhang is mountainous, and only the four prefectures in the north, including Yuzhang, Pengli, Xunyang, and Linchuan, have large areas of plain basins.
And for this reason, the five major water systems in Yuzhang, Ganshui, Fushui, Xinshui, Raoshui, and Xiushui, originate from the source and finally converge in the four prefectures.
Eventually, the water flow gathered together to form the grand scene of Pengli Daze, which is thousands of miles away.
Benefiting from this vast swamp, the land around Pengli Lake is fertile, with 100,000 hectares of fertile farmland being cultivated and feeding 600,000 surrounding households.
The other prefectures in Yuzhang also have fertile fields on both sides of the rivers and between the valleys due to the flow of the five major river systems. On top of the mountains, water was diverted for irrigation and terraced fields were cultivated.
The five river basins can support no less than 500,000 households.
Therefore, in the entire Yuzhang County, there are as many as one million households and more than six million people. The prosperity of household registration, the abundance of fish and rice, and the prosperity of boats can be said to be the highest among all counties in the east of the Yangtze River.
So when Lu Yuan led his army to defeat Bai Yi'an, he beheaded the Empress Wu'an.
He was not in a hurry to continue to lead the army eastward and send a large army to conquer the remaining two counties of Linhai and Guangling in Ningguo.
Instead, after leading the troops to Nanchang, the county seat of Yuzhang, he led 50,000 soldiers and horses to guard this important place.
Then, they divided their troops into different groups and sent generals to conquer the remaining prefectures and counties in Yuzhang.
Nowadays, most of the ten prefectures in Yuzhang County have been captured, and only some remote counties are still holding on to resist.
But when the news of Ning's army's defeat spreads, I believe that these small counties will surrender and no longer dare to resist the Chu heavenly troops.
However, these remote and small counties are easy to fight, but the other prefectures, local prefectures, and counties have complete troops, each with 2,000 standing troops.
Furthermore, with Yuzhang's high household registration, it was not difficult to temporarily recruit civilians to defend the city.
There are also local wealthy families, aristocratic families, and monks to protect and help.
The rest of the prefectures can gather tens of thousands of troops to defend the Chu army in an instant.
When the time comes to defend the fortified city with tens of thousands of troops, the Chu army can capture it. However, as the cities were attacked one after another, not only were there heavy casualties, but the delay was also unknown for how long.
Time has been spent on receiving the place. When Ning Guo calms down and sends troops to support the counties that are still resisting, it will inevitably become a very fierce tug of war.
At that time, the war will continue, the place will rot, and the originally prosperous and prosperous Yuzhang County will probably become ruins.
This situation is naturally unacceptable to Lu Yuan, who has already taken control of Yuzhang County and regards this county as his own.
Therefore, taking advantage of the new defeat of Ning's army and the panic among the prefectures and counties in Yuzhang, it is necessary to select strong generals and advance the army to attack.
In addition to Yuzhang Mansion, Luling Mansion in the southernmost part of Yuzhang County was also captured by the Chu State at this time.
Therefore, there are eight remaining prefectures in Yuzhang, which must be divided up and captured.
Just in time, after Lu Yuan led the troops to attack Bai Yi'an, news came from Baling. After Chu Wei, Li Liang and Zhuang Hua, who stayed behind, finally broke through the innate barrier after practicing hard in seclusion for more than a year. He became the second great master of Chu State.
In the past ten months, Chu State has added two more innate masters, further enriching its high-end combat power.
As for Li Liang and Zhuang Hua, if they broke through the innate barrier, then Han Shun and Zhang You, who were at the same pace as them, would not be much different in speed.
Perhaps in a few days, good news from Xichuan and Hanzhong will come.
And as these disciples broke through Xiantian, the originally empty domestic rear area was stabilized, and there was no need to worry about local unrest.
So Lu Yuan was happy and ordered Zuo Xiang Sun Siwen to return to the country and sit in Baling to stabilize the internal and external affairs of the court.
Then Li Liang and Zhuang Hua were transferred to the front line, and together with Huang Xuan and Han Hua in Nanchang City, they each led a group of troops to attack Pengli, Xunyang, Linchuan and Raoyang in the central and northern part of Yuzhang County. Mansion.
He also ordered the troops of Lingnu and Chu and Wei in Hengyang and Luyang Prefectures, as well as Li Xiong and Han Liang who had captured Luling Prefecture, to lead troops and horses respectively to attack Yichun, Nankang, and Ji'an in the southern part of Yuzhang County. , the four prefectures of Fuchuan.
In this way, the remaining eight mansions in Yuzhang County will all have an innate master and tens of thousands of troops to attack.
With such a strong strength, even if the eight mansions controlled by the Yuzhang Ning Army were guarded by ten thousand troops, it would be difficult to withstand the Chu army's front.
The Chu State could also pacify the eight prefectures as quickly as possible and completely control the entire Yuzhang. Based on the six million people in this county, they could turn this land of plenty for their own use.
Eighth Route Army soldiers and horses were dispatched, and for a while, Chu army flags could be seen in all prefectures and counties in Yuzhang.
And led by eight innate masters, the Chu army would naturally destroy everything they passed.
After Li Dao and Bai Yi'an died in battle, Shen Qiu fled back to Jinling along the Yangtze River waterway.
In the entire Yuzhang territory, the only innate masters left in the Ning Kingdom were the two innate masters who fled back to the country after the Ning army was defeated in Luyang and Hengyang.
However, these two innate masters had already suffered a new defeat. They were beaten by the Chu army and ran in panic. The entire army was wiped out and they only escaped with their bodies. They were like dogs that lost their lives.
How could such a person dare to stay in Yuzhang to resist the Chu army's eight-pronged attack?
Therefore, after hearing the news of the Chu army sending troops, the two men were immediately horrified and did not dare to stay for half a day longer under the thunderous attack of the eight innate masters and hundreds of thousands of Chu troops.
Yuzhang has become a dangerous place. If you stay here, you will die.
Therefore, after hearing the news, the two people abandoned the city and left without trace before the Chu army arrived.
Without the innate obstruction, the remaining Ningguo soldiers and horses in Yuzhang had no backbone to lead them, and naturally they were useless.
Under the attack of the eight-pronged army of the Chu army, it took only ten months and only at the end of April that it was completely pacified.
And the entire Yuzhang County was completely frightened because of the Chu army's attacks in all directions this month and the overwhelming and irresistible sharp military might.
During this period, under Lu Yuan's signal, the powerful local families were destroyed because they helped the Ning army and resisted the Chu army, implicating countless clans.
By taking advantage of this, Chu State not only counted out a large number of hidden households, but also enriched the local household registration.
He also obtained a large amount of land, money and food by confiscating his family and annihilating his clan, and the treasury of the central government, which had been consumed a lot by the war, was quickly filled.
And under this catastrophe, the remaining aristocratic families who were lucky enough to survive also changed their expressions after hearing Chu. They no longer dared to have the slightest dissent and were completely respectful.
After a thunderous sweep of the acupoints, and with the help of powerful troops and horses, Chu State finally gained a firm foothold in Yuzhang County.
At the same time, Sun Siwen, the left prime minister who had returned to the country, also began to coordinate with the country, dispatching capable officials from the Chu State's court and localities, and dispatched them to Yuzhang in batches to take over Chu County's capture of Zhifu County.
However, although Sun Siwen has been trying his best to redeploy officials, the shortage of officials in Yuzhang is still very large.
Since the launch in September last year, the Chu State has successively conquered Su State and Nanhai State, and obtained the land of three counties and twenty-four prefectures in Lingnan, and it was necessary to send officials to take up their posts.
Now they have captured the two counties of Yuzhang and Jian'an in Jiangdong. These two counties and the eighteen prefectures have a large number of official vacancies.
In less than a year, Chu State developed five counties and forty-two prefectures, nearly doubling its territory.
Just to fill these five counties and forty-two mansions, Chu State would need no less than 6,000 large and small officials, which would also almost double the original number of officials in Chu State.
This huge official shortage cannot be filled casually by the Chu State holding a few emergency encores.
In order to ensure stable operation at the grassroots level, Lu Yuan even had to retain the original officials from the Three Kingdoms after direct assessment, filling nearly half of the gap. Coupled with domestic emergency deployment, these positions could be filled just now.
However, if you do this, the consequences will be huge.
It turns out that officials from various countries are deeply grateful for their homeland, and it is difficult to say whether they have resentment in their hearts towards the Chu State that attacked and destroyed their country.
In particular, the officials in Yuzhang and Jian'an counties basically came from aristocratic families. Naturally, they did not have a good impression of Chu State, which had just purged the wealthy families in the two counties.
The Ning Kingdom was not destroyed. It was still lingering on the eastern half of the Yangtze River, and its strength still existed.
For the officials in these two counties, the Chu State had the hatred of destroying their families and clans, and their old master was tempting them, so their loyalty was really a concern.
Lu Yuan had no choice but to transfer Ning Guo's original officials away from Jian'an and Yuzhang counties and send them to Lingnan, Southwest, Xichuan and other places far away from Ning Guo.
Then officials will be transferred from these places to fill the vacancies in the two counties and eliminate hidden dangers as much as possible.
With such means, the five newly occupied counties were finally settled. The Chu State established a local foundation, and the political power was no longer rootless.
From now on, it only needs to be maintained for a few years, and when people's hearts turn over, Jiangdong and Lingnan will become the land of Chu.
There are large armies guarding the four sides, calming the turmoil internally and fending off enemies externally.
Domestic officials were also selected to quickly stabilize local order.
Thanks to the efforts of these capable ministers and generals, Yuzhang quickly settled down without Lu Yuan having to worry too much.
Therefore, after seeing that the situation was stable, he also turned his attention to other things.
…
Nanchang City, inside the temporary residence of the King of Chu.
After entering the city, in order to appease people's hearts, Lu Yuan successively summoned local scholars and famous people in Yuzhang County. By subduing these local people, he achieved the purpose of controlling Yuzhang area.
At this time, the Chu army was conquering various places in Yuzhang. Anyone who was dissatisfied and rebelled was taken over and pacified.
Although many people were killed as a result, many large families in the area were wiped out as a result.
But also for this reason, the killings shocked people's hearts and made the people of Yuzhang County fearful.
Lu Yuan once again recruited talents in Nanchang City and used benevolence to appease the people, and the effect was immediately remarkable.
For a time, in Yuzhang County, everyone who wanted to survive, strive for a better future, and abandon darkness for the bright future came to Nanchang.
Even in Linhai and Guangling counties, many people saw that the Ning Kingdom was over and it was inevitable that the Chu Kingdom would unify the south of the Yangtze River.
Therefore, many scholars from the two counties came to join him from thousands of miles away.
Among these people, the children of the Linhai family were naturally indispensable. Lu Yuan smiled and accepted this. After the assessment, he directly arranged official positions and arranged them to Lingnan, Southwest, Xichuan and other places to fill the official vacancies.
However, the above-mentioned servants cannot compete with mediocre people. Even if they have some talents, they are just ordinary statecraft, which is nothing at all in today's world.
Therefore, Lu Yuan personally met with several groups of important people in order to show his importance at the beginning.
Later, as the number of people increased and they couldn't bear the disturbance, they decentralized the matter and ordered the Ministry of Personnel and Honglu Temple to send relevant officials to receive and assess the people themselves.
He specializes in military affairs, adjusting and rectifying the defense in Jiangdong and Lingnan.
Now the Chu State's territory has doubled, and its population has more than doubled. It can be said that you have become a big fat man after one bite, the kind of person who is full of food.
Nowadays, there is a shortage of officials everywhere, and Chu State even has to employ a large number of old officials from other countries with hidden dangers, which is a manifestation of indigestion.
Therefore, regardless of other things, it is not suitable for the next step of expansion until officials who are qualified enough to digest the existing results and are sufficient to fill the territory will be conquered in the future.
Therefore, after capturing Yuzhang and Jian'an counties, Lu Yuan eliminated the fighting, suspended the war, and began to shift from offense to defense, focusing on digesting the results of the battle and accumulating strength.
Now that they have turned from offense to defense and begun to recuperate, it is natural to take advantage of this time to improve the military defense in Jiangdong and Lingnan, and to expand and adjust the domestic troops and horses.
Since the beginning of the war, the Chu State has successively destroyed the Su State and the Nanhai State, and also defeated the Jiangdong State, defeating and destroying the army, which numbered nearly a million.
Of course, it was impossible for the Chu army to kill all the nearly one million troops.
That's unrealistic and cruel and wasteful.
In fact, most of the defeated enemy troops were captured.
In the first battle of the Su Kingdom, the Chu army first defeated its Tonghai County and captured more than 10,000 defenders of the county.
Later, he defeated the Soviet and Song coalition forces and captured more than 50,000 people.
Attacked Yulin County and captured 10,000 local troops.
After conquering Yulin, the capital of his country, he captured more than 20,000 people.
After destroying only one Su state, the Chu state captured almost 100,000 Su and Song soldiers and horses.
They attacked the Nanhai Kingdom, attacked the local prefectures and counties of Nanhai County, and captured more than 10,000 people.
Then he fought with 250,000 soldiers and horses from Ning and Nanhai in Nanhai City. After successive attacks, by the time Nanhai City was captured, the number of captured soldiers and horses from the two countries reached 160,000.
Even in the past two months, the navy of the Nanhai Kingdom, which was originally traveling all over the world to do business, came to seek refuge after hearing that their hometown was occupied by the Chu Kingdom.
In Nanhai County, Chu State recruited more than 20,000 naval troops.
In this way, after destroying the Nanhai Kingdom, the number of land and water troops surrendered by the Chu Kingdom amounted to 200,000.
Later, there was a battle with the Ning army in Dongting. On the battlefields of Jiangxia, Changsha, Hengyang, and Luyang, the Chu army defeated the Ning army of 400,000 people by land and water, beheading more than 100,000 of them, and captured 230,000.
The Ning army only had more than 30,000 naval troops. Because it was located at Xiakou, Xiangyang, north of the Yangtze River and was not in the encirclement, it escaped disaster and survived.
Later, Lu Yuan attacked Yuzhang and captured more than 20,000 local county, prefecture and county soldiers.
Qingyunzi attacked Jian'an and captured more than 10,000 local soldiers.
In the above dozens of battles, large and small, Chu State captured a total of 560,000 soldiers and horses from the four countries on five battlefields.
Among these soldiers and horses, even after excluding the forcibly recruited civilians from Nanhai Kingdom, there are still half a million standing soldiers and horses left.
Before the war started in Chu State, the total number of troops in the country was only 700,000.
At this time, after successive battles, the Chu army suffered losses of more than 100,000, leaving only more than 500,000 troops and horses, which was comparable to the size of these prisoners.
For this reason, collecting and digesting these prisoners has become a matter that the Chu army must deal with as soon as possible.
Otherwise, hundreds of thousands of prisoners who have mastered killing skills gather together, and even if a large army is sent to guard them, there is no guarantee that everything will be safe.
After a long time, it is easy to cause riots and rebellions.
Therefore, after convening his close ministers for discussion, Lu Yuan issued an edict to eliminate 100,000 old and weak soldiers from the 500,000 captives, to supplement the damaged county troops in the Dongting prefectures, and to establish the county troops of the newly occupied counties to improve the local area. law and order.
Then he selected 50,000 soldiers and horses and established five counties and counties.
Another 80,000 people were selected to supplement the losses of the Forbidden Army.
Another 40,000 navy prisoners were added to the Chu army's navy, bringing the size of the navy to 80,000.
The remaining twenty-three prisoners were mixed and dispersed with the existing Forbidden Army, and ten new Forbidden Army units were established to expand the number of the Forbidden Army.
At the same time, 30,000 elite soldiers were selected from the imperial army to be added to the Jinwu Guards that guarded the capital and the imperial city. Among the palace guards, the size of the 12-strong army officially reached 20,000.
After such digestion and absorption, Chu's standing troops will officially exceed one million.
Among them, there are 196,000 local and county soldiers.
There are 110,000 local county soldiers.
Navy, 80,000 people.
Jinwu guards, palace guards, each numbered 20,000 people.
Thirty-five Forbidden Forces, 700,000 men.
The five troops and horses combined totaled 1,126,000 people.
All of the above are standing troops, not civilian cannon fodder.
According to this, the Chu State's powerful soldiers can be ranked among the top five in the world, and they are proud of the rest.
If the army is used again in the future, there is no need to mobilize the civilians, and an army of five to six hundred thousand can be easily dispatched, terrifying a state and having unlimited power.
In this way, he can be called the overlord of the world.
With such expectations, Lu Yuan issued various edicts one after another in Nanchang City, constantly approached the generals of various armies, and fully promoted the restructuring and expansion of the Chu army.
For a while, I was so busy that I couldn't even put my feet on the ground.
And in the midst of this busyness, outside Nanchang City, two groups of guests, one from the north and the other from the south, arrived in the city one after another, sending invitations asking for an audience with the King of Chu.
After the people below reported and handed over the greeting card, Lu Yuan, who was busy in his busy schedule, took some time out. When he saw the name on the greeting card, he couldn't help but be surprised, and then he couldn't help but smile.
Because on the two greeting cards, regarding the identity and signature, it was clearly written:
The leader of Liuyang Sect, Yin Huixuan.
The master of Ziyun Dao, Xuan Chengzi.
In Yuzhang, there were only two innate forces outside the control of the Chu State. As the Chu State defeated the Ning State, they showed their tendency to unify Yangzhou in the south of the Yangtze River and completely controlled the Yuzhang County Queen.
Finally put down the shelf I was holding.
Before Chu Guo took the initiative to contact him, he came to the door first and recommended himself.
How could Lu Yuan not be happy about such a good thing that people want and the general trend has come true?
"First of all, I have ordered Yin Huixuan, the head of the Liuyang Sect, to come to the mansion and have an audience."
Lu Yuan put down the greeting card, looked at the servants standing beside him, and ordered: "As for Taoist Master Ziyun, please arrange a separate residence in the post house in the city first, and ask the officials of Honglu Temple to properly entertain this person."
Strictly speaking, Ziyundao and Chu State are actually enemies.
The god-protecting general in the other sect is still serving as an official in Ning State, helping to make the enemy of the Chu army!
On the contrary, the Liuyang Sect has been adhering to the principles of Jianghu in recent years, never interfering in the world's competition, and honestly facing its own Jianghu people.
Therefore, for the two people who requested an audience, Lu Yuan naturally planned to meet Yin Huixuan first.
After you meet this person, you can decide your attitude towards Ziyundao.
