The winter of the twelfth year of Shenwu came later than in previous years.
Since winter started in early October last year and the first snow fell, it was not until early February this year that the winter snow began to melt. The severe winter lasted for more than four months.
Therefore, when the spring rain fell, everything revived, and the rain and snow melted, Lu Yuan took the spirit girl with him to enjoy the beautiful spring scenery.
"Concubine Ling, there is a small pavilion in front of you, overlooking the beautiful scenery of the seven peaks of the Western Mountains. We can go there to have a rest."
After playing in the mountains for a long time, Lu Yuan looked at Concubine Ling's slightly swollen belly and made a concerned suggestion.
Just this winter, Lu Yuan's family lived in Tianluo Shanmao for half a year, enjoying themselves with the concubines every day. As expected, several people in the harem became pregnant with children.
However, among the pregnant concubines, the one who paid the most attention to him was the spirit girl.
It is said that the mother is as valuable as the son, but sometimes, the son is as valuable as the mother.
Lingnu herself is innate, and she has an entire Xueyuan people to rely on. Among the girls in the harem, she can be said to be the most noble one, even Queen Lan Cai'er is slightly inferior to her.
After all, the Five Poison Sect behind Lan Cai'er has long since changed.
After more than twenty years of assimilation, millions of Miao people have basically disappeared and are no different from the Chu people.
Even the Five Poison Sect, with the addition of the original or current Xiantian sects such as Baifeng Temple and Liuyang Sect, has rapidly reduced its role and influence on the world of Chu, and has become an ordinary first-rate force in the world.
Fortunately, the two brothers Lu He and Lu Hao are about to grow up. When they grow up, they will be two geniuses.
They are legitimate sons. With this support and Lu Yuan's deep feelings, Lan Cai'er's status is not worried.
"I listen to your Majesty."
When the spirit girl heard Lu Yuan's suggestion, she smiled slightly and agreed obediently.
Then the two of them walked towards the small pavilion not far ahead.
It has to be said that Ziyundao, as a major immortal sect that has been passed down for thousands of years, has a profound foundation.
In Shantian Tianluo Mountain, there are twenty-eight consecutive peaks from north to south, east to west, and a large number of pavilions and pavilions have been built on the peaks.
There are a large number of palaces on this main mountain. In terms of their exquisiteness and luxury, they are even better than ordinary palaces.
Even in the fairy mountain, the carefree and independent artistic conception makes people feel as if they are in heaven.
It was precisely because of this that after Lu Yuan moved to Tianluo Mountain, he was reluctant to leave.
This is not only because this mountain has a lot of spiritual energy for him to practice, but also because this mountain has beautiful scenery and clusters of palaces. In terms of environment and enjoyment, it is really much better than the Chu Palace he had in Baling.
With such a beautiful place, why would I want to go back to my humble abode?
When they arrived at the small pavilion, the palace maid who was stationed here saw the king coming and hurriedly came to serve him. She quickly prepared tea, cakes and incense for the two of them to enjoy.
"Concubine Ling is pregnant and needs to eat more. Although the pastries here are a little inferior, they can satisfy your appetite. Let's try them first."
Lu Yuan picked a piece of pastry, then handed it to the spirit girl's mouth and fed her.
The spirit girl took a small bite, swallowed it slightly, and then refused to eat any more. Her face looked a little gloomy, and her eyebrows showed sadness.
Seeing this situation, Lu Yuan frowned and asked, "My beloved concubine has a loss of appetite, but she has something on her mind?"
The spirit girl turned around, with a bit of sadness on her face, and said sadly: "Back to your Majesty, I just thought that my people are still suffering from ice and snow in the snowfield, and people are dying of hunger and cold every day. go.
But I had cakes to eat, but I couldn't bear it, so I had no appetite. "
"Snowfield..."
Lu Yuan couldn't help but ponder when he heard the spirit girl mentioning his hometown.
In the past two years, people in Xueyuan have had a hard time.
Years ago, in the autumn of the tenth year of Shenwu, the people of Xueyuan invited the Chu State to join them in sending troops to the Zhou State.
However, Lu Yuan was preparing for a decisive battle with Ning State at that time. There were threats to the east of the Yangtze Mountains, south of the Yangtze River and north of the Yangtze River. The Chu State itself did not have enough troops and horses, so it was really unable to take care of other things.
So I finally rejected the matter.
Therefore, as a last resort, the Xueyuan people had no choice but to send out their own troops to fight against the Zhou people.
But with only the Xueyuan family, how could they possibly be opponents of the Zhou people?
Not surprisingly, the war in the autumn of that year ended with a disastrous defeat for the Tibetan people.
Last spring, after experiencing a disastrous defeat, the Tibetans only had 300,000 troops left, which was an unprecedented drop.
This level of strength was not even as good as the Zhou people stationed in He and Long counties, and without any surprise, they were severely defeated. In the end, Zhou captured more than 100,000 people and won a great victory.
By last autumn, after a summer's delay, the Tibetan people had regained some of their strength. In order to restore the decline, they tried their best and once again mobilized an army of 500,000.
Almost all came out to seize Helong County from Zhou State.
At that time, the Wei State in the north also raised 500,000 troops and went south from the occupied Shuofang County to attack the Hanoi County of Zhou State.
The Tibetan people and the Wei State attacked in two directions, echoing each other and dispatching millions of troops. The momentum was extremely huge.
At that time, it could almost be said to be the most eye-catching war in Kyushu.
Even the Jiangnan decisive battle commanded by Lu Yuan was overshadowed.
Compared with the soldiers and horses of the two sides, after successive battles, the Zhou State at that time only had 200,000 soldiers and horses left in Helong and Guan.
The situation is extremely critical.
After the country was ruined and their families were destroyed, the Zhou people finally decided to abandon Hexi County after urgent discussions, and moved all the remaining millions of people in Hexi County to Nanyang County in Guandong. .
After shrinking the defense line, the burden of Hexi County was removed. The 100,000 defenders of Hexi County were transferred to Guannei County by Zhou State to assist in defense, bringing the number of defenders in the Gyeonggi area to 300,000.
On the Longxi County side, only 100,000 soldiers and horses were left, as well as 100,000 civilians were recruited to guard against the Tibetans.
Obviously, compared to the repeated defeats, he has never been able to get any cheap Tibetan people from his hands.
The Wei State, which had won successive victories since going south, defeated hundreds of thousands of Zhou soldiers, and took away Shuofang County from its own hands, was more threatening in the eyes of the Zhou people.
Therefore, in order to resist Wei's southward march, the Zhou people had to concentrate more forces to defend against the Wei people.
In fact, the threat from the Wei people is indeed great.
There was no big battle last autumn and winter. The Wei army's 500,000-strong offensive was fierce. At the beginning of the war, they even defeated the three prefectures in Guannei of Zhou State. The vanguard almost reached the edge of Chang'an, the capital of Zhou State, frightening the whole country.
Later, He Basheng urgently counterattacked, and the Zhou people conscripted more than 200,000 civilians in one go and sent them as cannon fodder to add to the front line. In the end, they paid a heavy price before they finally drove Wu back.
But even so, the three lost mansions in the north of Guannei County only regained the land of the second mansion, and the other mansion was firmly controlled by the Wei people.
In the north of Guannei County, the Wei State has secured the main route to the south. Chang'an, the capital of the Zhou people, is always under the attack of the Wei soldiers. If there is a slight war in the north, Chang'an will be shaken. It can be said that there are three shocks in one day.
Under this situation, Zhou State was already discussing whether to move the capital.
For example, they moved from Chang'an, the capital of the country, to Heyin City in Henan County, which was still in the rear and faced the danger of a large river in the north.
It's just that moving the capital is important. The royal family, ministers, and ancestral cemeteries of the Zhou Kingdom are all in Guannei County. Guannei County is also the most populous place in the Zhou Kingdom and has always been the foundation.
If you want to move the capital from here, there are too many interests involved.
Therefore, the country was divided into two factions, arguing endlessly every day, and the matter of moving the capital was delayed without a conclusion.
However, the matter of moving the capital was quite controversial, but there was quite a consensus among the Zhou people on whether to continue to abandon Longxi County.
In last winter's war, after the Tibetan people moved their tribes to Hexi County, which Zhou had abandoned, they invaded Longxi County with 500,000 troops.
However, Zhou State had only 100,000 troops and 100,000 civilians in Longxi County, so its strength could be described as weak.
Especially for the Xiantian Grandmaster, it can be said that the Tibetan people have used all their wealth this time, and a total of eight of them have been dispatched.
Zhou State was in Longxi County, but there were only two of them.
With 500,000 to 200,000, and eight to two, there was such a huge disparity in power. It can be said that Zhou was at a rare disadvantage on the Longxi battlefield, and was beaten back and forth.
In just a few months, half of the territory was lost.
If He Basheng hadn't defeated the Wei State later and led 50,000 troops to rush back for reinforcements, the entire Longxi County would have been lost.
However, after losing half of Longxi County, everyone in the Zhou Dynasty's court clearly realized that Zhou's national strength could no longer support a two-front war.
After years of raging wars, Longxi County has long lost its former glory of lush water and grass and fertile fields.
At its peak in the past, Longxi County had a population of three million, but now there are only a million people left, and more than half of the territory is occupied by prisoners.
The half of Longxi County that was truly controlled by the Zhou State only had a population of over 800,000.
With such a small population, not to mention the more than 100,000 Zhou soldiers maintained there, it would be difficult to support themselves during the war.
Longxi County has become useless to the Zhou Kingdom.
Therefore, after deliberation, Zhou decided to abandon Longxi County, and then moved the remaining 800,000 people in the county to Henan County in the rear.
As for the tens of thousands of soldiers and horses remaining in the county, they were also withdrawn to Guannei County to supplement the lack of troops in the capital after the war.
After all this trouble, the Zhou Kingdom successively lost Hanzhong County, Shuofang County, Hexi County, and Longxi County. The remaining territory in the country was only Guannei County, Henan County, Nanyang County, and Xiangyang County, a total of four counties and thirty-two prefectures. land.
The territory can be said to be only about 40% of what it was at its peak.
As the territory of the country was greatly reduced, the population of Zhou State naturally also decreased greatly.
Today, the estimated population of the thirty-two prefectures in the four counties of the Zhou Kingdom is only about 13 million, which is 7 million fewer than at its peak.
As for the domestic troops, there are only 150,000 troops in Henan County, 150,000 troops in Nanyang and Xiangyang counties, and 200,000 troops in Guannei County, for a total of 500,000 troops.
There were nearly one million fewer people than there were at the peak.
It can be said that the national power of the Zhou Kingdom has declined significantly. From the original hegemony in the forefront, it has fallen vaguely to the threshold of the hegemony, and it is no longer as prosperous as before.
What's even more terrible is that even though a large amount of territory has been given up, the geographical environment near Zhou Kingdom has not improved at all.
The two counties of Helong in the west have become the pastures of the Tibetan people.
In Shuofang County in the north, hundreds of thousands of Wei troops were watching with eager eyes, and they had gained access to Guannei County, sending troops southward day and night.
The Chu State in the south has also defeated its old enemy Ning State, and has the potential to unify the south of the Yangtze River. It also has the remaining strength to send troops northward.
Liang and Zhao in the east have also coveted Zhou's Henan and Nanyang counties for a long time. Although they have not sent troops to attack at this time, they would not mind taking a share of the pie if there is a chance.
In this case, the Zhou Kingdom can be said to be surrounded by enemies on all sides, and every enemy is extremely powerful. Except for the Tibetan people, all enemies can be compared with it and are not weak at all.
Faced with such harsh geographical conditions, Zhou's sense of crisis was overwhelming.
Therefore, after abandoning Longxi County and withdrawing the people into the country.
Faced with strong oppression from all sides and one of its own losing troops one after another, Zhou had no choice but to order another 500,000 troops to be recruited and expand the number of troops to one million again to cope with the increasing demand for troops.
With the remaining 13 million people in the Zhou Kingdom, it would be difficult to recruit 500,000 troops and feed an army of one million, but it was not impossible.
But soldiers and horses are easy to recruit, but a general is hard to find.
Previously on the battlefield in Longxi, a Zhuguo general from Zhou was found an opportunity by the Tibetan people and directly besieged him by six innates. He did not even have a chance to escape and died on the spot.
In the previous wars with the Wei State, the Zhou State also lost two Xiantian Pillar States.
So today, the number of Zhou's Zhuguo generals has dropped from the original ten to seven, and their top-level combat power has shrunk greatly, even worse than that of Ning, which is still in the two counties of Jiangdong.
Therefore, even if the Zhou State only retained two pillar states in the Henan and Nanyang areas to the east, to guard against Zhao, Liang, Chu and other states.
However, there are only five Xiantian Zhuguo that he can gather in Guannei County.
This number is far behind the thirteen innates claimed by Wei and the eight innates claimed by the Tibetan people.
The Kingdom of Zhou, which used to be dominant for a while, has really reached the point where it is declining and is on the verge of annihilation.
However, although it is said that the country is about to be destroyed, relying on its current foundation, the Zhou Kingdom can still survive for a while.
After all, there were also a large number of barbarians from the north of Wei State who went south, like the Tibetan people, and harassed the northern border of Wei State, which took up most of Wei State's energy.
The force that the Wei State can use to attack the Zhou State is at most four to five million soldiers and three or five innate men like last winter.
Other more forces have to deal with those barbarians to ensure domestic stability.
The Tibetan people were not much better.
The weather has gotten colder and colder in the past two years. Not only the Tibetan people can't bear it, but also the Xiliang Kingdom, which is in the same area as them.
Therefore, last autumn, when the Tibetan people launched a large-scale attack on Longxi County of Zhou State, Xiliang Kingdom, which was located in the west of Yongzhou and had been closed to the outside world for many years, could not bear it anymore and sent 400,000 troops to attack the Hexi County occupied by the Tibetan people.
The Fan people were attacked, and half of Hexi County was lost in an instant. Countless tribes that migrated over were plundered and enslaved by the Xiliang people.
It was precisely because the rear was threatened that although the fighting situation in Longxi County was good at that time, the Tibetan people still gave up the attack without hesitation when He Basheng arrived with 50,000 troops for rescue.
The reason is precisely because of the invasion of Xiliang Kingdom.
At this time, the Tibetan people had returned in large numbers and were fighting fiercely with the Xiliang Kingdom in Hexi.
After years of accumulation and development, Xiliang Kingdom’s strength cannot be underestimated.
This country has three counties and a population of more than 4 million. Because it is in a land where barbarians are mixed, in order to protect themselves, everyone practices martial arts and practices bravery.
According to the reports from the Imperial City's spies, every household in this country has good horses, all the men are knights, and even the women can bend bows and shoot arrows, just as good as the grassland herdsmen.
Under this kind of martial arts, this country has a standing army of 300,000 people, and it can also recruit 500,000 civilian cavalry. Its strength is not ordinary.
Even the Xiantian Grandmaster, because there are remnants of the Tianshan Mountains in the territory and there are many cave heavens and blessed places, there are as many as five in Xiliang Kingdom, which is more than an ordinary big country.
The invasion of such a powerful country with strong martial arts style will naturally make it difficult for the Tibetan people to deal with it.
In addition, they were exhausted from the long battle and had just returned from the frontline battlefield. They were no match for Xiliang Kingdom at all.
They fought four wars in a row and lost more than 200,000 troops, but they could not drive away the Xiliang Kingdom.
On the contrary, the remaining half of Hexi County lost two or three more mansions, leaving only one or two mansions left.
The Tibetan people and the Zhou Kingdom fought hard for several years, killing and injuring millions of people. However, the hard-won victory was stolen by the Xiliang Kingdom.
How can they endure this?
But in a head-on battle on the battlefield, the Fan people were no match for the Xiliang people.
So under the hardship, they naturally thought of their in-laws, who had just defeated the Ning State in Jiangdong and had become the sole overlord of Yangzhou.
So in this winter, the Tibetan people, who were pressed hard by the Xiliang Kingdom, sent envoys to the Chu Kingdom to discuss asking for help.
Let's also discuss a deal.
This time when they went to Helong County, the Zhou people captured about 700,000 Zhou people. According to Chu's previous alliance with the Tibetan people in the snowy plains, the Tibetans could use their population to exchange weapons, armor, stomachs, and food and supplies with Chu. .
Nowadays, they have been defeated one after another, all kinds of ordnance and weapons have been seriously damaged, and the large number of wars in the tribe have affected production, and the Tibetan people are facing a food crisis again.
Therefore, they urgently need to exchange enough weapons from the Chu Kingdom to arm their own warriors to compete with the Xiliang Kingdom.
At the same time, a large amount of food and grass is also needed to feed the hungry tribes within the tribe.
Therefore, the 700,000 Zhou people were used as bargaining chips in exchange with Chu.
Regarding this matter, Lu Yuan had already sent a message to Sun Siwen, asking him to negotiate with Zhou Guo.
Nowadays, although the Chu State has seized a large area of territory east of Jiangdong and south of Lingnan, its domestic population has increased by more than ten million.
But even so, there are still a large number of counties in the country that are sparsely populated and are in urgent need of immigrants to fill them.
The Tibetan people were willing to send these 700,000 Zhou people, which was exactly what Lu Yuan wanted.
So he agreed to this business.
However, business was easy to do, but Lu Yuan hesitated as the Tibetan people said they wanted to ask the Chu State to send troops to help them defeat the Xiliang State.
After all, Xiliang is far away from Chu and has no conflict with Chu.
Xiliang is also poor in the country. Not only does it have little money, but it also has a small population. The income from playing it is too little.
On the contrary, the opponent has a fierce martial arts style, strong soldiers and brave generals, and is not weak in strength. Just like the Chu State in the past, he was just a little strong man with thorns all over his body, but he was not that easy to mess with.
This request for help was naturally quite controversial within the Chu State.
The spirit girl in front of her probably wanted to persuade Lu Yuan to help her mother clan because of this.
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