Ever since the defeat of the Western Expedition, Shen Qiu led a group of defeated soldiers back to the country and has never lived a peaceful life.
this year.
First, they desperately recruited troops and horses, recruiting soldiers and horses everywhere in the country, and all the aristocratic families in Linhai also contributed money and food. With such efforts, they finally restored the number of soldiers and horses in the country to 800,000 before the war.
But although the troops and horses have been restored, they are only in numbers.
After the recovery, the Ning Army, whether in terms of the quality of its troops or the training time, was far inferior to the elites that Ning Guo spent ten years training before the war.
The only thing that makes Ning Guo feel at ease is that although the strength of his standing troops has greatly declined, his top domestic combat power and the number of innate masters, with the full help of Ziyun Dao, still maintains the size of thirteen people. .
This kind of innate quantity is already unparalleled in the world.
You know, in Xuzhou in the north, the country of Xu with six counties, only has twelve innate masters.
The state of Zhao in Jizhou only had sixteen people born in it.
However, Ningguo has thirteen innate talents, plus 800,000 soldiers and horses. Judging from the force on paper, it is basically the same as the hegemony in the world.
The only thing that is a bit weak is that the territory is a bit small and the population is a bit small.
Ning State now controls only two counties and seventeen prefectures. Among them, Guangling County has a population of 3 million and Linhai County has a population of 5 million. The combined population of the two is only 8 million, and the territory is only about ten thousand miles away.
Judging from the foundation, Ning Guo has undoubtedly fallen from its position of hegemony.
But in terms of force, it can still be called a hegemon.
With thirteen innates and an army of 800,000, Ning Guo, now living in a corner east of the Yangtze River and huddled in Jinling City, could still maintain the dignity of the hegemony.
And all the countries in the world, because of Ning Guo's military power, did not underestimate him too much.
He still considered the other party to be a hegemonic country and gave him corresponding recognition and status.
After all, judging from the current situation, it is already the general trend for the Chu State to unify Jiangdong.
But the soldiers, horses and innate masters controlled by Ning Guo are still extremely impressive.
There are 800,000 troops and 13 innates stationed in Ningguo. If they just defend with all their strength, even if the Chu State attacks with all its strength, it may not be easy to defeat them.
As long as Ning Guo doesn't make any mistakes or make any big mistakes, then this war between Chu and Ning is destined to be an extremely cruel flesh and blood mill.
It is very possible to fight for ten to twenty years, or even thirty to fifty years.
If another foreign force intervenes, Chu will not even be able to unify Jiangdong.
Of course, these are only ideal situations.
In fact, with the population of 8 million in Ning State, it is destined to be an extremely difficult and even unsustainable burden to support the current army of 800,000.
In fact, this is also true.
Ning Guo's 800,000 soldiers and horses, in addition to the 300,000 elite veterans, are treated like standing soldiers.
The other 500,000 newly recruited soldiers will be placed according to the treatment of prefecture, county and even field soldiers.
These 500,000 new soldiers are engaged in production and farming in peacetime and recruited as soldiers in wartime. One can imagine their combat power.
This kind of field soldiers cannot fight a tough battle at all, so they can only defend the city and maintain public order.
However, given the bad situation Ningguo is facing now, it is basically impossible to expand outwards. All he has to do is defend.
Therefore, with 300,000 elites as the backbone and 500,000 field soldiers as wings, it can indeed support Ningguo's defense system.
This can be regarded as a way to make the best use of everything.
But even if they adopted the garrison military system and used the entire country to support an 800,000-strong army, it still overwhelmed Ning Guo's finances.
Not just finances.
Because a large number of men were recruited into the army, one-third of the adult men in Ningguo were out of production, and local handicrafts, commerce, and agriculture were all seriously affected.
Local farmland has been abandoned to a greater or lesser extent. Even some farmland that is cultivated cannot be carefully maintained due to a lack of sufficient labor, resulting in a decrease in grain production.
In today's Ningguo, although thanks to the wealth of the land, the food produced can be barely self-sufficient, there has been no food shortage.
But as soon as the war with Chu State begins, as more people are conscripted into labor and the production population in the rear is further reduced, famine in Ning State is certain.
The war may last for half a year, or at most two or three years, and Ningguo will eventually collapse without a fight due to famine caused by lack of food.
So Ning Guo is now in a very embarrassing position.
Enough soldiers and powerful force allowed Ning Guo to protect itself in the war with Chu State, but its shallow foundation could not maintain this force and support the prolongation of the war.
The crisis of national annihilation always hangs over his head.
It was at this time that friends from the north, the Liang State, which unified Qingzhou and became the most powerful country in the world, sent envoys to Jinling.
"According to the news from Xuan Chengzi, the Liang State sent envoys to the Ning State, and not only signed an alliance and mutual assistance agreement, but also provided a large amount of assistance to the Ning State.
He is willing to provide Ningguo with 20 million taels of silver and 10 million shi of food assistance every year.
This money and food is enough for Ningguo to arm another 300,000 standing soldiers. If they are replaced by prefecture and county soldiers, Ningguo's 500,000 field soldiers can be placed.
There are 300,000 soldiers and 500,000 county soldiers. Under normal circumstances, as long as I don't take action personally, it would be really difficult for the Chu State to swallow up the Ning State.
I'm afraid it won't be possible without a bloody blow and a million people dying in more than ten years. "
Lu Yuan couldn't help but snorted as he recalled Liang Guo's activities in Ning Guo in recent days, feeling quite angry in his heart.
Obviously, as the Chu State defeated the Ning State and gradually began to unify Yangzhou, the Liang State in the north, which dominated half of Zhongzhou, had begun to feel fear of the rising Chu State in the south.
This is support for Ning Guo, that's all.
With Liang Guo's assistance, Ning Guo can not only maintain the current 800,000 soldiers and horses, but also train them to a more elite level.
If the two countries go to war in the future, Liang Guo will also provide a large amount of money and food to help Ning Guo maintain its army and continue to fight the war.
Even Liang may directly send troops to help Ning resist Chu, or directly attack Chu's homeland to contain Chu's power from other fronts.
With Liang Guo's strength, this is completely possible.
As far as Lu Yuan knew, or the power that Liang Guoming displayed, he had three million standing troops, most of whom were combat soldiers, all of whom were the best in the world.
In addition, Liang Guo also received full support from the two major immortal sects in the country, Danding Dao and Canglong Dao. They have trained an extremely large number of innate masters in the past few years.
Counting their previous accumulation, the number of innates in the Liang Kingdom now totals forty-three.
Secretly, I don’t know if there is something hidden.
Moreover, there should be about ten Xiantian from Danding Dao and Canglong Dao who stayed behind in the sect and did not serve in the Liang Kingdom.
These can be regarded as Liang Guo's master background.
Therefore, the number of innates in the Liang Kingdom may be as many as sixty, or even seventy.
With this strength, even excluding the manpower left behind in the country and the necessary defense forces from border countries, the Liang State can easily mobilize ten or twenty innates and millions of troops to launch a war against the Chu State.
The reason why the other party has not used troops against the Chu State now is that they are afraid of the Chu State's strength. The strength that is now apparent is that there are more than a million standing troops and horses, as well as twenty-two innates directly under their command.
In addition, Chu State has eleven vassal states, which can also mobilize five to six hundred thousand soldiers and horses, and eleven innates.
With such strength, even if the Liang Kingdom sends troops to attack, they may not win, but it is certain that they will suffer heavy losses.
The second reason is that attacking territory outside Zhongzhou is a loss-making business. Once conquered, it cannot be defended for several years.
Therefore, at the risk of spending hundreds of millions of money and food, suffering the loss of millions of soldiers and horses, and possibly the death of several or even ten people, we launched a war against Chu.
The benefits that can be obtained in the end are only land that can only be used for a few decades, and it is still the kind that was destroyed by the war and completely deserted.
Faced with such a result, the monarchs and ministers of the Liang Kingdom would not be able to engage in such a loss-making business no matter how cramped their minds were.
And that was the result of winning.
If the war was lost, the Liang Kingdom would lose a million troops on the southern front, killing and injuring more than ten innates, and losing one-third of its military strength. It can almost be said that the country's foundation has been shaken.
Without these forces, not only would there be problems with its internal governance, but the surrounding countries would also be like sharks that smelled fishy smell, and they would pounce together with the Chu State to eat the delicious meal of the Liang State.
The Chu State, which has almost unified Yangzhou, is almost in the same position as the Liang State in terms of strength and potential.
Facing such a terrifying enemy, no matter how fearful Liang Guo was, he could not rashly start a border provocation and initiate a national war.
Even Lu Yuan knew that Liang Guo was scary, but he did not immediately do the same to Liang Guo's Northern Expedition.
Both countries know that there must be a war with each other, but both countries are also avoiding war.
So as not to lose both sides, make wedding clothes for others.
So Lu Yuan was waiting, wanting to unify Yangzhou first, and then wait for the countries in the north, such as Wei, Zhou, Zhao, Xu, etc., who were forced by the cold wave to continue to move south, and first launch a war against Liang.
At that time, after these Liang families have attracted the firepower of the Liang State and consumed the soldiers and horses of the Liang State, that will be the time for the Chu State's Northern Expedition.
Anyway, the four poles will be abolished in order.
First there was the cold wave in the Northern Underworld City, then the earthquake in the west, the poisonous fire in the south, and the storm in the east.
It was the northerners who had to overcome this great catastrophe first, and then it was the turn of the Chu people in Yangzhou in the south.
Time is on Lu Yuan's side, and he doesn't have to worry about being the one who stands out.
And the same goes for Liang Guo.
He knew that there was no life-or-death conflict between him and the Chu State in the short term. Even if the Chu State wanted to attack him, it would only happen in dozens or hundreds of years.
When the Liang Kingdom and the powerful enemies in the north are exhausted, it is the best time for the Chu Kingdom to take advantage.
There is absolutely no need for the two families to fight to the death.
Because even if Chu State fought to the death of Liang State and occupied Qingzhou, it would have to face the various countries and even tribes that continued to move southward.
The continuous ups and downs of war, the battle of life and death that lasted for hundreds of years, were enough to make any empire feel numb.
Now that Chu State has eliminated Liang State, it must take over Liang State to deal with these troubles.
Instead of doing this, it would be better to let Liang Guo take the lead first, and when the fight is almost over, Chu Guo can attack again.
Therefore, in the short term, in the past few decades, and before the cold wave completely came, the Chu and Liang Kingdoms really had no major conflicts.
Lu Yuan had never thought before that after unifying Yangzhou, he would immediately launch a northern expedition.
His original plan was to rest for a few decades and slowly wait and see the situation in the north.
However, although Liang Guo also knew that Chu State would not fight with him immediately, but just in case, he also planned to disturb Ning State in the south of the Yangtze River and hit Yangzhou State.
In this way, even if the Chu State wants to take advantage of the fact that the Liang State is exhausted from fighting with other countries in the future, it can launch a northern expedition against the Liang State.
There is Ning Guo blocking here, no matter what, we can buy some buffer time for Liang Guo.
It doesn’t take much, it can last for a year or two.
In a year or two, the Liang State could slowly adjust its strategy and deploy enough troops and horses on the southern front to defend against the Chu State.
This is the value of Ning Guo and also Liang Guo's strategy against Chu.
Very conservative and very compromising.
But this is the helplessness of a central empire.
Living in the world, surrounded by enemy countries, and each one is so strong, what can Liang do?
He is like the Northern Song Dynasty in Lu Yuan's previous life, occupying the most prosperous place in the world, but surrounded by powerful countries, none of which are easy to deal with.
Even Liang Guo's situation is even worse.
Because the Chu, Zhou, Wei, Zhao, Xu and other countries surrounding him are each very powerful, and their national strength is almost equal to that of the Jin and Liao countries that Song faced, rather than small and weak countries such as Xixia, Dali, and Tubo.
think about it.
The Song Dynasty was suddenly faced with five Liao Kingdoms or five Jin Kingdoms. These countries surrounded the Song Kingdom from all directions, and all of them were eyeing it, wishing they could invade their borders, break their capitals, and then divide and eat them.
Faced with this dangerous environment, Liang Guo can be said to be faced with many crises and may be overturned and destroyed at any time.
Every wrong step will lead to the danger of national subjugation.
Under such circumstances, it is reasonable for him to choose a cautious and conservative strategy.
However, even Liang Guo's conservative strategy was difficult for Lu Yuan to accept.
"The matter of Ning Guo must be resolved as soon as possible, otherwise if he really develops and grows with the support of Liang Guo, the situation in Jiangdong will really be out of my control."
Lu Yuan took a deep breath, feeling deeply worried about Jiangdong's future situation.
Ziyundao's surrender to him was based on the premise that Chu State had an absolute advantage and Ning State was destined to be unable to survive in the future.
Therefore, in order to escape from the broken ship of Ningguo and board Chu State, the ship of hope for the future, he chose to join Chu State and became a spy in Ningguo.
But this kind of surrender is only a choice made out of desperation.
Even if Ziyundao joins the Ning State, it is only one of the state religions and cannot monopolize the Chu State's beliefs at all.
But if it were in Ning Country, with Ning Country's reliance on Ziyun Dao and Ziyun Dao's penetration into it, it would be very possible to completely control this country in the future.
By then, maybe an earthly country will appear in this world.
Moreover, Ziyundao has invested too much in Ning State, and the sunk costs are too great. Is the other party really willing to give up everything and turn to Chu State?
Now with the help of Liang Guo, Ning Guo has hope of continuing its long-term confrontation with Chu State, and Guo Zuo may be able to continue.
As long as they can hold on until the poisonous fire in Antarctica spreads to Yangzhou tens or hundreds of years later, even if the Chu State is unwilling, they will have to join forces with the Ning State and go north to Zhongzhou to find a way to survive.
In this way, Ning Guo's dead situation was instantly revived.
And with a revitalized Ning State, Ziyundao naturally did not need to grovel to please the Chu State in exchange for the mere status of the state religion.
It is precisely because of this visible benefit in the future that Ziyundao, who had already defected to the Chu State and was assuming the role of a traitor, became somewhat unreliable.
The other party is playing the role of a loyal minister in Ning State, playing a role that is incompatible with the Chu State. Maybe just pretending to be true will come true.
At that time, what should Lu Yuan do when faced with a Ning Guo who wholeheartedly supports Ning Guo and wants to fight with the Chu State, and with the help of Liang Guo?
Do you want to directly take action yourself and use beheading tactics to kill them all?
After killing like this, how much mana will you spend?
Similarly, after seeing the end of Ning Guo, how will other countries in Kyushu view Chu State and Lu Yuan?
It is to form an alliance and attack in groups.
It is better to hold on and resist, break it into pieces, and engage in an endless guerrilla war of destruction with Lu Yuan.
Neither of these two types, no matter which one they are, is what he wants to see.
That would not only cause Lu Yuan to continuously consume mana, but also waste the precious spiritual energy that was already scarce, and shorten his potential for immortality in the future.
It will even turn the entire Kyushu into ruins, and even the state of Chu may become a ruin.
A deserted Kyushu was not what Lu Yuan wanted, nor could it provide him with enough luck.
"So the Jiangdong matter cannot be delayed and must be resolved as soon as possible."
Lu Yuan thought of this and immediately made up his mind: "We must immediately pass on Shingen Nariko and let him, the innate talent of Ziyun Dao, lead his soldiers anyway.
Taking advantage of the fact that the cooperation between Ning and Liang had not officially started yet, Ning Guo was destroyed before Ning Guo could be fattened up.
Although it was a bit hasty and Chu State's digestion had not yet been completed, the arrow was ready and had to be fired.
I want to see how those Linhai families will choose in the end when half of the country's innates and half of their troops surrender to the enemy? "
Lu Yuan thought of the letters of contact that the Linhai family had never lost since the rise of the Chu State, especially after the defeat of the Ning State.
Then he looked at the Jiangdong defense map secretly reported by Ziyundao, as well as the counties in Lingnan that he was planning to abandon, and a smile appeared on his face.
If each family could have half a county to protect their property and status, then few of those Linhai aristocratic families with big businesses and accustomed to wealth would be willing to fight to the death when the situation is over, right?
In this way, the Chu State may be able to recruit the power of the Linhai family and at the same time maintain its rule in Lingnan with their help.
Just like the Three Kingdoms in the Southwest, a conquering army without a fight can perfectly solve the Jiangdong problem.
"Reply a few letters first and test it out before speaking." Lu Yuan said to himself.
