TO ACHIEVE IMMORTALITY, I CULTIVATE USING QI LUCK

Chapter 1045: Chapter 428: The Madness of Zhao Nation_2 Chapter 1045: Chapter 428: The Madness of Zhao Nation_2 Therefore, once the forces exceeded one million, the exact number of a grand army became very difficult to estimate with precision, and at best, a rough estimate could be made.

The difference between two million and one million people was indeed hard to discern.

This also provided the basis for the various countries to engage in a certain degree of artistic exaggeration in their propaganda.

Those with audacity dared to increase the number of their troops by several times.

Those more cautious dared to double or even add half again as many.

Anyway, now, as long as countries went to war against each other, their forces were no less than one million.

With this foundation, they could propagate whatever they wanted without fear of being exposed.

It was only after a direct confrontation and measuring each other’s capabilities that one could know how much the opponent had inflated their numbers.

And at this time, after fighting the Zhao people in Liang City for a month, estimating the daily losses of both sides, Huang Lin had roughly calculated the opponent’s strength.

The Zhao Army’s two million men were likely without exaggeration.

After a month of fighting, the average daily casualties of the Zhao State were around eight to nine thousand.

This adds up to around two hundred and fifty-six thousand in a month.

On the Chu side, due to a higher number of defected soldiers in the army, morale was low, and those defectors were not very willing to fight to the death for Chu State.

So once they were on the battlefield, they either shirked their duties or looked for opportunities to flee back to Zhao, and there were even quite a few who turned against their compatriots on the spot.

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Under such circumstances, even though there were many civilian workers temporarily conscripted within Zhao, the daily casualties on the Chu side were still significantly higher than Zhao’s.

Over the course of the month, the Chu army had already lost around two hundred and fifty thousand defected soldiers and about eighty thousand troops from the main force.

The total losses had exceeded three hundred thousand.

It can be said that both sides suffered heavy casualties due to this war.

The only difference was that the Chu army’s dead were defected soldiers, who didn’t incite as much sympathy.

Whereas the dead from the Zhao Army were their own countrymen.

Both parties losing two to three hundred thousand men, if one side only had a million-strong army, it would be nearly equivalent to a loss of more than twenty to thirty percent.

For an army, such a loss was already debilitating, with forces not capable of further combat.

The Chu army could persist because there were a large number of captives to fill in the ranks, and the main force did not suffer significant losses, so it wasn’t affected much.

But the Zhao Army did not have this advantage.

Therefore, the only reasonable explanation is that the opponent indeed had two million men.

In this case, the loss of two hundred fifty-six thousand would be just over ten percent of their forces.

While a ten percent casualty rate is not minimal for a grand army,

regular troops from various countries could often sustain losses of thirty to forty percent before they would be unable to hold on and collapse.

Although the Zhao Army was mostly composed of new soldiers and civilian workers, the martial culture of the states was fierce, with common men and women often practicing boxing and “Archery,” providing a solid base.

Added to this, the dominant mentality of Zhao and the belief in protecting the Wei State, supported by a certain number of veteran soldiers, meant that it was not so easy to say their strength was inferior.

Stacking up so many factors, it was not surprising for the earlier Zhao Army to withstand a death rate of two to three percent.

However, this situation was rather unfavorable for Huang Lin.

Although he now occupied Liang City, due to being deep in enemy territory, he had only taken this one large city.

Around Liang City, a strong defense line had not been established yet when the Zhao Army attacked from both front and rear.

The Zhao forces from both Bai Ma and Diqiu almost relayed their efforts, containing the Chu army.

Since the arrival at Liang City, Huang Lin’s forces had been in constant battle every day.

The daily warfare consumed too much energy, leaving him no time to construct fortifications or dig defenses.

Thus, although he had several hundred thousand troops under his command, only a portion could hide inside the city, relying on the city defenses for protection.

Most of the rest of the troops could only disperse outside the city, confronting the Zhao Army behind a mere thin layer of “Camp.”

But such hastily built fortifications offered almost no effective protection.

This was not like those defense lines that had been built over several months or half a year, with high ramparts or even city walls, equipped with all kinds of defense facilities, meticulously planned and constructed as impregnable as walls of brass or iron, difficult to breach.

Lines like these required filling with human lives.

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The Bai Ma defense line that Chu State was assaulting, along with the grand defense line of Liang County, were of this kind.

For such defense lines, even taking a small “Camp” could cost twice to thrice, or even more lives, as a price.

And at Liang City, most of the Chu army’s fortifications were no more than a low fence, a few trenches dug as simple advance warnings.

Such small defenses could be easily crossed by Zhao people, hardly posing any impediment whatsoever.

Depending on such rudimentary fortifications to defend against the Zhao State’s attacks was obviously wishful thinking.

And because of this.

Although he had Liang City as a stronghold, no matter how large the fortress was, it could not accommodate the tens of thousands of Chu forces.

Just as in Liang only thirty thousand were stationed within the city, with another forty thousand dispersed outside at various locations.

In Liang City, Huang Lin also left only fifteen thousand inside.

The remaining one million six hundred thousand troops were distributed outside the city, extending from Liang City back to Watign County, positioned within every strategically important town.

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