TO ACHIEVE IMMORTALITY, I CULTIVATE USING QI LUCK

Chapter 1050: Chapter 430 Yuzhou Warfare Chapter 1050: Chapter 430 Yuzhou Warfare Just as Lu Yuan was starting to worry about the insufficient troops at his disposal,

the Monarch and Ministers of Zheng Kingdom, far away in Yuzhou, also began to worry endlessly about their own Altars of Soil and Grain.

Compared to Zhao, Wei, and Liang—the three nations fiercely resisting Chu State—Yuzhou, where Zheng Kingdom was placed between two of Chu State’s Military Expeditions, was just as heated.

However, Zheng’s national strength paled in comparison to the other great powers of the Nine Provinces.

The population of the other dominant states each boasted over twenty to thirty or forty million people, and also more.

As for Liang, with a population of seventy million, it had long stood as the world’s foremost hegemon.

But when it came to Zheng, ever since the civil strife and the split, the reunified Zheng had seen a significant decline in power, no longer the once dominant force of a single Province.

Back then, the national population barely totaled twenty million.

After Zheng decided to divert the disaster east, ceding Yangxia County along with several million people to Chu State, the total population dropped below twenty million, relegating Zheng to the rank of weakest among the hegemonic states, on par with Jin Country.

It had completely become a small country among the hegemonies.

And yet it was such a declining state that, during Chu State’s northern campaign, defiantly turned against Chu, withdrawing from its alliance and joining Liang’s side.

This undoubtedly irritated Lu Yuan, angered Chu State.

So, last year, Lu Yuan directed the Yangxia Expeditionary Army, which was originally prepared to strike at Liang from the east, to change its target.

It shifted from attacking Jiaodong County to assaulting Zheng’s Gao Mi County.

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Gao Mi County, located east of Yangxia County, continues eastward to Changguang County, where Zheng’s Imperial Capital, Xinzheng City, is situated by the seaside.

Thus, after the cession of Yangxia County, Gao Mi County became the most important line of defense to the west of Xinzheng.

Such an important location naturally warranted strict defense from Zheng, with no room for negligence.

After the falling out, Zheng gathered an army of eight hundred thousand men, with six hundred thousand stationed within Gao Mi County.

The remaining two hundred thousand were placed north of Yangxia County, in Zheng’s Gaoyang County.

The two counties, one to the north and one to the east, formed a pincer on Chu’s Yangxia County.

To the people of Zheng, this appeared as a robust iron pincer.

Yet, in the eyes of Chu, it was no more than two separate chopsticks, utterly fragile.

After the Yangxia main camp of Chu’s army withdrew, Huang Xuan made only minor repairs and left three hundred thousand men there to hold the position, guarding against the Zheng forces to the north and Liang to the west.

Then he led the main force of eight hundred thousand Chu troops, along with two hundred thousand civilian workers from the defected Yangxia County, and marched magnificently into Gao Mi County.

Faced with this meticulously selected pack of fierce soldiers from Chu State, Zheng’s forces in Gao Mi County were no match at all, and during the initial skirmishes on the battlefield, they suffered several defeats, losing more than a hundred thousand soldiers.

Afterwards, intimidated by Chu’s provocations, Zheng’s forces were too scared to take the battlefield, knowing only to fortify their cities for passive defense.

This was also a strategy of sorts.

After all, with Chu’s current military momentum, not to mention Zheng, other states, even Liang, were being driven back step by step on the battlefield.

The fear of facing Chu’s forces head-on was not unique to Zheng; it was the same for other states.

There was no shame in Zheng following suit.

And indeed, this approach was effective.

Once all the states adopted defensive strategies, taking advantage of their sturdy city defenses, they indeed managed to check Chu’s initially unstoppable advance.

Now, on all battlefields, this led to a stalemate, with forces entrenched in standoffs.

In Gao Mi County, Zheng managed to hold off Chu’s Yangxia Expeditionary Army, preventing it from advancing further east.

But the problem was, Chu had sent more than just one Yangxia Expeditionary Army this time.

Irritated by Zheng’s betrayal, Lu Yuan, aside from the Yangxia Expeditionary Army, also dispatched a naval expedition which set sail directly, attacking Zheng from the sea route.

From the East Sea by boat to Zheng, the journey was not long at all.

In just over ten days’ time, they could arrive, which was very convenient.

Therefore, when all of Zheng’s attention was drawn to the Yangxia Expeditionary Army in Gao Mi County, this suddenly appearing marine strike force performed what could only be described as a surprise for the people of Zheng the moment they took to the stage.

Previously mentioned, although Zheng was among the hegemons, it was but a small state within them.

After the cession of Yangxia County, its national population was merely around eighteen million.

With such a population size, no matter their capability, they could not maintain a vast army.

The reality was indeed so.

Before the outbreak of war with Chu, the total military force of Zheng was only around one million three hundred thousand.

Out of this, Gao Mi and Gaoyang Counties took eight hundred thousand.

The northern border with Tang Kingdom and Jin Country, however minimal the reduction, still required a division of three hundred thousand.

What was left for the homeland was only about one hundred thousand.

This one hundred thousand were stationed in the Imperial Capital, Xinzheng, to ensure the security of Jingji.

There was also a navy of one hundred thousand arranged near Xinzheng City by the sea.

Upon analyzing this, one could almost clearly understand Zheng’s situation.

Yes.

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Beyond the front-line border zones, including the Imperial Capital of Zheng itself, its heartland was utterly hollow, vast tracts of territory hardly garrisoned.

So when the naval expedition’s five hundred thousand army and two hundred thousand navy arrived, after defeating Zheng’s sole naval defense, those one hundred thousand sailors,

Chu’s surprise force disembarked and surrounded Xinzheng City.

With five hundred thousand Chu soldiers at the city’s doorstep, Zheng was in danger of losing everything!

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