TO ACHIEVE IMMORTALITY, I CULTIVATE USING QI LUCK

Chapter 1088: Chapter 442 Disaster Relief and Sympathy_3 Chapter 1088: Chapter 442 Disaster Relief and Sympathy_3 “Supplying these armies is still manageable logistics-wise; it’s not necessary to siphon off supplies from Central State any longer to meet military needs.”

“Just this alone can significantly relieve the pressure on the people of Central State.”

Lu Yuan calculated the reduced consumption after the troop cuts and couldn’t help but nod in satisfaction with the policy he had implemented.

If he hadn’t reduced the troop numbers, he really wouldn’t have been able to keep it up.

If he wanted to continue the Northern Expedition next year, he could only push the local populace harder.

And that hardship could translate into tens of millions of lives.

Though in the eyes of the people in this world, the sacrifice of tens of millions for the unification of Great Chu through the Northern Expedition isn’t considered much.

Maybe causing a little less death, a little less sin, is always better.

It was probably the last bit of kindness left in Lu Yuan, the traverser, after being transformed by the dye vat of this world.

“However, while the military supplies for the troops are temporarily taken care of, finding men to pair up with the women and children in the north is a bit more difficult.”

Lu Yuan considered his third relief strategy and felt a bit of a headache.

Actually, even before the Northern Expedition, there was already a slight imbalance between the male and female population in Chu State.

An enduring era of prosperity has led to an uneven distribution of local resources, making it difficult to comfortably support an excess population.

Influenced by the concept of having sons to pass on the family incense, when locals found it hard to support more people, they often chose to raise male infants and abandoned female ones.

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Over time, this naturally led to an imbalance between the sexes.

After thirty years of prosperity in Chu State, although this phenomenon was not widespread, it started to become apparent, resulting in one or two million men unable to find wives.

This was originally a social issue that would affect local stability.

But with this Northern Expedition, Chu State mobilized a large number of men for the war, and about six or seven million men were lost in the conflict.

The original problem of more men than women was instantly resolved after this war.

In fact, it even reversed to become a surplus of women over men.

In such circumstances, Lu Yuan found it somewhat difficult to bring enough men from within the country to distribute to the needy families in the north.

“In that case, recruiting single young men definitely won’t work.

But to ignore those nearly seventy million women, children, and elderly people would be too cruel…”

Lu Yuan frown, thinking of a solution, and ended up having to find an alternative path.

“Since recruiting single young men isn’t feasible, let’s just recruit adult males.

It doesn’t matter whether they’re married or not; if the people from the Central State move north, just allocate one man to a northern family as if he’s taking a concubine.

This way, the Chu State immigrants, originally without any foundation, will immediately have houses and land after arriving in the north.

Although this much property was only enough to support one family, and now has to support two, it’s still better than starting from scratch with nothing.

Having this foundation, the local immigrants can survive the initial hardships, and if they want to live better later on, they can just clear their own fields.”

“Operate in this manner for two or three years, and Central State, originally unable to levy taxes, can start to become a foundation and produce money and grain on a large scale.”

Lu Yuan slowly clarified his thoughts, and the more he thought about it, the brighter his eyes shone.

In the end, he made a decision, calling various officials and having them follow up, complementing each other’s ideas and jointly refining the plan.

After discussing it for about ten days and finally coming to a conclusion, it was issued as an official decree and distributed to the various prefectures in the north and south of the river.

It was prepared to be used as the basis for the performance evaluation of officials in the coming two years to encourage local officials to implement it.

And Lu Yuan, having dealt with that matter, went on to attend to other official duties.

Having secured half of Chu State in the north, a plethora of issues descended upon him.

His good friend Sun Siwen, who originally helped him handle these affairs, had to remain in Yangzhou to oversee the rear.

And as for some key matters, he didn’t trust handing them over to others, ultimately leaving him no choice but to personally take the field.

While others were enjoying the warmth of their wives and children by the hearth this winter, he was lost in a whirlwind of governance, reviewing hundreds of official documents every day.

The pen in his hand never stopped moving all day long, truly exhausting him to the bone.

But there was no alternative; before he could take over the north and complete the immigration work in Yangzhou, before Sun Siwen’s arrival, Lu Yuan had no choice but to persevere for a few more years.

Fortunately, he was accustomed to such hard times when he first started out, so taking up the reins again now, although somewhat uncomfortable, wasn’t too difficult.

In the end, there were no major problems.

As various decrees were issued from the royal palace of Great Liang this winter, Great Chu busied itself, slowly welcoming the spring.

…

In the forty-third year of Shenwu, early spring, the second month.

As the heavy snows melted away, all life was revived.

While Chu State was still basking in the afterglow of a year’s worth of winter diligence,

an unprecedented event unfolded across the Nine Provinces: before Chu State could strike first, over in the land of Yu state, several powers preemptively broke into conflict.

In Zheng Kingdom’s Zhuxu City, after last year’s battle for the capital, a winter of reorganization and stockpiling led to the new Zheng emperor officially performing a sacrificial rite to the heavens as spring arrived, recounting the crimes of Tang Kingdom.

After that, he reviewed the troops, marshaled his generals, and announced a plan to reclaim lost territory and lead a Northern Expedition against Tang.

Upon hearing the news, Jin Country, an ally of Zheng, immediately rallied to the cause.

Tang Kingdom reacted swiftly as well.

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Following the announcement from the two countries to launch a Northern Expedition, they too mobilized their army, rested over the winter, and clashed again with Zheng and Jin in the territories of Yidu Prefecture.

However, it wasn’t long before Xu State stirred as well.

Citing Tang Kingdom’s brutal tyranny and bullying of neighboring countries as causes, Xu State heeded Tang’s call and officially dispatched a million troops to invade the Tang homeland.

Though Tang had anticipated this and had already stationed a million-strong army internally, they were not at a disadvantage against the surprise attack from Xu State.

But with another rival of equal strength in Xu State, Tang Kingdom found itself hard-pressed to cope.

A military campaign that had initially been as unstoppable as a breaking bamboo, was instantly mired in stalemate.

Facing three enemies at once, Tang Kingdom got an early taste of what Liang and now Chu had experienced, a sort of prelude to the ‘first hegemon’s’ treatment.

As for Xu, Zheng, and Jin, their concerted targeting of Tang clearly signaled a resolve to eliminate this unstable factor before clashing with Chu.

Without resolving the Tang issue, facing the rising sun that was Chu, they really lacked confidence; they did not want to risk a decisive battle with Chu when there could be fire in the rear.

So, taking advantage of the fact that Chu was focused on dealing with Qingzhou and Liang, without spare capacity for its surroundings,

was their only chance to resolve the Tang issue.

All three nations did not want to miss this opportunity.

And as war broke out among the four kingdoms, Yu, Jing, and Liang states were suddenly engulfed in the flames of war.

The peace of last year’s cold winter, at that moment, was nothing but an ephemeral dream.

The ferocious cruelty of the Nine Provinces, after dozing off in the winter, once again bared its sharp teeth.

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