TO ACHIEVE IMMORTALITY, I CULTIVATE USING QI LUCK

Chapter 1091: Chapter 443 The Third Northern Expedition_3 Chapter 1091: Chapter 443 The Third Northern Expedition_3 As for the Jiaodong army, which was largely controlled by an abundance of old-party talent, an even greater number of people announced their defection and directly incited mutinies, either killing or driving out those outsiders from Zhou Country.

Although Liang Mingyu’s faction had the support of five Inborn from Zhou Country, giving it a quite significant advantage in top-tier combat strength within Liang at present,

on the high-level and middle-to-low-level, the opponent’s foundation was simply too shallow.

Due to long-term suppression earlier, Liang Mingyu had limited access to resources and had never been able to properly develop his core confidants.

Although he rather inflated his ranks by taking advantage of Chu State’s Northern Expedition over the past two years, the actual number of his loyal personnel was only a few hundred.

With such a small number of people, attempting to control over a million soldiers, an Imperial Capital, and two prefectures and counties was indeed a bit of a stretch.

Now that Liang Mingzhang had stepped forward to vie with him for the emperor’s righteous mantle, he was incapable of using the Heavenly Son’s advantage to attract more people to his camp.

This also resulted in his gains from the military coup not only being poorly consolidated but also inviting the quashed old forces to strike back.

Within Jiaodong County, Liang Mingyu’s lineage only had two Inborns and a little over a hundred loyalists.

These people could barely control three hundred thousand soldiers.

The remaining four hundred thousand border soldiers and the other three Inborn within them were controlled by the old party of Liang Country.

Once these people started causing trouble, the situation in Jiaodong County instantly spiraled out of control.

An abundance of old-party soldiers from Liang, cooperating with the Chu army, directly seized half of Jiaodong County, and considering the part taken by Chu Country last year in the southern region of Jiaodong County, Liang Mingyu’s controlling area in Jiaodong County was left with only a small portion in the west near Xian’an City.

All together, it didn’t even make up a quarter of Jiaodong County.

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Even among the thirty thousand border soldiers under the opponent’s control, there was considerable unrest and lack of military spirit due to an inflow of old-party military officers.

It wasn’t just Jiaodong County that was affected; even in Donglai County where Xian’an, the Imperial Capital, was located, a large number of prefectures and counties near Yingling County started to change their banners and joined Liang Mingzhang’s camp, which was also Chu State’s side.

It was only those cities controlled by the three hundred thousand strong army under He Ba Yuan’s command that, due to the presence of heavy forces, the local officials dared not openly rebel and could only continue to profess their loyalty.

However, in secret, they still sent their confidants to Lin Qiucheng to express their fealty.

Even Donglai County, meticulously cultivated by Liang Mingyu, witnessed such large-scale defections and pledges of allegiance; thus, in Jiaoxi County where his base was weakest, the situation was even worse.

There Yan Yunqing sat in power,

Yet Yan Yunqing was born into poverty and had managed to rise through the military ranks step by step to reach his current position and become a renowned general.

But even as a famous general, his foundations within Liang were still shallow.

Among the noble officials and aristocratic families of Liang, he was seen as nothing more than a grassroots upstart, a mere enforcer raised by them.

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Having been famous for a decade or so, he had never fit into the high-level circles.

He was a famous general of Liang, serving a need of the upper class, which was the only reason he could command the armies of Liang.

But if the nobles and aristocratic families of Liang didn’t cooperate, then no matter how esteemed he was, Yan Yunqing would be just a second realm Inborn.

It was only those noble scions of the aristocratic families who were actually in command of his seven hundred thousand soldiers, while Yan Yunqing was merely the one issuing orders.

Now that these scions, motivated by their families’ fundamental interests, had begun to waver,

Yan Yunqing’s grip on the army was slipping away step by step, becoming difficult to command as he once did.

Of Jiaodong County’s seven hundred thousand Liang soldiers, the officers of three hundred thousand among them, upon receiving their families’ instructions, immediately proclaimed their loyalty to the emperor in Lin Qiucheng, ignoring Yan Yunqing’s orders entirely.

Another two hundred thousand declared neutrality, choosing not to support either side and to wait and see how the situation unfolded.

Only the last group, still loyal to Liang and unwilling to watch the country collapse, could be considered die-hard supporters of the great empire.

They were also impressed by Yan Yunqing and subdued by the general’s charisma, unwilling to betray him.

Thus, Yan Yunqing could still just barely control two hundred thousand soldiers.

However, that was his limit.

With regards to the uncontrollable five hundred thousand soldiers, even this renowned general of Liang could not reverse the tide of lost hearts.

Earlier Lu Yuan’s compromise had indeed produced impressive results.

Just by propping up a puppet and manipulating the justification on the surface, he had turned the formerly unified Liang into the currently fragmented state it was in.

What Chu State initially had to face—a Liang army of two million and fourteen Inborns—was now reduced to seven hundred thousand soldiers and seven Inborns.

The enemy numbers had sharply declined by more than half; furthermore, the reduced portion had switched sides.

It was now time for the forces that had just switched sides to turn their guns towards the remaining few.

The situation in Liang was unprecedentedly favorable.

For this reason, Lu Yuan decided to delegate the war affairs of the two countries to his avatar, Huang Xuan.

The Southern Route Army had one million five hundred thousand soldiers and twenty Inborn.

Now, with the additional support of one million Liang soldiers and seven Inborn from Jiaoxi, Yingling, Donglai, and Jiaodong counties,

dealing with the leftover seven hundred thousand Liang soldiers and seven Inborn was a crushing advantage.

If Liang could not be subdued with such an advantage, then Lu Yuan would have to question whether there was a problem with this avatar of his.

Therefore, facing such an overwhelming situation, he decided to let go completely and let the Southern Route Army handle it themselves.

As for Lu Yuan himself, he was preparing to lead the Central Route Army to tackle another tough opponent, Xu State.

Liang only controlled four prefectures in Qingzhou.

But Xu State had also expanded in Qingzhou by taking advantage of the Chu Northern Expedition over the past two years, controlling Dongping, Le’an, and Qingping, making its roots in Qingzhou quite deep.

Backed by Xuzhou, Xu State’s power had now almost matched that of Wei Country before the Northern Expedition.

Such an enemy was not easy to deal with.

But because it was difficult, Lu Yuan himself had to step in.

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