TO ACHIEVE IMMORTALITY, I CULTIVATE USING QI LUCK

Chapter 1093: Chapter 444: Four Military Expeditions_2 Chapter 1093: Chapter 444: Four Military Expeditions_2 The role of Dongping County as the western barrier of Le’an Prefecture had been maximized.

As for the last city, Wuyan City, it is located behind Xichang and Shouzhang, on the border of Dongping and Le’an Prefectures, and does not directly border the range covered by the Chu army.

The Xu army has set up a major stronghold here, obviously determined to use this city as the second line of defense after Xichang and Shouzhang.

No matter which frontline city falls, if the Chu army wants to push forward and penetrate into Le’an, they must face Wuyan City blocking their way.

With this city in place, there is an additional buffer zone.

This gives Xu State in the rear more time and energy to regroup a large army and continue resisting.

Creating impregnable defenses and resisting at every step—such is the strategy Xu State has been implementing in the face of Great Chu’s Northern Expedition.

They know they can’t win against the Chu army on the open battlefield.

So they simply don’t engage directly, preferring to hold out in defense, seeking to delay time and use strongholds to wear down the Chu army’s manpower and resources.

It’s a pure contest of national strength, to see who can last the longest.

“Reporting to Your Majesty, this is indeed what the Xu army intends,” said Guo Yishou, the Commander of the Imperial City’s Foreign Intelligence, supplementing at this moment: “According to my investigations, besides the million-strong army in Dongping County, the Xu army has also gathered five hundred thousand troops in Le’an Prefecture.

Among them, three hundred thousand and six Inborn, are stationed in their South Capital Le Ling.

The remaining two hundred thousand, with two Inborn, are garrisoned in the southwestern stronghold city of Sheqiu in Le’an Prefecture.

Sheqiu City is only three hundred li away from Wuyan City, with one to the south and one to the north, jointly controlling the region of four prefectures in the west and southwest of Le’an Prefecture.

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If the front cities of Xichang and Shouzhang fall, then Sheqiu City and Wuyan City would become the second line of defense.

And the three hundred thousand-strong army in Le Ling City will serve as a reserve, ready to support the two cities on the front line at any time.”

Lu Yuan nodded slightly upon hearing this.

The Xu army’s arrangements were indeed as he had anticipated, turning the land of Qingzhou they controlled into an iron fortress.

Especially after learning the lesson from the rapid annihilation of Liang, they refrained from dividing their forces unnecessarily, preventing their already limited troops from being spread too thin.

Instead, they concentrated their limited forces on a few strongholds, ensuring that each major city had sufficient troops for defense.

This made it extremely difficult for the Chu army to capture any of the four cities mentioned above.

‘The people of Xu State have learned their lesson…’ Lu Yuan mused to himself, but also found it challenging.

War is undoubtedly the best catalyst for maturation.

Over these two years, not just Great Chu, but the other nations have also quickly learned from their mistakes, becoming increasingly difficult to deal with.

Presently, to confront Xu State seemed even more challenging than facing Liang.

This was undoubtedly somewhat inconceivable.

You should realize that Liang was the overlord of Central State, having once nearly occupied the entire region of Qingzhou.

Although Xu State also claimed control over Xuzhou, under the encroachment of the cold wave, what remains is now less than the territory of four counties.

Such a state, compared to the Qingzhou of Liang, is obviously not on the same level.

“Xu State has also grown extremely fast over these two years,” said Guo Yishou beside him with a sigh: “Taking advantage of our Northern Expedition against Liang State, Xu State successively captured the three prefectures of Dongping, Le’an, and Qingping over the past two years, acquiring tens of millions of Liang people.

Then, also taking advantage of the massive tracts of land vacated by the Qingzhou immigrants moving southward, they recruited a large number of Barbarians remaining in Xuzhou, gaining millions of people and nearly ten Barbarian Inborn.

Based on the reports from spies planted inside Xu State, a rough estimate shows that Xu State’s population now totals about forty million people.

Such national strength has surpassed the former Wei Country.

In the world today, it is second only to Great Chu and can be called the second most powerful nation in the world.”

Everyone agreed upon hearing this, and they all felt a sense of awe for the fate of Xu State.

Although Great Chu benefited significantly from the two Northern Expeditions, Xu State also gained a lot from following behind without expending much effort, acquiring three prefectures and recruiting tens of millions of people from Liang and the Barbarians, nearly doubling its national strength.

Now, with its forty million population, Xu State can maintain a standing army of three million in regular times.

Going all out, mustering five or six million troops is well within reach.

Especially since Xu State’s territory is much smaller than that of Liang.

With only three prefectures of Qingzhou within the Chu army’s range of attack, this allows the opponent, if they wish, to even station a million troops in each region of the three prefectures.

This one aspect alone makes them much stronger than the originally cumbersome and hollow Liang, by who knows how much.

No wonder Lu Yuan, after understanding the details of Xu State, felt that it was a formidable enemy, important enough to personally lead the troops for its subjugation.

Such an enemy truly warrants all the attention it can get.

“Besides Dongping and Le’an prefectures, I’ve heard that Xu State has also stationed eight hundred thousand troops and five Inborn in Qingping County?” Lu Yuan pondered for a while and then asked.

Guo Yishou nodded: “Indeed it is so.

After taking over Qingping County from Liang State, Xu State took on the task of shielding against Tang Kingdom.

Facing the mad dog of Tang Kingdom, which bites anyone it sees, Xu State can’t afford to be careless, hence the need to maintain a strong presence in Qingping County as a precaution.

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However, this year Tang Kingdom has been troubled by Zheng, Jin, and Xu forming the Three Nations, and now the Four Kingdoms are fiercely engaged in Yuzhou, leaving them no energy to concern themselves with Qingzhou affairs.”

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