TO ACHIEVE IMMORTALITY, I CULTIVATE USING QI LUCK

Chapter 943: Chapter 394 War and Grain Trade_2 Chapter 943: Chapter 394 War and Grain Trade_2 “`

Entering the fray rashly at this time would only raise the alertness of both Wei and Liang countries, drawing their attention and dragging Chu State into the vortex of war.

If that happened, it would be a disaster.

Hasn’t a hegemon like Zhou Country that dominated Yong State also perished within a mere twenty years due to continuous warfare?

This was the second hegemon in the Nine Provinces to fall after Ning Country.

The brutality and heavy casualties of warfare in the north naturally made Lu Yuan dread an early engagement, unwilling to throw his precious forces into a meaningless early stage conflict.

The newly unified Yangzhou needed rest and recuperation, a recovery of its civilian strength.

Not to send troops to the battlefield, not to send grain to the front line, and not to exhaust the last bit of resources Yangzhou had left after surviving the chaos by having its people scurry back and forth in hunger and fatigue.

All these scenarios, just thinking about them, chills the heart.

Therefore, with the long-term in mind, after Lu Yuan coordinated with Wei Country to send out troops, he only captured three prefectures of Xiangyang Prefecture in Central State, securing a foothold, and then ceased to advance.

As for the real prize, the Henan and Nanyang prefectures, he ceded them to Wei Country.

Planning to let this northern hegemon act as a magnet to draw in Liang Country, as well as other northern nations, to attract fire for Chu.

By doing so, the effect was indeed remarkable.

After the annihilation of Zhou Country and the capture of Henan and Nanyang prefectures.

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Almost in the same year, Wei began to clash with Liang.

Both sides stationed a million troops on the Henan and Nanyang front, unleashing fierce battles.

In the end, both parties suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties, with several Inborns lost on each side, and neither gained any advantage, forcing them to cease fighting and rest.

But this ceasefire was only temporary.

The following year, the two countries commenced even larger-scale battles, mobilizing nearly three million soldiers in total, the crowded forces nearly filling the two-thousand-mile border between the two countries.

Wei and Liang spared no effort to sustain this war.

Yet both countries were sovereigns of a single state.

Liang occupied the whole Qingzhou, with sixteen prefectures, and after years of growth, the population had reached eighty million.

Their troops still maintained around three million.

Wei originally had only ten prefectures, but after successive southern expeditions and the destruction of Zhou, it seized four more prefectures, now holding territories spanning fourteen prefectures in Yan and Yong states.

The population was somewhat less, but after merging Zhou, it had also reached fifty million.

Their troops, due to frequent military campaigns in recent years, had expanded to a force of two million four hundred thousand.

If we look merely at the national strength, Wei may have a less substantial foundation than Liang, but the gap is not too significant; the two are still on the same scale.

Regarding the external environment, Wei has to contend with the threat of barbarian tribes from the grasslands to the north and must keep six hundred thousand soldiers stationed at the Northern Border for protection.

Liang needs to station troops along the Yangtze River and the great river to guard against Chu, Zhao, and Xu, both defence lines taking up about one million two hundred thousand troops.

Apart from the border defense and the garrisoning of troops in various domestic regions, both countries can maintain an army of about one million two hundred thousand to one million five hundred thousand on the front line battlefield and are capable of sustaining this for an extended period.

As for Inborn Grandmasters, Liang has seen a fair increase over the years.

Firstly, during the fall of Zhou Country, they received the allegiance of three Inborn Grandmasters from Zhou, gaining a windfall.

In recent years, they developed and attracted a few more, making the number of Inborn individuals in Liang reach fifty-one, breaking past the half-century mark.

Whereas Wei, even though it missed out on Zhou’s Inborn boon, after its conquest and dominant position in east Yong,

The reluctantly non-committal Yuchan Tao of Jade Hua Mountain finally resolved to side with Wei.

With this Immortal Sect of Yong State’s help, Wei’s foundational strength in Inborns soared instantaneously.

Not only did Yuchan Tao send five Inborns to serve Wei directly, but they also contributed over a thousand elixirs, fostering two new Inborn Grandmasters for Wei.

Just Yuchan Tao alone brought seven Inborns to Wei.

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Over the years in the north, Wei also consistently defeated numerous migrating barbarian tribes, and many chose to join Wei after defeat.

From among the barbarians, Wei recruited a substantial population and military force, including several Inborn Grandmasters, significantly bolstering their war potential.

Adding to that were individuals cultivated and recruited domestically within the country.

Today, the number of Wei’s Inborn Grandmasters has reached as many as thirty-seven.

They still cannot compare to Liang, but Wei has fewer places to defend.

Aside from those tasked with guarding the northern borders and essential national defence, Wei can still mobilize around twenty Inborns to confront Liang at the front line.

Liang, apart from the necessary defence of its three borders and nationally, could actually only deploy around the same number of Inborn Grandmasters for the war.

Therefore, such a massive boundary conflict was doomed to be a protracted slog.

After years of fighting, both sides incurred over a million casualties without being able to determine a victor.

The front line between Henan and Nanyang had become a meat grinder into which Wei and Liang continuously poured troops and resources, gradually sapping their own foundational and potential strength, caught in the state of ceaseless hemorrhaging.

All these described were still just the forces deployed by the two nations for the war.

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