To achieve immortality, I cultivate using Qi Luck - Chapter 772

Chapter 772: Chapter 337: Strategic Adjustment

By the end of October, fast horse couriers delivered a message from Hegu County. The Snowy Plains Barbarians had delivered the billion silver tales they had promised; the silver was already in Hegu County.

The county was currently dispatching 5,000 soldiers, personally overseen by the commander, to transport the funds overnight to Xichuan County.

Once in Xichuan County, a portion of the stationed forbidden army would transport the money along the Yangtze River with the help of the navy to Baling.

Upon receiving this news, Lu Yuan attached great importance to it.

Over the past few months, he had recruited five forbidden army units and 100,000 soldiers, spending three to four million silver tales in the initial phase alone.

Then he waged war against Hanzhong. The war was swift and didn’t take much time, but it still cost an additional two million silver tales, and the rewards for victories amounted to over a million silver tales.

Now, he had commanded Hanzhong to form two new forbidden army units and local county soldiers. This was a further 70,000 men and had used up another two million silver tales.

Adding up these scattered costs, the court had spent nearly ten million silver tales in this month alone.

Of course, such a large expenditure was primarily due to the sudden expansion of his army by 170,000 standing troops. The costs of settling these soldiers, purchasing various supplies and weapons and establishing their families made the expenses seem large.

Once these military purchases were complete, the subsequent costs would only be the daily military wages, and the monthly expenditure would be much smaller.

Even so, the amount of silver spent almost depleted one-ninth of the national treasury.

The current savings in the national treasury of Chu State had shrunk from 86 million silver tales to just over 77 million silver tales, a visible reduction.

This decline would continue to increase with the continuous expansion of the army and the further enlargement of the war.

The remaining amount of over 77 million silver tales might seem plentiful, but it could barely support a few years of such expenditure.

To maintain the current expansion, it was necessary to find new sources of income.

The billion silver tales sent by the barbarians were critical to the military budget of Chu State for the next few years.

Whether Lu Yuan could continue to expand the army and then launch the Southern Expedition to conquer Lingnan depended on this sum of money.

Therefore, upon receiving the news, he immediately ordered Han Hu, who had just been crowned the Protector of the Nation, to personally lead 3,000 forbidden soldiers on a navy ship to escort the money.

After giving this order, Lu Yuan felt relieved.

With an Inborn Grandmaster personally guarding the funds, it would be almost impossible for anyone to steal the billion silver tales.

Now he just needed to wait a fortnight for the silver to reach Baling and be safely deposited into the national treasury. He needn’t worry too much about it.

Speaking of the barbarians, there was news from Zhou Country to the north.

This autumn, the barbarians had again invaded, with all factions mobilizing half a million troops, comprehensively looting the Henan and Liang provinces.

However, the outcome was the same as previous years. The Grand General and northern pillar of Zhou Country, He Basheng, commanded effectively. The cities were heavily guarded, and the barbarians could not take any advantage.

More than a hundred thousand barbarians were beheaded, tens of thousands were captured, and the invading barbarians once again lost more than half of their troops and fled in disgrace.

Because of the heavy snow in the north and the blocked roads, Zhou People did not pursue them further after their victory.

Having plundered few supplies and suffered such significant losses, the barbarians were set to face another harsh winter.

It was estimated that several hundred thousand people would freeze or starve to death, weakening the barbarian tribes again.

At this rate, the barbarian tribes on the Snow Plains were bound to decline and eventually perish.

However, Lu Yuan did not pay much attention to this matter.

Perhaps in the past, he would have been interested in allying with the barbarians to attack Zhou Country.

After all, if he could take over the Henan and Liang provinces, he would hold a strategic advantage, threatening the heartland of Zhou Country, Guannei County, from a superior position.

But now, with the great catastrophe of Heaven and Earth approaching, all four poles of the Earth will be engulfed by natural disasters. The land of Yong State, occupied by Zhou Country, will also be no exception.

Even if he captured Henan and Liang provinces, Chu State would only be able to hold on to them for about a hundred years.

When the catastrophe arrives, they may have to abandon most of Yong State.

With this in mind, rather than spending the energy and a dozen or two decades in a gritty battle with Zhou Country for a territory that cannot be secured in the long run,

it would be better to concentrate fully on taking Yangzhou with all their might.

After uniting Yangzhou, Chu will launch a campaign to the north, striving to seize the core Central State, the destined land of the future.

The land of Liang Country was what Lu Yuan had his eyes on.

As for the rest, they were all inconsequential.

“However, Henan and Nanyang provinces of Zhou Country, which also belonged to Central State in ancient times, might be worth taking if the opportunity arises,” Lu thought, but did not dwell on it.

As a dominant state, Zhou Country naturally knew about the upcoming great catastrophe of Heaven and Earth early on.

Therefore, they undoubtedly placed great importance on the only two areas of Central State within their territory.

Despite their current difficulties, they still stationed 400,000 troops in Henan and Nanyang, demonstrating their attention to these areas.

For Chu State to seize these two territories would be far more difficult than taking Hanzhong, a county isolated by mountain forests, inconveniently located in the southern mountains.

If Zhou Country lost Hanzhong, they would lose a financially valuable territory in the south, akin to losing a foot.

While painful, this loss would still be tolerable.

However, if they lost Henan and Nanyang, it would be equivalent to losing their head; it would be a fundamental threat to their very existence.