TO ACHIEVE IMMORTALITY, I CULTIVATE USING QI LUCK

Chapter 965: Chapter 401: The Arrow is on the String_3 Chapter 965: Chapter 401: The Arrow is on the String_3 “`

Liang State, still considered the foremost kingdom in the world.

Because the true number one, Chu State, had not disclosed any key data regarding its population, military strength, or grain production to outsiders for ten years.

“With fifteen years of accumulation, Great Chu has always been concealing its strength, using incessant warfare and this prosperous grand illusion to bewilder the world.”

Lu Yuan gazed upon Baling City, his thoughts drifting far as he recited aloud, “A population of seventy million, troop strength of three million, annual revenue of four hundred million silver tales, six hundred million mu of cultivated land, a grain production of five hundred million stones, and seventy-two individuals of Inborn status.

“In fifteen years, Great Chu has amassed these underlying assets.

But all along, we have been hiding them, just waiting for an opportunity.”

“In order to gain the trust of the Northern Land, I have raised armies year after year, gathering hundreds of thousands at Longxi.”

“Abandoning villages and towns, neglecting tens of thousands of miles of coastal defenses.

“Indulgence towards the southwest, allowing the tribes to grow powerful.”

“By employing these almost self-harming tactics, we finally managed to put those people at ease.”

In recent years, what Chu State had presented to the external world was merely the warfare in the Northern Border, the bandit troubles along the coastal areas, the beacon fires in the southwest, and domestic peace and prosperity within the nation.

And, the behavior of Chu State in not disclosing its data further resembled a nation overwhelmed by incessant wars, burdened with problems both internally and externally.

Everything presently was nothing but a façade of peace.

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Indeed, this was precisely the impression that Chu State wanted to convey to outsiders.

Otherwise, do you really want to inform everyone in the world about Chu State’s true information?

That would indeed be a grand display of national might, intimidating the world.

But after the intimidation, chaos would be inevitable.

The reason being…

If Chu State to the south appears to be a nation fraught with internal strife and external troubles, then the Northern Liang State, along with Wei, Zhao, Xu, and other countries, can comfortably engage in full-scale warfare.

But if Chu State is a nation with ample funds and grain, sharp and ready troops, and no concerns inside or out, with a foundation unmatched across the world,

who wouldn’t be uneasy with such a powerful nation lurking behind them, eyeing them ravenously, who wouldn’t take precautions?

How could Liang State and Wei, Zhao, Xu, and others possibly commit fully to warfare without holding anything back?

And would Wei, Zhao, Xu, all be worried about ending up both injured after clashing with Liang State, only for Chu State to come in and pick off the spoils?

Thus, without addressing these suspicions of other nations, they wouldn’t fulfill Chu State’s wishes by engaging in a major battle in Qingzhou.

No one wants to make a wedding dress for someone else.

This is also why Chu State, knowing that merely defending the Long Mountains would allow them to seal off the northwest at minimal cost and protect Hanzhong, still insisted on sending troops to Helong to fight desperately against the Barbarians of the Snow Plains and foreign tribes of the Western Regions.

How can you win someone’s trust without paying a certain price?

Wei Country, like Chu State, also faces invasions and threats from the Barbarians of the Snow Plains and foreign tribes of the Western Regions on its northern and western frontiers and suffers greatly from this affliction.

To repel those foreign tribes, Wei Country’s casualties can only be greater than those of Chu State.

Only through experiencing it can one understand the hardship.

Similarly, Liang State, also suffering from the coastal bandit problem, can empathize with Chu State’s plight.

Therefore, regarding the speech of Chu State’s continuous weakening amidst endless border troubles, the four northern countries believe it deeply.

Because facing just one border trouble makes them feel exhausted and overwhelmed.

If Chu State is simultaneously facing three, it’s almost akin to being besieged by three great powers—how could they be faring any better?

“`

Liang had been battered by the coalition of Wei, Zhao, and Xu for over a decade, eventually becoming impoverished and depleted; its population sharply declined, and its soldiers were blunted, their armor shattered.

Even if Chu State was doing slightly better, how much better could it be?

It is precisely because Chu State held the same view as themselves that the current state of exhaustion has come to encompass the Nine Provinces.

“And now, I have made it clear, I have heard that Wei Country has completely abandoned its territory in Yan Province, relocating its entire population to the districts of Henan and Nanyang, and focusing on the defense of Shuofang and Guannei, developing the former lands of Zhou Country.”

Lu Yuan continued to relay the latest news.

As time passed, the cold wave disaster that originated in The North more than thirty years ago had now reached the region of Yan Province.

At this point, the entire northern part of Yan Province had become a land of icy wilderness.

The central part of Yan Province, meanwhile, was entirely occupied by the Barbarians who had moved south from the steppes and the citizens of the smaller states within Yan Province; tens of millions crammed there, every day desperately migrating southward.

The cold wave continued to shrink their living space; if they didn’t move south one day, they would be engulfed by snowstorms the next.

This was no longer a matter of being driven by snow and ice, but an emergency as urgent as fire at one’s eyebrows.

Therefore, in such a situation, after moving away all the citizens of Yan Province, Wei Country did not continue to stubbornly refuse to retreat but decisively gave up all its land in Yan Province.

They conceded the southern land of Yan Province to those who were frantically seeking refuge to the south.

It was only the land in the north of Yan, which was soon to be swallowed by the cold wave and had few people left, that could be easily abandoned.

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But could they give up the still-important grain-producing territory to the east of Yong State, which was likely to remain stable for the next twenty or thirty years, or in other words, the districts of Shuofang and Guannei?

Originally, the districts of Henan and Nanyang in the rear of Zhou Country were safe hinterlands, capable of continuously producing money, grain, and armor to support the front-line warfare.

With this foundation, Zhou Country remained a hegemon of the world, capable of dominating all under heaven.

However, once Zhou Country gave up the districts of Shuofang and Guannei, Henan and Nanyang became the front line, and their citizens were directly exposed to war, no longer able to comfortably produce.

Zhou Country thus fell into a financial and grain crisis, experiencing widespread famine.

Unable to support a large-scale military in the country and feed more troops, it was swiftly eliminated by Wei Country, despite assistance from Liang.

The lesson from the past is right before our eyes.

“With the example of Zhou Country at hand, Wei Country should be clear that they have no room to retreat,” Lu Yuan said, his voice filled with emotion, “But the barbarians from the steppes to the north are manageable.

After decades of attrition, the once tens of millions of steppe barbarians now number less than ten million.

Just like the Snow Plains Nomads before them, too many have died or been injured to pose a serious threat.

In the end, they will either be assimilated by others or disappear on the journey southward.

However, the foreign tribes from the Western Regions to the west have only just begun their migration.

Given the vastness of the Western Regions, these tribes number at least thirty to forty million.

Combined with the barbarians from the steppes and the remnants of Yan Province, the number of refugees from the west may even reach fifty million.

And does Wei Country still have forty million people now?

To the east, it faces Liang; from the west, it is threatened by foreign tribes; even its northern ally, Zhao Country, seems to covet the land of Henan Province in Wei Country.

How similar is the situation of Wei Country now to that of Zhou Country then?

If Wei Country does not wish to follow in the footsteps of Zhou Country, it must inevitably make a choice: to give up the battlefield against Liang and focus wholly on protecting its own territory.

If they withdraw, Zhao and Xu would find it difficult to contend against Liang.

The strategy of Great Chu to exhaust the four nations would also become ineffective.”

Lu Yuan’s tone was somber, his voice resolute, “So, we have waited for decades, and although the time is not yet fully ripe, the arrow is on the string and must be shot.

The Northern Expedition is imperative.”

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