"Chief, Xiliang is indeed a big disaster."

Just as Huang Xin was expressing his worries about Xiliang Kingdom, there were also generals below who asked questions: "But now its country has 300,000 standing troops, 500,000 tigers and wolves, and there are no less than 800,000 soldiers and horses in the country.

These soldiers and horses, just on this Taoshui front, the Xiliang soldiers gathered 500,000 people, no less than our army.

Although my Great Chu soldiers and horses are brave and good at fighting, those Tibetan people are really unusable.

Although 400,000 troops were gathered to help, only 50,000 or 60,000 of them could fight.

In this way, the number of troops available to our army is only 150,000 or 60,000.

but there were 500,000 people in Xiliang.

Such a gap is huge, and if our army wants to defeat the Xiliang people on the battlefield, I am afraid it will not be so easy. ”

After years of war with the Zhou State, as well as the fiasco after the battle with the Xiliang State last year, as well as years of natural disasters, the strength of the Fan people has been greatly weakened.

At its peak, there were 15 or 6 million people, but now there are only 4 or 5 million people, less than one-third of what it used to be.

At the peak of the Tibetan people, there were more than 100,000 standing knights, but now there are only 50,000 or 60,000 left.

Although 400,000 soldiers were gathered in this battle against the Xiliang people, in addition to the 50,000 or 60,000 standing knights, the remaining more than 300,000 Tibetan cavalry were just herdsmen.

Although after years of war and the selection of natural disasters on the battlefield, most of the people who can survive are strong, and they are no strangers to battlefield warfare, and many of them have one or two skills.

The frequent food shortages of the people in recent years, as well as the torment of natural disasters, cannot be ignored.

You can't expect a person who has been starving and freezing all year round, who has not had enough to eat, who has not had enough clothes, who is extremely tired and thin, can have much combat effectiveness.

This is the case with these Tibetan herdsmen.

Basically, for a year, I was in poverty and hunger, and I didn't have enough to eat at all.

At the same time, the increasingly cold weather has also caused many people to appear, extremely severe frostbite and frostbite, fingers, toes, ears and other limbs, after waking up, it is also a common thing.

Many Tibetan people have been disabled to a greater or lesser extent under the severe cold.

Coupled with the torture of hunger, one by one they are thin, and they are not far from skin and bones.

No matter how fierce and easy to kill, the army of such herdsmen is limited.

Against the tiger wolf Xiliang, who is more fierce and ruthless than them, this ending is self-evident.

Therefore, now the Chu State-Fan Coalition Army, against the Western Liang State, it seems that both sides have 500,000 troops, but in fact, it is 100,000 Chu troops and 50,000 Tibetan elites, fighting against 500,000 Western Liang soldiers.

The difference in strength between the two sides is as much as twice as much, approaching three times.

This can be seen from the fact that just 5,000 Tibetan herdsmen were easily defeated by 3,000 Xiliang militia.

Those Tibetan people are really unusable.

"Haha, the country of the West Liang Tiger and Wolf is naturally not easy to fight, but why would Ben General fight him head-on?"

Hearing the worries of his subordinates, Huang Xin laughed out loud: "Now I lead 500,000 people to camp on the southern line of Taoshui, and Xiliang Country lives in the north of Taoshui, and the two armies are facing each other across the river.

This peach water is dangerous, spring, summer and autumn, all of which are turbulent rivers, and cannot be crossed by boats.

Only in winter does the river freeze and become accessible to people and horses.

But in winter, now the wind and snow are heavy, and it is getting colder and colder, and if you walk a hundred steps in the wild, you are in danger of freezing to death.

In such weather, you can only survive by staying in the city houses and relying on charcoal fires to keep warm.

How can those Western Liang thieves fight in the cold winter?

Therefore, it is not feasible to send troops in winter. ”

Speaking of this, Huang Xin sneered: "So when the river is navigable, I just need to collect the mouths of the major ferries along the Taoshui, build fortresses and camps, and build Xiongcheng towns at key points, thinking that it is the fulcrum."

In this way, five or six cities and more than 100 strongholds along the line can block those Xiliang people in the north of Taoshui.

And we are waiting for the heavy army to be in various important towns on the southern line of Taoshui, can Xiliang Guoyan also gather heavy troops in Jiangbei?

From time to time, our army sent troops across the river, plundered and harassed the territory of Xiliang, burned, killed, plundered, abandoned its agricultural work, and exhausted its country.

In this way, it will not take a few years, and the Xiliang Kingdom will be exhausted by heavy military work, and fall into famine and civil strife, and it will be self-defeating.

Moreover, this is also an opportunity for us to train the Tibetan people well......"

Huang Xin glanced at the Fan in the distance and smiled meaningfully.

Although there are 800,000 tigers and wolves in Xiliang Kingdom, it can be called a strong martial style, which is almost comparable to the average tyrant.

But it also has an Achilles' heel, that is, the population is too small and the land is too barren.

There are three counties in the name of Xiliang country, but among these three counties, there are a large number of grasslands, Gobi, and even deserts, which are not completely suitable for farming.

Therefore, in the land of the three counties, even if agriculture and animal husbandry are carried out at the same time, the limit can feed more than 4 million people.

Even if the Xiliang people have now seized most of Hexi County, the rich land that can be cultivated in the country has suddenly increased by more than half, and the population that can be supported can be increased by more than 2 million.

The pressure on the population should be greatly relieved.

But no matter how rich the land is, someone has to plant it, right?

But now that the two sides are in a big war, such a small country of four million people has dispatched 500,000 troops to the Taoshui front line to fight against the people of Chu.

Such a huge war is simply a disaster for a small country like Xiliang.

Now that it can be maintained, it is already the strength of the whole country, men to fight, women to carry food.

And such a situation must not be able to be maintained for a long time, and even three or five months is enough.

Therefore, for the other party, they must be eager to fight and seek war at this time.

But for the state of Chu, the main purpose of this army is only to keep the group of Tibetans. Let them settle in the northwest of the Chu State, as a barrier to block the Western Liang State.

The real core purpose is to weaken the Xiliang Kingdom.

Therefore, send troops to fight Xiliang, and then break his army and destroy his country.

For Huang Xin, it is not necessary to do it.

It's good to be able to do that.

But being able to seal the Xiliang Kingdom in Hexi and prevent them from going east is also considered to have achieved its goal.

At present, Xiliang people are not easy to provoke, and if they fight, there is a high probability that their side will lose.

Although the state of Chu now has millions of people, the soldiers and horses are mighty in the south of the Yangtze River.

But if you lose 100,000 troops in the northwest and lose to a small marginal country like Xiliang, it will be very distressing, and it will be a big thing.

Therefore, after perceiving this risk, Huang Xin naturally learned the stability of the ontology and began to naturally choose to act safely.

Xiliang is only a small country, with a limited population and land, so it can't support too many troops, and it can't sustain a large-scale war for too long.

But the state of Chu is a big country, with tens of millions of people in one state.

For the state of Chu, maintaining 500,000 soldiers and horses on the northwest front is also an extremely expensive thing, but it is not impossible.

Now after seizing Lingnan Jiangdong, the population of Chu has not only increased significantly, but even the grain-producing areas have increased by three at once.

Up to now, Chu has Xichuan Plain, Jianghan Plain, Dongting Plain, Pengli Plain, Nanhai Plain, Jiuzhen Plain, etc., a whole six grain-producing areas.

Not to mention the two small plains in Lingnan, the grain produced is just enough to meet the southwest of Lingnan, and it cannot be exported.

But Xichuan, Jianghan, Dongting, Pengli, these four plains, that is a real grain production town.

A fully developed plain can feed tens of millions of people with a year's worth of food.

And the total population of Chu today, according to the latest data from China, is about 30 million people.

The grain produced in the four grain-producing plains can feed 40 million people, and counting the other two small plains, as well as the acres of fields in various places in the Chu State, the grain produced by the Chu State in a year is enough for 60 or 70 million people to eat.

That is to say, after recuperation, the state of Chu can have an extra ration of thirty or forty million people a year.

These grains are only eaten by the people of Chu themselves, which cannot be eaten at all, so they can only be collected and put in the warehouse to become moldy.

Instead of cheapening those barn rats, it is better to take out the grain and transport it to the northwest to consume the Xiliang Kingdom.

Anyway, Xichuan and Xiangyang County are not far from Hanzhong County.

In particular, the Jianghan Plain, where Hanzhong County is located, can easily be sent to Hanzhong County by large ships through the Hanshui waterway, and then from Hanzhong County to Longxi.

The pressure on grain transportation is minimal.

And from Longxi, the Taoshui front line transported here is not troublesome at all.

There are still four or five million people here in Longxi.

These hungry and cold Tibetans, this one is waiting to be fed, and the Chu State can use the hard labor of transporting military rations to recruit and hire those Tibetans.

Helping to transport grain and giving food, isn't it possible to achieve a million labors in an instant?

Moreover, the state of Chu still helped them to fight the Tibetan people, and the food sent to them was also given to them to eat, so they didn't worry that these Tibetan people would not help.

The only thing that Chu has to pay is the food that he can't eat.

On the contrary, Huang Xin's side can use food and the big project of building a fortress on the southern line of Taoshui, taking the opportunity to infiltrate the Tibetan people and slowly achieve the goal of controlling this Tibetan ethnic group.

"Also, maybe we can take the opportunity of garrisoning in the fortress, and take advantage of the reason that the Tibetan herdsmen do not resist, and propose to let my Chu army help them train elite soldiers and horses, so as to control the military power of the Tibetan people.

With the threat of the Western Liang Kingdom, the deterrence of my 100,000 troops, and the temptation of the interests of my Great Chu grain, even if those tribal leaders are reluctant, they will never dare to refuse.

In this way, on the one hand, it is controlled by rations, and on the other hand, it is seized by force, and the remaining four or five million people in Longxi can still escape from the palm of my Da Chu......"

Huang Xin was thinking in his heart, and a plan on how to annex and control the Tibetan people slowly took shape in his mind.

Do what you think.

He looked at the generals and immediately said: "Come here, go and invite the leaders of the tribes of the Tibetan people to come, and the chief manager will discuss with them the construction of a city fortress on the southern line of Taoshui, as well as the matter of sending grain to the country to subsidize the Tibetan people." ”

When the guards next to him heard this, they immediately turned around and ran to the Fan people to ask for someone.

……

Just when Huang Xin was in the northwest, he was busy containing the Western Liang Kingdom and began to plot to annex the entire Tibetan people.

Thousands of miles away in the south of the river, Lu Yuan looked at the latest household registration statistics of local counties this year, and couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

As early as the second half of last year, Lu Yuan ordered all local counties to start counting the population of the county in order to verify the household registration of the Chu State.

It is now the beginning of the second half of the second year, and more than a year has passed, and the population of each county has been reported one after another, and it has been summarized into the hands of him, the king of Chu.

According to the report, including Hegu County, which had just merged the northern part of the Nanzhao Kingdom, and Jiuzhen County, which had been separated from the Song Kingdom, the population of each county in the Chu State was as follows.

They are 3.5 million people in Dongting County, 2 million people in Xiangyang County, 2.7 million people in Xichuan County, 1.8 million people in Hanzhong County, 1 million people in Hegu County, 7 million people in Yuzhang County, 1.5 million people in Qianzhong County, 2.4 million people in Jian'an County, 4.3 million people in Nanhai County, 1.7 million people in Jiuzhen County, 630,000 people in Yulin County, and 170,000 people in Tonghai County.

In this way, there are 12 counties and 109 prefectures in the country, with a total population of 28.7 million.

Well, it is three or four million more than Lu Yuan's originally expected population.

The most important thing is that after the Chu State took control of the three counties of Yuzhang, Jian'an, and Nanhai, the original local gentry and landlord system was cleaned, and many household registrations were found.

As a result, the population of the three counties is tens of millions more than the original household registration.

In addition, in the past two years, in order to obtain grain, the people of the northwest have successively sent five or six hundred thousand Zhou people and two or three hundred thousand Tibetan people to the Chu State.

In the north, because of the war, there were two or three hundred thousand people who fled across the mountains to Hanzhong County.

In this regard, it also added almost a million people to the Chu State.

These various aspects add up to make the population of Chu now reach nearly 30 million.

Thirty million people, that sounds like a lot.

But for today, for the state of Chu, which occupies more than ninety percent of Yangzhou, it can still be regarded as vast and sparsely populated.

Not to mention anything else, let's just say that the two counties of Tonghai and Yulin that have just arrived, the population of one county is only a dozen or hundreds of thousands, and it is simply out of the city, the wilderness is all barbaric, and there is no human population for thousands of miles.

Compared with the population of these two counties, the state of Chu needs to maintain nearly 3,000 officials here, as well as nearly 50,000 local county government and county soldiers.

There is no doubt that these two counties are simply beyond their means for the Chu State, and they are purely losing money.

Moreover, the combined population of the two counties is only 800,000, and there is indeed not much need to maintain a county-level unit.

Therefore, after counting the population of Tonghai and Yulin counties, Sun Siwen, the prime minister, immediately wrote to Lu Yuan, proposing to abandon Tonghai County, which had not been opened up for a long time, withdraw all the population to Yulin County, and focus on the development of this long-established Lingnan county.

He even suggested that if he could, Yulin County could also abandon the half of the prefectures with more mountainous areas and focus on the prefectures and counties with more seas and plains.

In this way, the province merged with counties and counties, saving expenses, concentrating resources, and preparing for the future north of the Chu State to Zhongzhou.

After all, anyway, in tens or hundreds of years, the counties of Southwest and Lingnan will definitely have to give up.

The remote mountainous areas of Tonghai County and Yulin County, even if they were painstakingly developed, could not be retained at all.

Instead of this, it is better to evacuate people to coastal plains with better development and more resources, so that the population can multiply better and produce more money and food and taxes.

And as many as 3,000 officials in the two counties, and 50,000 local soldiers and horses, can also be allocated to the newly expanded Hegu County and Jiuzhen County, saving the imperial court from wasting money and food, and selecting officials and recruiting soldiers and horses from the heart.

I have to say that Sun Siwen's performance is indeed a good word.

After Lu Yuan saw it, he was indeed quite moved.

There is really no need to develop the area in the southwestern Lingnan.

Because in the future, when the underground poisonous fire in the extreme south reappears, the first areas to suffer will definitely be the southwest and Lingnan, and you will be the first to be destroyed.

On the contrary, the areas of Xichuan, Dongting, and Jiangdong may be able to suffer disasters by one or two decades.

From this point of view alone, it is most cost-effective to take out the limited manpower and material resources and operate a few areas first.

Moreover, in the future Northern Expedition to Zhongzhou, the materials will basically come from these areas.

It is impossible to transfer materials from Lingnan and Southwest to the battlefield of the Northern Expedition across the rugged mountain roads and sea routes, which is too slow and costly.

Therefore, Lu Yuan agreed with Sun Siwen's proposal.

The reason why he didn't say anything at this time was not that he was reluctant to take those few pieces of land, but that he was thinking, could he take a bigger step?

For example, simply give up the Jiuzhen County you just got, and abandon it directly along with Tonghai County and Yulin County.

The state of Chu relocated all the 2.5 million people of these three counties to Xiangyang County in the north of the Yangtze River in order to develop the rich Jianghan Plain and accumulate money, food and materials for the Northern Expedition in the future.

Even Nanhai County, which was still rich at this time, could actually start to slowly move the local population to the Hanzhong area of Jiangbei, so as to save the need for temporary relocation in the event of a disaster.

When the population is small now, it is always more cost-effective to migrate people than to multiply to tens of millions in the future.

The resistance and cost encountered are also much less.

It's just that giving up the four counties of Southwest and Lingnan all of a sudden, it is almost equivalent to the territory of Chu State has shrunk by one-third, and the face is extremely ugly, so let's not talk about it.

Let's just say that with so much less territory, the reduction in Lu Yuan's own luck is uncomfortable enough.

The previous annexation of the Three Kingdoms of Lingnan directly increased the luck of the Chu State by two percent, which just made up for the loss of his Dongtian aura.

At this time, the abandonment of the four counties, although the population did not lose much, but the impact on luck was still some.

Maybe there will be less one or half of luck.

So it was okay for the south to give up, but this luck could not make him less.

"It seems that this aspect has to fall to Jiangdong."

Lu Yuan muttered in his mouth, and the person had already stepped aside, looking at the Yangzhou fish picture hanging on the wall, and staring at the two counties occupied by Jiangdong Ningguo.

Since the news that the state of Chu has split the three kingdoms of southwest and Lingnan in the past few months, expanded eight vassal states in one go, and collected all their lands.

Not only was there a cheer in the Chu State, but the neighboring countries that were close to the Chu State were also instantly loud and nervous.

Because everybody knows.

As the state of Chu sorted out its internal affairs step by step and solved its worries, the Chu army, which had been able to integrate more forces, would definitely not sit in the country, but would turn to seek expansion.

And the first step of expansion is naturally the last country in Yangzhou that has not yet surrendered, the former overlord of Yangzhou, which occupies the Ningguo of Jiangdong Second County