To achieve immortality, I cultivate using Qi Luck

Chapter 704: Chapter 314: The Qualities of a Hegemon_2

I don’t know if it’s him.

In Yangzhou, Ning Country had already trained an army of 600,000. After hearing about the matter of Liang Country, the Heavenly Son of Jinling in Ning Country felt challenged and further expanded their army by 200,000, bringing the total military strength to 800,000.

In Xu Country, located in Xuzhou, 600,000 soldiers are stationed in the southern border to guard against the potential northward advance of Liang Country.

In Ji Province, the Zhao Country, which has always built its foundation on military strength, was rumored to have an army of one million before Liang Country unified Qingzhou.

Now that Liang Country has merged a province, it already poses a threat to the safety of Zhao Country. Stimulated by this, one can hardly imagine how much Zhao Country’s military has expanded.

Thinking about it, 1.2 million should be possible.

As for Liang Country, after unifying Qingzhou, it has fifteen Prefectures and a population of more than 70 million.

With such a vast territory and abundant population, the size of the army that can be supported is naturally hard to gauge.

According to reports from scouts in the outer office of the Imperial City of Qingzhou, Liang Country began to expand its army after unifying Qingzhou. The scale of the expansion was a staggering recruitment of one million new soldiers.

That’s one million new soldiers!

The mere thought of that number is enough to make people feel desperate.

Among all the countries in the world, only a single force would be capable of recruiting one million soldiers in a single breath.

Considering that Liang Country originally had an Army of a million, and adding in the new recruits, this overlords of Qingzhou now possesses a total military strength of over two million soldiers.

If some civilian workers and Village Braves are conscripted, the scale of the military personnel becomes unimaginable.

A conservative estimate is that raising an army of 5 million soldiers across the country should be effortless.

The army sizes of all these countries range from 800,000 to a million, not including auxiliary forces like civilian workers and Village Braves.

Seeing his opponents in the Nine Provinces expand their military strength, Lu Yuan naturally feels pressure.

In addition, the ever-changing situation and the constant expansion of the scale of the war force Chu State to follow the trend and expand its own military force.

As a result, after last year’s military expansion, Lu Yuan changed his conservative defensive strategy and chose to add 80,000 soldiers to the 11 Forbidden Armies to enhance Chu State’s military strength.

With a total of 15 Forbidden Armies, Chu State now has an army of 300,000 soldiers that can be mobilized at any time.

In addition, there are 30,000 county soldiers from the provinces, 68,000 soldiers from the prefectures and counties, 5,000 Jinwu Guards in the capital responsible for the defense of the city, and 5,000 newly established palace guards for the protection of the inner palace.

Finally, add in the 50,000 naval forces.

After a series of expansions, Chu State’s total military strength, incorporating both land and naval forces, amounts to 458,000 soldiers.

All these are standing armies.

In addition, there are over 100,000 Yi prisoners in Qianzhong County who can be counted as the serving army.

Combining all these soldiers, Lu Yuan can claim to have a total force of 600,000 in Chu State.

And this is the limit for Chu State.

The expansion of 86,000 soldiers will cost Chu State an additional 6,000,000 silver tales annually.

If it were not for the newly discovered gold, silver, and copper mines in Qianzhong County, the three Southwest Kunhai tributary countries would not have increased their tribute. At the same time, Su Country began to trade grain, providing additional income to Chu State.

Otherwise, Chu State would not have been able to bear such an expenditure.

But, although there are many soldiers, Lu Yuan’s available forces are still limited.

Even though the security situation has improved greatly around Qianzhong and Xichuan Districts due to the annexation of three tributary countries in the southwest, the number of stationed soldiers can still be reduced substantially.

However, even then, one Forbidden Army is needed to guard Qianzhong County, and two are needed to guard Xichuan County to ensure security.

Xiangyang Prefecture is surrounded by Hanzhong Prefecture in the west, Xiangyang, and Nanyang Prefectures of Zhou Country in the north, and Xiangyang Prefecture of Ning Country in the south. It is an area surrounded by enemies on three fronts.

Each of these areas needs soldiers to guard them, and three Forbidden Armies are used accordingly.

In Dongting Prefecture, the capital city itself requires a substantial number of troops for protection.

Moreover, to the south of Dongting Prefecture lies Su Country and Nanhai Country. These two countries maintain a tense relationship with Chu State and could potentially launch a surprise attack at any moment.

On the eastern side of Dongting Prefecture is Ning Country.

There is no need to mention the relationship between Chu State and Ning Country, as they have always been enemies, fighting for the title of Master of Yangzhou.

Ning Country would undoubtedly choose to attack Chu State given the opportunity.

Now that Ning Country has trained an 800,000-strong army, besides the 300,000 soldiers who were sent to Guangling Prefecture to guard against potential invaders from the north,

The remaining 500,000 soldiers, stationed in Jinling, are ready to march upstream on the Shuo River and keep Chu State constantly on guard.

Given this powerful enemy, Lu Yuan must be more vigilant.

So, facing threats from both the south and east in Dongting Prefecture, Lu Yuan must leave at least five Forbidden Armies, or 100,000 soldiers.

With the addition of the local prefectural and county soldiers, the Jinwu Guards in Baling City, the palace guards, the 50,000 navy in Dongting Lake, and the called-up militia of the Civil Group Volunteers, they can barely hope to withstand attacks from all sides.

After deducting the forces defending various areas, Lu Yuan can only mobilize four Forbidden Armies, or 80,000 soldiers.