To achieve immortality, I cultivate using Qi Luck

Chapter 1079: Chapter 439: Defend the West, Secure the East_3 Chapter 1079: Chapter 439: Defend the West, Secure the East_3 The military pressure on Henan Prefecture and Dong Prefecture, which are adjacent to Ji Province, was also greatly relieved.

The large number of troops previously stationed in these two prefectures had naturally become unnecessary and could be reduced to a certain extent.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Lu Yuan directly disbanded the Western Route Army and retracted the troops under Huang Lin’s command, as well as the many Inborn Grandmasters including himself, back into his hands.

Not only the Western Route Army, but Qingyunzi’s Heyang Expeditionary Army was also conveniently disbanded.

The troops from the disbanded armies, including the Inborn, were all incorporated under the Middle Route Army’s command.

As for the defense and public safety of Henan, Nanyang, and Dong Prefecture after the disbandment of the two armies, it was transferred to the concurrently established local Prefectures and Counties’ soldiers.

Moreover, since Henan Prefecture and Dong Prefecture were considered borderlands, aside from their local troops, an additional two hundred thousand troops and five Inborn Masters were dispatched to set up a Northern Route Army.

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Huang Lin was appointed as the Commander, tasked with keeping vigilance against enemies from Hebei.

Although it was confirmed that Hebei posed no threat, Lu Yuan, adhering to the principle that caution never led to trouble, still strengthened the defenses of these two prefectures.

After all, to him, four hundred thousand troops and ten Inborn Masters were just a small portion.

Compared to the entire force of the Northern Expedition, they were not worth mentioning at all.

Moreover, these two prefectures had only just been pacified, and now with large-scale immigration underway, it was a period of continual unrest locally, so a significant military presence was indeed required to forcefully suppress it.

Thinking it over, it didn’t seem like much.

Source: .com, updated on Ɲονǥᴑ.сᴑ

With the disbandment of the Heyang and Western Route armies, Lu Yuan suddenly had an additional one and a half million troops at his disposal.

Adding on the reduced forces from the Yongzhou Camp, he gained around another million troops.

In total, that amounted to two and a half million troops.

Lu Yuan then conducted a reorganization, retaining one million regular soldiers and sending back the remaining one and a half million civilian workers.

After the great victories over Zhao Country and Wei Country, in Dong Prefecture and the battlefields within Guannei, Chu State captured approximately one million seven hundred thousand surrendered soldiers and prisoners, thus suddenly enriching the numbers of disposable troops at hand.

In these circumstances, there was naturally no need to retain those civilian workers who had already been conscripted for one or two years, who were now causing trouble amongst their fellow citizens.

Not only the three Western armies underwent disbandment and reorganization, but Lu Yuan’s directly controlled Middle Route Army also underwent reorganization.

The Middle Route Army originally had three million troops, including soldiers, civilian workers, and prisoners.

After the reorganization, Lu Yuan kept one million five hundred thousand soldiers and five hundred thousand prisoners.

The remaining one million civilian workers were sent back to their hometowns.

The Eastern Route Army and Yangxia Expeditionary Army, which had already rendezvoused in the east, were also restructured into the new Southern Route Army, commanded by Huang Xuan, consisting of one million five hundred thousand soldiers and two hundred thousand prisoners.

An additional one million or so civilian workers were disbanded and sent back.

The Yuzhou Expeditionary Camp also underwent reorganization, and after selecting the best to replenish its forces, hurriedly withdrew the remainder, who were mostly infirm, leaving around five hundred thousand soldiers.

This level of military strength was definitely insufficient to complete the Eastern Stability strategy that Lu Yuan had planned.

Therefore, after reorganizing the Yuzhou Camp, Lu Yuan appointed Qingyunzi, who had just been released from commanding the Heyang Camp, as the new Commander of the Yuzhou Expeditionary Camp.

He then led the one million freshly reorganized soldiers from the disbanded Heyang and Western Route armies to Yuzhou to take up their new posts.

After this reinforcement, the bolstered Yuzhou Camp now had one million five hundred thousand soldiers, a force not weaker than any long-established hegemonic country, and was fully able to intervene in the military situation of Yuzhou.

The one million seven hundred thousand prisoners left from the two disbanded armies were added to the Middle Route Army.

Thus, after a series of reorganizations, Chu State was left with five expeditionary armies.

They were the Yongzhou Camp, commanded by Huang Xin, with eight hundred thousand soldiers and ten Inborn Masters.

The Northern Route Army, commanded by Huang Lin, with four hundred thousand soldiers and ten Inborn Masters.

The Southern Route Army, commanded by Huang Xuan, with one million five hundred thousand soldiers, two hundred thousand captured soldiers, and thirty Inborn Masters.

The Yuzhou Expeditionary Camp, commanded by Qingyunzi, with one million five hundred thousand soldiers and twenty Inborn Masters.

The Middle Route Army, led by Lu Yuan, with one million five hundred thousand soldiers, two million two hundred thousand prisoners, and thirty Inborn Masters.

In addition, the various prefectures of Central State that had been acquired during Chu’s Northern Expedition each had their defenses arranged with thirty thousand local Prefecture and County soldiers, as well as an Inborn Grandmaster serving as the local Commandant responsible for public safety.

All these local forces summed up to four hundred eighty thousand troops and sixteen Inborn Masters.

In total, including the ready-to-deploy forces, Chu Country had six hundred eighteen thousand soldiers, two million four hundred thousand prisoners, and one hundred sixteen Inborn Grandmasters spread across the entire territory of Northern Central State and Jiangbei.

Meanwhile, in its old home of Yangzhou in the south of the river, Chu also had two million newly trained Prefecture and County soldiers and twenty-one Inborn Grandmasters.

One could say that even after a series of cuts and reorganizations, the remaining military strength of Chu was still the envy of the world, unmatched by any other nation.

Although the total number of Chu’s troops had directly decreased by ten million from the original eighteen million after this downsizing and reorganization, Chu’s combat power had not diminished.

On the contrary, it had increased significantly.

It was as if fingers spread apart were now clenched into a tight fist, not only stronger by leaps and bounds, but also more formidable and terrifying.

In contrast, Chu’s enemies, after suffering heavy blows from two Northern Expeditions, had greatly weakened compared to before the expeditions, each of them becoming frail and weak, with several even on the verge of collapse.

In such a state, a swing of this fist meant overturning adversaries, a scene of widespread misery.

At this moment, looking around, Lu Yuan somewhat felt like he was punching an elderly home and kicking a kindergarten, an unmatched sense of loneliness.

Of course, this thought was fleeting.

Despite having gained a huge advantage, Lu Yuan, due to his prudence, would still deal with these already declining enemies with the utmost attention, delivering the severest of cruel blows.

“Now that I’ve secured the west and stabilized the east, my Middle Route and Southern Route armies have also been accumulating strength.

Next year, they will become the main battlegrounds for a central breakthrough.

Not bad, not bad at all, I must continue to make an effort,” Lu Yuan mused as he looked at the spread-out map of the Nine Provinces, nodding with satisfaction at the well-positioned chess pieces.