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Chapter 1092: Chapter 444: Four Military Expeditions Chapter 1092: Chapter 444: Four Military Expeditions The conflict between Chu State and Xu State was not new.

Although last year, taking advantage of the great victory in Liang Prefecture, Lu Yuan had Qingxuanzi charge into Dongping Prefecture and seize numerous prefectures and counties.

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Nevertheless, Xu State, with its profound heritage, quickly responded after its devastating defeat, and in the carefully constructed fortress of Dongping Prefecture, they stubbornly resisted Qingxuanzi’s vast army.

Ultimately, when snow began to fall and winter set in, the Chu army had managed to capture only three prefectures within Dongping Prefecture.

They had not achieved complete success.

Now, after a winter’s recovery, Xu State was mobilizing troops and dispatching generals within the country, and conscripting soldiers on a grand scale.

The million-strong army that Xu lost in Liang Prefecture had been completely replenished.

In Dongping Prefecture now, a million Xu soldiers were arrayed in waiting, ready for the arrival of the Chu army.

As one of the few old dominant states in the Nine Provinces that had not been crippled by Chu State, such a powerful adversary was of course taken very seriously by Lu Yuan.

Without defeating the opponent and driving Xu State out of Dongping, Le’an, and Qingping Prefectures, Chu State would not be able to unify Qingzhou.

Therefore, for this adversary, he was prepared to come in person.

“I hope Xu State can make it interesting for me and not lose so quickly,” he said.

On the altar outside the great walls of Daliang, after proclaiming the crimes of Xu State to Heaven, Lu Yuan officially announced the start of the third Northern Expedition.

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At this moment, his gaze turned northward, his eyes alight with excitement.

As a veteran of the battlefields, he naturally had great interest in the few remaining formidable enemies in his quest for unification.

Because Lu Yuan knew that as he advanced step by step in his quest for unification, the number of enemies he faced would diminish.

Once Chu State was unified, there would be no enemies left at all.

Then would come an era of lasting peace and prosperity, and it would be difficult to encounter any adversaries again.

Now with each battle fought, there was one less battle to fight.

With only so few opportunities left, he naturally cherished each one immensely and held them in high regard.

…

In Dongping Prefecture, Xichang City.

One month later, Lu Yuan led the central army and arrived below this city.

“Your Majesty, look.

Now half of Xu Army in the entire Dongping Prefecture is stationed within Xichang City, and there are ten Inborn Grandmasters present.

As our Great Chu’s celestial troops move north, these Xu soldiers have dug deep trenches and erected high ramparts, stubbornly holding out without venturing forth, which makes them difficult to deal with,” said Lv Guoying, the vanguard of this great army.

This man was originally a major general from Western Liang, brave and skilled in battle, breaking the vanguard and defeating the enemy, the finest in Yong West.

When Chu State and Western Liang clashed in Helong, they frequently suffered at the hands of this Lv Guoying.

After Western Liang fell and surrendered, this former adversary had opportunistically defected to Chu State, becoming a general in the ranks of Chu army.

For this Northern Expedition, Lu Yuan had Lv Guoying serve as one of the vanguards, leading the way into Dongping Prefecture to pave the path for the main army in advance.

“Another strong city indeed!”

Lu Yuan scrutinized Xichang City closely, observing its walls ten zhang high and encircling thirty-plus li, with its surroundings strewn with trenches and chevaux-de-frise, and the camps joined together, almost rivaling Daliang.

The Xu people had managed a lot in their two years of management here.

“If we proceed with past tactics, capturing this city would require a million casualties before we could see any results,” Lu Yuan estimated, shaking his head.

This central army, although boasting one and a half million soldiers and two million two hundred thousand captives, nearly four million troops in total, could be deemed exceedingly robust.

But the objective of the central military expedition was substantial.

Dongping, Le’an, and Qingping Prefectures were all targets of conquest.

If attacking Xichang City alone would cost a million lives.

Then how would the other strongholds of Dongping Prefecture and the prefectures of Le’an and Qingping be attacked?

It was unthinkable to expend all 3.7 million men on these battles!

If it were Daliang, a city of great significance, Lu Yuan would indeed be willing to incur heavy casualties to capture it.

But Xichang City was merely a prefectural capital.

To lose a million lives for a prefectural capital was truly unwarranted.

It would be a different story if it were the southern capital of Le Ling in Xu State.

“Aside from Xichang City, what’s the situation with the other Xu forces in Dongping Prefecture?” Lu Yuan turned and asked someone responsible for intelligence on the side.

With a million Xu Army in the eastern prefecture, now that five hundred thousand were gathered in Xichang City, it was unclear how the rest were distributed.

“Back to Your Majesty,”

The man bowed and then answered: “Besides Xichang City, Xu Army has established two strongholds in Dongping Prefecture.

One is Shouzhang City, which lies to the south of Dongping Prefecture, garrisoning three hundred thousand Xu soldiers and housing five Inborn Grandmasters.

The other, Wuyan City, lies east of Xichang and can be considered the rear.

Xu Army has stationed two hundred thousand men there, with three Inborn Grandmasters.”

Lu Yuan unfolded the map and took a look before frowning: “Xu Army has turned Wuyan City into the second line of defense, it seems.”

The shape of Dongping Prefecture was roughly that of an irregular rectangle, or, to be exact, an inverted trapezoid.

Last year, Chu Army marched north and captured the western three prefectures of Dongping.

Therefore, the western part of Dongping Prefecture was already under Chu control.

Xichang City was located at the center of Dongping Prefecture, from which the Xu Army could shield several prefectures in the central area.

Shouzhang City lay about four hundred li to the south of Xichang City, near the border between Liang Prefecture and Dongping Prefecture, making it a stronghold in the south.

With Xu Army controlling this city, they could defend the area south of Xichang while blocking the route from the southwest of Dongping to Le’an Prefecture for any Chu forces.

If Chu Army wished to pass this way, the three hundred thousand Xu forces in the city could emerge at any time, posing a serious threat to the Chu rear, a position of extreme strategic importance.

Indeed, these two cities, supporting each other, effectively sealed off the path from Liang Prefecture to Le’an Prefecture for the Chu forces.