To achieve immortality, I cultivate using Qi Luck

Chapter 1137: Chapter 459 Post-War Tally Chapter 1137: Chapter 459 Post-War Tally Of the five million prisoners, Lu Yuan did not release them all at once, but instead, sifted through them.

He kept those prisoners who were in their prime and had war experience, specifically the veteran soldiers.

In the third Northern Expedition, even though Chu State made smooth progress and could be said to be unstoppable on several battlefields,

whether it was counterattacking Wei Country, annihilating Liang, or expelling Xu State, Chu State would inevitably suffer some losses even in victory.

About 600,000 casualties among the Chu army were unavoidable.

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Moreover, next year Lu Yuan had decided to use five million elite troops for four Northern Expeditions; relying solely on Chu’s current military strength, it would be quite strained to meet this target, and it might even be impossible.

Before this year’s four Northern Expeditions, Chu State had 6.18 million troops in the region north of the Yangtze River.

After the Northern Expedition concluded, first the Yuzhou Expeditionary Camp withdrew 500,000 people and five Inborns, who headed south to Yangzhou to reinforce the homeland.

Then there were losses of 600,000 troops across several battlefields.

Now having seized the Qingzhou region and the four counties of Liang as well as the three counties of Xu State, establishing local government and county soldiers in these areas required 210,000 more people and seven Inborns.

Just these three assignments alone took away 1.31 million troops and twelve Inborns.

Excluding these, the forces remaining in Lu Yuan’s Central State were only 4.87 million people and 104 Inborns.

This amount of forces was just enough to meet the needs of the four Northern Expeditions.

Source: .com, updated on ƝονǤο.ƈ0

But don’t forget, on the west side, Lu Yuan also had the Yongzhou Camp, needing it to guard against the Western region foreign tribes.

In the North where Qingzhou was just seized, there was also the Xuzhou Camp, specifically to guard against the recently defeated Xu State, staying alert for the opponent’s counterattack.

Just these two locations would require 1.4 million troops and twenty Inborns.

Additionally, now that Chu State fully occupied Qingzhou, the pirates who came from the East Sea and continually harassed the coastal areas of Central State had to be faced by Chu as well.

The coastal stretch of Qing and Yu states, over tens of thousands of miles, was preyed upon by pirates who would come ashore to plunder and even attack the prefectures and counties, numbering in the tens or hundreds of millions.

Originally, during the war or when these regions were enemy territories, Chu’s forces could not manage everything and had to ignore these as secondary targets.

But now, since the above regions all belonged to Chu State, Lu Yuan, as the ruler of Chu, naturally had the duty to ensure the security of the maritime borders and protect the hinterland populace.

Therefore, he planned to imitate the homeland and set up a naval military expedition along the tens of thousands of miles of coastal borders in Qing and Yu states, specifically to combat those pirates and safeguard coastal peace.

To protect tens of thousands of miles of maritime frontier, the number of people couldn’t be too few; at least a million were needed, plus more than ten Inborns, just to ensure there was adequate defensive maneuverability.

That became yet another focus for troop deployment.

So, after such selecting and choosing, the troops Chu army could use for launching a Northern Expedition had become not so plentiful.

Starting a new round of expansion was imperative, and no further delay was possible.

And the best source for this expansion was, of course, the prisoners of the various nations who had just ended their wars and had sufficient battlefield experience.

The militiamen and the old, weak, and sick forcibly conscripted by the other nations were certainly not what Lu Yuan was looking for; they were not his targets.

What he valued were the elite forces that nations held back and veteran soldiers who had fought numerous tough battles.

Over the years, through its southern and northern campaigns, Chu State had captured a large number of troops from various nations, which included both ragtag armies and elite forces.

Lu Yuan’s goal was to release the weak to relieve logistic pressure, restore local production, and balance the population structure.

Then select the elites to supplement Chu’s Forbidden Army, letting them fight for Chu State.

“With over five million prisoners, a careful selection should yield around a million elites to supplement the main Forbidden Army.

Even those who are just shy of the mark could return to their hometowns to serve as local prefecture and county soldiers, relieving local law enforcement pressure,” Lu Yuan thought to himself, and he soon issued the decree.

Release the prisoners, select the elites, expand the Forbidden Army.

…

Besides absorbing soldiers from the prisoners of various countries, Chu State also gained a great deal in terms of Inborn Grandmasters during this Northern Expedition.

First and foremost were the Inborns from different countries who surrendered on the battlefield.

From Liang, thanks to defectors, Chu State initially obtained the loyalty of five Liang Inborns, and after the fall of Liang, another five came to seek refuge.

Just from Liang alone, Chu State gained a total of ten Inborns.

Then there was Xu State, where several major battles led to seven Inborns from Xu, trapped and unable to escape, choosing to surrender to Chu State.

That was another seven Inborns.

Another was Immortal Yun County, which had Haiyun Pavilion, a local Immortal Sect in Yuzhou.

After Chu State took control of the area, Lu Yuan directly ordered that all Inborns from Haiyun Pavilion must come out of seclusion and serve Chu State.

Moreover, Inborns from Haiyun Pavilion who had entered the services of Zheng and Jin were also required to be recalled and join Chu under his command.

This was undoubtedly an extremely harsh command.

One might even say that it turned Haiyun Pavilion into mere fish on the chopping block, to be cut and molded at Chu’s will.

If it had been in the past, Haiyun Pavilion would have been indignant and stood up against Chu State outright.

But times had changed, and today was not like the past days.

The Cultivators of Haiyun Pavilion had already ascended from the Sea; their Inborn Grandmasters who served in the wars over the years had suffered considerable losses, and their strength had been weakened.

In contrast, Chu State, with its three Northern Expeditions over the years, rose in prominence like the midday sun, increasingly becoming the hegemon of Central State, now possessing the stature of the Heavenly Son of the Nine Provinces.