Chapter 205 The Ambition of the King of Chu
The recapture of Nanjun has greatly boosted the confidence of the whole country for Chu State. With Nanjun, there will be a thick barrier to the east of Chu State.
The current territory of Chu State is entirely based on Huainan and Huaibei, and the Huaihe River in the north can be relied on to defend against attacks from other countries. The south is full of savages, so naturally there is nothing to worry about. The east is the sea, let alone.
The only danger is Qin from the west.
Not only is Qin State no smaller than Chu State in terms of population and territory, but also has far more brave men in his country than Chu State, and his aggressiveness is even more aggressive.
The land that Chu State lost before was all swallowed up by Qin State in the west, and they were all richly populated lands. Now these lands have become the solid rear granary of Qin State.
Under the strong and fierce offensive of Qin State, the capital of Chu State has been gradually moved from Jiangling in the east to Chen, and then to the neighboring Shouchun, which can be said to have been retreating all the time.
And the Guangrao land in the west of Chu State, Hanzhong County at first, Nanyang County later, Nanjun County and Qianzhong County later, the territory of four counties, with a combined population of more than 2 million, was just like this. The state has been taken away, do you think that the whole state of Chu can not hate it?
However, in order to win Nanjun, Chu State paid a heavy price. Not to mention the loss of the hundreds of thousands of troops, but the mountain-like loss of materials in the country wiped out most of Chu State's treasury.
After all, Qin State is a strong Qin State, and it is absolutely a terrifying thought to want to snatch a piece of fat from his mouth when he is prepared.
The 100,000 Nanjun defenders, under the leadership of their generals, all died for the country, and the people of Nanjun also suffered.
Knowing that the situation in Nanjun was dangerous, the Qin army forcefully recruited the people to help defend the city. Even though these people might rebel, under Qin's strict defense, there were still a small number of people who could really rebel or dared to rebel.
In the entire South County, 1/3 of the young and middle-aged population died in this war, and the rest were also displaced, becoming refugees running around.
The ruins of Nanjun brought great troubles to those Chu officials who came to receive them, and they were so busy that they were overwhelmed.
However, all of this did not stop King Chu from letting go of his determination to continue attacking Qin. He wanted to take advantage of this great opportunity to regain all the territories that Chu had lost.
After taking Nanjun, the army rested for a while, and then continued to march north, which is today's Nanyang County.
This time the large army attacked, under the training of Nanjun's offensive and defensive battles, Chu State obtained a group of extremely elite veterans, a total of 100,000 soldiers, together with regular troops from other parts of Chu State, formed a 300,000 army. People's Northern Expedition Army.
In today's Nanyang County, there are only 100,000 people staying behind, and now that the Qin State is constantly at a disadvantage, their morale is relatively low, and their combat effectiveness is no longer what it was when the Qin State was strong.
After the king of Chu discussed with the important ministers, they believed that as long as the state of Chu could pay more than 100,000 casualties, it was very possible to win Nanyang County.
As for what kind of impact the more than 100,000 casualties will have on the state of Chu, and how many families will lose their loved ones, it is not in the consideration of the King of Chu!
In addition to the 300,000 Northern Expeditionary Army, there was also a partial army of 50,000. They were ordered to attack Qianzhong County in the south of Chu State, a county that Qin State had just acquired less than ten years ago.
This Qianzhong County was a county that had just been ruled by the Chu State before it conquered the local barbarians.
The entire Qianzhong County is extremely backward and sparsely populated. It is full of miasma and poisonous smoke, deep mountains and old forests, and there are often savages who are not civilized and accept any civilization.
However, some of them have accepted a certain degree of civilized savages, formed some tribes, and some even established some tribal countries, just like the eight hundred princes in the early Western Zhou Dynasty, many of them were formed by a powerful tribe.
Because of the powerful strength and advanced culture of Chu State, these people regard Chu State as their suzerain country, and slowly incorporate the culture of Chu State into the local area and gradually infiltrate it.
When the time was right and Qianzhong County had developed a little foundation, Chu State wiped out all the local tribes, sent soldiers and horses to guard them, established counties and counties, and implemented the rule of Chu State.
However, after the loss of Nan County, Qianzhong County was too far away from Chu State. Although it was still connected to Changsha County of Chu State, the roads in it were blocked and difficult to cross. Gradually, the entire county turned to Qin State.
However, because it is a barren land, the population doesn't even know if there are 100,000 people, and the Qin State didn't pay too much attention to it, so he randomly sent tens of thousands of people to guard it, which was barely enough to maintain law and order, so he left it alone.
Now that 50,000 people from Chu State are attacking, to be honest, they are really overqualified.
But these 50,000 people are not just attacking Qianzhong County, such a small frontier county. They also shoulder another important goal, which is to re-communicate the connection between Chu State and Yelang in the southwest direction.
The current Yelang established the so-called Yelang Kingdom, became the suzerain of many barbarians in the southwest, and had a great momentum in the Yunnan-Guizhou area.
But no one knew that this so-called Yelang Kingdom was established by generals who sent a partial army of 10,000 to 20,000 people from Chu State to expand its territory in the southwest.
Because of the capture of Nanjun and the loss of Qianzhong County, the connection between Chu State and Yelang Kingdom was completely cut off, and Yelang County became the current Yelang Kingdom.
The current Chu army of 50,000 people, apart from the goal of regaining Qianzhong County, also has the goal of bringing Yelang Kingdom under the rule of Chu Kingdom again.
This is not an easy task. Yelang Kingdom is located in a wilder place than Qianzhong County. The people there are far away from the Central Plains and are even more uncivilized. It is no problem to treat them as savages.
Moreover, there are rugged roads, dense mountains and forests, and miasma and poisonous smoke everywhere. Just like Zhuge Liang's seven captures of Meng Huo, he encountered various challenges from nature. This is even more so now that it has not been developed by the Han Dynasty.
And there is already a country here, even if it is a backward country with a tribal system, it also means that the people here have a certain degree of organizational power.
Although the population in the southwest region is small, I don't know if there are 500,000 people in total, but it is precisely because of the sparse population that there are poisonous snakes and beasts everywhere. The local people have to fight against those existences in order to survive. Naturally, they are extremely brave .
Although the Chu army is well-equipped and well-trained, it is still a question of whether they can take Yelang Kingdom.
However, going abroad is not a place without advantages, that is, in Yelang, many of the people in power today are former ministers of Chu State.
They are yearning to return to the prosperous Central Plains. Anyway, being someone's courtiers is not a good thing. Why should they suffer with their king in this barren land!