Chapter 501: Chapter 246: Severing Karma_3
And this person’s temperament was not one to be content with the status quo.
Based on Lu Yuan’s contact with him, he was a heroic figure with great ambition and ambitious aspirations.
The small Yulin county could not possibly bind him. Only a broader heaven and earth would be the direction of his heart.
“According to the report from the spies I planted in Ninghai Country, Su Xuange began imposing a massive levy on the country’s populace after returning from the Northern Expedition.
Within just over half a year, the tax in Ninghai Country has doubled compared to before.
It has put a heavy burden on the people, making their lives unbearable. In some places, massive civilian escapes occurred.
All of the extra tax money he collected was used for army expansion and improvement.
With the 20,000 captured soldiers from the Northern Expedition and the original 10,000 county soldiers, Su Xuange used them as a foundation, and then recruited another 20,000 people from the tens of thousands of militia brought back from the Northern Expedition, forming a force of 50,000 soldiers.
Then, he expanded the prefectural and county soldiers on a large scale, recruiting 50,000 people on the scale of 3,000 per prefecture and 200 per county.
He even imitated me, establishing militias on the local level.
With theseoperations, he almost established a standing army of 100,000 and tens of thousands of militias.
Although the fighting strength of these newly trained soldiers, county soldiers, and militias was doubtful.
But the number of more than 200,000 troops has been raised, and the reputation of 50,000 battle soldiers and 50,000 county soldiers was quite intimidating.
Today’s Ninghai Country is already considered a small military powerhouse on paper.”
Lu Yuan recalled the intelligence received from Ninghai Country over the past few months. He had a clear understanding of Su Xuange’s intentions.
If the small Ninghai Country simply wanted to defend itself, would there be a need for so many troops?
Just 50,000 battle soldiers and county soldiers, along with Su Xuange, an Inborn Grandmaster, would be enough to fend off attacks from the outside, ensuring Ninghai Country’s survival even against an enemy of 200,000.
So for self-defense, Ninghai Country only needed 50,000 troops.
However, now, Su Xuange disregarded the fact that his country was newly established with the people’s support, forcibly imposed harsh taxes, forced people to flee to the point of death, and expanded the military by any means necessary.
With this method of exhausting resources and wanting to expand the army, it’s hard to believe that he’s doing it for self-defense even for a three-year-old, right?
Since it’s not for self-defense, Su Xuange’s domestic tyranny, raising a large number of troops, is naturally not for show but for expansion.
Where was he planning to expand?
Geographically, there are four directions: east, south, west, and north.
To the north of Ninghai Country was Changsha Country.
Lu Yuan had a territory of thousands of miles, with more than 200,000 elite soldiers and two Inborn Grandmasters in the country. This strength was double that of Ninghai Country, making it unlikely for Su Xuange to provoke them as long as he retained his sanity.
And to the west were the southwestern Barbarian Countries.
In the southwestern Barbarian Countries, although most of them were weak, many were only a prefecture or county with tens of thousands to a hundred thousand people, truly small countries.
It would only require a few thousand to ten thousand soldiers to destroy countless countries there.
In the southwestern region, apart from these small Barbarian Countries, there were also several rulers: Da Changhe Country, Dali Country, and Nanzhao Country.
These three Barbarian Countries essentially dominated the small Barbarian Countries in the southwest.
If Ninghai Country wanted to attack those small Barbarian Countries, it would inevitably confront the three Barbarian Countries.
But these three Barbarian countries all have territories of thousands of miles, millions of people under their rule, capable of fielding tens of thousands of soldiers, and having Inborn Grandmasters to guard them.
In terms of strength, they were not weaker than Ninghai Country, even being somewhat stronger.
As long as Su Xuange is not a fool, he wouldn’t poke this hornet’s nest.
So his only remaining expansion targets are to the south and east.
And to the south of Ninghai Country was Jiuzhen County, which was originally part of Da Yue and now belongs to Da Ning.
Nowadays, Jiuzhen County has recovered in the past few years, with roughly 200,000 households and a population of just over one million.
Within this county, there are 50,000 battle soldiers led by Marquis Wuping, Xie Ning, from the Ningguo Dynasty, as well as 20,000 local county soldiers. In case of need, the county can also conscript over a hundred thousand civilian workers.
With this strength, Su Xuange’s dream of conquering Jiuzhen County was basically impossible.
“So his final goal is just Nanhai Country.”
Lu Yuan pondered in his heart.
He knew that the alliance between Changsha, Southsea, and Ninghai would eventually break when it was first established.
He had been on guard against this and had been preparing for the future break-up.
But Su Xuange’s change of heart happened much faster than expected, already setting his sights on Southsea Country.
However, it was not surprising.
Since Yan Wangqiu would soon die of old age, there would be no Inborn Grandmaster to protect Southsea Country.
Moreover, after returning from the Northern Expedition, Yan Wangqiu did not immediately establish his own battle soldier system like Su Xuange did.
Now in the entire Southsea Country, just as before, there are only over ten thousand county soldiers.
Once Yan Wangqiu dies, this strength will be virtually non-existent to any outsider.
Yet Southsea is so rich and prosperous in this chaotic world that everyone wants to take a bite of this fat lamb while surrounded by a pack of wolves.
It’s quite normal for Su Xuange to be tempted.
Not to mention him, even I would not be able to resist it.
The only difference between him and Su Xuange was probably that he wouldn’t actively betray the alliance and wouldn’t attack this ally during the alliance’s term, right?
In the chaotic world, it’s a battle of survival of the fittest.
You either strive to eat others or get eaten by others. Why else would they call it the age of struggle?
With such awareness, just like Lu Yuan, Su Xuange will naturally not be content with his current position amidst the imminent destruction of Yue Country.
Standing up together with Lu Yuan and declaring their independence was not a problem at all.
Once Changsha and Ninghai Countries took action, Southsea Country, as a member of the tripartite alliance, would inevitably join them in breaking away from Ningguo, even if they were reluctant to do so.
Therefore, for this separation, the alliance between the three countries should still advance and retreat as one without a doubt.
Four Inborn Grandmasters and nearly 400,000 soldiers would be sufficient to deter the Ningguo Dynasty, making them compromise.
Therefore, Lu Yuan waited patiently for each country’s response after sending the envoys.
At the same time, he was also waiting for the first wave of emissaries from Ning Country to arrive in Changsha after the founding of the country.
The reform of the regional hegemony in Yangzhou would soon begin.
The old system was eventually going to break, and the millennium dynasty of the coastal aristocratic families had come to sound the death knell.