Chapter 504: Chapter 247 Confrontation and Breakup_3
Baling and Changsha, with a total of 130,000 soldiers, were lined up along the Yangtze River and Xiang River, facing the soldiers of Ning Country across the border from Yuzhang Prefecture.
On Changsha’s side, troops were mobilized frequently, clearly targeting Ning Country.
This naturally alerted Ning Country as well.
Shangguan Ming, who was in charge of 100,000 naval forces in Yuzhang Prefecture, immediately issued an order upon hearing about Lu Yuan’s movements. This old acquaintance, who once wanted to become his father-in-law, ordered:
Withdraw 50,000 naval forces to the west, directly blocking the Yangtze River’s waterway and dividing Changsha into two parts, completely isolating the south and the north.
Then, he led the remaining 50,000 naval forces from Xunyang Camp to Chaisang Prefecture, confronting Lu Yuan’s 100,000 soldiers in Baling City.
After that, he ordered the county soldiers of Yuzhang Prefecture to gather 30,000 troops and rush to Yichun Mansion, confronting the soldiers in Changsha City.
In this way, both sides deployed 130,000 troops on water and land, beginning a standoff.
At this moment, a large number of soldiers were gathered along the river, and the clouds of war loomed.
Within the two prefectures of Dongting and Yuzhang, there was a suffocating atmosphere as if a storm was brewing.
Neighboring countries also acted upon hearing the news, sending a large number of spies and messengers to Baling and Chaisang, trying to probe for information.
“We rely on the power of boats for transportation, trade, and military expeditions among our countries along the Yangtze River.
But now, Ning Country’s naval forces are unobstructed, obstructing the river surface inside our country, causing the waterway to be blocked and our territory to be severed into the north and south.
This is truly a great humiliation.”
In Baling City, on a tower in the north of the city, Lu Yuan sighed as he watched Ning Country’s naval forces flaunt their power on the river to the north, surrounded by a group of ministers and generals: “After this turmoil, we must establish a new naval force and build a powerful fleet to guard the river.
Even our waterways shouldn’t be freely accessible to outsiders.
We must never face such a situation again in the future.”
In this standoff, although both sides had similar strength – 130,000 troops and one Inborn expert each, neither side was significantly weaker than the other.
On the surface, neither side appeared to be at a disadvantage.
But in terms of details, Ning Country’s naval forces had already completely overwhelmed Changsha with their absolute advantage in water warfare.
Yue Country, as a major power in Jiangnan, naturally developed their naval forces due to its extensive waterway network and the natural barrier formed by the Yangtze River.
These powerful naval forces, with 100,000 vessels blocking the river surface, had saved Yue Country from crises countless times.
For example, during the Dongting Rebellion, 300,000 Zhou soldiers gathered at Tianmen Prefecture, threatening the southern parts of Dongting Prefecture.
But no matter how many elite soldiers and horses the Zhou people had, facing the surging Yangtze River, they were still blocked by the naval forces and unable to move forward beyond the northern bank of the river.
In the end, they could only look at the river and sigh, unable to cross it.
More recently, there was the conquest of Shen Qiu in the north just two months ago.
With 500,000 Liang soldiers lined up along the Yangtze River, Yue Country only needed to place 100,000 naval forces on the river surface, leaving the enemy helpless.
Eventually, hundreds of thousands of troops were stuck on the north bank and had to withdraw in frustration after expending a lot of resources.
These examples all illustrate the importance of a powerful naval force to a Jiangnan regime.
Now that the Yue House had fallen, Ning Country inherited its mantle, along with control of the original 100,000 naval forces of Yue Country.
Therefore, relying on this naval force, they could continue to act unscrupulously, dominating the Yangtze River Basin as Yue Country had done before, and pressuring Jiangnan.
But Changsha didn’t have such good fortune.
Lu Yuan was not a native of Jinling’s aristocracy but came from humble beginnings, and he had struggled to his current position through his own efforts.
At the time of Changsha’s establishment, everything was in need of development, and everything had to be gradually accumulated from scratch.
Several years have passed since then, and the country has stabilized, and in his hands, Lu Yuan amassed an Elite Army of over 200,000 soldiers, slowly getting back on track.
But when it comes to the naval forces, Lu Yuan, who has never accumulated any naval forces, nor had any demand for them, is at a loss.
Previously, when he relied on the Yue State court, he didn’t feel too many challenges when borrowing their naval forces.
But now that they have turned against Ning Country, the naval forces that once supported him have become his enemies.
Suddenly, Lu Yuan could relate to the feelings of the Zhou People and Liang People, knowing how disgusting it was to face a powerful naval force.
Thus, being constrained by this, he naturally wanted a change.
Establishing a strong naval force after the war was a strategy proposed by Lu Yuan to address his own weaknesses.
He had already decided.
In the next five years, ten years, or even longer, he would invest a lot of energy into achieving this goal.
‘However, doing so would mean astronomical spending in terms of money and provisions.’
Lu Yuan thought of this and his heart twitched involuntarily.
Naval forces are not cheap troops. The cost of maintaining a naval force of the same size could be twice as high as that of the same-size army.
If he wants to raise a naval force of 100,000, it is equivalent to raising an army of 200,000, almost doubling the current military spending of Changsha.
Even if he only raises enough naval forces to protect the Yangtze River, it would still require at least a thousand ships and 40,000 to 50,000 men.
This is equivalent to raising another 100,000-strong army.
At present, Changsha already struggles to maintain its 240,000-strong army, having to rob Peter to pay Paul.
If he raised another 50,000 naval forces, there’s no doubt that it would bankrupt Changsha’s finances instantly.
‘Fortunately, a naval force can’t be built overnight, so I can invest slowly over five or ten years and accumulate gradually. This way, the expenses won’t be too significant, and the finances can still be sustained.’
As Lu Yuan thought this, he looked once more at the Ning Country beyond the city wall, confirming that they dare not land. He lost interest then, so he ordered his troops to descend from the city wall and return to the city.
In the following days.
The army of Changsha guarded the riverbank, while the naval forces of Ning Country flaunted their prowess on the river. Neither side dared to land or go ashore, so they cursed each other across the river.
In the midst of the noise and commotion, half a month passed.
Thus, on the seventh day of the twelfth month of the first year of Jianji, the messenger Lu Yuan had sent to Ninghai Country finally received a reply.
Su Xuange agreed to his request, officially raising troops in Ninghai Country in response. Following Lu Yuan’s announcement, Ninghai Country refused to follow the usurper Ning Country and withdrew from the Jinling court tribute system.
Then, Ninghai Country deployed 100,000 troops along the border with their ally Jiuzhen, and confronted Marquis Wuping, Xie Ning, from the other side.
With both Changsha and Ninghai nations taking action, the closely following Nanhai Country naturally could not detach itself.
Finally, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, after learning of Su Xuange’s decision to support Lu Yuan and break with Ning Country, Yan Wangqiu, left with no choice, announced that Nanhai Country would also withdraw from the Jinling court and move towards independence.
Whether it was because he didn’t want to completely offend Ning Country, or whether Yan Wangqiu was too old and frail to take any action, is unknown.
After declaring independence, Nanhai Country only sent a messenger to notify Jinling City, but unlike the other two countries, they did not station troops at the border with Ning Country to confront them.
Nonetheless, with the successive declarations from Nanhai and Ninghai countries,
Up until this point.
In terms of independence, the small circle of the Three Nation Alliance with Lu Yuan would once again advance or retreat together.
After the Three Nations’ consecutive declarations, the pressure was then on Jinling City and Ning Country’s side.