To achieve immortality, I cultivate using Qi Luck

Chapter 774: Chapter 337: Strategic Adjustment_3

Fortunately, many Aristocratic Families in Hanzhong County had more or less concealed their population.

Therefore, after the start of spring next year, the prefect would begin the population census.

By then, the displaced people who fled due to the war would also have returned.

By finding out the concealed population, the headcount of Hanzhong County might increase by tens of thousands, and the tax revenue would also increase.”

Compared to the newly established Chu State, countries like Zhou, Ning, and Liang have powerful Aristocratic Families everywhere. These high-ranking families intermarry and entangle with each other, weaving a web of mutual interests.

In this network, although the imperial power is strong, it cannot determine everything.

Even the imperial power itself is part of this network of rights and relationships.

Therefore, under such constraints, it is natural to see the emergence of many vested interest groups in various countries, namely the Aristocratic Families and powerful elites.

These top figures hide their population and do not pay taxes, like parasites living off the Dynasty, only knowing how to feed but not to contribute.

Thus, although countries like Zhou and Ning have a profound foundation and great potential, the strength they can ultimately exert is far less than what they are capable of.

The Chu State has only eight million people, but its military strength is on par with Ning Country, which has double its population.

Is it because Chu people are inherently stronger than Ning people, or Chu’s territory is more abundant than Ning’s?

Of course not.

About ten years ago, many Chu and Ning people shared the same identity as the people of Yue!

However, born from the same origin, with half the population, the Chu State managed to raise an army comparable to that of Ning and develop twice the potential.

From where does this additional potential come from?

Or where has the other half of Ning’s potential gone?

Naturally, it has been eaten up by Aristocratic families, local officials, and powerful local elites.

Layer upon layer of this consumption, half of Ning Country is gone.

Zhou Country hasn’t experienced the revitalization seen in Ning Country yet!

Having been established for hundreds of years, Zhou has not experienced the pain of national extinction. The corruption within and the trouble from powerful family clans are even more severe than in Ning.

Chu State has just been established, and Lu Yuan and his disciples are of humble origin, with not much connection to those Aristocratic families.

So, they can proceed without hesitation to conduct census checks and crack down on bureaucracy, thus maintaining Chu State’s tax revenue and integrity, without being occupied by bloodsucking parasites.

Therefore, within Zhou Country, although it has a population of 20 million on the surface, Lu Yuan estimates that there might be millions more hidden by the Aristocratic families, who do not appear on government household records.

However, in Hanzhong County, the phenomenon of hidden households should not be so serious.

After all, more than ten years ago, Lu Yuan led his troops through Hanzhong County.

After such a disaster, the original tangled roots in Hanzhong County had been cleaned up.

Even if it has recovered a bit in recent years, it is not significant.

Once the officials are in place and Huang Xuan’s heavy forces pressure the area, once the investigation is carried out, everything will be clean and clear.

Having come from the local level step by step, Lu Yuan is very clear about this, so after praising a few court officials and the Hanzhong prefect, he let the others leave.

However, after they left, he continued to look through the population of each prefecture and county in Hanzhong, deep in thought.

After reviewing all the data and carefully verifying Hanzhong County’s tax revenue again, Lu Yuan issued another edict.

He ordered the bureaus to draft an edict, urging Huang Xuan, the general of the West Three Prefectures, to recruit three more Forbidden armies in Hanzhong County and train them locally. Upon completion of the training, the original three old Forbidden armies stationed in Hanzhong could return to Baling for rest and recuperation.

As for Hanzhong, it would be guarded by the five newly recruited and trained Forbidden armies.

Knowing of the Heaven and Earth catastrophe, Lu Yuan has planned to unify Yangzhou as soon as possible.

And the best time for unification is within ten years.

With the current scale of Ning’s 800,000-strong army, Chu will have to deploy at least 500,000 troops to attack Ning, which is the minimum requirement.

Therefore, while the deadline for the eastern expedition is not yet approaching, it has become inevitable to expand the army as much as possible now.

However, in each county of the Chu State, after years of conscription, the qualified soldiers have mostly been used.

The remaining few are generally misfits and not suitable for significant use.

Now that Hanzhong has just been conquered, its population is quite rich, with more than 1.6 million people.

Given the ratio of one soldier for every three households, it would be enough to recruit 100,000 qualified troops.

With the recruitment of three more Forbidden armies, the Chu State’s main force would expand, possessing a total of 25 Forbidden armies, totaling 500,000 troops.

In addition, there are 160,000 county soldiers in the six counties, 50,000 naval soldiers, and 10,000 Jinwu Guards and palace guards.

Upon completion of the expansion, Chu would have a total of 720,000 troops, not much different from Ning’s 800,000-strong army.

“Next year, I will dispatch troops again to sweep and conquer Lingnan.

With the 5 million population from the three provinces of the Lingnan two countries, I can easily recruit another 200,000 to 300,000 troops.

By then, with a national army of one million, it will be easy to gather 500,000 troops for the Eastern Expedition.

Within three to five years, I can proceed with the eastern expedition against Ning Country.”

Lu Yuan calculated secretly in his heart, and for his future strategic plans, he had a rough prototype.

Subsequently, he gathered the officials for planning and adjustments. As the edicts were issued one after another, Chu was already secretly preparing a massive Southern Expedition shortly after the Hanzhong battle had ended.

However, this time there was no such cover as the huge grain trade with Zhou Country.

So, even if they tried to conceal the news as much as possible, some relevant loopholes were inevitably noticed by outsiders.

The surrounding forces could not help but feel uneasy.

Amidst the turmoil, on the eighth day of the eleventh month in the ninth year of Shenwu, Han Hu escorted the 100 million silver tales of the Barbarians back to Baling.

After Lu Yuan checked the amount and confirmed its accuracy, he rewarded Han Hu with some treasures and money after depositing the silver into the national treasury.

On the sixteenth day of the eleventh month, more than ten large ships came from Jiangdong, entered Chu’s territory, and arrived in Baling.

The Dao master of Feishuang Tao brought thousands of followers and finally arrived in Chu State.