Chapter 539: Chapter 259: United Front Attack on Yi_2

In the end, they still had to swallow their pride and accept this loss.

Therefore, Cui Changqing was not afraid of Su Country’s reaction at all. It was just one thing that made him feel embarrassed.

After mentioning the strategy above, Cui Changqing said with a bitter face: “It’s just that with this chaos, Su Country’s population has greatly decreased, people’s livelihoods have declined, and the local situation has become even poorer. The original annual aid from Su Country of two million silver taels and one million stones of grain might be reduced, or even stopped altogether.

Without this money, if His Majesty wants to wage war next year and confront the Great Changhe Country, it might be difficult in terms of funds and grain.”

Recently, Lu Yuan summoned Cui Changqing and Li Liang to discuss important matters with these two highest civilian and military officials in the city.

That was Lu Yuan’s plan to officially send troops to Da Changhe Country next year, that is, in the fourth year of Shenwu, and intervene in their internal strife.

Once the army was assembled, the issues of the supply of grain and money, the allocation of troops, and who to leave behind to guard the country needed to be properly arranged.

So it was natural for Cui Changqing and Li Liang to come up with a plan to help.

But they didn’t expect…

Before the three of them could discuss a specific plan, Su Country sent such a “surprise” over there first.

The grains were not a big issue.

With the Jianghan Plain and Dongting Lake, Chu State was not lacking in grain.

But without the two million silver taels supplied by Su Country, the military expenses for Lu Yuan’s 100,000 troops would be left with only three million silver taels from Nanhai Country.

Although three million silver taels could guarantee the minimum expenses, they would be severely restricted, so what’s the point of starting a war?

This was a war to destroy a country, and Lu Yuan was aiming for at least conquering one prefecture.

What good could come from fighting such a war with their hands tied?

‘Could it be that we’ll have to use the inner treasury in the end?’

Thinking this in his heart, Lu Yuan sighed, but his face remained calm as he said, “It’s not a problem. This year’s assistance from Su Country and Nanhai Country has arrived, and the five million silver taels have been accounted for.”

With this money, even if only three million silver taels were available from Nanhai Country next year, it should be enough to support the army for three years.”

Upon hearing this, Cui Changqing couldn’t help but nod and say helplessly, “It’s just that with this, His Majesty’s campaign against the Great Changhe Country must not be prolonged too much, and it’s best if it could be finished within three or four years. Otherwise, the financial burden on the court will become unbearable.”

Nevertheless, Cui Changqing didn’t hold much hope for this.

The war to destroy a country was not something that could be easily ended.

With the size of the Great Changhe Country, it would take at least three to five years, if not ten, to prepare properly for Chu State to swallow them up.

After all, the situation in Great Changhe Country was extremely complicated, as it was located in southwestern Yi.

Since the country was currently in turmoil, they were fighting each other, so not many people would get involved as it was considered a domestic affair of southwestern Yi.

However, once Lu Yuan, who represented the eastern Yang political power, led the army and marched in, the meaning of this war would change entirely.

Would the other two rulers of southwestern Yi, Dali and Nanzhao, not have other ideas?

Would they think that Chu State’s intervention in the Great Changhe Country is an indication that the eastern Yang people are finally extending their hands to southwestern Yi after successively eliminating the Miao, Qiang, Barbarian, Yue, and other tribes, to wipe out these Yi people?

If that’s what they think, it would change the nature of the conflict entirely.

All of a sudden, it’s not just a simple state competition, but a struggle of race, culture, and survival.

At that time, under the suspicion of these two countries, they might send troops to interfere in the internal strife of the Great Changhe Country, and then the three countries would join forces to fight against Lu Yuan, which is not impossible.

So this war was never about attacking the Great Changhe Country; that was never the focal point.

The key aspect of this war was that after thousands of years, the eastern Yang forces represented by Lu Yuan had finally broken the original rules and began to interfere in the southwestern Yi territory, attacking these Yi people.

This was the core issue of the war.

It was precisely because of this weight that Lu Yuan had always been very cautious about sending troops to the Great Changhe Country.

Not only was there a lack of money and grain, but he was also worried that once the war started, there would be no turning back, and it couldn’t be stopped.

By that time, a protracted war lasting for ten years would not be an exaggeration.

After all, what Lu Yuan was facing was the entire southwestern Yi power, which occupied six or seven prefectures and had a population of over ten million, led by the three countries of southwestern Yi.

Starting a war against them would be no different from starting a war with the Ning Country at this time.

Both sides were forces of the same scale.

The only areas where the southwestern Yi was inferior to the Ning Country were their smaller population, less elite troops, less prosperous territory, and lack of unity, as they were divided into three factions, each governing themselves, without much unity.

However, with so many problems, the pressure on Chu State to challenge this behemoth would still be immense.

Had it not been for the doubling of the state’s financial income, Zhou Qing’s Inborn breakthrough, and Sun Siwen’s rapid pursuit, as well as the rapid expansion of Chu State’s hard and soft power, Lu Yuan would never have dared to make this decision lightly.

And now that he had finally made such a difficult decision, Su Country had presented him with such a “surprise”, which was a very ominous sign.

Lu Yuan, who was well aware that he lived in a world of immortals and had practiced the Dao of Fortune, began to doubt whether his decision was correct.