Chapter 540: Chapter 259: United Front Attack on Yi_3

However, before he could think deeper along this line, his disciple Li Liang, who had been listening to their conversation, brought up another idea: “Your Majesty, the Prime Minister is right. Without the military funding from Su Country, our campaign has become more difficult.

However, in my opinion, the loss in financial support is not that important.

This internal strife in Su Country may actually be a good thing for our plan to conquer the Great Changhe Country.”

Good thing?

Hearing Li Liang’s argument, Lu Yuan was taken aback and then asked, “What do you mean by that?”

Li Liang bowed and said, “Your Majesty, as I see it, the underlying cause of this internal strife in Su Country is nothing more than the excessive oppression of the local people by the Su King due to his need to support his 100,000-strong army.

Thus, the fundamental solution is either to reduce the size of the army, thereby reducing the burden on the people, or to expand the kingdom’s territory and seek another place to support the army, which Su Country can no longer afford.

The former seems unlikely given the Su King’s nature.

But the latter may be worth considering…”

At this point, this disciple of Lu Yuan looked at the two of them and then smiled and said, “Just now, Your Majesty and we were discussing how we could deal with the joint resistance of the three southwestern Yi countries if we only had the power of the Great Chu?

Chu state is weak and only has Your Majesty and an army of a hundred thousand.

But we do have allies near Chu.

The Su King has both the strength and ambition, and his intention to expand the territory is beyond doubt.

In that case, since we’re going to fight Great Changhe Country anyway, why not invite Su Country to join us?

Even though they’re dealing with this internal rebellion, there’s no doubt that the Su King has the ability to suppress it. After this chaos, Su Country’s finances will be greatly reduced, making it even more difficult to support their 100,000-strong army.

The Su King must be worried about how to deal with this situation, right?

Now, if Your Majesty invites him to join forces and attack the Great Changhe Country together, the Su King, who urgently needs to conquer new territories and increase taxes, would definitely agree.

Then, with Your Majesty attacking from the east and the Su King from the south, the two countries’ pincer attack will be hard for the Great Changhe Country to withstand.

Not only Su country, but also Xichuan State has territory bordering the southwestern Yi countries.

Xichuan is impoverished, with a small population and waning strength.

Wouldn’t the King of Xichuan want to expand his territory and spread Buddhism to the southwestern Yi countries?

Both of these countries can be persuaded to join us.

If we can obtain the support of both countries, our plan to conquer the southwestern Yi countries will be even easier.”

Li Liang finished his strategy and made a conclusion.

Before him, Lu Yuan and Cui Changqing enlightened after listening to him.

That’s right.

Relying solely on Chu’s strength would indeed not be enough to handle the southwestern Yi countries.

But if we could count on Su Country and Xichuan Country, with the three nations joining forces, the chances of success would be much greater.

Firstly, even after going through the internal strife, Su Country’s strength might be reduced, but they still have 60,000 or 70,000 elite soldiers left. Even if they were to recruit some of these rebels, their army would continue to grow.

So for this northern expedition, even if they need to leave some troops to defend their borders, Su Country can still send out 50,000 elite soldiers.

As for Xichuan Country, they might be weaker but still can contribute around 10,000 soldiers, which is not bad.

In fact, Lu Yuan didn’t really expect them to provide much military force.

What he really valued was the Inborn Grandmaster, Jihui.

As long as Jihui could participate, their alliance would have the power of three Inborn Grandmasters and more than a hundred thousand soldiers.

With such strength, even if the southwestern Yi countries joined forces against them, they would still have the ability to fight back.

Moreover, it’s not just these two countries.

Jiuzhen County is also adjacent to southwestern Yi countries.

If we could persuade Marquis Wuping, Xie Ning, to join us, the chances of victory would be even greater considering his 50,000 elite soldiers.

The only issue is whether Xie Ning would agree or not.

‘Power, fame and fortune are what everyone desires.

Having been in Jiuzhen County for ten years, Xie Ning has wielded great power there, controlling life and death, and easily manipulating events.

Now, with the imperial court thousands of miles away and our three-country alliance surrounding him, he is isolated and vulnerable.

At this moment, who’s to say he hasn’t considered looking out for himself?

Comparing to others who have succeeded in carving out their own kingdoms, becoming kings with their dynasties and family as a foundation, wouldn’t it be better than being an ordinary martial marquis for a single generation under the imperial court?’

Lu Yuan couldn’t believe that Xie Ning would really be a saint.

With so many promises and incentives, wouldn’t he be tempted?

As long as he was tempted, everything would naturally fall into place.

With these thoughts in mind and after discussing various strategies, the confusion and worries in Lu Yuan’s heart dissipated.

Raising his head, looking at the two ministers before him, he smiled and said, “Li Liang is right, our Great Chu should not be the only one to contribute troops and efforts to expand the territory as the descendants of the Three Emperors.

Other countries, like Su, Xichuan, and Jiuzhen, should also be contacted more closely.”

At this point, Lu Yuan turned to Cui Changqing and said, “Leave this matter to the Prime Minister. You should order the Honglu Temple to send more emissaries to these three countries and invite them to join forces. You must make this happen.”

Cui Changqing accepted the order and said, “This minister obeys.”

Lu Yuan nodded slightly and then smiled at his disciple, “Li Liang, you have done well to come up with this plan, which has brought clarity to my mind. Over the years, you have made great progress, and I am very pleased. You’re ready to take on more responsibilities.”

His words were now not as a ruler and minister, but as a master and disciple.

Lu Yuan had always appreciated and valued his disciple who had helped him a lot and did not skimp on rewards.

Li Liang heard the appreciation and promotion in his Master’s words and was overjoyed, but he remained humble and said, “This is all due to Master’s teachings, and I cannot take credit for it.”

As he said this, he began to dream.

His fellow disciple Chu Wei had already been appointed as the head of the naval forces, with rumors of promotion to General Wei.

Now that the position of General Wei was occupied by someone else, only the ranks of Cheqi and Piaoqi generals were left for his own promotion.

This position was even more prestigious than the Grand General, let alone the ordinary General Wei.

If he could be given this position, he would instantly surpass Chu Wei and rank second among his peers, only below his eldest senior brother Zhou Qing.

As he thought about the glorious future, Li Liang’s heart surged with excitement, and he couldn’t help but look forward to the upcoming battle, where he could make a name for himself and be rewarded.