Chapter 605: Chapter 281: Hard to Fill the Hole_3

Afterward, Han Shun tentatively dispatched 5,000 troops, trying to go to Panshi Prefecture to rescue Jihui.

However, they encountered the Nanzhao Army on the way, and the two sides fought fiercely. In the end, due to the overwhelming enemy forces, they had to retreat reluctantly after losing more than a thousand men.

The strategy to rescue Xichuan Country had thus failed.

Meanwhile, the Nanzhao Army there also strengthened its defenses against Chu State because of this incident.

In the border area between Panshi Prefecture and Yuzhong Prefecture, they stationed 50,000 troops to strictly prevent Chu State from intervening in Xichuan affairs.

At the same time, in the southern part of Yuzhong Prefecture, they also recruited another 50,000 troops from within Nanzhao, and sent them to the two countries’ borders, posing an offensive posture, which instantly restrained Han Shun’s hands and feet.

Facing the pressure of 100,000 troops, he had no spare capacity to do anything else.

“Finally stabilized the situation.”

Inside the Shi Cheng Royal Palace, Lu Yuan put down the latest news in his hand, and let out a slight sigh of relief.

Although the news from Xichuan Prefecture was still grim, and the situation was not optimistic.

But after 20,000 Forbidden Army arrived at Yuzhong Prefecture, the number of Chu State troops in Xichuan Prefecture reached 80,000. Among them, 30,000 were regular soldiers, and 50,000 were trained militias.

This strength was already considerable.

Although it was foolish to think of driving the Nanzhao troops out of Xichuan completely with this force,

but with these 80,000 people guarding, it was also impossible for the Nanzhao Army to invade Chu State’s Xichuan Prefecture.

Now, as they kept probing, the number of Nanzhao troops in Xichuan and Chu State’s Xichuan Prefecture became gradually clear.

With the addition of the Jianchuan Army, the enemy had around 230,000 or 240,000 men, including two Inborns from the Nanzhao royal family. It was indeed a very powerful force.

As for the forces restraining them within Xichuan, there were Hanzhong and Xichuan United Army, which had expanded to 50,000 in scale after urgent conscription of civilians.

Chu State’s 80,000 troops in Yuzhong Prefecture area.

And a few thousand remnants led by Jihui personally, who were holed up in Panshi Prefecture City.

The combined forces of the three countries amounted to only 130,000 troops.

As for Inborn Grandmasters, they had two, but Jihui was seriously injured and his combat power was greatly reduced, so he could only be counted as half an Inborn Grandmaster.

So, in terms of sheer strength, the Nanzhao Army was obviously superior, almost double the strength of the three-nation coalition.

If it weren’t for their firm defense, taking advantage of their defensive position, they would have been unable to withstand the enemy given this power gap.

However, even though they now held the line, the strength advantage of the Nanzhao Army meant that their ultimate victory was only a matter of time if the confrontation and consumption continued.

Especially considering Nanzhao’s national strength, they had only deployed more than 200,000 troops at present, far from their limit.

It was known to Lu Yuan that the 100,000 troops they had previously used to deceive other countries had not been disbanded and were still stationed near the Nanzhao capital.

Although everyone now knew that these 100,000 were just temporarily recruited militias with limited combat power,

even as militias, a force of 100,000 was still a formidable one.

If they were thrown into the Xichuan battlefield, it would undoubtedly exacerbate the already huge pressure on the three-nation coalition’s defense lines, resulting in unbearable forces.

This must not be allowed to happen.

“The defense strength on the Xichuan side is still a bit weak, especially in terms of Inborn Grandmasters. There is no Inborn Grandmaster stationed in Yuzhong Prefecture, making them too disadvantaged against the Nanzhao Army. We need to send more reinforcements there.”

Lu Yuan pondered with a frown.

The strength of the Nanzhao Army was somewhat beyond his expectations.

Most importantly, it was the eldest prince of Nanzhao, who had previously hidden his Inborn Grandmaster status from others, giving everyone a surprise.

If this prince were considered, Nanzhao Country already had three Inborn Grandmasters, making them equal in top-level military strength to the current Chu State.

In comparison, the number of soldiers that Nanzhao Country could mobilize now seemed insignificant.

After all, whether it was the more than 200,000 Nanzhao troops in Xichuan or the 100,000 soldiers now gathered in Nanzhao Country, the total was just over 300,000 people, reaching a maximum of 400,000.

Although this strength was already quite good, looking back at the heyday of Dali Country and the Great Changhe Country, both of which could amass such troops when they exerted their full strength?

Even if it was a bit exaggerated, mobilizing 500,000 to 600,000 troops wasn’t impossible.

After all, these three southwestern countries, with their dependencies, were all populous nations with a population of more than two or three million.

With such a demographic potential, mobilizing such a number of soldiers was no problem at all.

However, if the troops aren’t elite, having too many of them doesn’t mean much.

Purely in terms of numbers, for example, Xichuan Province of Chu State could now readily muster a militia of about 150,000 people.

But this was utterly meaningless.

Without adequate training, the combat capability of the militia would always be limited, making them incapable of fighting in the open field.

As for defending a city, the 80,000 soldiers currently in Xichuan Province were already sufficient.

With such a scale of troops, even if they faced an attack by 200,000 enemy soldiers, they would not be the least bit afraid.

So, simply increasing the number of troops, especially those of mixed quality, is utterly pointless. On the contrary, it may hinder the local production of Xichuan Province and further intensify the logistical consumption.

It’s an utterly impractical thing to do.

The only disadvantage of Chu army in Xichuan province now was the lack of top-level strength, specifically the lack of Inborn Grandmasters.

Only in this regard, Chu State already had an absolute disadvantage when faced with Nanzhao Country.

But now, with Zhou Qing in Xiangyang Prefecture guarding the northern states, and Lan Cai’er in Baling City guarding Ning Country…

Lu Yuan himself had to sit in Qianzhong County to suppress the local rebellion and always be on guard against Da Changhe Country’s counterattack.

No one among the three could leave at all.

At this time, it was impossible to pull out an Inborn Grandmaster and send them to Yuzhong City.

“We can only send more troops there and rely on numbers to increase the defense.”

After pondering for a long time, Lu Yuan sighed helplessly, making a decision he least wanted to make.

In Qianzhong County today, after months of cleaning up local rebellion and Yi people, most of them have been basically eliminated. The remaining remnants could be slowly eradicated.

At the same time, local forces, either independent or semi-independent towns and tribal alliances, were also gradually integrated under the rule of the government as they were deterred by the presence of local garrison troops in the prefectures and counties.

At this point, Qianzhong County, although not thoroughly stabilized, no longer worried about local Yi people causing trouble as long as no major changes occurred.

In this case, the nearly 20,000 mobile forbidden troops in Lu Yuan’s hands could be pulled out and dispatched elsewhere.

“With these 20,000 soldiers heading to Yuzhong Prefecture, there will be as many as 50,000 soldiers and 100,000 troops in total there. Facing an Inborn Grandmaster, they could at least have a fighting chance and not be easily defeated.”

With this in mind, Lu Yuan began to sign transfer orders, preparing to send them to various departments for personnel movement.

Nowadays, the situation in Xichuan was urgent, and every day that passed, the danger increased a little more.

He really couldn’t help worrying if he didn’t quickly strengthen that side.

How unpredictable the changes in world affairs really were!

Although the alliance he created had achieved significant results, enabling Chu State to establish a new prefecture, it was also difficult to fill the hole it caused.

Blessing or misfortune, it was hard to tell!