MTLNOVEL Chapter 787 - 342: The Jade Toad's Predicament
Chapter 787: Chapter 342: The Jade Toad’s Predicament
The northern lands, as they entered into March, had seen the complete thawing of ice and snow, and everything had entered the rejuvenating season.
At this time from Zhou Country, disturbances finally began to arise.
In the tenth year of Chu Shenwu, in the early days of March, in the seventh year of Zhou Xianqing, Emperor Zhou reviewed the various armies outside the city. Fifty thousand forbidden troops of the capital performed war maneuvers, the sounds of battle incessantly roared outside of the Chang’an City for several days.
Five days later, Emperor Zhou greatly awarded the brave warriors of the military exercises and then returned to the palace, issuing an order to recruit a hundred and fifty thousand additional troops from all over Guannei, intended to bolster the defense of the capital.
Because in recent years, wars had frequently occurred within Zhou Country. To supply the wars, it was necessary to increase taxes within the country, resulting in the collection of increased funds and grain.
Simultaneously, the country was affected by a cold disaster, causing a considerable reduction in grain yield.
Under the dual pressures of heavy taxation and natural disasters, the people of Zhou Country grew poorer by the day. Cases of individuals unable to eat enough were visible everywhere.
Instances of parents selling their children grew increasingly common.
For the lower-class common folk, maintaining even two meals in a day was a serious challenge, let alone three.
Many hadn’t tasted meat in years, a full stomach was a rarity throughout the year, and they lived a life filled with hardship.
Thus, when the news of recruitment spread, countless robust men from Guannei enrolled, with soldiers continually joining from every corner.
This was not because they held any particular loyalty towards the court.
The reason for the large number of enlistees was simple: enrolling in the army assured them full meals and a decent military salary, which would somewhat improve the life of their family. This was enough to make the currently famine-stricken and impoverished population of Zhou people risk their lives.
Thus, within half a month of the recruitment announcement, the require number of one hundred and fifty thousand was instantly filled.
Countless individuals, who had been too late, wailed in despair, beating their chests and stamping their feet.
Some, who couldn’t take it, even chose to end their lives, simply because they didn’t want to continue living in this bleak world.
The extent of the exploitation of the people by Zhou Country was thereby obvious.
To sustain an army of over two million with a populace of twenty million was no easy task.
However, only after about six or seven years, Zhou Country’s national strength and population had been exploited to their limits, hidden signs of an impending downfall of the dynasty were evident.
If this indiscriminate exploitation of population continues, within a few years, it might implode, leading to its downfall.
However, even if it were to collapse, at the earliest, it would take several years.
Up until this point, under the ultimate exploitation of the population, the current Zhou Country still seemed prosperous with an awe-inspiring military prowess.
Four hundred thousand troops were stationed in the eastern provinces of Heyang, three hundred thousand in the northern Shuofang, four hundred thousand in the western Helong of the Western Jin, and today, two hundred thousand troops have been recruited within the region of Jingji.
All over the country, with the ready reserve of thirteen hundred thousand troops, it was second only to the neighbouring Liang Country among the Nine Provinces.
In addition, there were up to ten million civilian workers stationed in various provinces along the border.
One could say that now, every household in Zhou Country has contributed to the army, and every family has joined the military.
With the current foundation of Zhou Country’s seven provinces and sixty-three prefectures, a registered population of seventeen million, supporting an army of this size has almost reached its limit.
For this reason, Zhou Country holds the second-most army prestige among the countries, recognized by the people of the Nine Provinces as one of the top three major countries in the world.
At this time, this domineering country was shamelessly betrayed by the Chu State, seizing the Hanzhong jurisdiction during the gap in the grain trade.
Such a disgrace could not be swallowed.
Thus, once the recruitment of the internal troops had begun, all the surrounding countries upon receiving the news believed that it was preparing to dispatch troops to Hanzhong, seeking to recover its honor from the Chu State.
Similarly, when the news reached Baling, after verifying the confirmed intelligence, Lu Yuan believed the same.
Instantly, he became vigilant.
Although the twenty-thousand strong Zhou army wasn’t large, there wasn’t much difference between these recruits and the soldiers at Hanzhong, and most of them were new soldiers, so there was no need to worry too much.
But it’s hard to guess how many Inborn experts Zhou Country would dispatch.
Originally, nurtured by their world court themselves and recruiting masters from the Jianghu, Zhou Country had all eight of the Pillar States in the eight directions including east, west, south, and north.
In addition to this, two new upper and lower Pillar Country Grand Generals have been added, directly creating a total of ten Pillar States.
However, in this Northern Expedition, Chu had successfully captured Hanzhong, and Qingyunzi had directly felled Eastfang Wuyun, the Southern Pillar State Grand General, on the battlefield, reducing one Inborn expert.
Therefore, currently the number of Inborn Pillar States of Zhou Country has fallen from ten to nine, reducing to a single digit.
In the two provinces of Heyang in the eastern border of Zhou Country, two Pillar States were stationed to guard against Liang Country.
There were also two Pillar States in the northern Shuofang provinces guarding against Wei Country.
On the western front of the Helong battle line, even more, was gathered a team led by He Basheng with four Inborns, to deal with the annual invasions of the Barbarians.
The remaining two Inborn statues were each stationed in the national capital Chang’an and Hanzhong jurisdiction.
Now that Dongfang Wuyun at Hanzhong jurisdiction had died, the northern, eastern, and western war fronts of Zhou Country all had strong enemies, so the Inborn Grandmasters there could not be mobilized.
The same goes for the Inborn stationed at the national capital, Chang’an.
How could there be no strong individual guarding the imperial city, the important region of Jingji?
The Inborn stationed here also could not be moved.
So theoretically speaking, Zhou Country, from the surface at least, actually couldn’t spare an Inborn Grandmaster to lead the army.
As known to all.
Even for those small countries with half a jurisdiction, it was understood that no army should march without an Inborn.
Without an Inborn Grandmaster commanding it, it was impossible to intimidate a strong enemy or protect the Entire Army.
So, lacking an Inborn Grandmaster to lead the soldiers, Zhou Country naturally couldn’t march southward and Hanzhong would naturally remain worry-free.