To achieve immortality, I cultivate using Qi Luck

Chapter 1142: Chapter 460 Zone Adjustment_3 Chapter 1142: Chapter 460 Zone Adjustment_3 With these people included, Lu Yuan had as many as one hundred and sixteen Inborn Grandmasters directly under his command.

Beyond that, in the twenty-three prefectures of Chu State’s Central Province, each one now had an Inborn Grandmaster serving as the commandant, with ten thousand county soldiers, prefecture troops, and county troops at all three levels—prefectures, counties, and townships—already in place.

These local forces, added together, amounted to twenty-three Inborn Grandmasters and six hundred and ninety thousand regular local troops.

However, the Central Province had just been settled, and everywhere there were the remnants of the enemy nations that Chu had vanquished, and with the continuous relocation of native Chu population, conflicts between immigrants and locals were erupting often.

Therefore, these local troops could essentially only be used to maintain local order.

Unless necessary, Lu Yuan would not call them up to participate in foreign wars.

Interior affairs to the county soldiers, exterior encounters to the Forbidden army.

This had been the state policy since the establishment of Changsha, and it had been in effect for almost fifty years.

Lu Yuan had no intention of contravening it, nor was Chu State pushed to that extent.

Thus, these local forces were mainly to be used for stabilizing Chu State’s current territories in Central Province and would not partake in foreign wars.

The Northern Expedition next year against Yuzhou would only require five million troops and one hundred Inborn Grandmasters.

“I now have five million three hundred and seventy thousand troops and one hundred and sixteen Inborns,” Lu Yuan thought.

“This already suffices to meet the needs of the four Northern Expeditions, even somewhat exceeding them.

Therefore, from these troops, I can aptly reassign some for use elsewhere.”

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“Four Northern Expeditions will be enough with five million troops.

The excess thirty-seven thousand troops are perfectly suited for serving as the coastal defense forces along the forty thousand li coastline of Central Province.

Those East Sea pirates have become increasingly rampant these days.

Constantly harassing the coastal borders of my Central Province, they must be contained.

It’s time to propose the establishment of the coastal Military Expedition.”

Although relying on thirty-seven thousand men to defend a coast stretching over forty thousand li is admittedly a stretch, even full of holes.

But considering that Chu State has already established a complete system of county soldiers in the localities and every prefecture in Central Province also has Inborn Grandmasters stationed there,

With these local troops and the forthcoming Civil Group Volunteers system in place, coupled with the main forces of the Forbidden army in the Military Expedition en route by sea, a comprehensive coastal defense network can barely be organized.

Completely eradicating the threat of East Sea pirates is unrealistic,

But to dampen the opponent’s brazenness and protect coastal safety, to prevent pirates from infiltrating the hinterland, this network should suffice.

At present, Chu State is still on the path of unifying the world, devoting a great deal of effort to the unification cause, with no time to attend to other matters.

Being able to cope with the threat of the sea pirates is already nearly enough.

To fully resolve the issue, we’ll have to wait until the entire Central Province is united before we can consider further actions.”

“So that’s settled.

For the establishment of the coastal Military Expedition, we’ll provisionally set the number of troops at thirty-seven thousand.

Ten Inborn Grandmasters will be allocated, which is just right since each of the nine coastal prefectures controlled by Great Chu will get one person.

The remaining Inborn Grandmaster, as the Camp Commander, will be Huang Xuan.

He himself will be responsible for coordinating overall, mobilizing forces from various prefectures and camps along the coast, and striking at pirates as needed.

With these in place, for the time being, the East Sea frontier should be fine.”

Having made this arrangement, Lu Yuan temporarily set aside his concerns about the threats at sea in Central Province.

He then shifted his thoughts to Yangzhou’s main territory that he had been contemplating earlier.

The arrangements for Central Province were completed.

Adjustments for Yangzhou, however, also needed to be made.

“First, the southwestern defense line at the very southern end of Lingnan.”

Lu Yuan looked at the map of Yangzhou, at the southern position almost occupying half of Yangzhou in the southwest and Lingnan region, and he couldn’t help but ponder.

Today, in the southwest and Lingnan areas, apart from the few locals intentionally left to farm and supply the local garrisons,

Most of the residents had been relocated to Central Province over the past two years and were now settled and had begun regular production.

So, these two large areas were essentially military outposts, void of ordinary civilians.

Initially, Lu Yuan had established two lines of defense there: one was intended as a barrier to block the invasion and infiltration of sea pirates and barbarians,

And the second was to continue to occupy the area to gain territorial Qi Luck in name.

But now.

The first objective was semi-ruined due to the extensive infiltration of barbarians that the local defense lines were unfeasible to prevent and clear effectively.

The second objective, too, diminished considerably following the barbarians filling the regions abandoned by Chu, reducing the Qi Luck provided by nominal territorial control.

The Qi Luck now provided was only the original less than thirty percent, hardly worth mentioning.

“Since serving as a buffer zone defense line and offering Qi Luck are nearly half ineffective at present,

It’s time to abandon some areas in the southwest and Lingnan region.”

Lu Yuan’s finger traced on the map, and eventually, he marked the southwest region including Nanzhao Country’s former territories, Dali Country’s former territories, Jianchuan, Chilih, and Kunhai’s former three-nation regions, and in the Lingnan region, Jiuzhen, Yulin, and Through Sea’s three prefectures, with Song Country’s former territories.

All the territories of these eight prefectures were heavily struck off by him, completely severed.

“These regions are all too far away from Great Chu’s core areas in Yangzhou’s main territory,

For instance, places like Jiuzhen and Dali are four to five thousand li away from the capital Baling, difficult to communicate, hard to support.

To continue defending, besides depleting military strength and consuming money and grains, it’s utterly pointless.

It’s time to give up on them.”

Lu Yuan decided to abandon the aforementioned areas and then retract the defense line, deploying troops pulled from the frontlines to places closer to the homeland and with more accessible and straightforward resources.

Just this year, the relocation of the populace in Jianan and Qianzhong, two prefectures on the main territory, was almost complete.

The two regions had been emptied, perfect for the troops retreating from the front to be stationed and defend, establishing a new defense line.

These two prefectures not only lie close to the heartland of Chu and benefit from easy support from the rear,

But they are also mountainous with many strategic points, making defense easier.

A substantial number of Chu troops would be concentrated here.

Compared to the previous situation where they were thinly spread everywhere, eager for coverage in every place resulting in a sieve-like situation, this new approach was infinitely better.

So it was decided.