To achieve immortality, I cultivate using Qi Luck

At this time, only just over two million people had been mobilized, which could not be considered full mobilization, but merely an initial one.

Therefore, as time passed, and as Wei Country slowly came to its senses, the numbers of the Wei Army would continue to increase, further expanding upon the existing base.

After all, Wei Country was the third largest in the world, having been the Alliance Leader of Zhao Xu for over a decade; its status as the big brother was unquestionable.

For Chu State to suddenly annihilate it was indeed a challenge, to say the least—it was not something that could be easily accomplished.

To eliminate Liang, Lu Yuan had used four military expeditions.

To eliminate Wei, however, there were only two.

To be honest, this indeed seemed to underestimate Wei Country; to be on the safe side, three military expeditions should have been used for sufficient assurance.

Fortunately, before attacking Wei Country, Chu State had executed a strategy to lure the enemy away from their base, tricking half of their main force out of the country.

This dealt a blow to the strength of Wei Country that could barely be considered equivalent to a military expedition.

Nevertheless, even so, the desire to quickly eradicate Wei Country was still fraught with difficulty.

As it was before our eyes.

In Henan and Nanyang, the sudden surge in manpower produced three million soldiers of the Wei Army; the Heyang expedition had difficulty suppressing them.

And this difficulty would only deepen and intensify with time.

The only piece of relatively good news was that in Nanyang Prefecture, due to the Chu Army’s sudden raid, more than two-thirds of the prefectures and counties were controlled by the Chu Army before the Wei Army could react.

Although Nanyang Prefecture later came to its senses and began military mobilization in earnest, relying solely on the one-third of the prefectures and counties under its control, the total population was only about five million.

From this population of five million, being able to produce a million-strong army was already the limit.

After that, even if more soldiers were to be conscripted, the Wei Army in Nanyang Prefecture would not have the potential to do so.

As a result, the Wei force that Chu State had to contend with here was roughly around one million men.

It was different with the Henan Prefecture though.

Because of Nanyang Prefecture acting as a buffer, Henan received the news in time and reacted much faster.

Despite the swift advance of the Chu Army’s light infantry taking them by surprise, they initially lost quite a few prefectures and counties during the combat.

But once the vanguard of the Chu Army exhausted their last bit of vigor, the Wei Army that reacted quickly rearranged the defensive lines and strengthened the defense against the Chu Army.

The Chu Army managed to seize only one-fifth of Henan Prefecture’s prefectures and counties.

And as Henan Prefecture was a region heavily cultivated by Wei Country, even setting the Eastern Capital there, its population was greater than that of Nanyang Prefecture.

The total population of Henan Prefecture was about twenty million; by now, they had lost one-fifth, but there were still over fifteen million people left.

With this number of people, raising an army of three to four million was not a problem.

This quantity of soldiers, to tell the truth, was already comparable to the Heyang expedition.

If another million from Nanyang Prefecture’s Wei Army were added, just in terms of numbers, they would surpass the Chu Army.

However, although the Wei Army had the numerical advantage, they were completely crushed by the Chu Army in terms of quality.

The Heyang expedition led by Qingyunzi consisted of approximately one million soldiers.

Meanwhile, the Wei forces of Henan and Nanyang prefectures had only five hundred thousand soldiers to begin with.

Now, under the sudden attacks of the Chu Army, these Wei forces suffered heavy losses, and the remaining troops likely totaled less than three hundred thousand.

With three hundred thousand soldiers against one million, the disparity in numbers was indeed vast.

Therefore, although the Chu Army of the Heyang expedition numbered only three million, when faced with the Wei Army, which had inflated to nearly four million, they still held a substantial advantage.

On the battlefield, it was a complete rout.

However, the Wei Army was aware of its own weaknesses. Thus, after taking several losses in the initial exchanges, they abandoned the idea of direct confrontation and the intention of driving out the Chu Army.

Instead, they adopted a strategy of staunchly defending the cities, focusing on defense.

The civilian workers conscripted on an urgent basis were not fit for hard battles, but fighting while guarding the city presented no problems.

With the support of the city walls, one civilian worker could face one Chu soldier and be used as a combatant.

Leveraging this advantage, they could diminish the gap between both sides.

Faced with the Wei Army’s stubborn defense, Qingyunzi really didn’t have many good approaches.

What can you do when a person turns into a turtle, retreating into its shell?

After several probing attempts, Qingyunzi could only give up on a direct assault and began a stalemate of attrition.

The Wei Army had the advantage of defending their home territory, relying on the benefit of strong fortifications.

On the Chu side, naturally, they also had their advantages—plentiful money and grain.

The Wei Army’s decision not to engage in direct combat with the Chu Army but instead to engage in a long siege taking advantage of their own strengths also played into the hands of the Chu Army’s advantages.

Let’s not forget, almost half of Wei Country’s grain supply came from Chu State.

Their domestic grain self-sufficiency rate was only fifty percent.

Meaning even in times of peace within their own country, they could only satisfy half of their grain consumption.

The remaining half of the population would go hungry.

Now, amid the great war between the two countries, Henan and Nanyang, which were originally the heartland of Wei Country, had been invaded by the Chu Army causing complete chaos.

Almost all the able-bodied men from both prefectures were conscripted into the military, leaving behind only some of the elderly, weak, women, and children.

How much can these weak groups cultivate the fields, how much land can they plow?

So, without a doubt, this year’s grain production in the territories controlled by Wei Country in these two prefectures will see a dramatic plunge—that is certain.

When the grain harvest falls short, the two prefectures’ grain shortage will not just be one half but possibly two-thirds, or even three-quarters.