To achieve immortality, I cultivate using Qi Luck

Compared to those children who are unwilling to go to the battlefield and only wish to stay safely within the country, these thirteen children who are willing to step out of their comfort zone and actively seek to toughen themselves on the battlefield are naturally stronger by an indescribable amount.

Therefore, Lu Yuan was particularly lenient and fond of them, reluctant to blame them for something that barely counted as a mistake.

"Really?"

"That’s wonderful, thank you, Father-King."

Hearing Lu Yuan’s comforting words, a few princes finally showed a hint of a smile on their faces, and at last, they seemed less distressed.

Although they let the Liang general escape, their father-king had not let them get away, and Liang had still lost five Inborns, which was the best outcome.

"Yes, that’s right, those Liang generals did not escape."

Lu Yuan nodded with a smile, reaffirming, and then said, "You have been fighting bloody battles to take cities these days, which have tired you out, so go back and rest. Once your father-king has dealt with the aftermath of Mengshan Pass, I will host a victory feast for you all, then you can truly rejoice."

"Yes."

The princes nodded. After the major battle, they indeed felt exhausted and, giving their respects, they took their leave.

Watching the children leave, Lu Yuan’s eyes revealed his gratification.

Having raised his children for decades, he finally saw fruitful results; among his offspring, there were already those who could take on great responsibilities.

Apart from his avatar and disciples, Chu State finally had a third reliable group to depend on, making its foundation even more secure.

In contemplation, Lu Yuan began dealing with the post-war affairs.

In this attack on Mengshan Pass, Chu’s army besieged the city for ten days, utilizing a force of five hundred thousand.

By the time the city fell and Mengshan Pass was breached, Chu’s army had suffered about one hundred thousand casualties, roughly ten thousand per day.

This may sound like a lot, but in reality, the losses were very light.

After all, this was Mengshan Pass, a Male Pass among the world’s toughest, ranking easily within the top ten in terms of fortification.

Within the city walls were two hundred thousand Liang soldiers and five Inborns, defending the pass as impregnably as a fortress of solid gold.

Chu’s ability to conquer this pass at the cost of only one hundred thousand men surpassed the imagination of many.

Normally, to attack such a crucial fortification guarded by so many people, the attacking army would have to suffer six or seven hundred thousand casualties before the city gate could even be considered taken.

Chu only lost one hundred thousand; how could this not be considered a bargain!

If it were not for Lu Yuan sending out thirteen princes and princesses, using nearly thrice the innate quantity to directly neutralize the city wall advantage of the Liang army from the top military level,

there would have been no way to easily take the city with such a ratio of casualties.

A mere one hundred thousand casualties, compared to the total Chu army of three million, was truly trivial, almost without any impact.

While Chu’s army suffered few losses, the gains from the battle were substantial.

Of the two hundred thousand Liang soldiers in the city, eighty thousand were killed, a further one hundred ten thousand were captured, a few thousand escaped, and in the end, it was presumed they could hardly escape Chu’s army’s pursuit.

Essentially, the army was completely annihilated.

Three Inborns within the city died right on the spot.

After the battle, the military power of Liang at the southern gate of Liang Prefecture was wiped clean.

Chu’s army cleared the way to Da Liang.

This second Northern Expedition was off to a flying start.

After tallying the losses and casualties, Lu Yuan ordered people to take care of the wounded and corpses, and then, in the following days, the army that participated in the siege remained at Mengshan Pass.

He then appointed an avatar to be the warden of the city, leading the remaining avatars and some equipped Inborn subordinates, to defend this southern gate of Liang Prefecture and secure the back for the Northern Expedition army.

Furthermore, he was responsible for attacking and occupying the prefectures and counties of Liang state near Mengshan Pass, completely purging this region.

With four hundred thousand troops stationed here, it was enough to ensure the Northern Expedition’s rear was worry-free.

Only after completing these tasks did Lu Yuan let out a sigh of relief.

It was at this very moment that the avatars sent to ambush the surrounding key paths returned.

Among them, two individuals each carried a head, which were in fact the heads of two Liang generals with inborn abilities who had fled from Mengshan Pass.

Lu Yuan had not lied to his children.

He had indeed arranged an ambush around ten days earlier to seal off the escape routes of Guan City’s defenders.

It wasn’t just the two Liang generals; the two or three thousand Liang troops who had luckily escaped from the city were also successively hunted down by Chu army ambushes. Not one managed to slip through from any pass or trail.

The battle of Mengshan thus concluded perfectly.

...

After capturing Guan City, Lu Yuan took a brief rest for a day to make numerous deployment arrangements.

Then he held a victory celebration for his sons and daughters and, on the next day, immediately announced that the entire army would break camp and continue the Northern Expedition.

In Liang province, the Liang army had a total of 1.2 million troops.

Of course, it was impossible to block off all of them at the city of Daliang, as there would be nowhere to station them, and it would be an immense waste of military resources.

Therefore, besides the 700 thousand troops left to guard the vicinity of the city of Daliang,

another 500 thousand Liang troops were stationed at various key towns throughout Liang province.

They were there both for local defense, consolidating resources, and as peripheral support for the city of Daliang, aiming to disperse and constrain the Chu’s army’s strength.

Now among these 500 thousand Liang troops, the most important force of 200 thousand at Mengshan Pass, along with five inborn masters, had been completely eradicated.

Within Liang province, aside from the city of Daliang, there were only troops stationed at key towns surrounding the city based in three core prefecture cities: Ningling Prefecture, Yucheng Prefecture, and Gushu Prefecture.

According to the intelligence gathered, each of these three prefecture cities housed 100 thousand Liang troops and was under the command of two inborn masters from Liang state. This was just the basic military strength.

Indeed, Liang state was prosperous, especially the Jingji region of the imperial capital in Liang province, which was the most refined.

The area was teeming with people, with household registrations in the millions.

If direct conscription of a large number of civilian workers from the surrounding areas of these three peripheral stronghold cities were to take place, in an instant, they could muster four or five hundred thousand irregular troops.

This force, aided by 100 thousand elite troops, was now a threat to the Chu army’s flank.

Therefore, Lu Yuan did not overlook them.

After continuing the Northern Expedition, he immediately began dividing his troops, allocating 500 thousand soldiers to each of the three prefecture cities to besiege them.

Then, following the strategy used to attack Mengshan Pass, each army was reinforced with six inborn masters, essentially bullying Liang’s army for their lack of inborn talent, intending to use top-tier combat strength to counterbalance the advantage Liang’s army had with its city walls.

After all, whether it was in terms of soldiers or inborn talent, the Chu army had plenty.

Lu Yuan’s central military expedition, after a winter of coordination, was even more powerful, boasting an army of three million along with thirty inborn masters.

No matter how the troops were divided, the remaining army’s strength remained stronger than that of the Liang’s main force defending Daliang, creating a suppressive effect over the opponent.

With such conditions, there was naturally not much to worry about.

At the end of the third month in the forty-second year of Shenwu.

After leaving four hundred thousand troops at Mengshan Pass and dividing the army into three detachments, Lu Yuan led the remaining one million troops straight to the city of Daliang.

The imperial capital of Chu was besieged once again.