To achieve immortality, I cultivate using Qi Luck

Chu State, aiming to sustain long-term confrontation with various countries in the world, must make adjustments, actively reduce its troops and horses to lessen its own burden.

However, with the reduction of troops and horses, the strength of the Chu army would naturally decrease as well.

Therefore, to compensate for this, refining the troops and replacing the large and disorganized civilian workers with a more regular and powerful standing army became a more economically viable method.

Doing this, the expenditure in terms of silver may not decrease much.

But by replacing ten million civilian workers with eight million standing troops, the consumption of grain can be nearly halved.

And after cutting the grain consumption by half, Chu State could sustain this war for three to five times longer on the existing basis.

Given the current consumption, after this year’s war, Chu State would at best be able to support another Northern Expedition next year, after which the bottom of the barrel would be scraped clean, forcing a cessation of hostilities.

However, if changes are made according to this plan, then the war could be sustained for five to ten more years.

Whether Chu State could sweep through the Nine Provinces in five to ten years, Lu Yuan was not sure.

But he was certain of the annihilation of Wei Country, Liang, and even Zheng Kingdom.

And if all the above could be achieved, then Chu State would effectively own half of the Nine Provinces.

As for the remaining states such as Zhao Xu, Tang Xu, and others, even if they were still united, they would hardly be able to stir up any trouble against the unstoppable tide of Chu State.

’So after capturing Liang, the reduction of civilian workers and the reorganization of the army can no longer be delayed. This matter must be implemented in the second half of this year.’

Lu Yuan thought to himself and began to make plans again.

A personnel change involving tens of millions of people is not an easy task; it needs to be carried out step by step and a feasible plan agreed upon with many staff and ministers.

...

"Your Majesty, the Front Army has finished the formation. Shall we invite Liang’s army to battle now?"

In the midst of his contemplation, Chu State’s Innate General Shangguan Ming came over and respectfully asked for instructions.

Lu Yuan awoke from his thoughts and gave a slight nod, "Yes, you may proceed."

"Understood."

Shangguan Ming bowed and then turned to leave.

Watching his departing figure, Lu Yuan’s mind sank into deep thought again.

Chu State rose too quickly, with many matters carried out in haste, leaving many hidden issues.

Not only the current predicament of the Northern Expedition, but even the various surrendered factions within the country might need to be well rectified.

"Especially since the Northern Expedition, the hearts of those surrendered Innate from north of the river have been restless, and they have yet to be soothed..." Lu Yuan murmured to himself.

In recent years, as Chu State’s strategy gradually focused on the Northern Expedition, it was inevitable, or rather already happening, that a large number of Innates from the north were surrendering.

Take for instance the seven Inborns of Cang Long Way who pledged allegiance en masse, and also three Innate captives from Liang who surrendered one after another.

Furthermore, once the Chu army entered Henan County, Yuchan Tao, which immediately sided with them, contributed six Innate to serve Chu State.

All together, in just the last year alone, there were as many as sixteen new Innate Grandmasters who pledged allegiance to Chu State.

And this was just the beginning.

Subsequently, as the Chu army continued to conquer Henan, Nanyang, Dong County, Liang County, and other places, and successively overthrew Wei, Liang, Zhao, Zheng, and other countries, the number of Innate Grandmasters surrendering to Chu State would be even greater, counted by the hundreds.

When that time comes, hundreds of Innate from different origins, with different interests and thoughts, pouring into Chu State will inevitably impact Chu’s current political structure, affecting the stability at all levels of the court.

By then, whether Chu State can have a stable and powerful base will be particularly important.

What does Chu State’s core rely on?

In the early days, it was Lu Yuan’s harem, his close friend Sun Siwen, and several disciples.

In the mid-term, it was Lu Yuan’s Avatars.

Now, his twenty-one growing children have also become a reliable central force.

But all these people combined, including Lu Yuan and his Avatars, amounted to only ninety-five people, not even a hundred.

By contrast, the number of Innate from other countries was destined to reach two to three hundred.

One to two or three was the gap between the two sides.

Although with the current core of Chu State, even with a huge disparity, they were actually enough to suppress those future surrendered ones.

Even as long as Lu Yuan remained in power, he wouldn’t fear any uprising.

No matter how many surrenderers there were, he was not afraid.

But what’s the point of that?

Isn’t politics about making many friends and few enemies?

Then using those many friends to strike down the few that cannot be converted, ultimately achieving the purpose of eliminating dissidents and gradually consolidating power?

By relying on the prestige of one man, Lu Yuan, to suppress the entire world, it is indeed possible.

But that’s too exhausting, and the turmoil it stirs up is too much.

Lu Yuan had no interest in competing with the heavens, with others, treating the entire empire as a chessboard in a power struggle against those surrendering subjects.

Not only is it meaningless, but it would also harm the interests of the empire.

While ensuring his supreme power, he didn’t mind sharing the benefits of the entire empire with other followers.

No matter how formidable he was, even if he had the ability to "Turn Beans into Soldiers," at best, he could only create a few hundred Avatars.

Can these Avatars govern the entire empire?

That is fundamentally impossible.

After unifying the world, or even just the entire Central State, maintaining such a vast empire would require talent counted by the thousands.

And among those tens of thousands, or even a hundred thousand officials, it’s inevitable that some leaders will emerge to represent the interests of various officials.