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Chapter 298: 178: Shangguan Seeks Reinforcements

By now, half a year had gone by. Before participating in the Inescapable Meeting, he had recruited 15,000 new recruits, who had trained for half a year and were now barely considered an army.

According to usual practice, once new recruits had reached this level of training, they needed to be taken outside for some actual combat experience, facing some enemies in several battles and accumulating battlefield experience.

Mere closed-door training couldn’t produce elite soldiers.

Only by combining training and actual combat would one produce veterans.

However, with the current situation, whether or not to send troops left Lu Yuan somewhat torn.

Currently, although there were constant disturbances throughout Dongting jurisdiction, the main battlefields in both Yueyang Prefecture and Shaoyang Prefecture were more or less stable.

On these two battlefields, neither the imperial court nor the enemy forces could force the other’s hand, with both sides equally matched.

From the current situation, this stalemate could last for a very long time.

Lu Yuan was now at a crucial moment to break through the Innate realm, and stability was the priority; he didn’t want to cause any major changes that could disrupt his breakthrough process.

If he rashly mobilized troops at this time, it would undoubtedly disrupt the stable situation and create unpredictable variables.

So as to whether or not to send troops, he inevitably wavered a bit.

“The current situation in Dongting jurisdiction has risen to the level of the Innate realm. With my current strength, recklessly breaking the balance may attract the attention of an Inborn Grandmaster.

At that time, I would no longer be able to cultivate in peace as I do now. It would be almost impossible.

Undoubtedly, it would slow down my breakthrough to the Innate realm.

But, if I don’t do anything, I won’t be able to support my 60,000 soldiers any longer,” Lu Yuan furrowed his brows tightly.

It was costly to maintain soldiers.

A soldier’s monthly salary was five silver taels. He had 60,000 soldiers, and merely paying their salaries required 300,000 taels per month. Half a year had passed, and just for salaries, he had spent 1,800,000 taels.

By now, Lu Yuan only had about 500,000 taels left.

This money would only support them for two more months at most.

If they still couldn’t find a new source of funding after two months and couldn’t issue salaries, even if the army could still be maintained for a while, the collapse of military morale would be inevitable.

Then, all the soldiers he had trained with great difficulty would be wasted.

Whether to send troops or not left Lu Yuan quite entangled.

However, his entanglement did not last long. Soon, a piece of news from the north came, leading him to make a decision.

In Hongdao’s fifth year, twelfth month, and sixteenth day, after being cut off from the supply lines for nearly a year, the Army of Pacifying Shu, stationed in Xichuan Prefecture, was desperately short of supplies. Their monthly salaries had not been paid for months, and food and fodder were scarce.

Out of necessity, the daily meals of the soldiers were reduced from two to one, consisting mostly of porridge.

As a result, the soldiers started to complain incessantly.

On the sixth day of the first month of Hongdao’s sixth year, soldiers in

Yuzhong City caused a disturbance and plundered the people. Subsequently, Marquis of Wuan quelled the riots, beheaded nearly a hundred soldiers, and finally managed to suppress the military.

However, just this once, the city was already on edge, with suspicion and distrust among the soldiers.

On the sixth day of the first month, the defending generals in Liujing County, north of Yuzhong Prefecture, led a rebellion, drove out the county commander, and took 5,000 soldiers with them in rebellion.

These rebel soldiers looted the county town, and after having their fill, sent people to contact the Zhou Country’s army to the north, offering to surrender and hand over the city.

As a result, Yuzhong Prefecture’s northern barrier was lost.

On the tenth day of the same month, in Wushan Prefecture behind Yuzhong Prefecture, there were defenders dissatisfied with the lack of food and salaries who raised a ruckus and caused a disturbance that affected several counties. The Prefecture government could not control the situation, and it decayed.

Left with no choice, Marquis of Wuan sent a trusted general to lead 10,000 troops on an expedition.

However, halfway there, some officers and soldiers clamored that if they did not distribute food and salaries, they would not move forward.

The leading general became furious and commanded his personal guard to suppress them. This led to a backlash, and the various battalions of soldiers and officers attacked him, killing the general and subsequently rebelling, looting the nearby counties.

Upon hearing this news, Marquis of Wuan Bai Mengyang immediately wanted to personally lead troops to suppress these rogue soldiers.

But just at this moment, the Zhou—Shu United Army finally spent half a year dealing with the aftermath of the earthquake and suppressing the rebellion in the rear.

During this half a year, they had even replenished enough food, fodder, and troops to launch an attack.

Seeing the internal unrest in the Army of Pacifying Shu, the United Army naturally would not miss this opportunity and immediately dispatched 150,000 troops to attack Yuzhong Prefecture.

Faced with the pressing enemy forces, Bai Mengyang could no longer attend to suppressing the unrest, and could only gather his troops to defend the city.

However, after two successive rebellions, there were only 20,000 defenders left in Yuzhong City. Having been hungry for a long time, how much fighting strength did they have left?

So, after barely holding out for half a month, some lower-level officers and soldiers sought a chance to defect after being forced to defend the city wall. They turned their coats and opened the gates for the enemy army outside the city.

Marquis of Wuan Bai Mengyang, who had heard this news, acted personally, trying to take back the city gate. However, he was intercepted by four prepared Inborn Grandmasters outside the city and besieged once again.

This time, without the protection of a large army, Bai Mengyang’s belligerent energy couldn’t be fully utilized.

After only a brief exchange with the four grandmasters, he was defeated and escaped, injured. He didn’t dare to stop on his way and went straight to Tianmen Prefecture.

After that, the city’s defenders did not resist much and surrendered in large numbers. Thus, Yuzhong City fell.

Three days later, the Zhou-Shu United Army pursued their victory and killed their way to Wushan Prefecture. More than 10,000 rebels who caused the unrest there directly surrendered and joined them.

As the Zhou-Shu United Army continued to annex territory along the way, they quickly marched to Tianmen Prefecture and joined the 100,000 Zhou soldiers stationed there..