Chapter 671: Chapter 303: The Battle Ceases and Resumes_2

Launching wars, plundering wealth, buying food with money, then launching wars again…

The entire Su Country was caught in such an endless vicious cycle.

It was precisely because of Su Country’s constant purchase of grain that the grain prices in Nanhai Country had soared year by year.

It went straight from the initial price of three cents per catty of rice to the current nine to ten cents per catty, more than triple the original price.

Under such circumstances, not only did the common people of Nanhai Country suffer, but so did those of Su Country. On the contrary, the grain merchants of Nanhai Country made a fortune.

In just two years, thanks to the constant grain purchasing from Chu, Su and Song countries, there were more than a dozen billionaires in Nanhai Country, highlighting the enormous profits involved.

When Lu Yuan saw this intelligence, he was somewhat envious.

Relying on the wealth gained from waging wars, the wealthy businessmen in Nanhai Country had enjoyed an unprecedented comfortable and joyful life in these two years.

For this reason, Chu, Su and Song countries actually harbored much resentment towards Nanhai Country, which constantly sucked their blood, especially towards those grain merchants.

However, due to the ongoing wars and the unique geographic location of Nanhai Country, it was not a good time to take action against them, so they just endured it for the time being.

But Lu Yuan believed that once the Three Countries could spare their hands, or when Ning Country was ready, it would be time for the predators to encircle and devour Nanhai Country, ultimately leading to its demise.

However, such a day might not come for a few more years, and the drama wouldn’t unfold so soon.

At present.

Chu, Su, and Song countries still needed Nanhai Country to provide them with grain, so even if they knew the merchants were gouging prices, they had no choice but to turn up their noses and buy high-priced grain.

In fact, if possible, it would undoubtedly be better to purchase grain from neighboring Ning, Zhou, and Liang countries, which were adjacent to Dongting Prefecture and had convenient access to the Yangtze River.

But these three countries, without exception, were either enemies of Chu Country or considered it a competitor.

It was impossible to purchase grain from them.

Even Ning Country, the only one of the three without conflict, would rather let its stored grain rot in warehouses than transport it to Chu Country to support their enemy.

This lack of channels was what made the grain from Nanhai Country so precious.

Because this was the only country willing and capable of supplying grain to Chu, Su, and Song countries.

In the absence of choice, even if it was expensive, they had no choice but to buy.

The only consolation was that the grain shortage in Chu Country was not that large, and the grain supplied by Nanhai Country, and the money spent on purchasing grain, could just about cover the gap.

It wasn’t too big or too small a comfort.

…

Apart from the grain shortage, another major concern of Lu Yuan was the recruitment and construction of the army.

Although the overall defeat of the Nanzhao Army was smooth, the enemy still had more than 100,000 troops, including many brave warriors. To eliminate them, the Chu Army had to suffer some casualties.

In addition, half of the Forbidden Army sent to Nanchong Prefecture to assist Jihui in guarding the city at the beginning of the year was directly crippled due to the constant wear and tear of the Nanzhao Army, with a vacancy of 10,000 soldiers.

In total, there were about 17,000 casualties.

These vacancies needed to be filled by new recruits, matched with veteran soldiers, and trained as quickly as possible to form combat power.

To this end, Lu Yuan had decided to draw 3,000 veteran soldiers from all units, plus 17,000 new soldiers, to form a separate Forbidden Army.

As for the other understaffed Forbidden armies, they would simply disband the half-crippled army in Nanchong Prefecture and incorporate them into the other units.

With this arrangement, apart from the new majority Forbidden Army, the remaining four Forbidden armies, after a period of integration, could quickly regain their full strength.

What Lu Yuan had been doing these days was just that.

Aside from handling daily government affairs and cultivation, he would occasionally make time to patrol the Forbidden Army’s main camp outside Jinguan City to ensure the progress of troop training.

Under his supervision, the results were quite encouraging.

After replenishing the vacancies, the Forbidden Army units quickly integrated and formed combat power with the addition of veterans and a little training.

Even the newly formed Forbidden Army, under the guidance of veterans, quickly learned some simple formations and flag signals, mastering a certain level of weapon usage skills.

Although they still appeared inexperienced overall, at this pace, with another one or two years of training and one or two low-intensity wars to expose the new soldiers to bloodshed, an elite force would take shape.

Seeing this, Lu Yuan had already sent a message back to Baling, asking the Forbidden Army stationed there to expand the remaining two Forbidden Armies using the same method of veteran soldiers leading new recruits.

The letter should have reached Baling by now, and the framework of the two new armies might have been set up already.

At this stage, Chu Country was expanding rapidly, and a large number of troops were needed to garrison Xichuan and Qianzhong. Lu Yuan urgently needed more troops to fill the defense gaps.

He had no choice but to slightly speed up the expansion strategy that had been originally planned for two years, and strive to complete it by the end of this year.

Luckily, Huang Xuan had plundered Jianchuan Country and obtained a large amount of money and grain. This income barely filled the gap created by the expansion of the army, so it didn’t bring too much pressure.