Volume 5: Overlord of the Sea Chapter 621: Different Paths
The proportion of the Chu army has been relatively small since the General's Mansion period, and... it is getting smaller and smaller!
After all, manpower is becoming more and more expensive, and the salaries and supplies required to maintain the army are also very high.
The army only has 300,000 elite troops who can fight in foreign wars and are not ordinary defenders. Another part is rotating to cultivate land. All of them have been mobilized at this time, totaling more than 400,000.
There are also 80,000 naval forces...
At this time, 70% of the army was gathering in the northern road of Jinghu Lake, and the navy was also ready to land in the Nanpi area of Jizhou.
If the country did not already have a basic railway network, Bai Tu would not dare to do this - not only would it be a problem of excessive consumption in transporting military supplies, but Bai Tu himself would also have to feel guilty and worried that he would be attacked directly.
However, now that we have wireless reports and railroads, even if Wei really wants to do so, it is impossible for it to return faster than the speed of the Chu army's reinforcements. Moreover, because the Wei army now has the "fake Han" in the middle, it is not so easy if they really want to launch a surprise attack on Chu.
If you really think that Chu had a "small army", you are totally wrong. If you change the algorithm and add together all the official workshops that directly produce military equipment and military machinery, as well as the workshops that cooperate with downstream industries, you will find that the "Chu Army" has several times more people than Wei!
After all, how generous is the Wei State? With the technology of the Artisan Battalion, how much money can a single soldier spend?
In terms of equipment, it is just "sophisticated weapons" and "decent armor". The cost is higher than the Qi crossbow of Chu, but the actual effect is not as good as Chu!
After all, the cost of the Qi crossbow is "invisible". It is because everyone in the civilian world has enough food to eat and even starts to discuss nutrition issues. The Qi that is accumulated is the combat effectiveness that can only be maintained by the "luxury" military supplies as logistical support .
Even behind every Ji-made soldier of the Chu State, there are three or four workshop workers working to produce all kinds of equipment, weapons, and military supplies...
This does not even include the manpower investment in the shipyard and railroad invigorating vehicles!
If all were taken into account, it would probably be as much as one-sixth or one-seventh. It was only because the State of Chu was rich enough and had determined commercial taxes at the source as early as possible that it was able to invest so much manpower in the military without the people feeling too much pressure.
This ratio is not far from that of Wei State. If we consider the huge population of Chu State, it will exceed the total of Pseudo-Han and Wei State.
More importantly, the efficiency of the Chu workshop and the effectiveness of various types of equipment and weapons...
If we do simple math, the weight coefficient of Chu is much greater than that of Wei...
If this was really a math problem, the Chu army would not need to fight. Their hard power far exceeded that of the Wei army. It just seemed that they had fewer heads.
Unfortunately, the struggle for hegemony is not a math problem. After comparing the sizes, Wei will not surrender. Moreover, Wei has not yet realized how big the gap is!
Bai Tu was also about to meet Zhuge Liang, who had a slight idea of how big the gap was.
"I, the humble man Zhuge Liang, am here to pay my respects to the King of Chu." Zhuge Liang simply called himself "the humble man", which obviously showed that he did not want to serve Chu.
"Mr. Zhuge, please don't be so polite. Don't talk about being a commoner or not. We don't have such habits in the Great Chu." Bai Tu gestured to Zhuge Liang with great generosity towards the guest chair.
"Thank you, King Chu." Zhuge Liang sat down confidently.
If Zhuge Liang was on a diplomatic mission on behalf of the State of Qi, he would have considered many other things, but now... Liu Bei has been controlled by the State of Chu, and the State of Qi, or the Han Dynasty, has already perished, so why bother talking about all this?
Zhuge Liang naturally let his temper run wild...
"When I first came to Xiangyang, I really wanted to meet you, sir. Unfortunately, due to various reasons, I missed you in the end." Bai Tu said with emotion.
This is not a lie. When he first entered Nanjun, although Bai Tu was already one of the strongest princes, it could not be said that "the trend was set". Naturally, he was full of expectations for a capable person like Zhuge Liang.
But now Bai Tu is no longer so conflicted - whether Zhuge Liang is willing to serve Chu or not does not affect the "overall situation".
"Thank you King Chu for your kindness. Perhaps I am shallow." Zhuge Liang did not deny that he deliberately left before Bai Tu came to his thatched cottage.
Although he modestly said it was "shallow", his tone clearly showed that he remained true to his original intention.
"It's not too late now. It's just right! When the State of Chu unifies the world, the Central Plains and the north will all be in ruins. There are also the Golden States overseas, the northern desert, the white mountains and black waters in the northeast, and even the Western Regions...all kinds of fertile lands waiting to be developed. Mr. Zhuge can show his strengths." Bai Tu understood what Zhuge Liang meant, but still to follow the procedure to ask.
Zhuge Liang thought Bai Tu's tone was too arrogant at first, but when he thought about it carefully, he remembered that when he was in Hanzhong, he had received wireless intelligence from his brother Zhuge Jin - which was specially shown to him - so he could understand some of Bai Tu's "tone".
Wireless precision report, Qi motorcycle...
Combining these two things is equivalent to "compressing" the governance area, so the natural "territory" can become larger!
However, Zhuge Liang still shook his head and said, "Thank you, King Chu, for your kindness. I no longer have this intention. I only wish to continue my family's study and farming for the rest of my life. I sincerely hope that after the great Chu Dynasty has restored order in the world, it will last for thousands of years."
Zhuge Liang was not taking the opportunity to flatter, but was truly wishing for it - after all, it was impossible to expect the Han Dynasty to last for thousands of years, so it would be best if the Chu State could do it.
Otherwise, won’t the people suffer again in the future?
Especially since Chu was so ambitious, would it become even more chaotic in the future? Zhuge Liang didn't want to think too much, but just wished that Baitu would last for thousands of years.
"Mr. Zhuge, this is too vulgar." Bai Tu explained.
"Does the King of Chu not want eternal glory, but also hopes for continuous wars?" Zhuge Liang frowned when he heard this - I am so generous in blessing you, and you still want to argue with me?
"What's so-called eternity? I don't know whether the State of Chu can last eternity, but I think ... it's probably not. But I believe that the people of Chu will get better and better... Mr. Zhuge, why do you have to try to please the unpopular? The world belongs to everyone in the world, so why don't you have more faith in 'people in the world'?" Bai Tu said casually.
Bai Tu also roughly understood Zhuge Liang's idea - Zhao Yun had previously communicated with him about the details.
Bai Tu said that these "great sages" just think too much and treat everyone in the world as "common people" all day long. Even if they have good intentions and hope to create eternal peace, their effects are ultimately limited.
Zhuge Liang was also frightened by Bai Tu's "big talk". The best scholars have always thought about creating a prosperous era and making the people live and work in peace and contentment, which is the so-called governing the country and pacifying the world. He has never heard of relying on the people to do anything.
However, thinking about what the State of Chu had done , Zhuge Liang did not doubt that the King of Chu really thought so.
Of course, Zhuge Liang still didn't quite believe that Bai Tu really didn't want to "last for thousands of generations", and Bai Tu couldn't explain to him that he had a long-term plan of "gradually disappearing in the second generation of Chu, and becoming a mascot for N generations in the third generation"...
