To achieve immortality, I cultivate using Qi Luck

Chapter 692: Chapter 310: Snow Disaster and Barbarians_2

At this time, Lu Yuan couldn’t help but think of the Snowy Plateau, which was close to Chu State and could even be said to border it.

The Snowy Plateau had a vast area, which was no less than the entire Yangzhou and might even be several times larger.

Anyway, since ancient times, there have been only a few people who could clearly define the boundaries of the Snowy Plateau.

However, although this snowy area is vast, there are not many areas suitable for human habitation in it.

Most of the livable areas are concentrated on the Qinghai Plateau, which is close to Yong State.

Qinghai is the largest lake on the Snowy Plateau, with an area large enough to compete with several Dongting Lakes, making it a first-class land of lush water and grass.

Not only can cattle and sheep be grazed there, but grain can also be cultivated.

Relying on this fertile land, millions of highland barbarians are able to survive.

Except for Lake Qinghai, there are also dozens of other large and small lakes on the plateau, as well as several large rivers, which also support many barbarians.

However, most of these rivers and lakes are distributed in the northern and western parts of the plateau, while the eastern and southern areas adjacent to Chu State have no large lakes or rivers.

Although there are some barbarian tribes in the highland areas adjacent to Xichuan County and the southwestern Yi People, they are small tribes with populations of only thousands or tens of thousands and do not pose a significant threat.

On ordinary days, these barbarian tribes stay on the plateau and only occasionally go down the mountain with their horses to trade with Xichuan County and the Yi People, usually not causing trouble.

As a result, Lu Yuan, who had already occupied Xichuan County, did not have to worry about being invaded by barbarians like Zhou Country.

This was indeed a great blessing.

Otherwise, facing the barbarians would give him headaches and even heart palpitations.

Although no one has ever counted the number of barbarians on the plateau, the Snowy Plateau’s area is several times larger than Yangzhou, and it has countless lakes and rivers.

Even if most of the plateau is uninhabitable, Lu Yuan’s collected information and historical records suggest that there are at least 10 million barbarians on the plateau.

Ten million barbarians, plus the area of several large states, provide a foundation strong enough to form an empire.

It is because the plateau is so large, and at the same time, the lakes and rivers suitable for settlement are too scattered, that the unification of the barbarians on the plateau is extremely difficult, almost impossible.

Otherwise, if this force is gathered together, it would have a strength that would shake the world.

But even if it is impossible to unify and consolidate, with the existing strength of the barbarians on the plateau, even if they just instinctively rise against Zhou Country, and Western Liang Country through plundering invasions, it would be enough to give these two great states of Yong State a hard time.

Especially Western Liang Country, although taking up three counties, the land in Zhou Country’s far west is just like what Lu Yuan is now conquering in the southwestern Yi People’s area, being adjacent to many outer territories and always barren.

According to rumors and historical records, the three counties of Western Liang Country are less viable than those in the Southwest Yi People’s area, as there is very little land suitable for farming and too little land to support a large population.

Moreover, the surrounding areas are populated by many different ethnic groups such as Qiang, Di, Hu, and Barbarians, and the pressure of survival from Zhou Country to the east is immense.

Therefore, although the special environment has made Western Liang Country a powerful military force, its national strength is not strong.

With the whole country’s population of only about three or four million people and the half-agricultural, half-soldier policy, it is sustainable to support an army of 400 or 500 thousand, but it cannot last long.

“If this war triggered by the cold wave could end within two or three years, that would be good.

But if it gets dragged out for five or six years, or even longer, the national strength of Western Liang Country would absolutely be unable to support it.

Although the power of the millions of barbarians from the Snowy Plateau is dispersed, when they are gathered together, they can easily mobilize an army of several million. Moreover, there are quite a few strong people among the barbarians. Certainly, there are more than ten Inborn Grandmasters.

With this strength, even Zhou Country would have to fight with all its might and be full of fear.

Not to mention the annihilation of Western Liang Country.”

Lu Yuan recalled the news from the Imperial City’s Foreign Office in Yong State over the past few days.

Since a major flood occurred on the Snowy Plateau a few months ago,

Twenty-seven large and small tribes from the plateau joined forces, gathering an army of 500,000 soldiers, including three Inborn Grandmasters.

This force was simply unstoppable by the local Zhou Country border army when it descended and looted two prefectures and counties.

After the large-scale descent of the barbarians, many prefectures and counties of the two counties of Hexi and Longxi in Zhou Country were quickly captured. In particular, half of Hexi County was directly lost, and the county city was besieged by barbarians.

In just a few days, the western border of Zhou Country was engulfed in the flames of war, with Hexi and Longxi counties facing the danger of collapse.

Once these two counties were lost, the national gateway of Zhou Country would be thrown wide open. Those descending barbarians could directly attack Guannei County.

Guannei County is where Zhou Country’s Jingji is located, which is equivalent to Chu State’s Dongting County, Ning Country’s Linhai County, and is the true foundation and core.

How could they let the enemy in?

Therefore, Hexi and Longxi counties must not be lost.

After learning that the barbarians had descended from the mountains, Emperor Zhou immediately ordered the formation of the Western Pacification Army.

With Zhou Country’s Western Grand General Sima Zhengde as the commander and the left and right Grand Generals as his deputies, they led 200,000 soldiers to quell the rebellious barbarians in the Longxi and Hexi counties.

In addition, Zhou Country continued to allocate garrison troops from various counties to join the Western Pacification Army in order to fight the barbarians.