Chapter 2128: The Predicament of Ya State

"Hmm... it is composed of many tribes, and currently the main tribe is the Ke Lin tribe. When the main tribe goes out to war, the other tribes must send people to follow, but the horses, supplies, and medicines used in battle outside must be prepared by themselves."

"Not bad. Each tribe has the obligation to prepare their own rations and follow the army on campaign." He Lingchuan asked him, "Obligations and rights should be equal. So, what responsibilities does the main tribe bear toward the other tribes?"

"Responsibilities?" "The distribution of spoils of war?"

"And the allocation of supplies during famine years for relief! This point is the same as in other countries."

"For over a hundred years, most of the land of Ya State has been poorer than that of Bailie and Qing State. Although it is mainly plains, only grass grows, not good crops. On the few good patches of land, farming cannot support oneself, so nomadic horse archery is common, often raiding the surrounding areas."

He Yue nodded. In the past, Heishuicheng of Yan State was even poorer than Ya State, and beside it lay the Panlong Desert, so everyone's life was very hard.

Otherwise, it would not have become a place of exile and banishment for Yan State.

"But now it is different."

He Yue understood: "Abundant spiritual energy, the grasslands have changed?"

In fact, there is still a sand table placed in this room. He Lingchuan walked over to it and casually pointed to Bai Qiuyuan: "Not bad. Just the meadow beside Bai Qiuyuan, in the past two years, wild grass has grown wildly in over a hundred batches, and with rainstorms every few days, wild grass, wild fruits, and shrubs have all rotted on the ground and fermented, the accumulated decay surpassing that of the past twenty years, the grassland soil has improved quickly, and planting crops is no problem."

"Ya State is not stupid either; they immediately promoted farming, hoping to solve their own food problem." If their own land could produce grain, national strength would certainly be stronger, and the people's quality of life would naturally be more stable. "But they have encountered several troubles."

"First, most tribespeople do not know how to farm and do not like to farm." The Ya State people have been nomads all their lives, suddenly switching to farming, they are not used to it, "so Ya State went to Bailie to capture people, bringing them back to serve as serfs."

"Second, the grain seeds brought back from neighboring states, when planted in Ya State, are not suited to the local soil and water, resulting in low yield per mu."

He Yue nodded repeatedly: "Selecting and breeding seeds is indeed a trouble. Good things introduced from elsewhere may not suit the native land; one must consider hydrology and geography."

He had also done the work of encouraging agriculture and sericulture in Shen State, knowing that crops have their own temperaments, and are not necessarily easy to grow just by directly introducing them from their native land.

"Being too well adapted can also cause problems, and this is the third trouble." He Lingchuan raised his third finger, "In order to raise good horses, Ya State over a decade ago introduced a kind of excellent forage from Mou State, called Fengdu Grass. It is said to grow quickly, and cattle and horses also like to eat it."

"The Ya people are not stupid either; after introducing it, they still knew to first open a plot of land for trial. In the first two months, the performance of Fengdu Grass was indeed good, the stalks were fine, tender, and juicy, growing fast, and it would not be gnawed at the roots by cattle, horses, donkeys, or sheep. So, they also felt confident in promoting it."

He Yue was also a knowing straight man: "And then something went wrong?"

"Exactly. Three months later, Fengdu Grass suddenly became hard and grew thorns! Now, besides camels, no livestock can eat it. So this forage introduction turned out to be a failure." He Lingchuan poured wine for the two of them again, "I really suspect that Mou State deliberately dug a big pit for Ya State."

"When Ya State people opened up farmland, Fengdu Grass came out again to cause trouble—it grows faster and stronger than crops! Under the current spiritual energy concentration, if not weeded for seven days, the whole field is full of this stuff, and crops have no living space."

With abundant spiritual energy, crops grow faster than before, but wild grasses grow even faster and more fiercely!

Fengdu Grass is stiff and full of thorns all over, weeding is especially troublesome, and if you accidentally touch it, your hands will be full of bloody holes.

"So in these two years of gradually increasing spiritual energy, Ya State's great farming endeavor has progressed much slower than expected. Moreover, with Jinjin now annexed by me, the few small states it used to raid have become my territory, and it dares not reach out anymore."

Why does Ya State now dare not lightly attack the Jinjin plains?

Or is it because they were frightened last time?

Everyone says the bold fear the stubborn, the stubborn fear the fearless. The Jinjin people fight without fear of death; Ya State's previous sneak attack on western Jinjin did not end well, they remember it with lingering fear, do not want to try again, and might as well go back to bullying soft targets.

"The winter before last was especially cold, with several heavy snowfalls before and after, many cattle, sheep, and horses froze to death on the grasslands, each tribe suffered great losses, all turned to the main tribe for aid. But the Ke Lin tribe could not produce that much money, grain, and supplies, and distribution ran into problems. You also know, for distribution, it is not scarcity that is feared but inequality, and the tribes' accumulated resentment is great."

"Later, Ya State's plan to raid Jinjin again failed. The Ge brothers suffered a great loss in Jinjin, with personnel and troops sustaining heavy losses. They are important supporters of the main tribe, and once their strength is weakened, the voices of criticism from other tribes will only grow louder."

He Yue understood: "Is Ya State now suffering from internal discord?"

"Not just now." He Lingchuan laughed, "It has always been this way."

"You ask why I chose Bai Qiuyuan instead of Ya State's second-largest city, Zhi Cao City, for the great decisive battle?" He pointed to the map; Zhi Cao City is not far from here, the terrain is even flatter, "Bai Qiuyuan is the place of origin for the three tribes of Ya State, including the main tribe, a treasure land left by their ancestors. This place, they must contend for it. But other tribes may not be so eager."

"If I attack Zhi Cao City, besides the high walls, that place is still a gathering of nobles and dignitaries from all tribes, all tribes will unite to resist, making it hard to fight; Ya State excels in cavalry, but look at the terrain of Bai Qiuyuan, it is not so advantageous for cavalry."

Bai Qiuyuan is a typical landform of the late stage of mountain and river degradation, with big and small hills and mounds standing on the plain. Placed on the wind-swept plain, it is a treasure land that shelters wind and gathers water, suitable for human habitation. Here, vegetation is lush, the climate is moist, there grow hundred-year-old trees rare on the plains, and part of the land has been opened up as farmland.

But such hilly regions are not suitable for large-scale cavalry charges and gallops, on the contrary, they are favorable for Mobile Corps Commander ambushes.

This is a place He Lingchuan carefully selected several months ago; he had already sent merchants and bird demons over beforehand to survey it meticulously, and he could even embody it on the sand table. For Bai Qiuyuan, he is even more familiar with it than those Ke Lin tribe members who rarely return to the holy land.

To be fair, Ya State also does not want to entangle with the Shenlong Army on this terrain; everyone would rather go out to the open vast plains to hack and slash, wouldn't that be better? But alas, this is the holy land, and no matter what, it must be seized.

Ya State also wanted to respond calmly, but the Nine Nether Great Emperor, as soon as he made a move, stabbed them in the lung tube, and even sent Wanqi Song and Wanqi Feng uncle and nephew as vanguards, first to attack Bai Qiuyuan!