Chapter 881

“Sima Hao really had a good plan. He thought that deliberately letting the council army escape would give me a reason to withdraw my army from the State of Chu’s territory. What a pipe dream.”

On a high ground, Xiao Ming and Li Chuyuan chatted casually.

Li Chuyuan’s forehead beaded with sweat. He dared not even breathe. Although he knew Xiao Ming’s purpose was to unify the Great Yu Empire, cooperating with the Sima family only to then eliminate them immediately seemed like too rapid a change.

He couldn’t help but sigh, perhaps he was truly not suited for political maneuvering. In front of Xiao Ming, he could only be toyed with to his demise.

“The Sima family has long harbored treacherous intentions. I intended to eliminate them. Now, it’s truly gratifying,” Li Chuyuan said with a beaming smile, his heart bitter. In his opinion, neither Xiao Ming nor Sima Hao were benevolent people, and what about himself?

It was simply a matter of the victor and the vanquished.

Xiao Ming gently nodded, “Don’t forget what you have to do next. I will fulfill my promise to you.”

The current situation in the State of Chu was complex. Besides a portion who supported the Sima family, there was also a group who supported Li Chuyuan. However, the power of this group was clearly inferior to that of the Sima family.

But none of that mattered anymore. With the growth of his spiritual journey, Xiao Ming had seen through many problems. He wanted to build an immortal empire that must combine both benevolence and severity, with both killing and mercy.

So he no longer harbored any pity for the powerful families of the State of Chu. In a situation of both internal and external troubles, he would only use iron-fisted methods to bring the State of Chu under imperial court management as quickly as possible.

And any enemies hindering this goal must be completely eliminated.

Precisely because of this, he decided to have Li Chuyuan issue a “Decree of Self-Reproach,” formally announcing that he would no longer inherit the princely title, thus ending the Li family’s centuries-long rule over the State of Chu and entrusting the State of Chu to imperial rule.

After taking another look at Li Chuyuan, Xiao Ming patted his shoulder. In the defection incident a few days prior, Wang Xuan had also sent other intelligence.

This intelligence made him feel that the unification of the Great Yu Empire was imminent and could no longer be dragged on slowly.

In truth, this was a set of data. Based on Wang Xuan’s comprehensive investigation, he obtained rough population figures for various countries: Japan 22 million, Britain 29 million, France 32 million, Tsarist Russia 44 million, and India 120 million.

In addition, Goryeo’s population was 7.5 million, the Netherlands’ population was 1.9 million, and so on.

This rough data was similar to the contemporary data recorded in the technology crystal. In fact, with the improvement of living standards, Europe’s population had surged.

But it had to be said that these population figures put great pressure on Xiao Ming, because the Great Yu Empire’s current population only had a slight advantage.

Relatively speaking, these countries were all populous nations, especially Tsarist Russia.

Understanding this, Xiao Ming dared not take it lightly. If his enemies united, they would be a very powerful force. Although Europe often had internal conflicts historically, it had always been very united against foreign enemies, such as in response to the Ottoman invasion.

However, dealing with enemies always required flexibility. He also had a plan to divide Europe and a plan to deal with another new country.

According to intelligence obtained by Wang Xuan, the British Redcoats had just been defeated in the North American colonial war, and the American War of Independence had begun.

The Netherlands, Spain, France, Tsarist Russia, Denmark, Sweden, and Austria all secretly supported this North American colonial independence war, and the Redcoats were in a difficult situation.

For Xiao Ming, he had no particular fondness for the revolting Americans, but in the context of this era, Britain was the world’s superpower.

So, France, Tsarist Russia, and the like would support the independence of its colonies. According to normal logic, he should support this new country, because this way, Britain would lose a large piece of territory. After all, Britain was the world’s superpower now.

After a moment of contemplation, Xiao Ming shook his head again. Although he had many ideas, he was currently beyond his reach. All he could do now was strengthen the Great Yu Empire.

As for whether America would be established, he was not very worried. After all, this new country was very weak, and he could bully it however he pleased.

The intense gunfire continued, followed by the rumble of cannons.

Xiao Ming continued to look. The battle in Suzhou City had now entered a white-hot phase.

Huben Army soldiers, armed with Falcon Rifles, fired from the trenches dug by the merchants’ council outside the city. The soldiers flexibly moved between the trenches and the obstacles on the ground.

Meanwhile, the clumsy Chu army still rigidly held their flintlock guns and moved towards them. Their dense formation immediately became the artillery’s favorite target.

Three hundred and sixty field cannons, loaded with explosive shells, directly bombarded the Chu army, who were advancing in dense formations.

Shells exploded in the midst of the crowd. Chu army soldiers, along with splashing mud, were sent flying into the air. After each shell, a large gap would appear in the Chu army’s formation.

“Boom, boom, boom…”

The artillerymen seemed to have found an outlet for their frustration; they fired even more vigorously, and the frequency of cannon fire increased.

While the artillery bombarded, some Huben soldiers also formed skirmish lines. After firing a volley, leveraging their range advantage, they quickly dispersed again.

Under this fierce assault, the Chu army soldiers finally collapsed. In just half an hour, over eight thousand Chu army corpses were left in front of Suzhou City.

Most importantly, these soldiers had no chance to fire their guns before they died. This despair ultimately caused the Chu army’s morale to collapse.

“Kill!”

Lu Fei shouted loudly. The soldiers rushed out of the trenches and charged towards the routed Chu army.

A Huben Army soldier would take a step, load a paper cartridge into his rifle, and when he closed the breech, the breech mechanism would expose the gunpowder in the paper cartridge. He pulled the trigger, and the percussion cap ignited the gunpowder.

With a “bang,” the Chu army soldier fifty meters away fell.

Xiao Ming then withdrew his gaze. This was the advantage of the breech-loading rifle over the flintlock gun. Before this advantage was lost, he intended to unify the Great Yu Empire.

“Boom, boom, boom…”

Amidst the hail of gunfire, Chu army soldiers suffered heavy casualties. These Chu army soldiers and sons of powerful families, who had always lived in comfort, screamed and fled in all directions. Now they finally understood that war was not about whose military uniform was prettier.

Li Chuyuan followed behind Xiao Ming. He also witnessed this scene, and his demeanor immediately became even more respectful.

Suzhou was a large city and connected to Taihu Lake. It could be said that it controlled the waterways and land routes of Jiangnan. Relying on Suzhou as a base, Lin’an was effectively constantly under the threat of the imperial army.

“Your Majesty, the soldiers are ready,” Niu Ben suddenly said to Xiao Ming, a hint of fanaticism in his eyes.

Xiao Ming’s eyes narrowed. They had decided on a strategy to stabilize the State of Chu when they were in Jinling Province. He said, “Confiscate all the property of the powerful families, and distribute the land to the common people for cultivation. I want the common people of Jiangnan to see what overwhelming imperial benevolence is!”