The Three Kingdoms began with island farming

Chapter 683 The power of the whole country
The sensible retreat of the three southern kings brought a slight sigh of relief to Yuan Shao and his allies.

There is indeed a tacit understanding between the two sides.

They did not rebuke the three kings of the South for getting a good deal, nor did the three kings of the South have any intention of pushing their luck further.

This couldn't be better for both sides.

Although the Kushan War was not as easy as the previous wars against India and the Northern Xiongnu, and was a war where one could get away with something, it was not actually that difficult.

By attacking the unprepared with the prepared, they were actually disregarding martial ethics in this battle.

But between nations, there are only interests, not much morality.

What does it matter if it goes against morality, as long as the greatest benefit can be obtained?
Morality is something you say to your own people, not to your enemies.

With the cessation of fighting in the south, the Kushan Empire had no chance left.

Bim was easily surrounded and killed by Lü Bu and Gongsun Zan, and Cao Cao secretly controlled Hubiseka III.

The Kushan capital, Purusha, fell completely after only ten days, surrounded by enemies on all sides.

The Kushan king Bodhi's previous oppressive policies also backfired. When the capital fell, he was deserted by his own people and killed by his own ministers.

With this, the Kushan Empire was completely destroyed.

Upon learning this news, the three kings of the south were completely relieved and returned to the southern Kushan region and India to continue their peaceful development.

Meanwhile, the four kings of the north began to divide the spoils among themselves.

Cao Cao swallowed up the eastern border, which suffered the least losses, Yuan Shao naturally occupied the capital, Lü Bu occupied the northern border, and Gongsun Zan took the western border.

The vast Kushan Empire vanished completely in just two or three years.

In Chang'an, after receiving the battle report from the Seven Kings, Tian Ze was unable to calm down for a long time.

"The mighty Kushuang Empire, truly gone just like that!"

With his eyes fixed on the enormous map on the wall, Tian Ze still felt a sense of disbelief.

He had initially advocated leaving seven kings behind to conquer foreign tribes, but he hadn't expected the results to be so good.

Tianze traced the outline of the Kushan Empire's territory on the map with his fingertips; the silk map still bore traces of conquest marks, the ink still wet.

Guo Jia, however, said without any surprise, "His Majesty released dragons, dragons that even we cannot control."

"How could the Kushan Empire, a mere kingdom, possibly be a match for the Seven Kings? Moreover, the two sides are not even on the same level in terms of intelligence."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Yu's eyes flashed with apprehension and wariness.

He had always harbored ill will towards the Seven Kings, for they would eventually become the greatest enemy of the Great Qi.

But now that the tiger has been released back into the mountains, and Tian Ze is willing to support him, he can only turn a blind eye and keep quiet.

It's true that the Seven Kings are working for Tian Ze, but they are also accumulating capital for their own business.

No one can stop their entrepreneurial spirit.

Moreover, they clearly felt that starting a business outside was not difficult at all, much simpler than fighting for family property at home.

As long as their elder brother Tian Ze supports them, they dare to keep fighting.

"Nearly ten million slaves again. I'm afraid the Seven Kings won't be using them as collateral this time; they'll probably just exchange them all for people," Tian Feng said, glancing at Chen Gong discreetly.

Looking beyond the surface, the key to the Kushan Wars lay not in the sheer size of the seven kings' armies, but in their strategic advantage and reliable logistics. The former goes without saying, but the latter was the crucial element and also the seven kings' greatest weakness.

The seven kings mobilized a total of nearly a million troops, and the amount of money, food, weapons and other supplies they spent was incalculable.

Liu Fan, in particular, spent billions of coins in a single battle to prove himself. The money and supplies he spent were enough to build another 100,000 elite troops from scratch.

Money and supplies are secondary, since the Great Qi is backing us up; the key is transportation capacity.

With nearly a million troops fighting continuously for more than half a year, and with a logistics supply line of over a thousand miles, more than three million able-bodied men provided logistical support.

The total population of the Seven Kingdoms is less than 30 million. If you remove half of the children and nearly half of the women, the proportion of young and middle-aged people is only a little over 20%, totaling six or seven million.

Excluding the number of soldiers who stayed behind, it can be said that more than 80% of the men perished in this war.

This is also why Tianze sent out the Seven Kings. If it were Tianze himself, it would be difficult to fight a war of this scale; there are too many things to consider.

The Seven Kings are "startups," small in scale, daring and aggressive, and don't think too much about these things.

If Tianze were to take charge himself, he would have far too many things to consider. His efficiency in internal processes and mobilization would be far lower than that of the Seven Kings.

Add to that the mobilization of the people and the deployment of the military, and the cost could easily increase several times over.

To put the seven kings at ease, Tian Ze provided them with a large amount of money and grain in advance, relieving them of any worries.

After all, in a war that involves the entire nation, there's no need to consider any domestic production issues.

With all able-bodied men on the battlefield, the fields were not cultivated effectively, and the soldiers themselves consumed a great deal of food in battle, not to mention the losses during transport and distribution.

In summary, the grain output under the rule of the Seven Kings is far less than one or two-tenths of what it used to be, and in fact, it is in much worse shape.

If the Kushans hadn't underestimated their enemy, and this battle had dragged on for another two or three years, it would have given Tazawa a real headache.

In other words, he had a resource advantage; otherwise, taking over Kushan would truly be a once-in-a-lifetime event.

Taking down the Kushan Empire is not something that can be solved simply by defeating Fulousha and killing Bodiao; there is still a lot of work to be done.

Unless all the men in the Kushan region die out, there will always be disputes.

The Seven Kings are well aware of this, but they don't have much time left to develop. They haven't yet conquered any territory that truly belongs to them, and they are all anxious about it.

With the military trained and armed to near-limit levels, their primary concerns naturally shifted to population and logistical issues.

Ultimately, both of these issues boil down to population.

This time, they will definitely exchange a large number of young and strong men with Chen Gong to replenish their ranks.

The wars with Parthia and Rome were far from over, and a sufficient number of able-bodied men were needed to ensure transportation capacity and food production in the rear.

"The Kushan population is still around ten million. The seven kings might keep about two or three tenths of them as women, and the rest of the population would require about one and a half million able-bodied men to be exchanged." Xun You kindly calculated the figures for Chen Gong in advance.

Chen Gong and Zhang Zhao frowned deeply.

Where are they going to find 1.5 million young and able-bodied men?

The population under the rule of the Great Qi is large, but people live in abundance. Who would be willing to risk leaving their homes and families to go to that godforsaken place and follow the Seventh Prince?

Even if they make preparations along the way, provide compensation to the families, and offer plenty of money and food, and the Seven Kings guarantee lodging and even provide wives and concubines, it is still not an easy task.

(End of this chapter)