Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

Time flies, and it's already late March.

"Bang bang bang-"

On the joint military training ground, a burst of gunfire rang out, and the scene was filled with smoke.

These soldiers, who were fortunate enough to become officers and soldiers of the new military, have long since shed their naivety when they first joined the army after two months of systematic military training.

Because the army's food was plentiful and oily, with fresh fish and meat supplied every day, the soldiers were all in exceptionally good physical condition, comparable to many veteran soldiers who had trained for several years.

As for tactics, Shen Lang only taught him some basic assassination and close-quarters combat techniques.

Of course, in large-scale battles, unless it becomes urban warfare, these hand-to-hand combat skills are basically useless.

Ultimately, it still comes down to continuous firepower.

However, Shen Lang was really willing to spend a lot of money. What if the soldiers had never handled firearms before and their shooting accuracy was not good enough?

A: Just use bullets. Each infantryman consumes 300 bullets and 600 blanks a month. I don't believe we can't train a qualified infantryman.

What about artillery drills?

A: Throw money at them until you can judge the approximate location of a bullet's trajectory by sight.

In short, as long as the money is right and the weapons are plentiful, Shen Lang can train as many soldiers as you want.

On the surface, Jiang Mengxuan was very supportive of Shen Lang's training methods.

But when the couple went to bed at night, she kept patting Shen Lang's chest, complaining that it was too wasteful.

However, this was just a playful argument between husband and wife. As long as they could train the army and annex the land of Wu, all the sacrifices would be worthwhile.

First, they conquered Wu, then destroyed Song, fought a decisive battle against Northern Yan, drove out the barbarian wolves, and finally unified the Eastern Continent.

This is the military strategy that Shen Lang devised for Jiang Mengxuan.

Preparations for annexing the Wu Kingdom are now complete, and all that remains is a suitable opportunity.

And this opportunity soon arrived.

On March 28th, Jinling received an official letter from the Kingdom of Wu.

The book states: "Merchants led by Wang Tong and Li Sheng from your country hoarded grain during the disaster and sold it at high prices, disrupting local order. They are currently being held in jail awaiting their fate."

Your country needs to pay a ransom of three million taels of silver, which must be handed over to the border government by the end of April, in order to redeem the two men. Otherwise, the two merchants will be dealt with according to the laws of the Great Wu, and will be beheaded in the autumn as a warning to others.

It must be said that both Shen Lang and Jiang Mengxuan were stunned when they saw the extortion letter.

The two were very suspicious that Wu Ji had gone mad from practicing Taoism. The country was in a state of famine and widespread displacement, yet he still dared to make such a joke about the destruction of the country.

Since they've willingly offered themselves up for death, then we won't be polite.

At this time, Shen Lang had successfully relinquished his position as Minister of Revenue and, under the arrangement of his wife, the Empress, was given the title of "General Who Conquers the South" in the Ministry of War.

Upon receiving this "extortion letter," Shen Lang immediately mobilized four main divisions—Lu, Qu, Zhang, and Meng—to march south to Jianjia Pass to await orders.

At the same time, at Lü Lin's request, he also ordered officers from the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Divisions to go and learn the new army's tactics.

Compared to the seven divisions directly under Shen Lang's command, these three divisions are far inferior in terms of both equipment and training level.

Because the divisions under direct command receive their own ammunition and munitions directly.

As for the army under Lü Lin's command, all its arms procurement had to be purchased directly from the arsenal.

Although the military expenses of the seven divisions under Shen Lang's command were also paid by the Ministry of War, there was no way around it. Unless someone was a direct descendant of the Empress, even if they were under her command, they could not immediately receive the same treatment.

This was especially true in the early days of the new army.

Ultimately, the problem stemmed from the fact that the production capacity of the arsenal could not keep up with the needs of an army of hundreds of thousands, so they could only equip their close ally first.

The current military status of the three divisions under Lü Lin's command is as follows:

Each soldier was equipped with a 98k rifle and 220 rounds of ammunition; each division had 23 individual 50mm mortars and two hand grenades per soldier; each division had only one company equipped with a Gatling gun.

As for support artillery battalions and heavy artillery battalions, they were not even organized into a complete unit.

The three divisions combined had only eight old-fashioned 75mm mountain guns, and enough ammunition for only one basic load.

During this period, Lü Lin constantly complained to officials in the Ministry of War.

"A 98k rifle costs fifteen taels of silver, a hundred rifles start at twelve taels of silver, sixty bullets cost one tael of silver, and five grenades cost two taels of silver. These are all reasonable prices."

"But a new heavy machine gun costs 1,500 taels of silver, and a 75mm howitzer costs as much as 70,000 taels of silver. The three divisions directly under the Ministry of War have not yet been able to gather one-tenth of the heavy firepower equipment stipulated by the Duke of Zhenguo."

"In addition, besides the shortage of weapons, the cost of food for the army is also a considerable expense. Each soldier consumes a minimum of three ounces of brown rice and one pound and two ounces of polished rice per day (one pound is sixteen ounces). In addition, sufficient oil and non-staple foods must be provided. All of this costs money."

"Can any of you think of a way to talk to the Duke of Zhenguo and ask him to provide a batch of weapons for free? We are all serving the country, how can we treat each other differently?"

Having witnessed firsthand the awe-inspiring power of weaponry, Lü Lin was eager to transform all three of his directly subordinate divisions into standardized armies modeled after the Imperial Guard.

However, due to tight fiscal expenditures and the need to appease the old military, the large-scale arms procurement could only be delayed.

This also resulted in the three divisions lagging far behind the seven divisions directly under Shen Lang's command in training progress. In order not to be "eliminated by the tide of the times", Lü Lin had no choice but to reluctantly request that the officers of the three divisions be allowed to see the battlefield and learn the new combat concepts in a serious manner during this expedition.

Shen Lang naturally did not refuse, and he also intended to bring the Central Army's new combat concepts to these new army officers.

……

On the third day of the fourth month, Shen Lang prepared to set off again.

This time, however, Jiang Mengxuan felt quite at ease.

"Ah Lang, I'll come to Wu County to find you after I've finished what I need to do here."

"Three months later, we will meet in front of the Wu Emperor's Palace."

Shen Lang smiled slightly, took her hand, and said, "Xuan'er, just wait and see how your husband will sweep through your territory with unstoppable force."

"Rest assured, I will make that foolish emperor of Wu kneel before you."

"What's the point of making that kind of charlatan emperor kneel? Doesn't it just offend my eyes?"

"Haha, then I'm off."

"Take care on your journey, and don't worry me."

Shen Lang closed his eyes briefly, which was considered a response to the Empress's request.

Mu Qingqiu, who was standing to the side, couldn't stand it any longer and couldn't help but speak up: "You two have been inseparable almost every day since you got married."

I almost cried watching this, so can you two tone it down a bit? This is such a serious matter, don't let your personal feelings get in the way.

"hehe."

Shen Lang and Jiang Mengxuan smiled at the same time.

The next moment, Shen Lang nodded heavily to the Empress, then flicked his cloak, turned around, mounted his warhorse, and left the palace gate.

The accompanying guards immediately mounted their warhorses and marched together toward the border.

……

At this moment, the Wu king and his ministers were completely unaware that their rebellious actions had brought about the downfall of their kingdom, and they were still immersed in the dream of receiving the ransom.

Wu Ji, in particular, had only finished repairing the Ziwei Hall a few months ago, but he had already come up with the idea of ​​building the Taiqing Hall.

Would the Empress of Chu agree to send money?

Wu Ji himself knew that the chances of success of this self-directed and self-acted terrible idea were almost zero.

But when he heard that the State of Chu had confiscated the wealth of the powerful families in Jiangnan and obtained a huge amount of riches, he felt a surge of displeasure.

Why should a mere woman be able to obtain so much money? Why is she more charismatic than me?

I am a saint, how could I be inferior to a mere mortal empress?

Xu Qian, who was standing to the side, remained silent upon hearing this.

During this time, he had already secretly sold off his family's property for money and had his clansmen secretly smuggle themselves to the State of Song.

why?

Because he had already anticipated that the Kingdom of Wu would probably not survive this year.

With the invading army pressing in, and having offended the State of Chu, resentment among the people was running high.

However, this emperor of Wu was still like a riddle-maker who thought he controlled everything, naively believing that the country was in good condition.

How could such a country not perish?

Run, run quickly, at least let the tribe survive, that's the most important thing.