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

Jiang Mengxuan sighed: "As an emperor, one shouldn't act so impulsively. If it were me, since the Jiang Kingdom suffered a defeat in the second war against the Jiang Kingdom..."

If the Jiang state submits a letter of surrender seeking peace, it should abandon further military campaigns, send envoys to negotiate a solution to the dispute, and secretly deploy troops as a precaution.

Instead of openly declaring war again, wouldn't that expose their intentions to the enemy?

Shen Lang nodded: "Yes, but for Li Hong, this stubborn and self-willed emperor, face is more important than anything else. The face lost on the battlefield must be regained on the battlefield."

I've actually analyzed whether Li Hong had any compelling reasons for doing this, but I found his actions completely incomprehensible. You have to understand, when the war broke out in the Jiang Kingdom...

Li Hongcai had only been on the throne for thirteen years, the prime of his life; he truly shouldn't have made such a mistake.

Jiang Mengxuan peeled a lychee with her own hands and smiled gently: "So, the fourth war against Jiang Kingdom still broke out, right?"

Shen Lang nodded: "Putting aside other factors, at least for the fourth war against Jiang, the Wu Zhao army was indeed well prepared, and the war didn't break out until a year later."

And the outcome of this war was arguably the best of the four wars fought by Wu Zhao.

Jiang Mengxuan stuffed a lychee directly into Shen Lang's mouth: "Just how good is it?"

Shen Lang savored the sweetness of the lychee, then took a towel, spat the pit onto it, and replied with a smile, "We fought to a standstill, how could it not be good?"

"Pfft..."

Jiang Mengxuan couldn't hold back and burst out laughing.

Seemingly realizing he had lost his composure, he quickly picked up a piece of silk cloth and pretended to wipe his mouth.

Shen Lang continued, "This time, the Wu Zhao army advanced directly three hundred li into the heart of the Jiang Kingdom, reaching Baishi Pass, forty li away from the Jiang capital."

Knowing that they could not directly confront Wu Zhao, Jiang Guo adopted a defensive strategy, engaging in a war of attrition with Wu Zhao. After the first three campaigns against Wu Zhao,

Although the Jiang Kingdom's garrison had lost many able-bodied men, they had gained a much clearer understanding of Wu Zhao's tactics.

They exploited the Wu Zhao army's weakness in siege warfare, reinforced the defenses of Baishi Pass, and successfully withstood Wu Zhao's offensive for four months.

It should be noted that this time, the Wu Zhao Kingdom dispatched almost all of its elite warriors, except those guarding the border, to the battlefield.

With over 40,000 warriors and 600,000 local troops, they were utterly routed outside Baishi Pass, unable to advance an inch. Similarly, the Jiang Kingdom was also unable to venture out.

The fighting continued intermittently for four months until neither side could sustain the conflict any longer, and their respective commanders began to negotiate a peace in private.

Jiang Mengxuan lay on the long couch, listening quietly to Shen Lang's story, and then casually lifted her fair, snow-white legs and placed them on Shen Lang's knees.

Shen Lang picked up her jade-like foot and gently pressed it while continuing, "The content of the peace agreement was also somewhat abstract. Both sides went back and said they had won the battle."

The Jiang Kingdom was willing to continue its vassalage, and the Wu Zhao Kingdom considered itself the victor, finally ending this seemingly endless war.

"Actually, Li Hong's goal was to completely annihilate the Jiang Kingdom, not for it to surrender. But the war has come to this point..."

They spent over 30 million taels of silver in supplies and mobilized over two million troops, deploying almost all available mobile forces to the battlefield.

Ultimately, they failed to capture the city, so they simply turned a blind eye, reluctantly acknowledging victory and accepting the surrender of the Jiang Kingdom. They quickly withdrew their army back to the territory of the Wu Zhao Kingdom.

Jiang Mengxuan: "Put yourself in their shoes. With the war going on like that, more than two million people in four wars couldn't defeat a weak country that was far inferior to us. If I were Li Hong, I would probably have had to accept it too."

Shen Lang shook his head: "Actually, if it weren't for the rebellion of the Wagang tribe in the northwest of Wuzhao Kingdom, given Li Hong's personality, he would have continued fighting no matter how difficult it was."

The Wagang tribe and the Wuzhao Kingdom have been entangled in a feud for over four hundred years, and Li Hong is determined to eliminate this arch-enemy completely.

"Is the Wagang tribe very strong? I've been busy with political affairs and haven't paid much attention to overseas matters lately."

"How should I put it? The Wagang tribe might have been very strong four hundred years ago, but when it was destroyed, the force that fought against the main force of Wuzhao for a year was a group of militiamen and the old and weak."

Jiang Mengxuan opened her mouth, but couldn't utter a single word.

As overseas colonial trade policies were implemented, the secrets of those countries that had never been seen were gradually unveiled.

When the most authentic side was presented to Jiang Mengxuan, the powerful countries that she and her ancestors had admired in the past seemed not to be as good as rumored.

Looking back, Jiang Mengxuan suddenly realized that the person standing at the peak, looking down on the world, was actually herself.

"After the Wu Zhao army withdrew from the Jiang Kingdom, the border troops in various regions returned to their posts, while the main force of the martial arts camp rushed to the northwest to join forces with the local government troops to encircle and annihilate the Wa Gang army."

In the sixteenth year of Li Hong's reign, the Wagang tribe's last stronghold in the northwest, Hazhou, was captured by Zhao Hui, and the Wagang tribe, which had been entangled with the Wu Zhao Kingdom for hundreds of years, was completely wiped out.

This was also the martial skill that Li Hong boasted about to his ministers and envoys on numerous public occasions.

Jiang Mengxuan: "It's clear that Li Hong is really happy, after all, the enemy of his ancestors has ended in his hands."

"Yes, but to be honest, it was a really ugly victory. Wu Zhao Kingdom targeted the last remaining old and weak of the Wa Gang tribe."

It took over a year to capture Harbin, a city starving and deprived of food and water, with the combined efforts of over 8,000 warriors and 30,000 local soldiers.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Mengxuan frowned slightly, feeling that something seemed amiss with the military strength of the Wu Zhao Kingdom.

So he continued, "I've also heard that Li Hong conquered a snowy kingdom, and that its soldiers are exceptionally fierce, each possessing innate power."

Is that also a representative of Wu Zhao Kingdom's outstanding martial arts skills?

Upon hearing this, Shen Lang couldn't help but say, "What Snow Country? It's actually just a group of rebellious noble descendants within Wu Zhao."

They occupied a snow-capped mountain, and then, taking advantage of the terrain, joined forces with the local indigenous people to form a rebel army.

They're just fighting against the Wu Zhao Kingdom; at most, there are only thirty to fifty thousand people on the snowy mountain.

This battle was the most brutal ever fought by the Wu Zhao Kingdom, lasting from the nineteenth year of Li Hong's reign until the autumn of the thirty-first year.

It took nearly thirteen years of sustained effort for them to win through sheer national strength and attrition.

This battle cost 96 million taels of silver, but the total number of troops deployed was less than 30,000, all of whom were the most elite warriors.

Jiang Mengxuan's beautiful eyes narrowed: "A Lang, from what you just said until now, when you talked about Wu Zhao's military operations, was it always centered on martial artists with local troops as support?"

Shen Lang nodded: "Yes, the core military strength of Wu Zhao Kingdom lies in its martial arts camps and outer vassal states. Their treatment is more than ten times that of local troops."

According to rough verification, the current total population of Wu Zhao Kingdom is approximately 600 million, with a total military strength of over 2.2 million. However, the actual number of troops guarding Wu Zhao's borders and fighting in all directions is...

Only the 230,000-strong warrior camp and the 100,000-strong army of the outer vassal states who had defected from various forces remained; the rest of the army, in terms of both training level and treatment,

They are far inferior to the former two. They might be good at capturing bandits and petty thieves, but on the main battlefield, they are merely auxiliary troops responsible for escorting supplies.

"How could this be? This is putting the cart before the horse."

Jiang Mengxuan's face was filled with disbelief.

"Suppressing a million ordinary soldiers just to highlight the superiority of a small elite force is a completely wrong military strategy and is certainly unsustainable."

Even the fiercest lion will eventually be devoured by an endless horde of hungry wolves. Does Li Hong not understand this principle?