Chapter 20
Those civil officials are from the Aristocratic Families; they look down on her and have no intention of serving under her. Of course, the thought that she might not be able to defeat the Wei State, making their coming futile, is also not impossible.
However, Lia felt it was the former. Just like Zhu Yuanzhang, because he was a beggar, no civil official looked up to him. In the end, out of desperation, Zhu Yuanzhang had to rely on the tactic of kidnapping people.
And since she was a woman, it was only natural for these literati to look down on her.
"I wonder what royal title my Lord intends to use?" Liu Ye asked curiously.
After Lia unified Liang Province, the Black Tiger Gang was completely uprooted. It could be said that Liu Ye, whose great revenge had been avenged, was now absolutely loyal to Lia.
"I intend to call myself King Arthur," Lia said directly.
Actually, she wanted to use the title King Wu, but after thinking about it, the Zhou Dynasty already had a King Wu. She didn't want to compete with others, so she might as well use Arthur. It was her original title anyway.
As for Dragon King? Em mm... "Arthur?" Everyone was stunned. However, basically everyone present was a warrior and didn't know if there was anything wrong with it; they just felt it was a bit of a tongue-twister. But since it was decided by their Lord, there should be no problem.
Thus, Lia's royal title was settled by herself.
Chapter 46: The Map
Before long, the news of Lia declaring herself king in Western Liang reached the ears of Northern Wei and the Liu Song Dynasty.
At this time, Northern Wei was naturally furious upon hearing the news. Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei in the Luoyang palace was even more beyond himself with rage.
He hadn't expected that the news of the Rebel Leader from Western Liang two months ago had not only not been suppressed but had actually occupied Western Liang.
What kind of place was Western Liang?
Although Western Liang was sparsely populated, it was a good place for raising horses. Nearly half of the Wei State's horses came from Western Liang. Now that it was occupied by the Rebel Leader, wasn't that equivalent to cutting off the Wei State's powerful retreat?
That useless Prince of Leping!
Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei directly issued a death order, commanding Leopard to lead fifty thousand elite troops to reclaim Western Liang and bring back the head of the Rebel Leader.
The army, which had been preparing since two months ago, finally set out. According to their itinerary, it was nearly a thousand kilometers from Luoyang to Liang Province.
Now with the army on the move, it would take at least a month to reach the borders of Western Liang. By the time Lia received the news from that side, the army had already been on the march for half a month.
Lia's assumption of the kingship and the reactions from the Wei State were within expectations, but what surprised her was the reaction from the Liu Song Dynasty.
After she declared herself king, the Liu Song Dynasty actually sent someone to formally acknowledge her royal title. Not only that, they also sent a lot of gold, silver, and grain, which truly exceeded Lia's expectations.
But after thinking about it, Lia understood what the Liu Song Dynasty was planning.
A year ago, the Liu Song Dynasty and Northern Wei had a battle. They were beaten so badly by Northern Wei that they fled in panic, abandoning their equipment. If Northern Wei hadn't run out of grain in the end and stopped the offensive, the Liu Song Dynasty might have been destroyed by Northern Wei.
In the end, both sides used the river as a boundary, somewhat similar to the relationship between the Jin Dynasty and the Song Dynasty.
Now that a rebel uprising had appeared within Northern Wei, the Liu Song Dynasty was naturally happy to see it. They hoped Northern Wei would suffer heavy losses while suppressing the rebels, which was why they spared no effort in sending her some supplements.
They wished for her to hold out longer so that Northern Wei would have no time to rest and recuperate, remaining constantly engaged in suppressing the rebels. This would give them time to develop in secret.
After understanding this, Lia chuckled. Since the Liu Song Dynasty wanted to support her and hoped she would hold out longer, she might as well ask them for more resources. These guys might even give them to her for free.
Since Northern Wei had already begun their campaign against her, she now had to figure out how to repel their army. Not only did she have to repel them, but she also had to strike hard to let them know she was a tough nut to crack, not something they could easily chew on.
Thinking of this, Lia summoned the soldiers and civil officials to the assembly hall.
The soldiers who received Lia's summons quickly arrived at the assembly hall, but the scene inside was beyond their expectations.
Previously, when everyone discussed matters, Lia would sit on a small bed with a table in front of her. Only the generals Lia entrusted with heavy responsibilities had a table, but none had a bed or anything similar to sit on.
Most people knelt directly on a mat, which was a tradition left over from ancient times.
However, now in the center of the assembly hall, an open rectangular table had been placed. Around this table were chairs that looked strange in appearance.
In this era, although chairs existed, they were not prevalent. Their design was quite simple, found only in a few Aristocratic Families, and only the most noble people could sit on them.
"My Lord, what is this?" As a female general here, Hua Mulan had a relationship with Lia that allowed her to speak more freely than the other soldiers, so she asked on behalf of everyone.
Lia smiled slightly, "Haha, I feel that kneeling is too hard on all of you. After our usual meetings, I see everyone suffering from leg numbness due to long periods of kneeling. So, I decided to change this bad habit. Everyone will sit on chairs to discuss matters from now on."
Hearing Lia say this, everyone was immediately moved. This was their Lord's consideration for them, her subordinates; how could they not be moved to tears of gratitude?
Which other lord would be so considerate of their subordinates? Perhaps for a few specific officials, but to treat everyone equally was completely unheard of.
"As for that table, there is a nameplate in front of each seat with your name on it. Just take your seat according to the name on the table. As for the papers on the table, you can write down your thoughts on this meeting, and I will read them. Of course, if you have no thoughts, you don't have to write anything. No meaningless nonsense is allowed."
This way, if these people had anything they were embarrassed to say during the meeting, they could use this notebook to secretly convey messages to Lia.
"Alright, everyone find your names and sit down." After Lia finished speaking, everyone looked at the names on the plates and searched for their seats.
Once everyone was seated, they realized that the more heavily Lia relied on someone, the closer they were to her seat. It seemed that these seats also represented each person's importance in Lia's heart.
The soldiers and civil officials all took note of this in their hearts.
"I have gathered everyone here today, and I'm sure you all know why. But before we discuss that matter, I want to show you something."
"Ninger, show the map I drew to the ministers." As she spoke, Lia had the maid beside her lower a roll of white paper from the wall.
After the white paper was completely unrolled, everyone discovered that it was actually a map.
"Take a look at this. It's the latest map I've drawn. What do you all think?" This time, Lia had actually drawn all Seven Continents of the Earth.
However, Lia didn't draw the countries of the Seven Continents in detail. She only gave a rough introduction to the countries surrounding Huaxia. The only truly detailed part was the Huaxia region.
The soldiers watched as Lia hung the map on the wall, their eyes widening in shock.
"My Lord, did you create this map yourself?"
Li Lin looked at the map hanging on the wall in surprise. He couldn't help but stand up from his chair and walk over to the map, finding that it clearly marked the current territories of Northern Wei and the Liu Song Dynasty, as well as their Liang Province area.
Lia had specifically used different colors to make it easy for everyone to distinguish them.
Not only that, but the map also marked where there were mountains, lakes, deserts, and grasslands... These clear images seemed to melt into their eyes.
When had they ever seen such a precise map? Lia's move was truly a dimensional strike!
"Of course. The accuracy of this map is definitely the highest in history. For probably a hundred years, there won't be anything more accurate than this. Although there are some places I haven't been to, I've taken them into consideration." Lia nodded.
It was a map of China, after all; who hadn't looked at it carefully?
Chapter 47: A Pity She's a Daughter
Normally, no one would remember this map so clearly. But since she could remember the books she read as a transmigrator in her mind after rebirth, let alone the maps she searched for on Baidu every day?
"My Lord, according to the map you drew, does our Huaxia land only occupy such a small space in this world?" After looking at the map for a while, Hua Mulan couldn't help but point to other places.
She really couldn't imagine that the Huaxia land was only that small on the map Lia drew. Hadn't it been said since ancient times that the Central Plains was the center of the world? Everywhere else was just barbarian land.
"Yes, the land occupied by our Huaxia is indeed not much, but that was because people in the past didn't know how much land existed elsewhere. Now that you know, I plan to not only unify the land of Huaxia but also conquer these regions in the future!"
Lia pointed to the areas surrounding Huaxia, specifically highlighting Tibet, Qinghai, and Xinjiang.
As for Korea and Little Japan, she would deal with them after unifying Huaxia; the same applied to further places like Europe.
Conquering a region is easy; like Mongolia, one just needs to take down Europe. But making those people spontaneously consider themselves Han is no simple task.
This would at least require destroying their civilization and teaching them one's own for such a possibility to exist.
In ancient times, the farther a place was, the harder it was to manage. Even if conquered, rebellions would occur, so one must first stabilize their own surrounding areas.
Once stabilized, one can slowly encroach on the surrounding regions and stabilize them in turn, like boiling a frog in warm water; that is the best approach.
"My Lord, why are there several pieces of land so far away? Have you been to these places too?"
Hua Mulan curiously pointed to several other continents detached from Eurasia and Africa. Lia had only drawn simple outlines of the plates without adding detailed information.
If the map drawn by the Lord was real, didn't that mean these continents were real too? How could one cross such a vast ocean?
Could ships sail that far? Even if they could, wouldn't they get lost?
"I haven't been to those places, but someone has. I heard about them from others, so I added those continents. Whether they are real doesn't matter; if we have the chance in the future, we'll verify it. For now, we have no way to check. Mulan, there's no need for you to think about such irrelevant things."
Lia shook her head.
"Oh." Hua Mulan reluctantly looked away from the map. Lia's map was so detailed that they found it hard to look away.
Setting aside far-off places, the depiction of Western Liang was flawless, even more detailed than what they knew.
Isn't the Lord just a fifteen-year-old girl? How does she know so much? Even if she had started learning from the womb, it wouldn't be this terrifying!
Whether in superb martial arts, cultural depth, or broad knowledge, she far surpassed everyone of the present day. She was like an anomaly—could she be the reincarnation of a celestial being?
It's just that the Lord's luck was a bit poor, being born as a woman. Otherwise, why would she think of competing for world hegemony like those ambitious heroes?
If only she were a man. Now, even wanting to share a drink and conversation with the Lord requires considering if it would be a great sign of disrespect!
After all, the Lord is a woman and so beautiful. If there were any physical contact, one might be accused of disrespect and lose their head.
Lia didn't know everyone was thinking so much. The theme this time wasn't just the map, but how to guard against Northern Wei's counterattack.
So Lia said, "Everyone, please share your views."
"My Lord, this should be relatively simple. Now that we have the divine tool of explosives invented by the Lord, holding off the Wei State's attack is not a difficult task."
Hearing Lia say this, the soldiers weren't too worried. Although the enemy's strength was several times their own, they were confident in victory against the fifty thousand elite troops from Northern Wei.
Although hand grenades aren't great for offense, they are excellent for defense. Forget fifty thousand; even a hundred thousand could be wiped out!
However, the downside was the high consumption of gunpowder materials. After this battle, they would basically be back to square one.
Lia also knew this. Holding off the fifty thousand troops of Wei was indeed not that difficult.
The difficulty was how to quickly replenish the consumption of gunpowder materials after the battle. During this time, they had already scoured all the niter around Western Liang.
Lia tapped the table and thought for a while. It seemed she still needed to find niter mines and teach everyone how to quickly obtain niter.
Lia recalled information she had seen before regarding niter mines. Based on provincial divisions, niter resources in her country were extremely rich.
They were distributed across fourteen provinces and regions.
Among them, Qinghai, Sichuan, Inner Mongolia, Hunan, Yunnan, and Xinjiang were the richest, accounting for over 90% of the country. Jiangsu, Shanxi, Gansu, Hubei, Shaanxi, Guangxi, Henan, and Tibet also had abundant reserves or newly discovered mirabilite resources.
Currently, these regions didn't belong to her, so she couldn't access them for now. However, in Gansu Province—which is the Liang Province she currently rules—there are niter mines.
The niter resources in Gansu were mainly distributed in: Hongliu Sand Mountain in Yumen City, Zaoziyuan in Jinta County, Yanchi in Gaotai County, and Xiaogouping in Minqin County.
Now Lia could only send people to search those nearby areas. If they could be found, they could be mined immediately, and she wouldn't have to worry about insufficient materials in the short term.
Plus, once she conquered Qinghai, Xinjiang, and Tibet later, the niter problem would be perfectly solved!
"Since everyone thinks there's no problem, we'll supplement the battle plan in a moment. Now let's talk about these three regions." Lia said, pointing to Qinghai, Tibet, and Xinjiang on the map.
"My Lord, what's wrong with these three places?" Everyone looked at the three places Lia pointed to. They knew a bit about the Western Regions, but weren't Tibet and Qinghai just barbarian lands? It seemed the Murong Clan had fled there.
These places, despite their large size, didn't actually have many people. They were sparsely populated but incredibly rich in resources.
For example, Qinghai is so large, yet in modern times it only has a population of over five million. One can imagine how few people there were in ancient times.
PS: Thanks to Dark Star Emperor for the tips these past few days; I'll update one more chapter today!
Chapter 48: Future Planning
Qinghai was also called Tuyuhun at this time. The people living here now were a mix of the Tufa Branch of the Xianbei Tribe, the Murong Clan, the Tuyuhun, and a few Han people from the Central Plains, totaling about 200,000 people.
Is 200,000 a lot?
The entire Western Liang only had about 500,000 people, but the area of Qinghai was very large. With only 200,000 people in such a huge territory, it was naturally very few!
Qinghai is located in a high-altitude area with low temperatures and thin air. The harsh natural conditions made the population small and resulted in a lack of water resources and agricultural conditions.
Furthermore, there are no large plains or rivers around Qinghai, which limits population growth.
Finally, historical and cultural factors played a role. Historically, Qinghai province belonged to the Western Regions, and its traditional folk culture differed greatly from the Han regions. Coupled with inconvenient transportation, it was difficult to attract outside populations.
This is why, despite being such a large area, the ancient Central Plains regions didn't take it. There was really no need; even if taken, no one was willing to develop there. It was more convenient to let them be subordinates.
Below Tuyuhun is Tibet, and it's the same there.
During the Three Kingdoms era, when the three regimes of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu balanced each other.
Among them, the Cao Wei regime controlled most of the Central Plains heartland, with the vastest territory and richest resources, so its combat power was naturally the strongest among the three.
Eastern Wu, by guarding the natural barrier of the Yangtze River and being backed by the sea, was able to enrich the country and strengthen the army, occupying a corner with the second-best strength.
Only the Shu Han regime was located in the southwest, with very limited environment, resources, and other conditions.
Many friends have this question: instead of frequently challenging Cao Wei in the Central Plains, why didn't Shu Han occupy the nearby Tibet region to expand its sphere of influence?
This brings us to the harsh environmental issues of Tibet and Qinghai.