Of the five million prisoners, Lu Yuan did not release them all at once, but instead, sifted through them.
He kept those prisoners who were in their prime and had war experience, specifically the veteran soldiers.
In the third Northern Expedition, even though Chu State made smooth progress and could be said to be unstoppable on several battlefields,
whether it was counterattacking Wei Country, annihilating Liang, or expelling Xu State, Chu State would inevitably suffer some losses even in victory.
About 600,000 casualties among the Chu army were unavoidable.
Moreover, next year Lu Yuan had decided to use five million elite troops for four Northern Expeditions; relying solely on Chu's current military strength, it would be quite strained to meet this target, and it might even be impossible.
Before this year's four Northern Expeditions, Chu State had 6.18 million troops in the region north of the Yangtze River.
