This harvest is far more valuable than the mere trifle of Lingnan and the southwest.
With Central State firmly under control, states like Xu, Tang, and Xu, after their devastating defeats, can only shrink back to their northern homelands and, relying on the natural moat of the great river, gasp for survival there.
I only need to deploy a defense line along the river, and with one or two million people, I can ensure the security of the entire northern border of Central State.
By then, following the Northern Expedition, at least three million men from Central State will be ready to rush back to the homeland to participate in the war against the southern Barbarians.
To accomplish all of the above, at the fastest, it would take two years, and at the latest, three years to complete the arrangements.
This period of time will be just enough for those Barbarians to have just gotten their footing in the south and achieved self-sufficiency in grain.
