The barbarians lived in the great desert.
Either they had no cities at all, living in tents of every shape and kind.
Or most of their cities were only on the scale of small towns, meant mainly for gathering and trade, with virtually no defensive strength.
As for the barbarians' several great capitals—
They lay a full ten thousand li from Liangzhou's border.
Chen Sanshi silently calculated the cost in his heart.
The Northern Liang Army's fourteen camps numbered over two hundred thousand men. If the entire army truly marched out, the laborers needed for the supply train would likely bring the total to around five hundred thousand.
An army of five hundred thousand!
That number might not have meant much to the vast, populous Northern Frontier, but its consumption of resources would be incomparably immense. In particular, the grain and provisions consumed by a distant expedition were impossible to calculate.
This battle—
Even if they returned in triumph after a great victory—
The desert likely would not recover for twenty years, and even the Northern Frontier would need more than a decade to recuperate and rebuild.
Granted, some matters could not be delayed.
Still, it gave people the feeling that everyone was in a terrible hurry.
The camps were expanded in haste, and war was launched in haste.
His master simply wanted to give the north peaceful days as soon as possible. Otherwise, barbarian cavalry would come to the outskirts of the city every few days to burn, kill, and plunder, then immediately flee. There was truly no peace to be had.
As for why the imperial court in the capital had agreed—
They likely intended to reclaim military authority over the Northern Frontier as soon as the chaos was settled.
And there was one most important point.
Ten