Chapter 258: The An Guo King Can No Longer Tolerate, Decides to Attack Xuan Guo

When those words were spoken, the officials present also showed excited expressions.

The senior ministers who had previously witnessed Lin Sui make the pledge on the spot were even more greatly shocked.

After all, no matter how they analyzed it then, they thought the You Guo king could not possibly ignore the principle that when the lips are gone, the teeth feel the cold; how could he aid Xuan Guo in attacking An Guo, which lies between Xuan Guo and You Guo.

But they did not expect that Lin Sui actually managed to persuade the You Guo king.

And the destruction of the Wasteland Nation was already a foregone conclusion; seeing the Xuan Guo army push all the way to the Wasteland Nation's Royal City, An Guo could no longer restrain its urge to attack Xuan Guo.

Thus, You Guo would certainly stab An Guo in the back.

Xiao Qidi, after reading the You Guo king's handwritten pledge, couldn't help but laugh, "Well done, Lin Sui! You did splendidly! You have achieved a great merit!"

Lin Sui bowed his head and clasped his hands, "Without His Majesty's trust and assistance, I could not have persuaded the You Guo king; I was merely mustering courage to run an errand for you."

"Hahaha!" Xiao Qidi patted his shoulder, "You have lived up to my high expectations; I also keep my original promise to you. From today onward, you are the Cabinet Chief."

Then Xiao Qidi turned to the few Cabinet ministers, "Since the Cabinet advisory body was established, during the times I was away from the Royal City, you have performed excellently and are now capable of functioning formally. I am now appointing Lin Sui as Cabinet Chief; do any of you have objections?"

"We have no objections!" the senior ministers replied in unison, all fully convinced by Lin Sui.

Xiao Qidi was very pleased with this.

It could be said that a lingering concern had been resolved.

Next, they would wait for An Guo to dispatch troops to Daxuan.

——

Meanwhile.

Inside the great hall of the An Guo palace.

Many ministers were vigorously urging the An Guo king to order an attack on Daxuan.

Spitting furiously, they claimed that according to intelligence, the main force of Xuan Guo's army was largely inside Wasteland Nation, making Daxuan's defenses especially weak now.

Other ministers, anguished, said that if troops were dispatched earlier, they might not only wrest many territories of Wasteland Nation from Xuan Guo's mouth but also attack Xuan Guo, preventing it from handling both fronts and forcing Xuan Guo to cede land.

Why wait until now, when Xuan Guo is about to control all of Wasteland Nation?

The An Guo king, hearing more, felt increasingly regretful; without further thought, he prepared to issue the order.

"His Majesty! No!" a dissenting voice rang from a corner of the hall, "For Xuan Guo to breach Wasteland Nation so swiftly shows how terrifying its combat capability is. Even if its main army remains concentrated in Wasteland, the rest of Xuan Guo's forces are not to be underestimated! If Great An attacks Xuan Guo now, we risk a counter‑attack and it would be a loss, Your Majesty!"

When the words fell, a chorus of mocking and sneering laughter erupted in the hall.

Some said he was timid; others said he let others' ambition crush his own prestige.

The An Guo king grew a bit impatient, but he waved his hand to quiet the ministers, then called the dissenting minister forward, his face cold as he began to interrogate:

"Among the more than ten ministers present, you are the only one who opposes. Tell me, if we do not launch an attack on Xuan Guo now, am I to miss the opportunity? Must we wait until Xuan Guo fully pacifies Wasteland Nation, retrieves its main forces, and then I go to fight Xuan Guo? Do not forget that Wasteland Nation, having obtained 200,000 sets of iron equipment seized from Yu Guo by Xuan Guo, seized many of Great An's territories; now those lands have become Xuan Guo's! How can I swallow that bitterness!"

Facing the king's angry voice.

The sole dissenting minister argued forcefully:

"His Majesty, Xuan Guo can openly give the iron equipment seized from Yu Guo to Wasteland Nation, proving that Xuan Guo possesses superior arms, and this move uses Wasteland Nation to wear down Great An! How can you not see the malicious intent of Xuan Guo now that Wasteland has been swallowed by Xuan Guo?!"

"I believe that the so‑called main forces of Xuan Guo are busy pacifying Wasteland Nation and attacking its Royal City; this must be false information released by Xuan Guo, which surely still hides a massive troop presence!"

"Previously, Wasteland Nation, relying on the iron equipment, turned its back on the alliance with Great An, seized border towns and lands, and even sapped Great An's vitality. I think, Your Majesty, you must not be impatient; you should restrain the impulse to attack Xuan Guo, calm down, and conserve strength!"

"Before we fully understand Xuan Guo's situation, we must never rashly attack it; instead we should further show goodwill, publicly maintain eternal friendship while secretly strengthening Great An's military and national power, and then—"

"Enough!" the An Guo king roared, cutting him off, "I have been patient long enough; that's already giving you face! Further befriending Xuan Guo? After losing cities to Wasteland Nation, I was already humiliated, then forced to send envoys to flatter Xuan Guo, hoping it would lower its guard—this has made me ashamed day and night! Now, seeing all of Wasteland fall into Xiao Qidi's hands, there are still Great An's cities there! I can no longer bear it! Regardless, we must dispatch troops!"

"His Majesty!" the dissenting minister rushed, "Please let me finish, I speak for Great An's long‑term interests! I beg you to be more patient; if you persist stubbornly, I… must remonstrate with my life!"

The other ministers in the hall all wore irritated, angry expressions, their gazes like knives stabbing him.

"Attendants! Drag him down and behead him! Want to die, do you? I'll grant you that! When you reach the Yellow Springs, speak as much as you like, but stop pestering me!"

As the words fell, the palace guards dragged the minister out.

No matter how he shouted and wailed, the An Guo king gave him no further glance, while the other ministers showed a look of schadenfreude.

When the hall quieted, the An Guo king waved his hand, "Send the order: raise troops to attack Xuan Guo!"

A few short days later.

The movement of the An Guo army gathering toward Xuan Guo's border was detected by Xuan Guo scouts, and consequently, You Guo learned of it shortly after.

While tens of thousands of An Guo's main forces surged toward Xuan Guo's border, You Guo, keeping its promise, also dispatched troops to launch an assault on An Guo, and, having prepared in advance, arrived after the fact but struck first.

Just as the An Guo army was about to break into the border area adjoining Xuan Guo, intelligence arrived that You Guo had stolen their rear.

This put the commander of An Guo's main army in a dilemma.

Ahead lay the Xuan Guo border pass, just within sight; behind, the northeastern border city of An Guo, adjoining You Guo, was under fierce attack and its first line of defense had already been breached.

If we continue to attack Xuan Guo, we cannot attend to You Guo.

If we turn back to the northeast to confront You Guo, we must abandon the excellent opportunity to attack Xuan Guo.

There is no choice but to pause operations and await the Royal City's decision.

In the An Guo Royal City, the king and his ministers were left in a frantic mess because of this situation.

They never expected that the You Guo, peaceful for decades, would strike at this critical moment, ruining their plans to attack Xuan Guo and also causing losses on An Guo's northeastern border.

"What is the current situation of the northeastern border forts?" the An Guo king asked anxiously while pacing back and forth.

"Your Majesty…" a minister, sweating, said, "The latest reports indicate that three border forts on our northeastern side have already fallen…"

"What? Three border forts lost so quickly?!"

The An Guo king's vision went black, "Are the defenders all useless! How could they have been defended!"

"Mainly because… no one expected the You Guo, which has always curled up in the far corner of Zhong Yuan's northeast, to suddenly launch an attack, deploying an astonishing 180,000 troops at great speed, while our Great An's northeastern border forts total only about 50,000 soldiers combined."

"Report! Latest status of the border forts!"

A soldier rushed into the hall, falling to his knees, "Your Majesty! The entire northeastern border of Great An has collapsed! Over ten cities, big and small… have been breached…"

The ministers in the hall erupted in an uproar!

At this rate, within less than two months the You Guo army could reach the vicinity of Great An's Royal City!

The King of An Guo was like five thunderbolts striking the top of his head, his chest surged with a sharp pain.

He forcibly suppressed the blood rushing to his head, gritting his back teeth and said: "Quick... quickly pass the order down, command the large army sent to conquer Xuan Guo to return swiftly..."

After saying that, he let out a muffled groan and collapsed beside the throne.

……

Two days later.

The army awaiting orders from Royal City finally received the news: learning that His Majesty ordered them to hurry this way to deal with the You Guo invasion, the commander-in-chief and general set out without hesitation.

Unbeknownst to them, Qi Zhan had already, earlier, led ten thousand Xuanjia Armor Armor Armor Armor Armor cavalry, quietly rushing to the border where Daxuan meets An Guo.

Now they have just arrived.

An Guo hardly understood the situation of Xuan Guo, merely assuming that its main force was besieging the Royal City of Wasteland Nation and had no spare capacity for anything else.

Yet they did not know how terrifying the combat power of the Xuanjia Armor Armor Armor Armor Army was, nor how swift its communication and movement were.

Inside the Royal City of Wasteland Nation lay Wasteland Nation's last elite troops, and many civilians had been taken hostage by the Wasteland King; this indeed required time and manpower to capture, but having Mu Cheng Grand Marshal lead the obvious several hundred thousand main forces in an encirclement strategy was sufficient.

Meanwhile, Qi Zhan could detach with a portion of the Xuanjia Armor Armor Armor Armor Army and, taking advantage of the moment when the An Guo army turned back, carry out a pursuit.

That evening.

The An Guo army, hurrying forward, suddenly had over ten thousand Xuanjia Armor Armor Armor Armor Army troops leap out from behind them.

By the time An Guo's commander-in-chief and general learned of the situation, the rearmost tail of the An Guo army's marching column had already been severed by Qi Zhan.

An Guo's commander-in-chief and general could only leave behind about thirty thousand troops to hold the rear, while he himself led several hundred thousand troops forward at speed.

But he also severely underestimated the combat power of the Xuanjia Armor Armor Armor Armor Army.

No matter how many rear-guard troops he left behind, they were all wiped out by the Xuanjia Armor Armor Armor Armor Army the day after he hastily led his main force away.

Nevertheless, he could only endure the pain while continuing to leave troops to hold the rear and rushing to support An Guo's northeastern border.

The Xuanjia Armor Armor Armor Armor Army neither hurried nor delayed, always maintaining its pace, firmly gripping the rear of the An Guo army and not letting go.

Thus several more days passed in this manner.

Only when the An Guo army had already crossed half of An Guo, and the interior had conscripted many civilians to enlist and come assist in holding the rear, did Qi Zhan lead the Xuanjia Armor Armor Armor Armor Army decisively retreat along the original route.

They could bite down and not let go, could loosen their grip at any moment, and could say they were withdrawing and then withdraw, leaving the newly assembled troops that came to help An Guo hold the rear with no sight of them at all.

At this stage, the original An Guo main force army of 490,000 was nibbled away by Qi Zhan all the way, reduced to fewer than 400,000.

Upon learning of this, the King of An Guo was both furious and anxious, fell ill and lay in bed still shouting: "490,000 of the Great An Guo main force! Going and coming back, they gained nothing, just wasted nearly 200,000 troops! Are those by my side all a bunch of good-for-nothings!"

A group of ministers knelt beside the bed, not daring to utter a sound.

Although they clearly knew this disastrous plan, devised jointly by ruler and ministers, had led to serious consequences, they dared not utter even half a word in their own defense.

They didn't even dare to speak the bad news that You Guo had again captured several cities of their Great An Guo.

They feared that by the time the main force army finally reached the front line and could resist the You Guo army, it would already be impossible to retake the lost territories and cities.

Moreover, their own main force had suffered such losses and was exhausted from rushing back and forth; when the time came to fight the ever-more-victorious You Guo army, whether they could block its advance was unknown.

A feeling of extreme unease, like thick dark clouds that cannot disperse, hung over the heads of An Guo's officials.

——

Late at night.

The study of the Great Mystic Palace.

Xiao Qidi was looking at a memorial, and the desk was piled thick with paper documents.

"His Majesty, it's late, you should rest." A thin yet soft voice sounded from beside him.

Xiao Qidi instinctively said: "I'm not sleepy yet, you go rest first; it's cold, keep warm."

The voice again said: "But His Majesty, if you don't sleep, how can I sleep? Why don't you warm me up?"

Xiao Qidi frowned and lifted his head, "You old thing, what nonsense are you spouting——"

Before the word "speech" was even uttered, he froze for a moment, then his face lit up with surprise: "Jinli? When did you arrive! I thought it was…… never mind, you mimic his voice quite well!"

The person standing beside him at some point was none other than Ning Jinli.

"You thought it was the old master teasing you?" Ning Jinli returned to her normal voice, blinking her eyes with a mischievous smile.

Xiao Qidi embraced her, "I haven't seen you in many days; I truly, really miss you."

Ning Jinli sat on his lap, her head against his chest, giggling: "You're so busy like this, do you still have time to think of me?"

Xiao Qidi softly said: "Missing you doesn't require free time; the thought is always in my mind, never ceasing; if you weren't also busy, I would go find you."

Ning Jinli lifted her head and kissed him: "All right, I'm here now."

Xiao Qidi smiled brightly: "How are things on your side? Can you spare more time to stay a while longer with me?"

Ning Jinli wrapped her arms around his neck, pondering:

Ning Jinli said with both hands around his neck, pondering: "Black Water Bay has already set up several Moth Wing Grass collection points; Black Water Stronghold has been renamed Black Water Village, and in Xian County's city many locals are also helping the original Black Water Stronghold members build houses. I have distributed supplies and tools to everyone; they are building Black Water Village while collecting Moth Wing Grass. With many people, things get done easily, and the yield of Moth Wing Grass has increased several times over the initial amount; it should soon meet the medicinal supply needs. In short, everything is progressing steadily and quickly. How about your side? I just saw your face looking grim—have you run into trouble?"