Chapter 1410

No one knew how Kou Zhong managed to do it.

Clearly, the troops under his command were not numerous, and the cities he occupied were not strategic locations.

But in just a short time, Kou Zhong had already occupied many cities along the Yangtze River, and then, he even marched toward the Bashu region, intending to claim Bashu for himself.

Bashu and Hanzhong were places that military strategists must fight for.

Especially after the world fell into chaos, if one occupied Bashu and Hanzhong, even without the intention to contend for the Central Plains, one could rely on the natural barriers of Bashu and Hanzhong to become an independent state.

In the past, Liu Bang occupied the Bashu region, which gave him the capital to contend with Xiang Yu for the world.

Later, Liu Bei also occupied Bashu, which allowed him to divide the world into three.

After Yang Guang died and the seventy-two paths of smoke and dust rose one after another, and then the eighteen rebel kings were born from them, it was not that no one had thought of occupying the Bashu region, but unfortunately, they all failed in the end.

The reason was that the indigenous forces of the Bashu region were extremely powerful. They had operated in Bashu for many years, and their infiltration into Bashu had long reached an all-pervasive state. In the past, when the Sui Dynasty was still around, they prioritized stability above all else regarding Bashu.

Even the world-renowned Heavenly Blade Song Que had to marry his daughter Song Yuhua to Xie Wenlong of the Duzun Fort in Bashu to form a marital alliance.

After the world fell into chaos, some people tried to march into Bashu.

But in the end, they all ended in failure.

Realizing the difficulty of occupying the Bashu region, these rebel armies began to wantonly carve up the Central Plains. It can be said that most of the eighteen rebel kings were located in the hinterland of the Central Plains.

But Kou Zhong, this unknown little character, managed to do exactly that.

Using both overt and covert schemes.

Whether by sowing discord or disintegrating them, he eventually succeeded in wiping out the local forces in the Bashu region, allowing the flag of the Young Marshal's Army to be thoroughly planted on the land of Bashu.

Chengdu City.

It was a famous city in the Bashu region, once known to the world for its lantern festivals.

But at this moment, this city had fallen into the hands of Kou Zhong.

Inside the Young Marshal's Mansion.

Kou Zhong sat in the main seat, taking the lead. He looked at the elderly man with an immortal-like demeanor in front of him and couldn't help but praise: "Master, you are truly divine. With your help, it's as if I have gained one hundred thousand—no, one million troops."

"After all, even if I were given one hundred thousand troops, I wouldn't have been able to occupy the Bashu region."

For Kou Zhong, he initially treated contending for the world as a game.

Li Xiuning looked down on him because he was a nobody; Li Shimin's high-and-mighty attitude; and the Cihang Jingzhai, which considered itself the mandate of heaven and selected an emperor, but was only willing to choose from among the children of the noble families—all of this made Kou Zhong genuinely angry.

He vowed to accomplish something great.

With the world in chaos, heroes rose together.

Kou Zhong also decided to contend for the world. At first, he captured Liangdu and Pengcheng, gaining a foundation and accumulating some capital for his struggle. He also had people with decent strategies like Xu Xingzhi working for him, and Kou Zhong was quite confident.

Until he met Zhao Yi.

Zhao Yi—this was the real name of Guiguzi, an extremely ordinary name.

He appeared directly in front of Kou Zhong. As soon as he appeared, he belittled Kou Zhong as worthless. Kou Zhong was naturally unconvinced; how could the foundation he had painstakingly built be so unbearable in the eyes of others?

He thought Zhao Yi was there to find trouble, so he attacked Zhao Yi immediately.

Afterward, Kou Zhong was defeated cleanly and decisively.

Then, Zhao Yi recommended himself to Kou Zhong, asking Kou Zhong to appoint him as his military advisor. Kou Zhong naturally did not trust Zhao Yi, but due to the other party's strength, he still gave him some opportunities.

Immediately after, he witnessed the power of Guiguzi.

Although Guiguzi was a person from the Qin Dynasty, military strategy is universal. Not long after arriving in this world, Guiguzi figured out the situation of this world and digested and absorbed many of the military strategies of later generations.

Under Guiguzi's overt and covert schemes, as well as his methods of vertical and horizontal alliances, the forces under Kou Zhong expanded continuously. In the blink of an eye, he unified many cities near the Yangtze River, then marched toward Bashu, and occupied the Bashu region.

During this process, Xu Ziling, who had gone to rescue Susu, also returned.

Because of Su Xuan's reminder at the Evil Emperor Temple, Xu Ziling's goal was extremely clear, and he did not dare to delay in the slightest. Compared to the original work, he arrived at Xiang Yushan's location earlier and successfully rescued Susu.

Originally, he was prepared to spare Xiang Yushan's life, after all, he was the father of the child in Susu's womb.

But at the critical moment, Xu Ziling thought of Su Xuan's words, and in the end, he cut the weeds and pulled up the roots, killing Xiang Yushan directly.

After meeting Guiguzi, Xu Ziling couldn't help but ask Guiguzi for advice, and was then amazed, regarding him as a celestial being.

Looking at Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling, although they were slightly older, their aptitude was truly outstanding. Guiguzi's desire to take on disciples stirred again, so he ignored Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling's opinions and began to teach them directly.

Although the two knew Guiguzi was very powerful early on, it was only after Guiguzi taught them that they realized the other party was even more powerful than they had imagined.

The two finally bowed and accepted him as their master.

This led to Kou Zhong calling Guiguzi "Master."

"Hmph, the way of military strategy is even more profound than you imagine. You still have much to learn." Facing Kou Zhong's praise, Guiguzi was unimpressed and instead lectured Kou Zhong.

Although he said this, Guiguzi was very satisfied with both disciples, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling.

Back in the Qin Dynasty, he had also taken two disciples, Gainie and Weizhuang.

These two had outstanding talent in martial arts, but unfortunately, because of their outstanding martial talent, they devoted all their energy to fighting and brawling, completely forgetting that the essence of the Guigu School of Vertical and Horizontal Alliance was to be a strategist, using the world as a chessboard.

It was also because of his disappointment in Gainie and Weizhuang that he had taken on Chen Ping.

As for Chen Ping, he didn't teach him much martial arts, only strategy.

Unexpectedly, after coming to this world, he took on two more disciples.

Although these two disciples were slightly older, in Guiguzi's view, it didn't matter much. What was important was that their martial arts talent was equally outstanding, and besides that, they were also extremely gifted in military strategy.

Although their martial arts were not bad, they didn't think about fighting and brawling. On the contrary, Kou Zhong thought about contending for the world, which Guiguzi quite appreciated.