Chapter 433

Although the process was somewhat convoluted, for Princess Honglian, the result could be considered beautiful.

She was very happy to have met Su Xuan in Xianyang City today and to have come to visit him again that evening.

Of course, staying the night at Su Xuan's place was clearly impossible.

After entering Su Xuan's residence, she had a good chat with him to catch up. This so-called catching up was, in fact, just idle chatter. Back when they were in the State of Han, Su Xuan lived in the palace refining elixirs for the King of Han, and Honglian, as the little princess of Han, would often go to Su Xuan's place to tell him about things happening in the outside world.

Sometimes, Honglian actually quite missed the life from back then.

Unfortunately, those days had already gone, never to return.

After some idle talk, it was late into the night when Su Xuan escorted Honglian back to her residence, only then returning to continue his journey of staying up late to cultivate.

Over the next few days, Su Xuan would sometimes receive invitations from Honglian during the day to accompany her out for a stroll, which he considered an opportunity to learn about the changes in Xianyang.

In the evenings, Honglian would occasionally come over to visit.

Because she knew that Su Xuan went into the palace every evening to lecture Seeing Ying Zheng on the Dao, Honglian learned from her mistakes and chose to come over in the evenings. Each time she visited Su Xuan, she did not stay long, spending the time telling him about her experiences in the Qin Guo over the past few years.

Most of the time, it was Honglian speaking while Su Xuan listened.

This situation continued for a long time, until Su Xuan had completely finished teaching Seeing Ying Zheng the methods of cultivation; after saying a word to Honglian, he returned to the Yin-Yang School on his own.

Although Xianyang was quite good, if one were to cultivate, the environment at the Yin-Yang School was better.

The Yin-Yang School was proficient in the art of geomancy, and the underground of Mount Lishan, which they had chosen as their headquarters, contained a ley line. Cultivating there yielded twice the result with half the effort. This was also the reason why the strength of the Yin-Yang School's disciples was generally stronger than that of people from ordinary jianghu sects. While the cultivation methods played a part, the environment also affected the efficiency of cultivation.

During his time in Xianyang, as he lectured Seeing Ying Zheng, Su Xuan himself gained some new insights during the process, and he continued to spend some time digesting these realizations.

After returning to the Yin-Yang School, Su Xuan began his seclusion once again.

Of course, this seclusion did not last long; he emerged after only ten or fifteen days.

Upon emerging, he happened to catch up with another matter.

After another year of no military action, the war chariot of the Qin Guo finally began to move again.

With Wang Ben as the general, they raised an army... to attack the Wei Guo!

As one of the Three Jin, the Wei Guo could have been attacked long ago after Qin had successively destroyed the State of Han and the State of Zhao. However, because of the plot by Yan Dan to assassinate the King of Qin, Seeing Ying Zheng discovered he could use that event to boost morale and attack the State of Yan in the name of revenge, so he temporarily changed his strategy, setting the Wei Guo aside for the moment and turning to raise an army against the State of Yan.

Furthermore, because the lands of Yan and Zhao were full of people who sang generous and tragic songs—simply put, there were many hot-headed youths—after the destruction of Yan and Zhao, these territories were not as peaceful as the State of Han had been, with unrest occurring from time to time. After destroying the State of Yan, the Qin Guo often needed to quell the unrest in the lands of Yan and Zhao, which slowed the pace of the campaign against the Wei Guo significantly.

It was not until now, after the Qin Guo had recuperated for a long time and the unrest in Yan and Zhao had been settled, that Seeing Ying Zheng finally made up his mind to take action against the Wei Guo.

In truth, it would not have mattered if the pace of attacking Wei had been even slower, but Seeing Ying Zheng was an impatient man. Earlier, the destruction of Han, Zhao, and Yan had all gone extremely smoothly. Because the Hexi region bordered the Qin Guo, the Wei Guo had frequently been attacked by Qin over the years, and its national strength was not even as good as that of the State of Zhao. Since the Qin Guo had the ability to destroy the Wei Guo, it was naturally better to do it sooner rather than later.

As for who to attack next after destroying the Wei Guo, Seeing Ying Zheng had not yet made up his mind.

According to his personal inclination, he preferred to leave the State of Chu for last.

This was because he knew of the many things Lord Changping Jun was plotting in secret. Since Lord Changping Jun cared so much about the State of Chu, even going so far as to incite Yan Dan to assassinate him just to preserve it, he did not mind fulfilling Lord Changping Jun's wish and leaving the State of Chu for last. He wanted to see how much longer the State of Chu could hold out once it was isolated and helpless, after five of the six states east of the mountains had already been destroyed.

However, considering the overall situation, it was best to leave the State of Qi for last. Although the Qin Guo possessed overwhelming strength compared to the six states east of the mountains, after destroying each state, the Qin Guo needed a period of rest—not only because the soldiers were exhausted, but also to better annex the territory of the destroyed state. Although the State of Chu had a chaotic government, its territory was vast and its strength was deep; leaving the State of Chu for last would actually give him a chance to recuperate.

The State of Qi, on the other hand, had always been on good terms with the Qin Guo. Back when Seeing Ying Zheng reached his majority and took power, King Jian of Qi had personally come to the Qin Guo to show his desire for friendship. It could be said that among the six states east of the mountains, the State of Qi was the one that posed the least threat to the Qin Guo. Leaving the State of Qi for last would actually be better.

Of course, it was still too early to talk about this, as the Wei Guo had not yet been destroyed.

Seeing Ying Zheng thought that the destruction of Wei by the Qin army would be an extremely easy matter. After the death of Lord Xinling, the Wei Guo had no famous generals left, and its national strength was not even as good as that of the State of Zhao. The Qin Guo had not encountered any difficulties in destroying the State of Zhao, let alone now, when the territories of Han and Zhao both belonged to the Qin Guo, and most of the borders of the Wei Guo were already surrounded by the Qin Guo.

At first, as Seeing Ying Zheng had expected, the army led by Wang Ben was invincible within the territory of the Wei Guo, as if entering an empty land, and the cities of the Wei Guo were occupied by the Qin Guo one after another. However, when Wang Ben's army reached the foot of Daliang, the capital of the Wei Guo, and thought they could completely destroy the Wei Guo, they finally encountered trouble.

The city of Daliang in the Wei Guo was situated on a plain, with no natural barriers to defend it. Because there were no natural barriers, successive kings of Wei, fearing that Daliang would be captured, had constantly reinforced the city, resulting in high walls and thick ramparts; it was no exaggeration to call it the most impregnable city in the world today.

Even with the help of the Gongshu family and the various siege engines they had manufactured, the Qin Guo was still at a loss when facing Daliang. After reaching the vicinity of Daliang, Wang Ben organized several attacks in succession, but all ended in failure, and they were never able to reach the top of the Daliang city walls. Moreover, last year had been a harvest year for the Wei Guo, which meant that Daliang was well-stocked with grain.

If the Qin Guo could not break Daliang and just dragged things out, it would be no problem at all for the people inside Daliang to hold out for a year or a year and a half.

In the Zhangtai Palace, Su Xuan, who had emerged from a brief seclusion, came to the palace to check on Seeing Ying Zheng's cultivation progress and heard Seeing Ying Zheng mention this matter.

"I never expected that the most formidable thing about the Wei Guo would not be the Wei Wuzu who were once famous throughout the world, nor that Lord Xinling who has already passed away, but... the city of Daliang!"