Chapter 566: The Past and the Present!

Tian Ze felt very uncomfortable and also very lost.

After helping the Qin State destroy Regarding Baiyue and killing his enemy Zou Zou Wuzhu, he didn't have many pursuits left.

Restore the country? Become the King of Regarding Baiyue?

He had thought about such things at first, but later gave up.

Even if he really rebuilt Regarding Baiyue, what could he do? With the ambition displayed by the Qin State, if he rebuilt Regarding Baiyue, he feared it would soon face the conquest of the Qin army, and Regarding Baiyue would be destroyed again.

Over the years, having experienced wind and frost, Tian Ze was no longer the person he once was.

The current him was no longer arrogant and proud, but had accepted the cruel reality and recognized his own status and position.

Red-Eyed Dragon Snake, former Crown Prince of Regarding Baiyue—these were merely past identities. In the Regarding Baiyue of the past or the Han State of the past, they might have caused some turmoil, but placed in the present day, they were not enough to look at.

Qin destroyed the six states, and even those true kings had lost power one after another; what did a mere deposed Crown Prince of Regarding Baiyue count for?

Therefore, after Regarding Baiyue fell, he didn't think about restoring the country. For him, the greatest obsession was probably to have another battle with Su Xuan, wanting to verify the gap between himself and the Bai Bai Yifei of the past, wanting to know if Bai Bai Yifei were still alive, whether he could take revenge.

Therefore, upon learning that Su Xuan had returned from the sea on the Mirage, he found Yan Yan Lingji at the first opportunity, and then found Su Xuan through her.

Unfortunately, the result of this battle left him very desperate.

Several years ago, he could only last one move in front of Su Xuan, and today, he couldn't even last one move in front of Su Xuan.

One must know that in the battle between Su Xuan and Bai Bai Yifei, they had fought for a period of time before Su Xuan used his sword to kill Bai Bai Yifei.

Was he ultimately inferior to Bai Bai Yifei?

No, it was that Su Xuan’s strength was even more powerful than it was back then, which in itself could not be used as a reference.

Tian Ze’s thoughts flickered, his heart filled with mixed feelings.

Afterward, he left the place in a daze.

Su Xuan did not know Tian Ze’s specific thoughts; it was mainly because Tian Ze had buried all his worries deep in his heart. If Tian Ze had stated his purpose from the beginning, Su Xuan wouldn't have minded satisfying him, suppressing his own strength, and then facing Tian Ze as he had faced Bai Bai Yifei back then.

Watching Tian Ze leave with a look of disappointment, Su Xuan said "inexplicable" in his heart.

Afterward, he began to reminisce with Yan Yan Lingji.

It has been more than two years since setting out to sea.

He knew nothing about what had happened in the Central Plains and had to take this time to understand it.

At the same time, he was also very interested in the Regarding Baiyue war that had occurred after he left.

Before leaving, he had learned that Ying Zheng was preparing to conquer Regarding Baiyue, so he had made some preparations. Su Xuan also really wanted to know if these preparations had come in handy.

Yan Yan Lingji’s voice was soft as she recounted the details of the Regarding Baiyue war.

……

The Regarding Baiyue war was already a thing of the past for the Qin State.

But the war with the Xiongnu was something that was still ongoing.

Jiuyuan City.

It was a city built by the Zhao State in the past. The entire city was built from giant stones, appearing extremely ancient and simple. This was also the commandery city of Jiuyuan Commandery. To be precise, the entire Jiuyuan Commandery was divided up around Jiuyuan City and the barren land surrounding it.

If one spoke in terms of territory and population, Jiuyuan Commandery was actually not enough to be called a commandery; it should have been incorporated into Yanmen Commandery.

But the Qin State revered the number "six." Among numbers, six represented "smoothness." The Qin State used six as its standard: tallies and official caps were all six inches, and carriages were six feet; six feet made a pace, and they rode six horses.

At the same time, six in the cycle of the Five Virtues corresponded exactly to the Water Virtue of the Qin State.

After unifying the world, Ying Zheng divided the commanderies and counties and found that no matter how he divided them, he could only come up with thirty-five commanderies. Just then, while looking at the map, he saw Jiuyuan City and the area where the Xiongnu were located near Jiuyuan City.

Consequently, he divided Jiuyuan City and the nearby land into a new commandery named "Jiuyuan Commandery," making up thirty-six commanderies, corresponding exactly to the number of six times six.

It could be said that the initial Jiuyuan Commandery was the one that least lived up to its name. To make this commandery live up to its name, one had to destroy the nearby Xiongnu and occupy all their territory before it could be called a commandery.

The initial appearance of Jiuyuan Commandery embodied Ying Zheng’s ambition to destroy the Xiongnu.

But that was in the past.

By the time the Qin State destroyed Regarding Baiyue, took all the land of Regarding Baiyue, and acquired four new commanderies, counting the initial thirty-six, there were already forty commanderies. This, undoubtedly, did not conform to the number "six."

Therefore, in order to be divisible by six, the Qin State had to destroy the Xiongnu as soon as possible. After destroying the Xiongnu, it would be best to also destroy other foreign tribes like the Dayuezhi and Donghu, and then make up two more commanderies.

At the very least, they had to get to forty-two commanderies!

In Jiuyuan City, Zhao Gao, as the Commandery Governor, had lost almost all his power after the army led by Meng Tian to conquer the Xiongnu arrived. Everything in Jiuyuan City was decided by Meng Tian.

Of course, because Jiuyuan Commandery was small and sparsely populated, Zhao Gao, as the Governor, mostly held only an empty title without much power. Even so, he was still very unhappy in his heart.

Or rather, from the first day he arrived in Jiuyuan Commandery, discovered the true face of Jiuyuan Commandery, and realized he had been "promoted in title but demoted in reality" by Ying Zheng, his heart had been filled with deep hatred.

At first, he had delusions of returning to Xianyang to win back everything he had.

But after staying here for a year without receiving even a single document from Xianyang, he understood that Ying Zheng had completely forgotten him. He realized that Ying Zheng had sent him here to let him fend for himself.

This made Zhao Gao very angry.

When the Xiongnu invaded and Jiuyuan Commandery and the neighboring Yanmen Commandery were attacked by the Xiongnu, he finally received a document from Xianyang. The document contained reprimands, scolding him, Zhao Gao, the Governor, for dereliction of duty, failing to protect the people of the border, and then demanding that he must assist Meng Tian in defeating the Xiongnu and handle the logistics for Meng Tian’s army.

After seeing this imperial edict from Xianyang, Zhao Gao became even more furious.

Jiuyuan Commandery had no people and no soldiers; what was he supposed to use to resist the Xiongnu?

He saw that Ying Zheng was clearly looking for trouble!

Since Ying Zheng was unjust and unrighteous, there was no need for him to continue working for such a person.

Consequently, in extreme anger, Zhao Gao did one thing.

That was... colluding with the Xiongnu!