Chapter 515

The Emperor, huh…

When Prince Ji Yanzhong heard Ji Zichang's words, he felt as if waking from a long dream, expecting to be filled with grief at this turn of events.

But in truth, Prince Ji Yanzhong's feelings were far calmer than he had anticipated.

Even, somehow, as if it were inevitable.

A sense that what he had long suspected had finally come to pass.

The decline of the Red Emperor's lineage had always been inevitable.

Aside from the decaying fools who refused to accept reality, still clinging to illusions of this world, still hoping for the Qin Wang's glory to shake the four corners and begging to kneel beneath him, all had recognized this truth.

They simply never spoke of it.

Prince Ji Yanzhong sighed and said, "The Qin Wang's achievements, territory, and authority are all sufficient to claim the title of Emperor—but is that a title he wishes to take? Your Majesty, had he desired the imperial title, he could have claimed it the very moment he was enfeoffed as a king."

"Though bestowing upon the Qin Wang a new honorific title now would not invite envy or discontent from the four quarters, equally, with his current renown sweeping across the land, he has no need for our honorifics to amplify his glory."

"Even now, if the Qin Wang were to call himself merely a lowly soldier—"

"No one would dare slight his reputation or bearing; while among the Wang Hou of Zhongzhou, even those who boast titles rivaling the Qin Wang's are met not with respect, but with laughter."

"He never took the imperial title then; given his nature, he likely will not take it now."

"Why not write and ask?"

"See whether the Qin Wang's current thoughts and strategy require Your Majesty's aid…"

After pondering, Prince Ji Yanzhong offered his suggestion.

As a scion of Zhongzhou's Red Emperor line, to grant a vassal a title, he used the phrase "bestow honorific," yet to confer the imperial title, even Prince Ji Yanzhong's status and seniority compelled him to advise the Red Emperor to write and inquire.

Ji Zichang blinked in surprise, looking at Prince Ji Yanzhong—the man long known as a kind elder, and infamous for the saying "Whoever learns his Wu Gong will turn traitor"—and sighed with a smile:

"You're not as rigid as before."

Prince Ji Yanzhong merely replied, "The Qin Wang's prestige shakes the age; the Red Emperor's eight-hundred-year dynasty has barely held on—what can Your Majesty do now?"

Ji Zichang was already building momentum for "abdication."

He had still been pondering how to cultivate a surging tide of public support for Li Guanyi, but before he could act, Li Guanyi had already marched his troops to the border of Chen, delivering a massive blow to the world.

Li Guanyi's name now soared to unprecedented heights, with the momentum of becoming the foremost figure of this age.

Young and capable, with peerless military might and martial prowess.

Like a fusion of the Red Emperor and the Hegemon.

Ji Zichang wrote to Li Guanyi, congratulating him on his victories and raising the matter of bestowing the imperial honorific; but after deliberation, and consultation with Master Wen Qingyu, Li Guanyi ultimately wrote back to decline—for now.

He no longer needed the title of "Emperor" to prove himself.

And at this moment, he hoped his friend would not tarnish his own reputation by propping him up.

Moreover, the army's momentum was surging; after capturing Chen's capital, harder battles still lay ahead—bestowing the imperial title now might only stir restlessness among the troops; how could one claim such an honor before completing his achievements?

Upon receiving the reply, Ji Zichang could only sigh and write back:

"The world is vast—you must push harder."

"Hurry and end this chaotic age; while your aunt and I are still young, we still have the energy to travel the land—if you finish conquering the world and I'm already a fifty- or sixty-year-old man, even if I could walk, how many years would I have left?"

"Fulfill your great vow soon."

"Then leave the child to your care."

Li Guanyi saw, on the letter, a tiny palm print, and grinned.

He had never seen a legitimate emperor write to a powerful minister—hidden in the letter were complaints about how hard it was to raise children, complaints about how slowly he was unifying the world, begging him to hurry up so he could hand off the burden.

"Never seen an emperor like this."

Though Li Guanyi muttered this, he still carefully tucked the letter away.

He folded it neatly, storing it to show the little girl years later—ten, twenty years hence—so she could see how her own father once tried to dump her off and run off with his wife for a life of solitude.

So you see, your godfather is the one who truly cares for you.

Next New Year's red envelope—you know who to give it to now, right?

Between Jiangzhou in Chen, the Yicheng region, and the entirety of Qin's territory, vast lands still remain, filled with numerous cities where powerful clans and families still cling to power, resisting stubbornly.

According to the original strategy—

Qin's logistics, supply lines, and reserves could not sustain a prolonged war; Li Guanyi's plan had been to launch forces on both flanks, adopt a moderate approach, and slowly tear apart these clans.

That was why five armies had advanced at the outset.

The tactic itself was for Li Guanyi to hold the rear, suppressing the enemy while a core elite force pinned the enemy strategically.

After all, the clans and city lords who held the cities could not be certain that, even after forming alliances and facing Yue Pengwu head-on, a ruler who had personally stormed battlefields and slain enemy generals in the midst of ten thousand troops would suddenly emerge behind them.

Meanwhile, Marshal Yue Pengwu led the main force to hold the front line.

The other four generals each commanded tens of thousands of troops, maneuvering and coordinating to gradually dismantle Chen's remaining resistance.

Later, after defeating Chen Dingye and seizing the vast grain stores he left behind in Jiangzhou, along with the treasuries of the entire civil and military elite, the Qin Wang realized his earlier strategy had been far too cautious.

Too cautious—extremely too cautious!

Damn, Chen's capital had this much grain?

The residences of these ministers were packed with silver and military rations.

The generals of the Fire Qilin and Tiance Prefecture were stunned—frontline troops had been suffering from empty payrolls, three months of unpaid wages, and insufficient daily rations.

Yet the rear had no shortage of any of these things.

The Qin Wang waved his hand and wrote to Master Yan Daiqing.

No need to worry about the rear collapsing.

Push the entire army forward!

This time, no need for risky flanking maneuvers—just advance in proper formation; silver? Grain? Arrows? Ha—none of it matters!

Fight!

His Majesty Qin Wang was in such high spirits that he personally mustered the troops and rode toward the city opposite them. General Yue Qianfeng hastily brandished his battle-halberd and rushed to assist, bringing along a dozen or so personal guards; a dozen riders surrounded the opposing force of over a thousand cavalry.

And with His Majesty Qin Wang himself as the arrowhead, he personally shattered that cavalry unit.

His Majesty Qin Wang himself as the arrowhead???

Wait? His Majesty is the vanguard?!

Yue Qianfeng shook his head hard, then stretched out a hand and pressed it against his brow, rubbing vigorously, wondering if he had gone too long without drinking and his brain had gone bad — had such a thing ever happened before?

This, is this reasonable?

And when that opposing force of a thousand cavalry discovered that the 'scouts' before them had scattered, the man at their head was clad in dark-colored armor, with a crimson civil-and-military-sleeved Fire Qilin-patterned battle robe over it, gripping a dark-gold battle-halberd, its blade-end shaped like a tiger devouring prey.

When he just brazenly charged in like that, and the cavalry and commander at the front could not find a single foe who could last even one exchange, their minds went blank too.

The opposing monarch ran in front, the great general chased behind.

Staring at that scene, they could not recover their wits for a long, long time.

It was as if a golden helmet had been slammed onto their skulls by a strongman swinging an eight-cornered purple-gold hammer.

Their heads buzzed.

A complete blank.

The ruler of a nation personally charging into formation?!

No, this, is this right? This can't be right, can it?

So after Qin Wang tried personally cutting down a few cavalry soldiers, he had no choice but, under the desperate tugging of his great general below, to agree to lead the heavy cavalry in the charge instead.

And the third turning point came after Xue Lao chose to hand over all of the Xue family's foundations and trade associations to Li Guanyi. According to Mr. Wen's later notes, His Majesty Qin Wang's mood at the time was truly delighted — so very delighted that it reached a somewhat giddy state.

When he ate, he actually chose to take three dishes instead of two.

Among them were two meat dishes.

That very day, he ate three roast geese.

Afterwards, the Fire Qilin Army, Tiance Prefecture, and the Anxi Protectorate all received the intelligence and strategy. The members of Tiance Prefecture — Master Yan Daiqing, Wen Lingjun, Pojun, Yuan Zhi — were all somewhat dazed at first.

Because the secret letter His Majesty sent them contained only one line of five characters.

【We're rich!】

Wen Lingjun was astonished.

Master Yan Daiqing gave a few cold laughs, feeling that His Majesty had finally lost his mind.

Rich?

Looking every day at the consumption of civilian welfare and logistics, Yan Daiqing felt that sometimes he wanted to smash his head against the Juan Sect records and fall asleep completely, sleeping for three whole days and nights.

When Qin Wang adopted his unorthodox strategy, it happened to be around the fifth month —

Truly a brilliant scheme, truly a grand and heroic stratagem.

Yan Daiqing could not help but tap his fingers in admiration.

During the military strategy meeting, his blood was also boiling.

But then he returned to the government office and saw those Juan Sect records piled into a mountain; the heroic passion that had just boiled up cooled down with astonishing speed.

While having to maintain the crucial period that determined this year's harvest, while also maintaining water conservancy measures to prevent flood disasters, and while also preparing education and medical affairs, he still had to provide logistical supplies for the incomparably valiant His Majesty Qin Wang and the several hundred thousand troops he had dispatched.

The fifth month — so much logistical transport, requiring manpower.

Were the fields still going to be planted?

Yan Daiqing was so busy he was at his wits' end.

Especially at such a critical juncture, it was almost a complete extreme operation — so extreme that Yan Daiqing wished he could stop caring about everything and grab a few other 'Yan Daiqings' to come help work, when that old pedant who had come from the Central Province kept wandering in front of Yan Daiqing's eyes every two or three days.

Every time he came, it was for money — always saying that His Majesty Qin Wang's coming-of-age ceremony must leave a name in history, and so on, and that it absolutely could not be done sloppily, and so on.

Give money, give money — say whatever you will, it all comes down to give money.

If it weren't that Yan Daiqing saw he was quite old, and had to consider Qin Wang's face a little, he would truly have wanted to give that old man a shoulder throw, to let him see properly what was meant by the magnanimity of a great nation.

What was meant by the rites of the Confucian scholars.

Relying on the mechanical arts developed over four or five years, practical results finally began to emerge, and combined with the sufficiently large number of trained junior talents, Master Yan Daiqing managed to hold up this level of logistical planning by sheer force.

His stomach ailment had also recovered under the effects of Shi Dalin's medicine.

Only, when he reached out a hand and grabbed a handful of hair, it seemed that today he had shed a few more strands than yesterday.

Master Yan Daiqing felt that his mood today was not very pleasant.

Mr. Pojun fell into thought.

Mr. Pojun seemed to grasp something.

"So that's how it is. It seems the Xue family has finally made its choice."

Mr. Pojun was the first to notice the issue.

And shortly after, when His Majesty Qin Wang's second letter arrived, it explained everything in detail, and at the very end, he earnestly wrote down a stern admonition to them — that he had accidentally sent the wrong letter earlier.

【Definitely, I, ahem, I mean, Gu means, definitely destroy the first letter】

【Understood?!】

【This is… ahem, a royal command!】

Regarding this order, Wen Lingjun smiled faintly, and truly did burn the first letter.

Master Yan Daiqing had originally intended to burn it, but suddenly felt that burning it would be a bit of a pity, so he simply kept it — when His Majesty Qin Wang came asking for money someday, he could slap this letter down on the table.

Mr. Pojun, on the other hand, directly treated this letter as a collectible.

Only after handling these matters, all the strategists and chief counselors of the Fire Qilin Army entered a special state — Mr. Yuan Zhi's expression faintly carried some joy, and Yan Daiqing gradually transformed into a refreshed and clear-headed look.

Wen Lingjun's gentle smile deepened.

Mr. Pojun stroked his chin, a pair of clear, handsome eyes glinting with purple light.

"In other words…"

"At this moment, you're not short on money, are you?"

After realizing this point.

The corners of the Fire Qilin Army's strategists' mouths almost uncontrollably curved upward.

All along, every battle they had fought had been against the wind — rising up from nothing, carving out a realm with their own two hands; the heart's blood spent, the experiences needed, the difficulties faced, all beyond imagination.

In just seven short years, they had raised their swords to set the world aright, and now possessed such a domain.

One only needed to think briefly to know that their foundation and supplies had always been in a state of severe insufficiency.

They had almost entirely been sustained by bold passion and the blazing valor of youth.

And now, what should have taken years to slowly make up for had been completely restored under the bold passion of that tiger of troubled times. All the strategists and generals of Tiance Prefecture and the Fire Qilin Army felt the utmost goodwill toward the old man they had never met.

Mr. Pojun looked at the military funds, intelligence lines, and logistical supply lines now at his disposal; the corner of his mouth curved up, and this time he could barely press it back down. Then he slammed the table hard — even though his palm ached from the strike, he did not care.

His grandfather's!

Since coming down the mountain, he had never fought such a wealthy battle!

The corners of all Tiance Prefecture's chief strategists and generals' mouths never came back down.

The Fire Qilin Army shifted its strategy.

Entering into a state of not being short on money.

The previous strategy was conservative!

Far, far too conservative!

Master Yan Daiqing was refreshed in spirit.

On one hand, he seized the opportunity to vigorously promote the people's livelihood, aiming to thoroughly raise the standard of living within Qin Wang's domain to a level sufficient to sustain this caliber of logistics before the enormous wealth and logistical supplies brought by the Xue family were exhausted.

On the other hand, he accelerated the upgrading and forging of weapons and armor.

Fan Qing proposed a great military training strategy.

After deliberation among the various generals, a unified plan was completed.

At this moment, the noble families who had made up their minds, judging that Qin Wang's great army's supplies were insufficient — that although its momentum was fierce and valiant, it absolutely could not hold out for long, and that they only needed to endure the first wave — opened their eyes and discovered—

The heavens had changed.

Previously they had gritted their teeth, thinking that if they just held firm against the pressure, they would be fine.

When the time came, Qin Wang's logistical supplies would certainly fail to hold.

Even if his blades were invincible, once logistics were cut, he would have to withdraw his troops.

When that time came, they could breathe a sigh of relief; if Qin Wang did not agree to their demands, they could simply go throw in their lot with the State of Ying.

But the Fire Qilin Army's strategy rapidly changed — from the initial fierce assaults and unpredictable stratagems at the outset, to steady and solid advancement, not in any hurry to push forward rapidly. And during the clashes, they discovered that the faces within the Fire Qilin Army changed almost every two months.

The wounded, those who had gained insights, those who had broken through — all were withdrawn.

New warriors trained within the Fire Qilin Academy in the rear were used to replace them.

These were all trained in Jiangnan, then after experiencing war, they underwent systematic military cultivation within the Fire Qilin Academy, and were then thrown back onto the battlefield — onto the true battlefield — to thoroughly master what they had learned in the Academy.

Among the many noble families, not all were useless good-for-nothings.

There were also extremely shrewd people with sharp eyes; the most outstanding among them realized at the very first moment the Fire Qilin Army's strategy changed, what the Fire Qilin Army was doing.

"Constantly rotating warriors? Stabilizing the front line, avoiding bitter battles…"

"And even tilling fields outside our city walls, harvesting the grain we planted?"

"They are training troops!"

"They are using us to train their hands, conducting great military training with us."

The Ma family head's face went deathly pale, and he said: "Our sons and young men are nothing more than the stones upon which they sharpen their blades. Once their troops suffer losses, they are immediately pulled back, and fresh soldiers are swapped in."

"Constant rotation — they are only preparing to clash with the State of Ying. We are nothing more than their whetstones…"

"We are only whetstones."

"They can retreat, but where can we retreat to?"

The noble families and the forces resisting to the last realized this point and fell into despair.

The Fire Qilin Army's great military training had almost become an open scheme.

But for these many noble families, the despair of this point lay in the fact that even if they knew the Fire Qilin Army was training troops, what could they do about it? There were always seasoned Fire Qilin Army veterans leading the young soldiers.

The Fire Qilin Army had ample supplies in the rear, famous generals, and countless logistical support.

But they had only their isolated cities.

The rear?

The rear was Qin Wang.

The Fire Qilin Army was not in a hurry to break through with its main force, but advanced slowly with a majestic momentum. Yet it was precisely this slow, steady advance that carried an overwhelming, mountain-collapsing pressure.

All the noble families and cities standing in the path of this army felt an indescribable oppression and despair. They had originally planned to drag down Qin Wang's logistics, to hold out until victory — but it was they who were dragged down first.

Cities had already begun to surrender, surrender completely.

And this seemed to be a signal; afterward, cities surrendered faster and faster, almost scrambling to admit defeat. Some city lords and noble families, fearing Qin Wang's attitude toward the noble families, were unwilling to surrender, but were rebelled against by the soldiers and common people within their cities.

They actively opened the city gates and led the royal army inside.

With such fierce and valiant momentum, all the cities surrendered. There were even instances during the standoff of great armies where the opposing side defected on the battlefield and went to attack the city — an indescribable, surging momentum. Yet during this period, the State of Ying merely conserved its strength and did not trouble the Fire Qilin Army.

Chen Dingye gathered the great army originally at the border of Xiyicheng, completely concentrating it at Zhenbei Pass, controlling several hundred li of territory, and barely mustered over two hundred thousand troops. The Turks, meanwhile, kept waiting for the bitter fighting in the Central Plains to wear down the Fire Qilin's blade.

Summer of the seventeenth year of Tianqi, after a full year had been spent.

The last city of the State of Chen, under the Fire Qilin Army's blade, chose to surrender. This surrender thoroughly proclaimed the decline of Chen, this great Central Plains nation. And the final territory of the entire State of Chen had been reduced to only Zhenbei City, where Chen Dingye was stationed.

Chen Tianyi, who had revealed the Mystical Realm and intelligence on supply stations along the route, upon learning of this matter, wailed for a long time. On a certain night, he leapt from a cliff and died at the bottom of the jagged rocks of troubled times.

Old man Chen Chengbi, however, took it quite in stride.

He only felt that the State of Chen had already held the realm for several hundred years, which was good enough. Besides, the Chen Huang's throne was not his own anyway; those brothers had been butchering each other, making the Chen family a complete mess — it was for the best that it dispersed.

Better to practice martial arts.

As this surging tide of momentum swept through, Chen Dingye—who had rallied his military might in Zhenxi Xiongcheng and once again seized control of this great fortress in his own hands—greeted a special envoy.

An envoy from the Tujue and the steppe.

This Tujue minister bowed in greeting, his expression exceedingly humble. They presented gifts befitting a monarch, and their attitude was exceedingly proper. After the banquet, he rose and offered counsel:

"Great Emperor Chen, Your Majesty."

"Your lands have been seized by rebels, your capital has become Qin territory. Now the world spreads the name of these thieves—this truly stirs the heart with indignation."

"Our Great Khan once formed an alliance with Emperor Chen, joining forces to campaign against the great army of Ying. There exists the bond of comrades-in-arms. Seeing the state of Chen today, he is willing to dispatch troops, to march together with you, to punish Qin Wang!"

"Recapture the old lands, return to the former capital!"

Chen Dingye's hand paused mid-drink. Across the entire banquet, not a single sound stirred.

?? Begging for monthly tickets, friends~