Conquering Myriad Worlds from the Mythical Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1096 New Strategic Direction
"The fighting in France is over?"

Sima Yi looked at Zhuge Liang, who was playing chess with him, with a surprised expression.

He thought he was fast enough, but Lu Xun was even faster. If Lu Xun hadn't been suppressed by Joan of Arc in the end, he would have been crowned king after this battle.

Of course, Lu Xun himself had no intention of going out on his own. Compared to being made a king, he wanted to rise to the position of prime minister in Xinghan.

However, given Xinghan's current development trend, no one has yet been able to shake Zhuge Liang's position.

"Yes, after the first battle, most of the main force was captured, and the commander-in-chief surrendered. They've already begun the process of environmental remediation!" Zhuge Liang nodded and said, "If nothing unexpected happens, they'll complete this process faster than you!"

Sima Yi's expression was unnatural as he picked up a chess piece and placed it on the chessboard.

Zhuge Liang glanced at it, chuckled, and directly severed Sima Yi's dragon formation with a single move.

"Looks like you've been affected a bit!"

Looking at the chaotic situation on the chessboard, Sima Yi resigned and surrendered: "I am indeed quite surprised!"

"There's nothing surprising about it. First, Huang Tian and Wu Anjun both went. The other side did their best, but they were completely outmaneuvered by Wu Anjun from the very beginning. The two sides are simply not on the same level."

After reading the battle report, Zhuge Liang had only one feeling: from the moment Joan of Arc appeared, she was outmaneuvered by Bai Qi, and in the end, she never escaped the future that Bai Qi had set for her.

A military genius was so easily forced to his death by Bai Qi, and Bai Qi didn't even have to lift a finger during the whole process; it was Lu Xun who actually carried out the operation.

It was precisely because Zhuge Liang understood that he was amazed.

For the military genius who was facing Bai Qi for the first time, Bai Qi was truly terrifying.

If your skill level isn't high enough, you'll be taken down by Bai Qi in one fell swoop.

The probability of dying is far too high if you are to face Bai Qi as your opponent.

Even Zhuge Liang himself wasn't very confident that he could escape unscathed from Bai Qi.

Bai Qi isn't just limited to three tricks; if he can't take you down in one go...

Congratulations! You're about to face Bai Qi's second, third, and even overwhelming onslaught.

As long as you don't defeat Bai Qi, Bai Qi will kill you. His main goal is to destroy you, which is none of your business.

Bai Qi with murderous intent is a completely different person from Bai Qi during sparring. Zhuge Liang felt that even if he put himself in Joan of Arc's position, there was no good solution.

One reason is the suppression in terms of hard power, and the other is that Bai Qi's command and dispatch were too fierce.

No matter what level your opponent is, the goal from the start is to annihilate them.

It's like playing chess with someone, deciding your life or death. You've just placed a piece, and Bai Qi immediately swings the chessboard to attack you. Who can withstand that?

Throughout the entire Xinghan Kingdom, only Han Xin dared to say that he would absolutely not be taken away by Bai Qi in one fell swoop.

According to Zhuge Liang's prediction, if Han Xin were in Joan of Arc's position, he might be able to fight Bai Qi.

Of course, the greater probability is that a fight will not break out.

After all, Han Xin directly mobilized an army of over two million, so Xinghan should have considered peace talks. Anyone would have a headache dealing with such a tough opponent.

It's not that they can't defeat them, but after launching an attack, they would be exhausted and injured, which would be a bad deal for Xinghan.

Moreover, even if a battle were to break out, all the Miracle Legions would definitely go to the battlefield together, striving to crush the army as quickly as possible.

With Sima Yi's wisdom, he certainly understood what Zhuge Liang was saying.

He took a deep breath, put the chess pieces back into the box, and started a new game of chess with Zhuge Liang.

Now that things have settled, what's the next step?

"You haven't even finished reorganizing your internal affairs, yet you still want to get involved in the next activities?" Zhuge Liang looked at Sima Yi with some surprise. Such impulsiveness was not like Sima Yi's style.

"The people I hired should have taken care of most of the remaining matters. Now that I have some free time, I naturally need to focus on the next steps!" Sima Yi calmly placed a chess piece on the chessboard as if nothing had happened.

"Whatever you want!" Zhuge Liang glanced at Sima Yi and said, "How things develop is Sima Yi's business as a king. He's too lazy to worry about Sima Yi, and he doesn't think Sima Yi is the kind of impulsive and reckless person."

"It's alright to tell you, you might be the main force in what's to come!" Zhuge Liang said after a moment's thought.

"I'd like to hear the details!" Sima Yi narrowed his eyes. Conferring the title of king as the main force sounds like a grand event.

Do you know how many vassal states the Qing court had?

As Zhuge Liang spoke, he and Sima Yi alternated placing a chess piece on the board. For them, multitasking was a basic skill.

"I don't know the exact number, but I estimate there are at least twenty or thirty!" Sima Yi guessed casually.

"One hundred and sixty-seven!" Zhuge Liang calmly revealed.

"Are you kidding me? How could there be so many?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Sima Yi suddenly raised his head, quite shocked.

It should be noted that the Great Jin also has its subordinate small worlds, which are roughly the size of a county or several counties. Only three have been explored so far, and there are a few more that cannot be explored due to time constraints. In total, there are less than ten.

"Although it's still just a guess, it's probably related to Nurhaci's actions of controlling the empire's will with his own body..."

"In other words, if we can reach the point of influencing the world, perhaps we can acquire more subordinate small worlds from the void!"

"According to the current understanding of the immortal masters, the stronger the power within a world, the more the world resembles a vortex, and those smaller worlds will be drawn in."

Zhuge Liang only gave a brief description, but Sima Yi immediately understood.

"The Ming and Mongol Yuan dynasties have intervened?" Sima Yi quickly realized what had happened.

"Yes, there have been a few minor disagreements already!"

Zhuge Liang paused here, saying that the three sides had both wins and losses in their conflicts, with the losers accounting for half of the time.

After all, not every general who went to reclaim the small world was named Zhang Xiu.

Xinghan is currently too busy to handle this matter, so Zhuge Liang plans to completely outsource it to the various kings. On the one hand, this is to provide them with benefits, allowing the kings to profit while Xinghan can collect some taxes and interest.

If it fell into the hands of the Ming Dynasty and the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, it would truly be like throwing a meat bun to a dog—gone forever.

On the other hand, it also hopes to have more room for maneuver.

The friction was a spontaneous action by the King and had nothing to do with the Star Han Empire itself, nor did it represent the Star Han Empire's own position.

In order to minimize the impact of friction, Xinghan does not want to intervene in the war between the two empires, but it also does not want to give up the interests that should belong to them.

Sima Yi understood perfectly; this was indeed an opportunity for those who had been granted the title of king.

Even if it's just taking over one or two small worlds, it's still considered a huge profit.

"It hasn't been decided yet, and the distribution ratio is not easy to allocate!" Zhuge Liang sighed. The division of benefits has always been a headache.

Some small worlds have low value, while others, if they contain special products, are worth several times more. Putting all these things together is very troublesome.

The problem isn't scarcity, but inequality. As prime minister, Zhuge Liang had to maintain his impartiality, but impartiality is never a valid concept. Especially after the division, friction would arise in those smaller worlds, something even Zhuge Liang couldn't have foreseen.

"..." Sima Yi lost his mood for chess and tapped the table. He knew that Zhuge Liang was pointing him in the foot, asking him to take the lead in applying and taking the blame himself.

If something goes wrong, he'll be the one who gets into trouble.

If this role of taking the blame isn't handled well, it could backfire. But in return, he can now propose a deal.

How to handle this exchange of benefits is something he needs to weigh for himself.

"I want a chance!" Sima Yi finally decided on his offer.

"You want the spirit of the army?" Zhuge Liang also became much more serious.

"Yes, I want a chance to be a soldier!" Sima Yi said with certainty.

The Great Jin Dynasty lacks many things, but what it lacks most is the military spirit legion.

A normal empire can be born on its own, but the Great Jin is currently a subordinate kingdom, and without the permission of the Star Han, the probability of it giving birth to a military spirit on its own is terrifyingly low.

A military spirit legion is essential to ensuring the stability of its lineage and status.

This would also ensure a sufficient fighting force against external enemies, so after much deliberation, Sima Yi chose this condition.

He didn't ask for a position directly, but rather for an opportunity.

This time it was Zhuge Liang's turn to ponder, as the spots for the title of "Military Soul" were extremely precious.

"I can submit this application to the Emperor on your behalf, but I cannot influence the Emperor's decision..."

“That’s enough!” Sima Yi said without hesitation.

"In that case, when the court assembly is held, you should take the lead in volunteering. They will understand what that means!"

Zhuge Liang nodded, placed a chess piece on the chessboard, and then turned and left.

"..."

Sima Yi stared at the chessboard for a long time, then made a move to revitalize the entire game, but he showed no excitement; his face was only filled with complex and deep emotions.

"Hmph...what an arrogant fellow!"

Zhuge Liang didn't care about winning or losing on the chessboard at all, which gave him the opportunity to turn the tide.

If Zhuge Liang had put in even a little more effort, he would have lost this game.

Inside the military and political hall on the other side, Han Xin and Sun Wu were reviewing the battle reports from Bai Qi and France.

"The Lord of Wu'an ended France in one battle!" Han Xin clicked his tongue twice. "France is too weak. They are not even worthy of being mentioned. It is an empire ruled by a military god. They lost three battles in a row and were swept aside in one wave."

"I'm afraid very few people can withstand the onslaught from Lord Wu'an!" Sun Wu said quietly.

"Tch, the level of these so-called hymns of war gods is truly worrying!"

After reading it, Han Xin scratched his head. He was supposed to be a military genius, so how could his skills be so poor?

Why not just pull out a million-strong army and explode with Bai Qi? Instead, all this trouble has led to his own demise.

"You really don't know how to talk when you're not in the same boat. Maintaining the buffs of an army of millions without losing them isn't that easy!"

Sun Tzu said quietly, "In fact, both Bai Qi and Sun Tzu have the ability to organize an army of over a million without losing a hundred."

The problem is that it refers to a simple commander.

Once the war begins, if this army of over a million is disrupted by the opposing forces, it would be a miracle if they could even retain their protective aura.

Han Xin was different. Not only could he command a million men, but he could also ensure that his buffs wouldn't drop below two hundred during battle.

Two hundred is not Han Xin's upper limit, but the upper limit of cloud energy that the army's soldiers can bear. If they want to become stronger, they have to improve through the imperial will or some kind of auxiliary military spirit.

Both Bai Qi and Sun Tzu thought Han Xin was extraordinary; who would casually lead an army of a million without any apparent purpose?

"Nothing to see here, not even as good as Chi You!" Han Xin said directly after watching the whole process.

“Indeed, there’s nothing remarkable about him!” Sun Tzu stroked his beard and agreed with Han Xin’s assessment.

There was nothing interesting to watch since Joan of Arc was taken down by Bai Qi in one fell swoop.

In their eyes, Joan of Arc had to withstand Bai Qi's first round of attacks before she was worthy of being taken seriously.

Even among war gods, there are different levels, and Joan of Arc is clearly the lowest level.

Of course, these hymn reincarnations have extremely high growth potential. If it were delayed for a few more months or even a year, Joan of Arc would at least grow to a point where Han Xin and his men would find her troublesome.

"There's nothing to see here. I'm more curious about the current state of this war god." Han Xin casually tossed the battle report aside.

Compared to Bai Qi's great victory, he was more interested in Joan of Arc's current condition.

"General Dian, you've been hesitant to speak these past few days. What's the reason?" Bai Qi turned to look at Dian Wei behind him.

He really liked Dian Wei, the bodyguard type; he seemed very reliable and gave him a great sense of security.

“I have fought against that so-called god, and his divine will is consistent with that of Joan of Arc now…” Dian Wei said somewhat uncertainly.

"You mean, Joan of Arc is Joan of Arc, and everything she's doing now is just an act?" Bai Qi stopped and looked at Dian Wei with some seriousness.

“It shouldn’t be an act. Although the divine will is the same, the difference in their determination is huge…” Dian Wei hesitated for a moment. “I think it’s more like two personalities, or rather, Joan of Arc is a combination of two wills after the Holy Song’s possession.”

"You mean, she still has the potential to become a war god!" Bai Qi became interested; this was quite a discovery.

“I’m not sure, I just feel there are still secrets about her that we can uncover.” Dian Wei shook his head.

He knew he wasn't a smart person, so he never made judgments, but simply expressed his perceptions.

"That is a problem... Let Jia Wen and the others handle it. These things are not our concern!"

Bai Qi had someone report Dian Wei's speculation back to Luoyang, and at the same time arranged for people to strengthen the guard over Joan of Arc and the others.

Although it was just a feeling of Dian Wei's, it wouldn't be a big mistake to strengthen some precautions.

"They're planning to send people to conquer the small world from Luoyang. Are you interested in leading a group there?" Bai Qi suddenly stopped and turned to ask Dian Wei.

"I'm not good at commanding troops!" Dian Wei said honestly.

"That's exactly why you have to be bad at commanding troops!" Bai Qi smiled and tossed the accessory to Dian Wei.

"Take my sword with you when you go, and I will prepare a suitable army for you!"

Bai Qi looked at the sword in Dian Wei's hand, a smile flashing across his face. Let him test the properties of the miracle.

(End of this chapter)