Longzang

Chapter 1157 The Best Strategy
To be honest, Wei Yuan was even happier than if he had received Zhang Sheng's extraordinary fortune. Although he was still a little uncomfortable, he could overcome it.

Wei Yuan did not explain the origins of the woman in black. It was best for Zhang Sheng not to know about this, lest she become entangled in the karma of a great world. Zhang Sheng's mind was as clear as a mirror; since Wei Yuan didn't speak, she didn't ask.

The two chatted for only a few words before turning to the current state of the world. Zhang Sheng casually accessed the interface of the Prosperous World, and numerous orbs of light appeared around him. He used the power of the Prosperous World to assist in analyzing the problem, leaving Wei Yuan completely dumbfounded. To an outsider, one would most likely assume that the Prosperous World belonged to Zhang Sheng.

In fact, the cultivators of Qingming have already become accustomed to using the prosperity of the various realms. Not only have interfaces been built in various cities, but many large cities are also building more and more interfaces as their population and the number of cultivators increase.

The computing power Wei Yuan is currently using is merely a drop in the ocean compared to the vastness of the myriad realms. If it weren't for the fact that he could use the myriad realms without needing an interface, and if he didn't have this small privilege, Wei Yuan wouldn't know where his status as the master would stand.

Zhang Sheng has now completed the cultivation of the Three Palaces of Lingxiao and the Endless Sword Origin, and her mental world is complete, lacking only the final opportune moment. However, she has never relied on her powerful divine sense, so she can currently only handle about five thousand tasks simultaneously.

Once everything was ready, the two began to meticulously analyze the current situation, starting from the time when Zhang Sheng committed the calamity. They analyzed the movements of the immortals one by one, taking into account every detail. Combining the current situation with past history, they gradually clarified the moves and patterns of each party's strategy.

Although neither of them mentioned it, they both knew perfectly well that they were indirectly dismantling the Martial Ancestor's plan.

One by one, orbs of light flickered in and out of the room. Wei Yuan mobilized all his divine sense, simultaneously handling over 20,000 tasks. Several days passed in the blink of an eye, and Wei Yuan's divine sense had slightly increased, gaining the ability to process dozens more tasks.

By dissecting the secret history of the immortal realm over the past century in a comprehensive manner, a few clues have finally emerged.

Only then did Wei Yuan realize that the mastermind's true purpose was to break the Martial Ancestor's plan and prevent him from shaking the foundation of the Seven Clans and Thirteen Families.

The most compelling evidence is that the other party had no idea of ​​the woman in black's existence. The Celestial Master of Glazed Glass's attack was aimed at killing; otherwise, whether it was aimed at Yan Shi or Zhu Yan, it would have instantly and severely injured them, and they would not have been able to recover without decades or even centuries of rest. There was no need to waste it on Wei Yuan.

The fact that such a trump card had failed to achieve its purpose must have been completely unexpected by the enemy. That's why they activated their second hidden move, which somehow influenced Wei Yuan's judgment, making him vaguely feel that someone was pushing him to stand against the aristocratic families.

Once Wei Yuan becomes suspicious, given his current advantageous position of being able to attack or defend, he will inevitably postpone his military action and observe the situation first. With this time, many things will become more manageable.

However, things aren't that simple. In the current situation, Wei Yuan has successively killed Lü Changhe and Xu Shuhe, and assisted Zhu Yan in successfully ascending to immortality. His combat power has surpassed Yan Shi's. It can be said that what was originally a clear situation has been completely messed up by Wei Yuan. But the problem is, the current chaos may not necessarily be a good thing for Wei Yuan.

At this moment, Wei Yuan only needs to lie low for a while to accumulate a large amount of manpower and resources. Moreover, he has recently acquired a large area of ​​land and has not yet had time to digest it. Originally, Qingming and Yizhou together only had a little over 200 million, but now it has suddenly increased by 1.7 billion. Putting aside everything else, even Qingming's proud grain production is suddenly in a tight spot.

Previously, the number of living people producing grain in Qingming had already reached two billion, and then the focus of the True Lord of the Land of Hoeing had shifted to relieving the burden on the Immortal Chicken Spirit Pet. After all, no matter how many fields were cultivated, no one would eat the grain grown. Even the conversion of surplus grain into meat, eggs, milk, and wine had reached its limit.

As a result, in recent years, many people in Qingming who have a decent job have had a new problem: they have gained weight!

Not only people, but also the cattle and horses working in the fields became fat and strong because they were fed too good feed, resulting in a bunch of diseases that they had never heard of before.

After careful investigation, the True Lord of the Farming Land concluded that the problem stemmed from eating too well, thinking too much, and exercising too little.

Therefore, he decided to have these cattle and horses work during the day and exercise at night to lose weight. Because there were quite a few with similar symptoms, the True Lord of the Farming gave them a special name: defatted cattle and horses.

Now that such a large sphere of influence has suddenly appeared, Wei Yuan's strength will multiply in time. Therefore, maintaining the status quo and responding to all changes is a good strategy for now.

Wei Yuan was torn and looked at Zhang Sheng. Zhang Sheng pondered for a moment, his eyes flashing with sword energy, and said, "We should use our remaining strength to pursue the fleeing enemy."

Wei Yuan immediately made a plan, and several military orders were generated through the prosperity of the various realms. Subsequently, several Golden Core Dharma Aspects carried the military orders, boarded flying vehicles, and flew out of the Azure Sky to deliver them.

Wei Yuan's order was to launch a full-scale attack, crush all resistance, and seize the ancestral land of the Lü family!

In addition, he had another order for Xiaoyu, which was very simple: to sweep away all Xu family forces within 500 li of the Eastern Jin border.

……

On the snowy northern plains, Xiaoyu stood in the air, with cannon fire roaring below. Shells exploded on the city wall, and soon a section of the wall collapsed.

This was a large city, with at least a million inhabitants and tens of thousands of garrison troops. However, the generals in the city, seeing Xiao Yu standing in the air, radiating a faint red light like a blazing sun, dared not show themselves and instead pretended to be dead among the soldiers.

Xiao Yu didn't care and quietly kept watch. The enemy was unaware that Shao Yang Xingjun had already flown to the city wall, but he had concealed his form, waiting for any Dharma form to show itself so he could deliver a powerful blow and gain some Heavenly Merit first.

He finally saw a Dharma image emerge, but the guy was holding a white flag.

Xiao Yu was not surprised by the surrender of the garrison. During this period, he had fought more than a dozen battles, large and small, in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. He had killed several generals, captured more than 20,000 elite border troops, and captured more than 100,000 city garrison troops. He had already made the Eastern Jin border troops tremble with fear.

Xiao Yu's appetite grew with each battle, so he led 50,000 troops deep into enemy territory and captured the prefecture city that was already a border county.

As usual, heavy infantry entered the city at this time. A golden dantian-like figure flew over the city wall and shouted loudly, ordering the garrison to form ranks and leave the city to await the capture of prisoners. In an instant, many city defense soldiers came out from the city walls and camps and lined up outside the city, many of them with joy on their faces.

Most of them were already at the Foundation Establishment stage and knew that going to Qingming would likely result in them being recruited and living a good life thereafter. Therefore, except for those with families, the rest obediently left the city. At this moment, dozens of Foundation Establishment cultivators suddenly flew out from all parts of the city and surrounded the Golden Core Dharma Image, which startled him.

Others may not know, but the Azure Nether Golden Core Dharma Avatar knows its own limitations. If it truly encounters a genius with a Foundation Establishment cultivation, it is genuinely no match, not even in a one-on-one fight. Wei Yuan had repeatedly instructed on this matter beforehand, and the military regulations also included a separate provision, explicitly forbidding Golden Core Dharma Avatars from going on missions alone; they must travel in pairs.

Fortunately, this Golden Core Dharma Image knew that Xiao Yu was watching him from behind. She was one of the Twelve Immortal Images on the list, so even when facing dozens of Foundation Establishment cultivators who could kill him several times over, he was not afraid at all. Instead, he shouted fiercely, "Do you all want to die?"

Dozens of Eastern Jin Dao Foundation cultivators exchanged glances, then suddenly knelt down simultaneously, declaring their willingness to abandon darkness and embrace light. They also stated that the cultivators knew the city inside and out, knowing which were the relatives of officials from the capital and where other high-level cultivators were hiding, and that they were willing to lead the way.

The Golden Core Dharma Image was overjoyed and quickly reported back. A moment later, several Azure Nether Dharma Images and more than ten Golden Core Dharma Images arrived and began searching each house with imposing momentum.

Xiao Yu changed his position, standing high in the sky at the edge of the city, radiating a faint warmth from the sunlight. From this vantage point, he was clearly visible to the entire city. With him standing there, only sporadic fighting occurred within the city, and several aging Dharma Images were captured without resistance.

At this moment, Xiao Yu's expression changed, and she turned her head to look. She saw a flying vehicle speeding towards her like lightning. It began to slow down dozens of miles away, and then a Golden Core Dharma Image flew out of it and handed a military order to Xiao Yu.

Xiao Yu opened the document and saw that the military order was to sweep away the Xu family's forces within 500 li of Eastern Jin territory. So she summoned a staff officer and asked, "Where are we now? How far are we from 500 li?"

The advisor said, "This place is already deep in the Eastern Jin territory, and it is 750 li away from the border."

"Is it that far?" Xiao Yu was also taken aback, and then looked at the city with a population of one million below, and felt a headache coming on: it would be difficult to find the Xu family's forces in this city.

At this moment, the Lesser Yang Star Lord appeared and said quietly, "Why go through all this trouble? Just send five hundred floating boats and airships from the rear. Two trips will be enough to transport everyone in this city away. No matter how much influence the Xu family has in the city, won't we just uproot them all?"

Xiao Yu agreed wholeheartedly and immediately issued an order to inform all the people of the city to prepare for relocation, with those who disobeyed to be executed.

As soon as the order was given, the whole city erupted in cheers.

……

The Eastern Jin court was shrouded in gloom and despair.

The King of Jin of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was named King Xuan of Jin. He was just over two hundred years old this year, already in his twilight years, with a bloated figure, and his dragon throne was a size larger than those of the other eight kingdoms.

At this moment, the Prime Minister stepped forward and said, "...Qingming's forces are formidable, its military strength is formidable, and its firepower is fierce; it is truly difficult to match them. Wei Yuan has just wiped out the Lü family and killed two immortals; his power is now established. I believe that it would be unwise to confront them head-on. What General Chen just said is truly a disastrous act for the country and its people!"

An old general angrily said, "Wang He, what do you mean? I said we should fight them with all our might, how is that bringing disaster to the country and the people?"

The prime minister looked to be no more than thirty years old, with an extraordinary bearing, a true dragon among men. Upon hearing this, he looked at the old general and said calmly, "A full-scale battle? General Chen, are you absolutely certain of victory?"

The old general angrily said, "Victory and defeat are common occurrences in war. Who dares to claim invincibility? But if we don't even dare to fight, what will become of the court's reputation? What will become of the king's reputation?"

Wang He asked again, "General Chen, are you absolutely certain of victory?"

General Chen said coldly, "Even if we lose, at worst I will perish together with the invading enemy. What is there to fear!"

Wang He immediately sneered: "The entire army of the Eastern Jin Dynasty is only three million strong. The million border troops on the northern frontier are already stretched thin, and the rest can hardly be called elite. The Western Jin Dynasty alone has a million soldiers under the Lü family, and they were still utterly defeated. With such a fierce and powerful army as Qingming, what makes you, General Chen, think you can win?"

"Then you can easily die and gain a good reputation. But what about my Great Jin? What about the King?! Can your life and the life of your clan be worth even a fraction of the Great Jin's peril? You're nothing but a fame-seeking, reckless old fool! Bah!"

General Chen was furious, yet he could find no rebuttal. At this moment, everyone in the court knew that the Qingming Army was invincible. A mere detachment of tens of thousands of men had been fighting on the border for months, routing hundreds of thousands of western border troops.

King Jinxuan sighed and said, "Stop arguing! The most important thing right now is to come up with a solution! Earlier, Qingming said he wanted to borrow a route to attack Qi. If all else fails, should we agree to his request?"

Wang He stepped forward again and said loudly, "To ask for passage is to invite self-destruction, and we cannot agree to it. I have a plan that can prevent Qingming from sending a single soldier into the country, thus ensuring the safety of our Great Jin."

King Jinxuan's spirits lifted, and he leaned forward, hurriedly asking, "What is the best plan? Tell me quickly!"

Wang He said, "I have long heard that Wei Yuan is a greedy and insatiable man who only cares about money. Therefore, I believe that we can give him real benefits and wealth without compromising the dignity of the country and preserving the face of the court. As long as the Qingming army does not enter the pass, giving him more real benefits is not a big deal."

Many of the ministers nodded in agreement, finding it quite convincing.

King Jinxuan then asked, "How much should I give him?"

Wang He said, word by word, "Use the resources of the Great Jin Dynasty to win the favor of Qingming!"

(End of this chapter)