A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

When Li Bai left Yanzhou Academy, his eyes were red.

He has experienced so much here: laughter, sorrow, parting, and reunion.

But too many old friends are no longer here.

After completing the task assigned to him by Li Heng, he spent all his time visiting and paying respects to old friends.

The two great masters who once treated him as their personal disciple, his fellow disciples who studied under them, and his classmates at the academy...

Li Bai felt a long-lost sense of friendship here. No one cared about his past status. They didn't care whether Li Bai had been a prime minister, whether he had the ability to recommend them for high office, or whether he had been an imperial tutor.

In their eyes, Li Bai was just a senior student, an academic mentor, and someone who had made contributions to the people—nothing more.

Li Bai had not experienced this purity for a long time; it was a feeling he had never had since he stepped into Luoyang.

Li Bai stayed in Yanzhou City for a year before finally leaving because he couldn't stay any longer.

His destination this time was Kunlun, which is known as the ancestor of the Chinese dragon veins.

Kunlun Mountain has been the source of Chinese mythology since ancient times, with countless legends associated with it.

Li Bai also longed to visit Kunlun, but traveling to Kunlun was destined to be a long and arduous journey, and even he did not have absolute confidence.

After leaving behind a few letters, Li Bai, sword in hand, went alone to the outskirts of Kunlun Mountain. His figure, clad in white robes, gradually disappeared among the majestic mountains. From then on, he was never heard from again, leaving only the legend of the banished immortal.

"The Jade Palace in the heavens, with twelve towers and five cities."

"An immortal touched my head, and I was granted eternal life."

"Mistakenly pursuing worldly pleasures, they became deeply troubled by the complexities of reason and the confusion of emotions."

"Ninety-six sage rulers, their names hang like floating clouds in the air."

"..."

From then on, Li Bai disappeared from the world.

There is only one such immortal in historical records and folk legends. He had a life of great achievements, but at the height of his career, he left the court and wandered the world.

……

Luoyang City.

Luoyang is now like a grand drama of power struggles, with various forces intertwined and undercurrents surging.

One act ends and another begins, it's quite a lively scene.

Today we form an alliance, tomorrow I'll betray you, you'll betray me; the whole of Luoyang is a battleground of masters, a thrilling spectacle.

In just one year, dozens of aristocratic families experienced generational changes, with some families falling and others rising to prominence.

Many powerful families, after submitting to Li Heng, turned around and betrayed him, delivering a fatal blow.

However, under the control of a powerful force in the shadows, this chaotic struggle did not hinder people's livelihoods. The common people simply watched the show from the sidelines, and their lives remained unaffected.

The struggle between Li Heng and the powerful families lasted for six years. During these six years, both sides had their victories and defeats, but the five surnames and seven noble families still existed and remained steadfast.

The power of the imperial court and the common people has increased, but the rate of increase has been severely limited.

Just as Li Heng was preparing to change to another approach and wanted to deal with the powerful families in a more radical way, he suddenly fell ill and died young.

Crown Prince Li Yu hastily ascended the throne, but Li Heng was still young at the time and never imagined that he would die suddenly. The education of the crown prince was not yet systematic, and Li Yu was unable to receive a complete education as a prince.

Therefore, before his death, Li Heng asked Li Yu to compromise with the powerful families in exchange for their support.

Li Yu outwardly agreed, but inwardly he disagreed.

Influenced by Li Heng, he also felt that none of the powerful families in the world were good.

He decided to inherit his father's business and accomplish what his father had failed to do: completely suppress the powerful families.

The young and impetuous Li Yu did not possess the political acumen and shrewdness of Li Heng. His methods appeared extremely immature, but they also carried the boldness characteristic of youth.

Li Yu found several excuses and removed several important positions from aristocratic families, replacing them with his own retainers from his former residence.

This move undoubtedly utterly disappointed the powerful families who had placed their hopes on the new emperor.

They had thought that with Li Heng's death, the newly enthroned Li Yu would treat them, the aristocratic families, better. But to their surprise, the new ruler was a hothead.

They don't even consider political principles; they just come in and try to overturn the table.

The powerful families were furious. They thought, "If we don't teach you a lesson, you'll never know what you'll do."

As a result, the powerful families united to demote or exile all of Li Yu'an's trusted confidants through various means.

Li Yu originally intended to promote all the people he had built up when he was the crown prince to high positions, but in the blink of an eye, they were all transferred or demoted.

Only then did Li Yu realize the power of these aristocratic families. He had no idea how his father had fought against them for so long and even gained the upper hand.

Unless he directly uses the military to forcibly suppress the rebellion, he has no choice but to submit now.

He lacked political acumen, but he knew that political struggles between courts could not be resolved through bloody suppression.

Forced into a corner, Emperor Daizong of Tang, Li Yu, bowed to the powerful clans for the first time, ceding a considerable amount of benefits in order to maintain the appearance of stability in the court.

But this humiliation drove Li Yu to constantly seek revenge.

The powerful families, on the other hand, wanted to prevent him from getting revenge and making up for their losses during this period.

Li Yu spent two years healing his wounds while rapidly growing.

A major event also occurred that year: the Qin state expanded eastward.

With the help of the two traitors who escaped from the Tang Dynasty, the Qin state stopped the others. After the two traitors were fattened up, they were slaughtered, and the Qin state expanded its territory.

In order to digest this land and wait for the right opportunity, the Qin army waited for a full six years.

For the past six years, the Qin army has been preparing for war and constantly building up various weapons, so that if anything changes, they can quickly deploy their troops and create a fait accompli.

They really did get this opportunity that year.

The biggest obstacle was that the Tang Dynasty was embroiled in internal conflicts and had no time to attend to foreign regions.

After handing over the country that most hindered their eastward expansion to the two factions, the Qin state decisively launched an attack, seized the land, and connected the entire Qin territory into one. The vast Mediterranean Sea became the Qin state's inland sea, almost replicating the glory of the ancient Roman Empire.

With the Mediterranean Sea as a transportation route, the Qin state's mobilization capacity was arguably the best in the world.

The number of directly bordering states decreased from seven to four. Although there were no natural defenses, Qin now had the confidence to expand eastward.

The King of Qin sent troops to guard three passes, and then ordered the Qin army to launch a full-scale attack on the remaining state.

Faced with the Qin Dynasty's military might, the various states quickly formed a coalition to jointly resist the Qin army's attack.

The other three imperial guards had passes that they could defend, enough to block attacks from these three directions.

With no natural defenses along the remaining route, the Qin army had no choice but to engage in a head-on battle with the opposing allied forces.

This battle is crucial to the future. If Qin wins, it can once again expand eastward and conquer the world.

If Qin were to lose this battle, other states would not let go of this opportunity to weaken Qin, and Qin's years of accumulation might be reduced to ashes.