A family of loyal martyrs, starting with nine wives to continue the family line.

Tuoba Yue sheathed her sword without looking back at her father.

It's not that I don't want to watch, it's that I'm afraid to.

She was afraid that if she turned around, she would never be able to move her legs again.

She lifted the curtain of the royal tent, and a cold wind rushed in, making the old general's white hair fly wildly.

The burly man's blood was still flowing on the ground, and the stench of blood spread with the night wind.

"Princess!" Mother chased after her, her hunched back looking like an old tree bent by the wind in the moonlight.

"Let this old minister accompany you—"

"no."

Tuoba Yue didn't even turn his head back.

"You stay here and keep an eye on Father. If your elder brother's men come, at least you can hold them off for a while."

Mother opened her mouth, but swallowed the rest of her words.

He watched Tuoba Yue's figure disappear at the end of the palace corridor.

He was alone, with only a sword, and he didn't even ride a horse.

A violent cough came from inside the tent from the King of Western Qiang.

Mother turned around and walked back to the bedside.

A trace of blood clung to the corner of Old Wang's mouth, his cloudy eyes stared at the top of the tent, and his chest heaved like a bellows.

"Is she capable?" The voice of the Western Qiang King shattered into fragments.

Eji gripped the knife hilt tightly, her lips trembling slightly.

"Will it work...?"

He knelt down and used his sleeve to wipe the blood from the corner of Old Wang's mouth.

"There's no other way."

The other two senior officials stood in the corner, neither of them speaking.

The commander of the three thousand elite troops was a staunch supporter of the eldest prince.

With 100,000 slave soldiers, who are not even human, who would listen to a princess who "married out and came back"?

But who else can we rely on besides her?

Including the King of Western Qiang, there were four old men in this tent, half-buried in the ground. They couldn't even beat the guards at the door.

A hero grows old.

These four words weighed heavily on Eji's heart, heavier than the war drums outside the city.

……

Yumen Pass, Council Hall.

Wei Zhao leaned back in his chair, his fingers tapping the armrest unconsciously.

On the table in front of him was a map of the Western Regions.

Liu Jingshuang stood on the left, pointing her finger at the location of Eagle Beak Gorge.

Huo Qingluan stood on the right with her arms crossed, her face as indifferent as ever.

Su Qingyun moved a small stool and sat in the corner to sort out the accounts.

Several captains stood on either side, each with their backs ramrod straight.

Last night's battle was brilliantly fought; everyone's faces were full of energy.

But Wei Zhao was not so optimistic.

"Tuoba Ye will not be fooled again."

He spoke, his tone very flat.

"The reason we won last night was simply because we caught him completely off guard."

"He thought the city was still full of Zhao Yuanlang and his gang of good-for-nothings, but he ran into us instead."

Wei Zhao drew a line on the map with his finger, stretching from Yingzui Gorge all the way to the heart of the Western Qiang region.

"He won't charge in the next battle; he'll back down."

Liu Jingshuang nodded, her phoenix eyes scanning the map.

"They're hiding in the mountains, using the terrain to wear us down."

"Yes." Wei Zhao leaned back in his chair.

"The mountainous region of Xiqiang is his home turf; once inside, he calls the shots."

"He has more than 200,000 people, and grain can be requisitioned locally, with water resources everywhere."

"Let's drag this out for three or five months, until our supplies are running out and morale is low, then he can come out and clean up the mess."

An old captain couldn't help but interject:

"Then why don't we chase after them and fight them?"

"We killed nearly 50,000 people last night, let's strike while the iron is hot—"

"Chasing after them is just suicide."

Wei Zhao glanced at him and didn't stand on ceremony.

"Mountain warfare is the specialty of the Western Qiang people."

"Our heavy armored troops can't even form a battle formation in the mountain gullies, and our cavalry can't even run in the forest."

The old captain shut his mouth.

The tent was quiet for a few moments.

Wei Zhao's mind was racing; his intelligence of 1100 was breaking down all the known information into fragments and rearranging them.

The Western Qiang and the Northern Rong were fundamentally enemies.

The Northern Rong are sworn enemies, with blood debts accumulated over hundreds of years, leaving no room for reconciliation.

As long as Quan Ya Mao lives, Yanmen Pass will never be at peace.

That kind of battle can only be fought to the death, until one side is completely annihilated.

The God of Slaughter template is also generously provided—the more you kill, the more points you earn, and the higher your attributes become.

But the Western Qiang are different.

The Western Qiang and the Great Wei had been on friendly terms for nearly a century, engaging in trade, intermarriage, and mutual trade. There was no deep-seated hatred between the people.

This fight was purely caused by Tuoba Ye, an ambitious man, taking advantage of his father's serious illness.

In other words, the Western Qiang are not enemies, but neighbors who have been kidnapped by a fool.

Wei Zhao bit his nails and thought for a moment.

To be honest, part of him wanted to kill them all.

The God of Slaughter template is there; every person you kill earns you real God of Slaughter points.

Last night's battle only netted me a little over 5,000 points, far short of the 100,000 martial arts points I'd need to kill all 200,000-plus Western Qiang soldiers...

He did some mental calculations.

Two hundred thousand people, even if you kill them all, it would only be 20,000 points, based on the kill rate of your subordinates being +0.1.

20,000 points.

It sounds like a lot, but compared to the million-level Heavenly Rank martial arts, it's just a drop in the ocean.

and--

What's the cost?

The phrase "a cornered beast will fight" is no joke.

When the Western Qiang were truly driven to the brink of despair, Tuoba Ye went all out to fight them to the death, sending over 200,000 mountain troops into the mountains to wage guerrilla warfare.

Even if Wei Zhao had a physique of 2000 points, it would be impossible for him to turn the entire mountain over by himself.

If the Wei family army is stuck here and can't get out, what will happen to the Donghu, Xianyuan, and Nanman?

Not cost-effective.

This calculation couldn't be clearer.

Wei Zhao turned his gaze away from the map and was about to speak when Liu Jingshuang spoke first.

"This battle should focus on winning hearts and minds."

Liu Jingshuang walked to the table and pointed in the direction of the Western Qiang Royal Court.

"Tuoba Ye was a proponent of war, but the Western Qiang were not a monolithic group. The old king advocated peace, the old ministers advocated peace, and most of the lower-level tribes did not want to fight."

She looked up at Wei Zhao.

"The only ones who really want to fight are Tuoba Ye and his group of young leaders who have tasted success."

"Once these people are removed, the remaining Western Qiang people will be eager to stop the fighting and go home to herd sheep."

Wei Zhao didn't reply, but he was already nodding in his heart.

Liu Jingshuang continued:

"More importantly—after this battle, the Western Qiang cannot be abandoned."

These words startled the captains.

"Jing Shuang, what does that mean?"

A young captain couldn't help but ask.

Liu Jingshuang's phoenix eyes swept over him, and the captain immediately shrank back.

"The Western Qiang are located to the west of the Great Wei, blocking those foreign tribes further west."

Liu Jingshuang gestured with her finger further west on the map.

"The Yuezhi, the Tubo, and scattered bandit tribes."

"These forces didn't dare to advance eastward before because the Western Qiang blocked their way."

Her voice turned cold.

"If we destroy the Western Qiang—who will plug this gap?"

"Relying on the Great Wei itself?"

"We have the remnants of the Northern Rong to deal with in the north, the Donghu and Xianyuan to the east who are eyeing us covetously, and the Southern Barbarians to the south."

"We're surrounded by enemies on all sides; where would we find the extra troops to fill the gap in the west?"

The tent fell silent.

Wei Zhao looked at Liu Jingshuang with approval in his eyes.

Jing Shuang could see it clearly.

This is not a simple revenge battle, nor is it a simple defense battle.

This is a game of chess that concerns the entire western defense line of the Great Wei.

The Western Qiang should be attacked, but not killed. The optimal solution is to subdue them, incorporate them, and turn them into the western bulwark of the Great Wei.

I understand what Jing Shuang means.

Wei Zhao stood up and walked to the map.

"Politically, we won over the pro-peace faction of the Western Qiang, and militarily we only attacked Tuoba Ye's direct subordinates, putting a knife to his neck but not cutting him down."

"Force him to either surrender or be overthrown by his own people."

Liu Jingshuang's lips curled slightly.

"almost."

……