People in the Qin Dynasty, entertained during the Warring States period

The Snow Woman glanced at Cao Ze with a complicated expression. "I want to be alone."

Who is Jingjing... Cao Ze thought to himself helplessly.

He watched the snow woman leave, carefully holding a lily dipped in water in his hand, knowing there was a secret to it and that he could seize the opportunity.

The next day, as dawn was breaking.

After giving instructions to Jingni and Liwu, Cao Ze went to Feixue Pavilion before leaving the city.

Consort Ya crossed her arms, while Li Ji stood gracefully beside her.

"The Snow Woman doesn't want to see you right now."

Upon hearing this, Cao Ze smiled helplessly and said, "Thank you, Your Highness Ya Fei."

Ya Fei smiled faintly and said, "You should indeed thank me. If it weren't for my mediation, Xue Nu would have left you long ago and wouldn't have listened to your words."

"Take care of yourself."

After saying that, Ya Fei turned and entered Fei Xue Pavilion, leaving Cao Ze with a fragrant back view.

"Liji, please see him off for me and Xue'er."

It was obvious that Ya Fei was not as relaxed and indifferent as she appeared.

Xue'er was, after all, her closest person. Cao Ze had caused Xue Nu to be heartbroken, so of course she wouldn't give Cao Ze a kind look, even though she had once been attracted to him.

Li Ji felt a little embarrassed when Cao Ze looked at her.

She didn't really care, and was even a little secretly pleased. Last night, when she was going to sleep, she had some wild thoughts about whether she could take the initiative to fight for Xue Nu and Cao Ze if they were separated.

Although Sister Yafei mentioned to her intentionally or unintentionally that she could be a sister of the Snow Maiden as part of her dowry, nothing beats the happiness of marrying alone.

Li Ji and Cao Ze walked on the streets of Handan in the early morning, and she kept her head down the whole time.

Cao Ze wanted to subtly inquire about the Snow Woman's situation from Li Ji, but after thinking about it, he couldn't bring himself to say anything.

One fish has already been injured, so the other one needs to be taken good care of.

"Do you still have the inkstone I gave you?"

"Ah."

Li Ji said in a soft, gentle voice.

Cao Ze said, "Put it away safely. If anything goes wrong, don't hesitate to go to the Mo family's stronghold, Zuixianlou."

He knew very well that Zhao Jia was no match for Guo Kai.

Because Zhao Jia only possessed virtue, and was no more cunning than Guo Kai.

Regardless of the outcome of the Battle of Yaoshan.

The history of the next two thousand years clearly tells the world that only in the center of power can one have the opportunity to seize power.

Li Ji raised her head slightly, her clear eyes filled with worry, "Is something going to happen?"

Cao Ze paused not far from the city gate. "It's just a precaution."

Li Ji nodded slightly. Seeing that Cao Ze was about to leave, she suddenly stepped forward and blocked his way.

Ignoring Cao Ze's astonished expression, she hugged Cao Ze's waist and kissed him.

It was just a fleeting moment, a brief touch followed by separation.

Li Ji smiled brightly and said, "Sister Ya Fei wants me to marry you as Xue Nu's sister, so you can't not come back."

Cao Ze savored the lingering sweetness on Li Ji's lips and smiled, "I will definitely come back."

After saying that, Cao Ze's heart skipped a beat as he realized what he had just said. It felt like he was planting a flag.

Li Ji gently pinched the hem of her skirt, looked down, and watched as one toe swayed back and forth on the ground.

Cao Ze glanced unintentionally behind Li Ji and said, "I'm leaving."

"……Um."

Li Ji raised her head and watched Cao Ze's back until he left the city gate, then reluctantly turned her gaze away.

After she turned around and walked more than ten steps, she finally saw Ya Fei standing by the street.

"Sister Yafei..."

Li Ji looked away guiltily, not daring to meet Ya Fei's eyes.

Ya Fei chuckled lightly, "I didn't realize you were so bold."

Li Ji immediately realized that Ya Fei had witnessed her kissing Cao Ze.

"No way..."

Realizing what was happening, Li Ji couldn't help but ask, "Why isn't Sister Ya Fei showing up?"

Ya Fei said casually, "Xue'er is sulking, so I came out for some fresh air and just happened to walk by here."

"real?"

Li Ji's large eyes revealed a deep distrust.

She suddenly said, "Does Sister Yafei also like...?"

Before Li Ji could finish speaking, Ya Fei gave her a sharp rap on the head.

"Nonsense!"

Li Ji stuck out her little tongue, feeling excited about discovering Ya Fei's little secret, without feeling jealous or worried at all.

She simply couldn't believe that Sister Yafei had this side to her.

Seeing that Li Ji seemed to have discovered something, Ya Fei warned, "Don't talk nonsense."

"Oh……"

Li Ji stood obediently beside Ya Fei, like the most well-behaved student.

Ya Fei sighed softly, rubbing her forehead. She was increasingly confused about what she was thinking.

Why did Xue'er feel a little tempted, even hopeful, when she was struggling with whether or not to give up on this relationship?

……

Chapter 222 Auspicious Sign

Cao Ze rode his famous steed out of the city gate, crunching through the snow.

He glanced back at the words "Handan" above the city gate and sighed, realizing it was finally time to leave.

As the most powerful capital city among the seven kingdoms, it was so powerful that even Ying Zheng would have to be slapped twice before he could leave.

He was able to leave unscathed; besides being awesome, he couldn't think of another word to describe it.

Guo Kai, riding a tall horse, said meaningfully, "Mr. Cao Ze, it's time to go."

Cao Ze looked at Guo Kai and smiled, "Yes, it's time to go."

According to Zhao Yan's intention, Guo Kai was the prime minister and military supervisor, while he was the strategist, or what later generations often referred to as the chief of staff.

He prefers the title of "dog-headed strategist".

I never expected that after finishing my career as a strategist on the Green Green Grassland, I'd be back again.

However, he never intended to offer advice or strategies to the State of Zhao.

If he hadn't wanted to take the opportunity to get rid of Yan Ri and gain some peace in South Korea, he would have made sure to run away halfway through.

Guo Kai smiled faintly, tucked the horse under his arm, and trotted forward.

Three guards followed behind, all of them second-rate experts.

It cost him a lot of connections and money.

With the addition of his own hidden agents within the army, even if Pang Nuan were to make a move against him, he could guarantee his safe return from Yaoshan.

Yaoshan is located in the central part of the Zhao state, which happens to divide the upper part of Dai, Yanmen and Yunzhong and the lower part of Handan and other places.

Once this place is captured by the Qin army, the Zhao state will be like a tiger with its spine broken.

Even if it can still bar its teeth, it is nothing more than a corpse with little time left.

Just like shortly after the alliance of the five states, in the year that Ying Zheng came of age and assumed personal rule.

Under the pretext of retaliating against the five states, the Qin state dispatched Yang Duanhe to use Dongjun as a springboard to successively conquer Yuan, Pu and other cities in eastern Wei.

They then continued eastward, capturing Ren, Pingqiu, Xiaohuang, Jiyang, and Zhencheng, before advancing to Pushui, thus expanding the territory of Dongjun.

Thus, "the waist of Qi and Zhao was severed, the spine of Chu and Wei was broken, and the world was united in five or six ways but dared not come to their aid."

This prevented the six states of Shandong from launching another coalition against Qin, forcing them to remain isolated and fight their own battles.

This is why Ying Zheng, Lü Buwei, and others believed that the opportunity to unify the seven kingdoms was imminent and just around the corner.

Three days passed, and tens of thousands of soldiers had marched no more than a hundred li.

It is still nearly a thousand miles away from Yaoshan.

Cao Ze was alone in his tent at night, reading through the books.

He knew why Guo Kai had deliberately slowed down the march.

He was afraid that if he went too early, Pang Nuan would be able to easily deal with the Qin army and have the energy to deal with him.

But it can't be delayed for too long, so we can only drag it out and use various excuses to postpone the time.

Suddenly, the lamplight on the desk flickered and swayed a few times.

A beautiful figure wearing a silver metal mask and fish-scale soft armor appeared before Cao Ze.

Cao Ze put down the book, stood up, and hugged Jing Ni.

"how's it going?"

Jingni knelt down beside Cao Ze at the desk and whispered, "Guo Kai has three second-rate experts by his side."

Cao Ze was not surprised that Guo Kai had a master with him, otherwise Guo Kai would have been killed countless times already.

"Ah."