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

Ji Wuye peered into the Purple Orchid Pavilion from outside, observing every move inside.

Which prince of Qin is this? Apart from Cheng Jiao, how come he has never heard of such a powerful prince?

Li Si stood respectfully beside Ying Zheng and said, "Young Master Shang, the troops in Xinzheng are in disarray. Why don't you come with me to the Qin State post station for temporary lodging?"

Ying Zheng did not answer Li Si. He glanced at the mess in Zilan Pavilion and said, "This matter was caused by me. Gai Nie, take out the gold notes and make up for Zi Nu's losses."

Cao Ze brought Jing Ni to Ying Zheng and said, "Young Master Shang, this is Jing Ni."

Ying Zheng said with emotion, "Grandmasters are rare. Miss Jing Ni is a Grandmaster of swordsmanship at such a young age. Her future is promising. The Luo Wang is becoming more and more useless."

Wei Zhuang sneered, "If a murder weapon is stained with blood for too long and is not polished, it will eventually rust and become unusable, and will instead harm the weapon itself."

"Don't you know that a rusty knife can be enchanted with tetanus?" Cao Ze muttered to himself. "The king of showing off is the king of showing off. Putting aside his strength, just in terms of showing off skills, if we were to rank them in Qin Shi, he would have to vote for Wei Zhuang."

……

Night falls and all is quiet.

People in Xinzheng City are filled with anxiety.

Cao Ze accepted Ying Zheng's invitation and stayed at Li Si's Qin State post station.

A cool breeze was blowing late at night.

Li Si stood outside rubbing his hands, wanting to go inside and meet Ying Zheng, but when he thought of his own identity, he could only give up helplessly.

Inside the room, Gai Nie stood to one side, holding his sword.

Ying Zheng showed no signs of fatigue and talked with Cao Ze by candlelight all night.

"Now that Lü Buwei intends to harm me, what do you think I should do?"

Cao Ze replied without hesitation, "Wait for the right opportunity."

The King of Qin has not yet come of age and is ruling in his own right. Lü Buwei's power in Qin is deeply entrenched. If he is not careful, the entire Qin state will be affected and plunged into a vortex of power struggles, wasting national resources and even leading to the decline of Qin.

Furthermore, he knew that Comrade Lao Ai was providing divine assistance, and if the timing was right, it would be enough to send Comrade Lao Lü to his eternal bliss.

All he needed to do was find Lao Ai, constantly praise him to the point of ruin, and make things really big.

"Wait for the right opportunity?" Ying Zheng shook his head slightly: "Eight years have passed. Since I ascended the throne, I have been a king in name only for eight years."

Cao Ze laughed and said, "I only said to wait for the right opportunity to deal with Lü Buwei, I didn't say that Your Majesty should do nothing."

Ying Zheng smiled and said, "I am waiting for you to point me in the right direction."

"Is it a matter of divine guidance...?" Cao Ze slowly uttered two words, "The army."

"As long as we have troops, we will be invincible. Once the time is right and we are confident that we can eliminate Lü Buwei's influence, we can get rid of him directly."

Ying Zheng said, "I think so too. But there are so many things to do, I don't know where to start. The Meng and Wang families are both powerful clans in the military. I rarely have the opportunity to contact them, let alone understand them, let alone win them over and gain their trust."

"On the contrary, because Lü Buwei is in charge of all national affairs, he has been in frequent contact with the Meng and Wang families, which makes me very worried."

The Qin army had many powerful forces, with the Meng and Wang families being the most prominent. Their influence in the army had been unmatched since the death of Lord Wu'an.

For this reason, the position of Grand General of Qin was previously contested between Meng Ao and Wang Jian.

Because Wang Jian was still young and his seniority and achievements were a grade lower than Meng Ao's, he missed the opportunity to become the Grand General.

However, due to the Tunliu rebellion that occurred during the Battle of Yaoshan last year, and the lack of reinforcements, Meng Ao had no choice but to personally go to the battlefield to fight. He was shot in the shoulder by a stray arrow, and unfortunately, the wound became ulcerated. In addition, he was old and died.

This leaves the position of Grand General vacant again, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, it will likely fall into the hands of Wang Jian.

Cao Ze smiled and said, "Why should Your Majesty worry? Let's leave the Wang family aside for now. The Meng family is considered a powerful clan, all of which originated from Meng Ao. Now that General Meng Ao has passed away and the Meng family is not thriving, General Meng Wu, who will succeed him as the head of the family, will surely see the future of the Meng family. Therefore, I suggest that Your Majesty start with the Meng family and secretly win them over."

Ying Zheng nodded repeatedly, "May I ask, sir, how should I win them over?"

Cao Ze continued, "I once fought against Meng Tian, ​​the grandson of Meng Ao, in the Battle of Puyang. Meng Tian was an outspoken man, but he was also intelligent and brave. What was most remarkable was that he was an upright man."

Ying Zheng asked with some surprise, "Sir, you have even fought against Meng Tian?"

“That’s right,” Cao Ze said. “When I entered Han, I happened to hear that Meng Tian was now in the Pingyang Heavy Armor Army, but I don’t know if it’s true or not.”

Ying Zheng smiled faintly and said, "If I remember correctly, General Wang Yi is leading the Pingyang Heavy Armor Army from Taiyuan and is now stationed at Wusui on the border between Qin and Han."

"Whether it's true or false, we'll know once we take a look."

Cao Ze felt a little relieved.

According to the original story, Wang Yi would betray Ying Zheng and assassinate him.

This is a crisis, but also an opportunity.

As one of the four elite forces of the Qin state, the Pingyang Heavy Armored Army would be of great use in suppressing Lao Ai's rebellion and eliminating Lü Buwei in the future if it could be controlled.

He could also take this opportunity to befriend Meng Tian, ​​thus stabilizing his future path to becoming Prime Minister Cao.

In the imperial court, only by making more friends and fewer enemies can one go further.

Outside the inn, Zhao Cheng was reprimanding the Six Sword Slaves with a stern face.

They were so close; the Zhao family would have become a casualty of the power struggle between Lü Buwei and the King of Qin.

How to keep him from being terrified.

Although they escaped danger, they had completely offended Lü Buwei's faction, and now it seemed that the Zhao family had no choice but to follow the King of Qin.

Thinking of this, Zhao Cheng sighed.

Choosing sides so early may lead to great success, but failure will inevitably result in being uprooted.

The six sword slaves only realized what they had done at this moment, but they remained silent because they had no choice as tools and weapons.

The leader of the Six Sword Slaves, Zhen Gang, asked, "Lord Zhao Cheng, do we need to return to Xianyang to report?"

Zhao Cheng spat. These idiots, no wonder they can only be sword slaves.

"Report back? Report back to whose mission? Protecting the King of Qin is the most important thing! Do you understand!"

"clear."

In a side room of the Qin State Inn, Tianze and the Hundred Poison King Corpse-Driving Demon were huddled together in a small hut.

The peerless ghost outside the door used the sky as a blanket and the ground as a bed, and immediately fell asleep.

The Corpse-Driving Demon asked weakly, "Master, do we really want to go to Qin with Cao Ze?"

The old face of the Hundred Poison King twitched slightly. He looked at Tianze with his cloudy old eyes and said, "Master, Cao Ze cannot be trusted."

Tianze's face was ashen. "King of Poisons, have you found the entrance to the Baiyue Treasure at Xuan Nu Peak?"

"I and the zombies led by the Corpse-Driving Demon searched almost the entire Xuan Nu Peak, but we found nothing special," said the Hundred Poison King. "Master, perhaps the Baiyue treasure is not on Xuan Nu Peak."

Tianze categorically denied it, saying, "Impossible! It must be on Xuan Nu Peak. There must be something crucial missing!"

The Corpse-Driving Demon hesitated, "Master, what about the Qin Kingdom..."

Tianze took a deep breath. He really wanted to rush in and force Cao Ze to give him the antidote.

But the thought of the Six Sword Slaves outside the door and Gai Nie upstairs made it hard for him to breathe.

Even if he hadn't been poisoned, he seemed to have no other choice.

"Let's go to Qin first."

Tianze said somewhat dejectedly.

Inside the palace of the King of Han, Han Fei, Wei Zhuang, and Zhang Liang gathered in a secret room.

Zi Nu was unable to come here because she had to deal with the aftermath and the trivial matters of Zi Lan Xuan.

After a long silence, Han Fei said, "Don't keep it to yourself, just say what's on your mind."

Zhang Liang couldn't help but ask, "Brother, is Mr. Cao Ze really going to Qin to lecture? What is he thinking? Is there some misunderstanding?"

"A misunderstanding?" Wei Zhuang couldn't suppress his frustration at the thought of his senior brother choosing the Qin state.

"Speculators, profit-seekers, greedy and lustful, adept at playing both sides. How could there be any misunderstanding that such people would choose to enter Qin?!"

Zhang Liang chuckled awkwardly; it was clear that Wei Zhuang harbored considerable resentment.

Han Fei coughed lightly, thought for a moment, and said, "Perhaps things are not as we think. Maybe Brother Cao has some unspeakable difficulties."

Zhang Liang said, "Brother said that Mr. Cao Ze agreed to come to Qin to teach. In this light, what you said is not impossible."

Wei Zhuang crossed his arms and gave a cold snort.

"Innocent!"

Han Fei smiled wryly and said, "There's no point in thinking about it. Let's not mention him."

He paused for a moment and then said, "After the King of Qin leaves Han safely, I plan to send Honglian to Wei to meet with my maternal grandmother, Empress Dowager Leling, and persuade her to join Lord Xinling and Lord Longyang in lobbying the King of Wei to complete the final step in forming a four-state alliance next year. Zifang, would you be willing to go with me?"

Zhang Liang cupped his hands in a respectful gesture and said, "I am willing to go."

"So best."

……

Chapter 359 Singing "Conquer" on Kneels

The morning light was bright, the sky was azure, and birds glided through the air.

The streets of Xinzheng were deserted, with only the occasional city guard passing by; there were hardly any other people around.

Cao Ze and Ying Zheng talked late into the night by candlelight, and only stopped at this point.

He walked out of the Qin State post station, not knowing where to go for a moment.

Jing Ni silently followed Cao Ze.

Cao Ze smiled at Jing Ni and asked, "How are you feeling now? Any more relaxed?"

Jingni shook her head slightly: "You should know better than me that the King of Qin is the King of Qin, and Lü Buwei is Lü Buwei. As long as the King of Qin does not rule personally, and as long as Lü Buwei remains the prime minister with great power, we are not safe."

Cao Ze chuckled and said, "Prime Minister? I can take his place. What do you think?"

Jingni nodded and said, "If you can do it, I believe you."

Cao Ze tilted his head and glanced at the four large characters "Qin State Inn".

According to him, Xinzheng is not a place to stay for long, and it is better to leave as soon as possible.

But Ying Zheng believed that with him and a group of experts protecting him, he had nothing to fear from Xuan Jian's assassination attempt and could rest easy...