If you die, I will be able to inherit your cultivation.

During the few days that Zhou Ming was studying magic behind closed doors, Su Mingyue, far away in Qingzhou, had already brought the entire Qingzhou under her control.

Su Mingyue set fire to Qingyun Pass, causing Yuwen Shuo and Zhao Chongyuan's 800,000-strong army to collapse in defeat.

After the two men fled under cover of night with their personal guards, Qingzhou became a no-man's land.

Su Mingyue led her army south, and the counties and prefectures along the way surrendered without resistance.

Those scattered garrison troops still stationed in various counties of Qingzhou opened the city gates immediately upon seeing the black banner of the Youzhou army.

Some didn't even see the flags clearly before opening the city gates.

Anyway, no matter who comes, we definitely won't fight. There are no dynasties that last for a thousand years, but there are aristocratic families that last for a thousand years.

Whoever rules this place cannot do without the joint rule of powerful families.

The routed loyalist army was scattered throughout Qingzhou.

Some even lost their weapons on the way back, and wandered around the countryside in twos and threes, roaming and looting grain.

Su Mingyue dispatched cavalry to gather the defeated soldiers throughout Qingzhou, raising the banner that "those who surrender will not be punished for their past actions, will be incorporated into the Youzhou army, and will be treated the same as the soldiers of the original unit."

When the defeated soldiers heard that surrendering would not only save them from execution but would also provide them with a full meal and military pay, they laid down their weapons and surrendered one after another.

In just a few days, Su Mingyue had gathered more than 100,000 defeated soldiers. Combined with her original 150,000 elite troops and more than 200,000 surrendered soldiers captured on the battlefield, her total strength was approaching 500,000.

Su Mingyue spread out a map in the Qingzhou command tent, dividing the nearly 500,000 troops into two routes.

The force numbered 200,000, with 50,000 elite troops from the north she brought as the core and 150,000 surrendered soldiers as support.

He entrusted the task to his general Niu Bocheng, who was tasked with seizing Anzhou while Zhao Chongyuan was fleeing to Yunzhou.

Anzhou was the former capital, and the political significance of recapturing Anzhou far outweighed its military significance.

After capturing Anzhou, Niu Bocheng will be able to join forces with Gao Pengda's troops, who had previously conquered Liangzhou, and together they will besiege Yunzhou.

Yunzhou is Zhao Chongyuan's stronghold, which he has been cultivating for many years. Taking it in one fell swoop is by no means easy, but besieging Yunzhou City with an army of 400,000 is enough to trap Zhao Chongyuan inside.

The other route was led by Su Mingyue herself, with 100,000 elite troops and less than 200,000 surrendered soldiers, plus Ren Yunjie's troops who had previously captured Luzhou, to launch a pincer attack on Yuwen Shuo's stronghold, Chongzhou.

Ren Yunjie, following her military orders, led 30,000 elite troops from Yinyun Valley across the river from Luzhou. While expanding their forces in Chongzhou, they also deployed defenses in the north to block Yuwen Shuo's escape route to the north.

Su Mingyue then headed east from Qingzhou, directly attacking the western part of Chongzhou.

The two armies, like a pair of pincers, slowly converged on Chongzhou from the northwest and west.

Chongzhou is bordered by Duanyun Ridge to the east and Cangzhou to the south. If Yuwen Shuo wanted to escape, he could only flee to Cangzhou.

Yuwen Shuo had been operating in Chongzhou for many years and had a deep foundation. In terms of strength, he was not much worse than Su Yongning, who controlled the northern border.

Chongzhou is located in the southeast, with a dense network of waterways, high walls, and ample food supplies. If it were to be attacked head-on, even if it were captured, it would come at an extremely heavy cost.

However, Yuwen Shuo was defeated because of the greater good of the nation.

While Su Mingyue was preparing her troops for the advance, she began to spread rumors throughout Chongzhou using her intelligence network.

They thoroughly investigated the old grievances of Yuwen Shuo and Zhao Chongyuan's joint murder of the Marquis of Yongning at Yelangpo in Anzhou.

"Yuwen Shuo and Zhao Chongyuan, under the guise of serving the emperor, actually plotted a rebellion. They secretly colluded with the Zhong Sheng Sect and buried alive the loyal Marquis of Yongning, Su Yongning, causing the downfall of the state."

The rumor was followed by a proclamation, its wording resounding: "Su Mingyue has come to quell the rebellion and execute the traitor Yuwen Shuo, in order to restore order to the court, by imperial decree of His Majesty the Yongchang Emperor of Great Xia. All men of noble character throughout the land should join forces to punish the traitor and restore peace to Great Xia."

This manifesto was copied tens of thousands of times and posted by scouts and intelligence agents hidden in various places on the city gates, notice boards in front of county offices, and pillars in markets and teahouses in various counties of Chongzhou.

Not all the local generals in Chongzhou were Yuwen Shuo's loyal followers.

Many people were shaken by his defeat on the Qingzhou battlefield and the sight of the proclamation.

While distributing the proclamation, Su Mingyue intensified the march. Before the army even reached the border of Chongzhou, three counties in the south of Chongzhou had secretly sent people to surrender under Nightingale's "incitement".

As a result, this completely cut off Yuwen Shuo's escape route to Cangzhou.

Yuwen Shuo could only hold out in the capital of Chongzhou. Although he still had more than 100,000 troops under his command, their morale had collapsed and the surrounding cities were turning against him one after another. He could only watch helplessly as Su Mingyue's encirclement tightened.

Su Mingyue received a letter from Zhou Ming delivered by a flying eagle from Yuyang County.

She sat in the commander's tent, unfolded the letter by the flickering candlelight on the table, and read it from beginning to end.

The letter described how he had placed Su Mubai and his close associates under house arrest in the Wenhua Hall.

How to manipulate Emperor Yongchang by pointing at a deer and calling it a horse in the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

How to make Su Mingli the prefect?

And how did they open the palace gates wide to collect gifts and amass wealth, hauling cartloads of gold, silver and jewels from the noble families of Yuyang County into the palace's storerooms?

Su Mingyue raised an eyebrow slightly as she looked at it.

She grew up with Zhou Ming since she was a child. When did that little follower, who had a pointed mouth and monkey cheeks, was as thin as a stick, and who was beaten black and blue by her but didn't dare to fight back, turn into this?

Su Mingyue put down the letter and leaned back in her chair in silence for a long while.

It's not that I'm unhappy, it's just that I find it a bit unbelievable.

While she was desperately expanding her power on the front lines, Zhou Ming, in order to consolidate his rear and raise military funds for her, was willing to ruin his own reputation.

Su Mingyue pinched the bridge of her nose, a complex mix of emotions flashing across her eyes.

He never expected Zhou Ming to act in such an unconventional way.

In order to stabilize Yuyang County and raise enough military funds for the front line, he did not hesitate to tarnish his own reputation, attract all the criticism from powerful families, and forcefully pinned the title of treacherous and powerful minister on himself.

While seemingly embezzling wealth and abusing power to create chaos, he was actually scheming step by step, stabilizing the court, controlling powerful families, and managing the rear perfectly.

The timid and thin little follower who used to follow behind has now become cunning, ruthless, and calculating, to the point that even he himself can hardly see through him.

Su Mingyue wanted to find a suitable phrase to evaluate Zhou Ming's actions during this period, but found that she did not seem to have any words for this purpose in her vocabulary.

In the end, she didn't say much, but simply picked up her pen and wrote a sentence on the back of the letter: "Find a way to promote the 'Scripture of Crossing the World' throughout the entire Youzhou region."

Yuyang County, Imperial Palace, Wuying Hall.

Zhou Ming continued to lock himself in the hall to study magic.

Having built a foundation through previous explorations, what he needs to do now is not to learn anything new.

Instead, they break down the spells they already know layer by layer until they are simplified, use the least amount of mana, and can be condensed as quickly as possible.

He knew that the fireball spell he used was forcibly created using the immense magical power of a Nascent Soul cultivator.

When others use fireball, it's like lighting a handful of dry grass with a single match.

His fireball spell involved pouring a bucket of oil on the target and then throwing a torch. While powerful, its precision and casting speed were far inferior to those of cultivators who could conjure fireballs at the Qi Refining stage.

Zhou Ming broke down the fireball technique into three steps: condensation, compression, and release.

Then, we figured out how to simplify each step, how to make the mana travel in the most efficient way, and how to cast a fireball spell without using our divine sense.

It should be noted that only Foundation Establishment stage cultivators can cultivate divine sense; Qi Refining stage cultivators cannot cultivate divine sense, but Qi Refining stage cultivators can unleash fireballs.