Teasing the First Dragon at the Start

A small boat slowly approached, and in Taihu Villa, a young girl with a long sword hanging at her waist stood at the ferry to greet them. She was dressed in red and looked heroic.

She was Xiang Liang's niece, Xiang Zhuang.

Are you His Highness Xiong Xin's guests?

"Indeed, I am Wei Bao, a descendant of the former King of Wei, and I have come here at the invitation of His Highness Xiong Xin."

A woman dressed in a light blue dress came out of the cabin, took out a jade pendant from her sleeve, and tossed it over.

"So it's His Highness from Wei..."

After inspecting the jade pendant and finding no problems, Xiang Zhuang politely bowed, then glanced curiously at the pale-faced woman in white slumped over the edge of the cabin: "And who is this...?"

"Oh, her name is Han Wangxin, a descendant of the former King of Han. She usually travels by water, and she's been a bit seasick on this journey..."

"What, her name is Han Xin?"

A look of surprise appeared in Xiang Zhuang's almond-shaped eyes.

Wei Bao looked surprised and asked with some doubt, "What, is it strange?"

Xiang Zhuang shook his head slightly, smiled and said, "It's nothing. It's just that my cousin Xiang Yu saw a butcher bullying a thin girl on the street a couple of days ago, making her crawl between his legs."

"My cousin couldn't stand it, so she stepped in to teach the butcher a lesson and brought the girl back as her follower."

"The girl's name happens to be Han Xin, exactly the same as Your Highness's name."

Wei Bao and Han Wangxin, who was covering his mouth and feeling seasick, exchanged a glance and couldn't help but laugh, "I never thought there would be such a coincidence in the world."

Xiang Zhuang smiled and didn't offer any further explanation: "Please follow me, everyone. His Highness Xiong Xin and his aunt have been waiting for you for quite some time."

"Then I'll trouble you to lead the way."

Wei Bao and Han Wangxin stepped ashore and followed behind Xiang Zhuang, walking along the mountain path towards the manor.

......

......

Inside the hall.

A petite girl, less than 1.4 meters tall, was sitting in the main seat. She was resting her chin on her hands, her dark and bright eyes looking at the scenery outside the window, her two short legs, clad in boots, dangling in the air and swinging back and forth.

She pouted and muttered under her breath, "Being a king is so boring. It was much more fun herding sheep back then."

She blinked, slightly lost in thought.

He clearly had little interest in restoring his country and only wanted a simple life.

But whether it was Green Pearl or Xiang Liang, they both kept talking about how a king should behave, which made her feel very tired.

"Your Majesty, as the grandson of King Huai of Chu, you bear the heavy responsibility of restoring the state of Chu. How can you utter such words? Have you forgotten the responsibility that even if Chu has only three households left, it will surely destroy Xia? Have you forgotten the tragedy of rivers of blood when the capital of Chu was captured by the Xia army...?"

As Mi Xiongxin's personal maid, Lü Zhu frowned deeply when she saw her king say such childish things, and couldn't help but scold him.

Mi Xiong pouted, feeling wronged, and whispered, "I was wrong, I won't talk nonsense again, please don't be angry."

"you……"

Green Pearl gritted her teeth, a look of disappointment and frustration appearing on her beautiful, cold face.

"Haha, Green Pearl, you don't need to be angry. The King is very intelligent, but he is still young. After a few years of experience, he will become more sensible..."

The speaker was a beautiful young woman dressed in a red dress.

She sat gracefully to the side, holding a cup of hot tea, a gentle smile on her face.

He is the owner of this Taihu Mountain Villa and also Mi Xiongxin's right-hand man.

Just as everyone was talking, Xiang Zhuang pushed open the door and walked in: "Aunt, Your Majesty, Wei Bao, King Han Xin has arrived, he is just outside the gate."

"Quickly, go and invite our distinguished guest in..."

Xiang Zhuang bowed and withdrew.

A moment later, two women, one dressed in blue and the other in white, stepped through the door and entered.

"I've met you, Mr. Xiang Liang, and His Highness Xiong Xin..."

The two bowed with their hands clasped in greeting.

Mi Xiongxin shifted her little bottom on the stool, adjusted to a dignified sitting posture, and waved her little hand lightly, saying, "No need for formalities, please sit down."

The maid at the door quickly came in and poured tea and water for the two of them.

Wei Bao lifted her skirt, sat down in her seat, glanced at the hall with some curiosity, and asked, "Is General Xiang not here? I have heard that when General Xiang was young, he could lift a thousand-pound cauldron with one hand and had the courage of ten thousand men. I wanted to go up and get to know him today, but it seems that he is not here."

Xiang Liang smiled and said, "Yu'er isn't very interested in the alliance. She's currently at the horse market choosing a fine steed. If Your Highness wishes to meet her, I can introduce you two when the opportunity arises."

"That would be wonderful."

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, Wei Bao asked, "I wonder what brings Mr. Xiang Liang here today?"

After pondering for a moment, Xiang Liang said, "Naturally, we should form an alliance to overthrow the Great Xia and restore the Six Kingdoms..."

As soon as she finished speaking, the entire hall fell into a deathly silence.

Wei Bao and Han Wangxin exchanged a glance, and a strange look immediately appeared on their faces.

A hint of doubt flashed in Xiang Liang's clear, autumn-water-like eyes, and he couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong with you two? Don't you want to form an alliance?"

Wei Bao gave a wry smile and said, "It's not that we are unwilling to form an alliance, but this First Emperor is really difficult to deal with. Or rather, it's more accurate to say that he is her right-hand man, who is too troublesome to deal with."

"What do you mean by that?" Xiang Liang asked, somewhat puzzled.

"To be honest, sir, the military strength of Xianyang is growing stronger day by day, and it is invincible in the front. The only way to shake its foundation is to rely on favorable timing and location."

"Just a few months ago, a smallpox outbreak suddenly occurred in Handi, causing widespread panic. We originally planned to take advantage of this opportunity to stockpile food and medicine and create panic."

"Secretly supporting charlatans to gather followers, everything was progressing smoothly. In just a few more months, it would be possible to plunge the entire north into chaos and gather hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of people."

"However, the First Emperor sent the Grand Minister of Works to deal with smallpox. In just a few months, smallpox was eradicated, prices were stabilized, and our cronies, as well as local merchants, gentry, and charlatans, were all arrested."

"They were either forced to repair the official roads or exiled to the desolate wilderness."

"Even natural disasters can't do anything to the First Emperor. With so few people at our disposal, how can we possibly challenge him?"

The two of them smiled bitterly as they recalled this painful memory.

Xiang Liang's lips curled into a slight smile as he said, "You two need not be discouraged. As the saying goes, every cloud has a silver lining. It is precisely because the First Emperor has been pressing us step by step that we have been given a good opportunity to launch a counterattack from a desperate situation."

The two were taken aback and exchanged a glance.

Wei Bao couldn't help but ask, "What do you mean, sir..."

Xiang Liang took a sip of tea and said with a smile, "That Grand Chancellor of Xianyang is indeed a talented person. He used severe measures in chaotic times and brought the chaotic situation under control in a short period of time, but there is a price to pay for doing so."

"The powerful and wealthy people of the land, seeing that as the official roads of Xianyang were opened up everywhere, the laws of the court became more and more stringent, and anyone who dared to disobey would be arrested by the soldiers like a pig and beheaded as a warning, were all filled with fear."

"They have all secretly befriended us. As long as we can guarantee their current interests, they will fully support us from the rear when we rise up, to help us overthrow the Great Xia and restore the era of feudalism of the six kingdoms."

"Right now, with their support, we have obtained sufficient money and provisions, and... many years ago, our prince, under the guise of trading sugar cane, recruited martial arts practitioners everywhere, captured a large number of natives in the southern Yue region, cultivated sugarcane, smelted ironware, and forged weapons."

"They have now amassed a considerable force, enough to rival Xianyang for a time..."

Wei Bao's eyes lit up immediately after hearing Xiang Liang's words.

She never imagined that Xiang Liang had actually established a small kingdom outside the Central Plains, quietly gathering a considerable force.

They even had specialized weapons and food supplies. With such a stable rear, they were more confident in launching the uprising.

But after a moment of joy, her face quickly fell, and she said with a wry smile, "Mr. Xiang Liang, it is indeed beyond our expectations that you have a prefecture as your base, but if you want to fight against Xianyang with such a small amount of wealth, I'm afraid your chances of winning are slim."

After all, the reason they are safe and sound is because they are small-scale operations, hiding in various corners of the Central Plains, making it impossible for the First Emperor to find any clues.

But once they concentrate all their troops and connections, everything will be exposed at once.

Facing the First Emperor, who commanded a million-strong army, head-on seemed like a poor chance of victory.

Xiang Liang smiled and said, "There is no need for you to worry. Although the First Emperor's million-strong army seems impressive, the number of troops he can mobilize is limited. Meng Tian, ​​the Protector-General of Beiting, leads 300,000 troops, and the Great Wall Army is stationed outside the Great Wall and cannot be mobilized."

"Zhao Tuo's 500,000-strong army, which was stationed in the Baiyue region, could not be withdrawn. The vast territory of Liaodong, the Western Regions, and the Central Plains had already dispersed the First Emperor's million-strong army to various places."

"Xianyang can mobilize no more than 300,000 troops, which may not be a disadvantage for us."

"And we're not the only ones who want to overthrow Xianyang."

Wei Bao and Han Wang Xin were both stunned.

The two exchanged a glance and couldn't help but ask, "What do you mean, sir?"

Xiang Liang narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "Besides us, there's also Modu Chanyu of the Xiongnu in the northern desert, and the Donghu in Liaodong..."

"After Bai Su established the Protectorate of the Western Regions, he put on a military parade, which on the surface did intimidate a number of small countries in the Western Regions, but it made the Donghu in Liaodong and the Xiongnu in the northern desert even more afraid of Xianyang."

"When fear reaches a certain point, it becomes anger..."

"Think about it, the former overlord of the grasslands is now struggling to survive in the barren northern grasslands. Facing the protection of the Beiting Protectorate, after the snow disaster in winter, they have no way to go south to plunder and replenish their supplies. They can only grit their teeth and bear huge losses."

"Moreover, because the trade routes were completely controlled by Xianyang, if they wanted to buy salt, cloth, porcelain, tea and other daily necessities, they needed to sell a large number of cattle, sheep and horses to the Central Plains."

"She could only watch helplessly as the Beiting Protectorate next door grew stronger and stronger, and its cavalry increased. Naturally, she was filled with fear, worried that one day the Beiting Protectorate would launch a northern expedition and bring the entire grassland into its territory."

"So if the Central Plains are in chaos, they will definitely fight desperately to attack the Beiting Protectorate, wanting to reclaim this fertile southern grassland and make the declining Xiongnu tribes great again."

"Therefore, as long as something happens in the Central Plains, they will definitely unite and head south together to entangle Meng Tian on the grasslands. At that time, let alone returning to reinforce Xianyang, they will be lucky if they themselves don't get into trouble."

"If the plan goes smoothly, under the circumstances of internal and external troubles, the Great Xia will fall apart like the Great Zhou in the past, and the power of the world will return to the hands of our six countries."

The group exchanged glances, all quite intrigued by Xiang Liang's plan.

After all, there was a successful example before.

King You of Zhou wanted to depose the eldest son and establish a younger one as queen, so that Bao Si could become the queen. Then the crown prince's family would see that their years of support would be wasted and their status would be in danger of declining.

So he made a tough decision, joined forces with the Quanrong to let the foreign tribes into the pass, captured Haojing, killed King You of Zhou, and the Western Zhou Dynasty perished.

Afterwards, the queen's family supported the son of King You of Zhou to move east and establish the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.

Then, the queen's family went from being a mere feudal lord to holding power over the world for more than a hundred years, becoming incredibly powerful.

If they could make good use of the opportunity presented by the life-or-death struggle between the Xiongnu, Donghu, and Xianyang, and use them as pawns, they might be able to overthrow the First Emperor of Xianyang, restore the six kingdoms, and regain the throne.

The thought of hope for the restoration of their kingdom brought a look of surprise and delight to both Wei Bao and King Han Xin.

The two women cupped their hands and said, "Very well, then we are willing to form an alliance, honoring His Highness Xiong Xin as our leader, and together raise the banner of righteousness to overthrow the tyrannical Xia dynasty."