Teasing the First Dragon at the Start

Despite the delicious food being offered to her, Bai Su showed no sign of opening the cave entrance, which was completely unexpected.

Bai Su smiled and said, "Most people in the world are short-sighted, only seeing the surface and not the essence. They only see what they want to see."

Yu Ji was taken aback for a moment, and couldn't help but ask, "Then, sir, could you tell me your story...?"

Bai Su asked, "You want to know my story?"

Yu Ji nodded slightly, her clear eyes fixed on Bai Su's back, and said, "I would like to know about what happened before you became the Grand Master of Ceremonies."

"Well, that's a long story. I remember when I was captured by the Xia army and imprisoned, I was sent to the frontier to build the Great Wall..."

Bai Su held her head in her hands, leaned against the soft couch, glanced at the night outside the window, and began to recount some events from back then.

The moon hangs high in the sky, and the Milky Way shines brightly.

The young man's magnetic voice echoed in the room, vividly conjuring up a scene in one's mind.

The beautiful woman knelt on the bed, one hand covering her chest, her beautiful eyes staring intently at the young man's voice, lost in thought for a long time.

Having always stayed in the mansion and never encountered so many bizarre and wonderful things, the beauty gradually became immersed in the young man's story.

Time seemed to stand still at that moment.

Chapter 315 Yu Ji with Complicated Thoughts

Yu Ji's face showed a hint of surprise, she never expected that Bai Su would have such an experience.

He worked on the Great Wall in the northern frontier, set up a stall on the streets of Handan, and rose from a commoner to be appreciated by the First Emperor, eventually ascending to the throne of Grand Minister and taking control of the government of the Great Xia Dynasty.

Even though she was born in Jiangdong, as a Chu person, she had no good feelings towards the Great Xia.

However, one cannot help but admire Bai Su's talent.

After all, among all the philosophers and outstanding figures of the Six Kingdoms, very few could achieve such great feats at such a young age as Bai Su.

Her feelings were mixed for a moment.

She was from Chu, while Bai Su was from Xia; the two had a deep-seated hatred and enmity between their countries and families.

She then resolved to assassinate Bai Su, helping Xiang Yu resolve his immediate crisis and become the greatest general in the land.

The two sides are mortal enemies.

But after spending some time with the man in front of her and hearing some of his backstory, she suddenly felt that this legendary Grand Chancellor wasn't as bad as the Chu envoy had described.

She felt a pang of reluctance to assassinate a man of exceptional talent, who was widely regarded as a sage.

After pondering for a long time, Yu Ji slowly raised her head and looked at Bai Su with her beautiful eyes: "My lord... what do you think of the Chu people?"

Bai Su turned around and looked at the curvaceous Yu Meiren on the bed, and couldn't help but laugh: "Chu women have such slender waists and fair skin, they're simply a honey pot, the more I look at them, the more I like them..."

The atmosphere between the two suddenly became somewhat ambiguous.

Yu Ji gently bit her lip, and a blush rose on her fair face, like a layer of light rouge on a fine porcelain vase, making her look exceptionally beautiful.

Although she had long been prepared to sacrifice herself, Bai Su's sudden driving still caught her somewhat off guard.

She was a little embarrassed and annoyed, and glared at Bai Su coquettishly: "That's not what I wanted to ask you, sir. What I wanted to ask is, after you quell the rebellion, how will you treat the Chu people?"

This was also a long-standing worry in Yu Ji's heart.

The national and personal feuds between Xia and Chu were simply too numerous to mention.

From Zhang Yi deceiving the King of Chu by using the pretense of a six-mile distance to trick him into believing he had a six-hundred-mile distance, to tricking the King of Chu into coming to Xianyang under the pretext of signing an alliance, and then directly kidnapping and imprisoning him, and extorting land from the State of Chu.

Then came Bai Qi, the God of Slaughter, who conquered the capital of Chu and burned down the tomb of the Chu king Liedai.

In the end, Wang Jian led an army of 600,000 to wipe out the entire Chu Kingdom. The commander-in-chief committed suicide, the land was shattered, the territory was lost, and even the Chu script was destroyed by the First Emperor.

The last shred of dignity of the Chu people was trampled into dust.

Yu Ji was very worried. She wanted to ask Bai Su if, after quelling the rebellion, he would use cruel methods such as massacring entire cities to deal with the Chu people.

Bai Su glanced at her with amusement: "What are you thinking? What's the most valuable thing in the world right now? Cattle and sheep? Grain? No, people are the most valuable thing right now. My Central Plains has a vast territory, extending north to the grasslands, south to the Baiyue region, west to the Western Regions, and east to Liaodong."

"With such a vast territory, how many canals need to be dug, how much land needs to be reclaimed, and how many expansive frontiers need to be guarded."

"I'm busy encouraging people to have three children, so why would I do something like massacring a city, something that would incur the wrath of heaven and the resentment of the people?"

Yu Ji was taken aback. She couldn't help but ask, "Didn't the First Emperor sweep across the six kingdoms just to destroy them, take over all the land in Xianyang, and kill anyone who dared to disobey?"

Bai Su gave her a strange look: "Is this how you view His Majesty?"

Faced with Bai Su's look as if she were a fool, Yu Ji was somewhat unconvinced and couldn't help but ask, "Isn't that right?"

"Of course not. If you describe Her Majesty as a tyrant, you are greatly underestimating her magnanimity."

Bai Su thought for a moment, recalling the dignified and elegant empress in Xianyang Palace, and couldn't help but smile: "Let me ask you a question. Since the Zhou emperor enfeoffed the world, the Central Plains has been home to more than two hundred vassal states. There are many conflicts between these states, and wars often break out."

"As the various countries annexed each other and their strength increased, the war became increasingly brutal, with countless beheadings and massacres."

"Let me ask you, in a situation where the conflicts between nations cannot be resolved, how can this war that has lasted for hundreds of years be quelled?"

Yu Ji gently bit her red lips with her pearly teeth. As a young lady from a noble family, she had been well-versed in the books of various schools of thought since childhood and had some understanding of these matters. Naturally, she was not as ignorant as an ordinary woman.

After a moment of contemplation, she spoke: "Duke Huan of Qi, the hegemon of the Spring and Autumn Period, once proposed to respect the king and expel the barbarians. He raised the banner of supporting the Zhou emperor and used the rites and laws of the Central Plains as his banner. For countries that did not respect the king's rites, he ordered all the states to send troops to make them follow the rites and laws of the Central Plains and their attire, so as to stabilize the world."

Bai Su shook his head: "Respecting the king and repelling the barbarians is ultimately just a temporary way to dominate. It is nothing more than relying on the power of a country to suppress others as the leader of an alliance. It is not a long-term solution. Once there is not enough strength to assume the role of the leader of the alliance, the world will inevitably descend into chaos sooner or later."

After reflecting on the turbulent situation that followed the decline of the Qi state, Yu Ji couldn't help but agree with Bai Su's statement.

She spoke again: "What about King Zhuang of Chu, one of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period? He proposed that war should stop when it is necessary, and that war should not be waged when the enemy is in distress. It should be stopped when the time is right, and once the victory is achieved, the weapons should be put away and the people should be allowed to return to their peaceful lives, rather than placing excessive emphasis on military force."

"By separating the character for 'martial' (武), only 'stopping war' (止戈) means subduing the opponent without using force; that is true martial virtue."

Bai Su couldn't help but smile: "King Zhuang of Chu did not exploit the people's labor, and he was a benevolent ruler, which is certainly true. However, his ideals can only be based on the fact that his country's strength is far superior to that of the other side, or that the two sides are evenly matched and neither side can do anything to the other. In order to raise a banner of justice for the surrounding small countries, morality is useful at this time."

"It's no longer appropriate in this day and age."

"If the nation's strength is insufficient, then everything is just empty talk. Do you even know what crossbows are used for?"

Yu Ji, unaware of Bai Su's true intentions, subconsciously shook her head.

Bai Su said, "Crossbows are used to measure the area of ​​a country."

Yu Ji wanted to refute, but after thinking about it carefully, she realized that what Bai Su said made sense.

If you have tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of crossbow bolts, even if you don't use them, just showing them to others will deter anyone from invading your territory. But if you have no weapons, no matter how much you preach benevolence and morality, no one will dare to invade your territory.

Those barbarians from the Baiyue region probably won't listen to a word you say; instead, they'll send troops to plunder them.

After pondering for a long time, she finally asked, "Then, according to your words, how can the war be completely quelled?"

Bai Su smiled and said, "This is His Majesty's perspective on the problem. The hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period in the past all focused on the battlefield and tried their best to avoid unnecessary wars. Some tried to respect the king and expel the barbarians, while others tried to govern the country with virtue, but in the end, they all failed."

"Only Her Majesty has seen the root of the chaos in the Central Plains. Since the conflicts between the states have never been resolved, it would be better to eliminate them all at once. The enemy she wants to defeat is not the six states, but the feudal system that has lasted for thousands of years."

"What she wants to eliminate is the concept of the Six Kingdoms, not the people of the Six Kingdoms, nor the culture and knowledge accumulated by the Six Kingdoms over hundreds of years."

"The world only saw the First Emperor burning books and burying scholars alive, destroying countless books collected in the palaces of the six kingdoms, but few people know about the musical instruments of Chu, the metallurgy of Han, the agriculture of Song, and the medicine of Qi."

"All of them were neatly collected by Xianyang and placed in the library. They included books from various schools of thought and states, as well as books about peddlers, blacksmiths, and livestock breeders. There were a total of 367,322 volumes, and not a single volume was lost."

"What she wants is definitely not something like temporarily annexing territory or dominating the Central Plains. What she wants is for there to be no more two countries in the world, and for there to be no more distinction between the people of Chu and the people of Qi. There will only be the people of the Central Plains and China."

"She wanted to build a foundation for all ages, to be passed down to future generations, which is why she called herself the First Emperor, and then the Second Emperor, the Third Emperor, and so on, for ten thousand generations."

"As for why she exploits and exhausts the people, it's not because she's inherently cruel, but simply because she's too poor. She wants to do many things, but she can't find a penny in her pocket to improve the lives of the people. This generation has suffered for generations, so naturally they can't take it anymore."

"However, with my help in promoting trade and wealth, agriculture, sericulture, and animal husbandry, these drawbacks naturally disappeared over time. The advantages of a unified empire gradually became apparent, and there was no more war in the Central Plains, allowing the people to live in peace and prosperity..."

Listening to Bai Su's story, Yu Ji was speechless for a moment.

This wasn't the first time she'd heard of Bai Su's reputation, but all the rumors about her came from other people.

Some say he is a womanizer and a cunning sly man.

Some say he was incredibly wise and dedicated to the country and its people.

Some people say he is a scoundrel, a despicable and shameless person.

Too many rumors have complicated Bai Su's image.

Now, after hearing about Bai Su's life and learning from him the reasons behind these political decisions,

She suddenly realized that she had misunderstood this Grand Master. The man in front of her, who seemed carefree and easygoing, was actually far more outstanding than she had imagined.

In fact, she doesn't know if it's just her imagination, but she always feels that this man, whom she once hated so much, doesn't seem so hateful now.

"Pfft!"

A dull thud came from the table, startling Yu Ji.

She suddenly looked up and saw Bai Su lying on the table, seemingly asleep.

It's not surprising, though. She's been following Bai Su around these past few days, watching Bai Su patrol the city during the day to check on the progress of the city's construction, and studying the standoff between the two armies on the map at night.

She got a headache after just a couple of glances, let alone Bai Su who had been looking at it all day. It's perfectly normal that she fell asleep from exhaustion.

Yu Ji slowly walked behind Bai Su, looking at his back as he slept soundly without any defense. She gently bit her red lips with her pearly white teeth, and slowly stretched her jade-like hand toward Bai Su's unguarded neck.

Just as she was less than centimeters from Bai Su's neck, the unconscious Bai Su suddenly spoke up: "Miss Yu, I have some medicine in my suitcase. Take some back with you. That way, if you get injured again by accident, you can use this to heal faster."

Yu Ji was startled, thinking that Bai Su had woken up, but upon closer inspection, she found that Bai Su did not seem to get up. She was just muttering a few words, as if she was talking in her sleep.

She saw Bai Su still caring for her in her sleep, while she was attacking an unsuspecting adult. She felt a mix of emotions.

Seeing the herbal poultice Bai Su had applied to her shoulders made her feel even more distressed.

But Yu'er was still waiting for her, a promise they had made together since childhood, a promise made by hooking their fingers together.

Yu Ji lightly bit her red lips with her pearly teeth. After glancing at the table, she suddenly saw the city defense map lying to the side, and her heart began to pound wildly.

This not only depicts the Xia army's deployment of its three armies, but also marks the locations where supplies and provisions are stored.

If this blueprint is given to Xiang Yu, Yu'er can seize the opportunity to defeat the Xia army and become a great general and a hero of the Chu state.

"My lord, I'm sorry. You trusted me so much, but I have failed you. If there is an afterlife, I will serve you like a slave to repay your kindness. But right now, I... I must help Yu'er."

She hesitated for a moment, then slowly reached out and secretly hid the city's defense map in her sleeve.

As he reached the door, he paused, turned back to look at Bai Su, who was fast asleep on the table, and a complex look appeared in his eyes.

A moment later.

The full moon hangs high, its cool light spilling onto the long corridor.