Teasing the First Dragon at the Start

"After resolving the situation in the northern desert, Bai Su immediately marched south. He thought that the Xia army was exhausted and Chen Sheng's troops were resting and recuperating, and that there would be a fierce battle between the two sides."

"But unexpectedly, in less than ten days, the rebellion in the entire Qi region was completely quelled. Chen Sheng and Wu Guang fled in defeat and were eventually killed by their groomsmen a few days ago."

Mi Xiongxin and Lü Zhu, who were standing beside him, frowned as they listened.

Who exactly is Bai Su, and why is he so fast?!

They had only recently stabilized Jiangdong in the rear, and also gave their allies a warning, confirming Chu's position as the leader of the alliance.

As soon as he turned around, he heard from Xiang Liang that Bai Su had already killed Chen Sheng.

Mi Xiongxin blinked her clear black and white eyes in disbelief. Pointing at the map, she said, "So, in other words, from August when we signed the alliance, in less than three or four months, Bai Su crossed the north and south and successively destroyed the Xiongnu, Donghu, and Chen Sheng's kingdoms?"

A solemn expression appeared on Xiang Liang's fair and beautiful face. He nodded amidst the surprised gazes of the two men: "That's right, exactly."

hiss!

Green Pearl couldn't help but gasp.

Mi Xiong instinctively clutched her chest, feeling her heart pounding wildly.

Back in September, when Xiang Liang brought her a copy of Junbao, she was a little worried, but she didn't take it too seriously.

After all, the Xia army was facing far too many troubles: fighting on two fronts on the northern grasslands, the panic caused by the plague, and the increasingly deteriorating situation in the Central Plains.

Any problem like this would likely take at least a year or two to solve.

But now, Bai Su has already defeated Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, and the north has almost been recovered.

That's incredibly fast.

It should be noted that they spent several months just to stabilize public morale, resolve internal chaos, and address the ulterior motives of the six rebel armies.

"How did Bai Su manage to do that?"

Even Green Pearl, who had always been full of confidence in the Great Chu, couldn't help but become serious at this moment.

Seeing her in such a distraught state, Xiang Liang couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

She thought she had overestimated Bai Su enough, but now that she sees it...

She underestimated this man's abilities.

In just a few months, they have destroyed three kingdoms in succession, which is truly terrifying.

She took a deep breath and said, "This person is a genius who can be described as possessing all the wisdom of the Hundred Schools of Thought. He is knowledgeable in astronomy, geography, and the principles of Yin and Yang..."

She recounted in detail how Bai Su used her astronomical knowledge to borrow the east wind from heaven to burn the Xiongnu, and how she used her business acumen to kill Chen Sheng and Wu Guang without firing a single shot.

After hearing Bai Su's various tactics, everyone was stunned for a long time.

Green Pearl couldn't help but exclaim, "This person is a genius who combines the talents of all the schools of thought in the Hundred Schools of Thought. He is truly a prodigy of his generation!"

Xiang Liang nodded slightly. Although they were enemies, she couldn't help but admire such a talented person.

Mi Xiongxin pursed her lips, blinked her clear black and white eyes, and said weakly, "Um... can we really win against such a genius of our time?"

It's no wonder she felt uncertain.

After all, she herself didn't have much confidence in overthrowing the Great Xia Dynasty. Now, Bai Su, as the commander, was suddenly so frightening, having destroyed three kingdoms in just a few months. Who wouldn't be afraid?

She even felt wronged for a moment. She had said that she didn't want to restore the country and just wanted to herd sheep honestly, but these guys who claimed to be former officials of Chu insisted on supporting her to become the king.

Now Bai Su has led the Xia army to attack. What should she do? She doesn't want to fail in her rebellion and be beheaded.

A smile appeared on Xiang Liang's bright and beautiful face: "Your Majesty need not worry. My niece Yu'er is invincible. In the past, she led three thousand Jiangdong soldiers and repeatedly defeated many times their size. She destroyed mountains and rivers and shook the Five Sacred Mountains. No one in the world could stop her."

"Now, my Great Chu has over 200,000 armored soldiers, countless good generals, and the armies of six other states as an alliance. Overthrowing the Great Xia is just around the corner..."

Green Pearl, standing to the side, agreed wholeheartedly, saying, "Yes, Your Majesty, with General Xiang's bravery, he will surely defeat Bai Su and fulfill his vow. Even if Chu has only three households left, it will surely destroy Xia. We will definitely see the day when the banner of our great Chu is planted on the walls of Xianyang, replacing Xia."

Mi Xiongxin breathed a sigh of relief when he heard what the two said.

Her dark eyes gazed at the distant Chu Kingdom's phoenix-patterned banner, and she murmured, "Will the phoenix devour the black bird and take its place?"

......

......

·

At the same time.

"Ah!"

In the Xia army camp, Bai Su couldn't help but sneeze.

Chen Ping was reporting the situation when he saw this and asked in surprise, "Sir, have you caught a cold?"

Bai Su smiled, put down the pastries in her hand, and said, "It's nothing. It's probably just someone praising me for being handsome behind my back again."

Chen Ping rolled his eyes and shook his head, feeling both amused and exasperated. His master was good in every way, except for his frivolous and irresponsible behavior in private.

If outsiders saw this, they would probably find it hard to believe that the Grand Chancellor, who supposedly controls the Great Xia court, is so easy to talk to and completely disregards rules, manners, and etiquette.

However, it is precisely because of this that she admires the man before her even more.

She looked at Bai Su with brimming eyes and said apologetically, "My lord, I'm sorry I failed to persuade the Wei-Han alliance to form an alliance with us. I've disappointed you."

Bai Su smiled nonchalantly and pushed the snacks on the table in front of Chen Ping: "No need to feel guilty. I had long anticipated that these people with ulterior motives would do this."

"You were able to persuade them to remain neutral, and that's enough."

"After all, we already have the advantage. Their not helping either side seems fair, but in reality, it's like Tyson and Guo Jingming fighting each other. Their standing by is already helping us."

Chen Ping looked up with a puzzled expression: "Sir, who is this Guo Jingming?"

Bai Su took a bite of her pastry, looked up, and said, "That was a giant who was over seven feet tall."

As the two were chatting, the tent flap was lifted, and a slender figure appeared in Bai Su's sight.

"My lord..." the woman's voice was very gentle and charming.

Bai Su was taken aback: "Yu Ji, why are you back?"

The woman before him was none other than Yu Ji, who had been separated from Bai Su for many days.

While Bai Su went north to deal with the plague, Yu Ji stayed by Xiang Yu's side, ostensibly to help stabilize the alliance between the two sides.

He thought that once Yu Ji returned to Xiang Yu's side, she would never come back, but he never expected that she would take the initiative to come back to find him.

Yu Ji's expression was somewhat complicated. She pretended to be calm and said, "The only place for me to stay is by your side, my lord. If you don't take me in, then I really will have nowhere to go."

Bai Su then came to her senses and said with a smile, "If Miss Yu wishes to stay, my door is always open for you."

When Yu Ji met Bai Su's gaze, a blush crept onto her fair face.

But when she thought of her mission, to do everything she could to serve the person in front of her well, so as to buy Xiang Yu a chance to survive.

Thinking of this, she lightly bit her red lips with her pearly teeth, and without much hesitation, walked straight to Bai Su's side, serving her tea and water like a caring maid.

Seeing this, Bai Su scratched her cheek and said, "Miss Yu, you don't need to do these servants' chores..."

"No... I'm willing to do anything for you, sir."

Yu Ji slowly raised her head, her eyes, as clear as autumn water, gazing intently at Bai Su, looking incredibly beautiful and captivating.

Chapter 342 Gathering the talents of a hundred schools of thought, compiling the Lüshi Chunqiu

Bai Su swallowed the pastry, looked at the stunningly beautiful woman before her, and couldn't help but ask, "Really, you'd do anything I ask?"

As Yu Ji felt the burning gaze sweep over her, a faint blush rose to her beautiful face, as if she had applied rouge, making her exceptionally radiant.

She recalled the image of herself with her hands on the windowsill, her eyes glazed, exhaling puffs of white mist towards the doors and windows. A strong sense of shyness made her feel as if her face was being burned by fire.

If it were in the past, given her personality, she would definitely have turned around and run away.

But thinking of her childhood playmate, she suppressed her shyness, nodded slightly, and said in a voice barely audible, "Wherever my lord's heart desires, that is where I will go..."

"Yeah……"

Bai Su smiled and said, "Alright, in that case, go and get me some pen and ink. I need to write something."

Yu Ji blushed and couldn't help but whisper, "My lord... this isn't quite right. Even if you really want to write something on me, at least wait until tonight. There are outsiders here right now."

Chen Ping, who was standing to the side, was taken aback. Write...write something?

She felt as if a car had swooped over her face, leaving a mark.

Upon hearing this, Bai Su was both amused and exasperated: "I just wanted to paint a picture later to give to the distinguished guest who is about to arrive. What are you thinking?"

Yu Ji was taken aback. Faced with Bai Su's strange gaze, her cheeks flushed red, and she felt as if she wanted to dig out an Epang Palace from the ground with her toes.

How embarrassing! I actually misunderstood.

"I...I know."

She didn't dare to lift her head and ran towards the study as if fleeing.

Bai Su watched her disheveled departure and couldn't help but stroke his chin and chuckle, "Tsk tsk, I never expected that this elegant beauty, who appears so pure and dignified on the surface, would have such turbulent undercurrents beneath the calm surface. It's quite unexpected."

Chen Ping, standing to the side, glanced at Bai Su with some confusion: "My lord, who is the distinguished guest you are referring to...?"

The playful, unfair smile faded from Bai Su's face, and her gaze gradually became serious.

After pondering for a while, he asked, "Chen Ping, you said that His Majesty once swept across the six kingdoms and unified China, so why are the six kingdoms rising again here now?"

Chen Ping was taken aback and tentatively asked, "Was it because Your Majesty did not eliminate the remnants of the six kingdoms back then, giving them the opportunity to restore their kingdoms?"

Bai Su shook her head slightly: "Yes, but also no."

Chen Ping was immediately puzzled: "What do you mean by that, sir?"

After all, it's either right or wrong; what does it mean to be both right and wrong?

Bai Su said with a smile, "In my opinion, Your Majesty's unification of the world is only half complete; the other half has not yet been finished."

Chen Ping was taken aback: "Half?"

Bai Su nodded and said, "His Majesty took over all the land in the world and unified the territory, writing system, weights and measures. He relied on the Legalists to militarily unify the nine provinces."

"However, because we abandoned the various schools of thought, our culture and ideology have not yet been unified."

"For example, the Hundred Schools of Thought, many of these talents from the former six states are now wandering abroad. If these learned scholars cannot be put to use by the court, it will not only be a waste of talent, but also may lead them to collude with some of the remnants of the six states, thus causing chaos in the world."

Chen Ping understood Bai Su's meaning. She raised her delicate eyebrows slightly and asked, "Then, in your opinion, what should we do?"