Kays Translations

Chapter 304: Meeting of Political Rivals, Part 1

The current situation in the Great Xia Kingdom can be described as turbulent and chaotic, with battles raging everywhere, attracting the attention of many; not only is the internal situation of the Great Xia Kingdom closely watched, but even the surrounding countries are paying close attention.

Guangling County and Songzhou County have jointly attacked Nanyang County, and Nanyang County is steadily retreating; in order to resist the sudden attack by Guangling and Songzhou, Nanyang County even deployed its secret weapon—50,000 Divine Dragon troops, all elite soldiers at the seventh level or above of the Qi Refining stage, fully armed, along with a large number of experts at the Foundation Establishment and Golden Core stages.

The First Prince sent troops to attack Songzhou County to rescue Nanyang County, but both the First Prince and his strategist, Xiao Liming, had their own plans. After parading two hundred thousand troops around Songzhou County, they “did not even have a cup of tea” before turning their spearheads toward the direction of Anyang County.

In the north, Li Yulong and the First Prince’s army are confronting each other and continuously probing; on the front line at Wuyang County, a full-scale battle has already broken out.

The three forces of Gao Bin from Songzhou County, the First Prince, and Li Yulong are vying for control over Wuyang County. The Second Prince Xia Shu and Yuan Zhao, trapped inside Wuyang City, cannot even get food.

Surrounding countries of Great Xia Kingdom are watching the tiger fight from the hills, waiting until Great Xia Kingdom’s internal conflict reaches a certain extent, then preparing to “pick the fruits.” Because of the lesson from the previous defeat of Jin Kingdom, the neighboring states of Cai, Chen, and Qi have not taken any action for the time being; they are quietly observing.

The industrial and commercial ideas led by Anyang are spreading, and various countries are adopting them; especially Qi State, which was the first to clearly start industrial and commercial reforms and has so far achieved very good results.

Additionally, the diffusion of industrial technology has led to changes in the mode of war and unprecedented tensions in military preparations across the countries; a sweeping change is brewing throughout the eastern region of Yingzhou.

Moreover, Li Xian’s idea of “using flying machines to fly to the Immortal Realm” has shocked countless cultivation experts who have lost hope of ascending—it truly is a good method.

Thus, some have begun researching so-called industrial technology, and some have come to Anyang to join forces.

But there are also individuals and nations who want to directly acquire all existing technologies from Anyang. However, after witnessing the great defeat of Jin Kingdom, all countries have become cautious and careful, unwilling to act rashly.

Except for Cai State. After much thought, the Emperor of Cai State finally made a decision—to try to make contact with Anyang.

The reason for this decision was the suggestion from Cai State’s Prime Minister Huang Fu.

“Your Majesty, we are too close to Anyang, directly bordering it, and there is much animosity. In the future, if Anyang grows strong, or if Li Yulong’s Tang Kingdom grows strong, our Cai State will be the first to bear the brunt. Therefore, we must make plans early.

Take advantage of now, when Anyang is exhausted from the great war, when Xiao Liming’s troops have invaded Anyang, and when Li Yulong cannot spare his hand. We will pressure Anyang.”

Indeed, Huang Fu’s suggestion was very correct. Once Li Yulong or Li Xian become strong, the first target to deal with will very likely be Cai State. Therefore, for Cai State, the best way now is to obtain enough technology from Anyang before Anyang and Tang Kingdom become powerful.

In short: before Anyang and Tang Kingdom become very strong, bully them first.

Moreover, Cai State now feels more confident, having money in hand, and has purchased a good amount of arms and other materials from Anyang. Even their own industrial and arms technology have made great progress, so they want to make a move.

The Emperor of Cai State thought it over and made the decision, “I will entrust this matter to you, Prime Minister.”

“Yes.”

After leaving the palace, Huang Fu began to consult with the Grand Chancellor Cao Guobin and Grand Marshal Luo Guanjie of Cai Kingdom; first, he went to Grand Chancellor Cao Guobin’s residence. Cao Guobin was the true “Chancellor,” having educated the current Emperor of Cai Kingdom, and he was the only elder bold enough to slap the Emperor’s palm.

Facing Huang Fu, the white-haired Chancellor Cao Guobin directly refused to discuss, even driving Huang Fu out of the main gate while scolding, “You scoundrel who brings disaster to the country and harm to the people, get lost. Look at what you’ve already done to Cai Kingdom and yet you still don’t know when to stop! Your plan to demand so-called industrial technology from Anyang is not for the Emperor, but for yourself, isn’t it!”

Because of the dumping plan, the upper class of Cai State made money, but the common people grew increasingly poor; now, it can truly be said that “the people are suffering.”

However, Anyang’s dumping plan brought vast wealth to the upper levels of Jin Kingdom, even to the Emperor himself, so everyone turned a blind eye to the hardships of the common people. In fact, Huang Fu had become the biggest protector of Anyang’s dumping plan.

In the cultivation world, the voices of ordinary people and the weak have no influence; discourse power and such are all controlled by the strong and the elite. A hundred thousand ordinary people rebelling can be easily crushed or the rebel leaders caught by just a few experts at the Nascent Soul stage.

Therefore, the suffering of the people is not considered by the Emperor of Cai State, officials, or others. As long as there is money, one can consolidate one’s power, purchase what is needed, and cultivate trusted followers and experts; as for troublesome commoners, as long as they do not rebel, no one cares; if they dare rebel, they will be eliminated.

But not everyone thought this way; at least Grand Chancellor Cao Guobin was more concerned about the common people; therefore, he had no tolerance at all for Huang Fu, the main culprit causing suffering among the populace.

As for Huang Fu, his face was very grim. After being pushed out the door by Grand Chancellor Cao Guobin’s cane pressing against his chest, his face turned ashen and terrifyingly fierce. Looking at the thunderously closing door, Huang Fu growled softly, “Old man, just wait, sooner or later you’ll regret this! Hmph!”

After that, Huang Fu went to find Grand Marshal Luo Guanjie. Luo Guanjie and Huang Fu were two of a kind, the two of them monopolizing the court politics; more precisely, Huang Fu held the political power, while Luo Guanjie controlled the military power; and in terms of cunning and methods, Huang Fu was the superior one.

Huang Fu and Luo Guanjie hit it off immediately. Luo Guanjie mobilized the army to pressure the northern borders of Kaiping County (Li Yulong) and Anyang County, using this as a “bargaining tool” for negotiations.

Then they requested His Majesty the Emperor to send a royal letter to Anyang, expressing their intention to “pay a friendly visit.”

After preparing all this, Huang Fu finally set out for Anyang, taking a plane to first arrive at Huaihua County, which had been plundered by Anyang in the past but had now regained much vitality and had become a key military garrison, fully under military jurisdiction, defending southward against Anyang and Kaiping Counties.

At this moment, the army had already begun strengthening defenses at the border, and some war machines and so forth were already prepared and ready, waiting for the order to cross the border and attack Anyang and Kaiping Counties.

Then Huang Fu boarded a plane to fly to Anyang. It only took half an hour from Huaihua County to Anyang.

Meanwhile, in Anyang, after receiving the royal letter from Cai State, Li Xian summoned the officials for a discussion.

After reading the royal letter, Xu Ren sneered first, “Cai State chose the timing perfectly. It’s expected that by this evening, Xiao Liming’s troops will reach the border and launch an attack. At the latest, a great battle will erupt by tomorrow morning. Cai State’s negotiation attempt at this time is clearly a threat.”

Yan Ze’an smiled calmly, “Many people think that after the previous war, Anyang suffered over thirty thousand casualties and is very exhausted; ammunition, shells, and so on have been almost depleted. I suppose that is what they rely on. But currently, Anyang’s stockpile of weapons is sufficient to support an even larger scale war. The upcoming weapons trade next month will not be affected at all!

They still know too little about large-scale industry.”

Li Yuanming suddenly spoke: “This is a good excuse to send troops and seize Cai State’s Huaihua County. Huaihua County was actually part of Anyang during the early days of the Great Xia State. Between Huaihua County and Cai State lies a tall and majestic ‘Deadwood Ridge,’ a natural boundary line. This time, we will push Anyang’s border to Deadwood Ridge.”

“I agree with sending troops!” Yan Zhengqing also spoke up, “Although Anyang suffered over thirty thousand casualties in the last war, Anyang has strict rewards and punishments, mainly heavy rewards and secondary punishments; coupled with soldiers carrying magical instruments and even magic treasures, morale is very high.

Especially after the war, the abundant rewards of spiritual liquids and elixirs allowed many soldiers to breakthrough. Now, even at the Foundation Establishment stage, we have over eighty thousand! We don’t have enough accumulation at the Golden Core stage yet, but there are still more than two thousand Golden Core practitioners. There are also over thirty Nascent Soul experts. Just looking at the number of experts, our combat strength is not much worse than Jin Kingdom.

After about one and a half months of rest and replenishment, our fighting strength is unprecedentedly strong, and weapons and supplies have been fully restored. The soldiers are rubbing their fists and waiting for battle.

Moreover, we now have the Ten Thousand Sword Formation; it’s a good chance to test it.”

Below, the crowd was enthusiastic, and everyone agreed to fight; especially some generals, who were red-faced and vociferously calling for war!

Li Xian nodded secretly. In this cultivation realm where ascending to immortality is the highest pursuit, as long as Li Xian could provide everyone with a shortcut for cultivation, everyone would firmly unite around him.

A victorious war expands the base, increases population, and extends Anyang’s influence, which in turn increases fortune. When fortune increases, officials’ cultivation breakthroughs will follow. Soldiers participating in war gain experience and generous rewards, improving their cultivation substantially, and encouraging bravery in battle.

Furthermore, technology develops: there are liquid spiritual energies, elixirs, magical treasures—benefits need not be elaborated.

For soldiers going to the battlefield, war is the best training; as long as they survive, they will improve. Anyang’s abundant rewards and powerful war technology protection have completely changed the past reality of “nine out of ten do not return.”

In the last war, Anyang defeated, killed, and captured over 500,000 enemies, while suffering just over 30,000 casualties themselves; most of which were caused by Jin Kingdom’s “Ten Thousand Sword Formation.” The overall casualty rate was about one in ten.

Now Anyang also has the Ten Thousand Sword Formation, and Cai State is much weaker than Jin Kingdom. The soldiers are already rubbing their fists in anticipation.

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