Wei Yuan had prepared a bellyful of arguments, but in this moment, every one of them vanished like smoke. Not a single reason came to mind. Instead, memories of years past welled up bit by bit in his chest.
He still vividly recalled back when Qingming fought bloody battles against the Shamans. Li Zhi had just established Zhenshan Fief and had yet to secure a firm footing himself, yet he personally led tens of thousands of crack troops, coming out in full force to fight bitterly for days on end, guarding the flank of the still-fledgling Qingming. In the many wars that followed, Li Zhi had always led his forces to Qingming's aid, never naming conditions and never asking for anything in return.
Back then, Qingming had been terribly weak, and the situation in several pivotal clashes was precarious in the extreme. Wei Yuan had to rely on All Living Beings in a Flash to turn the tides of battle, and no one knew whether they could hold out to the end. In the most critical moments, if not for Xu Wangu suddenly adopting an ambiguous stance and holding back from kicking them while they were down, Qingming might well have been completely overturned.
By the mid-to-late stages, All Living Beings in a Flash had lost its martial utility and was reduced to an auxiliary aid used only during the Dao Foundation Assemblies. This was something the immortal who had forged the Qingming boundary stone all those years ago could never have anticipated.
Right now, Li Zhi didn't bring up the past or offer excuses; he simply asked if Wei Yuan was willing to help, striking squarely at Wei Yuan's one soft spot. From the way Li Zhi asked, Wei Yuan knew he had reached the single most critical juncture of his Dao path and his life.
Wei Yuan asked nothing more and simply said, "All right."
Li Zhi said nothing. He walked over, embraced Wei Yuan tightly, and stepped back.
Wei Yuan did not dwell on reminiscing either. Unfolding a map, he asked directly, "How do you plan to make your move?"
Li Zhi pointed a finger at the southwestern border of the State of Ji. "I've already erected a boundary stone here and converted a hundred li of land. So far, I've brought eighty thousand troops over. My father will raise troops from Southern Qi and confront the Ji forces at the border to pin down their main army. I will then lead my forces across the southwestern border, advancing along this route toward the royal capital of Ji."
Li Zhi traced a winding route on the map that cut through steep mountain ranges, bypassed several formidable natural passes, and drove straight toward the royal capital of Ji.
The route had been meticulously conceived; even Wei Yuan could find no fault with it. Clearly, Li Zhi had done a great deal of legwork beforehand.
However, looking at the royal capital of Ji sitting at the end of the march route, Wei Yuan frowned slightly. "You plan to launch a surprise attack on the capital?"
"I will lead an elite force out from Kunshan," Li Zhi said. "The capital is barely a thousand li away; we can reach the city walls in a matter of days. Corruption is rampant among Ji's imperial guards, with ghost soldiers accounting for up to seventy percent of their rolls. There's a very good chance we can take it in a single battle."
"And after you take it? What do you intend to do with the King of Ji?" Wei Yuan asked the crucial question.
How to deal with the King of Ji was, in reality, how to confront the Martial Ancestor's grand design. If one wished to leave the Martial Ancestor's design undisturbed, the best approach was to stay well outside of a thousand li from the royal capital.
Just as Wei Yuan had done in his current resurgence back into the State of Ji: his spearhead halted at the frontier and never pushed into the core heartland. The straight-line route to the royal capital crossed four whole commanderies, remaining over ten thousand li away.
Therefore, Li Zhi purging the court was one matter; taking the capital was an entirely different beast.
Confronted with Wei Yuan's question, Li Zhi did not evade. Instead, he said candidly, "Master Gu has prepared a trump card, intending to test the Martial Ancestor's grand design. Thus, the minimum objective of this campaign is to capture the capital—ideally, to capture the King of Ji."
"He's confident in that?" Wei Yuan was deeply skeptical.
"From my understanding and observation of the master," Li Zhi replied, "he has at least a thirty to forty percent chance of success this time."
Wei Yuan's brow furrowed. "Thirty to forty percent of shaking the Martial Ancestor's design, or thirty to forty percent of you surviving your tribulation through rebellion?"
"The former, of course. With your aid, triggering the tribulation is an absolute certainty."
Wei Yuan sighed. "Given your current position and role, you will very likely collide head-on with whatever contingencies the Martial Ancestor left behind. Once those contingencies trigger, won't you just end up as a sacrificial pawn sent to test the waters?"
Li Zhi hesitated briefly before saying, "To lay all my cards on the table, I've obtained the karmic luck of an ancient Sovereign of Men, and the karmic luck has fully acknowledged me, assimilating entirely into my being. In a sense, I am now an incarnation of an ancient Sovereign of Men projected into the present age. According to Duke Yansheng's deductions, the Martial Ancestor was very likely the reincarnated avatar of an ancient Sovereign of Men back in his era. Thus, by virtue of this identity, there is a very high probability that I can bypass the Martial Ancestor's contingencies. That is the first point.
"Second, I have studied the Martial Ancestor's deeds and read every court diary I could find. According to the records, the Martial Ancestor had two great wishes in life: first, to purge the alien races; second, to bring peace and prosperity to the realm. For the first half of my life, I've fought against the Mountain Folk, slaying over a million of them and expanding territory by thousands of li. At the same time, the people in Zhenshan Fief live peaceful, prosperous lives. Though it cannot compare to Qingming, it is on par with Southern Qi and far surpasses the remaining eight states.
"On account of these two points, I have contributed my humble share to humanity. Even if the Martial Ancestor's contingencies are triggered, they will leave me a glimmer of hope for survival."
Wei Yuan was still frowning. "Do you know what the Martial Ancestor's grand design even is? Do you know what his contingencies are, to be so confident?"
Li Zhi asked, "Are you against it?"
Wei Yuan nodded. "Governing Qingming and Yizhou over the years, I've faintly sensed the core of the Martial Ancestor's grand design. Perhaps in a bit more time, I will be able to touch upon the truth of what happened back then. The path I am walking now has a decent chance of success, so there is no need whatsoever to destabilize the royal houses of the nine states at this stage and clash head-on with the Martial Ancestor's design.
"Therefore, if you intend to assault the capital, I will not agree. In my view, the plan should look like this—"
Wei Yuan also reached out and traced a route across the map. The first leg overlapped with Li Zhi's, but halfway through it swung north and then west, enclosing the four southwestern commanderies of the State of Ji.
"Though these four commanderies are impoverished, they still hold over ninety million people," Wei Yuan said. "If you sweep through another commandery or two on the periphery, the fires of war will engulf over a hundred million people, which is more than enough to trigger the ancient tribulation of a chaotic world. Once you survive the tribulation, pull back to defend a single border commandery. Then I'll step in, arrange for the King of Ji to issue an imperial decree offering amnesty, and have you appointed Military Commissioner. After that, we'll expand together into the territory of the Mountain Folk and leave the State of Ji right where it is."
"Why do that?" Li Zhi frowned.
Wei Yuan explained, "On the State of Ji's board, there are likely three or four immortal factions making their moves, and the number of immortals dabbling in this game exceeds the fingers on both hands. I don't see any need to rush blindly into this mess right now. Let the immortals wrestle and bicker amongst themselves. We'll merely nibble away a small corner, strike root first, and cultivate it gradually. By the time the immortals sort out their squabbles, our influence will run deep, and even the immortals won't be able to shake us easily.
"This is a long-term plan, far better than ramming headfirst into the Martial Ancestor's design right now."
Li Zhi looked as if he wanted to argue, but held his tongue. In the end, he simply said, "We'll do as you say."
Wei Yuan tapped his finger on the base Li Zhi had selected. "First, build an airfield that can handle flying boats and airships. I'll send people over to ship you supplies and grain, and construct temporary camps to resettle the starving folk. Once the refugees displaced by the fighting have stayed in your territory for a full month and generated karmic ties, I will transport them back to Yizhou."
Li Zhi nodded.
Wei Yuan pondered aloud. "In addition, our cause must be righteous... Well, the south has always been fertile ground for rebels. Most of the rebel forces have been wiped out, but that doesn't prevent new rebels from emerging."
Li Zhi's eyes lit up. "I understand. I'll send twenty thousand men to infiltrate the State of Ji and raise the banner of rebellion, disguising themselves as rebels to storm cities and seize territory. Then I'll send my main force right behind them on a pacification campaign, giving us a justifiable reason to enter Ji territory. Ah, we'll also need an imperial decree from the Tang dynasty. That's easily done; I'll have my father dispatch someone to handle it right away."
Wei Yuan countered, "No, how could twenty thousand be enough? And they can't merely disguise themselves as rebels—they must truly act as rebels; otherwise, it won't fool the divination of heavenly secrets. How about this: your troops probably don't have the proper disguise, so I'll send fifty thousand sets of rebel armor and banners over to you shortly, along with ten rebel generals. A few years ago, they were genuine rebels; raising the banner of revolt is their specialty.
"I'll dispatch another fifty thousand men over to set out from your base, and once they cross into Ji territory, they will raise the banner of rebellion. My force will take Dingnan Pass first, opening the southern gateway. Then your main army can march through Dingnan Pass and advance unhindered."
Li Zhi touched several military strongholds on the map. "These locations house roughly three hundred thousand troops of the southern border army. How do you plan to handle them?"
Hearing the hint of hesitation in Li Zhi's question, Wei Yuan understood what he was thinking and asked, "Do you want them?"
Li Zhi did not hide his intent. He nodded. "I'd like to incorporate these troops into my ranks. The ghost soldiers in the border army are comparatively few, probably only thirty percent. These soldiers are still frontier elites, after all, and their Body Casting cultivation isn't low; it's just that their discipline has been lax for years and corruption among their officers is entrenched. But with rigorous training, it won't take long to turn them into crack troops again.
"My Zhenshan Fief is very far away, and bringing eighty thousand men here is already my limit. To field any more troops, I'll have to rely on reorganizing the Ji army. As for military supplies, I'll need Qingming's support."
Only now did Wei Yuan voice the question in his heart: "Under normal circumstances, shouldn't Southern Qi send troops to attack the eastern borders of the State of Ji? Why go through such immense trouble to deploy troops from Ji's southwest?"
Li Zhi smiled wryly. "A year ago, I went looking for you, but you weren't there; Master Zhang received me instead. Master Zhang said that launching the main assault from Southern Qi would inflict catastrophic calamity upon the common folk of Ji, and that you would never agree to it. So, I changed the plan and deployed from the southwest. The commoners in this region were already in deep misery; adding the calamity of war here wouldn't actually cause much additional harm.
"For this, I prepared for an entire year, erected a boundary stone, and barely managed to transport eighty thousand troops over before coming to seek you out."
Chapter 1093