"Bailie's location and output are both excellent, and it has deep ties to Lingshan. However! If the cost of defending Bailie becomes too great, exceeding the benefit it provides to Mou Kingdom, then..."
The strategic calculations of major powers were often accompanied by the sacrifice of smaller factions.
"That's why Lu Zhensheng has been trying desperately to prove that Bailie is useful to Mou Kingdom. He might not be able to read the Mou Emperor's mind, but he instinctively senses danger." He Lingchuan let out a long sigh. "Without anyone realizing it, Bailie has still come to this point. It's all because the main branch of the Lu clan is too weak."
Placing all hopes of survival on others inevitably sealed a tragic end; the only difference was whether that day came early or late.
Looking at the sand table again, even the soul-snatching mirror felt the urgency. "Then what... what do you plan to do?"
"Nothing much." He Lingchuan merely shrugged. "Same as before: let them fight their battles while I focus on my own development."
"Huh?" This response caught the mirror completely off guard. It had assumed its master would accelerate his pace to seize Bailie before anyone else could. "Aren't you afraid Ya Kingdom will swallow Bailie whole in one bite?"
Did He Lingchuan have the ability to make Ya Kingdom spit out the choice meat it had already devoured? The mirror was anxious on his behalf.
"No rush," He Lingchuan smiled. "Do you really think Ya Kingdom will swallow Bailie in one bite?"
"Won't they?" The soul-snatching mirror felt its brain wasn't up to the task.
"They could have done that long ago. Why are they still skirmishing with Lu Qinglin on the front lines?"
"Uh..."
"Ya Kingdom and Beijia have always colluded in secret. Attacking Bailie is likely part of their broader strategy." He Lingchuan tossed a flag onto Bailie's territory on the sand table. "If I were the Grand Chieftain of Ya Kingdom, I wouldn't swallow Bailie in one bite, lest I invite fierce retaliation from Mou Kingdom. After all, taking Bailie would make Ya Kingdom border Mou Kingdom directly. They certainly wouldn't want to absorb all the wartime pressure Beijia is exerting."
"A better approach is for Ya Kingdom to relentlessly attack Bailie, forcing Mou Kingdom to divert troops to its rescue, thereby causing Mou to continuously bleed and wear down its military strength. This step also coordinates with Beijia's operational plan."
"Therefore, Ya Kingdom's incursions against Bailie will last at least a year or two, occurring in fits and starts to exhaust Mou Kingdom with rescue efforts until it finally gives Bailie up. At that point, swallowing this prey will cost Ya Kingdom no effort at all." He Lingchuan's own thoughts grew clearer as he worked through them. "Though Ya Kingdom fights wildly and fiercely, looking at the Grand Chieftain's past conduct, he is steady and avoids reckless gambles. That is precisely why he heavily relies on commanders like Wulu."
Ever since taking in Moqi Feng's branch of the Bailong tribe, He Lingchuan had paid close attention to gathering intelligence on Ya Kingdom, particularly conducting detailed analyses of its past famous campaigns.
After all, this was an obnoxious neighbor that wasn't going anywhere.
"For some time to come, Bailie will be in peril, but not in immediate crisis. I have plenty of time to deal with what's on my plate." While others coveted Bailie, he was in no hurry at all. "The greatest variable actually lies with Mou Kingdom. Only if it suddenly falls to Beijia and the situation deteriorates rapidly would Ya Kingdom speed up its annexation of Bailie. But as things stand, that possibility is very small."
Mou Kingdom possessed a solid foundation and still retained vast, untapped wartime potential.
"When Mou Kingdom begins to view Bailie like a chicken rib—a pity to discard, but impossible to defend—that will be the moment Ya Kingdom prepares to annex it." He Lingchuan's eyes gleamed. "If we swoop in and cut them off at that exact moment, how do you think Mou Kingdom and Ya Kingdom will react?"
"Ya Kingdom would definitely blow its top!" The mirror chuckled twice, delighted at the thought. "As for Mou Kingdom... well, they were going to abandon Bailie anyway, so wouldn't it be the same to them no matter who takes it?"
"Of course it's not the same," He Lingchuan smiled. "When I take Bailie then, it'll be keeping the fertile waters within the family. So long as Ya Kingdom doesn't get it, Mou Kingdom will be pleased."
Besides, he had good ties with both Lingshan and Mou Kingdom. Wouldn't Bailie falling into his hands be far better than falling into Ya Kingdom's?
That way, the difficulties he would face after taking Bailie would be vastly reduced.
"As for Lu Qinglin—" Having thought it through, He Lingchuan relaxed. "He is also defending Bailie. Let him bask in the limelight on the border for now. But he is a Mou general; he cannot remain stationed there forever. Once he is recalled to Mou Kingdom, who will be left to defend Bailie?"
The mirror muttered, "Wouldn't it still be Lu... Qingbang and his sister?"
"Lu Zhensheng and his son suppressed Sixth Lu's family like this, yet down the road they'll still have to count on them to guard Bailie's borders. Tell me, wouldn't Sixth Lu and the rest of the Lu family feel utterly chilled?" He Lingchuan chuckled. "If Lu Zhensheng and his son hadn't dug this hole for themselves, how many counter-espionage schemes would I have needed to sow this level of discord and disaffection? So we might as well give them a bit more time and let father and son dig their own graves a little deeper."
He stood up and stretched lazily.
His mind was made up: the plan to seize Bailie was temporarily shelved!
Since he had no urgent matters demanding his attention here, he might as well accept the tasks from Lingshan and Mou Kingdom, leave the Yangshan Archipelago for a time, and make a trip to the Shanjin Plain.
The soul-snatching mirror spoke up again: "Lingshan's mission is so far away this time. Do you really want to go? What good does it do you?"
"How much do you know about the Shanjin Lands and the Qian River basin?"
"Huh?" The soul-snatching mirror was blank. "Before you got this booklet, I'd barely even heard of it."
It had only recently awoken from a long slumber, having slept inside Beijia's Azure Palace all that time. How could it know of the world's shifting seas and mulberry fields?
He Lingchuan walked back to the sand table and reactivated his divine ability.
Soon, a brand-new terrain of mountains and rivers rose from the sand.
There was no shortage of mountains or water here; the landforms were diverse: mountain ranges, plains, snowfields, lakes, plateaus, and peninsulas. The soul-snatching mirror even spotted several barren patches of desert.
This vast expanse of land lay to the northeast of Ya Kingdom, separated from it across a great lake.
To He Lingchuan, it was another completely new world.
The soul-snatching mirror watched for a long time. "Why does this look so familiar?"
"Maybe you've been there?" He Lingchuan prompted. "This place has a very long history."
"I..." The soul-snatching mirror remembered. "My first master went there, but that was ages and ages ago! Back then, it wasn't called the Shanjin Lands either!"
The mirror's first master? That was over two thousand years ago.
He Lingchuan pointed at the sand table. "Let's just speak of recent history. Roughly eight hundred to a thousand years ago, a powerful empire arose in this region, known as the Shanjin Empire."
The mirror chimed in, "Good times don't last, do they? The empire's glory only lasted two hundred years?"
"Two hundred years is remarkably resilient. Most small states come and go like revolving lanterns; precious few can last past fifty years." For centuries, "turmoil" had been the defining theme of this world.
"The Shanjin Empire vanished, leaving behind only the plain named after it. Later, various small states continued to emerge in this region, encroaching upon, annexing, and replacing one another, but a powerful realm like the Shanjin Empire never arose again. To this day, it remains a cluster of petty kingdoms." He Lingchuan sighed. "I hear their relations are extremely complicated."
"Neighbors always have disputes," the soul-snatching mirror mused. "Hey, did you learn all of this from books?"
"Not only that. I also attended a few lectures at the Imperial Academy in Lingxu City that specifically covered the humanities and geography of various regions worldwide. Two of those lectures touched on the Shanjin Plain." The Imperial Academy in Lingxu City periodically held public lectures open to everyone, allowing even an outsider like him to attend and ask questions. Shao Jian's writings could only record what things were like over a hundred and sixty years ago; the current situation of the Shanjin Plain required He Lingchuan to look into it himself. "At present, there are twenty-four states there, large and small, not counting various lawless no-man's-lands. Plagued endlessly by natural disasters and human strife, it is known as the God-Forsaken Land."
Beijia was a heaven-favored land, whereas the Shanjin Plain had become a God-Forsaken Land.
The soul-snatching mirror asked casually, "Why is that?"
"The old pedants at the Lingxu Imperial Academy attributed it to history and generational feuds." He Lingchuan had developed good study habits in the Panlong World and always listened attentively in class. "The region has been fractured for nearly a thousand years. Most people have no concept of a unified empire, nor do they desire one. Some states have accumulated deep-seated hatred over years and generations; even after dozens of generations, with countries fallen and homes destroyed, they continue to wage war against each other."
"In short, it boils down to unresolved historical issues. Of course, public lectures like that wouldn't teach the deeper details. Some underlying reasons might not be suitable for the ears of ordinary people anyway." He Lingchuan chuckled. "Actually, I really do want to travel to the Shanjin Plain, and these tasks are a perfect fit."
The soul-snatching mirror was baffled. "Why? Isn't managing such a big Yangshan Archipelago enough trouble for you?"
This master of his bustled about day in and day out—was he not exhausted enough already?
"Frankly speaking, not quite," He Lingchuan smiled faintly. "There is vigor in leadership; you wouldn't understand."
After nearly a year of hard work, the various affairs of the Yangshan Archipelago—tourism, commerce, internal civil labor, military defense, and foreign relations—had largely been set on the right track. Economically, it had formed a self-sustaining virtuous cycle with a surplus; foreign trade was bustling, military power was growing daily, and the external environment had stabilized.
Within three months of taking the Yangshan Archipelago, he had successively neutralized the overt threats from Beijia, the hidden daggers from Bailie, and the subtle pressure from Lingshan and Mou Kingdom. He had successfully secured tacit approval from both great empires, Mou and Beijia, which allowed him to gain a firm foothold in this new world and grow steadily.
The various systems of the Yangshan Archipelago were not yet fully perfected, and there were many areas ripe for improvement. For instance, the Yangshan Guard had grown too rapidly with an increasingly complex makeup, requiring further optimization of its military structure; the permanent resident population across the islands had tripled within six months, demanding an overhaul of local administrative regulations; and the island's agricultural varieties remained narrow, leaving room for crop improvements and introductions, among other things.
Yet He Lingchuan did not intend to micromanage these tasks personally.
He was already a regional lord and had no business managing every trivial detail himself. From here on, his focus—and also the hardest challenge—lay in taking the high ground with a strategic vision and employing the right talent for the right roles.
His veteran subordinates had grown alongside him. Those who still held their posts today all possessed real competence and ought to shoulder most of the burden of construction for him.
If they couldn't shoulder it, they would be replaced.
As for He Lingchuan himself, he had more important things to do.
A mere Yangshan Archipelago—now that it had reached this stage, he could step back and take a hands-off approach.
Hadn't he worked tirelessly for the past half-year precisely so he could eventually become a hands-off boss?
Chapter 1093