The guard trembled all over, shrinking back as he said, "Family Head, the city has fallen...."
"How is that possible?!" Hu Tianma sprang to his feet, "The rebel army has just arrived, even though they are powerful, Hu Jia City's walls are impregnable, and the gates are made of iron, how could they collapse in an instant?
Could it be that the Qingshan Army can fly and vanish into the sky?"
"It's... so of the guard army at the gate betrayed us, killed the others, and opened the gate... the Qingshan Army, the Qingshan Army has already entered the city!"
The guard finished speaking in one breath, a look of despair on his face.
Hu Tianma's face changed as well, a cry of anguish escaped him, his eyes almost bursting.
He turned to the mbers of Tang Family beside him with a final hope, "Tang brother...."
Facing Hu Tianma's piercing gaze, Tang Yuan sighed and shook his head, "It's not that my Tang Family is unwilling to help your Hu Family, if we were unwilling, we wouldn't have co all this way, but in the current situation, it's indeed impossible to fight...."
"The Hu Family is done for." Tang Yuan thought silently to himself.
Without geographical advantage, and with the Qingshan Army being so formidable, how can this battle be fought?
Even if we forcefully win, the manpower would almost be exhausted, the losses would be devastating.
Help, maybe, but to help the Hu Family at such a great cost, that is absolutely not possible.
"Retreat," Tang Yuan said to the others, "Hurry back and inform the Family Head of the situation here, let the Family Head prepare, the rebel army is ambitious, one Hu Family won't satisfy them."
Tang Yuan was filled with worries.
Such an opponent, he had never seen in his lifeti, appearing suddenly, their actions unheard of.
....
The sound of hooves was dense.
On the streets of Hu Jia City, Lu Qingshan rode at the forefront on his warhorse.
The doors of the residential houses on either side of the street were no longer tightly shut, but slightly ajar.
Pairs of eager eyes watched the Qingshan Army swaggering into the city—who didn't know that wherever the Qingshan Army passed, they not only spared the civilians but distributed the nobles' lands to the people.
No need to resist the Qingshan Army, the people of Hu Jia City heard that elsewhere other civilians already had their land, their eyes turned greedy, even long since counting on their fingers the days until the Qingshan Army would take Hu Jia City.
"General, were the n at the city gate arranged by you beforehand?" Gu Tianyan originally thought they would face a fierce battle, but dramatized to directly swing into the city without incident, couldn't help but ask.
In his view, it must be Lu Qingshan's brilliant strategy, having already contacted and arranged for insiders.
"No," Lu Qingshan shook his head, "I didn't arrange it."
"Then how co?" Gu Tianyan couldn't believe it.
"He who wins the people's hearts wins the world," Lu Qingshan smiled, "Did you think this was just empty talk? The people are the ones who understand best how to choose a favorable branch to roost."
"After taking down the Hu Family, what's the General planning next?" Gu Tianyan couldn't resist asking again.
"Isn't there still the Tang Family and the Fu Family?" Lu Qingshan smiled with a aningful expression, "Even if we've taken down these two families, there's still the other countries, isn't there?"
Gu Tianyan's heart trembled, he looked at Lu Qingshan's calm yet sharp profile.
He never thought Lu Qingshan's ambition would be so grand.
The "world" in Lu Qingshan's words was indeed the entire world.
....
With the Hu Family losing their geographical advantage, the battle beca a one-sided crush.
After a round of not-so-fierce resistance, Hu Jia City completely fell into Lu Qingshan's hands.
The only regret was that the Hu Family Head, Hu Tianma, had packed up valuables and escaped Hu Jia City through a secret passage when the Qingshan Army entered the city.
But Lu Qingshan didn't concern himself with these things.
The Qingshan Army was an unstoppable force, what could Hu Tianma accomplish alone?
With the complete overthrow of the Hu Family's rule, Lu Qingshan, as usual, rewarded the entire army, distributed land to the people, developed crafts, opened schools, printed "Qingshan Swordsmanship," spread his ideas, and began extensively repairing roads and building bridges.
These undertakings required a lot of money, which might have been hard for Qin Yitian to provide.
But after seizing the Hu Family's century-old accumulated wealth, it beca quite easy, showing just how deep the Hu Family's exploitation of the people had been.
Lu Qingshan's na spread nationwide overnight.
In just a few days, children were singing rhys praising Lu Qingshan on the streets, and storytellers spontaneously began to spread the achievents of Lu Qingshan and the Qingshan Army.
Many people's admiration for Lu Qingshan bordered on devotion, especially those slaves who had previously suffered heavy exploitation.
"If we could unify this world and concentrate all strength, what would the Otherworldly Ghosts count for?" Lu Qingshan put down the letter sent by Qin Yitian, pondering as he did.
The letter described the recent situation on the Iron City side, which Lu Qingshan specifically asked Qin Yitian to keep an eye on and inform him tily.
He wanted to know if this markedly different move from last ti would lead to different reactions from the Otherworldly Ghosts.
As it turned out, at least for now, there was no unusual move from the Otherworldly Ghosts.
No movent from Otherworldly Ghosts was sothing Lu Qingshan naturally wished for.
Because this ti, he was preparing to crush these Otherworldly Ghosts by sheer force.
"Next, it's Tang Family's turn now." Lu Qingshan's fingers wandered on the map spread on the table, finally settling on the Hu Family's territory.
.....
Spring passed, autumn arrived.
In the blink of an eye, it was once again the coldest season in the Northern Border.
Heavy snowflakes fell.
Compared to the cold of the weather, the State of Qin was incredibly feverish, presenting a dazzling upward trend, like a piece of iron undergoing refinent, transforming.
A flicker nad Qingshan Army had already spread throughout the State of Qin, bringing with it the flas of reform and opening up.
Qin City, Royal Palace, Imperial Study Room.
Qin Yitian looked at Lu Qingshan shook her head in amazent, "General, I never would have expected, in less than a year, you could achieve this level."
In less than a year, the Hu Family, Tang Family, Fu Family were successively overthrown by the Qingshan Army.
Countless lands were distributed to the people, hundreds of schools sprang up, craft developnt was advancing rapidly, and the Qingshan Army's numbers had grown to an incredible extent, Lu Qingshan's na now trumped even that of her, the Princess.
This was just the first year, what would the State of Qin evolve into after another decade?
Qin Yitian felt her imagination was insufficient.
Lu Qingshan's gaze followed the window, gazed at the stars in the sky, his eyes becoming infinitely distant, as if traversing the entire galaxy, reaching far heights.
He was not prideful, infinitely calm, "Lord, I actually feel it's too slow."
"Our ti isn't as abundant as imagined."
"When does the General plan to make a move on Wu Yang Country?" Qin Yitian asked, trusting Lu Qingshan imnsely.
Wu Yang Country, a neighboring country of the State of Qin.
"Can't rush, must wait," Lu Qingshan explained solemnly, "First, as soon as we make a move on Wu Yang Country, the State of Qin will surely beco the target of many, the current State of Qin isn't strong enough to bear such a target."
"We must wait for the State of Qin to beco strong enough to face it all, then we can act."
"Secondly, we must wait for the Otherworldly Ghosts."
"Wait for the Otherworldly Ghosts?" Qin Yitian frowned.
"The last ti, it was a year later when I led the Dragon Phoenix Army deep into the snowy field, encountering the Otherworldly Ghost King above the Netherworld Lake."
"I want to see, this ti if I don't go to the Netherworld Lake, whether the Otherworldly Ghost King will still show up as scheduled, and how it will react."
Lu Qingshan raised his arm towards the moon outside the window, his fingers curled, slightly grasping, as if to take hold of the moon.
Qin Yitian paused, suddenly finding a strange, indescribable charm about the man before her.
She hesitated for a while, and finally spoke, "General, there's a question I've wanted to ask you for long?"
"Ask!"
"The Qin Yitian that you know, what kind of relationship is there between you, is it very close?" Qin Yitian asked, "Upon the General's first eting with , you addressed as Yitian."
"What kind of relationship...." Lu Qingshan thought for a while, seemingly recalling sothing worth savoring, his lips curved into a smile, softly saying:
"Hand in hand, living together."
Lu Qingshan's eyes fell on Qin Yitian's radiant face that he'd seen countless tis but never tired of, just as when they first t at Dragon Pool.
So bonds are destined at first eting.
Should life be as if first seen?
No.
It's "love at first sight."
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