Chapter 1142 - 1084. Soap & Shampoo
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(A/N: Don’t forget to give those power stones to Skyrim everyone!)
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Lie Fan continued to read the scroll, a cold, predatory smile slowly spreading across his face as the geopolitical map of the northwest crystallized in his mind. The warlords were fractured, paranoid, and hesitating. It was the absolute perfect moment to strike.
He rolled the silk scroll back up, the smooth fabric sliding easily through his fingers, and tapped it thoughtfully against the polished surface of his mahogany desk. He looked across the room at the Chancellor, whose face remained a mask of placid, dangerous serenity.
"With things standing as they currently are," Lie Fan said, his voice dropping into the quiet, calculating rhythm of a supreme commander planning his next conquest, "how long do you think we should wait to begin the campaign? The central plains are quiet, but without Liang Province securely under our banners, our dynasty has not yet fully reclaimed the united lands of the previous Han dynasty. The map is incomplete. And an incomplete map is an open invitation for future chaos."
He stood up from his chair, walking over to a massive, detailed map of the continent pinned to the wall of his study. He traced a finger along the winding, mountainous borders of the northwest, tracing the ancient, vital arteries of the Silk Road that disappeared into the western deserts.
"If we wait too long," Lie Fan mused aloud, "Yan Xing and Cheng Li might resolve their internal disputes with the others. Paranoia is a hot fire, Wenhe, but it burns out if it is not fed with new fuel."
Jia Xu did not hesitate. The spymaster had already run the brutal calculus of war a thousand times in his mind before stepping into the study.
"We do not wait at all, Your Majesty," Jia Xu stated, his raspy voice echoing with chilling certainty. "We can mobilize the western army right away. We do not need to launch a blind, bloody invasion into the mountains. We simply need to apply an overwhelming, terrifying amount of physical pressure to the borders."
Jia Xu stepped up to the map, pointing a long, bony finger at the heavily fortified city of Chang’An, which served as Hengyuan’s westernmost shield.