"Also, seal this battle report along with this merit book with the strictest sealing wax! Assemble three hundred of our finest knights, ride at eight hundred li per day, and send them to Xianyang immediately!"
"Tell them, men may die and horses may fall, but this military report must reach the hands of the great king within three days!"
"Understood!" The personal guard accepted the order and bolted out.
Watching his father regain that decisive air of slaughter and judgment, Meng Tian's heart also settled.
"Father, then the matter of the southern front..."
Meng Wu walked over to the sand table. He looked at the location representing Yiyang, and a terrifying, razor-sharp light burst from his eyes.
"The plan has already changed."
He reached out and swept aside the small black flags that represented the feint against the Zhao State!
Then, with a red commander's arrow, he heavily stabbed it down right on the border of the Qin and Han states!
"I originally thought Shi Meng and the others were merely opening a crack in the door for us."
"Never did I expect this kid named Wei Zhe to kick Han's entire front gate right off its hinges for this old man!"
"Yiyang is already in the bag! Han's eastern defense line has been completely blown wide open!"
His voice grew immensely impassionate, filled with the chilling, militant aura of clashing armor and weapons!
"Hear my command!"
"Order you to set out immediately, no need to wait any longer! Lead fifty thousand iron cavalry and make a full-speed breakthrough from the southern front!"
"Tell the soldiers not to spare their horses' stamina! This old man wants you to bring your forces right beneath the walls of Xinzheng within five days!"
"Pass the order again! Order High General Wang Jian's forces to stop entangling with Li Mu! Leave a secondary force to pin him down, and have the main force of two hundred thousand troops immediately wheel around from the western line and crush them fiercely!"
"Advance from East and West, a double-pincer attack! This old man will not give the King of Han even a chance to flee!"
Meng Tian's heart beat violently.
He knew that because of the existence of Wei Zhe alone, the progress of this war of state annihilation had been vastly accelerated.
The originally scheduled "borrow the path to conquer guo" had turned into a true "thunderbolt strike"!
"Father!" Meng Tian abruptly dropped to one knee and clasped his fists heavily. "This subordinate requests the command! I am willing to serve as the vanguard and take the head of the King of Han for the great king!"
"Go!"
Meng Wu looked at this spirited son of his, his eyes full of gratification.
"Remember, once you reach the southern front, find that kid named Wei Zhe."
His tone turned somewhat subtle.
"Take a good look for this old man to see just... what kind of figure he truly is."
"Whether he is a man, a demon, or... a god."
"This subordinate obeys!"
Meng Tian rose, turned, and strode out of the commander's tent.
Outside the tent, desolate horn blasts soared into the sky.
At this moment, the terrifying war machine of the Great Qin Empire finally bared its most ferocious fangs.
As for the instigator, Wei Zhe, he was currently standing beneath the city walls of Yiyang.
Behind him stood dense throngs of surrendered soldiers of the Han State with complex expressions.
Further behind them were three thousand morale-soaring Tiger and Wolf Army soldiers who had already completed their rest.
Upon the city wall, the garrison commander of the Han Army looked at the overwhelming army below the city, looked at those who were once his comrades, and then looked at the head of their commander, Bao Yuan, which was hoisted high on a flagstaff.
His legs had already gone weak.
"Open... open the city gate..."
His voice carried a crying tone.
"We... surrender."
Xianyang Palace, Zhangtai Hall.
The night was already deep.
In the giant bronze crane lamps, whale oil burned, illuminating the entire grand hall as bright as day.
Ying Zheng stood with his hands behind his back before the massive bronze sand table, his dark dragon robe shimmering with deep luster in the lamplight. His figure was drawn very long, cast upon the cold floor like a silent deity.
Inside the hall, it was quiet enough to hear the slight crackle of the wick burning.
His gaze moved slowly across the sand table, finally landing upon the territory representing the Han State.
His fingers tapped lightly against the edge of the sand table, producing a series of very rhythmic, soft clicks.
Time slipped away in waiting.
He was waiting.
Waiting for the first news from that sharp arrow he had personally dispatched to stab into the heart of the Han State.
"Great king."
A shrill voice drifted seductively from outside the hall.
Director of the Chariot Office Zhao Gao glided noiselessly into the hall with silent, mincing steps. Bowing, he held up a bamboo slip sealed with sealing wax high with both hands.
The oxhide sleeve of the bamboo slip was still stained with dried blood and windblown dust.
"An eight-hundred-li urgent military report from High General Meng Wu of the northern frontier."
Ying Zheng did not turn his head.
He still watched the sand table, only his tapping fingertips coming to a halt.
"Bring it here."
His voice was low and calm.
Zhao Gao hurried forward and presented the bamboo slip.
Ying Zheng took the bamboo slip, feeling its slight weight in his hand. He could smell the scent of iron and blood belonging to the battlefield emanating from it.
With his fingers, he easily pried open the hard sealing wax closure.
"Clatter."
The bamboo slip unfolded, and he scanned it ten lines at a glance.
The battle report at the beginning did not differ much from what he had anticipated.
"The vanguard camp launched a night raid on Yiyang and heavily defeated the Han Army..."
Very good.
Shi Meng, this piece of rock, had not disappointed him.
He continued reading downward.
"Beheaded over ten thousand, captured more than twenty thousand."
Ying Zheng's pupils contracted slightly.
This battle result exceeded his expectations.
It was too smooth.
His gaze grew sharp, continuing to search downward.
When his sight locked onto a name in the middle-latter section of the battle report—one that Shi Meng had repeatedly circled in vermilion red—his hand gripping the bamboo slip suddenly tightened!
Wei Zhe.
It was this kid again.
"...led a hundred elite troops to punch through the enemy formation, slaying the enemy chieftain, Supreme General Bao Yuan of the Han State, amidst ten thousand men!"
Ying... "..."
Ying Zheng's breathing paused for a fraction of a second.
He thought he had misread it.
He closed his eyes and opened them again, his gaze falling back onto that line of words.
Every single word was like a red-hot iron awl, fiercely piercing his eyes.
Slaying the enemy chieftain, Bao Yuan!
"...In this battle, Wei Zhe personally took one hundred and ninety-six heads."
"Boom!"
Inside Ying Zheng's mind, a white lightning bolt seemed to explode!
He could no longer hold the bamboo slip in his hand, and with a "clack", it dropped onto the cold bronze sand table, emitting a harsh, crisp sound.
One hundred and ninety-six!
Plus Bao Yuan, that made one hundred and ninety-seven!
A single man?
In a single night?
Absurd!
This was no longer a military report; this was a myth! This was sheer fantasy!
Ying Zheng abruptly turned and paced back and forth in the hall, his chest heaving violently. That steadfast composure of a king descending upon the world developed a crack for the very first time.
He thought of that name circulating through the army, the one that could stop children of the six states from crying.
Lord Wu'an, Bai Qi.
Yet even that God of Slaughter had never possessed such a bizarre, convention-defying individual combat record!
Bai Qi was a commander, relying on the crushing might of a great army and strategy to bury men alive.
As for this Wei Zhe...
He was a single man, a single blade, cutting a bloody path out from amidst tens of thousands of foes!
"Monstrous anomaly..."
Two words escaped Ying Zheng's mouth.
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