Meeting a Fellow Countryman in a Foreign Land

During the long years of Han Yin's rule, the Yong Kingdom had lost the strength it possessed under Emperor Ming of Yong, Han Zhou, and had been driven entirely out of the Northern Domain. Yet it still held thirteen prefectures: Tianming, Jing'an, Nanxiang, Taining, Shun'an, Yonghuai, Hechang, Fuchun, Lanan, Fuming, Yiyang, Zhenyou, and Lingbei.

Compared to the Zhuang Kingdom, which consisted of only three commanderies, it was still a veritable giant.

Had it not been for the restraints imposed by the Jing and Jing kingdoms, the natural barrier of the Qichang Mountain Range, and the fact that generation after generation of Zhuang monarchs had been men of exceptional ability, the Yong Kingdom would have swallowed the Zhuang Kingdom whole long ago.

But whatever the reasons, after several centuries, the Zhuang Kingdom had not only survived but continued to grow. Many saw this as clear proof that Han Yin had lost all his former sharpness.

Especially in Dao Calendar year 3919, as the new year began, a war of far-reaching consequences ended in an astonishingly short time.

People suddenly realized a terrifying truth: since Zhuang Chenggan founded the Zhuang Kingdom, it had been oppressed and humiliated, but it had never truly lost a national war!

Not against the Mo State, nor the Yong Kingdom, nor even the long-since-conquered Xu Kingdom.

Zhuang Chenggan had fought a bloody battle in the Qichang Mountain Range, stopping Han Yin's forces in their tracks. As for Zhuang Gaoxian, he had waged two wars: the first dealt a painful blow to the Yong border army and won years of peace along the frontier; the second had nearly brought about the Yong Kingdom's destruction!

The strength of the Zhuang army was enough to make one's heart tremble.

After the war between Zhuang and Yong, the Zhuang Kingdom occupied