Jiangdong Rats!

Zhuge Ming looked at his mother and sister, who seemed like entirely different people, and could not help praising them:

"Clouds think of robes, flowers think of faces; spring breeze brushes the railing, and dewdrops gleam richly..."

Hearing the novel yet beautiful verse, Zhou Xuan could not help but smile.

"I never knew our little Ming could compose poetry too. Where did you memorize that from?"

Zhuge Ming knew he did not possess the talent of a banished immortal, so he frankly admitted it.

"I saw it in a book before... but it could not be more fitting for Mother and Sister."

Zhuge Tong pursed her lips in a smile, then bashfully pinched the hem of her skirt and looked at Zhao Yun as she softly asked:

"G-General Zilong... does this outfit... look good on me?"

Zhao Yun nodded solemnly.

"Yes, this outfit suits you very well!"

Zhuge Tong was instantly delighted, her eyes practically sparkling with stars.

Zhuge Ming had the two women buy several more outfits and had Zhao Yun pay for them.

Ever since he had taken over this city, he naturally no longer lacked money.

Whether it was the wealth seized from certain noble households or the taxes collected by the City Lord's Manor every month, it was enough to last him a long time.

The group continued shopping.

When they passed a map shop, Zhuge Ming bought a map of the entire continent from inside.

The map marked out the cities and locations of several major nations.

Naturally, places as extremely dangerous as the Icefire Yin Yang Well were known to few ordinary people, so they were not marked on the map.

However, the location of Sunset Forest was shown.

Before they knew it, the group had bought a huge pile of things and brought them home.

Zhuge Ming handed the flag Zhou Xuan had embroidered to Zhao Yun and had him find embroiderers to produce it in large quantities.

In just a single day, he saw striking banners raised all along the city walls!

Fiery crimson dragon patterns surrounded the banners, while the center bore a dazzling golden background and the two black characters: "Shu-Han."

The great banners fluttered proudly in the wind, carrying a unique sense of romance and beauty!

Zhuge Ming noticed that Zhao Yun and Guan Yu's eyes had visibly reddened when they saw those banners.

Taishi Ci, on the other hand, curled his lips and muttered in dissatisfaction:

"My lord is really biased. Why not embroider the words Eastern Wu?"

Zhuge Ming smiled and teased him.

"After you, Ziyi, died, Jiangdong never produced another peerless fierce general. Instead, it was left with nothing but a bunch of rats.

"Of course, all's fair in war.

"From Eastern Wu's perspective, what they did was not wrong.

"But after Sun Quan betrayed his ally and launched a sneak attack on Jingzhou, Shu-Han and Eastern Wu were destined to head down the road to ruin.

"Because the combined rate of development of the two states afterward was still nowhere near that of Cao Wei.

"If Lü Meng had not crossed the river in white clothes and launched a sneak attack on Jingzhou back then—

"If he had instead joined forces with Shu-Han to attack Cao Wei and compressed Cao Wei's territory as much as possible—

"Only then would Shu and Wu have had any hope of completely defeating Wei...

"Unfortunately, your Eastern Wu's Lü Meng personally buried that hope.

"He killed Guan Yu, triggering the later Battle of Yiling and causing Shu's national strength to suffer immense losses, its talents withering away and leaving a gap in succession.

"Even if it allied with Eastern Wu again, it would have had no possibility of defeating Cao Wei...

"Whenever the two states formed an alliance, it was always Shu that had to open up the situation, while Eastern Wu restrained Cao Wei's forces in the south.

"Otherwise, they would only end up like Sun Quan, leading an army of a hundred thousand men only to be crushed by Zhang Liao's eight hundred...

"In my view, after your death, Eastern Wu became nothing more than a group of short-sighted rats cowering in the south of the Yangtze.

"The words Eastern Wu do not deserve to appear on my banners!"

Listening to the boy's clearly emotional words, Taishi Ci fell silent, not knowing what to say.

He had already learned from his new lord about the state of the world after his death.

He had no way to judge whether Lord Sun Quan's actions had been right or wrong.

But one thing was certain: once Lü Meng had successfully ambushed Jingzhou, he had also stolen away the two states' hope of defeating Wei...

But people were emotional creatures, not precise machines.

Many things were often triggered by emotion.

And people were not gods. As long as one was human, one would always make mistakes...

Zhuge Ming said no more and instead turned to Guan Yu and Zhao Yun.

"Yun Chang, Zilong."

The two came back to their senses and promptly clasped their fists.

"This general awaits your orders!"

"Zilong, you will secretly protect my mother and sister.

"Yun Chang, you will manage this city, strengthen its defenses, and drill the troops.

"News that this city has been occupied should have reached West Sea City and Pelagi Royal City in the rear by now.

"Before long, a large army may come to attack this city.

"When that happens, you and Zilong may display all your strength to deter the enemy.

"If they still insist on attacking the city, show them no mercy. Drive them back by killing them!"

"This general obeys!" Guan Yu and Zhao Yun answered in unison.

Zhuge Ming then looked at Taishi Ci.

"Ziyi, escort me to Sunset Forest. I need to collect some important things there."

"This general understands!" Taishi Ci replied as he clasped his fists as well.

After giving these instructions, Zhuge Ming returned home to bid farewell to his mother and sister.

The moment Zhou Xuan heard that her son was traveling far away, she immediately became worried and gave him countless instructions.

Although Zhuge Ming felt that his mother was being a little nagging, warmth still rose in his heart.

After all, only family would tirelessly remind him of such things. Outsiders would not care whether he lived or died.

Zhuge Tong rubbed his head and said:

"Go do what you need to do without worry. I'll take good care of Mother."

Zhuge Ming gave an "Mm," then whispered something into his sister's ear.

Zhuge Tong's pretty face immediately flushed red. Her eyes drifted upward unconsciously, as though searching for a certain figure.

Seeing his sister's bashful yet excited expression, Zhuge Ming could not help but laugh.

Under the reluctant gazes of the mother and daughter, he and Taishi Ci vanished from where they stood...

Led by Taishi Ci, the two left Langya City directly.

However, before flying to Sunset Forest, he planned to first visit Notting City in northern Fasino Province and see what that little bastard Tang San was up to now.

The two traveled north and soon passed through the capital of the Pelagi Kingdom—Pelagi Royal City!

From the sky, Zhuge Ming looked down at this capital, which was more than four times larger than Langya City.

He noticed signs of large-scale troop movements both within and outside the city.

It seemed that, just as he had expected, a large army would soon march toward Langya City!

After all, Langya City was a crucial grain route connecting West Sea City and the royal capital.

Once it was cut off, West Sea City's food supplies would become severely strained.

Although he had not deliberately cut off the grain routes near Langya City—

A city within their own territory had been occupied by an unknown force.

To the Pelagi royal family, that was like a thorn in their eye and a splinter in their flesh. It had to be removed!

However, with Zhao Yun and Guan Yu, two Super Douluo, defending the city, he was not worried about losing it.

On the contrary, once he had more cities in the future, it would be difficult to have two Super Douluo guarding a single city...

Soon, they flew over Pelagi Royal City and entered Fasino Province.

After crossing a great mountain, a small village came into view.

Large stretches of farmland surrounded the village, and it was considerably larger than their Nanyang Village.

Zhuge Ming guessed that this should be the place where Tang San had lived for six years.

The village said to have once produced a Soul Sage—Holy Soul Village!