"Your Majesty."
After hearing this, Murong Chui lost every shred of hope of escaping unscathed. Moreover, connecting the timing of his return to Jixian with the approximate positions of the state's core armies, he immediately realized that, once put into effect, this latest round of persecution and pressure would be nothing like the previous ones. Shocked and furious, he could only rally his spirits and struggle to respond.
"If all we wanted was to annex Hebei and stop there, then eliminating the Duan Xianbei, clearing away the weeds, might indeed make sense.
"But we haven't even conquered Zhang Ping and Tuoba Shiyijian yet. To the south, Huan Wen is universally acknowledged as a hero beyond his age, bent on attacking us to win the achievements he needs to usurp the throne. His subordinates-Liu Cheng, Xi Chao, Wang Meng, and the like-even Xun Xian from south of the Yangtze, all regard destroying Hu invaders like us and restoring the Han realm as their duty. Day and night, they dream of wiping us out.
"In these circumstances, we have only one path: to strengthen and expand ourselves, keep fighting them, swallow up the Jin lands, then advance into Shaan-Luo and Guanlong, consolidate Henan, and take the fight to them-even sweep straight down into the lands along the Huai River, annihilate their regime south of the Yangtze, and unite the realm.
"And once we possess the realm, the Duan Clan won't be weeds at all, but Xianbei bean plants we can use, whose beans will make the finest horse feed. If we start slaughtering one another now, I fear we'll bring defeat upon ourselves!"
"That's twisted reasoning." Murong Jun held his cup between thumb and forefinger, extending his middle finger toward him, the mocking curve of his lips visibly tightening. "By your argument,