In the occupied area of the Allied Forces, Wu City.
Inside the main hall of the Wu City Lord's Mansion, Qin Huailian stared coldly at Huyelu in front of her, let out a sneer from her nose, and said icily, "You keep saying that you want to win this war, but you don't even know the location of the Protectorate General's Office. You were ambushed by my elder brother who came around from Tianshan. You're really arrogant."
Huyelu gritted his teeth and glared at her, saying in a bad tone, "Oh? Then why don't you tell me?"
Qin Huailian glanced at him, then turned her head away and said, "I know what you want. If you want to overthrow the Great Sheng, you must pass the Protectorate General's Office. But who would have thought that you fool would dare to go head - on against my brother."
"..." Huyelu didn't say a word. He stared at Qin Huailian with extremely venomous eyes, as if he wanted to tear her to pieces instantly.
Qin Huailian didn't care about Huyelu's look at all. She sneered, slowly walked to the table, lowered her head and looked at the spread - out map. She traced a circle along the outline of the Tianshan Mountains with her fingertips and said, "The Tianshan Mountains are steep and easy to defend but hard to attack. At first, I told you to divide your troops into two and attack Yutian and Kucha respectively in order to disperse their forces, not to directly attack the Protectorate General's Office. As an important town in the entire western part of the Great Sheng, the Protectorate General's Office has sufficient food, grass and troops. Moreover, the Great Sheng has sent heavy troops to support it. With your army, trying to attack the city?嗤... There's simply no possibility of taking it."
"Then what do you suggest?" Huyelu spoke, his voice still very cold.
Qin Huailian lowered her head and looked at the map for a while. Her finger traced southward from Kucha City, passed by Yutian all the way, and finally stopped on a town.
It was Gengnan City - the southernmost city within the entire Protectorate General's Office. Located on the north side of the Kunlun Mountains, it was a transportation fortress on the Silk Road connecting the central plains.
"Yutian has been retaken by the Qin family. So now the main distribution of the Qin family's troops is in the areas of Yutian and the Protectorate General's Office. Gengnan City is at the southernmost tip of the Protectorate General's Office. It is adjacent to the Kunlun Mountains in the south. Along the corridor of the Kunlun Mountains, you can open up the areas of Sichuan and Yunnan all the way and directly threaten the heartland of the Great Sheng. Then you can let your subordinates approach the capital from the north. The Great Sheng will be attacked from both the front and the back. I'm sure they'll be overwhelmed." Qin Huailian said.
Huyelu stepped closer to take a look, frowned and said, "You want me to attack Gengnan City?! Do you know how far it is from here? The road is difficult to travel. It will take at least fifteen days on foot!"
"Did I tell you to attack it now?" Qin Huailian glared at him and said, "Your army has just suffered a defeat. With the current state, do you still want to go to war?"
"What did you say?!"
"Did I say something wrong?" Qin Huailian's voice suddenly rose. She glared at Huyelu and said fiercely, "If you had listened to my advice and not attacked the Protectorate General's Office when I wasn't paying attention, would the situation be like this? Losing twenty thousand soldiers and the morale of the army, is that my fault?!"
Huyelu gritted his teeth. His eyes were blood - shot. He glared at Qin Huailian for a while, then suddenly sneered and mocked, "Oh, you woman, you even dare to teach this king? You're just a traitor."
Qin Huailian looked calm. She didn't seem to feel any shame or humiliation about this title. Instead, she snorted and said, "The Great Sheng is not worthy of my loyalty at all."
"Then who do you pledge your loyalty to?" Huyelu snorted, "To yourself? Even willing to go against your father and brother for this?"
Qin Huailian gave him a cold look and didn't say a word.
Huyelu laughed a few times, walked to a seat beside and sat down, propping his face with one hand, sneering, "Sare told this king at first that he had taken in a saintess. This king wondered who it was. It turned out to be the little daughter of the Qin family. To be honest, this king didn't believe you at first. After all, your Qin family is a good dog of the Great Sheng. How could there be such a weirdo like you?"
Qin Huailian said coldly, "I have my own reasons for what I've done."
"Your reasons? Humph." Huyelu sneered, "What are your reasons? Killing Sikong Ting?"
"It's to wipe out the Sikong clan!" Qin Huailian suddenly slapped the table and almost roared, "Stop blabbering. You talk too much nonsense! I want to kill the Sikong clan, and you also want to kill them. This is a deal. Don't you understand?"
"This king certainly understands." Huyelu said, "But what do you want the Great Sheng's territory for? You even promised this king the fourteen states of Yanyun. What are you going to do with the rest of the territory? What, do you want to claim the throne?"
"Mind your own fucking business!" Qin Huailian said fiercely.
"Hahaha! You woman want to claim the throne?! That's really a huge joke!" Huyelu deliberately wanted to anger Qin Huailian. His movements were very exaggerated. He even pointed at Qin Huailian's nose and scolded, "Absurd!"
"Huyelu." Qin Huailian's voice was extremely cold. She was almost restraining her impulse to kill in order to calm her voice and talk to Huyelu, "I seem to have said that you shouldn't have any doubts about my actions. You've overstepped the line."
"No one has ever dared to talk to this king like this. Do you believe that this king can crush you like an ant right now?" Huyelu glared at her and said fiercely.
"Humph..." Qin Huailian shrugged easily and said, "So what? If you kill me, then you'll be killed by my elder brother or my father. If you want to avenge your brother, you can go to hell and dream about it!"
Huyelu's eyes were about to burst with anger. He leaned forward slightly. The relationship between the two had already dropped to the freezing point. Only a thing called "interest" was barely maintaining it. They both knew that if it weren't for this reason, they would both pounce on each other and tear each other to pieces right now.
"Aren't you afraid that after this king helps you destroy the Great Sheng, this king will send troops to destroy you?" Huyelu said.
"Do you think you have the strength?" Qin Huailian said coldly, "Since I've come to cooperate with you, I'm naturally sure that you won't turn against me. Otherwise, I would have killed you long ago."
Huyelu pursed his lips tightly and said nothing.
Qin Huailian was too lazy to talk to him any more. She slowly stood up straight and said in a deep voice, "Do this according to what I said. I'll go and make the arrangements before the war. As for you, you'd better find a way to comfort your dejected subordinates quickly. I don't want to see a listless army before the next battle."
Huyelu glared at Qin Huailian for a while, then squeezed out a few words through his teeth, "If the battle is not successful, this king will kill you, eat your flesh raw and drink your blood when thirsty."
Qin Huailian smiled easily and said, "I don't need such a way of provoking. You'd better take care of yourself. If you make any irreversible mistakes again, you can go to hell and avenge your brother!"
With that, Qin Huailian quickly stepped out of the room and slammed the door shut with a "bang".
She walked away quickly. Behind her, from inside the room, came Huyelu's furious roars.