236 Deathly Aura

“Everyone, please look - Seeping River is the sixth region to the north of Great Qin. With Seeping River, which is 100 kilometers wide, as a barrier, it’s quite difficult to pass. There are many man-eating fish monsters in the water, which can prevent other people from entering.

“Valiant Peace is the fifth region to the south of Great Qin, and it faces the center of the Midland Continent. The northside is quite flat, while the southside has a mountainous region, which also forms a natural barrier that will stop other factions from crossing.

“South Leaf is the seventh region to the east of Great Qin, and it is foggy all year round. It is a swamp area where the ground often collapses, making it difficult to travel through. It is incredibly good for stopping other factions from passing through.

“Open Flask is the sixth region to the west of Great Qin. It is narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, making it look like a flask. As long as we establish a powerful base at the bottleneck, we’ll be able to stop all other factions with that single place. Even if they bring a massive army, there will be nothing for us to fear.

“These four locations can split up the entirety of the northern region of the Midland Continent, destroying the Vertical Alliance. It will also establish our roots for growth and help us devour other countries. They will also form a barrier that will stop all other factions from advancing, and even if Great Qin doesn’t expand outwards, as long as we defend those four key points and devour all regions between them, Great Qin will be able to establish an empire again!”

Wei Liao’s words made everyone else feel incredibly excited; the re-establishment of the Great Qin Empire wasn’t just something that Zhao Fu wanted. All of them wanted it as well. In total, Wei Liao had drawn out 31 regions.

All of the regions in the Heaven Awaken World were bigger than entire Provinces, and 31 regions added together was two times larger than China in the real world. Even though this area wouldn’t be very big considering the size of the northern region of the Midland Continent, it was enough for Great Qin to establish an empire.

Zhao Fu was quite satisfied with this plan, so he smiled and asked, “What does everyone else think?”

Bai Qi immediately replied, “This subordinate is in support of Commander Wei Liao’s plan.”

“I am also in support of Commander Wei Liao’s plan,” Wang Jian said.

Following this, the rest of the leaders also followed, “We are all in support of Commander Wei Liao’s plan.”

“Very well! That will be the path for Great Qin in the future then!” Zhao Fu announced before changing the topic, “Before, we were planning on avoiding the muddied waters of China and using Vietnam as a foundation to retreat out of China. However, trouble has come looking for us, and Great Qin has no way of extricating itself from this. As such, we can only respond to those troublemakers. What does everyone think about our plans regarding Vietnam?”

Hearing this, everyone fell into deep thought. Right now, if they wanted to carry out Wei Liao’s plan, Great Qin’s focus would be on those four regions, and there would be no need for so much setting up in Vietnam.

Right now, the Vietnamese Guard was not only in North Nam but in other regions as well. Its growth was incredibly fast, but it wouldn’t have been able to accomplish such a thing without Zhao Fu’s support.

At that moment, Bai Qi said, “Your Majesty, this subordinate believes that we can slightly shift the focus back, but Vietnam will attack sooner or later. After Great Qin restores the empire, it will still have to deal with Vietnam. This subordinate suggests that the Vietnamese Guard should continue to infiltrate Vietnam and suppress its overall strength. Those who stand against us must be purged.”

After thinking for a moment, Wei Liao said earnestly, “Your Majesty, this subordinate cannot fully agree with Commander Bai’s views.”

Zhao Fu wasn’t too surprised, and he looked at Wei Liao, gesturing for him to continue.

Wei Liao first respectfully saluted Zhao Fu before continuing, “I believe that we should divert most of our attention back from Vietnam and only leave a small portion of our resources there. The Vietnamese Guard can remain as a hidden chess piece buried there, but there will be no need for it to greatly develop. After all, supporting the Vietnamese Guard has cost us greatly in terms of finances and manpower, and infiltrating Vietnam isn’t something that can be done in a short period of time.

“Rather than wasting time, effort, and resources on Vietnam, dragging down Great Qin greatly, it will be better to shift the focus back to Great Qin itself to speed along the restoration of the empire.

“There’s also the 31 regions; there are many enemies that Great Qin needs to face. On the surface, it’s just the other four Legatees of the five Great Dynasties, and who knows if there are more hidden enemies. There are also countless families, and because it will be incredibly difficult to get rid of them, it’s best not to disperse our strength too much.”

After everyone heard Bai Qi and Wei Liao’s suggestions, they once again fell into deep thought because both of them were right in one way or another.

Bai Qi was advocating taking care of external matters first before internal matters, and the focus was more on the outside. This was because the Vietnamese Guard’s development had been incredibly smooth, and they would be able to easily infiltrate Vietnam’s inner regions. This was a great opportunity that could allow the Vietnamese Guard to rapidly develop and suppress the rest of Vietnam.

In the dark and chaotic future, it was unlikely that such an opportunity would surface again. After all, when that time came, everyone would only care about his or her own life; who would have the time and energy to love his or her own country!

The Vietnamese Guard, which rallied people based on their patriotism, would lose this opportunity.

However, Wei Liao’s suggestion of taking care of internal matters first before external matters also made sense. There would be countless obstacles in restoring the Great Qin Empire, and if they wanted to get rid of these obstacles, they would have to put in a lot of effort and concentrate their strength.

In the end, neither plan could be carried out quickly.

Zhao Fu asked the others, causing them to split into two factions that supported either Bai Qi’s suggestion or Wei Liao’s suggestion. Both sides had good arguments and could provide all sorts of reasons.

“What do you think, Wang Jian?” Zhao Fu’s gaze suddenly fell on Wang Jian, who had yet to say anything. Everyone else paused and turned to look at Wang Jian as well.

Wang Jian stroked his chin and smiled as he said, “This subordinate believes that both Commanders are right in their own regard.” That was all he said.

This was essentially equivalent to not saying anything, and everyone glared at Wang Jian, who only awkwardly smiled.

Zhao Fu felt a headache coming on, and after thinking about it for a while longer, he decided to put 80% of his focus on Great Qin and 20% of it on the Vietnamese Guard.

Thus, this discussion finally concluded. Various new orders were disseminated throughout Great Qin, causing Great Qin’s battle plan to greatly change.

The military leaders all left, leaving Zhao Fu sitting on a chair by himself. His mind felt incredibly weary, and he massaged his temples.

A few beautiful female attendants walked in and came to Zhao Fu’s side, saying gently, “Your Majesty, let us give you a massage.”

When he heard this, Zhao Fu smiled and nodded. The female attendants came to his side, with one person massaging his temples, two people massaging his hands, and two people massaging his legs. Zhao Fu wasn’t used to this sort of service, especially because of how close they were to him and the fragrance he could smell, so he asked them to stop.

At that moment, Li Wen walked in with a serious but faintly excited expression and half-knelt on the ground as he reported, “Your Majesty, we’ve found a large energy stone mine!”