"Oh my God! Attila the Hun? Is he sent by you to whip us?"
In just half a month, three small Western countries were successively wiped out by the barbarians.
As the barbarians expanded southwest, they slowly regained the confidence that had been shattered by their forbidden name and re-embraced the name of the Huns.
Deep in the northern desert, the Grand Marshal dispatched by the King of Xianbei also led fifty thousand troops to occupy the former settlement of the barbarians.
The ground was in ruins, no longer glorious as it once was.
"Marshal! An army is approaching from the west, with an envoy who has traveled from afar, claiming to be from the Tianri tribe, requesting negotiations!"
Upon receiving the news, the Xianbei Marshal was startled and immediately met with Valentine.
After congratulating Xianbei on replacing the barbarians, Valentine smiled and said, "The current Daqian is not a country that can be matched alone. Our tribe has already united with the Guishuang Dynasty and the Peacock Dynasty to resist Daqian. We can provide you Xianbei with excellent equipment, as long as you can afford it!"
While the Xianbei Marshal was surprised, he inquired about the whereabouts of the barbarians.
"They have gone to the southwest of the continent, where there is also a powerful Fulin country that can contend with Attila. We can just sit back and watch the tigers fight!" Valentine smiled, as if treating the barbarians as pawns.
"Couldn't you intercept the weakened barbarians in advance?" the Xianbei Marshal asked with some dissatisfaction.
Those were the barbarians who had enslaved them for hundreds of years!
"There is an ancient saying in Daqian: 'Do not pursue a cornered enemy.' You can chase them if you dare!" Valentine said dismissively.
The Xianbei Marshal's breath hitched, and he had nothing to say.
The barbarians feared Liang Xiao, but they still had a certain military strength that Xianbei could not easily control.
"Provide us Xianbei with weapons and armor to jointly resist Daqian. When the time is right, we will take the northeast of Daqian and develop it for a few years!"
News of Attila quickly spread to the neighboring Guishuang Dynasty. The hidden Qianlang Guard in the Guishuang Dynasty received the news and immediately released carrier pigeons.
The carrier pigeons, from one station to another, safely reached the capital.
Liang Xiao and Xiao Qing, who were in the capital, were also quite surprised to receive the news.
"It seems that the resilience of the barbarians is much stronger than we anticipated, but this is exactly what we wanted," Xiao Qing praised.
Liang Xiao wanted the barbarians to expand southwest and escalate Western conflicts.
Even if the barbarians reached cooperation with the Guishuang Dynasty and the Tianri tribe, they would need to squeeze each other's resources. This was better than letting the barbarians continue to stay in the northern desert and be annexed by Xianbei.
With Attila's ruthlessness, capable of even betraying his own father, if he could not defeat Daqian, he would likely turn his attention to the Western world, or even clash with the Tianri tribe.
Xianbei was the threat that Daqian had to face directly. They could not allow Xianbei to grow stronger by using the barbarians!
"The Zhenguo Marquis of Da Liang and six hundred ancient books are already on their way," Ding Wuyi reminded them.
Xiao Qing looked at Liang Xiao with pride.
Her beloved man was already a pillar of the nation, surpassing the Zhenguo Marquis of Da Liang!
Liang Xiao couldn't help but sigh, "His personal arrival shows that the Son of Heaven of Da Liang genuinely wishes for me to go to Da Liang, rather than merely using an imperial decree to intimidate the noble families..."
Xiao Qing merely nodded slightly, a subtle worry lingering in her heart.
Late at night, Zhuo Xun, nestled in the quilt, looked up at Liang Xiao with wistful eyes.
"How about, you, you treat me as your cousin!"
Liang Xiao was taken aback. He looked at Zhuo Xun with guilt, and sighed, "You are also unique, just be yourself. You shouldn't replace anyone."
Zhuo Xun said earnestly, "Is it because my disposition is like a child that you can't bear it? But I am already eighteen! Although I would treat my elder sisters' children as my own, I still hope to have my own children in the future, and tell them: Your father is a hero who stands tall, and you are the crystallization of our love..."
Liang Xiao looked at Zhuo Xun, whose eyes were darting, and smiled with comfort. He then considered that he might have to go and subdue the barbarians of Xichuan and the Southwest again...
The next day, Zhuo Xun, enduring the pain, nestled obediently in Liang Xiao's arms, looking blissful.
Liang Xiao's restaurants had already spread to Jiangnan, completely encroaching on the He family's catering business.
The He family, knowing they were outmatched, and in order to cut their losses promptly, could only abandon their struggle. They ordered restaurants and inns everywhere to close down, and even took the initiative to make overtures, contacting the shopkeepers appointed by the Liang brothers, wanting to transfer their properties to them.
Regarding the He family's actions, the shopkeepers of the two brothers were well-prepared and gladly accepted.
He Wanli looked at the financial reports from various regions, his heart bleeding, his face filled with hatred.
The He family's catering business was completely ruined, leaving only dozens of brothels. Where should they develop?
Currently, they were absolutely no match for Liang Xiao, nor did they dare to openly relocate to Jiaozhou. They could only stabilize Liang Xiao and the "incompetent ruler" first, and then make plans.
The Dugu family had the least industry. They prospered by relying on tens of millions of mu of fertile land and the convenience of the Ministry of War.
In the past, whenever military pay passed through the Ministry of War, the Dugu family could choose the buyer, take a cut, or even secretly instruct Daqian soldiers to spend a little money to avoid fighting on the front lines.
A large portion of that fertile land had already been sold.
Any soldiers who did not comply with Dugu Qun's demands, or could not afford the money, were sent to the northern frontier to die.
As a result, these soldiers who had suffered losses, under Liang Xiao, broke through the barbarians, sealed the Wolf Residence, and left their names in history...
Now, the Dugu family absolutely dared not abandon all their official positions. No one understood better than them the hatred of these soldiers destined to be recorded in history.
For example, General of the Conquest of the West, Nan Jiyun.
Especially since the court historian had recently been replaced by Xiao Qing, if they could not overthrow Daqian, they would be eternally shamed.
In Jiaozhou, Daqian, the Southern King and the Jiaozhou warlords, who had been patiently waiting, heard about the changes in Xichuan and also became restless.
A force of tens of thousands of people, shuttling through forests and mountainous areas, headed straight for Xichuan.
The commander at the forefront was iron-faced, one-armed, and wore a brocade robe.
The Young Master in Brocade Robe of the Sun and Moon Army!
"Xichuan is strategically defensible. This is a rare opportunity. Strive to take control!"
Two days later, the Ye family, escorted by the Luzhou troops, finally delivered the six hundred ancient books to the capital without incident and sent them to the imperial palace.
These ancient books were all ancient paper books.
Early ancient books were actually a pile of bamboo slips. Through repeated collection and copying by the ancestors of the Ye family, the content of the ancient books was finally preserved.
Ye Chong explained, "These were transcribed by my ancestors at the risk of their lives. In fact, four hundred more ancient books from the Wu Dynasty have been lost and cannot be found! The Helian family in Xichuan occupies the southwestern region, destroyed all ancient bamboo slips, and sent people to closely monitor our Ye family members. We took advantage of the recent civilian unrest, and with the secret assistance of the Prefect of Hanzhong, we finally managed to escape Xichuan with the ancient books..."
Xiao Qing nodded solemnly, "The Ye family is loyal to the people, and the nation will not treat them unfairly. I will discuss rewards with the officials!"
After Ye Chong thanked them, he personally guided Liang Xiao in reviewing some of the ancient books.
"There are also several ancient books here that even record ancient secret histories, with detailed accounts of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. They cannot be proven, but they cannot be disproven either. For example, the legend of Emperor Xuanyuan Huangdi's 'elixir of immortality' sounds incredible."
"Elixir of immortality?" Liang Xiao and Xiao Qing looked puzzled as Ye Chong explained.
Ye Chong nodded, fetched a sheepskin-wrapped ancient book, and handed it to Liang Xiao.
"The ancient secret history is all in this book."