The Lord’s Empire - Page 652/726

Great Qin now had 45 million residents and eight million soldiers. Five million of them were Stage 1 soldiers, 100,000 of them were Stage 2 soldiers, and 5,000 or so of them were Stage 3 soldiers. That was Great Qin’s current strength.

With that sort of strength, it would not be any problem for Great Qin to deal with the three other sides. This mainly required everyone in Great Qin to work together.

Great Qin now controlled 13 regions, and its strength was many times that of the other Dynasties. However, Zhao Fu still felt that this was not enough, as this sort of strength would be nothing in the face of more powerful enemies. They were still too weak, and Great Qin had to become even stronger.

In those two months, Zhao Fu had constructed many brick kilns, which could create bricks that were tougher than ordinary rocks and even steel. This was because, during the creation process, they would add metallic powder, and this sort of brick would be used for building the Great Wall and City Walls in the future.

In terms of laws, Zhao Fu had Shang Yang take charge. Many of the law reforms in Great Qin had been conducted by him back then, so Zhao Fu decided to hand this job to him again. Of course, it was impossible for a single person to complete this monumental task, and it would require the help of many people.

At the same time, Great Qin prepared to start to attack the southern side. Back then, the contents of their Contract were that Great Qin’s soldiers and City Lords were not to step within the contracted regions. However, people who did not fall into one of those categories, such as Great Qin’s Assassins, were not restricted.

Zhao Fu looked at the 100 Assassins next to him. They were the elite of the elite and proficient at all forms of assassinations, and they were incredibly stealthy. At the same time, their Cultivations had all reached Stage 3.

“Your… Majesty, I’m… ready!”

For some reason, Little Sha still could not speak very well, and he was still at the same height and looked the same. He still looked like a 12 or 13-year-old boy and had blood-red eyes and sharp teeth, which looked quite scary.

Even though Zhao Fu did not know much about the Sin Devil Bloodline, just from the 500 years lifespan alone, Zhao Fu could tell that Little Sha’s background was not ordinary at all. At the same time, Zhao Fu gave little Sha an official name – his surname would also be Zhao, so his name was Zhao Sha.

Within a system main city, there was a handsome-looking City Lord. He was called Zhang Nan, and he was the City Lord of Water Spirit City. Now that two or so months had passed without anything happening, many City Lords had relaxed and thought that Great Qin would not dare to attack them. After all, with those powerful Contracts, it would be very difficult for Great Qin to do anything to them.

Zhang Nan also thought that way – two months had already passed, so there was not much to worry about anymore. He was quite satisfied with their current life, as he was able to live with his wife in bliss and look after his aged mother. He was also awaiting the birth of his first child.

His wife was about eight months pregnant now, and there would be less than two months before his child would be born. They were not sure as to the sex of the child, but no matter what sex it was, Zhang Nan would still be quite happy.

Zhang Nan was preparing to go to sleep with his wife when suddenly one of his subordinates came and reported that something had happened.

Zhang Nan frowned and went outside, and he found that the streets were covered with ferocious fires everywhere. The situation was incredibly pressing, and Zhang Nan immediately went to personally put out the fires. Otherwise, if the fires spread, they would annihilate the city.

A while later, the fires had been extinguished, but Zhang Nan felt that something was off – why had such intense flames suddenly erupted out, and they were everywhere. Surely this was not just a random occurrence.

After returning to his residence, Zhang Nan’s gaze became cold – his ill premonition had been correct.

His beloved wife and his mother had been captured, and there were sharp knives pressed against their necks.

Zhang Nan felt quite furious, as these two people were the two most important people in his life. “Who are you? Return my wife and mother!”

Wang Ergou smiled and replied, “City Lord Zhang, as long as you follow our instructions, we’ll naturally let them go.”

Zhang Nan felt a sense of danger, but looking at his wife and mother, he held himself back and asked, “What do you want me to do?”

“It’s very simple – we just want City Lord Zhang to take your soldiers and attack Great Qin’s territory before returning. Afterward, you can take your people and family away, and Great Qin will not stop you at all!” Wang Ergou said as he smiled.

Zhang Nan’s heart trembled – so they were from Great Qin. However, if they did this, their side would be breaching the Contract, and all of their stats would be reduced by 40%. They would not be able to fight against Great Qin at all.

If Stage 1 soldiers’ stats were reduced by 40%, they would be far weaker, and the five regions would not be able to stop Great Qin anymore.

By now, Zhang Nan had realized Great Qin’s objective, and his expression became quite ugly as he furiously roared, “So Great Qin was not planning on having peace at all; isn’t it too shameless to use such methods?”

Wang Ergou did not mind Zhang Nan’s words, and he lightly ran the blade across Zhang Nan’s wife’s bulging belly. Zhang Nan’s wife was scared to the point that her body uncontrollably shook, and tears streamed out of her eyes.

“City Lord Zhang, I’ll say it one more time: take your soldiers to attack Great Qin, after which you, your family, and your people can run away. Otherwise, your wife, mother, and your unborn child might not live to see tomorrow!” Wang Ergou stared at Zhang Nan as his voice suddenly became cold.

Zhang Nan felt incredibly furious, but after looking at his crying wife and his trembling mother, he still agreed in the end.

Wang Ergou once again smiled. Before acting, all of the Assassins had found what the City Lords treasured the most so that they could use those things to force them to submit.

Following this, Zhang Nan gathered his soldiers and made preparations for the city to be relocated before invading Great Qin’s territory.

“System announcement! The southern side has invaded Great Qin and breached the Contract. The southern side has received a 40% debuff to all stats!”

This system announcement was like a peal of thunder in countless people’s ears, and after hearing this, they all looked incredibly shocked.

Zhao Fu was currently riding on Black Forest and was leading eight million soldiers and countless Generals. They had long since been waiting at the boundary region, and as soon as the system announcement sounded out, Zhao Fu gave the order to attack.

Great Qin’s army flooded forward with immense momentum. In order to strike as quickly as possible, Zhao Fu and Bai Qi each led half of Great Qin’s army and Generals to invade two regions.

Some of the City Lords who had no idea what was happening wondered why the Contract had been breached and why it had been their side that had breached it. They wondered if they could go and sign a new Contract with Great Qin the next day.

After all, over the past two months, Great Qin had given them many gifts and acted incredibly courteously. In fact, they had even eaten with Great Qin’s representatives a few times, making them greatly trust Great Qin.