Chapter 17: Centered Around Me

  The Tianshi Dao occupied Hanzhong and then planned to take Yizhou, relying on the natural barrier of Qinling Mountains to block the imperial army, and later planned to take the southern counties of Jingzhou.

  The Yellow Turbans wreaked havoc on Yu Province and Xu Province. If we can occupy them, then we can retreat to the south of the Yangtze River, or attack to seize the entire southern region of the Yellow River.

  When the time comes, they will join forces with the Taiping Tao to attack Jingzhou from both sides and divide it among themselves. In this way, more than half of the world's mountains and rivers will be divided between these two families, and more importantly, the imperial court will be completely trapped in Yongliang.

  When the time comes, the imperial court will face a difficult problem that is hard to solve from beginning to end. Moreover, after occupying Jingzhou, it is equivalent to placing a knife on the neck of the imperial court's side. As long as the imperial army dares to stretch its head, it must be careful of attacks from the side at any time.

  "What a great plan!"

  Liu Xuan had originally vaguely felt that the two families had some connection, but he didn't expect to have set up such a formation for himself. If Nan Hua and Zhang Lu were really allowed to succeed, the world would indeed change - even if their families couldn't destroy him, they would still have the capital to establish themselves as emperors in a corner of the land.

  But Liu Xuan was not worried at all. After all, as long as he could raise the overall strength of his forces to a new level, all these conspiracies would be nothing but floating clouds.

  Nan Hua and Zhang Lu's plans were good, but they couldn't have imagined that he was a real immortal reborn, with abilities in his hands that surpassed theirs by several levels.

  In other words, even if Liu Xuan had always hidden in Yongliang and other places without going out, the gap between the two sides would have become wider and wider with the passage of time - what Liu Xuan lacked now was time, many of his plans needed a long time to slowly accumulate.

  Especially the initial foundation part, such as the cultivation of martial arts generals and soldiers; using immortal family methods to improve the quality of life for the common people, all of these must consume a large amount of time. To reach one's own expected goal - and wait until that time. Even if it's just casually sending out a general with an army, they can make these two bandit armies cry father and mother.

  With such confidence, what's there for him to be anxious about?

  "Since you two families want to make a fuss, then go ahead and make a fuss! When you're done making a fuss, that's when I'll come out and reap the benefits."

  Thinking about it this way, he really didn't need to rush to collect from these two families.

  The Tian Shi Dao is going to deal with Liu Yan - Liu Xuan has been displeased with Liu Yan for a long time, but this old ghost is very good at being an official, and his superficial work is flawless. It's really not easy for Liu Xuan to take direct action. Moreover, the sinister and cunning things are used with ease.

  That move to sabotage the Han Dynasty's connection with Yizhou and isolate it from the imperial court was likely made under Liu Yan's orders, but he never expected that the Heavenly Master Sect would have a bigger appetite than he thought, and now they are openly trying to overthrow the Han Dynasty. As a member of the Han royal family and also the governor of Yizhou, Liu Yan has ended up shooting himself in the foot this time.

  He didn't eliminate Tian Shi Dao before it developed, instead he let it grow and even provided them with territory. This time he will have to swallow the bitter fruit he brewed himself.

  "As for the Qinling Mountains, it may be a big trouble for ordinary people, but as long as I have enough time, even ordinary soldiers can pass through the mountains like flat ground. What's this little trouble? If I want to, blasting a tunnel through the mountain is not difficult!"

  After the initial shock subsided, Liu Xuan gradually analyzed the trend of this world in the following years.

  He doesn't need to worry too much, he just needs to follow his plan step by step, first thoroughly control the northwest region and then slowly plot other places.

  This is like when he re-determined the map, excluding those areas that were not under his control. It was not that he really wanted to give up that land, but rather that he wanted to more intuitively determine which places could really help himself and which places were still waiting for him to conquer.

  The most straightforward point is that those places will not provide him with dragon energy! For Liu Xuan, it's unquestionable.

  "Now is still guarding the gate, watching the world in chaos, and then developing one's own strength is the king's way!"

  If it were a few days ago, Liu Xuan might still be worried that the Yellow Turbans and the Taiping Sect would occupy a piece of land, which would have a huge impact on the dragon's energy and the prestige of the imperial court.

  However, he now finds that his own dragon energy and the dragon energy of the Han Dynasty have undergone a fundamental change - the various vassals in different places are no longer helpful to the dragon energy, and their situation will even make the dragon energy more decadent.

  In such an environment, Liu Xuan would rather compress the dragon energy of the entire dynasty to a certain extent, only shrinking it in areas that can be controlled by the imperial court. This way, the quality of the dragon energy can be improved, and the influence of the unfaithful hearts of the vassals on the dragon energy can be avoided, preventing it from becoming decadent.

  Originally, Liu Xuan was unable to do this. His Tian Long Qi Jue could only be passively affected by the dragon energy of the royal court in its early stages. However, once he cultivated it to a certain extent, he could influence the dragon energy of the royal court instead.

  Perhaps making the dragon energy directly stronger is not possible - he needs to have that strength, and the dynasty itself has already become strong, along with the dragon energy also becoming strong, so it doesn't need him to do such things. However, shrinking the range of the dragon energy's coverage, Liu Xuan's specially tempered dragon energy can still manage it.

  In this way, Liu Xuan was equivalent to shrinking the Han Dynasty to Yongliang II, although the coverage of dragon energy became smaller, but the quality has improved a lot.

  In other words, the world is like a large pool of water, and the dragon energy is like the water inside. At this time, the water can barely cover the bottom of the pool, and under the sunlight, it will probably evaporate quickly. However, if Liu Xuan were to pour all this water into a bucket, then the water would gather together and not easily evaporate away.

  This comparison is actually not very appropriate, but it's roughly the case.

  Liu Xuan now emphasizes quality over quantity, otherwise he would have more ways to improve his cultivation, why bother cultivating the Tianlong Qi?

  After doing so, Liu Xuan was equivalent to turning himself into a vassal in a chaotic world, only that this vassal had already proclaimed himself emperor and had a complete imperial court, and also had the ability to command the world slightly.

  "After this, I don't have to always keep my eyes on the world, just focusing on myself is enough!"

  To put it bluntly, Liu Xuan chose to develop with me as the foundation. He let those people fight outside until they were exhausted, while he focused on developing his own power, increasing his combat strength, and improving the livelihood of his people.

  He didn't want to do anything at first, and he wanted to unify the world first before slowly recovering. However, Xun Yu suddenly realized those abilities, making him see the possibility of directly developing from one place and then radiating across the country.

  With a clear idea in mind, there are more reasons to deal with Wang Yun: "At present, the imperial court cannot launch a war, and those two rebel families cannot come to provoke the imperial court at this time! Now it's not about who has stronger military power, but who can turn resources into combat effectiveness in the shortest time."

  Wang Yun was not very familiar with military affairs, but what Liu Xuan said was not just a military theory.

  "This time, the Yellow Turbans' uprising is vastly different from the last one. Last time, they rose up and plundered a region before sweeping towards this area, but this time, apart from some similar news coming from Langya Commandery, the Yellow Turban army in Yuzhou actually dug in their heels on the spot, it can be seen that the Yellow Turbans want to form a separatist force and engage in a long-term confrontation with the imperial court."

  Wang Yun naturally saw this point, which was also what he worried about most.

  But Liu Xuan just smiled: "In terms of fighting, the Yellow Turban bandits might still make the imperial army feel headache. But if it's about governing the place... Hmph!"

  He sneered coldly twice, and at the same time, it also gave Wang Yun a few more points of confidence.

  "Yes, if it's just about fighting, the imperial court might still need to fight the Yellow Turbans for a long time before they can determine who wins or loses, and there's even a possibility that they'll lose to the Yellow Turbans! But when it comes to governing the world, what are the Yellow Turbans? Just a group of rioters. Do they know how to govern? Even if the leader of the Yellow Turban bandits realizes the importance of governing the world, does he have people who can do that?"

  Those who govern the world are mostly from noble families, but the Yellow Turban bandits have already offended all the noble families in the world. This is destined to happen. As time goes on, the Yellow Turbans will not become stronger because of their occupation of territory, and may even be confined to one place due to their division of territory, only passively enduring the repeated siege of the surrounding vassals.

  King Yong also put down his heart, but Liu Xuan wanted to patrol the northwest, he was still worried, especially about the safety of the emperor.

  "Let Colonel Qin Yilu lead the Feathered Forest Halberdiers, and Deputy General Huang Zhong and Huang Hansheng lead 500 Imperial Guards to follow us, that will be enough!"

  "That General..." In this regard, Wang Yun still trusted Zhang Liao more, because as the contact time lengthened, Wang Yun found that Zhang Liao was a trustworthy person, especially being very calm and steady, making him the most reliable for guarding the Emperor.

  But Liu Xuan didn't want Zhang Liao to be tied down by his side all the time, so this time he gave Zhang Liao a chance.

  "After the Hu and Bao cavalry returned to the capital, although there were forbidden troops stationed in the north of the river, there was no great general in command. There is a superb crossing point there, if the vassals' soldiers and horses come from there, it will inevitably be a disaster, so I intend to let Wen Yuan lead the Youlin cavalry to patrol the west of the river for a while."

  Wang Yun listened and felt that this arrangement was also safe.

  Tongguan, Hexi, Xiagu and even Wuguan all have troops stationed there. Yongzhou is guarded by Liu Xuan like an iron barrel, so there's really nothing to worry about.

  Moreover, Zhang Liao led the Youlin riders to patrol the north and could also defend against the Xiongnu's southward invasion, which was indeed a stable arrangement made by Heaven. In addition, after listening to Heaven's analysis today, he also understood that even if the world is in chaos, it will not affect Yongzhou within a year, so he had nothing more to say.

  "Very well, I will go and make all necessary arrangements!"

  At the same time, Wang Yun also saw that Liu Xuan had made up his mind to go out and have a good time. Since he couldn't be persuaded, he might as well just go along with the emperor's idea!

  It was thus decided at the end of the year that after the snow had melted and spring had arrived, the Emperor would tour the various commanderies in the northwest.