"Dragging and dawdling."

The maidservant didn't reply for a long time, so Wei Li became impatient and leaned over to listen to her.

Zhao Xiheng was still cursing, but her voice was too soft and unclear; no one could hear her unless it was right next to her lips.

Her dreams were filled with that old beast Wei Li, only the circumstances were completely different. In her dream, her father had died and been resurrected, leading troops to conquer Pingzhou. Wei Li, as a traitor, was bound to the gallows, looking utterly miserable and pitiful. She pinched Wei Li's face with unrestrained joy, pouring out all the foul words she had been holding back.

That was truly exhilarating!

The maid felt as if she were being roasted over a fire, sweat pouring down her face, yet she dared not stop him and could only watch helplessly as Wei Li pressed himself against her.

Her heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was going to jump out of her throat, and her limbs felt as weak as if she were walking on clouds.

No, no, no, stop scolding! This young lady is so beautiful, how can she not cherish her life?

If things go wrong and the lord takes his anger out on her, she might lose her life.

Wei Li stood with his hands behind his back, leaning slightly forward. His dark hair fell onto her neck, making it impossible to hear what she was muttering. He swept his hair back and lowered his body even further.

I still can't hear it.

He simply pressed his ear against her lips, half an inch away, the earring brushing against her lips, while the warm breath she exhaled landed on Wei Li's earlobe.

“Wei Li…”

This time he heard it; the voice was soft and gentle, a little hoarse, calling his name, like a feather tickling his heart.

Wei Li pinched her earlobe and felt that she was burning up quite a fever; even her breath was scorching hot.

Well, it's still pretty good. Even in my dreams while I was sick, I didn't forget his name.

Judging from her current cowardice, she probably wouldn't dare say a harsh word to him, and is probably crying and begging him to let her go in her dreams right now.

He smiled and listened intently.

The maidservant bowed her head and trembled, almost ready to die a heroic death.

"My lord!" the prefect called out anxiously from outside the door, "My lord, something terrible has happened!"

He usually avoided Wei Li as much as possible, and would rather stay away from him than get involved. If it weren't for the urgent situation, he would never have willingly walked into the line of fire. However, he also thought that Wei Li was usually too indifferent to the livelihood of Pingzhou and didn't value human life, so he worried that Wei Li wouldn't take this matter seriously.

The prefect's voice grew louder and louder, and Wei Li only heard his own name from Zhao Xiheng's mouth; everything else was drowned out.

He kicked the door open and walked out, completely disregarding the patient lying inside who needed to rest. "If it's not something important, I'll skin you alive. Let's talk in the side room."

The prefect shuddered; Wei Li had done quite a few things like skinning people and stuffing them with straw.

The side hall was much colder than Zhao Xiheng's inner room. Wei Li put on the outer cloak, and the gold buttons on the front of the cloak rattled as he walked, which complemented his gold-embroidered clothes and made him look dazzling.

He sat imposingly at the head of the table, but feeling uncomfortable, he leaned back slightly, crossed his long legs, and rested them on the small table in front of him, giving off a strangely unrestrained and dissolute vibe.

Because of the gloomy sky outside, even though it was only morning, the side hall was already lit with candles. The flickering candlelight concealed half of Wei Li's fair face in the shadows and exposed the other half in the light. Ignoring his repulsive demeanor, there was a kind of breathtaking beauty about him.

The prefect ran over, hugged his leg, tears streaming down his face, and presented him with the report that had been brought to him: "My lord, the deer farm in Longtan was attacked last night."

The dense text on the report was a headache to read, so Wei Li threw it far away, only to have the prefect pick it up again.

The Longtan Deer Farm is undeniably important to Pingzhou, supporting a significant portion of its income. Every year, the farm harvests deer antlers, processes them into hides, and trades them for coal and other goods. The farm is also crucial to the livelihoods of many Pingzhou residents.

Wei Li's face suddenly darkened, and he kicked the small table in front of him away. The wooden table rolled several times on the ground and fell apart, showing how much force he had used.

Whether Pingzhou had supplies or not was irrelevant to him, the state of the deer farm was irrelevant to him, and even the life and death of the people of Pingzhou was irrelevant to him, but Wei Li cared about his reputation. He refused to suffer the slightest humiliation or injustice. If anyone disgraced him or made a fool of himself, he would remember it for a lifetime and would chase after that person until he killed them.

"Is it the Xianbei, Goguryeo, Japan, or Qingzhou?"

He didn't miss a single one of the neighbors; he counted them all.

The prefect believed that, given Wei Li's current state of mind, even if he claimed that the deer farm was attacked by the Japanese, Wei Li would still be able to cross the sea overnight to fight the Japanese.

Although Wei Li was usually heartless, cold-blooded, and cruel, his unexpected interest in the deer farm today surprised him somewhat. Regardless of his true intentions, it was something he could handle.

"Yes, it was Goguryeo. The Songhua River was frozen thick the night before, and some people from Northern Goguryeo took advantage of the darkness to cross the river, sneak into the deer farm, and kill most of the young deer."

Goguryeo's move to undermine the very foundation of the economy was undeniably ruthless, as the deer farms were crucial to the livelihood of Pyeongju. Adult deer represented the present of the farms, while juvenile deer represented their future. This slaughter would not only leave a shortage of deer for next year, but also for the year after, inevitably leading to a decline in Pyeongju's economy.

“Pingzhou is mine now.” Goguryeo’s behavior was tantamount to urinating on his head, riding on his neck and slapping him in the face, making him look bad. Wei Li naturally couldn’t tolerate it.

"Who were the people on duty at the border last night?" Wei Li asked, licking his sharp teeth.

"It was Commander Sun and his men who were on guard duty," the prefect replied verbatim after flipping through the register.

"Winter fishing has already started at Chagan Lake, right?"

"Yes, it started half a month ago." The prefect scratched his head, somewhat puzzled.

“Those good-for-nothings who can’t even guard the border should be thrown into Chagan Lake to feed the fish.”

The prefect felt that being skinned alive was far better than being thrown into the lake and freezing to death. He made a note of it with trembling hands, waiting to pass on the order later.

"My lord, given Goguryeo's actions, is a marriage alliance still possible?"

"No way," Wei Li smiled. "It's a failure."

He snatched away all the princesses who were supposed to be sent for marriage alliances. Even if the weak and incompetent Zhou emperor still wanted to arrange marriages, who would he use? Himself?

The prefect thought about it and agreed.

The Goguryeo's night raid on Luchang clearly showed that they never intended to establish friendly neighborly relations with them.

This behavior was a blatant slap in the face to the Zhou emperor, who had been so eager to send a princess for a marriage alliance.

If the emperor had any sense of justice, he would no longer send princesses to marry foreign rulers.

But speaking of which, the princess should have arrived soon, so why haven't we heard any news yet?

Wasn't the emperor's own daughter supposed to marry the former heir of the Prince of Zhenbei? Now that the entire Prince of Zhenbei's family has gone to the underworld and Pingzhou has changed hands, who will she marry?

The prefect shook his head and clicked his tongue. The emperor's marriage to the princess was going badly; he was being slapped on both sides of the face.

Wei Li and the prefect's ideas gradually diverged from each other.

While the prefect was still lost in thought, Wei Li suddenly stood up, took the long sword hanging to the side, went out, lifted the curtain, and slipped out, saying...

"Lieutenant General, follow me to muster the troops."

The prefect was so frightened that he slid to his knees and grabbed his leg, pleading, "My lord, please go now!"

This ancestor was really reckless. How many troops did Ji'an have? Were they enough?

Wei Li bent down, grabbed the prefect's hair, forced him to look up at him, and smiled sinisterly, "If we don't go now, when will we go? When those maggots from Goguryeo actually step on my head?"

Although it was the Northern Goguryeo that launched the surprise attack on Luchang, the Southern Goguryeo was closer to Ji'an and they were both part of the same country. Despite the division into North and South, Wei Li felt it didn't matter which one he attacked.

They led their troops away in the morning and arrived in Pyongyang in the afternoon.

Pyongyang is the border between Pyongju and South Goguryeo.

Before Wei Li's troops could even catch their breath, they saw him straighten his back, casually nock three arrows on his bow, and accurately shoot them into the heads of three enemy soldiers without missing a single shot.

Good heavens, this ancestor really knows how to cause trouble. Everyone stopped to rest and gripped their weapons tightly, ready to fight at any moment.

A man who looked like a general emerged from the yurt, stood under the torch, and roared at Wei Li, "Who goes there?"

Because Pingzhou has a diverse culture and many languages, everyone is fluent in at least two languages, so Wei Li could naturally understand the general's words.

He lowered his eyelashes, revealing a faint smile, then raised his sharp chin, "The one who comes is your grandfather!"

His gold jewelry and earrings gleamed in the firelight, making him look like a sitting duck. His posture and tone were unbelievably arrogant and contemptuous.

The people of Pingzhou were aroused by Wei Li's dismissive attitude.

The two sides clashed, and the sounds of weapons clashing and shouts were extremely jarring.

The fierce fear the ruthless, and the ruthless fear the reckless. Wei Li was that reckless one.

He wore no armor whatsoever, wielding a pair of three-foot-long silver curved blades, and moved among the Goguryeo soldiers without ever retreating, like a vengeful ghost seeking death.

The fight ended quickly. When one of Wei Li's blood-dripping twin blades was pressed against the neck of the enemy general, the rest of the Goguryeo troops broke down, dropped their weapons, and surrendered.

Wei Li licked his dry, bleeding lips, kicked the Goguryeo general to the ground, stomped on his chest, and patted his face with the flat of his knife like slapping a dead pig. "Remember this, tell your Goguryeo king that I am Wei Li of Pingzhou. Next time your men go to places they shouldn't go, tell him to wash his neck and wait for me at the royal court."

The general's eyes widened as he struggled to get up, but Wei Li pushed him down again.

Wei Li bent down slightly and used a knife to carve the character "defeat" on each side of his cheek, one side in the Great Zhou script and the other in the Goguryeo script.

After admiring him for a while, Wei Li finally grabbed the man from the ground and handed him over to the men behind him to tie him up.

Since Goguryeo slaughtered the fawns in the deer farm, Wei Li cannot simply settle things by fighting them.

He sat on the highest platform in the training ground, a dry blade of grass dangling from his mouth, watching the people below clearing away the spoils of war.

There is grain, fodder, fine wine, horses, and lambs.

There was also... a woman.

The woman was dressed as a palace maid of the Great Zhou Dynasty, her hands were bound, and her mouth was stuffed with a wad of cloth.

Upon seeing the familiar language, Xiao Tao couldn't help but burst into tears.

She woke up halfway through the journey, jumped off the carriage to find Zhao Xiheng, but because she didn't know the way, she accidentally entered Goguryeo territory. Instead of killing her, they tied her up.