"Kill them all, leave no one alive!"

"The left wing, why has the left wing fallen behind?"

"......."

Outside the mountains and forests, the sounds of men and horses filled the air as a bloody battle raged on.

Meng Ao remained calm, repeatedly ordering the Qin army to pursue and kill the Yelang soldiers.

Not long after, Meng Wu arrived covered in blood and shouted, "Reporting to the commander, all the remaining Yelang soldiers have been killed. In this battle, we have killed more than 30,000 enemies."

Upon hearing Meng Wu's words, Meng Ao's cold expression softened slightly, and he said in a deep voice, "At this point, half of Yelang's territory has fallen into the hands of my Qin state."

"You must immediately send someone back to Xianyang to report the news, and also to ask the King... whether we should annihilate Yelang in one battle?!"

Meng Wu nodded and grinned, "Father, I think the King will definitely agree. This time we can be considered to have gained the merit of destroying a country."

Upon hearing his son's words, Meng Ao instantly lost his composure, and a smug smile involuntarily appeared on his face. "Whether you are Wang Jian or that brat, I will be the one to take credit for destroying the country first, hahaha!"

Seeing his father so excited, Meng Wu was speechless. He thought to himself, "My father is so old, how come he has such a competitive spirit like a young man?"

However, he was also extremely excited about the achievement of destroying the country. He had only planned to seize some land, but he did not expect that Yelang was arrogant and weak.

even...

It gave him the feeling of fighting bandits in the country!

Even mountain bandits are cunning enough to have multiple burrows, slippery as eels, making them extremely difficult to catch.

But what about Yelang?

As indigenous people living in the mountains and forests, they did not know how to utilize the terrain, only knew how to fight mindlessly, and did not pay any attention to military formations or strategies.

In this back and forth, they moved as if they were in an empty field, and have already taken half of the Yelang territory, while the number of soldiers lost so far has not exceeded five thousand.

Destroying Yelang is really not a difficult task.

"Alright, what are you still grinning like an idiot for? Quickly send someone to report to the King!" Meng Ao saw his son standing there grinning like an idiot and slapped him on the back of the head.

Meng Wu instinctively covered the back of his head, looking innocently at his father, Meng Ao.

Meng Ao was furious and scolded, "Don't forget, that scoundrel of a man led Li Xin and Wang Ben to attack Wei and Han."

"With that kid's clever ideas, he might actually achieve unexpected results. If you don't hurry up, what if he beats you to it?"

Meng Wu was startled and quickly said, "Father, I'll go right away. I'll send someone to ride back to Xianyang at top speed."

After saying that, he turned and walked away quickly.

As Meng Ao watched his son's departing figure, the corners of his mouth turned up to an exaggerated angle. "The destruction of a country... it still has to be this old minister of mine."

"No, as the saying goes, a general in the field may disobey the emperor's orders. Yelang is about to be destroyed, and it would take at least ten days for the troops to come and go."

"With this time, I could have gone back and forth to wipe out Yelang twice."

"No, we can't delay!"

Meng Ao muttered to himself, his expression suddenly becoming solemn. He immediately shouted, "Men, issue the order: the army will continue forward and attack the capital of Yelang!"

"Yes, Commander!"

A short while later.

Two urgent messengers rode from Yelang to Xianyang, each carrying two spare horses to avoid delaying their journey.

Meanwhile, the soldiers of the Meng'ao tribe marched together toward the capital of Yelang.

......

Xianyang City.

Since Tie Niu and Li Xin left, the imperial court has been eerily quiet for the past three or four days, to the point that there is nothing to discuss.

That afternoon, Ying Zheng surprisingly finished reviewing all the memorials, and looking at the bamboo slips piled up beside him, he noticed that the number was much smaller than before.

"This... actually makes me feel like I have nothing to do."

Hearing Ying Zheng's murmur, Zhao Gao chuckled softly, "Your Majesty, ever since the Commandant of the Guards proposed policies such as merging the poll tax into the land tax, there have indeed been far fewer trivial political matters."

“At this time in the past, you wouldn’t have even finished reviewing half of the memorials.”

"Indeed!" Ying Zheng smiled. "I knew this kid had great potential; we'll have to make the most of him in the future."

"That brat is like a donkey... If you don't slap him, he absolutely won't take a single step forward."

Zhao Gao covered his mouth and chuckled, secretly envying the relationship between the ruler and his subject.

Suddenly, Ying Zheng's smile vanished, and he abruptly said, "I feel as if I've forgotten something?"

Zhao Gao's heart trembled upon hearing this. As a palace attendant, he not only had to take care of Ying Zheng's daily life, but also had to serve as his secretary, providing reminders to Ying Zheng at crucial moments.

But no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't think of anything he had overlooked. "Your Majesty, you have handled all the affairs of state properly, and there is nothing you have forgotten!"

Ying Zheng frowned, feeling as if he had forgotten something, but he couldn't remember it no matter what he tried, which made him feel very uncomfortable.

Zhao Gao then comforted him, saying, "Your Majesty, why not go for a walk? It seems that the sudden abundance of free time lately has made you a little unwell..."

Ying Zheng stopped thinking about it and stood up, saying, "Perhaps I'm overthinking things. Let's go. It's been a long time since I've paid my respects to the two empress dowagers. Come with me to visit them."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

The two left Zhangtai Palace, and before they had gone far, they saw imperial guards rushing towards them from afar.

"Your Majesty, General Meng Ao has sent a messenger requesting an audience!"

Upon hearing this, both Ying Zheng and Zhao Gao's expressions changed, and they looked at each other with bitter smiles.

Indeed, we forgot something important: we forgot about Meng Ao, who was still leading his troops to expand the territory of Yelang!

"Quickly, send it!"

Ying Zheng, suppressing his embarrassment, quickly gave the order.

A short while later, two messengers arrived, looking travel-worn.

"We pay our respects to Your Majesty!"

"General Meng Ao sent the two of us to report to the King that our Qin army has swept through Yelang with unstoppable momentum and has already taken most of Yelang's territory!"

"General Meng Ao humbly requests Your Majesty to issue an edict permitting the annihilation of the Yelang Kingdom!"

Good heavens!

Ying Zheng's guilt reached its peak in an instant. He had forgotten about this person, yet this person had conquered half of Yelang's territory for Qin. What kind of situation was this?!

"Go back and send a message immediately, informing the General that I have given my permission. Let him do whatever he wants in defense; I have complete authority over him."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Without uttering a single word, the two messengers received the king's order and quickly turned to leave, which pleased Ying Zheng.

"Look, just look!"

"These are the fierce and ruthless warriors of my Qin state!"

Ying Zheng's voice was booming, and he wore a spirited smile.

"Your Majesty is mighty! The Qin army, fierce and powerful, laughs triumphantly at the six kingdoms!" Zhao Gao hurriedly prostrated himself and shouted, offering flattery.

This made Ying Zheng even happier, and his smile became exceptionally bright. "Zhao Gao, from today onwards, you will be promoted to the position of Chief of the Imperial Carriage Office."

These words made Zhao Gao's heart tremble, then he cried out in wild joy, "Thank you for your reward, Your Majesty! This servant will certainly serve Your Majesty at all times..."

A string of words of loyalty poured out of his mouth, and his flattery made Ying Zheng laugh heartily.