Jiang Ming's favorite thing to do in his life is to punish evil people!

Whether it was the Dong brothers who trafficked people and harmed their hometown, or those shameless sycophants in the Yan court who colluded with foreign powers... which one of them didn't die a miserable death?

If it falls into Jiang Ming's hands, how can it possibly end well?

Jiang Ming not only wanted to skin Tian Yong alive, but also wanted all the soldiers to witness the execution!

The soldiers of Yan were all gritting their teeth, wishing Tian Yong would die immediately!

However, Jiang Ming emphasized the art of execution, demanding that Tian Yong not die before his skin was completely peeled off, but rather that he be made to look ugly!

And they would also pull out his tendons, so that he would be strangled to death by his own tendons.

Finally, he used his sinew to make a bow, and sent the bow along with the proclamation to attack the State of Qi to the King of Qi!

Many of the captured Qi soldiers fainted from fright...

That's what hatred is all about.

If everyone followed the rules in "Ganli": even when fighting a war, one should be sure to have a "just cause" and not act recklessly!

Then the enemy wouldn't be so ruthless!

The key issue is that the actions taken by the State of Qi in Maiqiu on these two occasions were extremely unethical!

The first time, tens of thousands of Yan people were massacred.

The second time, he used Le Yi's elderly mother as a hostage again, and even cut off a piece of flesh the size of the old lady's palm!

Given this, it's no wonder that the people of Yan were ruthless.

Le Yi's elderly mother died from excessive blood loss after a piece of her flesh was cut off...

Le Yi burst into tears, heartbroken.

However, this also completely freed him from any worries, allowing him to put down all burdens and wholeheartedly march towards the State of Qi!

The Qi state joined forces with 19 other states, totaling more than 400,000 troops, but Qi actually only sent less than half of them!

The rest were pieced together from other countries!

In other words... although Qi lost the Second Battle of Maiqiu, it was not seriously injured.

It also has a considerable number of regular troops within its borders!

Therefore, the "mission to attack Qi" that Jiang Ming assigned to Le Yi was not simple!

However, the soldiers of Yan were united in their hatred of the enemy and their morale was high!

Jiang Ming also wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to teach Qi a lesson... Destroying the country might be difficult, but severely damaging it and forcing it out of the stage of first-class power should be achievable!

Right now, he has more important things to do: help the Zhao family consolidate their power base and participate in the game of "dividing Jin"...

Therefore, after giving Le Yi some more instructions, he immediately turned around and led the three clans' army to Yangquan and then straight down to Changping, preparing to attack the Han family's territory!

The reason for this was that Jinyang City was easy to defend and difficult to attack, making it too difficult to recapture.

Moreover, the nomadic soldiers he led were at a disadvantage in the manufacture of siege equipment!

Therefore, it would be better to "besiege Han to rescue Zhao" and directly break up the alliance between the Han and Zhi families.

Among the four powerful families of Jin—the Zhi, Wei, Zhao, and Han families—the Zhi family held the largest territory and the most troops, making them arguably the core strength of Jin.

The Han family is the weakest...

Logically speaking, the Zhi family should have first annexed the Han family, and then declared war on the Wei and Zhao families.

But he didn't. Instead, Zhiyao used the Han family as cannon fodder, charging ahead to help him betray the Zhao family and seize Jinyang City.

Putting yourself in their shoes, the Han family must be incredibly conflicted right now!

They should understand that if the Zhao and Wei families were to perish...

If the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold; it's only a matter of time before I am destroyed.

The Zhao and Wei families are still around, and they can still keep the Zhi family in check.

Unfortunately, the Han family's territory was closest to the Zhi family's, so they were dragged into the battlefield.

In other words... the morale of the Han family's troops is the most unstable.

A direct attack on the Han family's stronghold could quickly dismantle the alliance between the Zhi family and the Han family.

Jiang Ming traveled south along the Taihang Mountains and directly stationed himself in Changping.

When the general guarding Changping saw the prime minister of Yan leading 15,000 troops descending from the sky, he was filled with doubt about life and powerless to resist, so he abandoned the pass and surrendered.

The news that Jiang Ming had occupied Changping also reached Jinyang City, leaving Zhi Yao and the generals of the Han family all dumbfounded!

They never expected that Zhao Yong, that old fellow, would actually let the Yan army into the Jin state.

The Yan army's strategic intentions were clear: Changping was the shield of the Han family's fiefdom. If Changping was lost, the Yan army could take advantage of the situation to move south and directly attack Hanyuan, thus annihilating the Han family!

The Zhao and Wei families have undoubtedly abandoned their attack on Zhongshan and are heading straight for Jinyang...

Going to save the Han family at this time would be a losing proposition!

But if they don't come to their aid, the Yan army will occupy their rear, and if they advance westward, that will be Zhi family territory...

Moreover, Zhiyao understood this in his heart.

The Han family, the Zhao family, and the Wei family all have a good relationship!

They joined me in attacking the Zhao family, but I forced them to do it...

In other words, it is highly likely that Han Yuan's Han family army will join forces with the Yan army to attack him.

That would make things even more complicated!

After careful consideration, Zhiyao decided that internal stability must come before external threats could be addressed!

First, they dispatched elite troops to completely annihilate the isolated Yan army within Jin territory.

Then declare war on the Zhao and Wei families!

After their joint attack with the Han family on the Zhao family, the Zhao family was severely weakened and no longer posed a significant threat...

On the contrary, this isolated Yan army, which had ventured deep into enemy territory, became a thorn in his side!

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!