Chenxi's troops advanced with unstoppable momentum, capturing several places in less than a year.

Within a year, those in power became aware of Shenxi's existence.

Chenxi now owns almost one-fifth of the land in the world.

They are already a force to be reckoned with.

However, neither of them could extricate themselves from the conflict, especially the King of Xiangnan and the King of Qingjiang in the south, who had been fighting for many years and were unwilling to give in to each other.

Besides, being far away from Shen Xi, there were naturally not many concerns.

As for the Prince of Ruyang, he was unable to move for the time being due to the Crown Prince's relentless resistance, let alone eliminate Chenxi.

Ma Zhigang from Beijiang saw Shenxi as a serious threat to him.

King Wen has been suppressed by Ma Zhigang, and Ma Zhigang has even taken back half of Yonghe Prefecture.

Qi County of Zhonggui Prefecture fell into the hands of Ma Zhigang, and Mo Ke, the prefect of Zhonggui Prefecture, was extremely anxious.

Upon learning that Mo Yuhua was a general in Shen Xi's army, he gritted his teeth. His good sister was fighting for someone else, and seeing how difficult things were for him, she didn't come back to help.

So Mo Ke wrote a letter to Mo Yuhua, asking her to return and lead the troops to defeat Ma Zhigang.

Mo Yuhua wanted to tear up the letter. She only remembered her sister when she was in danger, but she would send her away as soon as things were safe.

How could she not feel heartbroken with a brother like that?

But Ke paused in tearing the letter, then took the letter to find Chenxi.

"Commander, my elder brother has sent a letter, wanting me to return and lead troops to repel Ma Zhigang. What are your thoughts on this?"

Shen Xi did not accept the letter, but smiled and said, "Sister Mo, since you have come here, you must have a plan."

Mo Yuhua didn't beat around the bush, but said directly: "Indeed, I have a plan. I want to gain military power to resist Ma Zhigang on the one hand, and welcome the leader to Zhonggui Mansion on the other."

My elder brother is no good at governing this place; the Zhonggui Prefecture is already in chaos.

Shenxi nodded. "Are you really sure? After all, he's your older brother."

"I've made up my mind," Mo Yuhua said firmly. "Rather than have my elder brother killed by Ma Zhigang in the end, I'd rather hand over the territory to the leader."

"Alright, go to Zhonggui Mansion!"

So Shenxi arranged for guards, including Mo Yuhua's own guards, to go directly to Zhonggui Mansion.

Since Mo Ke now needs Mo Yuhua's help, he is naturally very polite to Mo Yuhua.

Mo Yuhua had no psychological burden, accepted the command, and directly led his troops to Qi County.

Mo Yuhua's arrival gave the soldiers confidence, after all, it was Mo Yuhua who led the troops to defeat the enemy last time.

It is a blessing for soldiers to have such a capable leader.

Mo Yuhua was indeed skilled at leading troops into battle. In less than two months, he once again drove Ma Zhigang out of Qi County and suppressed Ma Zhigang so much that he could not advance an inch.

Enraged, Ma Zhigang beheaded two defeated generals. He had suffered repeated losses at Mo Yuhua's hands and was in a terrible mood.

Finally, they changed direction and began fighting King Wen.

Last time, King Wen lost half of his territory and the city of Yonghe Prefecture because the garrison general failed to defend it properly.

King Wen was furious this time, so he sent his general Hu Axiong with 10,000 troops to wage a protracted war in Bang County of Yonghe Prefecture for half a year.

Bang County and its vicinity are now scorched earth, ruins and broken walls; no one has survived here anymore.

Hu Axiong, true to his bandit origins, first implemented a strategy of burning, killing, and looting, resulting in the near-total death and injury of the local people, with only a very few managing to escape.

Hu Axiong was notorious for his cruelty; anyone he captured would be forced to eat by his soldiers.

He himself also ate human flesh, but he ate those young girls in their late teens, lying naked on the ground, eating human flesh as sashimi.

Therefore, many families have a saying: "Never run into King Yama, the King of Hell."

King Wen also advised Hu Axiong about this matter, telling him to restrain himself, since King Wen wanted to conquer the world and couldn't afford to have a bad reputation.

But Hu Axiong ignored him completely and continued to do as he pleased without any restraint.

King Wen could not kill his generals at this time, as he already had not enough generals, and Ma Zhigang had killed many of them.

Hu Axiong was the best at holding off Ma Zhigang. For half a year, he prevented Ma Zhigang from advancing any further and even caused Ma Zhigang to run into problems with his supplies.

After all, the northern border and northern Shang regions have low grain yields, abundant grasslands and forests, and extremely cold winters. Previously, they could even raid places like Zhongdao Prefecture and Zhonggui Prefecture.

Currently, Zhonggui Prefecture is heavily guarded by Mo Yuhua, while Zhongdao Prefecture has joined forces with Xijiang, which has dispatched a group of cavalry to help Zhonggui Prefecture protect itself.

That's why Ma Zhigang's supplies ran out.

Lacking provisions and unable to plunder elsewhere, they will inevitably resort to exploiting the people.

After a round of exploitation, another quarter of the people were killed or injured.

Some people tried to flee, but Ma Zhigang had already given a death order: anyone who dared to run away would be killed without exception.

Those who couldn't escape either fought desperately or fled into the dense forest.

The dense forest stretched endlessly, with no end in sight, and no one knew where to go.

But no matter what, going in might mean certain death, but staying in would definitely mean certain death.

The area around Ma Zhigang is even more desolate.

However, this round of exploitation failed to solve the fundamental problem. More and more soldiers began to lose morale due to insufficient food, and some even deserted.

Ma Zhigang was furious. It was all because of Hu Axiong. If it weren't for this scoundrel, how could he have been in such a passive position?

Cui Yan, Ma Zhigang's strategist, gave Ma Zhigang a suggestion: "It is said that King Wen has a younger sister who is sixteen years old. She is willful and capricious and insists on coming to the front line to watch the battle. King Wen could not resist her request and specially sent people to protect her. She is about to join Hu Axiong's troops."

"We'd better let Hu Axiong eat King Wen's sister. Even if King Wen admires Hu Axiong, he'll probably still take his life."

Everyone knows that King Wen had a younger sister, who was born to the old queen late in life and raised like a precious jewel.

King Wen doted on his younger sister because she was younger than his own children.

In addition, the old queen was still alive, and King Wen was filial, always obeying his mother's words.

This time, it was because Princess Wen, the younger sister of King Wen, pleaded with the old queen, that King Wen had no choice but to agree to Princess Wen's request.

Upon hearing Cui Yan's words, Ma Zhigang immediately agreed, but how could he let Hu Axiong eat Princess Wen?

Cui Yan said, "I have a brilliant plan. You can leave this matter to me."

Ma Zhigang trusted Cui Yan completely, so he entrusted the matter to Cui Yan.

After Cui Yan came out, his teeth were grinding together. "Hu Axiong, you killed my whole family. I will make sure you have nowhere to hide."

Cui Yan contacted his former subordinates, who were serving in King Wen's camp and were now in Hu Axiong's army.

Cui Yan's task for them was to find a way to get Hu Axiong to sleep with Princess Wen.