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45: Please Tell the Truth

Ye Yin continued, "East Zhi is near Dongling. It is customaryto prefer the pen to the sword. They are satisfied with the status quo and are well managed, but with the lack of military, East Zhi does not have good commanders. Meanwhile, West Zhi is near Xili, so the people are quite tough. Thus, West Zhi has a good militaryinstead. From the very start, I planned for East Zhi to provide forits people and increase agriculture. I want East Zhi to become the Zhi nation's reserve, to provide for the Zhi nation's troops. West Zhi will defend Zhi nation, its sword. So, Brother Jianli, the generals you brought will have something to do. After the situation stabilizes, they will train new recruits and expand the army. That is why I did not protest when you only picked people who knew how to fight, but I did not expect you to completely lack people who could reconstruct the nation."

"I understand. When I return, I will immediately instruct them to train new recruits and strengthen the army."

Ye Yin spoke softly. "Yes, but strengthening the army will arouse suspicion from the four other nations. You will station soldiers by Yulong River to create the facade of tension with East Zhi. In addition, West Zhi's agriculture cannot be abandoned, there needs to be enough for them to be self sufficient. Agriculture is a nation's throat. We must be careful that nothing chokes it."

But Hua Jianli was confused. "Did you not say that East Zhishould focus on agriculture? Why should West Zhi continue with farming? If West Zhi runs low on food supplies, why can't we just transfer food from East Zhi to West Zhi?"

"You bonehead, it's a wonder how you've made it this far without thinking. How can we simply transfer food over? Are you trying to announce to the world that Zhi nation has reunited?"

Hua Jianli scratched his head embarrassedly. "Haha, I didn't think of that. You know that I'm not afraid to go off to war, but my brain becomes putty when it comes to this."

Ye Yin shot him a glare. "Even if we wanted to transfer food in the future, there would be many problems. East Zhi is very far from West Zhi. The food would have to cross Yulong river. Under an emergency, that would not be carried out easily, so West Zhi cannot afford to wait for relief if it runs out of food. East Zhi also needs soldiers who can appear in an emergency."

"Emergency? Little Qi, are you thinking of Dongling? It was rumored the emperor had his eyes on East Zhi, and he has the world renowned prime minister Ren Fengyao by his side. Little Qi, if you go against him, what are your chances of success?" Du Luo spoke profoundly, a hidden meaning in his words.

"What are you bringing him up for?" Ye Yin's expression flickered unnaturally for a moment. He looked away indifferently. "Dongling currently doesn't have the time to deal with Zhi nation. Once it has the energy, Zhi nation will already have developed. Once the time comes, it won't be so easy for him to beat me!"

An imperceptible hint of mirth flitted through Du Luo's eyes. As if afraid that Du Luo would bring up Ren Fengyao's name again, Ye Yin changed the topic quickly. "Oh right, Brother Jianli, when you return, you must also strengthen the navy. As far as I know, West Zhi has a navy, but it is extremely weak, so we must strengthen it as soon as possible. Of course, we have to give the appearance that it is to fight East Zhi."

"Why?" Hua Jianli did not understand. "What's the point of establishing a navy? Nanrong?"

Ye Yin humphed. "Nanrong has even sent a man as powerful as Nangong Piaoran to observe East and West Zhi, which means Nanrong won't stay silent. How can we simply wait for them to attack?"

"But Nanrong is only connected to West Zhi via the Fengyang mountain pass. Although the Nanrong navy is powerful, their army is weak. Even if they strengthened their army, they would not be able to cross the Fengyang pass. A has the power to stop a thousand soldiers. There is no way Nanrong can reach Zhi nation through the Fengyang pass."