69novels Chapter 17 It's not that Great Chu can't wait, it's that your master can't wait.
Chapter 17 It's not that Great Chu can't wait, it's that your master can't wait.
Cheng Xiao continued to analyze the situation of the other six countries with Chu Ning.
Chu Ning showed no surprise at this shocking intelligence.
Because she felt that her teacher was such a person; even though he had always stayed in the palace and had never been to the other six countries, he could still calculate everything under the heavens.
Just like back then.
Having lived in Falling Star Valley for a long time, he had a deep understanding of the current situation in the Great Chu, and even some secret information could not be hidden from his eyes.
Cheng Xiao's hand swept across the map as he began to sketch out a vision of the future with Chu Ning.
"First, cut off the Great Zhou's supply lines and starve its 300,000 iron cavalry to death; at the same time, send light cavalry to launch a surprise attack on the Great Yan, forcing it to surrender, and cut off the waterway trade between the Great Jing and the Great Han. Within two years, these two countries will inevitably fall into internal strife due to lack of food. After sweeping the northwest, the young pampered soldiers of the Great Yong will collapse at the first touch. As for the Great Li, it is too weak to stand alone. No matter how strong its navy is, it cannot stop the million-strong army of the Great Chu from trampling the riverbank."
His voice remained calm and emotionless, as if the destruction of six kingdoms was nothing more than a trivial matter that could be accomplished with the flick of a wrist.
Chu Ning was already used to this.
To a teacher, world affairs are nothing more than a game of chess, and how could a chess piece possibly stir up the emotions of a chess player?
After Cheng Xiao finished his analysis, he turned to Chu Ning and said, "In at most ten years, only the words 'Great Chu' will remain on the map of this world."
If it were an ordinary monarch, after hearing Cheng Xiao's reasoned and well-founded analysis, he would probably be filled with enthusiasm and eager to implement it immediately.
Who wouldn't want to unify the world and become its ruler?
But there was no ambition in Chu Ning's eyes.
Although she remembered everything the teacher had just said, her attention was still on the blood-stained handkerchief.
The bright red marks pierced her heart.
Chu Ning knew that teachers disliked indecisive people the most. Even in the current Great Chu, efficiency was the top priority, and everything was sacrificed for efficiency.
but......
Her hesitation grew stronger.
Looking at the young man who was as thin as a sheet of paper, hesitation still overcame fear.
Chu Ning was no longer the stern monarch she had been during the day. Clutching her robes, she mustered her courage and said, "Teacher's plan is undoubtedly foolproof... but... but now that Great Chu has only recently stabilized, and after years of reforms, the people have only just begun to breathe. Unifying the world is not something that can be accomplished overnight... Ning'er thinks that this matter... this matter might be able to be postponed. We can rest for a few more years and proceed step by step..."
Her tone was exceptionally humble, almost pleading.
As she finished speaking, her voice grew softer and softer, and she lowered her head deeply, afraid that if she looked up, she would see the teacher's disappointed eyes.
Chu Ning didn't think that Great Chu needed to rest and recuperate; she was just worried about her teacher.
She wasn't afraid of waiting. As long as she could see her teacher every day, she was even willing for the world to be forever torn apart, and for the Great Chu to be content with its partial peace.
As she grew older, Chu Ning became increasingly afraid of losing her teacher.
The teacher's current state is exactly the same as that of his father before he died.
Chu Ning knew that although he had phrased it tactfully, he couldn't hide it from his teacher, who would surely understand his meaning.
She was prepared to be scolded.
But the expected reprimand did not come.
Cheng Xiao was not angry.
He stopped what he was doing, turned around, and his calm, unwavering eyes gazed quietly at the empress who had already become a powerful figure in the world.
The two remained silent for a long time before Cheng Xiao finally sighed.
He reached out and gently stroked the map, looking at the other six kingdoms on it, and said, "Your Majesty, it's not that Great Chu can't wait, it's that your teacher... can't wait any longer."
In just a few words, Chu Ning's psychological defenses crumbled instantly.
When she looked up at her teacher again, her breath seemed to stop.
Although she had guessed the reason, she still couldn't accept it when the teacher said it out loud.
The teacher is so amazing, how could... how could...
Tears welled up instantly, even staining the dark red lines on Chu Ning's forehead with a bright red hue. As her emotions collapsed, she could no longer control the overwhelming murderous aura within her.
She finally asked the question that had been buried deep in her heart for five years.
"Why... Teacher, back then you clearly possessed extraordinary abilities, you could calculate everything under heaven, you could annihilate the Five Great Zhou's cavalry with a wave of your hand... Which king of any country in the world wasn't worthy of your assistance? Why did you choose me, who had nothing at the time and was even considered a waste by everyone? To help me ascend the throne, you harmed yourself every day... What was the purpose of all this!"
If she could, she would even trade her throne for her teacher's life.
Chu Ning did not want her teacher to lose his life for her throne.
She couldn't understand why her teacher had chosen her as his apprentice in the first place.
Seeing Chu Ning's distraught questioning, Cheng Xiao realized that his performance had worked.
A thirteen-year-old girl needs to overcome her timidity, but an eighteen-year-old girl needs some warmth.
Cheng Xiao suddenly laughed self-deprecatingly.
His smile carried a hint of loneliness and desolation; he no longer seemed to be the strategist and mastermind of the Great Chu Kingdom.
Cheng Xiao slowly turned around and looked at the vast snowstorm outside the window.
"All-knowing and all-powerful? Calculating everything under heaven? Your Majesty, do you truly believe your master is an omnipotent god under the nine heavens?"
He had long anticipated that Chu Ning, once she grew up, would wonder why he had chosen to take her as his disciple, and he had already figured out the answer.
The system gave him the identity of a down-on-his-luck scholar who had lived in Falling Star Valley for a long time, and this identity came in handy at this moment.
He coughed violently twice, turned his head, and looked at Chu Ning with a complicated expression.
"I was nothing more than a down-on-his-luck scholar who had long lived in Falling Star Valley. I possessed the skill to slay dragons, yet no one cared. The feudal lords of this world only valued lineage and illustrious reputation. Who would care about a sickly fellow living in a thatched hut deep in the mountains? Who would dare to stake their life on someone of unknown origin?"
Cheng Xiao bent down slightly, his cool fingers gently stroking Chu Ning's tear-streaked cheeks, his eyes revealing just the right amount of tenderness, while also carrying a touch of emotion.
His eyes were unusually gentle, as if he were recalling some happy memories.
"Back then, it was you who, through the wind and snow, knelt and kowtowed, and opened that wooden door. It was you and the late king who gave me, Chengxiao, a stage to display my talents and a trust that was completely unconditional."
"A scholar will die for one who understands him. My dream has never been about immortality, but about assisting a true emperor who will reign supreme for all time, personally ending this cannibalistic world and restoring peace to the land. And you are the one I have chosen."
Upon hearing this, Chu Ning could no longer hold back and burst into tears.
Tears welled up in my eyes, blurring my vision.
So that's how it is... Is that really how it is?
Beneath the teacher's seemingly cold and ruthless exterior lay a deep gratitude for her recognition and support!
She always thought of herself as just a dispensable tool in the teacher's hands.
Unexpectedly, in the teacher's heart, she was the confidante who redeemed his lifelong ambition in the wind and snow!
"No! It was the teacher who took Ning'er in; it was the teacher who gave Ning'er a second life!"
Chu Ning suddenly fell to the ground, tightly hugging Cheng Xiao's waist with both hands.
She buried her face deep in her white robes, her beautiful face upturned, displaying both madness and devotion.
"The teacher wants to end this chaotic world... The teacher wants this world..."
Chu Ning's voice no longer trembled, but was instead filled with killing intent.
"Then Ning'er will go and get it for Teacher! Whatever the Great Zhou or the Great Yong, anything that stands in the way of Teacher's dreams, Ning'er will crush them all to dust! Ning'er will definitely, in Teacher's lifetime, present all six jade seals of the world before you!"