In the fifth year of Han, Liu Ji completed the encirclement of Chu and once again led a massive army to attack, only to suffer another crushing defeat. By this time, Liu Ji could see that Roy was beginning to give her a chance—this peerless, undefeated Overlord of Western Chu rarely took to the battlefield himself anymore. Instead, he engaged Liu Ji in a strategic game.
Liu Ji knew full well that if Roy personally took action, not even her 200,000-strong army would stand a chance—even ten times that number would be no match for the invincible Overlord of Western Chu. Yet Roy no longer took the initiative to fight, merely commanding his troops and letting his Chu soldiers face her in battle.
The problem was that Liu Ji was utterly outmatched in military strategy compared to Roy, which was why she suffered yet another devastating defeat.
"The time for the decisive battle is near!"
Inside the Han army tent, Liu Ji paced back and forth with her hands behind her back, a faint excitement stirring in her heart. Roy's attitude made it clear—if she could defeat him, he would surrender.
Taking a deep breath, Liu Ji's expression gradually hardened. She barked out an order:
"—Summon someone!"
"Your Majesty, what are your commands?"
A soldier entered the tent and knelt, responding loudly.
"Deliver my decree: Enfeoff Han Xin as the King of Qi, granting him the lands east of Chen; enfeoff Peng Yue as the King of Liang, granting him the lands from Suiyang north to Gucheng. Furthermore, order the King of Qi and the King of Liang to lead their troops in a simultaneous attack on Chu. Han Xin shall have full command of this campaign!"
"As you command!"
The soldier responded loudly, accepted the bamboo scroll bearing the imperial decree from Liu Ji, and swiftly dispatched messengers to Han Xin and Peng Yue to announce the edict.
"This should leave no room for failure."
Once the tent was empty, Liu Ji plopped down onto her seat.
If I can't match you in military strategy, then I'll leave the job to the professionals. With Han Xin's abilities, unless you, the Overlord of Western Chu, take the field yourself, he will surely crush the Chu army.
This was how the Great Ancestor and High Emperor thought—it was also her greatest strength, the reason she had survived the Chu-Han contention and emerged victorious in the end. She knew how to delegate, entrusting specialized tasks to experts, never overstepping her authority or pretending to understand what she did not.
As an emperor, all she needed was to control those talents. As for professional skills—she didn't need to master too many herself.
Like Roy, Liu Ji generally did not allow maidservants to approach closely, instead having them wait outside. However, while Roy did this because he knew Yu Meiren disliked outsiders, Liu Ji's reason was to prevent her personal attendants from discovering her true female identity. Regardless of the reasons, Liu Ji's behavior set an example of simple and unextravagant living for her subordinates.
She massaged her forehead, sitting on a cushion with her eyes closed in meditation, already fantasizing about the scenario of 'capturing' Roy and being able to do whatever she pleased with him.
Liu Ji picked up a bronze mirror to examine herself, seemingly admiring her unchanging beauty, but was startled to find a single white hair at her temple.
"Oh dear, I already have white hairs. Would he one day disdain me for growing old and losing my charm?"
She gently stroked the white hair, her expression troubled yet filled with indescribable tenderness and joy.
...
Han Xin and Peng Yue were enfeoffed as the Kings of Qi and Liang respectively, both overjoyed. Following King of Han's orders, they led large armies to attack Chu. By this time, after successive battles, the Chu State only had 100,000 troops left, while King of Han Liu Ji had successively eliminated numerous feudal lords, her power continuously expanding until she now commanded 400,000 battle-hardened soldiers.
Unlike the Guanzhong region, the Western Chu territory lacked geographical advantages and was surrounded by enemies on all sides. Especially the capital Pengcheng was completely unsuitable for defense. Since Roy had decided not to personally engage in combat anymore but only lead armies in battle, he naturally wouldn't stubbornly defend Pengcheng. Instead, he abandoned it directly and moved to a more defensible location.
Han Xin marched south from Qi, directly occupying the Chu capital Pengcheng and vast regions including present-day northern Jiangsu, northern Anhui, and eastern Henan, his troops threatening the Chu army's flank and rear. Peng Yue advanced west from Liang, while Liu Jia joined forces with King of Jiujiang Ying Bu to march north from Xiachengfu. Liu Ji personally led her generals east from Guling. Ultimately, under Han Xin's god-like command, these various armies completed the Han forces' encirclement of the Chu army from the south, north, and west, trapping them at Gaixia.
"The wheel of history truly rolls forward relentlessly. Even without my interference, we've still ended up at this place."
At the Chu army camp, Roy looked at the military map on the table before him and sighed.
However, he understood that rather than historical inevitability bringing him to Gaixia, this was precisely Han Xin's strategic objective. The terrain at Gaixia was easy to attack but hard to defend. Han Xin had commanded the various armies not to engage Chu in decisive battles, but to gradually nibble away, forcing the Chu army to this location and forming an encirclement, making the Chu troops like birds in a cage or turtles in a jar—with no escape possible.
Roy carefully studied the simplified military map, filled with admiration for Han Xin's military tactics. Even with his own abilities, unless he employed extraordinary means, he could find no way to break this encirclement.
Truly worthy of being one of the Four Sages of Military Strategy.
"Pity that military strategists' minds aren't suited for politics—none of them had good endings in the end."
Roy shook his head. Now the Chu army, exhausted from constant retreats, was running low on supplies with their supply lines cut by Han forces. After much deliberation, Roy truly felt he was 'like a winged bird caught in a cage.'
Faintly, he heard songs coming from all directions—all Chu ballads. Hearing these songs from their homeland, the 100,000 Chu soldiers were overcome with grief, unable to hold back their tears. In an instant, the entire army's morale plummeted.
"Besieged on all sides, Han Xin, you truly take me for a man of Chu. Though by birthplace, I suppose I am indeed a Chu man."
Roy laughed with a hint of mockery. Had he truly been a Chu native born in this late Qin era, hearing the songs of his homeland would likely have moved him to tears.
"With courage remaining, pursue the foe in flight;
Seek not like Xiang Yu a vain heroic name!"
The Great Ancestor's verse spoke true indeed.
This was precisely the outcome Roy had desired, so he felt no headache nor sorrow. Instead, in excellent spirits, he folded the map and returned to his tent.
"Liu Ji, oh Liu Ji, after all I've invested in nurturing you, I pray you'll become a worthy emperor—one who won't fail this land of Huaxia nor its Han people!"
The name "Han," denoting the descendants of Yan and Huang, truly began with the Han dynasty!
Upon returning to his tent, Roy's good mood vanished the moment he saw Yu the Beauty kneeling inside, a seven-stringed qin resting on her lap. His entire demeanor grew melancholy.
Yu the Beauty raised her exquisite face, flashing Roy a radiant smile as her fingers danced across the strings, playing a lively tune. Yet as she played, a single tear welled in the corner of her painted eyes, tracing down her smooth cheek and falling like a pearl onto the qin's strings.
She smiled, yet she wept.
Over the years, with the aid of the elixirs left by the First Emperor, Yu the Beauty had long since shed her vampiric impulses, her strength restored to eighty or ninety percent of its peak. Once again, she had become the divine maiden of antiquity, capable of summoning clouds with a wave of her hand and overturning seas with a flick of her wrist. Yet despite this power to move mountains and drain oceans, she knew she was helpless against the greater forces of this world.
Roy's "bond" with this world was gradually fraying. In Yu Ji's eyes, though he still stood before her, he seemed like an immortal on the verge of ascension—his very presence fading. Soon, he would likely vanish from this land entirely.
Though Yu Ji was Gaia's daughter, a spirit born of heaven and earth, even she could only lament helplessly before forces that touched upon the world itself.
"My king, would you care to hear this humble consort sing a little tune to lift your spirits?"
Yu the Beauty wiped away her tear, revealing only her enchanting smile as if nothing had happened.
"Gladly. And if Yu the Beauty is willing, perhaps she might also dance for this king?"
Yu Ji lowered her head, her jade-like hands trembling slightly, yet she still managed a smile. "...This humble consort would be honored."
The qin's melody resumed, its ostensibly cheerful notes carrying an undercurrent of sorrow.
Gazing upon Yu the Beauty's flower-like, kingdom-toppling visage, Roy suddenly understood—
"My strength plucked mountains, my spirit overawed the world;
Yet the times were against me, and my steed would not run.
My steed would not run—what could I do?
Oh, Yu, oh Yu, what will become of you?"
The song was bold yet filled with lament.
Though he possessed the power to topple a thousand mountains and slay gods, before the greater Counter Force, the greater tide of human order, he could only submit and go with the flow. This filled Roy with bitter indignation.
Had he greater strength—had he been able to grasp stars and shatter universes with a wave of his hand, had he been able to halt the march of human order and prevent the coming pruning—why then would he need to sigh here, singing the Song of Gaixia?
At this moment, the desire to grow stronger swirled madly in Roy's mind. If only he possessed sufficient power—the power to resolve everything—then such sorrow would never exist again. With enough strength, he could easily replace the Han with the Chu, disregarding all human reason. Even if the day of pruning truly arrived, he could laugh heartily and throw a punch, forcing the torrent of human reason to reverse its course.
If he had enough power, he could forcibly take Yu Meiren away, sparing her from wandering alone in a world without him.
Thus, what he needed was power!
To reach the pinnacle of humanity—no, even that wouldn't be enough.
Roy felt he should first set a small goal: to become a "Demon God"!