The carefree sixth prince, my father respectfully invites me to ascend the throne.

As time went by, the State of Chu had now lost most of its territory.

With only 100,000 troops, Yang Ling shattered the vast Chu Kingdom.

The other countries had already become restless and wanted to send envoys again, but Yang Ling refused them all.

"Your Highness, Chengdu is just ahead. I've heard that the land there is fertile and very suitable for farming!"

Li Tianba, who had been following Yang Ling, suddenly spoke up. For some reason, Li Tianba's expression would become much more indifferent whenever the topic of land was mentioned.

Yang Ling glanced at the guy who was following her around, a guy who seemed to lack common sense.

"Tianba, tell me why you have such a special fondness for farming?"

Upon hearing Yang Ling's words, Li Tianba's eyes dimmed, as if he had thought of something unpleasant.

"Your Highness, it's all in the past and it's not appropriate to think about it anymore."

Li Tianba sighed and fell silent, standing there quietly as if he were recalling something.

Yang Ling frowned slightly upon seeing this; Li Tianba was quite different from before.

But since he doesn't want to bring it up again, let's just leave it at that.

For the next few days, Yang Ling and his men made rapid and unstoppable progress.

"Your Highness, for the sake of peaceful relations between our two countries, we urge you to stop!"

Fifty miles east of the capital of Chu, the prime minister of Chu arrived with a group of ministers to negotiate peace.

At this moment, they had long lost their former arrogance, and their faces were extremely ugly.

Yang Ling looked at the group of people in front of her, a playful smile appearing on her lips.

"Want to negotiate peace? Sure! Then your Chu Kingdom will cede some more territory, especially the Bashu region. If you give up these places, I won't fight anymore!"

The prime minister's face turned extremely ugly upon hearing this. He never expected that the previously kind Ninth Prince would do something so crazy.

The State of Chu has already lost most of its territory. If it were to cede the Bashu region as well, it would essentially have nothing left.

The people of Chu were truly suffering terribly.

The prime minister hesitated for a moment, but if they did not join the alliance now, all that awaited them was the destruction of their country.

Seeing that Yang Ling seemed to have them cornered, the prime minister finally shook his head helplessly and had no choice but to agree to their terms.

"As long as Your Highness keeps your promise and never attacks our country again, we will agree to all our conditions."

Now that things have come to this, there is no turning back. As long as the Ninth Prince stops fighting, they will agree to any conditions.

Seeing how pragmatic the other party was, Yang Ling smiled slightly. This outcome was more than perfect for him.

"However, it seems that your Chu Kingdom has no fighting power left. Now I will point out a clear path for you. I wonder if Your Excellency would consider it?"

"What conditions?"

The prime minister looked at Yang Ling with fear in his eyes. He simply couldn't fathom how many terrifying ideas this young man might have.

"Your Chu Kingdom can become a vassal state of my Liangzhou. In that case, I can protect you from now on."

Upon hearing this, the prime minister's expression changed instantly.

This was even more unacceptable to them than ceding cities.

However, Yang Ling did not give them much time to consider.

"Since the Prime Minister is unwilling, I will not force you. If other countries bully you in the future, I will turn a blind eye!"

After Yang Ling finished speaking, he was about to wave goodbye to the guests. Upon seeing this, the prime minister and the others immediately knelt down on the ground.

Now, it seems that besides Yang Ling, there is no one else who can protect them.

"As long as Your Highness keeps your promise, we will agree to any conditions."

Upon hearing this, Yang Ling smiled slightly to himself, realizing that he had indeed achieved his goal.

"I will keep my word. From now on, your Chu Kingdom will be a vassal of my Liangzhou Kingdom. However, you will need to pay tribute to me, and the annual tribute must not be reduced."

"Yes Yes Yes!"

Upon hearing this, the prime minister readily agreed. Yang Ling nodded and stopped making things difficult for them, letting them get up and go back.

After the prime minister and the others left, An Yu, who had been following Yang Ling, finally spoke.

"Your Highness, doing this might provoke discontent from several other countries!"

An Yu looked at Yang Ling with a worried expression. Yang Ling smiled slightly; this was exactly the effect he wanted.

Now that the Chu Kingdom has basically lost all its fighting strength, if we don't take this opportunity to extort them, we'll never have another chance.

Moreover, what can be done even if other countries are dissatisfied?

If you have the ability, then lead a large army to attack him. Anyway, he has no fear whatsoever, as he commands a large army.

With the surrender of the State of Chu, the entire court was in turmoil, and those ministers who had previously looked down on the Ninth Prince were now filled with panic.

The Ninth Prince has displayed such formidable strength; if he were to ever participate in the struggle for the throne, none of them would likely fare well.

Compared to the panic of his subjects, Crown Prince Yang Shan was even more restless, as Yang Ling's strength on the battlefield had far surpassed his own.

Right now, at the Crown Prince's residence, Yang Shan is standing in front of a young man, anxiously waiting for something.

A moment later, the young man opened his eyes and touched his already short beard.

"Your Highness, the Ninth Prince is currently riding high on his power. If this is not curbed soon, I fear that in a few days, all the ministers in the court will be..."

Upon hearing this, Yang Shan frowned immediately.

"But now the Ninth Prince has nearly 300,000 troops at his disposal, plus the excellent equipment he obtained from the Chu Kingdom. We have no chance of defeating him."

Yang Shan was filled with regret at this moment. He had originally planned to send his ninth brother to Liangzhou to fend for himself.

But who knew it would end like this? He had an army of 300,000, but all the men he sent out failed. Now he was in a real bind.

The young man frowned slightly upon hearing this.

He knew all of this, and the reason why the Ninth Prince was able to advance so rapidly was closely related to the elite troops under his command.

The Ninth Prince's strength is now exceptionally formidable, and even Emperor Liang's attitude towards him has changed somewhat. If he continues like this, Emperor Liang may soon consider changing the Crown Prince.

As Yang Shan's strategist, he must now share Yang Shan's burdens and solve his problems.

"Your Highness, the only way to curb the Ninth Prince's ambition is to weaken the heavy troops under his command. That way, the Ninth Prince will not dare to act recklessly again."