All Hail Cousin Brother

Chapter 399: Cooperation Strategy

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Every time he saw it, he couldn’t help but tease, “You’re an illustrious war god. In the end, you were still scolded by a woman until you couldn’t raise your head. You really should let your soldiers see how cowardly you are.”

Every time his father heard this, he would take off his shoes and chase after him to hit him. “Rascal, what do you know? Your mother’s heart aches for me and she’s worried about me. She’s in a fit of anger, so her anger will dissipate after scolding me. Sigh, no, brat, that’s my woman. So what if I let her scold me a little? I’m willing to be scolded by her. I’m willing to be afraid. What has it got to do with you? No, tell me clearly, what woman? That’s your mother. If I hear you being disrespectful to her again, I’ll beat you to death…”

When the little girl was angry, he did not dare to retort, nor did he even dare to explain. Zhou Linghuai lowered his eyes. Could this be considered a twist of fate?

After Yu Youyao’s outburst, she gradually calmed down, but her emotions were still a little unstable. Her voice was also sobbing. “Cousin, why did you go to Shandong to quell the rebellion?”

Looking at her red eyes, Zhou Linghuai’s heart ached. “Although the situation in Shandong is complicated, as long as we dismantle the alliance of the clans, Li Qiguang is nothing to be afraid of.”

Yu Youyao looked at her cousin without blinking. “If Li Qiguang can rise up in Shandong, the various clans will also benefit from breaking free from the control of the Imperial Court. Their alliance is driven by benefits. I’m afraid it won’t collapse easily!”

Zhou Linghuai chuckled. “It’s not difficult at all.” He dipped his finger in the water and drew two crossed lines with the symbol ‘+’ on the chessboard. He chuckled. “It can be broken even if there’s unified cooperation!”

After staring at the chessboard for a long time, Yu Youyao immediately understood. “I understand now. Unified means unifying the weak to attack the strong. Therefore, Li Qiguang joined forces with the clans to resist the Imperial Court. Cooperation means the strong will come together to attack the weak.” At this point, her eyes suddenly widened. “Other than Li Qiguang and the various clans, there are many officials of the Imperial Court in Shandong.”

Zhou Linghuai nodded with a smile and listened to her continue to analyze.

Yu Youyao became calmer and calmer, and her train of thought became clearer. “The clan, Li Qiguang, and the officials of the court have formed a situation of checks and balances in Shandong. They’re implicated and colluded to balance the situation in Shandong. Now that Li Qiguang has joined forces with the clan to rebel, the ones who are most threatened are the officials of the court. Once Li Qiguang grows up in Shandong, the first thing he has to do is change the interests of the officials. In the worst case scenario, it will affect their lives. They definitely don’t want to see Li Qiguang grow up in Shandong. Cousin’s plan is to secretly ally with him.”

“That’s right.” Zhou Linghuai nodded.

Yu Youyao was a little puzzled. “However, Cousin, how can you be sure that these officials of the Imperial Court will cooperate with you? The situation in Shandong is complicated. As officials in Shandong, it’s inevitable that they’ll be related to Li Qiguang and the clan. What if they don’t stop and simply join Li

Qiguang? Not only can they save their lives, but they can also benefit from it?” For the sake of their lives, it seemed normal for these court officials to side with Li Qiguang.

“Look!” Zhou Linghuai took three chess pieces and placed them on the chessboard, forming a triangle.

He reached out and pointed at the black chess piece at the top. “This black chess piece refers to Li Qiguang.” Then, he pointed at the two white chess pieces on the left and right respectively. “They represent the officials and the clans, respectively.”

Yu Youyao looked at it carefully.

Then, Zhou Linghuai took away the black chess piece at the top. There were only two white chess pieces left on the chessboard, one on each side, representing the court officials and the clan. “Do you understand?”

Yu Youyao looked at the two white chess pieces on the chessboard and immediately came to a realization. “Li Qiguang is powerful. In the three-way relationship, he has the advantage. Be it the court officials or the clans, they can’t avoid him. However, if Li Qiguang is eliminated, there will only be the clan and the court officials left in Shandong. Among these two forces, the court officials live on the left. The clans live on the right and the officials manage the people. It’s only right and proper. Without Li Qiguang’s restriction and suppression, the court officials will become the ones who benefit the most.”

In other words, after removing Li Qiguang, the ones who benefited the most were not the clans, but these officials of the Imperial Court.

All the people in the world came for benefits, the world was ruled by benefits.

As long as they had enough benefits, it was enough for them to take the risk.

Zhou Linghuai smiled. “After Li Qiguang’s death, in order to prevent a second

Li Qiguang from appearing, the Imperial Court will strengthen its rule over Shandong and weaken the power of the clans. These imperial officials who helped the Imperial Court to calm the chaos have contributed greatly, and there will be no lack of rewards. This way, the officials’ control over Shandong will also increase. If both of them are doing well, who will refuse such a good thing?”

Yu Youyao agreed deeply and added, “Moreover, although Li Qiguang is from a clan, he has never been very friendly to the Imperial Court. Even if the local officials join Li Qiguang, I’m afraid they won’t gain his trust. It’s not necessarily impossible for Li Qiguang to kill them. Therefore, joining Li

Qiguang isn’t the best choice. However, it’s different if they work with Cousin. Not only will they benefit from both sides of the Imperial Court and Shandong, but they can also ensure the safety of their lives.”

Her cousin’s plan seemed simple.

In reality, he had seen through everyone.

Zhou Linghuai nodded. “Therefore, they have no choice but to cooperate with me and be of use to me. Moreover, there’s no turning back. Each of them has the determination to win and will spare no effort. The most terrifying thing in this world is never the knife in their hands, but the knife in their hearts.

The knife in a heart was invisible and could kill without a trace.

Yu Youyao really believed now that her cousin had not said it casually when he said that he was confident in calming the chaos. Instead, he had already made plans.

She even suspected that her cousin had long expected this day and had already made plans in Shandong.

After pondering for a moment, Yu Youyao said, “There are probably more than a hundred officials of the Imperial Court in Shandong. Compared to the commoners under their rule, they’ve also hidden into a faction. Li Qiguang hasn’t officially raised the flag of rebellion, so he naturally doesn’t dare to touch them easily. These officials of the Imperial Court have worked in Shandong for many years. No one knows the situation in Shandong better than them and the power of the clan. There’s a saying that goes, ‘Know yourself and know the enemy, and you can win a hundred battles.”‘

If they could even become officials, the rebellion in Shandong would be half resolved.

With the 100,000 troops led by her cousin, he would definitely win.

Zhou Linghuai nodded. “They keep each other in check and are connected. The more they know, the more they can be used.”

Yu Youyao thought of a piece of history. “Zhang Yi implemented the Connection Strategy in the State of Qin and achieved the goal of annexing land externally, allowing the King of Qin Hui to pull out the land of the three rivers in the east, border Bashu in the west, take in the county in the north, and take the Hanzhong in the south.”

The cooperation strategy would break the alliance of the six states, making the western states focus on the Qin state.

Her cousin’s strategy was to use the court officials to break the clan alliance and make her cousin the main official..