Chapter 730: Chapter 729 Change in Strategic Thinking
Imperial City, within a courtyard house.
This courtyard house, located in the Second Ring, boasts an excellent location.
Despite the extensive grounds of the courtyard house, only an elderly couple past their eighties remain to watch over it.
At night, lights are still on in the courtyard house. From the outside, one could occasionally glimpse the silhouettes of the two old people moving about.
A massive underground chamber is hidden beneath this spacious courtyard house.
After Qin Yanyang secretly entered Imperial City with the elite of the Military Department, his first stop was here.
The gray-haired host of the courtyard house, who seemed senile to outsiders, stood in front of Qin Yanyang, full of vigor, his face radiant, with occasional flashes of wise light bursting from his eyes.
His expression slightly excited, he looked at Qin Yanyang and said, "It’s been a full fifty-seven years. Who would have thought that we, an old couple, would still find ourselves useful, alas."
Qin Yanyang looked at the elderly man with a gentle expression, apologizing, "I’m sorry, Grandpa Zhou, for disturbing you at such an advanced age."
The old man was named Zhou Xueqing, a second-generation intelligence worker of the Divine Continent, once leading the Divine Continent Intelligence Bureau and controlling the entire internal intelligence system of the Divine Continent.
His spouse also was an excellent intelligence worker; the couple was once renowned and feared by many in the country.
But at that time, Zhou Xueqing and his wife would hardly show their true faces, and in the Martial Arts World, they were respectfully referred to as the Hundred Transformation Double Killers.
For the cause of the Divine Continent, the couple had lost two children, and afterward they decided not to have any more children. In private, however, Qin Fangzheng referred to the old couple as "second father" and "second mother," and among the third generation of the Qin Family, only Qin Yanyang knew the couple well.
"The things you’re looking for should all be in here. However, they’re not comprehensive, and I don’t know if they’ll be of any use to you. After all, three years ago, under your grandfather’s direction, we began to wind down the entire intelligence system," Zhou Xueqing told Qin Yanyang.
Qin Yanyang said, "They’ll be of great use. With Grandpa Zhou’s help, the fragmentation of the Divine Continent will soon come to an end."
Hearing this, Zhou Xueqing slowly nodded, his expression serious as he addressed Qin Yanyang, "Child, you must not disappoint me, nor let the billions of the Divine Continent people down. The Divine Continent has always been a unified country, and although the current crisis emerged suddenly, the cause of the Divine Continent’s fragmentation is not only due to the ambitious factions like the Chu Family, the Sun Family, the Ning Family, and the Duanmu Family, but also due to your unavoidable responsibility. If you cannot restore the unification of the Divine Continent at an early time, you, your whole family, will become sinners in the history of the Divine Continent."
Qin Yanyang nodded firmly, "Grandpa, rest assured, I definitely will not let you down. Moreover, I can assure you, whether or not this operation is successful, I will not allow the situation of the Divine Continent’s fragmentation to continue any longer."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Xueqing’s expression changed drastically.
In the underground chamber, several elite members of the Military Department, who had originally been carefully reviewing intelligence materials with full concentration, also showed a change in their expressions and cast a complex glance at her after hearing Qin Yanyang’s words.
Zhou Xueqing swept his gaze around, keenly noticing the change in the expressions of several people, and slowly shook his head, speaking to Qin Yanyang in a heavy voice, "Girl, the Qin Family now does not just represent your family. The Qin Family was able to escape this disaster and garner the support of so many people, holding their own against the Chu Family and Ning Family factions with the help of the Hidden Sect,
not only because of your grandfather’s respectability, your own selfless public spirit, and your family’s just and benevolent manner, but also because those who support you believe that only by following you can this country become better, stronger, and, at the same time, they too can reap huge benefits after the success of the cause.
So now your decisions affect not only you and the future of the Qin Family but also the future of a large group of people who support you.
If you can’t move forward, they will push you from behind.
As long as you strive and toil, even if they know that peril lies ahead, they will follow closely; but if you think of surrendering without a fight, they will deliver the harshest blow to ensure the Qin Family’s downfall.
In the current situation, the Qin Family no longer has a retreat; they can only march forward and achieve ultimate victory."
Facing Zhou Xueqing’s stern gaze, Qin Yanyang was silent for a moment before slowly nodding, "Thank you for the reminder, Grandpa Zhou. Yanyang understands what needs to be done."
Zhou Xueqing’s words were not beyond her consideration, but after the fragmentation of the Divine Continent, the pressure on her was simply too great.
She felt that if she had not led the Military Department in resistance, if she had not fled, without the Qin Family banner, perhaps the Western, Southern, and Eastern War Zones would not have united to counter the upheaval initiated by the Chu Family Faction.
Although this meant that the Hidden Sect effectively controlled the Divine Continent, at least the Divine Continent was in a state of unified governance.
It was precisely because of the existence of the Qin Family that many people saw hope in the struggle, thus leading to the current state of the Divine Continent.
Since the incident, Qin Yanyang had been under immense pressure, her conscience and soul constantly bearing the silent condemnation.
Even though she said this, deep down she was still facing tremendous pressure.
But with Zhou Xueqing’s words, her belief was even more resolute.
At this point, she, the Qin Family, had no way out and could only move forward.
Then charge ahead with courage!
Two full hours later, the people of the Military Department who had been going through intelligence reports compiled a series of information and reported it one by one to Qin Yanyang.
In the end, Qin Yanyang said, "I hadn’t expected they’d anticipate our assassination plan and transfer all the key figures to military strongholds in the war zones. After all, we only have so few people, we can’t attack military fortresses."
"What do we do then? If they keep hiding, did we come here for nothing?" Xiang Yunfei couldn’t help but say.
Another person suggested, "Deep Blue Prison?"
Immediately, someone objected, "Even if we could break into Deep Blue Prison, we can’t ensure the safety of the hostages. There are simply too many of them. Moreover, even if we rescue all the hostages, the target would be too large. How would we leave Imperial City?"
For a moment, there was a flurry of discussion among the people.
They had traveled a long distance from the Western War Zone to Imperial City, thinking they could carry out a stealthy assassination operation, only to find out that the enemy had guessed this move and extremely cautious, had all high-level targets go into hiding.
This put Qin Yanyang and the others in a dilemma.
If they lingered in Imperial City, once discovered, they could very likely be the target of enemy encirclement and suppressive attacks.
And now that they were here, retreating without doing anything was very much unwilling.
Moreover, with the enemy’s important members all relocated, the current Imperial City could be said to be in a very vulnerable state, giving them the illusion that they could do a lot. But upon closer inspection, they found they couldn’t actually do anything.
After all, even though the enemy’s high command had all relocated, their ability to command the various departments remained, and once Qin Yanyang and others were exposed, the enemy might spare no expense in launching a devastating counterattack.
"Girl, you could consider changing your approach," Zhou Xueqing had been listening to everyone’s discussion, and seeing that they couldn’t come to any conclusion and were caught in a catch-22, he suddenly said to Qin Yanyang.
Qin Yanyang quickly looked at him, "Please, Grandpa Zhou, give your guidance."
Zhou Xueqing said, "Them hiding away, rendering your assassination operation unfeasible, will indeed lead to a missed strike, like throwing a punch into cotton. But have you considered that in doing so, they actually played a terrible move that stinks to high heaven?"
Qin Yanyang tried to maintain the clearest state of mind, thinking along the lines Zhou Xueqing had hinted at.
Zhou Xueqing reminded her again, "They only relocated those they consider important high-level officials. It’s impossible to move everyone. This breaks their people’s morale."
A glint of understanding flashed in Yanyang’s eyes as if she had grasped onto something crucial.
A moment later, she looked at Zhou Xueqing and said, "Grandpa Zhou means that I should change my perspective, not focus on their high command, but start disintegrating them from the grassroots level?"
"Just like the old instructor’s strategy of rural areas surrounding the city," Zhou Xueqing said with a chuckle.
Enlightened, Qin Yanyang gratefully said, "Thank you for the advice, Grandpa Zhou. Now I know what to do."