"Ah!!"
Xiang Yan's roar of fury echoed in everyone's ears.
Many Chu soldiers instinctively flinched.
Even they could feel the intense anger in Xiang Yan's heart.
However, in the end, Xiang Yan only roared and continued his retreat.
Despite his immense anger, he didn't lose his head and directly engage Lin Tian in a fight to the death.
Because he knew that if he did, he would likely die on the battlefield.
Not only him, but the entire Chu army behind him would be wiped out.
As an experienced general, his wisdom was considerable, and he wouldn't do something so foolish.
Therefore, Xiang Yan could only flee in a desperate manner, filled with rage.
This made Lin Tian sigh.
"Alas! It's a pity that this time the army was led by the veteran general Xiang Yan. If it were a younger general, they might have exploded by now!"
"Once they lose their heads, they will surely never return!!"
Not being able to keep Xiang Yan and his entire army was a regret for Lin Tian.
But it didn't mean their operation was unsuccessful.
This time, they not only intercepted the old nobles of the three states and seized all their wealth, but also took the opportunity to kill over a hundred thousand Chu soldiers.
This was undoubtedly a great victory for Qin.
At the same time, it greatly dampened Chu's arrogance.
With this battle, Qin's hegemonic position was now undisputed.
If even Chu was no match for Qin, how could other states possibly contend?
Lin Tian believed that future wars would be much simpler.
It was even possible that they could subdue their enemies without fighting.
Of course, to achieve this, they still needed to improve the treatment of the common people and make them identify with Qin.
Only then would the people of other states be willing to become Qin citizens.
Once their people had such thoughts, it would be easy to conquer their countries.
After all, those states could not compare to Qin in terms of financial resources, and their armies' combat effectiveness was far inferior to Qin's.
Lin Tian looked at the vast battlefield, believing that the day of unifying the six states was not far off.
Meanwhile, Wang Jian also walked over with a smile.
"General Lin is truly formidable. With a mere stratagem, you have dealt a heavy blow to Chu!"
"I know Xiang Yan of Chu quite well; he is a veteran general and a notoriously difficult opponent!"
"It is truly gratifying to have annihilated over a hundred thousand of his troops! I haven't fought such a satisfying battle in a long time!"
"Haha! This is all thanks to General Wang's excellent cooperation!"
Lin Tian and Wang Jian were old acquaintances, so their conversation flowed without any awkwardness.
Moreover, Wang Jian's son, Wang Ben, was a general serving under Lin Tian.
Therefore, their relationship should be even closer.
At this point, Wang Jian's deputy also spoke.
"Earlier, this subordinate was wondering why the Grand General did not engage the approaching 'Chu' army and instead went straight for Xiang Yan's forces!"
"Now, this subordinate understands that it was all part of General Lin's plan!"
"The wisdom of General Lin and the Grand General is truly admirable!"
Wang Jian's deputy held Lin Tian in high regard.
The fact that he could devise such a plan, and his ability to adapt, was truly beyond ordinary people.
The more he understood Lin Tian's prowess, the more confident he became in Qin's unification of the six states.
With such a powerful general, and a Qin King who supported Lin Tian, how could Great Qin not unify the six states?
At this moment, he also felt a sense of relief.
He was fortunate to be a Qin citizen and a Qin general, otherwise, facing Lin Tian would have led to an unknown end.
Lin Tian was unaware of his thoughts.
After defeating Xiang Yan's army, Lin Tian did not pursue them further.
It was not yet time to attack Chu, and pursuing too deeply could lead to trouble.
Therefore, Lin Tian decided to leave Chu for now.
He then ordered his troops to withdraw and collect their spoils of war.
This time, the old nobles had gathered in large numbers and brought all their wealth, which saved Lin Tian a lot of trouble, as he didn't have to collect it from their homes one by one.
This vast sum of money, brought back to Qin, would be enough for Qin to accomplish many things.
Therefore, Lin Tian ordered Wang Wu to continue confiscating the land and wealth of the old nobles, while he himself, with a large amount of money, returned directly to Xianyang.
When Ying Zheng saw this wealth, he was also astonished.
"This, this is the wealth of those old nobles?"
"Indeed, this is a portion of their wealth, and it far exceeds the treasury of our Great Qin!"
"If we had allowed them to remain unchecked, they could have used this money to recruit soldiers and create chaos!"
Nobles were different from merchants. Merchants were merely wealthy, but they mostly had money without power.
Because at this time, the status of merchants was not high; just like Lü Buwei, he was ridiculed for being a merchant his entire life.
But it was different for nobles.
These nobles inherently possessed a certain prestige, and if they had enough wealth, they could easily raise an army.
If they wished, even if they couldn't rebel, creating chaos would be a simple matter.
Therefore, these old nobles became targets for Lin Tian.
Hearing Lin Tian's words, Ying Zheng nodded repeatedly.
Then, Lin Tian spoke again:
"The wealth and land of the old nobles from the three states are almost all confiscated. We also need to recruit talent through the imperial examinations!"
"This recruitment will be a trial run. After our Great Qin unifies the six states, and even occupies more territory, we will undoubtedly need more officials to govern!"
"Therefore, we must have more administrators to help us govern the various regions of Qin!"
"The previous methods of recruiting talent were too limited!"
Lin Tian had already explained the imperial examination system to Ying Zheng in detail.
Therefore, Ying Zheng understood and agreed with what Lin Tian said at this moment.
Subsequently, Ying Zheng said:
"Very well, then we will begin Great Qin's first imperial examination in half a month!"
"This recruitment will be open to the entire Qin. As long as their family background is clean and they pass... a political review, they can become officials of our Qin! They may even be able to govern a region!"
"Furthermore, this time we will adopt the blind submission system to ensure fairness and impartiality!"
"After this imperial examination concludes, our Great Qin will build more academies to teach and nurture talent!"
"At that time, our Great Qin will no longer suffer from a shortage of talent!!"
Thanks to the abundance of money, Ying Zheng could do many things he wished to do.
This was also part of the future they had envisioned with Lin Tian.
...