Hong Wu was frowning when he left. He was ultimately still doubtful toward the issue of subjugating the Yun Nation.
Conquering the Yun Nation wasn"t a difficult task.
However, the problems would only arise after the conquest because it was easy to drag Dayao into a quagmire.
At that time, even the experts who weren"t involved in the war would no longer remain still.
If they wanted to stabilize the situation in the Yun Nation, the military strength required wouldn"t be a small number.
However, there was one issue that he handled immediately. The next morning, he got someone to deliver a letter to Great Xia"s current chief commander of Tiesuo Pa.s.s, Zi Ye. It was noon when Zi Ye opened the letter in his residence. The handwriting of the letter seemed as if it were written in chicken scratch. After careful identification, he could finally see that there were clauses listed and that Great Xia was supposed to compensate Dayao. It included all sorts of expenses and ranged from funeral services, building repairs, and even mental trauma… The last clause actually indicated that five million tales of silver had been robbed by the Great Xia army. In total, the amount to be compensated summed to one billion and five million taels of silver. This was the annual revenue of Great Xia"s state treasury.
Zi Ye was stunned at first. He looked at the letter carefully and wondered if he had incorrectly read the contents within. After reading through the letter for a third time and confirming the contents, he immediately ripped the letter into pieces.
At the same time, he asked coldly, "Could it be that they are insane?"
After that, he instructed, "Chase that person out."
Compensation? That was practically a joke. Never had there been a rule like that.
Hong Wu received the information at night and went to report to the empress.
"Just as I thought, Great Xia"s chief commander chased the person who delivered the letter back," Hong Wu said.
"In that case, like what we said previously, we will take it from them," the empress said faintly.
"Your Majesty, who should we send?" Hong Wu asked. If they only send the winged cavalry to Dayao, it would perhaps be inadequate. In that case, Dayao wouldn"t be able to get their compensation.
Furthermore, the finest experts were not found in the winged cavalry. The strongest in the winged cavalry would be its Protector General, who had strength equivalent to a Spirit Wheel expert.
"Get Li Qianqiu to go," said the empress, who pondered for a while before answering him.
With Li Qianqiu"s strength, as long as they didn"t meet the finest experts, there shouldn"t be any huge problems.
The next day, after the empress, Hong Wu, and Ren Baqian roughly circled out an area, the empress used the radio station to call for Li Qianqiu. Two days later, Li Qianqiu, who had been resting and reorganizing his soldiers near Liao City, rushed to Ping City with the 6,000 soldiers from the Protectorate of the Center. The trio continued their discussion in Hong Wu"s study room for the entire afternoon. The next day, Li Qianqiu brought the winged cavalry, 3,000 soldiers from the Protectorate of the Center, every single horned cow that could be used as a mount, and a large number of buffalo that could serve as military supplies, then headed toward the west. They were ready to turn over Mount Lianyin and leave for Great Xia.
They also brought along the 1,000 grenades that Ren Baqian had prepared.
These grenades would play a very big role when facing Great Xia"s army.
1,000 grenades were already more than sufficient for three battles, let alone disrupting Great Xia"s battle formation.
Both Hong Wu and Li Qianqiu had a radio station each and could therefore communicate at anytime. If Li Qianqiu had to retreat, Hong Wu would then provide support from Tiesuo Pa.s.s.
As for any other issues, it was all up to Li Qianqiu to handle them.
…
"Your Majesty, it"s time for us to return," Ren Baqian said to the empress the day after Li Qianqiu set off.
This time, Li Qianqiu"s return journey would probably take at least a month. The empress had been away from Lan City for a long time and should return now.
"We"ll set off tomorrow." The empress nodded. Then, she swept her gaze across Ren Baqian, and her intention was very clear.
Where are the rainbow clouds that you promised? "Your Majesty"s rainbow clouds are still on the way here. Why not wait for another three days!" Ren Baqian promptly responded. The previous time he returned from Earth, he only brought back the grenades and other equipment, but forgot the most important item.
"In that case, let"s wait for another three days," the empress replied indifferently.
Although she was already bored of staying in Ping City, staying for another three days wouldn"t harm her.
Another day pa.s.sed. Ren Baqian and the empress made a trip back to Earth.
It had been more than two months since the beginning of the war, and more than half a year had pa.s.sed on Earth.
The last time the empress came, it was still autumn. Now, it was already the end of spring and the beginning of summer. The weather was just right. First of all, it was a strange room that appeared in the empress"s sight. This room was much larger than the one in the previous house. There were loft windows at the side that allowed the bright and beautiful sunlight to sprinkle inside. From the empress"s position, she could also see the verdant and lush landscape outside of the windows. In the past, all she could see right outside her windows were apartments, but now, they had all disappeared.
"Your Majesty, this is our new house," Ren Baqian said.
"Oh!" The empress replied in an unenthusiastic tone as she wasn"t really interested in this matter.
"Your Majesty, follow me. You"ll definitely like this." Ren Baqian pulled the empress"s hand, which was very soft and warm. It had been a long time since he held it, causing him to be a little excited.
He pushed open the door that led to a very s.p.a.cious corridor. At the end of the corridor was a table, a pot of flowers, and a window above it.
The room diagonally opposite from Ren Baqian"s room was reserved for the empress. It was three times the size of her previous room. There was a huge mirror and a row of wardrobes that could barely fit all of the empress"s clothes.
Leaning against the window was a princess bed.
"Your Majesty, this is your room!" Ren Baqian introduced.
The empress tilted her head. In the previous house, Ren Baqian and the empress"s rooms were located on different levels. Now, their rooms were just diagonally opposite from each other.
"I have brought all of Your Majesty"s clothes over!" Ren Baqian pulled open a wardrobe and revealed a sea of red garments.
In the wardrobe, practically everything was a red dress.
Upon seeing these dresses, the empress was delighted. Even though she hadn"t worn the majority of them, women usually bought clothes just for the sake of buying.
Seeing these dresses in her wardrobe made her mood pleasant.
"Next up!" Ren Baqian opened another door, which led to a room filled with shelves positioned in a circle. A dazzling array of snacks that the empress liked to eat could be found here.
There were also three freezers in the middle, which stored all sorts of frozen treats and ice cream.
The empress flung away Ren Baqian"s hand and walked into this room alone after seeing what was inside. She grabbed a qiaolezi and popped it into her mouth before roaming around in this room. [qiaolezi: a brand of chocolate ice cream in China.]
There was a faint smile on the empress"s face. She felt that even though this place was awesome and she liked it a lot, it still didn"t make her as happy as that candy tree.
Generally speaking, she was still very satisfied.
Ren Baqian leaned against the wall and watched the empress roam around the room. A smile appeared on his face as well.
"And here is the floor that is one storey below." Ren Baqian and the empress arrived on the first level of the villa.
The living room was huge, but the both of them weren"t really concerned about it.
Ren Baqian immediately opened one of the doors to allow gleaming reflections of waves in the sunlight to seep through. The room was huge, larger than the combined area of the two bedrooms on the second floor, and was covered with colorful Mediterranean style tiles. In the middle was a swimming pool that was about 100 square meters and was filled with crystal clear water.Next to the pool were three deck chairs and a side table.
Ren Baqian solicitously introduced, "Your Majesty, in the future, you can swim over here. Imagine the scenario, swimming here and soaking in the cool water with me serving tea and pouring wine for you. It"s something to dream of… I even prepared a swimsuit for Your Majesty! Do you want to try it on?"
"It seems like you really want me to try it?" The empress turned to look at him.
"As Dayao is torrid, I want Your Majesty to be relieved of the summer heat," Ren Baqian answered. Swimsuit, swimsuit, he had been antic.i.p.ating this for the longest time.