A hotpot was placed on the table in the room. As the temperature of the water rose, the soup in the hotpot began to boil, and the bottom of the pot came out from time to time.
Upon seeing this, Ren Baqian quickly placed the meat and wild vegetables in the pot, and the aroma immediately came out.
When they were waiting for the hotpot soup to boil, the three of them stared at each other and didn't have much to say. Now that the soup was boiling, the deadlock was broken.
Ren Baqian, the empress, and Hong Wu, who had mastered the art of changing faces.
When facing the empress, it was like a gentle breeze, but when looking at Ren Baqian, it was as cold as ice. The instantaneous change in expression was breathtaking.
Even Ren Baqian wanted to ask Hong Wu if he was eating from him or stealing from him. Why did he have such a cold face when he saw me?
With such a person present, Ren Baqian's mood immediately turned sour.
The empress had always been cold. If Ren Baqian didn't speak, she wouldn't either.
Hong Wu stood there like a light bulb.
Now that the hotpot was ready, the atmosphere became more lively as Ren Baqian started to move.
The empress stared at the meat floating in the hotpot and focused all her attention on it.
"Your Majesty!" Ren Baqian dipped the meat and placed it on the empress's plate before disappearing in an instant.
The empress had been craving food these days.
Ren Baqian poured wine for the empress before pouring wine for himself.
"I wish Your Majesty prosperity in martial arts!" Ren Baqian raised his cup and toasted.
The empress downed the wine in one gulp. As the wine entered her stomach, her eyes became brighter.
"I congratulate Your Majesty for killing Lu Qi and intimidating Great Xia!" Ren Baqian toasted again.
Although Ren Baqian said it casually, it was the truth. In the past six months, the empress had killed the fifth most powerful expert in the world, Hua Sanliu, the Zhu Mu Elders, and Lu Qi, who was originally the eighth most powerful expert in the world but rose to the seventh most powerful expert because of the empress. The news of the defeat of Great Xia and the loss of 500,000 soldiers spread throughout Great Xia.
The empress's reputation for killing was now deeply rooted in the hearts of Great Xia.
Countless warriors and scholars were discussing Dayao's Qi Zixiao in the streets, alleys, and taverns.
All of them were amazed.
One had to know that three years ago, because the empress was young and didn't have many battles with experts, she was ranked among the top ten in the world. Many people had their doubts. As a result, there were always people challenging the empress for the next two years.
Even though none of the challengers survived, the empress still hadn't fought against a top-notch expert.
It was only in the past six months that he had shaken the world three times in succession.
Outside of Dayao, his reputation had already overshadowed that of Hong Wu, who had guarded the borders for decades.
After all, this kind of top-notch expert, and a young woman at that, with peerless beauty, would attract even more attention.
Unfortunately, I heard that she raised a gigolo.
"This third cup … Even though I didn't do anything, I still want to thank myself for the hard work!" Ren Baqian said sincerely after thinking for a while.
When Hong Wu heard this, his beard stood up and he almost smashed the bowl on Ren Baqian's face. This guy's shameless demeanor was even worse than that bastard Tong Zhenye when he was young.
If he had known that this person was like this, he would have risked his life to stop Her Majesty from choosing him as her husband.
Upon hearing this, the empress's eyes curved into crescents.
She looked at Ren Baqian with her clear eyes and asked, "Do you want me to pour you some wine?"
"I'll do it myself. I'll do it myself!" Ren Baqian chuckled and finished the wine.
"I salute the great general for his hard work!" the empress said to Hong Wu while fiddling with the wine cup.
"Thank you, Your Majesty. This is my duty!" Hong Wu held the cup with both hands and didn't forget to glare at Ren Baqian.
In any case, the room was livelier than before. It was much better than before.
"Your Majesty, what should we do next?" Ren Baqian raised his cup and asked.
"What do you mean?" The empress's eyes flickered as she didn't quite understand what he meant.
"Great Xia came to fight and retreated in defeat. What's next?" Ren Baqian asked.
"The commoners who escaped into the city should return to their villages and reorganize their fields. However, some of the villages have been burned down and the crops for this season have been destroyed. I'm afraid that the people's livelihood will be difficult for the next two seasons, so their taxes should be reduced, "Hong Wu said. This was a major issue in his eyes.
"The cities that have been destroyed also need to be rebuilt!"
"What's next?" Ren Baqian continued to ask.
"Principal Ren, if you have something to say, just say it!" Hong Wu said.
"What I mean is, shouldn't we ask Great Xia for compensation for their defeat?" Ren Baqian asked.
"Compensation for defeat?" Hong Wu and the empress looked at him. This term had never been used in this world before.
Ren Baqian saw that they didn't understand and explained, "They can't just come and fight as they please and retreat after losing, right?
We have suffered so many casualties, so a hundred taels of silver for each Man Wheel expert isn't too much, right? Don't they have to compensate for the funeral expenses? There were at least 100,000 casualties, which would be 10 million taels of silver.
Also, the families of those who died and were injured also need to be compensated, right? One had to know that they had lost their loved ones because of Great Xia's atrocities. Even though money couldn't make up for their psychological trauma, not paying them was absolutely unacceptable.
In addition, Your Majesty, you haven't been eating or sleeping well these days, and you've even lost half a kilogram. This should be compensated, right?
Also, we spent a lot of manpower and material resources to build those cities, but they were destroyed by Great Xia's invasion. This matter must be solved with money!
Also, they cut down so many of our trees to attack the cities. It takes ten years to grow trees, and a hundred years to nurture people. How many years will it take for those trees to grow again? We still have to pay for the things we buy, and they have to compensate for the trees that they robbed!
Also, they left behind so much rubbish when they retreated. I don't know how much manpower and material resources will be needed to clean up this rubbish … "
"Even though it's inevitable that there will be casualties during a battle, these are all caused by Great Xia. No matter how you look at it, they should be the ones to compensate. This is the compensation, and there's also the compensation for defeat. They can't just fight whenever they want, right? They fought and lost, so they have to compensate! "
Ren Baqian counted with his fingers for the two of them.
"Finally, they robbed me of five million taels of silver. You have to return this to me, right?"
Hong Wu and the empress's faces were bright and full of expression. Ren Baqian's words were an eye-opener for them as they had never heard of compensation for defeat.
Also, what's with the last five million taels of silver? When were you robbed of five million taels of silver?
"How could Xia Bailong possibly agree to these demands!" Hong Wu was flabbergasted at first, and then he said coldly.
"If he doesn't want to pay, he can just go and get it himself. I heard that they already have 180,000 soldiers at the border. It's difficult to even guard the border. If an army were to enter the hinterland of Great Xia, they wouldn't be able to do anything, right? Their new soldiers can't be trained in a few months.
Even if they were to transfer troops from other places, it wouldn't be possible in a short period of time.
With this amount of time, we can already do a lot of things.
After robbing them, we can spread the word that the emperor of Great Xia refused to compensate us for our losses and that he was the one who invaded us first. However, he doesn't want to bear the consequences and doesn't care about the civilians in those cities. "
"I'm afraid that it will backfire. Those civilians will still hate us," Hong Wu said after thinking seriously. Even though he didn't like Ren Baqian, he would temporarily put aside his prejudice when it came to proper business.
He was still a little tempted to rob them. After all, no one would be able to take it lying down after being beaten up for no reason. Needless to say, he was a veteran at the border who had been in the army for decades.
"The human heart is the most unpredictable thing. It's not uncommon for a person to hate his protector because his protector didn't protect him well, causing him to be hurt by others. "Ren Baqian shook his head.
"Moreover, they don't necessarily like us now."
Hong Wu agreed with Ren Baqian's last sentence.
"The problem now is that there's still the Yun Nation!" Hong Wu frowned. At present, the Protectorate of the Northeast was still at war with the Yun Nation, and the Protectorate of the North had just ended its war with Great Xia. If they were to start a war with Great Xia now, they would probably fall into a quagmire again.
"The first batch of 20,000 new soldiers will be ready in two months. If it's just the Yun Nation, we won't be able to cause much trouble in two months. On the other hand, Great Xia is probably licking its wounds and recuperating. Who knows when they will attack us again. In particular, when we are at war with the Yun Nation, they are silently sharpening their claws.
Instead of this, we might as well give them some trouble first. At least before we deal with the Yun Nation, they won't be able to care about us, "Ren Baqian said.
"It won't take long to deal with the Yun Nation," Hong Wu said.
He wanted to seek stability and deal with the Yun Nation first before dealing with Great Xia.
The Yun Nation was much easier to deal with than Great Xia.
"It's easy to repel the Yun Nation, but it won't be easy to occupy them in a short period of time," Ren Baqian said.
Hong Wu was shocked to hear this and looked at the empress.
The empress nodded her head slightly, acknowledging Ren Baqian's words.
"Even though the Yun Nation is smaller than Dayao, it has a large population and the situation is complicated. If we want to occupy the Yun Nation, we will need to maintain a large number of troops. Even though there are advantages to occupying the Yun Nation, there are also many disadvantages. Just like in the south, those people are always dishonest. They occupy a large piece of land and even implicate an entire protectorate. " Hong Wu frowned. He didn't know when the empress and Ren Baqian came up with this idea, but it would be difficult for Dayao to annex the Yun Nation.
If the south and the Yun Nation were to join forces, it would probably involve a lot of energy. In his opinion, the disadvantages outweighed the advantages.
Regarding this idea, his first reaction was to oppose it. After all, apart from the lack of salt and iron, Dayao was still doing well in other aspects. Furthermore, the salt and iron issues had already been resolved. There was no need to take the risk of annexing the Yun Nation and spending a lot of energy to govern it. If things went wrong, they might end up in a quagmire.
One had to know that the Yun Nation wasn't a small country. Its population was even larger than Dayao's. At present, Dayao couldn't find that many officials that could be used after occupying the Yun Nation.
"However, the Yun Nation has what we need the most," Ren Baqian summarized.
Regardless of whether it was salt, iron, minerals, or population, Dayao needed them in all aspects. If Dayao wanted to develop quickly, the various products of the Yun Nation would be very important.
"Furthermore, I already have some ideas on how to govern the Yun Nation," Ren Baqian said.
Hong Wu glanced at him. He was doubtful of his words.
"This matter is of great importance. Your Majesty, you have to reconsider." Hong Wu cupped his hands.
"I have made up my mind!" the empress said faintly. After going to Earth, she realized how barren Dayao was. Therefore, it was necessary to obtain a land like the Yun Nation that was rich in mineral resources.
"Great General, you don't have to worry too much. When the time comes, we can look at the situation. If things don't work out, we can bring back a lot of resources from the Yun Nation," Ren Baqian added.
Hearing this, Hong Wu was finally relieved, but his eyebrows were still knitted together.
War wasn't child's play. Occupying such a large country and incorporating it into one's territory wasn't child's play either.
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