Upon receiving the news from frontline, Xia Bailong immediately smashed the cup in his hand. As he felt uneasy, he overthrew all the tables in his study room and threw tantrums for a long time while shouting, "I'm going to die from anger!"

After that, he felt lightheaded, his surrounding turned dark and he plopped onto the ground.

In response, the eunuch who was hiding far away hastily called for the imperial doctor. There was a frenzy in the palace at this moment.

"His Majesty is infuriated and has an occlusion. I will prescribe some medicine in a while. You guys should also persuade His Majesty not to get angry and keep calm." That imperial doctor left hurriedly to prescribe medicine after giving his advice.

After Xia Bailong regained consciousness, half a day had already pa.s.sed.

"Water..." Xia Bailong muttered. The eunuch beside him immediately served a cup of warm water.

"What time is it now?"

"Your Majesty, it's already five in the evening," that eunuch prudently replied.

"Get the Minister of State, the Grand Commandant, and the Minister of War here." Xia Bailong was outraged when he recalled the news that he had received in the morning. Then, his head throbbed with pain, so he quickly used his fingers to press on his temples.

"Yes, Your Majesty. The imperial doctor came just now and he mentioned that Your Majesty fainted because of anger. You have to remain tranquil and not get angry. Please take care of your body, Your Majesty," that eunuch cautiously said.

"Go quickly!" Xia Bailong said in a stern voice.

An hour later, a group of people gathered in this study room.

"Have a look!" Xia Bailong took a few pieces of paper from the bed and threw it over. He couldn't help but to read it again, but after reading it, he felt a stabbing pain in his chest.

The Imperial Tutor received them and saw that there were several messages on the first piece of paper. The first message was about how Dayao took advantage of the fact that Wu Shenghou and his commanders were dead and destroyed the Great Xia barracks. The casualties incurred were more than half of their forces, but by the time this letter was sent, only one third of the soldiers had gathered.

The second message mentioned the situation where Qi Zixiao had chased after Lu Pinghai all the way to Tiesuo Pa.s.s. She was suspected to be seriously injured since she had broken through the barracks there. Lu Pinghai was dead, and his skull was hanging at the top of the city wall.

As for the third message, it was related to Lu Pinghai's death and caused an uproar among the pract.i.tioners in the barracks.

Lu Pinghai's prestige was too high. Now that he was dead, the others couldn't sit still and had the thought of retreating.

Lastly, the fourth message was about the news which had been spread to the two other armies in Dayao. These two armies were now on their own and had been encircled by the aboriginal soldiers.

There were still a few sheets of paper at the bottom that contained detailed explanations about the above mentioned messages. They also included a written report about the discovery of a statue outside of the Great Xia barracks, how they carried the statue back, how it exploded and created a sea of fire within a three meters radius while firing countless hidden weapons from within this sea of fire, and how Wu Shenghou and the other commanders had died.

Also, it included details about the empress chasing Lu Pinghai on the very same day.

The Imperial Tutor remained silent after reading it and pa.s.sed it to the Chancellor beside him. Without making a single noise, the Chancellor then pa.s.sed it over to the Imperial Counselor. After that, the Imperial Counselor pa.s.sed it to the Grand Commandant, who frowned upon reading it. The last person to receive these papers was the Minister of War.

"How could this be?" At long last, someone broke the silence within the room.

Xia Bailong smashed the cupboard beside him into fragments. "Making a mistake and harming the country! That general's wife and children shall be sent away to serve a penal sentence!"

"Your Majesty, you can't do this!" The Grand Commandant, Zhao Hongzhi, immediately obstructed Xia Bailong. "I'm afraid that the soldiers and their higher-ups at the frontline would be bitterly disappointed."

"Your Majesty, you mustn't do this!" said the Minister of State and the Minister of War, one after another.

"My army..." Xia Bailong almost couldn't catch his breath. Out of his 700,000 soldiers, there were only 200,000 left that were outside of Tiesuo Pa.s.s. There were more than 100,000 Great Xia soldiers within the Dayao borders, but n.o.body knew how many of them would return.

A few days ago, he was still waiting for the battle report against Dayao with full of confidence. Today, he lost everything just because of one wrong move. How could he even swallow this resentment?

Xia Bailong reluctantly calmed himself down because he knew it was impossible to deal with Wu Shenghou. Instead, he changed the topic and asked, "What should we do next? Any opinions?"

After the Minister of State heard what Xia Bailong said, his eyelids began to droop. He silently looked down and made up his mind to keep his mouth shut.

Professional issues should still be left to the professionals to settle.

The Grand Commandant and the Minister of War were put on the spot since they were able to draw a map of Dayao with their eyes closed. Upon receiving the news just now, both of them immediately knew that unless there was an unforeseen situation like an earthquake occuring, there was no longer any hope.

The Grand Commandant finally spoke after a long silence, "The only option is to negotiate with Dayao so that our remaining soldiers can return to us. We have to withdraw our soldiers that are encircling Tiesuo Pa.s.s and Shun City. Then, we will make plans again."

"I'm furious!" Xia Bailong hissed.

"It's just temporary. According to the time, the Yun Nation should be taking action soon. It just so happens that they can deplete Dayao's energy.

However, in my opinion, although the Yun Nation is well-equipped, their soldiers are in a mess and there's difficulty in pa.s.sing down orders. I'm afraid that they can't sustain for long. We should step up and contact those remnant citizens of the Hao Nation or even dispatch some people to a.s.sist those remnants in staging an uprising.

At the same time, we should try to ally with the monarch of the Chen Nation and send soldiers out together. We might as well throw in some benefits for them too.

Using these few obstacles to implicate Dayao, it will be difficult for their soldiers to replenish their energy. They will not be able to hold on regardless of whether it concerns their military strength or their rations.

At that time, our soldiers would be able to find a good opportunity to head south and wipe them out in one move."

Xia Bailong began to ponder upon hearing what the Grand Commandant said. A while later, he looked up and asked everyone, "What does everyone think of Grand Commandant's plan?"

"Even though I'm not well versed in military affairs, in my opinion, I believe that Grand Commandant is speaking from experience. This plan is feasible!" The Imperial Tutor answered after he noticed that Xia Bailong was looking at him.

"I also feel that it's feasible..."

Seeing that everyone nodded their heads, he contemplated further. Even though he was still indignant, he didn't have any other options at this point in time.

Xia Bailong then said, "With this being the case, there's no time to lose anymore. Pa.s.s down the order immediately and inform General Yunhui about this matter. Inform them to get the remaining Great Xia soldiers in Dayao back to us and withdraw all the soldiers surrounding Tiesuo Pa.s.s and Shun City. We will temporarily cease fire."

After he spoke, he looked up, shot another question at them, and asked, "Will Dayao release them?"

No one could answer this question.

Since Great Xia had already decided on a cease fire, if it were a normal person, there would be an 80 percent probability of them releasing the Great Xia soldiers. After all, there was nothing for Dayao to lose.

However, n.o.body dared to vouch for what that bunch of barbarians would decide.

"Pa.s.s the order down first." Xia Bailong frowned and waved his hand.

"Go to the messenger and inform Su Yi. If the Yun Nation wants to withdraw their soldiers, think of a way to make them change their decision. If necessary, promise them one condition. In addition, do you all have any candidates that can be sent on a diplomatic mission to the Chen Nation?"

...

At this time, the Yun Nation army had already a.s.sembled outside Qingtang Pa.s.s, which led directly to Dayao. There were all sorts of flags found within the army. With the exception of the 200,000 defenders outside Qingtang Pa.s.s, the other 230,000 soldiers were from various cities of the Yun Nation.

At the rear, there were also soldiers from remote cities heading over.

"Sir, the people from Siwei City and Qinghuan City are fighting!" a young commander said loudly as he strode into a building that was located at the center of Qingtang Pa.s.s.

Standing there was a middle aged man in a robe who was admiring a piece of calligraphy on the wall. Although it was just words, the words were stunning. Although those words were imprinted in his mind, he still looked at them everyday, hoping to learn something new.

When he heard the young commander's words, he turned and smiled, "Has everything been settled?"

"Everything is settled, but those chaps are too outrageous!" the young commander grumbled.

"General, your subordinate is afraid that they will not be of any help on the battlefield and will retreat after they run into any problem. This will affect the morale of our soldiers."

The middle aged man shook his head slightly because he knew that an army put together like this wouldn't be that great.

Yet, that group of people still wanted to retain enough military power to suppress those warlords. They also wanted to use this opportunity to deplete the strength of those warlords. As such, they simply formed this coalition force.

Furthermore, in such a short period of time, not all the soldiers had arrived yet. The middle aged man had already dispatched people to urge them to attack as soon as possible. He really couldn't comprehend what was in their minds other than sh*t.

However, as they each had their own ideas, it was indeed difficult to make any arrangements. Even if they gave themselves some more time, there wasn't any way for them to fully integrate with the coalition forces.

"Get the leader of each army to come over and discuss official matters. We will strike camp tomorrow morning and take turns attacking."