Is his frosty expression toward me due to some grudge he's bearing?With such a person around, Ren Baqian's mood was instantly affected.The empress was aloof as usual and didn't say anything as Ren Baqian was keeping quiet.Hong Wu was like a light bulb between the both of them. With the hot pot ready, Ren Baqian started to move about, and the atmosphere lightened.The empress's attention and eyes were fixed on the meat floating in the hot pot."Your Majesty!" Ren Baqian dipped and then scooped slices of meat, putting them her plate. In a split second, they were gone. These days, the empress was being pampered.

Ren Baqian topped up the wine gla.s.s for the empress and then for himself."Your humble servant wishes you mastery in the martial arts world!" Ren Baqian toasted her with a wine cup.

The empress gulped it down, her eyes brightening as the wine entered her belly.

"Your humble servant congratulates Your Majesty again for killing Lu Qi and shocking Great Xia!" Ren Baqian said respectfully.Although Ren Baqian said it casually, these were all facts. One had to know that the empress had killed Hua Sanliu, who was the fifth most powerful expert in the world, the Zhu Mu elders, who were twins tied for the tenth most powerful worldwide, and Lu Qi, who was originally recognized as the eighth strongest. Due to these feats, she rose to the position of the fifthmost powerful expert in the world.Over the past two days, the news that Great Xia had been defeated and lost 500,000 soldiers was circulating all over Great Xia.

The fame of the empress as a ruthless conqueror was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people of Great Xia.

An unknown number of pract.i.tioners and scholars were discussing Qi Zixiao in the streets and alleys as well as in the taverns.The comments were generally about their amazement at her feats. Three years ago, the empress was young, didn't have much of a record in fighting against experts, and was ranked in the top ten experts of the world. This caused many people to doubt her and challenge her over the past two years.Although none of her challengers survived, the empress didn't have a record of competing against the finest experts yet. It was only during these past six months that she had successively done it three times and really shocked the whole world.

Outside of Dayao, her fame outshone that of Hong Wu, who had guarded the borders for decades.After all, this top expert was a young lady of incomparable beauty and thus, attracted even more attention.Unfortunately, the rumors mentioned that she was keeping a gigolo. "This is the third cup… Although I didn't do anything much, I still want to compliment myself for working hard!" Ren Baqian said sincerely after some reflection.Hong Wu bristled upon hearing this and almost threw his bowl at Ren Baqian's face. This shameless guy was worse than that rascal Tong Zhenye when he was young.If he had known that this guy had such a character, he would have prevented Her Majesty from choosing him as her husband even if it meant risking his life.The empress frowned after hearing this.She looked at him with her clear eyes and asked, "Do you want me to pour you a cup of wine?""Let me do it myself!" Ren Baqian laughed and drained his cup of wine."I commend the Great General for his hard work and valuable service!" The empress gestured with her wine cup at Hong Wu."Many thanks, Your Majesty. This is part of my duty!" Hong Wu raised his cup with both hands and gave Ren Baqian a fierce look at the same time.However, the atmosphere was livelier now and much better than before."Your Majesty, what should we do next?" Ren Baqian raised his cup to ask."What do you mean?" The empress blinked her eyes, not clearly understanding his question."Great Xia retreated after the defeat, so what will happen next?" Ren Baqian asked."Those commoners who fled to the cities will need to go back to the fields to tidy up. However, as for those strongholds which have been burned down and the crops that have been destroyed this season, the livelihoods of those folk will not be easy for the next two seasons. Tax relief should be provided to them," said Hong Wu, who regarded this as a big issue.

"Those damaged cities also need to be restored!""And then?" Ren Baqian continued to ask."Princ.i.p.al Ren, speak whatever is on your mind!" Hong Wu said."My meaning is, don't we need to get Great Xia to compensate for the damage?" Ren Baqian asked."Exacting compensation from a defeated nation?" Hong Wu and the empress looked at him because there was no precedent for such a case in this world.Seeing that the two didn't understand, Ren Baqian explained, "They shouldn't be allowed to attack at their whim and fancy as well as simply withdraw after their defeat, right? We have lost so many people. Is it too much to ask for 100 taels for each Earth Wheel expert's death? Don't they need to compensate for the funerals? There are at least 100,000 casualties, which equates to 10 million taels. There is also mental trauma suffered by the families of those casualties. They should be compensated because of the atrocities committed by Great Xia. Although money can't make up for their mental traumas, not compensating them isn't acceptable.In addition, Her Majesty didn't sleep well and has lost half a kilogram of weight. Shouldn't they compensate for this?Furthermore, many cities had their buildings destroyed due to the invasion by Great Xia. These required manpower and resources to build. As a result, Great Xia should pay money to solve this problem! What about the trees that were destroyed? How many years will they take to regrow? It takes 10 years to grow a tree and 100 years to nurture a person. Money is needed to buy things, and they have to pay for robbing us of our trees. They also left behind so much rubbish after retreating and clearing the rubbish requires much manpower and resources… Although it is inevitable to encounter losses in a war between two armies, it was started by Great Xia, so they are liable no matter how you look at it. Besides this compensation, there is also a need to pay reparations for being defeated!"Ren Baqian used his fingers to calculate for the two and concluded, "Finally, they robbed me of five million taels of silver. Shouldn't they pay me back?"

Hong Wu and the empress were stunned and had their eyes opened by what Ren Baqian said. They had never heard of the defeated needing to pay compensation.What about the five million taels of silver? When were you robbed of five million taels of silver?

Hong Wu was surprised and then said coldly, "Xia Bailong certainly will not agree to this request!"

"We have to take it by force if they won't give. I heard they have just 180,000 soldiers at the border and that even defending the border is difficult. If an army were to enter their hinterland, what can they do? Their recruits can't be fully trained in a few months. Even if they were to deploy forces from other locations, they can't do it within a short time. Many things can be done during this period. After plundering them, we can tell the outside world that Great Xia refused to compensate after attacking us. They attacked us first, yet they refuse to bear the consequences. As such, they disregard all the commoners in the cities."

"I am afraid this may be counterproductive and that the commoners will still hate us." Hong Wu seriously thought about it. Although he didn't like Ren Baqian, he could still put aside his prejudices for this matter.The thought of plundering them was rather cathartic. After all, they were given a beating for nothing and should not take it lying down, especially the Great General who had been guarding the border for decades."It is hard to fathom the human heart. A person who suffered harm because he wasn't protected adequately by his guardian may end up hating his guardian. Such a sight is commonly seen." Ren Baqian shook his head."Anyway, it doesn't seem that they like us now."Hong Wu agreed with this sentence stated by Ren Baqian."The problem now is the Yun Nation!" Hong Wu frowned. The Protectorate of the Northeast was still battling the Yun Nation, and the war between the Protectorate of the North and Great Xia had just ended. If they were to start a war with Great Xia, they would enter the quagmire again."The first batch of 20,000 recruits will be ready in two months. Dealing with the Yun Nation alone will not cause much of an upheaval during these two months. On the contrary, with Great Xia licking their wounds, they may hit us with a strike at any time. They are sharpening their claws as our battle with the Yun Nation continues. Instead, it is better to attack them first before we settle the issue with the Yun Nation. At the very least, they will not be prepared for us to attack before we finish dealing with the Yun Nation," Ren Baqian said.

"It will not take long to destroy the Yun Nation," Hong Wu replied. He was seeking stability: destroy the Yun Nation first before taking on Great Xia.Furthermore, the Yun Nation was easier to deal with than Great Xia.

"To repel the Yun Nation is easy, but to occupy them will take some time," Ren Baqian said. After hearing this, Hong Wu was shocked and looked at the empress for her opinion.The empress nodded slightly to concur with Ren Baqian."Although the Yun Nation is smaller than Dayao, their people are complex and complicated. As such, many military personnel are needed for an invasion. Although there are advantages in occupying the Yun Nation, the disadvantages are also many. Just like the southern region, these people are basically untrustworthy. Additionally, occupying such a big piece of land requires the management of a whole protectorate." Hong Wu frowned, he didn't know when the empress and Ren Baqian had formed such an idea, but swallowing the Yun Nation was rather difficult for Dayao.

One Yun Nation plus the southern region entailed great effort and might do more harm than good.

Hong Wu's first response was to oppose this idea. Dayao had adequate resources and used to lack iron and salt, but the iron and salt problems had been resolved. In this case, why should they take the risk of invading the Yun Nation, spend great effort governing it, and gamble with messing up if not done well? The Yun Nation wasn't a small country, and its population was larger than that of Dayao. Dayao wouldn't be able to find enough officials to govern it after the invasion."However, the Yun Nation has what we need most," Ren Baqian clarified.Be it salt, iron, minerals, or people, these were all needed by Dayao. To enable the rapid development of Dayao, the products of the Yun Nation were crucially essential."As for their governance, I have a plan ready," Ren Baqian said.Hong Wu looked at him skeptically."This matter is of great importance, so I hope Your Majesty will think twice." Hong Wu cupped his hands and pleaded."I have decided!" the empress announced. After visiting Earth, she realized that Dayao was very poor and barren, that it needed the bountiful resources of the Yun Nation, and that the Yun Nation had to fall into her hands."The Great General doesn't need to worry. We will act according to the situation. If it can't be done, we can just bring back large amounts of material from the Yun Nation," Ren Baqian added.Hong Wu relaxed a little after hearing this, but was still rather worried.War wasn't child's play. Occupying such a big nation and integrating it into their territory was also not a laughing matter.It seemed like he had better find an opportunity over the next few days to return to Lan City and meet up with s.h.i.+ Qing and others.