There is a hot pot on the table in the room. As the water temperature rises, the soup in the hot pot starts to roll upwards, and the bottom of the pot pops out from time to time with the boiling water.
Seeing this, Ren Baqian quickly put meat and wild vegetables in it, and the aroma immediately came out.
When waiting for the hot pot soup to boil before, the three of them stared at each other, and there was nothing to say. At this time, the impasse was resolved when the soup boiled.
Ren Baqian, the Empress, and Hong Wu who practiced the unique skill of changing faces.
When facing the empress, it was like a breeze blowing on the face, and when looking at Ren Baqian, his face was frosty, and the momentary change of expression was amazing.
Even Ren Baqian wanted to ask him whether he ate your food or paid for your cabbage? When you see me, you have a cold face, what kind of hatred and resentment
With such a person present, Ren Baqian immediately lost his mood.
The empress has always been cold, Ren Baqian didn't speak, and she didn't speak either.
Hong Wu was stuck there like a light bulb.
Now that the hot pot is ready, as Ren Baqian moves, the atmosphere becomes somewhat more active.
The empress focused her eyes on the floating meat in the hot pot, and her attention was all on it.
"Your Majesty!" Ren Baqian put the meat on the empress' plate and disappeared in an instant.
The Empress Dowager is very hungry these days.
Ren Baqian poured wine for the empress again, and then poured wine for himself.
"I wish Your Majesty the best of luck in martial arts!" Ren Baqian raised his glass and toasted.
The Empress drank it down in one gulp, and her eyes became clearer as the wine entered her belly.
"I would like to congratulate Your Majesty on killing Lu Qi, and your reputation will scare Daxia!" Ren Baqian respected again.
Although Ren Baqian said it casually, it is the truth. You must know that in the past half a year, the empress first killed Huasanliu, who was number five in the world, and then killed the elder Zhumu who made it to tenth. In the past two days, the news spread in Daxia along with the loss of 500,000 soldiers in Daxia's defeat in this battle.
The empress's killing reputation has now been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people in Da Xia.
I don't know how many warriors and scholars are discussing Da Yao Qi Zixiao in the streets or in taverns.
What he said was amazing.
You must know that three years ago, because the empress was young and didn't have many records against masters, she was ranked in the top ten in the world, and many people were suspicious. Therefore, in the next two years, people have been challenging the empress.
Although none of the challengers survived, the empress had no record of fighting against top players.
Until the last half a year, three times successively, it really shook the world.
Outside of Dayao, his reputation has surpassed that of Hongwu, who has guarded the frontier for decades.
After all, this kind of top master is still a young woman, and her appearance is also the best in the world, which attracts more attention.
It's a pity, I heard that she has a little boy.
"This third cup... Although I don't seem to be doing anything, I still tell myself that I have worked hard!" Ren Baqian thought for a while and said sincerely.
When Hong Wu heard this, his beard stood on end, and he almost put the bowl on Baqian's face. This guy's shameless demeanor is even worse than that bastard Tong Zhenye when he was young.
If I knew this person was like this back then, I would have tried my best to prevent His Majesty from choosing him as his husband.
When the Empress heard this, her eyes rolled up.
Clear eyes turned on Ren Baqian: "Do you want me to pour you wine?"
"Just come by yourself, come by yourself!" Ren Baqian chuckled and drank the wine by himself.
"I respect the great general for his hard work!" The empress said to Hong Wu, fiddling with the wine glass.
"Thank you, Your Majesty, this is the job of the minister!" Hong Wu held the cup in both hands, and did not forget to give Ren Baqian a hard look.
But no matter what, the area in the room is more or less lively at this time, which is much better than before.
"Your Majesty, what should we do next?" Ren Baqian raised his cup and asked.
"What do you mean?" The Empress' eyes flickered, but she didn't quite understand what he meant.
"Da Xia came to fight a game, and now he is defeated and retreated, what will happen next?" Ren Baqian asked.
"The civilians who fled into the city before should return to the villages to reorganize their fields. However, some villages have been burned down, and this season's crops have also been destroyed. I am afraid that people's livelihood will be difficult in the next two seasons. Their taxes should be reduced or exempted." "Hong Wu said, this is a big deal in his eyes.
"There are still a few broken cities that need to be repaired!"
"And then?" Ren Baqian continued to ask.
"Master Ren, just speak up if you have anything to say!" Hong Wu said.
"What I mean is, why don't you ask Daxia for compensation for defeat?" Ren Baqian said.
"Compensation for defeat?" Both Hong Wu and the Empress looked at him. This word has never been used in this world.
Seeing that the two of them didn't understand, Ren Baqian explained: "They can't just come and fight if they want, and withdraw when they lose, right
We have also suffered so many casualties, one hundred taels is not too much for a round master, right? They can't pay for funeral expenses or something? There were at least 100,000 casualties, so that's 10 million taels.
There is also the cost of mental damage. The families of the dead and injured people also need to be compensated, right? You must know that they lost their loved ones because of Daxia's atrocities. Although giving money can't make up for their spiritual trauma, it is absolutely impossible not to give money.
In addition, His Majesty has lost a pound if he doesn't eat well and sleep well these days, should he be compensated
Also, the construction of those towns cost an unknown amount of manpower and material resources, but they were destroyed by the war due to the invasion of Daxia. This matter must be settled with money!
Also, they attacked the city and cut down so many of our trees. It takes ten years to grow people and a hundred years to grow people. How many years will it take for those trees to grow? You have to give money to buy things, even if they robbed this tree, they have to pay for it!
And when they evacuated, they left behind so much rubbish. It would take a lot of manpower and material resources to clean up the rubbish... "
"Although it is inevitable that the two soldiers will be injured in the battle, these are all caused by Da Xia. No matter how you look at it, they should pay compensation. This is compensation. In addition to this, there is also compensation for defeat. It cannot be said that they can fight as they want. Shall we fight? If we fight, if we lose, we must pay compensation!"
Ren Baqian counted for the two with his fingers.
"In the end, they robbed me of 5 million taels of silver, so I have to pay it back?"
Both Hong Wu and the Empress had bright expressions on their faces, Ren Baqian's words opened their eyes, they had never heard of such a thing as compensation for defeat.
And what happened to your last five million taels of silver? When did you get robbed of 5 million taels
"How could Xia Bailong agree to these demands!" Hong Wu was surprised at first, then said coldly.
"If you don't give it, go get it yourself. I heard that there are 180,000 people at the border? It's hard to even hold the border. If an army enters the hinterland of Daxia at this time, they can't help it, right? Can't practice it.
Even if they deploy troops from other positions, it cannot be done in a short time.
There are a lot of things that can be done with this time.
After robbing them, we have to spread the word that the Emperor Daxia refused to compensate us for our losses. He sent troops to invade us first, but he didn't want to bear the consequences and ignored the civilians in those cities. "
"I'm afraid it might be counterproductive, those common people still hate us." Hong Wu thought for a moment. Although he doesn't like Ren Baqian, he will temporarily let go of his prejudice when it comes to business matters.
He was still a little moved to grab one. After all, being beaten up for nothing, no one can swallow this tone. Not to mention the veterans who have been in military affairs for decades.
"People's hearts are 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.
"Besides, they don't necessarily like us now."
Hong Wu agrees with Ren Baqian's last sentence.
"The problem now is that there is still Yunguo!" Hongwu frowned. Now the Northeast Protectorate is still at war with Yunguo, and the battle between the Northern Protectorate and Daxia has just ended. It's about to fall into the quagmire again.
"The first batch of 20,000 recruits will be able to train in two months. Yunguo alone will not cause any big disturbances in two months. Instead, Daxia is probably licking his own wounds Rest and recuperate, it is uncertain when they will strike us again. Especially when we are fighting with Yunguo, they are silently sharpening their minions.
Instead of this, it is better to cause them some trouble first. At least until we solve Yunguo, they don't care about us. "Ren Baqian said.
"It won't take long to solve Yunguo," Hong Wu said.
He wanted to be more stable, and dealt with Yunguo first and then Daxia.
Yunguo is much easier to deal with than Daxia.
"It's easy to repel Yunguo, but it's not a short-term thing to occupy Yunguo." Ren Baqian said.
Hearing this, Hong Wu was startled, and looked at the Empress.
The Empress nodded slightly, as she recognized Ren Baqian's words.
"Although Yunguo is smaller than my Dayao, it has a large population and complicated conditions. If you want to occupy Yunguo, you may need a large number of troops to maintain it. Although there are advantages to occupying Yunguo, there are also many disadvantages. Just like the south, those who People have always been dishonest, occupying a large area of land, and even involving the entire Protectorate." Hong Wu frowned and said, he didn't know when the Empress and Ren Baqian had this idea, but Swallowing Yunguo is very important to Dahu. It was difficult for Yao.
One south plus one cloud country, at that time, I am afraid that it will involve most of the energy, and in his opinion, the harm outweighs the benefit.
His first reaction to the idea was to object. After all, apart from the lack of salt and iron in Dayao's interior, other aspects are acceptable. And now that the matter of salt and iron has been resolved, there is no need to take the risk of swallowing Yunguo now, and then spend a lot of energy to rule there, otherwise it will fall into a quagmire.
You must know that Yun Country is not a small country, and its population is larger than that of Dayao. Now Dayao can't find so many officials who can be used after occupying Yun Kingdom.
"Keyun Country has what we need most." Ren Baqian summed it up in one word.
Regardless of salt, iron, minerals, population, all aspects are what Dayao needs. Next, if Dayao wants to develop rapidly, the various outputs of Yunguo are very important.
"And how to rule there, I already have some ideas." Ren Baqian said.
Hong Wu glanced at him, he was skeptical of his words.
"This matter is of great importance, Your Majesty still needs to think twice." Hong Wu clasped his hands.
"I've made up my mind!" the empress said lightly. Only after she had been to the earth did she know how barren Dayao was, so a place rich in mineral deposits like Yunguo must be obtained.
"The general doesn't need to worry too much. We can see the situation at that time. If nothing can be done, we can return with a large amount of supplies from Yunguo." Ren Baqian added.
Hearing this, Hong Wu finally let go of his snacks, but his brows were still frowned.
War is not child's play, and occupying such a large country as one's own territory is also not child's play.
It seems that I have to find a chance to go back to Lancheng in a few days and meet Shi Qing and the others.