After Defeat, the Empress’s Negotiating Chip Turns Out to Be Me

Chapter 23

23~ Untitled~

"Lady Mo? You mean the one sitting on the Empress's lap at the general's funeral that day?"

"Yes..."

The Empress, the Empress, the Empress again!

The Empress preparing to use the "Favor Promotion Decree" to disperse and weaken noble power had already made him and his father extremely anxious. Now it was very likely the Empress who'd ordered someone to assassinate his father. And a family without a family head would very likely become the first test subject of the "Favor Promotion Decree"...

But after repeated contemplation, he discovered he had absolutely no recourse. The Empress wanting to execute their nine generations of kin merely required a single sentence. And his father's death was very likely because he had designs on that Lady Mo.

"Damn it..."

This way, this entire family would soon be rapidly divided into seven portions. A massive fortune divided until only one-seventh remained. This undoubtedly meant completely falling out of the upper social class. He would thoroughly lose the qualification to stand among the social elite.

...

On the other side, Ling had already prepared hot water for bathing, standing quietly in the bathroom waiting for the Empress and little Princess to bathe.

Soon, Ling saw her Empress carrying the little Princess into the bathroom. She then left, no longer disturbing the two.

"Mo, you went out for a walk yesterday. What did you think?"

"Pretty good."

Good to the point that she hadn't even seen a single beggar along the way. The streets were also very orderly. There were no soldiers randomly collecting taxes or anything. On this point, it was much better than Glaze Nation. This made her even more curious about how Scarlet Phoenix Nation operated.

She'd understood the political system fairly well, but the national system was still unknown. She'd only guessed roughly through the political system. It somewhat resembled her previous life's ancient China, but there were differences in many details and key areas.

Scarlet Phoenix Nation, or more accurately, the New Scarlet Phoenix Nation. In her understanding, the previous generation's Scarlet Phoenix Nation wasn't very powerful. History books also recorded that the former Scarlet Phoenix Nation was a resource-poor country. This caused Scarlet Phoenix Nation to fall far behind neighboring countries. The current territory was completely expanded to this size only after the new emperor ascended the throne, almost two-fifths of the Eastern Region.

But she still couldn't figure out where this powerful military force came from...

However, the Empress directly gave the answer. The main source of military strength was the poor, with the remainder being some ordinary common people willing to voluntarily enlist.

(PS/Author's Note: This part may be quite detached from reality, but please don't link it to reality. After all, you're reading a novel, not some historical record.

I've preserved the original flavor of fantasy light novels. I believe only by preserving a portion of the fantasy light novel flavor can readers know you're reading a fantasy light novel. [dog.jpg])

But the problem was... where did so many poor people come from?

"Where do you think the poor people from conquered countries after war went?"

"..."

This way, it indeed made sense... but the question came again. Didn't these poor people have misgivings? Joining the army of the invaders who conquered their own country.

Having already been at the very bottom of society in their original country, they'd long lost the chance to rise up. It was only after Scarlet Phoenix Nation broke through their country and distributed sufficient food and shelter that they were able to survive the chaos of war. Their original country had long abandoned them! Moreover, what Scarlet Phoenix Nation gave was truly generous. Based on normal military benefits from other countries, Scarlet Phoenix Nation directly doubled this foundation and had even more additional rewards.

The corner of the little Princess's mouth twitched slightly. So how did this kind of strange operational method start?

Truly living long enough to see everything. Anyway, she'd never heard of expanding the army like this. Even living two lives, this was the first time hearing there was this kind of method for expanding the army. After conquering a country, using the poor and displaced people within to expand one's own army, and moreover, not causing unrest because of it.

The real operational method definitely wasn't this simple. She was certain the Empress had just casually described it.

"Then what do you plan to do next? Continue relying on this method to expand the army and attack other countries?"

"Of course. Only this way can the Eastern Region be rapidly unified."

This was also why she'd gone from a small country to the largest nation in the entire Eastern Region territory in just ten years.

"But the remaining countries have already formed an alliance. Right now, they're all preparing to subjugate you. Under the siege of numerous alliance nations, even you would find it difficult to resist, right?"

"Doesn't matter. Just a motley crew."

Arrogant!

The little Princess felt for the first time that the Empress was actually so arrogant. An alliance composed of over ten countries, with military power already sufficient to contend with Scarlet Phoenix Nation, yet actually called a "motley crew" by the Empress.

Such arrogance wasn't without reason. Because Scarlet Phoenix Nation alone controlled far more strategic resource ore veins than the alliance nations. This benefited from the early stages of Scarlet Phoenix Nation's external wars primarily targeting lands controlling abundant resources.

The little Princess sat on the Empress's lap. Between the two, there was no longer any fabric barrier. Skin intimately touching together.

"Recently, Glaze Nation has sent quite a few negotiation envoys."

After news that Glaze Nation's first princess was under house arrest in Scarlet Phoenix Nation spread back, they'd continuously been secretly dispatching envoys to negotiate. By now, it was already the fourth envoy, but all had been sent back. Because she was certain the Glaze Nation royal family definitely wouldn't make this news public.

"You couldn't be thinking..."

"Exactly as you're thinking. So I'll need you afterward."

The Empress directly admitted it, not concealing her purpose at all.

Mo: "..."

As expected, the Empress had set her sights on the giant black gold ore vein controlled by Glaze Nation.

"I also said at that time, as long as you stayed, I wouldn't send troops to Glaze Nation. You don't need to worry I'll seize it by force. Moreover, your original plan was to exchange partial mining rights to the black gold ore vein for me to stop sending troops to Glaze Nation, wasn't it?"

This was indeed what she'd originally planned. Now she'd also made Scarlet Phoenix Nation stop continuing to send troops. But she herself had fallen into the Empress's hands...

"Mo."

The Empress lifted the little Princess's chin. The hand that had been helping wash her body also stopped, pressing against the little Princess's chest.

"So you'll help me, right?"

The corner of the little Princess's mouth twitched again.

She'd already been controlled. Now actually asking if she'd help?

She didn't understand what the Empress wanted to express. This was clearly a matter of command, yet she was asking her opinion?

After a long while, she finally uttered one word:

"Yes."

From the moment Scarlet Phoenix Nation stopped sending troops to Glaze Nation, the two countries had already become grasshoppers on the same string. The outside world would question Glaze Nation, question why Scarlet Phoenix Nation had uniquely stopped sending troops to Glaze Nation. And the alliance nations who hadn't learned the truth would naturally also view Glaze Nation as hostile, believing Glaze Nation had already allied with Scarlet Phoenix Nation. After all, the people who knew about her coming to negotiate could be counted on one hand.