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"Borrowing troops?"

Inside Northern Wolf City, within the Celestial Wolf Palace, the young Emperor faced Mister Ziyue’s request and was stunned in an instant.

Three days ago, a large number of noble families had defected, leaving behind a huge power vacuum. Many of the smaller noble families were scrambling to offer their loyalty; it was when his imperial power was at its most potent, but the cost was also tremendous.

As numerous noble families left, taking not only the talented magician offspring but also the personal soldiers of the bloodline families, the Northern Yan, though still possessing a million armored soldiers, had lost two-thirds of its core bloodline soldiers, which was a significant weakening.

At this time, the powerful and well-equipped Jiangnan actually wanted to borrow troops from him?

"Does Your Majesty have concerns?" Mister Ziyue patiently brewed some of Jiangnan’s green tea for the young Emperor.

The Little Emperor looked at Mister Ziyue, his face slightly reddened, and with a light cough said, "Now... Northern Yan’s military power has suffered greatly, especially the number of bloodline soldiers, which has greatly diminished. If we still have to lend out some..."

"Does Your Majesty not trust me?"

Looking into Mister Ziyue’s dark purple pupils, the Little Emperor’s ears turned red, and he shook his head repeatedly, "I... do not mean that..."

Coming to the throne at a young age, he had endured doubts about his rule.

The other party had suggested he align with Jiangnan, claiming they could help him deal with those powerful noble families.

At the time, he was only half-convinced, and his final agreement to cooperate was because he felt he had nothing to lose.

The states of the Northern Wasteland paying tribute to the Central Plains was not a rare occurrence.

After all, when the Central Plains was strong, they paid tribute to receive benefits, but there were plenty of examples of breaches of alliance when the Central Plains weakened, with enemies taking advantage of the situation.

This was a long-standing survival tactic of the plains.

In his view, paying tribute to the Central Plains and paying tribute to Jiangnan made no difference, as long as the other party could do as they claimed — stabilize his imperial power and suppress the overly powerful noble families. What did it matter if he paid tribute?

But what he hadn’t expected was that the cooperation seemed very different from what he had envisioned.

Firstly was the change in the entirety of Northern Yan after they announced their allegiance. He always felt that after the tribute, Northern Wolf City seemed different in some indescribable way, as if... he had lost a lot of things.

This was the most direct feeling as an Emperor.

Later on, terrifying monsters appeared, and King Xiang Palace emerged. Although the crisis was resolved, the events that had unfolded made him feel that it was perhaps not so simple, and it made him much more wary of Mister Ziyue before him.

"Did I not fulfill the promises I made to Your Majesty?" Mister Ziyue looked at the Little Emperor with a smile.

Seeing that smile on the other person’s face, the Little Emperor’s heart skipped a beat, feeling the heat on his face intensify as he muttered stammeringly, "Mister Ziyue is indeed resourceful, you have done everything you promised... I admire that."

What Mister Ziyue had promised was to suppress the influence of the great families on him, to stabilize his imperial power.

Now, although most of the elite troops had deserted, his imperial power was more stable than that of his father’s reign. On the Imperial Court, his word was almost law.

"So what concerns does Your Majesty have?

" Mister Ziyue smiled, "Now that the Northern alliance is formed, there is no need to worry about the Demons causing trouble in the Northern Territory. The Arctic Land will be explored by the Warrior Army; Your Majesty’s military forces are not necessary.

What effect would there be if Your Majesty lends some soldiers? "

"But... Now that Great Yan’s military strength is weak, with many elites having departed, if we lend troops again, and if enemies should attack..."

"Now that Great Yan has submitted to Jiangnan, any enemy that invades Jiangnan will not be ignored. Your Majesty, please rest assured."

"But..." The Little Emperor pursed his lips. They were at the point where they needed to borrow troops from him; if an incident occurred on their side, would they truly have the capacity to assist him?

"Your Majesty..." Mister Ziyue handed over the prepared tea, "This time, we do not need your bloodline warriors, only ordinary soldiers, and although we need them in large numbers, it will not affect Great Yan’s combat power too much, don’t you think?"

"Ordinary soldiers?" The Little Emperor paused in surprise. In the Northern Wasteland, ordinary soldiers were auxiliary troops; what decided the outcome on the plains were the cavalry units composed of bloodline warriors. If it was auxiliary troops they wanted to borrow... that might be manageable.

"If that’s the case... how many do you want to borrow?"

"Five hundred thousand!"

"Pfft!!" The Emperor immediately spat out a mouthful of tea.

"How many?"

Throughout Great Yan, including the hundred thousand bloodline soldiers, there were only a million armored troops. And the other party, at the outset, was asking for five hundred thousand?

What kind of joke is this?

Even if they are auxiliary troops, this sudden deployment would leave the defenses of various Great Yan cities insufficient.

"Your Majesty, the current situation is severe, not a single one of the five hundred thousand soldiers can be missing," Zi Yue seriously said to the other party, "The Imperial Court wishes to raise an army to recover the north, and as you’ve seen at the King Xiang Palace, they have acquired an extremely terrifying power.

Once they conquer the north, the next step will be the Northern Wasteland nations.

With the current strength of the Northern Wasteland nations, they are simply no match, so the Northern Territory must not be lost."

"But... if the Imperial Court is so powerful, what difference would it make even if I gave you five hundred thousand soldiers?"

"Hasn’t Your Majesty heard from Beiyu Jing about our circumstances?" Zi Yue said with a slight smile, "Now... the renowned Warrior Army, the majority of whom are of common soldier origin..."

"This..."

The Little Emperor had indeed heard from Beiyu Jing about this matter. The soldiers of Jiangnan didn’t need bloodlines, only faith in the War God to gain extraordinary power. This was also the reason Jiangnan men were so eager to join the army.

But... if the sons of the Northern Wasteland went to Jiangnan, would they receive the same treatment?

This kind of empowerment of soldiers with extraordinary power should require valuable resources, right?

Even if Jiangnan was willing to spare the resources, once... the soldiers were trained, would Jiangnan... be willing to send them back?

The Little Emperor watched the other party silently, not knowing what to say.

He wasn’t a seasoned politician and understood that the situation was stronger than him, but he also didn’t really want to hand over military strength for nothing.

At the very least... there should be some conditions, shouldn’t there?

"Is Your Majesty worried that we might not return the borrowed troops?"

The Little Emperor was taken aback, not expecting the other party to be so direct?

"If Your Majesty is concerned, you can establish a technique with His Highness, the King of Qin. Lend the troops to Jiangnan for three years, after which they must be returned!"

"Is... Is this true?" The Little Emperor stood up.

"Of course, it’s true..." Zi Yue watched the other party with a smile.

The Little Emperor felt a little relieved upon hearing this. If they were willing to return the soldiers, it wasn’t too bad. Even if fifty thousand soldiers went to Jiangnan and didn’t acquire that extraordinary power, at least with the wealth of Jiangnan, they definitely wouldn’t lack food.

Now, with the finances of the Northern Wasteland tight and the distribution of food resources severely inadequate, he had just taken power and was already overwhelmed by the allocation of resources.

If Jiangnan could help support the five hundred thousand common soldiers, it seemed.

.. it might not be a bad thing after all.

Considering this, the Little Emperor finally nodded, "If that’s the case, it’s not impossible, but most of the soldiers here in the Northern Wasteland have pastoral properties.

Although there has been severe demonization of livestock recently, those are the most valuable possessions of the soldiers.

If they go to Jiangnan and the livestock aren’t managed well, many soldiers might be unwilling. "

Zi Yue looked at the other party with an amused expression. This little guy wasn’t old, but he was quite shrewd.

Those livestock in the Northern Wasteland were basically unsellable now. After all, which merchant would risk buying a bunch of assets that could turn into man-eating demons at any moment?

With prices driven down in the market, many soldiers of the Northern Wasteland were extremely dissatisfied, and there had even been several gatherings causing trouble.

This little guy... wanted Jiangnan to shell out money to settle this issue.

"Your Majesty really is... trying to take advantage of everything,"

"Where would you say that, Mister Ziyue..." The Little Emperor looked carefully at the other party, muttering in his heart: Can I even take advantage of you?

Seeing that the matter had been discussed, Zi Yue didn’t stay any longer and quickly said her farewells and left the Imperial Palace.

Having just negotiated such an important deal, she did not feel at ease.

Chen Qing had left her in charge of numerous affairs in the Northern Wasteland, such as the current administration and appointment of officials in Northern Yan, as well as pioneering the Arctic Land and searching for the source of qi and blood!

With the current military strength of Jiangnan alone, if the Imperial Court did launch an offensive in the spring, to continue stretching their battle line would indeed likely lead to a total collapse. After all, it’s common knowledge that overreaching can lead to trouble.

The source of qi and blood in the Arctic Land, however, was the key to bolstering their military strength this time...