Loulan City, Imperial Palace.

The King of Loulan walked back and forth in the imperial study with a frown on his face.

After a moment, he stopped and looked at his ministers.

"I have carefully read the documents about Daxia these days. Daxia is very powerful, especially its army!"

"Ever since the Great Xia monarch Fu Xiaoguan founded the Divine Sword Army, they have never suffered a single defeat!"

"The earliest recorded battle of the Divine Sword Army occurred during the Yu Dynasty, when they suppressed a rebellion. They defeated the rebels with only a few thousand men at Pingling Mountain. After that, the Divine Sword Army began to grow in strength. In the war against the Desolate Nation, they even defeated the Desolate Nation's 500,000-man army with only 30,000 men!"

"The final battle was the Dingding Battle on the Huazhong Plain. With only a hundred thousand men, they annihilated the hundreds of thousands of troops of the Yu Dynasty with ease. Thus, the Yu Dynasty and the Fan State were destroyed, and the Great Xia was established."

"Then came the war between Daxia and Liao. Daxia was victorious in this battle again... 20,000 men raided the Liao capital, easily taking it. They even held out for two full days and nights waiting for reinforcements."

"Everyone, I have mobilized 300,000 troops to defend Loulan City, with an additional 100,000 Imperial Guards. However, I am a little worried. If Daxia ignores the hostages and attacks forcefully... I'm afraid Loulan will be razed to the ground!"

"Now, Daxia has sent another 10,000 troops. It may seem like only 20,000, but it is said that their armor is invulnerable, and their firearms are indestructible..."

The King of Loulan's last gaze fell on the face of a middle-aged man. "Chen Yang, I wish to negotiate with Daxia. What do you think?"

His name was Chen Yang, and he was once the governor of Wuyuan Prefecture during the Wu Dynasty.

His son Chen Zheng died in Nanping Temple and was killed by Fu Xiaoguan's men!

His family took refuge with Fu Xiaoguan, and he was targeted by the Censorate. He fled to the Liao Dynasty like a stray dog, but the Liao Dynasty was eventually destroyed by Fu Xiaoguan!

A year ago, he fled to the Kingdom of Loulan. With his eloquence and experience as an official, he was recommended by the second prince of Loulan and became a staff member of the King of Loulan.

He thought he could live safely in Loulan for the rest of his life, but he never expected that Daxia's tentacles would reach here again.

Fu Xiaoguan!

You are haunting me!

Chen Yang didn't want to flee anymore. He roughly understood Da Xia's strategic intentions. He believed that Da Xia would never stand still. The world was so big, and he suddenly realized that there was no place for him to stay!

Because Daxia and the seven vassal states have signed trade agreements, this means that Daxia and these seven countries can travel freely, and Chen Yang's name must still be on the wanted list of the Censorate.

So, he contacted his former colleague, He Shangyuan, who had also committed a crime in Daxia and fled to Qufu, one of Daxia's vassal states. He learned about Daxia's ongoing national policy of opening up the Silk Road.

Only then did he realize how big Daha's ambition was, so big that he could hardly imagine it.

"Your Majesty, absolutely not!" Chen Yang stood up, bowed, and said, "Daxia's trade agreements are extremely unequal! Your Majesty, you don't know how prosperous Daxia's commerce is. If their goods really entered Loulan, I dare to guarantee that Loulan's goods would be completely defeated in this unequal competition!"

"As I said before, if we accept that agreement, from now on, our entire Loulan Kingdom will no longer see our own goods! Although their silk is expensive, cotton is very cheap. The people of Loulan will wear their woven silk and eat their rice."

"If a country loses its most basic commerce, and the entire market is dominated by Daxia, I dare to ask your Majesty: if Daxia uses this as a threat, how can Loulan respond?"

"I have spoken a treasonous word. When that happens, I will truly be at the mercy of others. Loulan will be completely controlled by Daxia and will be at their mercy."

In a sense, what Chen Yang said was not wrong, which is why the King of Loulan believed what Chen Yang said.

But after the King of Loulan carefully studied the military strength of Daxia, he felt uneasy.

"But Daxia's Silk Road plan is a national policy, and he will certainly implement it with all his might. If Daxia really mobilizes a hundred thousand troops from the Far East, won't my Loulan Kingdom also be destroyed?"

The rest of the ministers nodded, and they looked at Chen Yang with some dissatisfaction. This guy who came from afar and had no known background had caught the king's attention through flattery. Could he be an undercover agent of Daxia?

Did he want to make Loulan an enemy of Daxia, so that Daxia would have an excuse to destroy Loulan in one fell swoop?

"I believe your Majesty's concerns are quite reasonable," said the old Prime Minister Anduo, standing up. "Daxia has a population of over 300 million, while Loulan only has over 30 million."

"Daxia has an army... the land army alone has 800,000 soldiers, while Loulan only has 300,000 soldiers in total."

"It's not that this old minister is trying to boost others' morale and destroy his own prestige. The Great Xia Army is invincible, and we in Loulan... haven't seen a war in decades."

"How could Great Xia stop for a mere twenty officials? I believe that Great Xia's sending another 10,000 troops to Dingfang Mountain is their last chance for Loulan. If we refuse to release them and negotiate, I'm afraid a hundred thousand troops will be marching down the city!"

"By then... Lord Chen, what will we use to fight Daxia? Loulan will truly become another Far North Road of Daxia!"

The words of the old Prime Minister An Duo were seconded by the other ministers. Just when the King of Loulan was about to adopt this opinion, the second prince An Zizai walked in leisurely.

"Father, I believe Prime Minister An's words are tantamount to selling out the country!"

Anduo was shocked and was about to retort when An Zizai spoke again, "I admit that Loulan cannot defeat Daxia. But if we simply release the hostages, then we will probably let Daxia dictate the terms of the negotiations without any chance for us to refute them."

"Father, I believe that while we must negotiate, the initiative must be in the hands of Loulan! Loulan has the final say on what goods from Daxia can and cannot enter Loulan."

"You don't understand Daxia, but Lord Chen does. Don't worry, Daxia is people-oriented. Mr. Fu..." The Second Prince An Zizai laughed sarcastically, "He wants to be a whore and a saint. He won't ignore these twenty lives."

"Then, in your opinion, how should we deal with this next?" asked Ando.

"wait!"

"Waiting for what?"

"Since Daxia only sent an additional 10,000 troops, it's clear they wanted to pressure us into submission. But why didn't they mobilize a hundred thousand troops? They didn't want to jeopardize relations and leave themselves room for maneuver."

"You ask me what I'm waiting for? I'm telling you, we're waiting for Daxia to invite us to negotiate!"

What the second prince said made sense, so the matter was settled.

At the same time, on the top of Dingfang Mountain, Yu Dingshan also asked Guan Xiaoxi: "Commander, why don't we take action?"

"wait!"

"Waiting for what?"

"Wait for the wind to come."