Badge in Azure

In the Holy See’s code of laws there had to be churches within all the cities of the Tanggulasi Empire. When the population of a city had reached a certain size, the size of the church had to be expanded correspondingly as well.

“During this campaign a sufficient number of slaves have to be deployed so that the Holy See would have to establish a church with Red Bishops in northern Qin. If this church gets destroyed the Holy See must rebuild it. This means that when I send a few hundred-thousand slaves over the pope must provide a corresponding level of support. This support is bottomless, otherwise, it will be akin to the Holy See refuting their own code of laws.”

This would be a bottomless pit, it would be extremely challenging to defend a church that was established in northern Qin. By then, the pressure on Siyuan City would be drastically reduced as the pope would have to concentrate his efforts on northern Qin. Even the offensive at Loulan’s borders would be forced to take on a defensive stance.

“Leave this to the dukes. Vinny, go and get Gerald,” the emperor said in exhilaration.

“As you wish, Your Majesty.” The holy master left the palace to contact the prominent nobles in the city. As long as these nobles joined forces to demand the emperor to invade Metatrin, the Holy See would be helpless. The nobles would have a strong justification for their demand because an entire army, as well as the son of a duke, had died in that faraway land in the north.

A sense of foreboding swept throughout Siyuan City. Bad news seemed to have grown wings, soaring across Myers mainland and towards Sikeqinya as well.

Sikeqinya was built upon mercenaries. Long ago the bloodline of the imperial family had originated from a Sikeqinya Mercenary Group. When the Sikeqinya Mercenary Group was in its heyday it claimed to have three-hundred-thousand knights.

Three-hundred-thousand magic cavalrymen were sufficient to develop a powerful empire. To date, the number of mages had dwindled significantly and many were converged in Qin Empire. As a result, the number of knights in Sikeqinya could only be maintained around fifty-thousand.

These fifty-thousand knights were labeled as the imperial family’s fortress, they were the main elites of the Sikeqinya imperial family.

On the empire’s square the Sikeqinya emperor was reviewing a parade. The square of the Sikeqinya Empire had an even larger surface area than the Glorious Square found in the Holy City. More than one-hundred mercenary groups participated in this parade. Among those people reviewing this parade, there were ambassadors from the other three empires, other than the nobles of the Sikeqinya Empire.

This day marked a thousand years since the establishing the Sikeqinya Empire. Very early on the emperor had already sent envoys to the other three empires. Even Qin and Tanggulasi, who were in the midst of war, did not reject this invitation.

Both parties were vying for Sikeqinya’s support, even though they knew that Sikeqinyans only looked up to money. No matter how good relations were, money still had to be forked over eventually for the Sikeqinya nobles to deploy their troops.

Among the four big empires, the population of Sikeqinyans was the smallest. There were less than two-hundred-million of them. Among the Sikeqinyans, the number of farmers was on the lower end. The craftsmen, mercenaries, merchants, and shepherds made up the bulk of this empire.

This was a mercenary state, but bandits were prolific too. This caused the other three empires to be bewildered.

The emperor of the Sikeqinya Empire, Danny, was seated on a platform while being flanked by envoys from the other three empires. The mercenaries who walked past the reviewing platform were equipped with premium equipment. Their air of ferocity engulfed the entire square.

The envoys from the three empires were conjuring their own ideas as they stared at the Sikeqinyans flexing their muscles.

The first team to walk past the platform was the imperial swordsman’s group, this was an army with a heavy duty composition. There were war chariots, heavy cavalrymen, heavy infantrymen, armored swordsmen, long range infantrymen, and even a rarely seen mage’s platoon.

Of course, the Sikeqinya emperor would never showcase his most secret forces. Nevertheless, this heavy duty army in front of the platform already made the three envoys understand the power possessed by the Sikeqinyans.

The next team to march was the Dragons and Roses Regiment, this mercenary group had been stationed along the borders and it was also the first mercenary group in Sikeqinya. The group leader was a Golden Grand Swordmaster, while his wife was a grade-9 sorcerer. Such a collocation was the most ideal structure for a mercenary group.

Due to the tense situation in Loulan, the leader of the Dragons and Roses Regiment did not attend this parade personally. Instead, he had sent a mage’s squad and a magic beast camp to take part in the parade.

Sikeqinya also had magic beast swordsmen, however, only the Dragons and Roses Regiment contained a full composition of them. In the mage’s squad deployed by the regiment, there were two grade-8 sorcerers. That surprised the Qin envoy a little. “It is simply unbelievable that a mercenary group has so many sorcerers, it seems like it was the right decision for His Majesty to send me here.”

The Sikeqinyans were not as weak as imagined, otherwise the Tanggulasi Empire would not have attacked Qin first. Instead, it would have attacked Sikeqinya, which was nearer.

When the second grade-9 mercenary group walked past the square the envoy from Tanggulasi Empire had also become extremely jittery. This mercenary group had deployed a four-thousand man team and the commander of every emblem group was a Silver Grand Swordmaster.

Even though Sikeqinya only had two grade-9 mercenary groups, the proficiency of these mercenaries was not any less than the imperial cavalrymen of the Tanggulasi Empire.

“Luckily we didn’t attack Sikeqinya first and captured the eroded Loulan.” The Tanggulasi envoy was feeling glad, but before this day, everyone had underestimated the Sikeqinyans.

At the moment, it seemed like Sikeqinya was the decisive force which could affect the war between Qin and Tanggulasi.

The Cloudflow envoy was the most arrogant, but he did not make any derogatory remarks because the emperor of the Sikeqinya Empire was a Golden Grand Swordmaster. The envoy was not afraid of any emperor, but was fearful of a Golden Grand Swordmaster’s anger. If one went to provoke an expert of this grade, it meant that they were tired of living.

An emperor might treat an envoy with some respect, or tolerance, in view of the relations between two nations. A Golden Grand Swordmaster would not entertain such thoughts.

“Look at Emperor Danny, sitting there surveying the armies below the platform while emitting an invisible majesty, causing everyone to be speechless. If I knew that this emperor was a grade-9 expert, I wouldn’t have taken up this assignment.”

Emperor Danny observed the envoys from the three empires, feeling smug. “Other than displaying my powers this time around, I also intend to display the premium equipment in my possession. The location of the war between Tanggulasi and Qin is actually very near to Laiyin Duchy. I can provide huge quantities of disposable weapons to both parties. This time around, I will make a killing.”

Before Sikeqinya, there were four dynasties and countless of kingdoms. There was never a king or emperor who was like the imperial family of Sikeqinya, only caring about how to make a fortune.

This conceited emperor never thought about if Qin or Tanggulasi triumphed, either empire would pose a huge threat to him. Sikeqinyans were inborn mercenaries, as long as they received money, they would put their lives at stake for their employers. Sikeqinyans were also the best merchants. As long as the customer could afford the price, a Sikeqinyan would sell anything to them.

An unreasonable family had spread their beliefs and ideals to the entire empire. Even the Holy See could not rival such an achievement. The Holy See still had to rely on the temptation provided by a god to control the believers and control an empire. The imperial family of Sikeqinya had simply used gold coins to corrupt all Sikeqinyans.

Just from this point alone, the very first emperor who created the Sikeqinya Empire was nobler than the Lord of Glory. His religion had spread throughout the empire in less than a hundred years.

Sikeqinya also had churches, but they were a place of sorrow for the Holy See. Almost every Sikeqinyan was a fake believer, an inborn rebel. Their faith in the gods was very pretentious, they could turn into traitors anytime.

The three envoys were very clear why the Sikeqinya emperor had invited them to review this parade, but they could not refuse this ‘kindness’.

The Cloudflow people had lost half of Titan Duchy. In actual fact, they were already at war with the Tanggulasi Empire. Most of the equipment originally procured by Cloudflow had gone to Qin because Cloudflow did not really trust Sikeqinya. At this point in time the Sikeqinya emperor had signaled an intention to sell materials. That was in line with what the Cloudflow people desperately needed.

Cloudflow possessed naval fleets. Even though they could not breach the coastal defenses of Tanggulasi, they could go around Tanggulasi Empire and head straight to Sikeqinya. Under the protection of warships, the amount of cargo the Cloudflow merchant ships could transport would be quite astonishing.

Cloudflow did not lack in mineral deposits, but they sorely needed the ability to mass produce consumables.

Purchasing bows and arrows was the first task. On Titan Duchy’s battlefield, the Cloudflow people were still short of over one-hundred-million arrows. Since they did not have a large cavalry regiment, the Cloudflow people would have to outfit more archers if they wanted to engage Tanggulasi in a field battle.

The Tanggulasi people lacked in sieging equipment because the Qin cities were too sturdy. Each city had been formed from gigantic rocks and even the walls of the smaller fortresses were not shorter than fifteen yards. The metal battlements used by the Qin people could hardly be destroyed by divine spells. If the Tanggulasi people tried to invade these cities, they would have to pay an astronomical price.

The Qin people also faced a scarcity of armor. Logically speaking, the magic armor of Qin people was the best in the world, but it was too expensive. Only the imperial family and main forces could afford it. On the other hand, the armor of the local nobles was very much inferior.

These three empires had their own needs and the Sikeqinyans wanted to sell this equipment to help these three nations battle each other. As long as the war perpetuated, the Sikeqinyans would have an endless stream of income.

After six grade-8 mercenary groups passed by, there were another over thirty grade-7 mercenary groups who would go on to march past.

At this point in time, the Qin envoy had already conjured a plan in his mind. “The Sikeqinyans want to make money right? Then I shall help them make money. I will clarify this point with the emperor when I return. We will purchase weapons from Sikeqinya in bulk, so that the Tanggulasi people will have nothing to procure. Even if they try to buy, they will have to raise their offers. If the Tanggulasi people want to obtain weapons, they will have to pay a much higher price.”

The Sikeqinyan emperor was reviewing a parade and plotting against the three envoys. In the Cloudflow palace, it was a scene of merrymaking and celebrations to extol the good times as though the war in Titan Duchy was unrelated to them at all.

Within a three story palace song and dance was aplenty as dozens of princes, princesses and the crown prince accompanied the Cloudflow emperor in a banquet. In the midst of these celebrations flagons carved from jade were served continuously in waves. All the tableware was crafted from jade with the exception of some made from gold or silver. Occasionally, there was chinaware too and all these appliances were made using magic.

The Cloudflow people boasted of being the authentic descendants of the fourth dynasty, the facades of their houses were at least double in size compared to the other empires. Of course, they had to be best in style as well. At the moment, the emperor clearly wanted to discuss the war in Titan Duchy, but he still had to organize a banquet.