The Empress’s Gigolo

The capital of the Yun Nation, Wang Jing, was said to have been established by a banished prince from a previous dynasty in Great Xia.The location of the Yun Nation at that time was a desolate piece of land.A long time after that, all kinds of criminals, farmers fleeing from famine, and various talents formed a country with Wang Jing as the capital.After that, the people of that country merged with the natives from the south to form the predecessors of the Chen Nation. The original Hao Nation was founded by the aboriginals and an army fleeing from a dynasty that preceded Great Xia.

Subsequently, this former dynasty was replaced by Great Xia, and likewise, the Yun Nation removed the royal family of its previous dynasty.The aboriginals overthrew the ruler of the Hao Nation.The changing of dynasties resulted in the current situation. Wang Jing was a super city in this era with a population of millions. Merchants from all over the world gathered here.Even the merchants from Great Xia commented that they preferred Wang Jing to the capital of Great Xia because it wasn’t as boring.

Wang Jing was most well-known for the flower boats on the Sanhua River. Hundreds of these giant boats plied the river and were lit up all night. Laughter and music from bamboo instruments reached the shores from these lavish places.Next, there was the eastern part of the city that was almost half filled with all kinds of shops, merchants that were coming from various countries, and even sailors that were here to purchase merchandise.Thriving, drinking, and dreaming your life away as well as indulging in sensual pleasures was how people who visited Wang Jing described it.

Even the son of an island chief refused to go back after coming to Wang Jing and gave up his position as a future island chief. This episode of someone seeking a carefree life in the Yun Nation was well known and was a source of pride to the people of Wang Jing.In addition, the ambassador from the Chen Nation hadn’t change for decades, and when asked by the Chen Nation’s king about returning home, the ambassador replied, “I am willing to stay here for life!”From these two cases, a general idea of what Wang Jing was like could be inferred.

It made people addicted to a lifestyle of indulgence and mad them unwilling to leave.However, the atmosphere in Wang Jing had changed somewhat recently. The sounds of music and the whisperings of lovers had toned down from the flower boats while the sounds of drums and harps were growing more strident.Those superficial playboys were no longer discussing romantic dalliances, but were talking about military matters instead.The attack against Dayao by the Yun Nation was seen as an act of revenge by its people. This was to avenge the attack that almost wiped out the country more than ten years ago.Although these young people hadn’t experienced that event personally, they regarded it as a humiliation.The recent attack was a matter of national prestige and revenge.Everyone was animatedly discussing how long it would take to conquer Dayao.A blind musician in a flower boat was unconvinced. He didn’t understand affairs of state, but he knew that these youngsters were underestimating Dayao.He didn’t know much about Dayao, but he had lived through that period and had seen the terror of those barbarians with his own eyes when he wasn’t yet blind.It wasn’t only on the flower boats. In the streets and alleys as well as among the traders, everyone was discussing this war.There had been peace in the Yun Nation for a long time. This time, they were attacking an arch-enemy who had almost wiped them out, so most of the people in Wang Jing focused their attention on this war.There were some people who were keenly aware of an undercurrent in the Yun Nation.In fact, this had been noticed a year ago or even earlier.As a result, a few people from the Zhang family ran to Lan City to find opportunities to form alliances in Dayao under the pretext of trying to solve the problem of their shop closures,. Unfortunately, the aboriginals adamantly rejected these foreigners.Although the empress chose a foreigner as her husband, those from the Yun Nation didn’t get any opportunities. They brought their gifts to the residences of the court officials, were met with contemptuous looks and rejections, and didn’t even get to see the actual owners in many cases because they were driven out by the doormen.The ordinary folks in Wang Jing knew that they were waging a war against Dayao and looked forward to hearing the good news.What they didn’t know was the urgent delivery, by horseback, of seven booklets by the West City army. Three of them explained the situation and highly recommended the withdrawal of the soldiers, but this information was suppressed.The last four booklets requested for money, rations, manpower, and ordnance.The first three booklets were a report by Zhu Wuzhen about the situation. The last four booklets were written because he knew that the court had made a decision, so he had thought of ways to improve their odds of winning.”Are they asking for the north army to be transferred to the west? Shouldn’t 400,000 soldiers be sufficient? Furthermore, they have the latest crossbow weapons, yet they still ask for more people to fight against 15,000 barbarians?” More than one person found it hard to believe after reading the booklets sent by the West City army. This meant that with each and every person urinating, 400,000 people were enough to inundate Sanxi City. Moreover, the north army had other uses. They could take this chance to attack Dayao and take back the jurisdiction of those cities at the same time. Therefore, it was not at all justifiable to send the north army to the west.

“Tell them to expect getting other reinforcement soldiers only after they have made some progress.”The soldiers from the West City army ran off their feet, but were given only 20 carriages of the latest crossbows weapons. These carriages were in addition to the 60 that they already had and could shoot 132 arrows per salvo.These soldiers departed from the Yamen with great reluctance, spitting and cursing as they went back to report to their commanders.

[1.Yamen: was the administrative office or residence of a local bureaucrat or mandarin in imperial China.]This bunch of bloody basta**s!A 400,000 strong army? Those allied forces from the cities were hopeless.Only the 180,000 soldiers from the West City army could be relied on.This was about attacking a city, however! That bunch of 15,000 barbarians was equivalent to at least 150,000 of their soldiers. Even an idiot knew it took several times the number of forces to attack a city. Presently, the ratio was about one to one. They might not be able to take down Sanxi City even if the West City army was bled dry.After receiving the news, Zhu Wuzhen mulled over it for a night, wrote a letter, and sent it back. “According to the Art of War, besiege the enemy when you have ten times more soldiers, attack when the ratio is five times, and separate the enemy when the ratio is 1:1… Great Xia laid siege to two cities a month ago, didn’t attack, and suddenly retreated…”Although he expounded on the Art of War strategy, he wasn’t asking for the north army. Instead, he needed the cities to continue sending reinforcement troops instead.In his letter, he expounded on the reasons why they couldn’t take Sanxi City with the available soldiers. 700,000 Great Xia soldiers surrounded Ping City and Shun City, but didn’t attack. All of a sudden, their soldiers suddenly retreated. Moreover, this was the West City army. Since the north army couldn’t be dispatched, the reinforcements would come from the various cities. With at least 200,000 reinforcement soldiers, he could besiege Sanxi City and send some of the soldiers to enter Dayao directly. If Sanxi City sent troops to help, that would be what he wished for. Whether it was to kill the separated troops or to continue attacking Sanxi City, the desired result would still be achieved.To advance or retreat at will meant that he was in an invulnerable position.If Sanxi City didn’t send troops to attack, then he would do as Great Xia had done and destroy Dayao’s fields and strongholds. As for the north region, most of the fields in the east had been destroyed, so the harvest in Dayao for the coming year could be imagined.By the time the Chen Nation sent their troops, Dayao would be facing attacks from several fronts. Externally, they would face military threats while internally, they would face famine. Naturally, Dayao wouldn’t be able to withstand these problems.As the allied forces from the cities merged together, their combat power was conversely reduced. Therefore, most of the forces would be scattered inside Dayao. Merits would be awarded based on the numbers of heads collected.Even the commoners would count the number of aboriginal soldiers killed.At the moment, according to Zhu Wuzhen, this was the best method to use. Since the court didn’t want to send the north army, the focus was on weakening the warlords, and he took this opportunity to help them.To say nothing of the 300,000 alliance soldiers entering Dayao, even 300,000 ants could bite some people to death.

At that time, each city would move on its own since this would prevent all of them from losing everything in one battle.The commoners were also getting credit for killing the enemy soldiers, and Zhu Wuzhen didn’t have to worry about whether they were involved in the fighting. It would be best if the aboriginal soldiers in Sanxi City could be lured out. If not, they could still cause Dayao a lot of trouble. As mentioned, the destruction of the fields would certainly cause a famine in Dayao this coming year.With military and crop disasters coming together, even if the Yun Nation didn’t win, they wouldn’t lose either.If they didn’t win on the battlefield, dragging down Dayao would still be considered a victory.

He would continue to do the job that wasn’t completed by Great Xia.He was using the same method as Wu Shenghou, which was to bully the numerically inferior Dayao. No matter how powerful they were, they have only limited soldiers. With more attacks against them, they would be overwhelmed. Eventually, their flaws would be exposed.Presently, the imperial court was thinking of how to weaken the cities of the warlords, so this coincided with the wishes of the court officials.If his speculations were correct, then the court officials would certainly agree without hesitation .Upon receiving the news that the imperial court had agreed, he didn’t feel elated, he only felt exhausted.