Chapter 250
Chapter 250
Xiao Yu was relieved when he saw that the man who had appeared in the room was Ao Du, Touba Hong’s master.
“Master.” Touba Hong knelt down as he burst into tears.
Normally, men such as Touba Hong wouldn’t cry so easily but the moment he saw his only relative Ao Do he couldn’t help but release all the emotions that he had kept inside himself.
Ao Du came forward and touched Touba Hong’s head: “You have grown up. You are not a child anymore but the emperor of the Western Cloud Empire. You must be strong, don’t show this side of yours to outsiders.” There was affection reflected in the eyes of Ao Du but at the moment he was reminding Touba Hong about his duties. Touba Hong wiped away the tears and stood up.
“It’s good that you haven’t gone blindly back to the Imperial Capital. I’m afraid you wouldn’t be able to survive if you had done so.” Ao Du added. He believed that these qualities shown by Touba Hong made him qualified for the throne.
The emperor couldn’t be an emotional person. He had to take out the personal feelings and consider the most important issues of the situation. Touba Hong didn’t go back to save Touba Ye but went away to gather an army and establish a base when he heard the news of rebellion. This illustrated that Touba Hong was a calm person.
Touba Hong’s face flushed when he heard Ao Du’s words: “The reason why acted so was because of Xiao Yu’s support. Otherwise, I would have failed.”
Ao Du’s eyebrows wrinkled up when he heard Touba Hong’s words: “Are you the lord of the Lion territory? The Xiao Yu?”
Xiao Yu was a bit surprised when he heard Ao Du say out his name. He laughed: “Master is aware of my name?”
Ao Du seized Xiao Yu up and down for a moment: “You have gathered orcs, elves and other races around yourself in such a short time and have settled the chaos that ruled the region… I wouldn’t be me if I wasn’t aware of your existence.”
Xiao Yu slightly bowed: “Master is overpraising my accomplishments.”
Ao Du’s eyes lit upt: “I assume you haven’t come to Western Cloud Empire to help out Touba Hong.”
Xiao Yu laughed: “Of course not… After unification of the territory I came over to Western Cloud Empire to get information… I didn’t expect to face such a situation over here.. I have become friends with Touba Hong and I saw that he was facing hard time.. As a man of honor I couldn’t help but act.”
Ao Du continued: “You aren’t helping Hong’er but yourself… You must know that Lion territory was the next after the throne. You are helping Touba Hong as you don’t want to face the entire Western Cloud Empire on your own.”
“You never get tired when you chat with wise men… Master Ao Du is a real master. I fact, I think like you too.. Anyway, we are allies now so I assume Master Ao Du wouldn’t refuse my assistance.” Xiao Yu smiled.
Xiao Yu was clear that both Touba Hong and Ao Du would need his support. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to suppress Touba Gui’s attacks. Touba Gui have planned the rebellion for years and most probably have focused on controlling army. The vast majority of Western Cloud Empire’s army was already under Touba Gui’s hands. Now, Touba Hong needed strong army to stabilize the situation and establish troops that could compete with Touba Gui.
Ao Du smiled as he looked at Xiao Yu: “Of course, we won’t refuse… Why would we refuse the help of such a powerful ally? But what are the conditions for that help?”
Xiao Yu clapped his hands the moment he heard Ao Du’s words: “For the last few days I have been discussing with Touba Hong about the situation but we didn’t have a chance to talk about the conditions.. Since the topic has come up then let’s talk about it.”
Touba Hong was shaken up a bit when he heard Xiao Yu’s words. He carefully listened to both of them as he knew that the interests of the Western Cloud Empire were on table.
Ao Du noddedt: “It’s better to talk about it earlier than later…”
Xiao Yu nodded and pondered for a moment: “You may not now it but I’m a man of love and peace. I just want to be lord of my territory… Drink wine, play with my dragon and play around with girls.. However, others attack me even though I don’t have such an aim. So I’m helpless as I have to protect myself too. To tell the truth I don’t have any ambitions about Western Cloud Empire.. The Sky Lion Dynasty is already a big empire and I have enough headache.. I don’t have spare energy to waste by interfering with Western Cloud Empire. But it seems the Western Cloud Empire still has the idea of invading and conquering Sky Lion Dynasty… Lion territory is a buffer zone between both empires and have been land without an owner for long time.. Now, it’s my territory. I won’t attack others but I will hold my own territory.. Otherwise, I won’t be able to face my ancestors in the world to come. My condition is that after Touba Hong becomes the emperor of the Western Cloud Empire then he will announce that he recognizes me as the lord of the Lion territory.. The people of the Western Cloud Empire wouldn’t enter freely and after the problem is settled I will establish a city on the border which would officially be the boundary between two empires. Afterwards, I will work on peaceful coexistence.”
Touba Hong and Ao Du looked at each other as Xiao Yu spoke. Actually, they believed that Xiao Yu’s request wasn’t too much. Lion territory was given to Xiao Yu’s father by the Sky Lion Dynasty. However, the place was a sovereign land. It meant that Western Cloud Empire had a say in the matter too. Bandit groups and other people had been living in this place for a long time. Both empires had sent troops to exterminate them but no one was successful until now. The place was humongous and it was close to Ankagen Mountains. It was barren land and a suitable place as a buffer zone.
Nevertheless, Western Cloud Empire had to consider pros and cons of giving the jurisdiction of this territory to Xiao Yu. Western Cloud Empire never thought about this buffer zone as part of Sky Lion Dynasty let alone Lion territory. Now, Xiao Yu wanted to get all the buffer zone to himself. Touba Hong’s approval meant that he would be betraying territorial integrity of the Western Cloud Empire. It was a sin to think that he would give up such a big mass of land.
Of course, the ownership of this piece of land was ambiguous. There was nothing wrong with Touba Hong agreeing to Xiao Yu’s proposal.
“Your appetite is quite big.” Ao Du spoke up. It seemed that Ao Du was somewhat angry about Xiao Yu’s request.
Xiao Yu smiled: “It’s not that big of a request. Western Cloud Empire may not recognize the buffer zone as being part of the Lion Territory.. But I will take advantage of the civil strife and take over the land over time… There is nothing that you lose at this point except my support.”
Both Touba Hong and Ao Du were aware that Xiao Yu was telling the truth. Xiao Yu could use the strife between Touba Gui and Touba Hong to establish the land. Moreover, Touba Hong couldn’t be on bad relationship with a neighbor like Xiao yu.
“What will you promise to get the full jurisdiction over the Lion territory?” Ao Du asked after pondering for moment.
Xiao Yu smiled as when he heard Ao Du’s words he knew that the deal was done: “I will help Touba Hong to kill Touba Gui and unify the Western Cloud Empire.”
“Unification of Western Cloud Empire… The timing is too vague.. It could be done in 10 years or maybe even in 100 years.. We can’t agree to this if you are going to help us to get the Western Cloud Empire in 100 years.” Ao Du was able to grasp the flaw in Xiao Yu’s statement.
Xiao Yu immediately added: “5 years… I promise that Touba Hong would be able to unify the empire in 5 years.. Otherwise, this agreement is invalid.”
Touba Hong raised his head to look at Xiao Yu: “I can agree but the agreement must be confidential at this stage. I can’t let people know about this or they will think that I have sold Western Cloud Empire’s sovereignty for your support. I can only fulfil my part of the promise after the unification.”
Xiao Yu shook his head: “Who knows what will you think after the unification?”
Touba Hong frowned: “What do you want then?”
Xiao Yu faintly said: “I will establish barrier at the border in 3 years.. I will begin to build a city too. You will begin to implement the order that the people won’t enter freely my territory.. The agreement will be public after you unify the empire.”
Touba Hong thought for a moment: “Deal.”