Kays Translations

Chapter 100: Strong

Xu Ren’s question left Ye Mingquan speechless. If possible, Ye Mingquan really wanted to shout — hadn’t everyone treated captives that way in the past? Captives equal slaves, and the lowest kind of slaves!  

If it weren’t for the fact that there were quite a few captives on the Anyang side, the captives from the Great Xia Kingdom might have already been dragged out to fill the pits.  

Yet, seeing the tidy captive camp before him, Ye Mingquan, despite having a thousand reasons, could not utter a single word.  

Noticing Ye Mingquan’s silence, Xu Ren continued, “Killing enemies on the battlefield is a sign of bravery. But killing and torturing captives is a sign of cowardice. What do you say, Lord Ye?”  

What the hell am I supposed to say?!  

Ye Mingquan felt a surge of anger in his heart. But he managed to respond evasively, “Mr. Xu is indeed a wise man; we mere mortals would never have thought of this.”  

Xu Ren nodded affirmatively, “So, we won’t mistreat the captives; we’ll just occasionally pay a visit to your borders. Let’s communicate more in the future.”  

Needless to say, Xu Ren’s way of speaking was clearly influenced by Li Xian.  

Hearing this sarcastic remark, Ye Mingquan’s nose crinkled in anger — damn it, you’ve emptied the entire Huaihua County, and you’re still not satisfied! But at this moment, he could only squeeze out a bit of confidence, “My Cai Kingdom is willing to use five thousand miles of mountains and rivers and eighty million subjects to communicate with Anyang.”  

“Oh dear, my Anyang only has a hundred miles of territory and three hundred thousand people; we can only form a single team. We can’t compare to Cai Kingdom, which can form dozens of teams.” (Though our Anyang is small, we are united as one. Your Cai Kingdom is vast, yet the hearts of the people are mixed.)  

The two continued their conversation, testing, attacking, and debating each other as they walked toward the Anyang government. Along this stretch, Ye Mingquan was repeatedly cornered by Xu Ren, left speechless multiple times; by the time they reached the Anyang government, his face was noticeably pale!  

It wasn’t until he met Xia Qingqing that Ye Mingquan managed to adjust his emotions slightly. “I’ve met the Princess of the Southern Kingdom.”  

Xia Qingqing asked directly, “Lord Ye, are you here to negotiate or to explore our attitude? If it’s just to explore our attitude, you can leave now.”

Ye Mingquan also replied firmly, “Sorry, I am neither here to negotiate nor to seek your attitude. I am here to remind you: release the captives, apologize, return to Huaihua County, and restore all citizens and wealth. Otherwise, three hundred thousand troops will devastate the city and leave Anyang barren!”

Xia Qingqing stood up directly and said, “Someone, show our guest out!”

Then, in front of Ye Mingquan, Xia Qingqing said to Xi Ren, “Sir, send the order to prepare for battle! We will fight to the death with the State of Cai. Activate the emergency strategic plan and disseminate the formula for gunpowder across the world.

Additionally, contact the Inspector of Kaiping County, Li Liang, to join forces and raid Huai’an County beside Huaihua County of the State of Cai…”

“Wait, wait, Your Highness, I was just joking!” Ye Mingquan was frightened by Xia Qingqing’s tactics. Initially, he wanted to bully a woman since Li Xian was not present; he didn’t expect Xia Qingqing to readily spill out various strategies.

Xia Qingqing glanced at Ye Mingquan, who seemed somewhat terrified, and turned to leave. “Let’s talk about this tomorrow. Someone, take the envoy from the State of Cai to rest.”

Once they exited Anyang Prefecture and reached the outer city, Ye Mingquan finally wiped a cold sweat off his brow, “There isn’t a single decent person in Anyang!”

However, after calming down, Ye Mingquan finally noticed the prosperity of Anyang. The streets and alleys were bustling with tourists, and almost everyone wore smiles filled with happiness and hope.

As he walked, Ye Mingquan finally spotted an exquisite, soft, and brightly colored “mansion.” The building was large and eye-catching, but there was a crowd at the front, especially with many children.

Ye Mingquan stopped a passerby and asked, “Whose mansion is this? Why are there so many people in front?”

The passerby looked at Ye Mingquan with disdain and said, “This is a school.”

“A school? Is it an academy?”

The passerby turned and left, mumbling to themselves: another bumpkin.

Ye Mingquan’s recently calmed anger suddenly flared up again.

“Your Excellency, please calm down; this is Anyang. We have important matters to attend to.” A nearby attendant hurriedly grabbed Ye Mingquan, who was about to lash out.

Ye Mingquan took a few deep breaths, “There isn’t a single good person in Anyang! I’ll remember this!”

At that moment, a group of people quickly approached outside Anyang City, and they galloped non-stop to the front of Anyang Prefecture.

“Who goes there!” The guards at the city gate swiftly blocked the rushing group. There were more than thirty people in this group, dressed in fine clothing and riding splendid horses, clearly of significant origin. However, charging straight to the city lord’s residence like this was somewhat arrogant.

The foremost person was even more arrogant, shouting, “Get out of the way! We are the people of the Eldest Prince!”

“The Eldest Prince?” A junior officer at the front sneered, “Sorry, this is Anyang County, not Baofeng County. We only accept one command here, and that is the imperial decree! Without an imperial decree, please turn back!”

Countless onlookers had already gathered around, including Ye Mingquan, who was already in a foul mood; however, upon seeing this scene, he didn’t get angry and left. “Hey, the Eldest Prince Xia Xu and Xia Qingqing are siblings, right? Now that Li Xian is absent, the Eldest Prince sends people to Anyang. Tsk tsk… there’s going to be a show! The timing is just perfect!”

At the city gate, the standoff continued, with neither side willing to back down. Especially the Eldest Prince’s people, all of whom were mounted on their horses, looking down at the guards at the city gate. The leader, with an extremely proud demeanor, declared, “I am Yuan Cai; what’s your name?”

“Not changing my name or abandoning my surname, Yang Yishan!” the junior officer at the city gate responded with equal pride.

“Very well, I’ll remember you. I want to enter the city, so step aside!”

“Wait for the command!” Yang Yishan stood firm at the city gate and refused to budge, with not a single soldier around to report inside.

Seeing this, Yuan Cai’s anger flared, but he still had to take off his badge, saying, “This is my badge; please have it reported.”

Yang Yishan took the badge, stuffed it into his pocket, and continued to stand still, saying, “Just a moment.”

Yuan Cai, unable to contain his fury, shouted, “Why aren’t you going to report it?”

“I’m waiting for the Prefect (Li Xian) to return. As soon as the Prefect is back, I will report immediately.”

Yuan Cai could barely restrain himself from drawing his sword and slashing at Yang Yishan; however, after a moment’s thought, he had no choice but to dismount and clasp his hands in a salute, “Please report.”

Only then did Yang Yishan turn to leave, casually tossing out, “You’re just a small fry!”

“Crack…” Yuan Cai’s knuckles popped as he clenched his teeth in frustration.

A nearby bodyguard quickly held Yuan Cai back, saying, “General, the matters concerning His Highness are urgent.”

After a while, Yang Yishan returned and handed the badge back to Yuan Cai, saying, “The lady has granted permission; you can enter. However, all horses must remain outside the city.”

“Hmph!” Yuan Cai huffed in anger but released the reins, leading the way inside. This time, he had lost a lot of face.

Previous chapter | TOC | Next chapter