Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 285: Negotiations Terminated
In the grand hall of the City Lord’s Mansion in Anyang, Li Xian sat at the center, surrounded by ranked officials. Further out were representatives from various diplomatic missions.
Everyone silently kept track of the time. The clock on the wall ticked steadily.
11:30… 11:40…
Time trickled by, second by second, until finally only one minute remained.
Li Xian’s expression remained calm, as though he was completely unconcerned. His fingers lightly tapped the back of his chair in a leisurely manner. For some reason, when everyone saw this motion and his demeanor, it felt as if they were watching an executioner calmly waiting for the countdown—not out of anger, but with a chilling silence and coldness.
“Dong… dong…”
The bell tolled noon—twelve strokes.
Not only had Jin Kingdom’s delegation failed to appear in the grand hall of Anyang’s City Lord’s Mansion, they hadn’t even arrived in the city!
The deadline had passed. Jin Kingdom had not come. The eyes of all the diplomatic representatives revealed curiosity and anticipation. How would Anyang respond?
As the last chime faded, Li Xian’s fingers stopped tapping. “Since the Jin Kingdom has not appeared on time, I hereby declare the negotiations a failure. The war shall continue!”
With that, he immediately turned to Beichen Yuqing beside him and said: “Beichen Yuqing, next, we will launch an air assault.
Lead all aircraft to bomb Jin Kingdom’s northern border, frontier walls, barracks, military towns, local administrations, warehouses, bridges, and more. You are authorized to use incendiary bombs to burn farmland, forests, and cities.
Also, the latest subsonic aircraft—we have three produced. Drop bombs directly into the Jin Kingdom’s royal palace!
Remember, without my direct order, even if the emperor of Jin Kingdom kneels and begs for mercy, do not stop the attack.
This operation is focused on aerial bombing. No need for close-range ground assaults, no need for precision strikes.”
Not engaging in close ground attacks was intended to avoid traps like Jin Kingdom’s “Ten Thousand Sword Formation.”
The expressions of the foreign envoys changed. Just moments ago, some had been observing with idle curiosity. Now, the atmosphere turned heavy. Such decisiveness—Jin Kingdom failed to show up, and without waiting or hearing any explanation, Li Xian declared the war would go on. And it seemed he truly intended to bomb Jin Kingdom’s royal palace!
Beichen Yuqing left.
About half an hour later, Li Xian spoke to those around him: “Come. Let’s go watch the scene of hundreds of planes taking off.”
As Li Xian rose to leave, a guard rushed in. “My Lord! My Lord! Jin Kingdom’s envoy has arrived!”
Everyone looked at Li Xian again.
Li Xian did not pause in the slightest. “Tell the envoy from Jin Kingdom that the negotiations are over. They can return. Wait for the next round of talks.
Also, inform them that we have declared war. They must leave Anyang within four hours, or they will be executed on sight!”
Officials and diplomatic envoys looked at each other in astonishment. Nevertheless, they followed Li Xian out of the hall. The foreign representatives especially were eager to witness the spectacular scene of Anyang’s aircraft taking flight.
Li Xian did not shy away from them and led everyone to a temporary airfield on the outskirts of Anyang. The airfield had been expanded again—using magic to accommodate the current situation.
From a watchtower outside the airfield, everyone had a clear view of over 500 aircraft neatly lined up on the vast runway. In the northeastern section of the airfield, four silver-gray planes gleamed. These four stood out so strikingly that they instantly drew everyone’s attention.
“Only a few days have passed, and Anyang has already produced three of them. That’s an incredibly fast production rate!” So thought those with some understanding or experience in industry.
“So many planes—over five hundred! I wonder how powerful they are in battle?” That was the thought of those newly exposed to industrial and commercial development.
“Over two hundred of them are large, four-engine bombers. Anyang sure hid a lot!” This was the conclusion drawn by those familiar with Anyang.
Li Xian wore a confident smile and muttered to himself, “Not bad, not bad. The largest four-engine aircraft is already 24 meters long and has a payload capacity of 18 tons. This is exactly what we need!”
At the airport, over two thousand Foundation Establishment cultivators were busy at work, with more than thirty Core Formation cultivators giving commands. Additionally, three Nascent Soul experts stood beside three silver-gray subsonic aircraft. Vehicles used for transporting bombs, fuel, and other supplies began to slowly withdraw.
Anyang now had quite a few Nascent Soul experts as well. These experts primarily came from two sources: one group was recruited or had pledged allegiance by taking the Feathered Immortal as a role model; the other group was cultivated directly by Anyang itself.
With spirit liquid and large quantities of pill solutions available, a few peak Core Formation cultivators were forcibly advanced to the Nascent Soul stage through what could only be described as a duck-feeding method—force-fed in one go. Liquid spiritual energy was plentiful; even simply treated bacterial solutions were used as “primitive medicinal materials.” Although much was wasted, they still managed to cultivate several Nascent Soul experts who were completely loyal to Anyang.
Everything was ready. In the simple terminal building, people had already begun giving directions. Simple flag signals served as the most effective communication method—long-distance voice transmission techniques weren’t publicly available yet, as they were considered trump cards. More importantly, the technology was still immature and undergoing research and development.
But just then, an argument erupted outside the observation tower. It seemed someone was trying to enter but was being blocked by the guards. The two sides were now in a standoff, and the argument grew increasingly heated.
Li Xian tilted his head to listen, then chuckled—it turned out the one arguing was none other than the Prime Minister of Jin Kingdom, Sima Xuan. This old man truly was something else. He had deliberately stalled the negotiation time, but after realizing how firm Li Xian’s stance was, he had gone soft again.
The delegation from the Jin Kingdom, especially Sima Xuan, felt that Anyang’s attitude was too arrogant and the conditions far too harsh. The demand for 53.7 million taels of gold was basically extortion—equivalent to five years of the Jin Kingdom’s national revenue.
Adding to that the hardline stance of Jin Kingdom’s military back home, Sima Xuan intentionally delayed—“You say arrive before noon? Well, I’m not going to make it before noon. That would be humiliating!” Since it was a negotiation, arriving late to suppress Anyang’s momentum seemed reasonable.
However, Sima Xuan hadn’t expected Li Xian to truly play by no one’s rules—or rather, to act with the gravity of a monarch and enforce “law” and the associated “legal philosophy” strictly. What was said was final. One meant one. Two meant two. No room for compromise.
So, the moment noon passed, Li Xian immediately announced the cancellation of the negotiations and the continuation of war; he even ordered bombs to be dropped on the Jin Kingdom’s royal palace. Upon hearing this, Sima Xuan regretted it so much his guts turned green—Anyang was playing for real!
After the regret, Sima Xuan had no choice but to set aside his pride. He maneuvered through the envoys of the Cai State to find out where Li Xian and the others were, and then made a beeline for the building. Fortunately, it was just a temporary observation point with no serious obstacles, so he made it to the base of the tower. Even then, Sima Xuan didn’t dare fly directly to Li Xian and the others. He could only argue with the guards below.
“I’ve never been this humiliated in my life!” Sima Xuan thought bitterly to himself as he argued.