Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

After leaving Haizhou City, Duolong rushed back to the camp to meet up with Seng Qinlin.

As a result, upon seeing Seng Qinlin, this guy immediately began to embellish his "great achievements" in Haizhou City.

"My lord, as you instructed, I entered Haizhou and met the foreign empress. I berated her to her very face, leaving her utterly ashamed and disgracing our Celestial Empire..."

Duolong launched into a tirade, wildly boasting about how powerful he was in Haizhou City.

"Not only did this servant curse the foreign empress, but he also used his silver tongue to silence those foreign officials, without bringing any shame to our Wu Zhao Kingdom."

Duolong spoke with great enthusiasm, but Sengqinlin remained perfectly clear-headed and did not empathize with him.

After he had finished speaking, Seng Qinlin asked, "Are you sure you saw the Empress of Chu?"

Without a second thought, Duolong immediately replied, "Of course. When the foreign empress saw me arrive, she went out of the city ten miles to personally greet me. It's true."

Monk Qinlin: "Then tell me, what does the Empress of Chu look like?"

Duolong was taken aback and didn't know how to reply for a moment.

"What's wrong? Why aren't you saying anything?"

"This servant is just thinking about how to say it."

"Tell it like it is."

Doron quickly imagined it in his mind for a while, and then immediately began to describe it.

"Yes, that empress has a blue face and fangs, a fat body, and is greasy all over. Just one glance at her gives this servant goosebumps."

Moreover, the foreign empress, seeing that I was handsome, secretly flirted with me and wanted to spend the night with me, but I refused her advances.

"How could a servant not even glance at such a wanton and ugly woman? I would feel ashamed before my ancestors..."

"enough!"

Seng Qinlin, unable to bear it any longer, interrupted Duolong sharply.

"I'll ask you one more time, did you see the Empress or not? Tell me the truth!"

Duolong hurriedly knelt down and then truthfully said, "My lord, please calm down. In fact, this servant did not see the foreign empress. The person who received this servant was a man named Ban Dingyuan."

Monk Qinlin: "What did he say to you?"

Duolong replied, "They said many treasonous things and refused the goodwill shown by Your Excellency, even threatening to force the Wu Zhao Kingdom to cede Haizhou, Quanzhou, and Huizhou to the Chu Kingdom."

They demanded 65 million taels of silver in reparations to cover military expenses, otherwise the war would continue.

Seng Qinlin's face twitched incessantly, his fists clenched tightly.

"This is outrageous! In all my decades of life, this is the first time I've ever heard of someone who has seized our territory daring to demand compensation so brazenly. If His Majesty were to find out, he would be furious."

Duolong: "My lord, I believe that since the State of Chu has no sincerity in negotiating, we can only take back Haizhou City by force."

Monk Qinlin frowned deeply: "Do you know how many Chu troops are garrisoning Haizhou City?"

"I don't know."

"Fool! When I let you into Haizhou City, couldn't you have taken the opportunity to inquire about the deployment of the Chu army's forces?"

He glared at Duolong fiercely, his eyes filled with a look that suggested he was more of a hindrance than a help, which made Duolong lower his head.

"Then let's go!"

"The slave is here!"

"Have the garrison troops not arrived yet?"

Na Laishun replied, "My lord, I have already sent someone to urge those scoundrels to join us. In two or three days at most, they will be able to rejoin my army."

Seng Qinlin sighed helplessly.

In fact, the recent outposts are only half a day to a day's journey from our main camp.

However, the situation in Wu Zhao Kingdom is very unique.

That is, if two groups of local garrison troops within the pass, exceeding one thousand men, are required to first assemble their cavalry or military camps outside the pass before they are permitted to join forces and launch an attack.

The purpose of this was to prevent the garrison troops from outnumbering the elite forces supervising them, thus eliminating the possibility of a mutiny.

Since its founding, Wu Zhao Kingdom has conducted comprehensive surveillance of the people living on this land, including even its own soldiers.

While this did eliminate the possibility of a mutiny, it severely hampered military mobilization efforts.

Of course, against weaker opponents, and without external or internal troubles, this cumbersome military organization is naturally not a problem.

Unfortunately, they encountered the Chu army, whose tactics and techniques had been completely revamped, and which was also an infantry force that had brought the Eastern cavalry civilization into decline.

Encountering such an opponent, Wu Zhao's military system problems were completely exposed after only a few probing attempts.

Shen Lang's fleet sailed northward with unstoppable momentum, but after capturing each fortress city, it would soon retreat back to its ships to continue its voyage.

The purpose of this was for Shen Lang to test the mobilization capacity of Wu Zhao's army.

However, the truth is that, not to mention the hundreds of millions of Wuzhao people who were practically slaves, even the army itself could not be fully mobilized.

The rigid military structure, along with the Wuzhao leadership's wariness and indifference towards the Chinese people, made Shen Lang realize that this was exactly as he had predicted and analyzed before setting out on the expedition.

The enemy that the Chu army was facing seemed powerful, but in reality, it was all bark and no bite.

Rather than saying that Wu Zhaoguo was unable to mobilize its people to participate in the resistance, it would be more accurate to say that it had no intention of mobilizing them at all.

why?

I dare not! I'm afraid!

When Wu Zhao replaced the Ming Zhao Empire, he carried out almost carpet-style plunder and massacre of the Ming Zhao people. If they were mobilized, what if there was a "revolution against the Qing and restoration of the Ming"? Would Wu Zhao, who entered the throne as a foreigner, still be able to sit securely on the dragon throne?

Therefore, as long as the elite class in Wu Zhao's army is crippled and severely weakened, Wu Zhao may even find itself in the embarrassing situation of having no soldiers available.

Shen Lang had already relayed this message to Jiang Mengxuan via communication jade tablet and telegram.

After receiving Shen Lang's telegram, Jiang Mengxuan did not hesitate for a moment and planned to take the initiative to defeat Seng Qinlin's troops before the Wu Zhao army could join forces.

At this time, Seng Qinlin was unaware that Meng Gong's army had already quietly approached his camp.

"Please urge them again. We must get them here as quickly as possible. This battle cannot be taken lightly."

"Yes, this servant will go and inform them immediately."

After Duolong left, Sengqinlin sighed and went to supervise the military camp's soldiers' training.

In the dense forest not far from the enemy camp, Meng Gong's eyes were fixed on the direction of the enemy camp.

After a long silence, he put down his binoculars and immediately began issuing orders: "Notify the entire army to immediately launch a full-scale attack on the Di people, regardless of their lives."

"Yes!"

With Meng Gong's command, the Swan Whistle spread across the battlefield.

Soon, Meng Gong's two brigades, totaling seven thousand men, rushed out of the dense forest and launched a fierce attack on Seng Qinlin's garrison camp.

"What? The enemy has attacked?"

When Seng Qinlin heard this news, he thought he had misheard.

He had thought that the Chu army would rely on the Haizhou city wall defenses to fight a war of attrition against him, but he never expected that they would take the initiative to abandon the city and attack!

It wasn't until they heard the familiar gunshots outside the camp that they confirmed the fact.

After a brief silence, Seng Qinlin decisively ordered: "Tell the men to immediately engage the Chu army! The time to make a name for ourselves has come!"

Even though the Chu army had powerful firearms, Seng Qinlin still firmly believed that as long as it was open field battle, the officers and soldiers of the Wu Camp could easily wipe out this group of Chu soldiers who relied on tricks and cunning tactics in one fell swoop.

However, this time, Seng Qinlin was wrong, and terribly wrong.

The enemy he faces is not only equipped with advanced weapons, but also an Eastern monster with extensive experience in driving away cavalry (elite) troop groups.