Deposed Crown Prince: After three years of service on the frontier, the entire court knelt and begge

Xiao Ce waved his hand, indicating that it was not necessary.

He then said, "To be honest, I wouldn't have believed you before... but these days I've gotten through to Gulimiza."

"I've decided to trust you this once more, and I hope you'll live up to that trust."

Gulimiza was somewhat surprised to hear Xiao Ce say this, but then felt a warm glow in her heart.

Baird wasn't stupid; listening to Xiao Ce's words, she naturally understood the unspoken meaning behind them.

That means Xiao Ce has accepted Gulimiza.

This takes their relationship to the next level.

With a beaming smile, Bairdda said to Xiao Ce, "Your Highness, the King of the Northern Desert, of course...of course...as long as you trust me, I will definitely make you worthy of that trust."

Xiao Ce nodded: "Alright, then listen carefully... You will go and muster 30,000 to 50,000 troops later. I have no other requirements, the only requirement is that you must trust them."

Baird nodded: "No problem... However, Your Highness, if you want absolute trust, you can only have a maximum of twenty thousand..."

Xiao Ce then said to Bairdda, "Then tell our plan to those we trust most. As for the rest, if you're unsure, don't tell them anything; just have them follow us. Alternatively, you can give the information to the Commander-in-Chief and have him select a group of people he absolutely trusts to prepare..."

"How exactly you do it is up to you... Do whichever seems safest!"

Bairdar listened respectfully and said to Xiao Ce, "I understand! What do you want to say, King of the Northern Desert? I will definitely not hold you back."

Xiao Ce smiled at Bairdda and said, "I told them about the plan so that they would tell Wuwei and Linbang about it."

Bairdda asked with a hint of confusion, "Are we just waiting to be beaten up?"

Xiao Ce shook his head and said, "You know that a defensive battle is disadvantageous to us. So, we need to lure them out, but that won't be easy... However, if I use this method, they will definitely come out..."

Byrd nodded: "That's true, but by then, they'll definitely have surrounded us. If they want to kill us, it'll be like a massacre. We have absolutely no chance of winning..."

Xiao Ce smiled and said, "Not only will you send 30,000, but I will also have the people of Shanshan send 30,000 elite troops, making it 60,000... With such a big bait, they will definitely take the bait. At that time, I will give you some weapons."

As he spoke, Xiao Ce took out a hand grenade with a wooden handle.

Baird looked at Xiao Ce with a puzzled expression. Xiao Ce smiled slightly and continued, "Bailda, I asked your men to throw wooden sticks. Is that training going on?"

This was a training exercise that Xiao Ce had previously instructed Bairda and his men to participate in.

Xiao Ce had already made up his mind by then.

At that time, Xiao Ce was thinking of giving them guns, as these weapons were not suitable.

However, grenades are consumables on the battlefield, so we can give each of them one.

It can produce unexpected results on the battlefield.

So, they were tasked with throwing wooden sticks that were about the same weight as hand grenades with wooden handles...

These wooden sticks are very suitable for use.

Although Bairdna didn't know what they were supposed to do at the time, she thought that Xiao Ce was helping them restore their kingdom...

Therefore, Baird made this a mandatory training item for all his troops.

Baird nodded: "Your Highness, we have already trained them all, and most of them are able to hit their targets precisely..."

Xiao Ce laughed and said, "Alright! You're probably wondering what the point of training this is, aren't you?"

Baird nodded and said to Xiao Ce, "Your Highness is right... After all, no matter how far you throw a wooden stick, it can't kill someone... Besides, if you replace the wooden stick with an iron block, the feel of hitting someone is wrong... This..."

Xiao Ce handed the wooden-handled grenade in his hand to Hu Yidao, who was standing to the side.

"Hu Yidao, how about you throw this thing?"

Hu Yidao and his group were among the first to be trained in throwing grenades.

Therefore, they are training very well now.

"Your Highness, I can say that I never miss with this thing, and I can even make it explode instantly!"

The so-called instantaneous explosion is a method of using hand grenades.

It involves pulling the fuse, calculating the time, and then throwing the grenade so that it explodes upon contact with the enemy before hitting the ground.

However, this method was explicitly forbidden by Xiao Ce.

There wasn't any other reason; it was simply that making these grenades was no easy feat...

Therefore, their detonation times differed.

If the fuse is even a second or two too fast, it could be fatal.

"I told you, don't try anything funny. The detonation time of these grenades is still unpredictable..." Xiao Ce scolded.

Hu Yidao gave an awkward smile: "Your Highness, please don't blame me for this... That's Da Lei. When Da Lei was training, he didn't treat us like human beings... He always demanded that we detonate within one to two seconds of being thrown over..."

As he spoke, Hu Yidao rubbed his hands together and said to Xiao Ce, "Your Highness... do you want me to demonstrate the ingenious use of this grenade to King Baird?"

Xiao Ce laughed and said, "Not bad... but don't try to use instant burst damage! If you want to die, don't drag me down with you!"

As Xiao Ce spoke, he handed the grenade to Hu Yidao.

Hu Yidao smiled and nodded: "Your Highness, no problem..."

With that, Xiao Ce stood up and followed him out.

At this moment, Bairdda followed Gulimiza and asked him with her eyes what the wooden stick in Hu Yidao's hand was.

However, Gulimiza shook his head, indicating that he didn't know either.

After walking out, Hu Yidao looked around and then pointed to a rockery in the courtyard.

"Your Highness, may I use that artificial hill as a test subject?"

Xiao Ce nodded upon seeing this, looked around, and initially wanted to find some kind of cover, but found that hiding in the house was the safest option.

As Xiao Ce spoke, he told them to go back again.

Baird looked puzzled, wondering what Xiao Ce was doing.

However, he didn't dare to say anything at this moment, and just did as he was told.

Xiao Ce was at the window on one side, letting Bairdda look out.

Gulimiza asked curiously if they could watch it together.

Xiao Ce naturally agreed, while he kept his distance.

He had already witnessed the power of those wooden-handled grenades.

Hu Yidao didn't hesitate outside; he shouted once and then threw it out.

Baird muttered to himself in confusion, "Is it really necessary to make such a fuss over throwing a stick?"

However, no sooner had Bairdda finished speaking than...

A loud bang suddenly came from outside, and then gravel flew everywhere.

The stones of an artificial hill were turned into rubble and leveled.

Bairdna witnessed this scene and her eyes widened in disbelief...

Hu Yidao walked in and said to Bairdda, "King Bairdda, do you see this? This is the grenade."

Bairdar was filled with uncontrollable excitement as he listened to Ehu Yidao's words.

He kept nodding at Hu Yidao.

Then he turned to Xiao Ce and said, "Your Highness, are you going to distribute these things to us?"

Xiao Ce smiled and nodded: "Not bad, not many! One for each of us! You've seen the power. What do you think our chances of winning are this time?"

Bairdda excitedly said to Xiao Ce, "Your Highness... With this thing, I'm not bragging... we can blow them up!"

Xiao Ce said with a smile, "However, it's not a free gift. I sold it to Shanshan Kingdom before, so you'll definitely have to pay a higher price to buy it from Shanshan Kingdom."

After hearing Xiao Ce's words, Bairdda looked slightly embarrassed.

Looking at Bairdda's expression, Xiao Ce asked with some surprise, "What's wrong? Do you have some objection? Or are you dissatisfied? Do you want me to give it to you for free?"

Hearing Xiao Ce's words, Bairda laughed and said, "Of course not... We know, how could we give them away for free... Just like that, each one is definitely worth a fortune. If we wanted to equip 30,000 people with one, we'd need at least 30,000... I'm afraid I don't have that kind of money..."

Seeing this, Xiao Ce said to Bairdda, "You're worried about that? Since I'm following your advice... you can definitely afford it. And you don't need to pay cash. I'll sell it to Bairdda for one tael of gold, which is ten taels of silver. Since you're buying it from her, it'll be eleven taels of silver per piece... which is 330,000 taels of silver and 33,000 taels of gold... How about this price?"

After hearing Xiao Ce's words, Bairdda breathed a sigh of relief.

He had expected each one to be worth at least a hundred taels of silver, but he never imagined it would be so affordable.

"Your Highness, no problem...not a problem at all...Could we buy more? Let's buy 300,000..."

Xiao Ce glanced at Bairdda and then said, "You're always thinking good things... I had to beg and plead with Nanxi to give me these 30,000... You should be grateful."

Upon seeing this, Baird smiled awkwardly and then nodded.

"Alright... Your Highness, how should we get these things...?"

Xiao Ce said, "Later, after you and Nan Xi have discussed it, he will bring it to you. Don't make a fuss yet; give him some equipment that you absolutely trust..."

Baird nodded: "Your Highness, you will be setting off for war tomorrow... We need to prepare urgently."

Xiao Ce smiled and said, "You don't need to rush. It will take some time. We'll send out some feigned attack teams tomorrow..."

Baird said to Xiao Ce, "Your Highness, your troops shouldn't be feigning an attack, right?"

Seeing that Baird had become smarter, Xiao Ce laughed and said, "You old fellow, you really have become smarter... Not bad... If we can achieve great results on our side, then the team we sent to feign an attack will take advantage of the situation to take over the Kingdom of Khotan and the Kingdom of Shule."

Baird looked at Xiao Ce expectantly.

Before he could even speak, Xiao Ce already knew what he was thinking!