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

Cai Hui said to Tojo Shōki, "Sir, if the medicine you mentioned is effective, those people will become dependent on it, right?"

Tojo Shōki nodded: "Logically, that's how it is. However, because the original drug is too potent, we've been researching ways to make it addictive without harming their lives!"

Cai Hui nodded: "If that group of people can get addicted, that's fine!"

Tojo Shōki looked completely unconcerned: "Madam, it's alright! As long as it's effective, we can promote it throughout the entire Xiao Kingdom, making them indispensable after they've finished taking it. That way, we won't have to worry!"

Cai Hui smiled and said, "Lord Xiao Ji, you should have said so earlier! If you had, I wouldn't have been so worried!"

Tojo Shōki said, "It's not too late for you to know now..."

Cai Hui quickly asked Tojo Shōki, "Sir, may I ask you something? Does this actually have any effect on strengthening the body?"

Tojo Shōki laughed and waved his hand, saying, "Of course not, on the contrary, it will erode a person's will and destroy their body!"

Cai Hui smiled at Tojo Shōki as she listened, "That's good...that's good!"

Seeing Cai Hui's smug expression, Tojo Shōki was somewhat surprised: "Madam, I thought you would be angry?"

Cai Hui smiled and nestled into Tojo Shōki's arms.

"Lord Xiao Ji, how could that be? Those people want to turn them into this, to make them like bedbugs before they'll stop. It would be best if they were turned into a pile of mud, so we could control them. Such a rich land as Xiao Kingdom is wasted on these lowly people... Only by completely destroying their spirits and bodies can we make them serve the noble people of the Fusang Kingdom! Otherwise, these lowly people are born with a rebellious nature!"

When Tojo Shōki heard this, his eyes crinkled into a smile.

"Haha, as expected of my wife... Good, good! With this attitude from you, I'm relieved!"

Cai Hui said to Tojo Shōki, "Lord Shōki, since I'm following you, I'm considered a citizen of Fusang, right? You can't say you can't tell or hear that I'm from the Shō Kingdom! So, if I'm a citizen of Fusang, I'll naturally work hard for the interests of Fusang!"

Upon hearing this, Tojo Shōki burst out laughing, "Haha, not bad! If Madam supports this, I think we can find some people to help our people improve that Xiaoyao Pill!"

Cai Hui listened and laughed, saying, "Great! Of course, that's fine. Our Xiao Kingdom may not have much else, but it has plenty of rotten people!"

Upon seeing this, Tojo Shōki's expression became even more interesting.

Clearly, he hadn't expected Cai Hui to treat their compatriots this way.

He had some concerns before, which he kept to himself.

Cai Hui's attitude now has given him a lot of confidence.

"Lord Xiao Ji, please bring everyone over. Men, women, young and old, I'll have people find them all!"

Tojo Shōki was naturally very satisfied with what he heard.

Because they had heard that a country across the sea had used something similar to control another country.

They originally wanted to ask them directly, but the people from those foreign countries wouldn't give it to them. However, based on what they heard from them, they started developing it themselves.

Their thinking was simple: if they could develop it, controlling a country would be a piece of cake.

Now that we have Cai Hui's support, it couldn't be better!

...

Meanwhile, some of Xiao Tao's spies secretly infiltrated the army and then secretly found their trusted confidants.

If one person finds ten, then ten people can find a hundred.

These people had long since given up on serving these Japanese, and now they heard they could leave.

If there's anyone they're worried about, it's their family.

However, based on what those people said, it's not necessarily true that anything will happen, especially given the current situation.

It's better to be dead than to be alive.

They also agree with this statement.

So, they could only take more than 50,000 people with them, but people were dragging each other along.

The more they take away, the more they accumulate.

When they finally left, it cost over 100,000!

They left in a grand procession, with some Japanese trying to stop them along the way.

They were all killed by them.

When their large group arrived at the designated location.

Xiao Tao was overjoyed to see so many people carrying so many weapons.

Xiao Tao immediately organized his men to prepare to leave.

...

The following day, several of Cai Hui's confidants learned of this matter.

They felt like the sky was falling, so they hurriedly went to find Cai Hui.

Cai Hui was having breakfast with Tojo Shōki that morning when she heard several people wailing and pleading for an audience.

They were summoned, and they immediately prostrated themselves on the ground, trembling.

Before Cai Hui could even speak, the group started kowtowing repeatedly.

"Reporting...reporting...Your Majesty, something terrible has happened! Our soldiers have all been abducted...abducted by Xiao Tao's spies!"

"A total of... more than 100,000 fled... I... we have already sent people to chase after them... but... but... the enemy outnumbered us and we suffered a crushing defeat! A complete and utter defeat... I beg the Empress to punish us!"

These people were saying they wanted the Empress to punish them, but they were all on the verge of tears.

If it were before, Cai Hui would definitely have gotten angry, but this time, he subconsciously glanced at Tojo Shōki.

Tojo Shōki took a sip of tea and then smiled slightly.

Looking at Tojo Shōki's expression, Cai Hui said, "Alright, why are you all so scared... If they ran away, they ran away. It means their hearts aren't with us. Even if they stayed, it wouldn't make a difference."

Cai Hui's words stunned the group of people who were kowtowing on the ground.

They stared at Cai Hui with utter bewilderment and disbelief.

They all felt that there was something wrong with their ears.

Cai Hui smiled and said to the group of burly men, "What? You're all my trusted confidants! Do I have to cut off your heads? To be honest, I can't bear to! Do you want to atone for your crimes with your merits?"

The group shook their heads repeatedly, waving their hands to say no, then kowtowed to Cai Hui with faces full of gratitude: "Thank you, Your Majesty the Empress! Thank you, Your Majesty the Empress! We will certainly make amends..."

Cai Hui nodded: "Alright, you can go back now. When you get back, be sure to reward those who didn't leave. Then tell them that they can leave if they want! But we will not let those deserters go. Once we catch them, they will suffer a fate worse than death."

A burly man nodded in agreement: "However, Your Majesty, I've already inquired. Those 100,000-plus deserters may have fled, but their families didn't! What do you think? Should we eliminate all their families as a warning to others..."

Cai Hui glanced at him. To be honest, he would have done that before.

However, after hearing about Xiaoyaowan from Tojo Shōki, she no longer wanted to do it.

After all, raising livestock costs money and requires taking care of them.

These people can not only work, but also find their own way to eat.

"Hmph, what are you thinking? One hundred thousand soldiers would have at least three hundred thousand to four hundred thousand family members. Where would you bury them if you killed them? Instead of that, why not send local officials to keep a close watch on them, demote them to lowly people, prevent them from leaving, and make them slaves... let them be used as livestock."

The group of burly men wondered if they had misheard, as the sounds were utterly unbelievable.

This Cai Hui is acting very strangely.

However, they didn't say anything. As long as they could keep their lives after they arrived, that would be enough.

He kowtowed repeatedly, and then withdrew.

After they left, Cai Hui looked at Tojo Shōki and asked, "Sir, are you sure they can come back?"

Tojo Shōki nodded: "Don't worry. Our Xiaoyao Pills should be addictive. Besides, didn't I say that even if they run away, it doesn't matter, I always have a way to bring them back. By the way, Madam, there is one more thing I need you to do."

Cai Hui looked at Tojo Shōki with some confusion.

Tojo Shōki said, "Go and arrange for some trusted confidants, then take some Xiaoyao pills and pretend to go and join them. After they stop using Xiaoyao pills, they will experience symptoms of physical discomfort. After giving them the medicine, their symptoms will be relieved."

Cai Hui asked, somewhat puzzled, "Lord Xiao Ji, if that's the case, don't they think they can come back?"

Tojo Shōki said, "They don't know what the symptoms are. Only when they know it's the effect of the Xiaoyao Pill will they realize that this stuff is only available here..."

Cai Hui nodded, her eyes bright: "Lord Xiao is wise..."

With a smile, Tojo Shōki told Tsai Hui to hurry up and do that thing.

Just as Cai Hui was about to leave, she saw Qianlong hurriedly requesting an audience.

Looking at Qianlong's appearance, Cai Hui guessed why he had come.

"Mr. Qianlong, you must have come here for those deserters."

Qianlong hadn't even spoken yet when Cai Hui preemptively spoke, and he was taken aback.

With a look of utter disbelief, he asked Cai Hui, "How did you know?"

Cai Hui smiled at Qianlong and said, "Because I already know."

Qianlong asked, "Did you send troops to pursue them?"

Cai Hui shook her head and said, "Don't worry about them for now... Let them run away. Once they've run away, they'll realize how good my place is... and they'll definitely come back."

Seeing Qianlong's puzzled expression, Cai Hui smiled and said before he could speak, "Mr. Qianlong, you don't need to worry about this. This is our own business... What you need to do is go back quickly and get your people ready. Then launch an attack on Xiao Ce's northern desert, and also capture that Nikolayevich Reis for me. I want him alive..."

"And then there's Xiao Zhan's attitude. It would be best if he could come with us. If not, we'll start by targeting them! Of course, don't let it show that we're going to attack him. We'll catch them off guard, okay?"

Qianlong nodded repeatedly as he listened to Cai Hui's words: "Of course, no problem. As for Xiao Tao's situation..."

Cai Hui looked confident and said, "Don't worry, I have a way to make them come back obediently no matter where they go!"

Qianlong looked at Cai Hui's confident expression and was somewhat puzzled.

However, Qianlong was self-aware enough not to press the matter.

He knew very well that even if he pressed him for an answer, she wouldn't tell him.

Since Cai Hui was so certain, then he didn't need to worry.

"Your Majesty, I shall return now. Once I have made the arrangements, I will send someone to report to you!"

Cai Hui said this and then went to get busy.

...

On the other side, Xiao Tao led more than 100,000 soldiers who had escaped, and they were marching rapidly, preparing to leave quickly.

They had expected to encounter many pursuers, but they managed to repel a wave of them last night.

There were no more pursuers.

Although Xiao Tao was on the march, he still felt uneasy.

Some of his trusted generals asked Xiao Tao, "Your Majesty, what's going on with them? Why aren't they coming over? This is too abnormal... Under normal circumstances, given that old hag's personality, she would have already attacked..."

Xiao Tao frowned slightly: "I also feel that something is not quite right."

One of his trusted generals said, "Your Majesty, do you think there might be spies planted among us?"

Xiao Tao shook his head and said, "These people all left temporarily, and there's no time to place them now. That old hag is definitely up to no good... You all go and keep an eye on the people who are coming later... They're the real spies."

"Also, tell everyone to stay alert. We can only consider this a stage victory after we reach Panlong City."

The group of generals nodded repeatedly to Xiao Tao: "Your Majesty, rest assured. We will do our utmost."

They marched at breakneck speed.

Just as Xiao Tao had said, quite a few people joined later on.

They also obtained some information from those who later deserted.

For example, Cai Hui didn't actually come up with any plan for their defection; she just made a few hurtful remarks that were completely irrelevant.

She then added that if they wanted to leave, they could leave, and she wouldn't stop them.

Weird...

So weird.

However, Xiao Tao couldn't figure out what they wanted to do.

The deserters who came afterward were also kept under strict surveillance, and no problems could be seen from their daily behavior.

After three days of marching, nearly a thousand deserters arrived one after another.

Just as they were about to reach Panlong City, problems soon arose within Xiao Tao's army.

Xiao Tao was sitting in his military tent, preparing for battle, when a trusted general rushed over!

"Your Majesty, something terrible has happened... Your Majesty, something terrible has happened..."