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

The next day, it was still dark.

In those cities where prisoners were held.

Covered in blood and reeking of foul odor, Cai Hui and Tojo Xiaoji huddled together in a corner.

As the main perpetrators, they were wearing shackles and chains.

They were disheveled and their eyes were lifeless.

They had resigned themselves to their fate; after all, they were already utterly defeated.

Cai Hui was woken up by the cold again that morning!

Unable to bear it any longer, she pleaded with Tojo Shōki, "Lord Shōki, please tell me... please tell me... will your Fusō Kingdom send someone to rescue you?"

Tojo Shōki, who had been sleeping against the wall, was woken up by Cai Hui. He glared at Cai Hui with a face full of resentment and spat a mouthful of phlegm onto her face.

"You slut! You've ruined me so badly! Even if you're saving me... I won't take you with me!"

"My lord, this isn't my fault..." Cai Hui, despite being spat on in Tojo Shōki's face, wasn't angry, but rather looked aggrieved...

"Who knew they were so amazing..."

"Can't we blame you? Your troops are utterly useless. They clearly dug many tunnels in the mountains to hide. Such a huge project, such an important matter, why didn't you tell us?"

"Furthermore, even if we had been attacked and they had come to our rescue immediately, we wouldn't have died so tragically!"

"You saw it too, all of your bunch of useless trash surrendered without even putting up a single resistance!"

Tojo Shōki grew increasingly angry as he spoke, and spat at Cai Hui again.

"Pah! You vile woman, none of you Xiao people are reliable... you're all useless trash! Even if people from our Fusang Kingdom come to rescue us... I won't take you, you good-for-nothing!"

From Tojo Shōki's words, Cai Hui realized that he must have sent a message.

The people of Fusang should come to his rescue.

"Lord Xiao Ji, even if I haven't made any great contributions, I have certainly put in a lot of effort... and... and..."

Tojo Shōki, not wanting to listen to Cai Hui's nagging any longer, rammed his head into her forcefully.

"Shut up!"

With a loud bang, Cai Hui felt a sharp pain in her forehead.

I wasn't even full from eating.

This made her even more dizzy, and tears streamed down her face uncontrollably: "Lord Xiao Ji...you...you mustn't go too far...if you go too far, I'll report the news of your letter to Fusang to them..."

He looked at Cai Hui and spoke with a fierce expression.

Instead of being angry, Tojo Shōki laughed out loud.

"Okay...you'd better go tell them quickly..."

"Do you think the people of Fusang would rescue me secretly? Let me tell you, the people of Fusang will come to take me away openly and honestly!"

"Although we suffered a crushing defeat, the strength of our Fusang Empire is far beyond what your weak Xiao Kingdom can compare to... When the time comes, I will make sure that the same way Xiao Ce captured me, they will be forced to grovel and send me away..."

boom...

"Ouch... Why did you kick me!" Before Tojo Shōki could finish speaking, he was kicked by a guard next to him!

The guard standing nearby couldn't take it anymore: "What the hell are you thinking? If you keep spouting nonsense, I'll kill you!"

Seeing this, Tojo Shōki gritted his teeth and straightened his back: "How dare you! I am..."

boom!

Before he could finish speaking, the guard kicked him again.

"I don't care who your grandmother is! If you dare say a word against our Northern Desert King, you're no match for us!"

boom!

"Do you know?"

boom!

"Oh dear! I was wrong, the King of the Northern Desert is mighty!"

"Ouch! Sir... stop hitting him! Long live the King of the Northern Desert!"

The guard then withdrew his foot.

"If you keep spouting nonsense, I'll kick you to death!" the guard said, patting his boots.

"And stop showing off, let me tell you! The next target of our Northern Desert King is you Japanese pirates."

"Someone from a tiny place learns some strange skills and thinks he's all that."

"You think your weapons are so powerful? We still beat you to a pulp... In the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, we slaughtered 90,000 of your troops... Pshaw... Trash! Honestly, even the vegetables in the fields are more durable than yours..."

The guard spoke to Tojo Shōki with a look of disdain.

What the guard said really hit him where it hurt.

This made Tojo Shōki's face turn ugly, but he didn't dare to say a word.

The guard returned to his position.

Cai Hui looked at the guard, crawled over on her knees, and forced a smile on her face.

"Sir, do you know who I am?"

“My son is Xiao Yang, also known as the Prince of Anyang, and a die-hard fan of His Highness Xiao Ce.”

Seeing Cai Hui approach, the guard's expression grew even more unpleasant.

He glared at Cai Hui with a fierce look: "You'd better not say a word! You wretched woman, you're the worst. If it weren't for orders from above, I would have killed you."

"Look what you've done to our country!"

Cai Hui looked embarrassed.

The guard pointed at her menacingly, cursing, "Go back... I have a bad temper. If you make me angry, I don't care who you are, I'll beat you up first..."

Cai Hui shrank back as she looked at the guards...

After Cai Hui retreated, she and Tojo Shōki exchanged a glance.

After exchanging glances, the two of them truly loathed each other.

Before long, after morning and the shift handover,

After changing the guard, he called out softly.

"Your Majesty the Empress."

Upon hearing the voice, Cai Hui instinctively looked up.

The newly arrived soldier was looking at her.

Cai Hui stared at the soldier in disbelief, her previously listless expression suddenly rekindled with hope.

Looking expectantly at the soldier, he asked, "Sir, are you calling me?"

The guard said to Cai Hui, "Your Majesty, is there another empress here besides you?"

When Cai Hui heard the guard say that, the expression on her face was one of pure joy...

She nodded excitedly, "Yes, yes, yes... I am... I am the Empress..."

Cai Hui spoke in a low voice.

As if afraid of being discovered, she looked at the person who came with an expectant expression.

She recognized the face; she had never seen it before.

At this moment, Tojo Shōki, who was standing to one side, also changed his expression when he looked at Cai Hui.

They completely abandoned their previous disdain, replacing it with a pleading look in their eyes.

Since the visitor addressed Cai Hui as "Your Majesty the Empress," they must be one of Cai Hui's people...

They must have sneaked in here to rescue her.

"lady..."

Cai Hui snorted coldly and flicked her sleeve, looking coldly at Tojo Shōki.

"You're calling me 'Madam' now? Get lost..."

As he spoke, he raised his head and walked over to the approaching guard.

Although there was a hint of arrogance on her face, she still smiled obsequiously at the guard and said, "Sir, who sent you to rescue me?"

The guard beckoned to Cai Hui, signaling her to come closer.

Cai Hui obediently went over.

He had just put his ear close to the guard's.

Then, a soft "plop" sound was heard.

The guard's face flashed with a cold light, and he conjured a cold blade in his hand as if flipping a flower, then plunged it directly into Cai Hui's heart.

"The Blood Nether Pavilion Master asked me to convey that he is very disappointed in you!"

"You have failed miserably in the task I gave you! Now your life is over."

Cai Hui listened with wide eyes, her gaze filled with fear.

The guard then pulled out the knife from his hand...

Cai Hui fell straight to the ground.

The sudden turn of events terrified Tojo Shōki, who had thought he might have a chance.

The guard made a shushing gesture at him.

He then wiped the knife on Cai Hui's body, who lay in a pool of blood, and carefully put it away...

After putting the knife away.

Upon seeing this guard, Tojo Shōki immediately lost control of his bladder...

The guard gave him a disdainful look and said to Tojo Shōki, "Don't worry, you're trash! You're not worth me killing."

As he spoke, he glanced at the other guard, and the two of them walked straight out.

Tojo Shōki was terrified; he wasn't sure if the other person had gone far...

They huddled in the corner, not daring to move an inch.

At this moment, Cai Hui's head was tilted to the side, and her eyes were staring at him...

After a full incense stick's time, Tojo Shōki came to Cai Hui's side and touched her with his finger.

After it was confirmed that Cai Hui was dead.

Only then did he dare to shout, "Help!... Murder!"

"Help!"

Tojo Shōki shouted with all his might, and soon after, guards rushed over.

Upon witnessing this scene, the commander of the guards immediately arrested Tojo Shōki.

After being arrested, Tojo Shōki recounted the events that had just occurred.

They went to look for the two guards from before, only to find that they were dead.

Not only did the person die, but the death was gruesome; even their face was peeled off...

This matter was reported to Yan Jia immediately.

After investigating, Yan Jia confirmed that those were likely professional assassins.

Because they couldn't find a single clue here...

Yanjia immediately reinforced its defenses.

However, he knew very well that the person he was meant to kill was already dead...

The people who came next were actually safe.

For the next few days, they continued to feed the people of Fusang very poorly.

However, they also mixed in some "Xiaoyao Pills" (a traditional Chinese medicine) with that pig swill-like stuff.

The ordinary Japanese soldiers had no idea about this...

So they ate with great relish.

Furthermore, their Xiaoyao Pills are based on the formula given by the Mad Taoist, which is clearly purer.

The people from the Slavic countries all went back this time.

After all, they no longer have any need to be here.

Since neither Xiao Ce nor Xiao Zhan were present, Bi Han still held a farewell party for them.

...

Over the next few days, Xiao Ce and his ministers were calculating the problem of the food shortage.

Xiao Ce guessed that the food shortage would be a big problem.

However, to everyone's surprise, this problem has become a very serious one.

Their initial estimate is that the current food shortage is two billion shi (a unit of dry measure)...

Although the estimate is roughly correct.

Because they had already transferred all the food and money here.

The entire Central Plains region currently only has enough grain for less than half a month...

If Xiao Ce doesn't do anything, people will start starving to death in half a month.

Officials also estimated that without any intervention, at least two-thirds of the population would starve to death.

Even if the supplies are provided by the Northern Desert King's Palace and the Turkic Kingdom, it will only delay things by one or two months...

Although it's a big problem, a living person can't be suffocated by urine.

Xiao Ce directly proposed several solutions.

First, a large number of people who knew how to grow potatoes were transferred from the Northern Desert Royal Palace, and they were asked to take the grain and start planting.

Potatoes can be grown for two to three months and have very low environmental requirements.

In these regions of the Central Plains, large-scale planting can yield results in as little as sixty days.

Moreover, the yield per acre is high enough.

Secondly, prepare to negotiate with Fusang (Japan), and then prepare to exchange hostages for food.

Also, we invited Slavic people to come and negotiate...

These are things that need to be done as soon as possible.

These things require a great deal of coordination and attention.

It's not the same in Anhua City, even though Anhua City is very prosperous.

However, Anhua City's defenses are still too weak.

At everyone's suggestion, Xiao Ce was to return to the capital first.

Kyoto has good city defenses and a good geographical location.

Moreover, everything in Kyoto is in ruins and needs to be rebuilt...

When a country's capital city becomes bustling, the entire country can truly come alive.

Xiao Ce had no choice but to agree.

During this period, he also secretly met with Qian Dafang and Qian Dahai of the Golden Society.

They said they knew that the Japanese had taken their money and food.

However, there is little they can do; they need to navigate it skillfully.

Therefore, they are often able to compromise.

However, they said they made a lot of money.

All those merchants in the Gold Society are now so poor they're practically broke except for their money...

However, in this day and age, those gold and white things that are neither good for eating nor good for drinking are truly useless.

However, Xiao Ce estimated that everyone could still get through this famine by tightening their belts.

After all, I've heard that Sanjay had already achieved some success there.

You can buy some from Sanjay.

If so, then the Slavic people can buy some more!

Then, perhaps in the future, we won't need to send prisoners to Japan for exchange...

...

Meanwhile, Xiao Ce sent a raven letter to Nikolaevi Eva of the Slavic country.

Eva received it too.

This time, news of Xiao Ce and Xiao Zhan's miraculous turnaround in Xiao Kingdom reached Slavic Kingdom immediately.

They realized there was a problem and began to discuss it.

Now, just like before, two factions have formed within the Slavic country.

One force wants to take this opportunity to start a war against the Xiao Kingdom.