The Marquis de Descartes originally thought that Xu Yi's unexpectedly tough attitude was just a means of negotiation, in order to force the Candela Empire to change the terms that were more favorable to them.

This kind of negotiation method is also common, so he was only shocked at the beginning, but he was not too anxious, while reporting the initial negotiation situation to the top of the Candela Empire, and at the same time preparing to continue to contact the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce and the Ruerson Kingdom for the next negotiation.

However, to his surprise, both the Ruerson Kingdom and the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce have been forcefully rejecting his request to meet and talk again, so that he and the envoys stayed in Babral City for a full week, and they didn't even see anyone in charge of the Ruerson Kingdom and the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce, let alone Xu Yi, who played a decisive role.

A week later, a piece of news reached the ears of the Marquis de Descartes, and he and the entire legation were speechless.

Two days earlier, on May 3, the combined forces of the Ruerson Kingdom and the New Flying Chamber of Commerce had broken through the southern city of Mobigan, a city in Talaman Province, and were now approaching the provincial capital of Talaman Province.

"Lord Marquis, these guys seem to ...... It seems that there is really no idea of negotiating with us......" said one of the members of the legation to the Marquis de Descartes in a daze.

The Marquis de Descartes could no longer help but maintain the usual calm expression on his face, and his faint smile was full of bitterness.

He didn't expect that the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce and the Ruerson Kingdom would really give them a chance to negotiate peace, so they directly waved their troops to continue the attack.

Do they really think they have what it takes to defeat the mighty Candela Empire?

"What shall we do now, Lord Marquis?" asked another member of the legation.

The Marquis de Cartesian shook his head slightly. There was a bit of confusion in his expression.

The New Flying Chamber of Commerce was completely unexpectedly tough. He didn't know what to do.

After pondering for a long time. The Marquis de Descartes let out a long sigh.

"Wait. The only thing we can do is wait. In any case, it depends on how well it performs on the battlefield. So now we ...... I can only hope that the soldiers of the empire will not let us down......"

The other members of the envoy group, you look at me, I look at you, and they all see the bitterness in each other's smiles.

If the soldiers of the Empire wouldn't let them down on the battlefield, why would they be here, and even have to put up with the arrogance of those guys from the Ruerxun Kingdom and the New Flying Chamber of Commerce?

###

From another point of view, the soldiers of the Candela Imperial Army really did not disappoint the members of the envoys.

Because...... They were exactly what everyone expected. It was not able to resist the attack of the Luxin coalition army at all.

After the Luxin coalition army erupted in a frenzied attack that was even more powerful than before, the province of Talaman fell faster than the southwestern province.

In just twenty-one days, the provincial capital of Talaman Province had been breached, and the Duke of Lagor, the governor of Talaman Province, swore to die and was killed in battle.

The five Magisters who were requested to be reinforced by the Candela Empire were not spared this time, one Magus fell, two of the remaining four Magisters were seriously injured, and the other two were forced to retreat.

After the fall of the province, the five cities in the north of Talaman Province surrendered to the Luxin coalition forces on their own initiative.

At this point, the province of Talaman fell completely.

May 29. The Governor of the Southern Province, Lord Ernman Windsor, suddenly declared the independence of the Southern Province from the Candela Empire.

As soon as the news came out. The entire Candela Empire was shocked, and the entire Sainz Continent was shocked.

On 7 June, the southernmost province of the Candela Empire, and the one with the largest coastline in the Candela Empire, also declared its independence from the Candela Empire, but instead of declaring independence, it joined the Duchy of Statein.

The province of Tular is the province that has cooperated with the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce the most among the many provinces of the Candela Empire, and the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce has built nearly 100 cooperation projects in the province of Tular over the years, involving almost all aspects of the province of Tular, which can be said to be the province with the deepest penetration.

Previously, when the Candela Empire declared the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce a hostile chamber of commerce, although the industries under the name of the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce in the province of Tular were also damaged to a certain extent, most of them were preserved through various other means, so that the power of the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce in the province of Tular was still deep-rooted.

Therefore, this time, the province of Tular announced its secession from the Candela Empire and its annexation to the Duchy of Stantin after the southern province, although it still shocked countless people, but it was not too unexpected for many people.

However, unlike the southern provinces' declaration of independence, which had a mainly spiritual impact, the declaration of independence by the Tular province caused very serious and substantial damage to the Candela Empire.

Because of the previous cooperation agreement between the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce and the Candela Empire, the projects related to the magic industry invested and developed by the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce in the Candela Empire are mainly concentrated in two places.

The first is an industrial base near the capital city of Wimbledon, but the main role is a demonstration, so the scale is not large.

In comparison, the real cooperation projects between the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce and the Candela Empire can be said to be all concentrated in the province of Tular.

The size of the magic industry in the province of Tular alone is enough to account for more than seventy percent of all the magic industries that the Candela Empire has developed over the years.

Now that the province of Tular has seceded from the Candela Empire, it has had a serious impact on all aspects of the entire Candela Empire, and immediately triggered a nationwide panic in the Candela Empire.

What's more, the secession of the province of Tular meant that the Kandela Empire lost its southern coastline and all its access to the sea.

The current Candela Empire has almost become a landlocked country.

Of course, the people on the current Sainz continent don't have a strong understanding of this.

The focus of attention is still on the Luxin coalition army, which is advancing into the interior of the Candela Empire.

The two provinces were conquered in quick succession, and during this period, the Candela Empire's army did not even see the slightest hope of victory on the frontal battlefield, which severely damaged the morale and confidence of the Candela Empire.

Although the Candela Empire did not give up, and tried every means to recover the decline, it had no chance of winning on the frontal battlefield, even if it wanted to set up an ambush to turn the tide of the war, it was because of the ubiquitous magic airship of the New Flying Chamber of Commerce that all ambushes turned into a joke.

As the Luxin coalition army advanced towards Wimbledon step by step, the civilians of the Candela Empire did not feel much, while the nobles at the top of the empire became more and more panicked.

Following the Southwest Province and the Tular Province, a full thirteen provinces announced their independence from the Kandela Empire, and openly expressed varying degrees of cooperation to the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce.

As a result, nearly half of the provinces of the Candela Empire were out of control.

In the nearly 1,000-year history of the Candela Empire, there have also been major chaos caused by various reasons, and there have even been times when the imperial capital Wimbledon was breached, and the entire empire fell into war and chaos, and even approached the critical moment of extinction.

In these critical moments, however, the Candela Empire has always been able to recover and regain its strength as a vast empire.

But this time...... But unlike all previous crises.

In the past, the Candela Empire would fall into crisis, mostly due to civil strife.

And this time, the Candela Empire did not have any civil strife before, on the contrary, the nearly 100 years before this have been called the most stable and well-developed golden age of imperial power in the history of the Candela Empire.

Under normal circumstances, such a Candela empire would simply not be able to be defeated.

But now the appearance of the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce has shattered all the defenses of the Candela Empire and forced the Candela Empire into chaos.

August 16 is almost the hottest day of the year.

On this day, the Luxin coalition army contributed to the city of St. Antonis, the southernmost part of the Central Province of the Candela Empire, and officially stepped into the scope of the Central Province, which really threatened the heart of the Candela Empire - Wimbledon.

Five days later, the Marquis de Descartes again led an envoy to appear under the city of St. Antonis, in front of the Luxin coalition.

However, unlike the self-confidence of four months ago, with even a hint of arrogance, the current Marquis of Descartes no longer had any sense of superiority as a Marquis of the Candela Empire in his heart when he saw the well-equipped Xinfei Chamber of Commerce escorts in the Luxin Alliance Army again, only endless bitterness and decadence.

The countless battles with the Luxin coalition in the past few months have told everyone that the Candela Empire, which was incomparably powerful in people's minds, is so vulnerable.

The continuous defeat for more than a year since last year has completely shattered the confidence of all the nobles of the Candela Empire like the Marquis of Descartes, and also shattered the arrogance in their hearts.

No matter how much they cursed and hated in their hearts, they had to admit that the empire was helpless in the face of the "demon-given" military magic machinery of the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce.

Even the Marquis de Descartes had a hint of joy and happiness in his heart.

In the past four months, the Candela Empire has made many requests for peace talks to the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce, and even the Marquis of Descartes risked his life to come to the Luxin Alliance many times, but the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce has not responded once.

And now, the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce has finally given a positive response, promising to give the Candela Empire another chance to negotiate peace, and the Marquis of Descartes is naturally overjoyed, and the high-level of the entire Candela Empire is also overjoyed.

The Xinfei Chamber of Commerce is still willing to negotiate peace, which proves that there is still hope for things to ease.

As for what will become of the Candela Empire after the peace talks, that is something that can be considered later...... (To be continued......)