There was a hot pot on the table in the room, and as the water temperature increased, the soup in the hot pot began to tumble upward, and the bottom of the pot came out from time to time with the boiling water.

Seeing this, Ren Baqian hurriedly put the meat and wild vegetables inside, and the aroma suddenly came out.

Before, when they were waiting for the hot pot soup to boil, the three of them stared at each other, and they had nothing to say, and at this time, waiting for the soup to open was considered to open the deadlock.

Ren Baqian, the empress, and Hongwu, who has practiced a unique skill of changing his face.

When facing the empress, it was like a breeze, and when she looked at Ren Baqian, her face was like frost, and the change of expression in a moment was breathtaking.

Even Ren Baqian wanted to ask him whether he ate your food or did he give your cabbage?

With such a person present, Ren Baqian's mood was immediately not good.

The empress has always been cold, Ren Baqian doesn't speak, and she doesn't say either.

Hongwu is like a light bulb.

Now that the hot pot is ready, as Ren Baqian moves, the atmosphere is a little more lively.

The empress's eyes were staring at the floating meat in the hot pot, and her attention was all on it.

"Your Majesty!" Ren Baqian put the meat on the empress's plate, and it disappeared in an instant.

These days, the emperor is greedy.

Ren Baqian poured wine for the empress again, and then poured wine for himself.

"I wish Your Majesty prosperity first!" Ren Baqian raised his glass to toast.

The empress drank it all, the wine was in her stomach, and her eyes were even clearer.

"Your Majesty killed Lu Qi again, and his prestige shocked Great Xia!"

Although Ren Baqian said it casually, it was the case. You must know that in the past half a year, the empress first killed the fifth Hua Sanliu in the world, and then killed the second elder of Zhumu who made up to the tenth, and this time she killed Lu Qi, who was originally the eighth in the world and rose to the seventh in the world because of the empress.

The name of the empress's murder has now been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people in Great Xia.

I don't know how many warriors and scholars are discussing Dayao Qi Zixiao in the streets or taverns.

All that was said was amazing.

You must know that three years ago, because the empress was young and did not have much record against masters, she was ranked in the top ten in the world, and many people had doubts in their hearts. Because of this, there have been people challenging the empress for the next two years.

Although none of the challengers survived, the empress did not have a record of fighting against top masters after all.

Until recently, for most of the year, three times in succession, it really shook the world.

Outside of Da Yao, the reputation has overshadowed the red martial arts who have guarded the frontier for decades.

After all, this kind of top master is still a young woman, and her appearance is also the best in the world, and she is more noticeable.

It's a pity that I heard that she raised a little white face.

"This third cup...... Although I didn't seem to be doing anything, I still said to myself that I had worked hard!" Ren Baqian thought about it and said sincerely.

As soon as Hong Wu heard this, his beard was about to stand up, and he almost put the bowl on Yachi's face. This shameless demeanor is even better than that bastard of Tong Zhenye when he was young.

If he had known that this person was like this, he would have tried his best to prevent His Majesty from choosing him as his husband.

When the empress heard this, her eyes bent.

Qing Liang's gaze turned on Ren Baqian: "Do you want me to pour you wine?"

"Just come by yourself, come by yourself!" Ren Baqian smiled and drank the wine himself.

"I respect the great general, and the hard work is high!" the empress said to Hongwu as she fiddled with her wine glass.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, this is a matter within the minister's duty!" Hongwu held the cup in both hands, and did not forget to glare at Ren Baqian fiercely.

But anyway, the area in the room is a little more lively at this time, and it is much better than just now.

"Your Majesty, what should you do next?" asked Ren Baqian with a cup.

"What do you mean?" the empress's eyes flashed, not quite understanding what he meant.

"Great Xia came to fight, and now it has been defeated and retreated, what about after that?" asked Ren Baqian.

"The civilians who had fled into the city should return to the stockade and reorganize their fields. However, some of the villages have been burned down, and this season's crops have also been destroyed, and I am afraid that the livelihood of the people in the next two seasons will not be easy, and their taxes should be reduced. Hongwu said, this matter is a big deal in his eyes.

"And those ruined cities also need to be renovated!"

"And then?" Ren Baqian continued.

"Governor Ren, if you have anything to say, just say it!" Hongwu said.

"I mean, can't you ask Daxia for defeat compensation or something?" Ren Baqian said.

"Reparations for defeat?" both Hongwu and the Empress looked at him, a word that had never been seen in this world.

Ren Baqian saw that the two didn't understand, so he explained: "They can't just come and fight if they want to, and withdraw if they lose, right?"

We have suffered so many casualties, and one person is not too much to take a hundred taels of masters, right? They are not allowed to compensate for funeral expenses or anything? There are at least 100,000 casualties, which is 10 million taels.

You must know that they have lost their relatives because of the atrocities in Great Xia, and although giving money cannot make up for their spiritual trauma, it is absolutely impossible not to give money.

In addition, Your Majesty has lost a pound if you don't eat well and sleep well these days, so you have to compensate for this, right?

Also, those towns cost an unknown amount of manpower and material resources to build, and as a result, they were destroyed by the invasion of Great Xia, and this matter must be solved with money!

And they attacked the city and cut down so many of our trees, ten years of trees and a hundred years of people, how many years will it take for those trees to grow?

And when they left, they left so much garbage, and if they want to get rid of this garbage, they need to know how much manpower and material resources are needed......"

"Although it is inevitable that there will be injuries in the battle between the two soldiers, these are all caused by Great Xia, and they should compensate for it from any point of view. This is compensation, and in addition to this, there is also a reparation for defeat, so it can't be said that they can fight if they want to, right?

Ren Baqian snapped his fingers and counted the two of them.

"In the end, they robbed me of 5 million taels of silver, you have to pay me back, right?"

Hongwu and the empress both had bright faces, Ren Baqian's words opened the eyes of the two, and they had never heard of the reparations for defeat.

And what happened to your last 5 million taels of silver? When were you robbed of 5 million taels?

"How could Xia Bailong agree to these requests!" Hongwu was surprised at first, and then said coldly.

"If you don't give it, you can get it yourself. I heard that there are only 180,000 people at the border gates, and it is difficult to even defend the border gates. If an army entered the hinterland of Great Xia at this time, they would not be able to do it, and their recruits would not be able to train in a few months.

Even if they draw troops from other positions, they will not be able to do it in a short time.

There's a lot to be done in this time.

robbed them, and had to spread the word to the outside world that the Emperor of Great Xia refused to compensate us for our losses, and it was he who sent troops to invade us first, but he didn't want to bear the consequences and ignored the civilians of those cities. ”

"I'm afraid it's counterproductive, those civilians still hate us. Hongwu thought about it seriously. Although he doesn't like Ren Baqian, he will still put aside his prejudice for the time being.

Go grab a handful, he is still a little excited. After all, no one can swallow this breath if they were beaten for nothing. Not to mention the decades-old veteran of the Rongma border pass.

"The human heart is the most unpredictable. It is not uncommon for a person to hate his protector because his protector did not protect him well, causing him to be hurt by others. Ren Baqian shook his head.

"Besides, they don't necessarily like us now. ”

Ren Baqian's later sentence, Hong Wu agreed.

"The problem now is that there is still the Yun Kingdom!" Hongwu frowned, now the Northeast Protectorate is still at war with the Yun Kingdom, and the battle between the Northern Protectorate and Great Xia has just ended, if there is a war with Great Xia at this time, I am afraid that it will fall into the quagmire again.

"The first batch of 20,000 recruits will be trained in two months. If Yunguo alone, it won't be able to set off any big storms in two months. On the contrary, it is Da Xia, I am afraid that he is licking his wounds to recuperate, and he may not know when he will give us another blow. Especially when we were at war with the Cloud Kingdom, they were silently grinding their minions.

Instead of that, it's better to get them in some trouble first. At least until we solve the Cloud Country, they can't take care of us. Ren Baqian said.

"It won't take long to solve Yunguo. Hongwu said.

He wanted to seek stability even more, first solve Yunguo and then solve Great Xia.

Yun Guo is much easier to deal with than Great Xia.

"It's easy to repel the Cloud Country, but it's not a short time to occupy the Cloud Country. Ren Baqian said.

Hearing this, Hong Wu was taken aback and looked at the empress.

The empress nodded slightly, which could be regarded as approving Ren Baqian's words.

"Although the Yun Kingdom is smaller than my Da Yao, it has a large population and complicated circumstances, and if you want to occupy the Yun Kingdom, you will need a large number of troops to maintain it. Although there are advantages to occupying Yunguo, there are also many disadvantages. Just like in the south, those people have always been dishonest, occupying a large area of land, and they have to involve an entire metropolitan protectorate. Hongwu frowned, he didn't know when the empress and Ren Baqian had this idea, but it was a little difficult for Da Yao to swallow Yunguo.

A southern plus a cloud country, at that time, I was afraid that it would involve most of the energy, and in his opinion, it would do more harm than good.

His first reaction to the idea was to oppose it. After all, in Dayao now, in addition to the lack of salt and iron, other aspects are acceptable. And now that the matter of salt and iron has been settled, there is no need to risk swallowing the cloud country now, and then spend a lot of energy to rule there, and if you don't get it right, you will fall into a quagmire.

You must know that Yun Country is not a small country, and its population is more than that of Da Yao. Da Yao can't find so many officials who can be used after capturing Yun Country.

"But the cloud country has what we need most. Ren Baqian summed it up in one word.

Whether it is salt, iron, minerals, or population, all aspects are what Dayao needs. Next, if Dayao wants to develop rapidly, the various outputs of Yunguo are very important.

"And I've got some ideas about how to rule there. "Ren 8000.

Hongwu glanced at him, skeptical of his words.

"This matter is very important, and Your Majesty still has to think twice. Hongwu arched his hand.

"I have made up my mind!" the empress said lightly. After going to Earth, she knew how barren Da Yao was, so a place rich in mineral deposits like Yunguo must also be obtained.

"The general doesn't need to worry too much, he can take a look at the situation then, and if he can't do anything, he can also sweep a large amount of supplies back in the cloud country. Ren Baqian added.

Hearing this, Hongwu finally put down his snacks, but his brows were still wrinkled.

War is not child's play, and it is not child's play to occupy a country of that size and incorporate it into one's own territory.

It seems that he will have to find a chance to go back to Lancheng in a few days and meet Shi Qing and a few others.