In the evening, upon returning to the hotel, Bai Zhizhan set up a table and invited Zhao Yu to dine, claiming it was thanks to Zhang Xiaoqing’s blessing that he managed to procure so fine wine from the Imperial Palace.
Actually, the wine was bought from the hotel itself; the invitation was rely an excuse.
Zhao Yu, who seldom drank, had a low tolerance for alcohol and couldn’t discern the quality of the wine. More than a decade ago, he had even been fooled by Li Yunxiang with dicinal alcohol.
Once drunk, there was nothing left to think about.
Even if just for a little while, there must be so relief.
At that ti, outside the Imperial Palace of Saiyi Imperial Kingdom in East Imperial City.
The palace gates were only slowly closing when Wen Wei erged.
Hearing the "creak" of the shutting gates, Wen Wei shivered involuntarily. Turning his head for a glance, he then proceeded toward the gate of the Imperial Palace.
Night had already fallen, and the once bustling East Imperial City was now shrouded in darkness, resembling a ghost town.
In reality, it was more like a crematorium!
The continuous strategic bombing over the past six months, with bombers visiting every ten to fifteen days and igniting fires that water couldn’t extinguish resembled ssengers of death from hell, had long turned this populous city into an empty shell.
However, Liangxia Empire’s bombers had never once targeted the Imperial Palace!
In just a few months, outside the walls of the Imperial Palace, makeshift huts, small and large, sprang up like mushrooms after the rain, resembling dog kennels.
The remaining residents, almost all, lived in these huts.
Beyond this area lay nothing but ruins.
In the past six months, East Imperial City had been bombed 18 tis, with each bombardnt involving over 300 tons of bombs.
All incendiary bombs!
Moreover, the bombing was completely random. Sotis it occurred in the morning, sotis at night; sotis every few days, other tis almost half a month apart; sotis from high altitudes, other tis from low. It seed as though the mood of the Commander planning and orchestrating the bombings dictated the schedule.
On several occasions, it even happened during heavy rains!
However, it wasn’t entirely without warning.
Seemingly concerned about the regrowth of the city, as soon as any quarter of East Imperial City showed signs of reconstruction or even just gathered personnel, the bombers would arrive.
Not just people, but even earthworms hid in the soil were dood.
Starting from the latter half of the year, Liangxia Empire had also deployed long-range fighters specifically to attack convoys transporting supplies to East Imperial City. They targeted not only transport vehicles but also mule teams and even used bombers to drop anti-personnel mines along the roads leading to East Imperial City.
These mines were the size of an egg, made of plastic, filled with ten grams of high-energy explosives, equipped with pressure-sensitive detonators that exploded upon contact.
Because they contained no tal parts, they were very difficult to detect.
Crucially, their explosive power wasn’t lethal, typically only severing a leg.
Not just human legs but also those of mules and other livestock.
Because of these mines, the wild dogs around the suburbs of East Imperial City were nearly extinct!
This was sheer extermination of humanity!
Not only the civilians, but even Emperor Xia had not tasted at for nearly a month.
To stave off hunger, the backyard of the Imperial Palace was transford into a vegetable garden, planted with vegetables and sweet potatoes. Even the Empress and the Crown Prince had to labour in the fields!
Furthermore, last month, the Crown Princess Consort miscarried due to malnutrition, losing a male infant who was also Emperor Xia’s first grandson.
Had the miscarriage not happened, this boy would have been the future Emperor Xia!
Distressed by this incident, the Crown Princess Consort had been bedridden ever since, and even the Empress fell ill.
Could the battle still go on?
That afternoon, Emperor Xia summoned Wen Wei to the palace to discuss this matter.
Although the Long Sorrow Puppet Regi’s Self-Defense Forces were stationed west of Shenhu and advanced very slowly, definitely unable to capture Shenhu before the winter, let alone reach East Imperial City, and when winter ca, it was uncertain whether the Self-Defense Forces could continue their advance. But the test in winter wasn’t just for the Puppet Regi; it also included those living inside the Imperial Palace and the roughly 40 million people still under the rule of Emperor Xia.
Hungry in autumn, what hope was there for winter?
Emperor Xia had collapsed.
According to the imperial decree issued to Wen Wei, Emperor Xia had decided to announce his surrender tomorrow. As the Cabinet’s Grand Secretary, Wen Wei would be responsible for handling the aftermath.
Surrender?
To whom and by whom would the surrender be made?
Earlier in the year, after the talks in Marra City had broken down, the Imperial Chief Minister of the Liangxia Empire had made it clear that there would be no negotiations with the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom for a ceasefire.
If they didn’t want to be annihilated, their only option was to disarm and surrender!
Terms of surrender?
Although Xue Yuanzheng did not demand an unconditional surrender from the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom, he also did not ntion negotiating with them, so naturally, there were no terms for surrender.
Simply put, surrender first and discuss the rest later.
However, the situation now was even more complex.
The Liangxia Empire had already established diplomatic relations with the Long Sorrow Puppet Regi and had withdrawn their troops from Saiyi territory several months ago, ceasing military operations against the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom.
According to the declarations of the Liangxia Empire, they were now supporting and assisting the Long Sorrow regi in dealing with the illegitimate governnt of East Imperial City.
The Liangxia Empire had already recognized the Long Sorrow regi, eliminating the need to accept the surrender of the East Imperial City governnt.
Surrender to the Long Sorrow Puppet Regi?
Wouldn’t that be utterly humiliating?
Moreover, after the surrender, what would be the fate of those war criminals explicitly ntioned by the Liangxia Empire, including Wen Wei?
Wen Wei had never thought about it.
There was only one thing he was certain of: after the Newland Federation’s transport fleet was intercepted, with dozens of cargo ships being sunk or captured and the rest fleeing, the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom would not survive the upcoming winter. If they didn’t surrender, millions would freeze or starve to death.
Actually, Wen Wei hadn’t expected a favorable outco.
There was a glimr of hope before.
If the Newland Navy had achieved a resounding victory in the Northwest East Ocean and secured control of the sea, allowing the transport ships to arrive safely, there would have been a great chance to turn defeat into victory.
Even if both sides had fought to a draw, just the arrival of the transport ships would have allowed them to last until the next spring.
Unfortunately, the Newland Navy had been thoroughly defeated.
At that ti, upon receiving the news, Wen Wei had thought the war for him had ended, and the defeat of the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom was just a winter away.
Hope?
There was still so, but nothing could prevent the downfall of the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom.
If the Newland Federation could achieve a final victory, they might be able to help rebuild the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom.
That was the last value of the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom.
Just the day before yesterday, the Newland Ambassador had bluntly told Wen Wei that if the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom could take everything down with it, then after thoroughly defeating the Liangxia Empire, the Newland Federation would restore their country and guarantee that in the post-war world, the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom would be the hegemon of the West East Ocean region.
Were the Newland Ambassador’s words credible?
No one in their right mind would believe them!
But Wen Wei had no other choice.
For him, the last weapon was the tens of millions of starving people in Saiyi.
Now that the Liangxia Empire had recognized the Long Sorrow Puppet Regi, they could not ignore the lives of tens of millions of Saiyi people; at the very least, they had to provide humanitarian aid.
Not to ntion other things, just food and winter clothing would require the Liangxia Empire to deploy many ships.
Though Liangxia was vast and rich, capable of self-sufficiency in food and even exporting it during peaceti, suddenly having to cater to tens of millions more people was no small matter.
They would also need to maintain order, requiring at least hundreds of thousands of troops.
Just deploying hundreds of thousands of troops to the eastern regions of Saiyi would take a lot of ti, and maintaining such a large number of stationed troops would be a heavy burden!
Thinking of all this, Wen Wei entered his sedan.
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