ALL NOVEL
Chapter 71: Everyone’s Intimidated
In Venice…
“Credibility is important in the world.”
To the backdrop of the blazing Venice, Shu Yichao taught the young Sophia with a smile.
“If we said we’re going to hang Venice’s Governor-General to death, then we must choke the last wisp of oxygen out of her. If we said that we’re going to raze Venice down, we should make sure that there’s not a single building standing after we’re done.”
It’s raining?
No worries. We’ll continue after the rain stops.
While Shu Yichao briefly stopped in Venice, the entire Italy was scared out of its wits.
The Khitan Caesar’s reputation was already considerable before his invasion of Venice.
Even when his army was less than a thousand cavalrymen strong, he crushed the Ottomain Empire’s 200,000-men strong army and slew its sultana. When his army later expanded into the thousands, he swept across the Balkans and expanded the Eastern Romain Empire’s borders, restoring it to its peak in Komnenos’ era.
He defeated the army powerhouse Ottomain Empire in a land fight and the naval powerhouse Venice in a sea fight. It was as if he was flaunting there was nothing in this world beyond him!
And now, he had even pushed his conquest toward Italy.
He determinedly sailed through a storm to land in Venice before reducing it to rubble. Its governor-general and senators were all hanged to death… and it was rumored that they only suffered a casualty of 500 men in that battle!
It was as if he was possessed by the God of War! He triumphed in any battle he fought, and anyone who opposed him was doomed to collapse in a puddle of their own blood.
This was the Scourge of God!
The entire Apennine Peninsula was in shock.
Rumor has it that all it took was a person shouting ‘The Scourge of God is here’, ‘I saw the blood twin-headed eagle’, or ‘The Khitans are here’, and an entire village would flee in fear. Even soldiers would jolt in shock whenever they spotted a hint of red while patrolling an area.
All kinds of apocalyptic rumors spread like wildfire.
The Scourge of God holding his position in the north of Italy had brought many sleepless nights to the lords ruling over the Apennine Peninsula. They were apprehensive, knowing that he could cause devastating damage if he willed so.
What are his plans?
Kings, dukes, nobles, and bishops alike nervously kept an eye on the situation.
The Khitan Caesar might only have thousands of men under his command, but he had proved that he had both the guts and the strength to level a city and decimate the nobles living in it…
What if he really launched an attack? What should they do then?
…
“These people are here again?” Shu Yichao murmured as he looked at the flags in the distance. “They sure are diligent.”
Envoys had been arriving in droves in recent days. They would bring him a mountain of resources and valuables each time, though the reason they were doing so eluded him.
That being said, he would be a fool to not accept money delivered into his hands.
More for my Metal Fortresses. I can already tell they are going to be exorbitant.
“You receive them,” Shu Yichao told Sophia before he happily continued razing Venice down.
The storm had just ended, and Venice had canals running through its city, so the razing was taking longer than expected. Most stuff had to be dragged out to be dried first before they could be burned down.
“Esteemed Saint.
“Invincible Caesar.
“Great Priest King.
“The Lord’s most beloved Khitan warrior.
“The conqueror of Europe and Asia.
“The demigod who towers over all land and seas.
“We, mortals, offer you our deepest and most insignificant respect…”
The envoys from different countries lowered their heads and bowed upon entering the tent, not daring to breathe loudly. After a long string of pleasantries, they nervously presented their gifts.
Sophia happily looked at the gifts.
Colorful drapes of cloth, luxurious silk that were cooling to the touch, glistening perfume bottles, paintings with long history, ivories, gold, silver, jewels, and so on…
“I’ll accept them on our Caesar’s behalf.” Sophia stowed the gift lists into her sleeve. “You may return now.”
Had they been anywhere else, these envoys would have kicked a huge fuss if the one they were visiting accepted their gifts without even hearing them out, but none of them had the guts to express their dissatisfaction here.
Neither did they feel slighted because the one who had received them was a little girl.
On the contrary, they breathed a sigh of relief. They secretly exchanged joyful looks as they walked out of the tent.
The Khitan Caesar has accepted our money! This means that he has no intention to screw our lords over for the time being. This is something worth celebrating!
Thus far, the Khitan Caesar had shown no inclination to negotiate. He had charged straight at his enemies with his bow and scimitar whenever there was someone he wanted to screw over. However, it looked like a peaceful settlement might be possible here.
Everything is negotiable so long as the Khitan Caesar doesn’t invade us.
He wants money? Give it all to him!
We will smash our piggy banks and surrender our engagement dowries and funeral money if that’s what it takes to placate this demon. It would be worth it even if it means that we’ll have to munch on grass for the next few years.
The envoys put aside their biases and past grudges to discuss how to coax the Khitan Caesar.
“Since he’s a cavalryman, he should be fond of excellent steeds.”
“The Plantagenets have a three-meter-tall steed. We need to find a way to get one from them.”
“As for armor… the Duchy of Milan should have something good.”
“Get that too. We need to find the most extravagant one, one that has elaborate patterns and golden embroidery.”
“Antiques wise… the pope and the cardinals might have something good.”
“Otherwise, we can also reach out to the Holy Romain Empire and the French.”
“Has Genoa cancelled the Khitan Caesar’s debt yet?” someone asked the Genoese envoy.
Even though Genoa had done the Khitan Caesar a huge favor this time, that didn’t necessarily mean they were safe from the latter. Every country had done their fair share of betrayals; no one was cleaner than the other.
Genoa’s partnership with the Khitan Caesar was a mutually beneficial one; they were merely teaming up against a common enemy.
It would be optimistic to hope for the Khitan Caesar to give them special consideration over that.
“What nonsense are you spouting?” Genoa’s envoy glowered at that person who asked that question. “We are loyal servants of the Caesar! We would never charge our lord over chump change? It’s only right for us to offer that much to him!”
“Orh.”
The answer was clear—Genoa must be burning all their debt notes to the Eastern Romain Empire right now.
“Do you think he’s interested in beauties?” someone suddenly asked, “Should we find some…”
“It’s tricky business.” Another envoy shook his head.
“On the one hand, we risk infuriating the Khitan Caesar if we send him a lowborn. On the other hand, it won’t be easy to convince illustrious houses to surrender their daughter to him.
“My lord approached a noble house to discuss this matter, but the lady fainted as soon as she heard about it. She nearly bawled her eyes out when she woke up, and she even declared that she would kill herself on her wedding day if they dared betroth her to the Khitan Caesar.
“If we choose the wrong person, it might just worsen our ties with the Khitan Caesar.”
“How about a dancer from the desert? Perhaps, an exotic appeal might work…”
“He might be from the desert too. What if that dancer happens to be from his homeland?”
The envoys fervently discussed the matter among themselves.
The Holy Romain Empire’s envoy felt out of place when he thought about the rose-imprinted, scented ‘love letter’ in his bag. He couldn’t shake off the feeling that things would go awry if he went in just like that, considering the Khitan Caesar still a youth whereas his liege was…
If he considers this a humiliation… Tsk. I’ll pretend the love letter doesn’t exist.
The Holy Romain Empire’s envoy turned his attention to racking his brain about the gifts he should get to offer the Khitan Caesar.
There were also exceptions to the trend too.
Shu Yichao: “?”
Popo isn’t going to give it a rest, are they?
Constantin XI, who had returned to Constantinope to manage the fields left by the nobles, was so used to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth’s letters that he didn’t even have the energy to get angry anymore.
“Groveling bugs!
“Filth of the latrine!
“Worthless dung worms!
“Dipshits!
“You are the most abominable tumor in the world. Even the Lord doesn’t have the magnanimity to forgive lowlifes like you. If that barbarian doesn’t stop his rampage, our Holy Knight Order will bring divine retribution upon you.”
“So annoying!” Constantin XI tossed the letter away and clutched his forehead.
It was always a load of nonsense, but he had no choice but to browse through them as they were official letters from a powerful nation up north. Otherwise, if there was really something important in the letters, he could miss out on an important opportunity.
“Haa…” Constantin XI let out a helpless sigh.