ALL NOVEL
Chapter 75: Who Do We Whop First?
Alarm bells went off in Princess Sophia’s mind when she noticed the envoy’s pale face and profuse perspiration. Something was clearly off!
“Envoy, aren’t you going to explain yourself?” Princess Sophia asked. “Don’t you think it is inappropriate to resort to such methods?”
She had no idea what was going on, but she thought that it was worth pulling a bluff judging from the situation.
It was winter, but the envoy was sweating so profusely that even his back and the handkerchief he held in his hands were drenched.
Damn it! How did they realize it?
The envoy was plunged into despair.
He had known from the start that this attempt was forced.
Due to the imminent formation of the Anti-Khitan Alliance, Frederina couldn’t afford to get engaged to the Khitan Caesar at this juncture. Putting aside whether the confession worked or not, the other countries wouldn’t even allow such a thing to happen.
Who knows if it’s really just a scheme? What if you decide to make the marriage a real thing and join hands with the Khitans to screw us over?
Knowing that playing the long game was out of the question, Frederina decided to use the mixed poisonous compound directly on the letter at a higher dosage to eliminate Shu Yichao from the get-go.
Yet, who could have thought that the Khitan Caesar would see through them?
Do we have a spy?
The envoy was trembling, but he still anxiously racked his brain to explain himself, “Her Majesty truly admires the Caesar; this love letter is merely a medium for Her Majesty to express her true feelings. We have no other intention.”
He fell for it! There is something wrong with that letter!
Enraged, Princess Sophia roared, “Take them down!”
Everyone from the Holy Romain Empire was arrested.
Sophia had one of the servants hold the wooden chest as she inspected it from a distance. Seconds later, she ordered, “Bring me some alcohol.”
As alcohol was poured on the letter, Sophia glanced at the envoy and saw his face turning even paler. Her lips curled into a vicious smirk.
“Feed it to him.”
“NO!” The envoy was horrified. “Princess Sophia, t-this is Her Majesty’s… Wuuwuuu! Gug glug gug…”
Sophia glanced at the roses inside the wooden chest and added, “Stuff his nose too.”
Moments later, the envoy clutched his chest and wailed in misery. For a long time, he could only lie there in excruciating pain as he felt his throat, heart, and lungs slowly melting to the poison…
“Caesar!” Sophia grabbed Shu Yichao’s hands and sobbed. “It’s so terrifying! Those people are so vicious! How could they be so black-hearted?”
【Haa, it looks like it’s fine now.】
Through the functioning quarter screen, System 12345 could barely tell that Frederina’s ploy had been unraveled. It heaved a sigh of relief, but worry quickly gripped it once more.
【My host, it doesn’t look like you’re in a good position. According to the plotline, you should be traveling to different countries and building relationships. In the end, with the help of the femme fatales, you’ll bring down the big boss who seeks to overturn the world order.】
【Yet, you prematurely encountered the small boss, and the latter is obviously out to kill you.】
System 12345 fell into deep thought.
【No matter what, Frederina is the Holy Romain Empire’s empress. It’s not a good thing that she’s after your life.】
Moments later, it suddenly thought of something.
【My host, I have an idea!】
【Since you have previously participated in a battle, I’m guessing that you should be a knight with at least twenty squires. You can seek refuge with that female knight!】
The more System 12345 thought about it, the more it thought that it was a good idea.
【The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is a somewhat formidable force comprising multiple countries. Not even the Holy Romain Empress can easily touch you if you can find a way to join their Holy Knight Order.】
【What do you think, my host? My host?】
“Esteemed Caesar,” Madam Marti suddenly arrived with a letter in hand, “there has been a change in the situation. For some reason, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth suddenly sent their forces southward.”
Knights have been spotted slaughtering their way through the grasslands en route to the Eastern Romain Empire in recent days. With the slogan of ‘Purge all heretics’, they went on a massacre in the Eastern Romains’ villages and towns…
Constantin XI sent an enraged letter demanding an explanation, but the other party didn’t give any response.
Aside from that, Genoa secretly sent a letter to inform them that the Pope was rallying the countries in West Europe to wage a Holy War against the Eastern Romain Empire. It added that the Holy Romain Empire, Milan, Naples, France, the Plantagenets, and more countries had expressed their interest in participating in the Crusade.
A brief glance at the map showed that if the Crusade truly came to be, its scale would be unprecedented considering the countries participating in it.
“Caesar.” Sophia opened up the map to study it. Seconds later, her face paled. “If that really happens, we will be up against the entire world!”
This was a disaster!
The Eastern Romain Empire had just greedily gobbled up the Balkans and half of Anatolia. Even if they were in the midst of training a huge bunch of officials, it was unlikely that they would have enough manpower to manage all of those territories.
They were too bloated right now, and that limited the resources they could mobilize.
In contrast, their enemy spanned nearly the entire Europe. Even a quick glance at the map already made it clear that this was an unwinnable fight. The sheer difference in sizes could plunge even the most optimistic person into despair.
Yet, Shu Yichao’s response was…
“HAHAHAHA!!” His eyes gleamed with joy. “The World Alliance? I love it!!”
The many different colors on the map had previously irked him, but now, other than a small minority of exceptions, it was all red. This was good news to him, for it meant that he could color the map however he wanted to!
“When are they going to gather?” Shu Yichao was hyped.
The most exhilarating battle he had so far was still the fight to defend Constantinope; it was a huge battle against 70,000 soldiers (the remaining ones weren’t counted as he deemed them logistical troops).
The recent few battles felt lacking in comparison, as their scales were mostly limited to the thousands. Had Shu Yichao moved slower, his Elite Horse Archers could have cleared the enemies by themselves.
If there was really a World Alliance Army for him to give a good whopping to…
“I wonder how many troops they will have. I can’t wait to meet them!”
“…” Sophia and Madam Marti were rendered speechless by Shu Yichao’s excitement.
Our Caesar sure is a fearless one.
First he was undaunted by the Ottomain’s 200,000 soldiers, then he was undaunted by Venice’s strong naval force, and now he is undaunted by the Crusade rallied by the Pope.
But again, when they thought about Shu Yichao’s battle record thus far…
The World Alliance Army doesn’t seem that scary anymore?
“Caesar, who should we attack first?” Sophia carefully asked.
Constructing a World Alliance Army required time, resources, and manpower. According to the military strategy book she had recently been reading, if they could gather their strength and crush one or two opposing forces first, it would at least ease their situation a little.
“…”
“…”
“Caesar?”
“We’ll hit Popo first!” Shu Yichao was infuriated. “I’ll smack the shit out of them!”