Li Dayong did not know whether Mousse's interruption had affected him, but he went on to explain why there might have been those "more than eight hundred years":
"Founding Emperor never forgot the hatred of his nation's downfall. After sweeping away the rival powers within the country, he took advantage of the three great experts still being in their prime and immediately launched a counterattack against the World Government's territories."
"In just one year, the World Government lost another admiral, seventy thousand troops, and several hundred vessels of all sizes, and was forced to withdraw completely from the West Blue."
"Perhaps because the losses were simply too great, internal conflicts within the World Government soon intensified into civil war. The victorious side eventually reorganized a new World Government—the one you know of, benefactor!"
Mousse's mouth fell open at this, and it took him quite a while to close it. "So that was how it was? Could the 'Void Century' have been not only about sealing away the Great Kingdom's secrets, but also about concealing the disgrace of having suffered such a crushing defeat that they nearly collapsed, fearing that other powerful nations might imitate them in the future?"
However, as Li Dayong explained further, Mousse learned that although the World Government had once been so thoroughly defeated that it had been forced to reorganize, it had in some sense turned disaster into blessing.
Having learned from its earlier lesson—directly occupying other nations' lands had burdened it with enormous liabilities, leaving it only able to passively take blows until it was dragged down alive—the reorganized World Government switched to a model of indirect rule. Though it became ever more reactionary, its own burdens were greatly reduced, allowing it to concentrate its strength against powerful enemies that posed a challenge when necessary;