Bibi Dong had her own calculations.
The Hagen Dazs Kingdom lay very close to the border, where the Heaven Dou Empire had stationed over a hundred thousand troops. If Spirit Hall took in this kingdom, they would be under surveillance at any moment.
Moreover, the time was not yet ripe to establish the Spirit Hall Empire. Rashly taking over such a kingdom could easily alert the two great empires and disrupt the overall plan.
Taking all these reasons into account, Spirit Hall decided to remain still and stick to the original plan.
Everything unfolded exactly as she had expected. When the Heaven Dou Empire learned of the rebellion in the Hagen Dazs Kingdom, both court and populace were enraged.
Emperor Xue Ye personally issued an order: Grand Marshal Gelong was to lead the troops and suppress the rebellion.
Gelong led the border army and the Royal Knights into the Hagen Dazs Kingdom in great force, beginning the suppression campaign.
Meanwhile, Spirit Hall stepped forward at the right moment to clarify that it had never intended to shelter the king. It also dispatched envoys to Heaven Dou City, declaring that the people's rebellion had truly been caused by noble oppression and that the commoners should not be held responsible.
They even threw irrefutable evidence of nobles in Hagen Dazs City forcibly taking civilian women right in Emperor Xue Ye's face.
Emperor Xue Ye's face turned livid, yet he could not vent his anger. He could only order the suppression forces not to harm any civilians.
Since the commoners could not be punished, the merchants who had profited from the national crisis became scapegoats. The empire charged them with "seeking exorbitant profits and disrupting people's livelihoods," forcing them to pay enormous fines.
The merchants suffered in silence. Their shops had long since