The two quickly got into the swing of things, downing cup after cup. With toast after toast and drink after drink, Dai Weisi grew more and more astonished!
At first, he had considered whether he should stop when Xu Mochen seemed close to his limit. After all, he had learned through intelligence reports just how formidable the Sun Moon Empire was. Its endless variety of Soul Guidance Weapons was enough to make anyone shudder!
He didn't know whether the Star Luo City court had received this latest intelligence yet, but Dai Weisi was certain that once his father and the others learned that the Sun Moon Empire possessed so many advanced weapons—and realized that it had already established friendly diplomatic relations with the Heaven Dou Empire—they would be deeply alarmed and demand, at any cost, that he be sure to befriend the Sun Moon Empire!
The Star Luo Empire might act unconventionally, and its handling of diplomatic affairs might reek of a wild, untamed spirit, but that didn't mean it was stupid. In truth, the reason the Star Luo Empire dared to act so boldly in diplomatic exchanges was not only to overwhelm the other side with its presence; it also had the strength of its own powerful nation to rely on!
If it came to a head-on, one-on-one war, neither the Heaven Dou Empire nor Spirit Hall would be a match for them! This drinking gathering, along with the various methods that would follow, had originally been designed to test the Sun Moon Empire's strength.
But according to the latest intelligence, this mysterious and powerful Sun Moon Empire was far stronger than their nation had previously expected. Should they still go ahead with all these plans? Would they provoke the Sun Moon Empire and bring disaster down upon the Star Luo Empire?
Dai Weisi wasn't sure. But the arrow was already on the string, and there was no choice but to let it fly. Though he still had some misgivings, he considered the series of plans ahead and decided to proceed within reason. If Xu Mochen seemed about to reach his limit, Dai Weisi could pretend that the alcohol had gotten the better of him and concede early. That would preserve the Sun Moon Empire's dignity as much as possible!
Only now, Dai Weisi could clearly see that he had been worrying for nothing. The prince from the Sun Moon Empire kept tossing back one cup after another as if he were drinking plain water. Even Dai Weisi, who had always prided himself on being able to drink the heavens dry, had flushed cheeks and a head that was starting to spin. Yet Xu Mochen continued to guzzle the liquor, his expression perfectly calm, without the slightest hint of drunkenness!
Good heavens! Is this guy immune to alcohol? Dai Weisi groaned inwardly. He could keep at it for a while longer, but Xu Mochen still hadn't so much as changed expression. And with other plans to carry out afterward, Dai Weisi didn't dare keep competing.
"Stop, stop, stop! Your Highness has an astonishing capacity for drink! I concede!" Dai Weisi hurriedly admitted defeat, stopping Xu Mochen, who seemed unsatisfied and looked ready to lift the whole jar and pour it down his throat. Dai Weisi's heart gave a painful lurch, and the other Star Luo Empire diplomats around them were equally stunned.
They knew Dai Weisi's drinking capacity all too well! He was known as the "Little Prince of the Drinking Table"! And now he had actually conceded to the prince of the Sun Moon Empire! Judging by their condition, the First Prince clearly hadn't yielded out of courtesy; he had genuinely been outdrunk. The Star Luo Empire's representatives could only stare in disbelief. Who could have imagined that this Sun Moon Empire prince, who looked barely twelve, could hold his liquor so well?
Xu Mochen also stopped drinking. Smiling, he clasped his hands toward Dai Weisi and said, "Your Highness is too kind! You have an astonishing capacity for drink. I only won by luck!"
"No need to be modest. A loss is a loss." Dai Weisi shook his head with a wry smile, then continued, "May I be so bold as to say that you and I are close? Calling each other 'Your Highness' all the time feels far too formal. Why not call me Brother Dai?"
Xu Mochen immediately smiled and replied, "Then forgive me for being presumptuous. Brother Dai, why don't you call me Little Brother Xu?" On the surface, the two seemed like the best of brothers, practically eager to swear brotherhood and become sworn siblings.
"Little Brother Xu, there's something your elder brother would like to ask. I wonder how advanced your cultivation is?" The next stage had finally begun. Dai Weisi kept smiling, but his mind was already racing as he calculated his next steps.
Xu Mochen also wore a delighted expression, but he knew the next move was coming. As he had mentioned earlier, the Star Luo Empire had two major diplomatic tactics. The first was using wine to make friends, as they had just done. The second was the bold and forthright "meeting friends through martial arts." As the name suggested, Soul Masters would spar with one another.
From what Xu Mochen knew, the entire Star Luo Empire was steeped in a martial spirit. In some places, it could even turn the whole populace into soldiers! By comparison, the Heaven Dou Empire was more steeped in the arts and commerce.
This was due not only to differences in local customs and culture, but also to the very different ways the two imperial families had risen to power. The Heaven Dou Imperial Family's Snow Domain Swan Martial Soul was not bad, but it still fell well short of a top-tier Martial Soul. The family itself had risen through commerce and, together with a number of sects with which it had close business ties, had established the Heaven Dou Empire as it stood today.
Though most of its family members had little cultivation, they excelled at balancing competing interests and the art of kingship. They were always able to bring sufficient benefits to their allies. Many of the other major families that had helped lay the foundations of the Heaven Dou Empire and conquer its lands were devoted to cultivation and had little interest in power. With the support of these founding families, the Heaven Dou Imperial Family had secured its throne.
On the surface, the Heaven Dou Empire looked like a vast empire. In reality, it was a commercial alliance formed by the country's various interest groups! The Heaven Dou Imperial Family had led them all to prosperity, and its skillful methods had earned it the position of leader of this commercial league.
Since the Heaven Dou Empire had risen through commerce, and nearly all its founding families were old hands in the business world, it strongly encouraged commercial development. It not only offered merchants all kinds of benefits, but also frequently held large-scale trade fairs. The laws and regulations governing commerce were also quite lax, further stimulating the prosperity of the Heaven Dou Empire's economy and culture.
But all this came with serious problems. Since the Heaven Dou Imperial Family had taken the throne through the support of others, its control over the provinces was extremely weak!
And not every family that had built the empire alongside the royal family was uninterested in power. In fact, across the entire Heaven Dou Empire, the royal family directly controlled only Heaven Dou Imperial City and the three surrounding provinces. All the other provinces were controlled by various powerful families!
The Heaven Dou Empire had only nominal authority over those regions, the right to station the Royal Guard, and limited powers of oversight and taxation. Even these limited powers were possible only with support from cultivation families that stood by the royal family, such as the Ning Family of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. In the other provinces, the local families kept a firm grip on the city garrisons and all practical government affairs.
The Heaven Dou Empire's two million soldiers looked like a formidable force, but the Royal Guard accounted for only eight hundred thousand. The remaining 1.2 million were all locally recruited City Defense Army troops! And most of these troops were controlled by the families in their respective regions!
Because the City Defense Army units effectively answered to different masters, their recruitment, training, equipment, and pay all varied. The City Defense Army in Heaven Dou Imperial City and the three surrounding provinces was undoubtedly the best equipped. Its soldiers had both chain mail and lamellar armor, and their pay was at least decent!
Elsewhere, things were far less certain. The better-equipped City Defense Army units might get leather or scale armor, but in some places, their soldiers wore padded cloth armor—or hardly any armor at all! Their pay was generally low, too; in some places, it wasn't even enough to support the soldiers themselves. All things considered, it was easy to see how much their overall combat strength suffered.
Even worse, some of the provincial families that had once fought alongside the Heaven Dou Imperial Family had, for one reason or another, carved out independent territories. Some had even turned around and attacked and raided the Heaven Dou Empire, seizing its land, people, and resources! Each of them used the opportunity to grow stronger. This was how the "Four Kings and One Duke," the five states that had split away from the Heaven Dou Empire, came to be!
The Heaven Dou Imperial Family had sent troops to put down the rebellions many times. But with its weak control over the provinces, and hostile forces such as Spirit Hall and the Star Luo Empire fanning the flames from behind the scenes, it usually returned empty-handed.
The Star Luo Empire, however, was completely different. If the Heaven Dou Empire was a commercial nation, then the Star Luo Empire was undoubtedly a military one! The Dai Family, the Star Luo Imperial Family, was already one of the strongest Soul Master families in the empire. And with its Martial Soul Fusion Skill with the Zhu Family, its standing was naturally unassailable!
The Dai Family had been a family of military commanders for generations! Most of the groups supporting it were a band of martial-minded military nobles. With the Dai Family's formidable strength and iron-fisted methods, it could suppress all resistance! Generation after generation, the Dai Family had also excelled in military affairs and the art of war. That was how it had led its followers to sweep across the land and carve out a vast empire!
The Dai and Zhu families were already the most powerful Soul Master families in the Star Luo Empire. And unlike the Heaven Dou Empire, whose realm had been built through agreements and mutually beneficial deals with other powers, the Star Luo Empire had been won through bloody battles, fought with blade and spear by the Dai Family and its followers at the risk of their lives! That was why the Star Luo Empire's foundations were far more stable than the Heaven Dou Empire's, and its imperial family's control over its provinces was beyond anything the Heaven Dou Empire could match!
On top of that, the Star Luo Imperial Family had always believed in ruling with an iron fist. The nobles beneath it had earned their standing through military achievements. Its strict control over commercial activity had left its economy behind the Heaven Dou Empire's, but when it came to military strength, it was simply no contest for the Heaven Dou Empire, that sprawling patchwork of a state!
That was why, throughout history, the Star Luo Empire had won far more often than it had lost in its clashes with the Heaven Dou Empire. The latter kept losing territory. Once, even its capital, Heaven Dou City, had fallen to the Star Luo Empire! The Heaven Dou Imperial Family had been forced to "hunt in the north"—a more dignified way of saying it had fled.
Though the Star Luo Empire eventually withdrew from Heaven Dou City due to resistance from the various factions within the Heaven Dou Empire and interference from Spirit Hall, it had still plundered a great deal of wealth and territory from the Heaven Dou Empire. The enmity between the two nations had reached its peak.
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