Xu Nian'an ordered the Great Snow Dragon Cavalry and Xu Yi to slowly annihilate the trapped 350,000-strong army at the lowest possible cost.
Perhaps Xu Nian'an could have traded the 350,000 enemy soldiers to the Heaven Dou Empire and easily secured a large sum for military expenses. That way, he could also pay compensation to the 100,000 soldiers who had died in this battle.
He would even have the funds to launch a second war in the future.
But Xu Nian'an did not do that.
First, he was not short on money.
After annexing Gulei Kingdom and Galloping Wolf Kingdom, absorbing Xingyao, and executing those corrupt officials earlier, Xu Nian'an's coffers had long since swelled.
His wealth had surpassed 20 million and was approaching 30 million.
Of course, this could not compare with the two great empires. Perhaps ten thousand years from now, it would not even be enough to buy a few decent Soul Bones.
But Xu Nian'an wanted to make one thing clear: this was Douluo I, an era when a single Gold Soul Coin could support an ordinary family for a whole year.
Aside from those summoned by the system, the other soldiers did not earn much. The only substantial expense was the compensation paid when they died in battle.
Even so, the annual military budget would be at most three million.
Xu Nian'an would not need to pay most of it himself, because the taxes collected each year from the territories of the Great Ming Empire already exceeded that amount.
What was more, the royal family had plenty of businesses within the Great Ming Empire.
The empire was in a state where it had some money when money was needed, and plenty of people when manpower was needed.
Rather than release them and give them another chance to attack him, Xu Nian'an would be better off killing them outright and eliminating any future threat!
Mingdou Canyon
"Keep your eyes on them. Don't let a single Heaven Dou soldier get away!"
"Freeze them to death! Freeze the whole damn lot!"
"Damn it, they wiped out my Imperial Guard. I'll make sure they suffer too!"
Xu Yi watched the Heaven Dou soldiers shivering in the canyon, cold, hungry, and demoralized. The killing intent in his eyes had not diminished in the slightest.
Three arrows were lodged in him, but the pain they caused could not compare to the pain deep in his heart.
The 100,000 Imperial Guards had been his first army after entering government service. Now they were gone, all killed by those bastards.
Xu Yi was the one who most wanted to slaughter the Heaven Dou army.
In the Heaven Dou army,
"Marshal, this is bad... Very bad. Several thousand soldiers have already frozen to death. Before long, this will be happening on a much larger scale."
"Without fire, food, or hot water, and trapped in this brutal, frigid cold, most of us won't last three days!"
At the report, the pupils of the middle-aged man in Bright Light Armor and a red cape shrank sharply.
"Could it be... Could we really have to surrender?"
The surrender of more than 300,000 of the Heaven Dou Empire's main forces would be a disgrace to the empire.
If word of this got back home, morale would plummet. The Heaven Dou Empire would have no choice but to abandon any thought of launching a second attack on the Great Ming Empire.
There was no need to think twice. They could simply declare their military campaign against the Great Ming Empire a failure.
An empire with a thousand years of history and formidable strength had failed to defeat a kingdom that had only just declared itself an empire. It was simply... laughable.
But the reality was staring him in the face.
"Bring me a pen!"
Scratch, scratch, scratch!
Before long, the surrender document was ready. Ten minutes later, it was delivered to Xu Yi.
Xu Yi looked down at the document, his eyes flickering. In the end, he set it aside.
"Report! The emperor's Imperial Edict!"
Xu Yi took the Imperial Edict and opened it. One sentence met his eyes.
"Work with the Great Snow Dragon Cavalry to annihilate the entire Heaven Dou army!"
The Great Snow Dragon Cavalry?
At the name, Xu Yi's mind went blank.
But he quickly remembered the army that had joined them to surround the Heaven Dou forces.
They carried the Great Ming Flag too. They must be the Great Snow Dragon Cavalry the emperor had mentioned.
Glancing at the surrender document beside him, Xu Yi did not hesitate. He picked it up, threw it to the ground, and stomped on it again and again.
Surrender?
Why had he spent a whole day and night waiting in the snow?
They said one word—surrender—and expected the fighting to stop?
Were all those Imperial Guards supposed to have died for nothing?
Impossible!
Time passed, bit by bit.
The Heaven Dou marshal realized something was wrong.
The surrender document he had written had vanished without a trace. His heart lurched, and an ominous premonition rose within him.
"Bad news, Marshal! The number of wounded soldiers who have frozen to death has now exceeded ten thousand!"
"Even many of the ordinary soldiers are suffering from frostbite. Some have developed blisters filled with pus!"
The marshal's face paled at the news.
"Brothers, do we still have the strength to fight?"
Elsewhere,
The disappearance of the Heaven Dou Empire's 500,000-strong army threw the entire empire into turmoil.
"How is this possible? How could this happen?"
"Five hundred thousand! A full five hundred thousand soldiers! How could they simply disappear?"
"Five hundred thousand against the Great Ming's mere 400,000. We had the advantage!"
"Besides, the Great Ming's 400,000 troops had to be spread out across Galloping Wolf Kingdom to fend off a Star Luo surprise attack!"
Scouts swept across the Heaven Dou Empire, searching and investigating, but found nothing. Nothing at all.
The Gulei City they had intended to attack and liberate had long since become a ruined, desolate city, empty of people and strewn with corpses.
Only now did the Heaven Dou Empire begin to panic.
When the neighboring Haagen-Dazs Kingdom heard the news, the whole country fell silent. King Haagen-Dazs tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep. He felt a chill at the back of his neck.
Early the next morning, he personally led an envoy to the Great Ming Imperial Palace.
He could only hope they would spare the Haagen-Dazs Kingdom, remembering how he had once let Xu Nian'an go and had never actually led troops across the Great Ming border.
Five hundred thousand... an entire army of 500,000 had mysteriously vanished while attacking the Great Ming border.
That was a full 500,000 soldiers, enough to sweep aside every kingdom.
It was also almost half of the Heaven Dou Empire's forces.
Now Haagen-Dazs understood why Xu Nian'an had the confidence to declare independence and proclaim himself emperor!
The next day, an envoy from the Heaven Dou Empire also arrived in the Great Ming Empire.
When the Heaven Dou and Haagen-Dazs envoys ran into each other at the Great Ming Imperial Palace, the atmosphere was painfully awkward.
But on their first day in the Great Ming Empire, both delegations were turned away. Xu Nian'an refused to see anyone.
At dawn on the third day,
[ Ding! Congratulations, Host. You have completed the main mission: win the empire's first battle and kill 500,000 enemies! ]
The next day, the Heaven Dou envoys finally got their audience with Xu Nian'an.
"Oh? You'll acknowledge the Great Ming as an empire if we return your soldiers?"
"No, my dear envoy. Have you still not understood the situation?"
"When has the Great Ming ever needed anyone's permission or recognition to do as it pleases?"
"If you're unhappy about it, come and fight again. I, Xu Nian'an, will see you through to the end!"
At Xu Nian'an's words, the Heaven Dou envoys' faces darkened.
"Of course, we cannot interfere with His Majesty's choices or decisions. We only wish to know... why our Heaven Dou army disappeared along the Great Ming border."
"If His Majesty knows what happened, we would be grateful for an explanation. Heaven Dou is willing to withdraw its troops."
Xu Nian'an's lips slowly curled into a smile.
"What? The Heaven Dou army? I'm sorry. If you'd come yesterday, I might have been able to leave you ten or twenty thousand. But now..."
At Xu Nian'an's words, the Heaven Dou envoys' pupils shrank sharply.
By noon, they had slunk back home.
The next day, a thunderous announcement came from the two great empires.
The Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire had signed a non-aggression pact!
When the news reached Xu Nian'an, the corner of his mouth curled up. His heart remained utterly unmoved!
There won't be any more recommendations for this book. Sigh, it didn't pass the trial run and was forced to go premium. It's left me with no motivation at all.