The capital of the Chen Kingdom, the Chenqing Palace.
"Your Majesty, these are all city lords from various cities in Yi Province, and they are all willing to join the Chen Kingdom."
I brought them all here today specifically to pay homage to the Emperor and all the ministers.
Kong Yu, leading dozens of imposing city lords, stood in the center of the main hall and respectfully bowed to Chen Hongjie.
He wore a wide, long robe embroidered with patterns representing the Chen Kingdom, clearly an official's robe of the Chen Kingdom.
In fact, before the establishment of the Chen Kingdom, Kong Yu had already brought Wei Hengfan, the city lord of Wilderness Border City, to join Chen Village. However, everything was done in secret and was not announced to the public.
After the establishment of the Chen Kingdom, Chen Hongjie granted them all good official positions and assigned them to act as public relations officers to persuade the city lords of Yi Province to surrender to the Chen Kingdom.
Kong Yu was very capable and completed the mission very well. Before the Chen Kingdom had even shown its strength to the outside world, he persuaded nearly a third of the human city lords in Yi Province to surrender to the Chen Kingdom.
Now that the Chen Kingdom Moon Capital Pass, there are naturally more city lords willing to pledge allegiance to the Chen Kingdom. Nearly two-thirds of the city lords of Yi Province have gathered here.
"Haha! Rise, all city lords, no need for formalities."
Chen Hongjie laughed heartily, very satisfied with Kong Yu.
Kong Yu alone has captured two-thirds of the cities. In addition, a small number of people surrendered to the Chen Kingdom through other means instead of Kong Yu's channels. He has now captured more than 80% of the cities in Yi Province without bloodshed, which is truly commendable.
"The city magistrate's understanding of the people and his benevolent heart are truly wise moves."
I assure you all that after you are incorporated into the Chen Kingdom, you will all be able to continue to govern your original cities.
However, since you have joined the Chen Kingdom, you must abide by the Chen Kingdom laws. Chen Kingdom laws may differ significantly from those of the Haotian Empire. I will have them compiled for you later; please read them carefully and do not disobey them.
Chen Hongjie surveyed the numerous city lords and spoke in a loud voice.
"Yes! I will obey His Majesty's decree."
The city lords bowed respectfully, and many of them showed joy on their faces.
The city lords who had pledged allegiance to him were most worried that Chen Hongjie would, in order to consolidate his imperial power, strip them of their original positions as city lords, assign them other official posts, or even exile them to remote small towns.
The fact that they can still govern the original city is already a very good result; rewriting the laws is just a minor matter.
After calming the city lords down, Chen Hongjie told them to leave. He had already made arrangements for them to stay overnight in the capital and experience Chen Capital prosperity.
After the city lords left, Chen Hongjie looked at Kong Yu with a solemn expression.
" Kong Yu, now there are only a dozen or so cities in Yi Province that are unwilling to surrender. Make one last effort!"
Three days. I'll give them three more days. If they're still stubborn, I'll have no choice but to replace the city lord!
The Haotian Empire has ruled the Central Land for tens of thousands of years, and there will always be some die-hard loyalists. They may not have done anything wrong, but Chen Hongjie will not be lenient with them. They can only blame themselves for being born at the wrong time.
"Your Majesty is merciful; your subordinate will certainly do his utmost."
In Kong Yu's eyes, Chen Hongjie had already done everything he could. After all, war is not child's play, and in the face of national interests, there is no distinction between right and wrong.
"You've done a great job. I'll promote you to the first rank and reward you with first-class resources."
You can go to Zishan's place to choose later! I'll let him know beforehand.
"Thank you for your great favor, Your Majesty!"
Kong Yu was overjoyed and quickly clasped his hands together, bowing deeply to Chen Hongjie.
He didn't really care about official positions; what he valued was the first-class resource reward that Chen Hongjie had mentioned.
Outsiders may not know the true strength of the Chen Kingdom, but Chen Mu, who has known Chen Mu for over a decade, is very familiar with the development of the Chen Kingdom and naturally knows how precious this first-class resource is.
More than a decade ago, Chen Village was a low-level tribe that didn't even have a Qi Nourishing Realm. Even when Chen Mu Heaven-Questioning Pavilion to study, the strongest among them was only at the Qi Nourishing Realm.
Now, the Chen Clan Chen Kingdom has no fewer than a hundred Core Formation Realm cultivators. Among them, people like Chen Duo and Chen Rufeng, with the help of external forces, can even fight against the Creation Realm experts, not to mention the most outstanding ones like Chen Mu and A Huo.
How did they manage to get to this point?
Kong Yu had long heard that the Rune Research Institute had created various potions that could enhance cultivation. These potions could not only rapidly improve a person's cultivation level, but also enhance their potential, allowing cultivators to no longer be limited by their talent.
Two years ago, Kong Yu received a potion from the Rune Research Institute, which enabled him to quickly break through from the Solid Realm Fourth Layer to the Solid Realm Sixth Layer.
Without the help of the potion, he might have had to cultivate for another ten years or so to reach this level, which made him ecstatic.
That time, he received a level-two resource reward. This time, he received a level-one resource, which was even more valuable than the last one. What could he possibly gain this time? He was filled with anticipation.
"Actually, my Divine Soul is already strong enough. Perhaps this time I can consider raising my Spiritual Power to the Core Formation Realm first."
While soul cultivation has its advantages, its disadvantages are also obvious: even if they break through to the Solid Realm Ninth Stage, their lifespan will not increase significantly.
However, generally speaking, soul cultivators who can break through the Realm of the Solid Realm are more likely to break through to the Core Formation Realm than ordinary Spiritual Power cultivators. This is because breaking through to the Core Formation Realm requires integrating into the Rules of Heaven and Earth and earth, and soul cultivators in the Solid Realm have powerful Divine Soul and can more clearly comprehend the Rules of Heaven and Earth, making it easier for them to break through to the Core Formation Realm.
Even so, breaking through to the Core Formation Realm with Spiritual Power is not easy. There are also a few soul Divine Soul souls have reached extremely high levels, yet they are still unable to break through to the Core Formation Realm and eventually die when their lifespan is exhausted.
Kong Yu is currently stuck at the Peak of the True Spirit Realm. Although he is confident that he can break through within a few decades, he is unwilling to waste any more energy here.
"Besides the resources needed to break through to the Core Formation Realm, there should still be a considerable amount of Level 1 resources available."
However, it probably won't be enough for my Divine Soul to break through the Seventh Level of the Solid Realm. In that case, I'll use the remaining amount to exchange for some auxiliary equipment!
"If we could exchange for the liquid armor that General Chen Duo is wearing, that would be wonderful."
Kong Yu was self-aware enough to know that the Seventh Level of the Solid Realm was already at the Emperor Level, a level that Chen Duo had not yet reached. How could he possibly exchange for it so easily?
The auxiliary equipment in the Chen Kingdom's treasury is also extraordinary. If he can choose the right equipment for himself, even if he can't defeat Emperor Level, he can probably escape from the hands of Emperor Level being. For him, that would be enough to be proud of.