I, the villainous eldest prince, will suppress everything!

The two exchanged harsh words until they were exhausted and stopped.

During breaks, both of them rested their hands on the low tea table in front of them.

They looked at each other, panting heavily, evenly matched.

Compared to Qin Li, who only targeted the two brothers amidst thousands of troops, the Empress was far more ruthless.

She wants to destroy everything that is related to Qin Li!

Unfortunately, Qin Li didn't care at all.

This truly confirms what Qin Li said at the beginning.

In the end, the winner will be determined by who is willing to go all out.

Qin Li is willing to go all out; he can give up everything.

At worst, I'll just start over with a different account!

But the Empress couldn't do that; she wouldn't allow her two brothers to die!

It is said that the Empress survived with her two younger brothers under the bullying and oppression of powerful ministers, fulfilling her responsibilities as the eldest sister.

What is unknown is that the Empress was stubborn when she was young and resisted powerful ministers many times. Many times she was punched and kicked, but her two younger brothers always took the blows for her.

In the Empress's heart, she felt guilty and even more indebted to her two younger brothers!

The lives of thousands of soldiers were even more precious than her own.

Seeing that the Empress was wavering, Zhuge Yu, who was outside the pavilion, quickly advised her:

"Your Majesty, the greater good must be considered!"

"If we can sacrifice two princes in exchange for the whole world."

"I believe the spirits of the two princes in heaven will find comfort!"

"If the two princes knew, they would surely choose to sacrifice themselves!"

Upon hearing this, the Empress not only failed to stand firm, but instead glared at him fiercely.

Zhuge Yu hurriedly grabbed his feather fan, bent down, and lowered his head, hoping that the Empress would heed his advice!

But to everyone's surprise, the Empress simply said, "Great General!"

Wang Hu was taken aback, then pointed to himself.

Is the Empress calling me?

Looking around, he saw that the only people the Empress was looking in were him and Zhuge Yu.

Zhuge Yu's official position was military advisor; the title of general was merely a formality.

It couldn't possibly be calling to dozens of Northern Mang generals who were striding a long way away, as they couldn't hear what the Empress was saying at all.

After a pause, Wang Hu answered, "I wonder what Your Majesty's orders are?"

The Empress extended her slender, white right index finger, pointed at Zhuge Yu, and gritted her teeth, uttering each word clearly, "Slap his mouth until it's rotten!"

Before today, Wang Hu would never have listened to the Empress and wouldn't have moved an inch.

Because he wasn't a person from Northern Mang at all, he mostly disobeyed even the orders of Emperor Xuan, let alone the Empress.

But today was different. Wang Hu excitedly tightened his wrist guard and was about to slap Zhuge Yu in the mouth.

Zhuge Yu was startled, knelt down with a thud, and pleaded hoarsely:

"Your Majesty, I am doing all this for Your Majesty's own good, for the sake of the great cause of Northern Mang!"

"Your Majesty, don't be fooled by Qin Li's few words; he's bluffing!"

The Empress ignored her completely and shouted even louder: "Slap him!"

Without saying a word, Wang Hu grabbed Zhuge Yu by the collar with one hand, lifted him up from the ground, and slapped him with the other.

With that first slap, Zhuge Yu lost a tooth, spitting it out with a mouthful of blood and foam.

Immediately afterwards, a series of relentless slapping sounds rang out. Zhuge Yu's mouth was full of blood, several teeth were missing, and his face was mangled.

Finally, Wang Hu disgustedly wiped the blood off his hands onto Zhuge Yu's clothes before throwing him aside.

Zhuge Yu slid down and collapsed to the ground like a limp noodle.

"Pooh!"

Wang Hu spat down his throat, clapped his hands, and gripped the hilt of his sword again. "To be personally slapped by this great general is an honor for you!"

After saying this, Wang Hu cupped his hands in greeting to the Northern Mang Empress in the pavilion and said with a smile, "Your Majesty, I did as you instructed and slapped his mouth shut."

"According to the rules, you have to reward me with something, otherwise, wouldn't I have worked for nothing?"

What the hell!

Upon hearing this, Qin Li couldn't help but curse inwardly.

I thought the protagonist Su Chen was shameless enough, but I didn't expect Wang Hu to be even more shameless, actually asking the empress of the enemy country for a reward.

"Of course, I have always been fair in my rewards and punishments!"

After saying that, the Empress took the curved sword from her waist and threw it over.

Wang Hu quickly stepped forward and caught the knife with both hands, pulled it out of its sheath, looked at it, and then grinned from ear to ear.

A precious sword, a truly precious sword!

Qin Li reached up and rubbed his forehead; he simply couldn't bear to look.

Just then, the Empress's voice rang out again, "Your Highness, now we can discuss the other possibility you mentioned."

Qin Li lowered his hand from his forehead, secretly pleased, and looked up, saying, "So His Majesty agrees?"

The Empress of Northern Mang raised her hand, picked up the teacup, took a small sip, and said in a resentful tone:

"I have to agree!"

"I only have two younger brothers!"

"Before my father and mother passed away, they both instructed me to take good care of them!"

"In my heart, their lives are far more valuable than mine!"

"In other words, they are my Achilles' heel!"

"You've found my weakness. Do you think I can refuse?"

Setting down her teacup, the Northern Mang Empress suddenly looked at Qin Li opposite her and scrutinized him:

"But I'm very curious, Qin Li, what exactly is your weakness?"

"Your father is not, your brothers and sisters are not, and the state and ancestral temples of your Great Zhou are even less so."

Villains have no weaknesses, let alone a major villain like him... Qin Li thought to himself.

With a flick of his sleeve, Qin Li said, "His Majesty will find out later, but not now. Let's talk about another possibility."

"Just now, His Majesty gave me two choices: fight or surrender!"

"I won't choose either of these two paths; I choose the end!"

The Empress couldn't help but scoff, "Peace? With the war going on like this, is there any need for peace?"

"Even if I were willing, my hundreds of thousands of troops would not. The Crown Prince should know that sometimes, even I cannot stop them!"

Qin Li nodded; he knew what the Empress meant.

Since the start of the war, the Northern Mang army has won a series of victories, achieving remarkable results and boosting morale!

Peace is what the Great Zhou desires, not them.

They can seize more land, plunder more goods, and achieve more military merits; only a fool would agree to this.

"Then let the two armies fight again in seven days!"

"After suffering a defeat, they are willing to make peace."

Qin Li said.

The Empress of Northern Mang sneered again, this time completely devoid of her imperial majesty. "What a joke! A defeat? Since I led my troops south, Northern Mang has never suffered a defeat!"

"Su Dingshan, Wei Yingxiong... weren't they all famous generals of your dynasty? Yet they still fell to my hands!"

"Your Highness, who in your army do you think can compare to them?"

Wang Hu, standing outside the pavilion, was indignant and wanted to argue.

To his surprise, Qin Li raised his hand to stop him, saying, "We'll know after we fight!"

"Seven days later, the two armies will fight again!"

"Regardless of victory or defeat, I will return His Majesty's two younger brothers safely."

"However, if our army wins, Your Majesty must immediately lead your troops out of the territory of our Great Zhou, beyond Xuanque Pass!"

"If our army loses, Your Majesty may lead your troops south to capture the dragon!"