My brother entrusted his child to me, and I livestreamed raising the baby, making the Empress cry wi

Ashina paced back and forth in the royal tent seven or eight times, his boots grinding against the almost flattened velvet pattern on the carpet, before finally stopping.

Just thinking about it here isn't enough; he decided to go and see for himself.

What was the purpose of this sudden appearance of a large number of unidentified ships...?

He reached out and grabbed a dark cloak hanging on a tent post. The metal buckles clicked together with a crisp sound, and then he strode out of the tent.

The rain outside was a bit denser than before, but still not heavy. Fine raindrops fell on his armor plates, condensing into a thin film of water.

To avoid any hostile intentions, Ashina first assembled a large army.

The sound of horns rang out above the royal city, and the deep, rain-soaked sound of bull horns carried far from the city walls.

The sound of hooves thundered across the royal training ground as cavalrymen mounted their horses in perfect unison, and squads surged out from the surrounding camps.

The infantry followed closely behind, marching swiftly in formation. Their longswords reflected a cold light in the drizzle, and the clanging of their armor blended into a muffled metallic murmur.

Ashina rode his jet-black Akhal-Teke horse, his dark cloak billowing in the damp sea breeze like a black flag.

Behind him were the most elite royal cavalry and infantry of the Devouring Flame.

The horses' hooves pounded the muddy road in the rain, galloping along the official road towards the coastline.

……

A large number of ships docked, and the fleet that had been adrift at sea for several days finally found a place to anchor.

Immediately, the sound of the boat's hull scraping against the sand rose and fell, like the low panting of a giant beast on the shallows.

People from the South China Sea stepped onto the beach from the diving board, their feet sinking into the soft, wet sand. The tension in their hearts finally eased, and they were delighted to find that it was just a light drizzle.

Compared to the torrential rain in the South China Sea that seemed to turn the entire sea upside down, the rain here is gentle to the point of being merciful.

The fine rain felt cool on my face, without any of the painful force of being hit.

The air was filled with the damp scent of earth and the distinctive salty smell of the coast.

But after looking around, that brief moment of relaxation was quickly replaced by a new unease; the environment was completely unfamiliar.

The sand on the beach is yellowish-gray in color, and the texture when you step on it is also slightly different; the sand grains are coarser and harder.

The vegetation in the distance wasn't the palm and coconut trees common in southern Da Yan and their South China Sea, but rather clumps of low shrubs and an unfamiliar tree with slender, grayish-green leaves...

These unfamiliar sights made many people feel apprehensive.

They had thought they would land in the southern border of Great Flame, but the land before them was vastly different from the Great Flame that many others had visited.

The most powerful country in the South China Sea, and the leader of this operation, is Japan's Emperor Fujiwara no Shujin.

He was a man around fifty years old, short and thin, wearing a yellow hunting robe with a wide collar, open cuffs and hem.

He held a bat-shaped fan in his short, stubby hands, wore a tall hat, and was dressed in light-colored shoes.

Fujiwara no Shujin walked up to the leader, his voice not loud, carrying the composure characteristic of someone accustomed to giving orders, but the end of his voice tightened slightly, revealing a hint of barely perceptible caution:

"What's going on? This doesn't seem to be part of the Great Flame Territory."

The helmsman opened his mouth to answer, but before he could utter a word, the expressions of the surrounding soldiers all changed.

They heard a sound almost simultaneously, a sound coming from underground, getting closer and louder.

The beach beneath my feet began to tremble slightly, and fine grains of sand danced around my feet, as if something enormous was approaching from afar.

With a clang, all the soldiers drew their swords and quickly surrounded their respective people in a protective manner.

The shields were planted in a row on the sand, with the tips of sharp weapons pointing out from the gaps between them.

Their movements were swift and coordinated, and the clanging sound of their shields closing together sounded particularly muffled in the humid air.

All the people of the South China Sea looked up in shock, only to see a vast swarm of soldiers and warhorses charging toward them.

The dark figures of men and horses almost formed a surging iron curtain in the misty rain, and the horses' hooves made a heavy and dense sound as they trod on the wet sand.

The fluttering flags were embroidered with a totem they had never seen before—

The flag has a deep red background with a black eagle spreading its wings in the center, its talons grasping a burning flame. The flag flutters in the wind.

They arrived incredibly fast, rapidly shortening the distance between the distant horizon and the coastline in a very short time. The rain-soaked sand was kicked up by the horses' hooves, sending up turbid parabolic trails in the air.

In a short while, they closed in from three sides, completely surrounding everyone who had just landed in the South China Sea.

The soldiers in the South China Sea gripped their swords tightly, their knuckles turning bluish-white from the force, but not one of them flinched.

The two sides stood in a stalemate for a moment, and no one moved.

The coastline was deathly silent, with only the sound of rain hitting the shield and sand, and the distant sound of waves crashing against the rocks.

The nobles and royalty at the center of the defensive perimeter dared not utter a sound.

After a while, the circle surrounding the people from the South China Sea parted in the middle, creating a gap just wide enough for one person to pass through.

Ashina rode out from the gap on a black horse.

The black horse was half a head taller than the surrounding warhorses, and a string of copper bells hung from its neck, making a soft tinkling sound with the rhythm of its gait, which was particularly clear in the silence.

He sat on horseback, his gaze sweeping down over the faces of the soldiers at the front who were gripping the hilts of their swords, before landing on Fujiwara no Tsuruhito, who was surrounded by guards.

Ashina's gaze lingered on him for a moment, then swept from the katana at his waist to the trembling nobles behind him.

He held the reins in one hand and casually rested the other on his knee, leaning slightly forward, a posture that made his already tall figure appear even more imposing.

Then he spoke: "Who are you? What are you doing here?" His voice was not loud, but carried a condescending tone.

In order to make them understand, Ashina did not speak the Western Regions language, but instead chose the Da Yan Mandarin, which was generally understood by the surrounding countries.

Fujiwara no Shūjin gritted his teeth; he had never been questioned so condescendingly in his entire life.

Even when Ye Fan sent him back to the South China Sea, the Emperor of Great Yan treated him with great courtesy when he later went to Great Yan to sign a vassal state treaty.

Not to mention that in the South China Sea, he was always the one sitting on the high platform looking down on others, and others were always the ones kneeling in front of him and voluntarily announcing their names.

Fujiwara no Shūjin took a deep breath, suppressing his displeasure.

They are now surrounded, and they have just survived a devastating storm; the soldiers are exhausted, the weapons are damp, and the ship is full of wounded...

More importantly, they don't even know where this place is! Therefore, we can't act rashly!