My wife is an immortal black snake.

"Oh? I see... then let's leave it at that."

He planned to borrow some good soldiers and generals to form a "volunteer army". When Kazimir could no longer hold on and came to ask for help, that would be the time for the volunteer army to show their skills.

Surely you can't just refuse our "aid" even though you know you're doomed, right? Yang Hao held onto this optimistic thought—

9 month 20 day.

Accompanying a telegram from the spies sent to Kazimierz.

Yang Hao received news that Kazimir had rejected the Kazdel mercenaries' offer and kicked them all out.

-------------Chapter Dividing Line---------------

"Huh...?"

"..."

"...That's definitely the style of the Kazimierz people."

It was the same reception room.

They sat in an equilateral triangle as before.

The head maid brought three drinks for the three lords as usual, but unlike Lord Kosiché and Lord Yang Hao's cold drinks, Her Majesty's drinks were warm, just for the health of the child in her womb.

"Adults, is there anything else you need?"

After distributing the drinks, the head maid subtly pinched Lord Yang Hao's earlobe and then smiled at them.

Yang Hao listlessly gestured to Monica to bring over some sweet desserts. As Monica left to prepare, he sighed heavily and said to the two serious-looking women:

"In conclusion... I honestly never imagined that the old fogies of Kazimierz had become this stubborn..."

"Watch your words, my dear. And while I was prepared for the stubbornness of the Kazimir people, I didn't expect their hostility towards Sarkaz mercenaries to be so high..."

"First of all, Duke Kosiché is right to be mindful of etiquette, since you might be representing me at some national events in the future. Also, the Kazimierz people... I can't comment on them, but I personally feel it would be better to replace these old knights whose minds are outdated as soon as possible."

So the consensus we've reached is to first find a way to kill the current high-ranking officials in Kazimierz?

Yang Hao nodded thoughtfully, took a sip of his cool drink, and his mind returned to calm.

"...They want to use their silver spears and celestial horses to fight against the iron hooves of Letania and Columbia. Let them be. We can exacerbate the conflict between Casimir and Ursus, so that in the end they will wag their tails and beg us like a starving dog."

He said something contradictory that stunned the current emperor and the immortal black serpent, and even the head maid who brought over the refreshments was taken aback.

"Um, sir, what do you mean?"

The head maid placed several pieces of sweet chocolate, along with the plate, on the tea table. They genuinely didn't understand what Yang Hao was talking about... it was too contradictory.

How could we possibly make others hate us even more, and then expect them to grovel before we do?

Under the watchful eyes of the three women, Yang Hao, having taken a bite of chocolate, began to offer his own explanation, his thoughts wandering.

"Because we need to understand a concept first—that is, the ruling class and his people are not actually the same class of beneficiaries. To a large extent, what the rulers believe they can benefit from is meaningless to the lower classes. In today's terms, the knights of Kazimir believe they can control the situation, while the people of Kazimir believe they are in deep trouble."

The knights refused our and Kazdel's aid to avoid being coerced into submission, but their people don't see it that way—they only want to survive, regardless of whether their rescuers are former enemies or monsters. In this situation, the people of Kazimir and their knightly class are essentially on opposite sides. What we need to do is further exacerbate the conflict between these two classes, making the knights hate us even more while simultaneously pushing the people of Kazimir further towards us.

The best-case scenario is that the people of Kazimir will elect their new ruler; the worst-case scenario is that we will directly occupy Kazimir, receiving a warm welcome from the people of Kazimir, and at the same time, we will have to eliminate those remaining knights—but there is still a prerequisite for doing so…”

“...That means Kazimierz cannot lose too quickly.” Kosiché took a sip of her iced tea and added the sentence that Yang Hao hadn’t said.

Indeed, Yang Hao's thinking was absolutely correct—the people of Kazimir and their rulers were currently in complete opposition, standing on two completely different sides. The knights feared the Ursus would seize Kazimir's homeland, while the people only wanted to survive, even if their rescuers were former enemies. Under these circumstances, it would be incredibly easy for Yang Hao to incite conflict between the two classes in Kazimir, especially considering the influence of his [Puppet Stage].

He had even come up with specific plans—Ursus would issue a public statement internationally strongly condemning Colombia and Letania's inhumane military actions, while also condemning the Knights of the Casimir Campaign for "obstructing" them from sending food and essential supplies to the refugees.

This alone is enough to cause an uproar within Kazimierz. But that's not enough... To be precise, if the core problem can't be solved, all of Yang Hao's ideas are meaningless!

The core issue, however, is comparable to the French question of the past—how to occupy Paris before France surrendered.

In other words, it's about how to prolong the war as much as possible before Kazimierz's group of brute knights surrender, so they don't give up too quickly.

This is an epic dilemma—just like Yang Hao would rather face a powerful enemy, such as the End of Reincarnation, than have a few useless teammates at home.

What's even worse is that this wasn't just a terrible teammate, it was...

Something indescribable. It's no exaggeration to say that Yang Hao would rather the current ruler of Kazimir be a three-year-old child than see those old fogies stirring up trouble...

So, what to do?

Kazdel's mercenaries can't get in, and Ursus's regular army can't get in either. What can we do?

Yang Hao frowned. Just then, His Majesty the Emperor and Kosicche suddenly spoke at the same time:

"Perhaps we can use the [expatriates] to try to delay the collapse of Kazimir."

"Or perhaps something similar to [overseas residents]... We can disguise a small number of soldiers as Kazimir people and then send them in."

"...Overseas Chinese? Disguised soldiers?"

His two wives gave different choices, and Yang Hao blinked blankly, not immediately realizing the significance of either option.

Then he quickly realized that the Ursus people of Kazimierz were not from the Ursus Empire, but their homeland was in Ursus. Naturally, many Ursus people would be willing to listen to their current homeland and spontaneously form a "Defense Force" to help Kazimierz, but this would require a lot of money.

While there are risks involved in using disguised soldiers, Yang Hao can at least guarantee that a portion of Ursus's regular army will be sent in, and the strength of the regular army will also be guaranteed.

so...

what can we do about it?

He blinked, deep in thought.

-------------Chapter Dividing Line---------------

Finally, Yang Hao came up with a compromise solution—

That is to provide supplies and send instructors to those expatriates in order to support them in their fight against the invaders in Kazimir.

"This way, we can maintain the fighting capacity of those expatriates, have personnel on-site to constantly monitor the situation, and most importantly—the knights of Kazimir won't have a reason to stop us. But before that, we need to issue a declaration of condemnation, and before that, we need to send out the supplies..."

"Would it be best to have the knights of Kazimir intercept and then attack?"

"Correct."

“But we don’t have anyone here who can impersonate a knight of Kazimierz.”

“It’s alright, Your Majesty Catherine—I can manage.”

Yang Hao glanced at his political points and, finding that they were quite plentiful and indeed sufficient to command a portion of the knights in Kazimir to be under his control, nodded in satisfaction.

Trusting Yang Hao, the two strong-willed women didn't say much. They only briefly discussed the upcoming plans and spent a long time talking about which unit to send as instructors before quickly finishing their work for the day.

"Then we'll have to wait for your progress, my dear—but I have some suitable information for you. Whether you use it or not is up to you, okay?"

"Hmm? Go ahead, Koschche, I'm ready."

"That is—the surname of your creed's chief steward."

After leaving Yang Hao with this cryptic hint, Kosiché departed first. His Majesty the Emperor, after casually remarking that he could command his personal guards at will, also left with a loving expression, stroking his lower abdomen, and being attended by Head Maid Monica.

Although Yang Hao felt he had a lot to say, in the end, seeing Monica turn around with an expression that said, "Anyway, she's now my master," he remained silent...

“Theresa’s…surname?” He focused his attention on Koschke’s prompt. “Hmm…is there anything strange about it?”

In my memory, after Teresa came here, his snake scales should have thoroughly investigated all of Teresa's information, right? Koschche knew all of that, so why didn't I?

He frowned, racking his brains, and then suddenly realized—perhaps I was too immersed in the sadness of not being able to pat the centaur's butt, and thus missed a few pieces of information.

It doesn't matter though.

"Forget it, let's go cause trouble for Theresa instead."

Anyway, Teresa was one of his chief spies, so he couldn't just do whatever he wanted to her.

...

Yang Hao left the Duke's mansion in high spirits.

After leaving the Duke's mansion, he somehow got involved with Sonia's mother and Hela, and is currently chatting with them.

Miss Karina seemed to have sensed something and smiled as she expressed her apology.

"Ms. Sonia, Ms. Hela, I may have to leave now."

"Is it about work?" Sonia, who had recently neglected her own duties, spending her time either at home waiting for Lord Rabbi to return or taking care of the children at the Duke's mansion, clearly adored this Ursus man. "Well, there's nothing I can do about it then. Miss Karina, please take care."

"Um, thank you... Hela? I'll bring you some gifts next time I come, okay? So stop grabbing my clothes now..."

"Okay...ooh~"

She lifted Hela off her clothes and handed her to Ms. Sonia to take care of. Miss Karina tidied her own clothes and then left.

Recently, she's found herself somehow able to connect with that man in some way...

She could vaguely sense her husband's current location... and she could also feel him leaving.

so...

"...Is it because of something I did last night?"

Leaving the Duke's mansion, she murmured to herself, lost in her thoughts and confusion, recalling the night before, when she seemed to have entered a pure white door through a dream.

...... ......

[Event: The existence of Ascended Beings]

A new being has appeared in your territory, on the path to ascension.

Do you know who she is?

"ah?"】

what?

What is...going on?

Inside the Lubyanka Grand Hotel, standing in front of the Pony's office, Yang Hao looked at the newly popped-up event with a strange expression, thinking, "This seems to be a new event that even Miss Elegy didn't expect. So what exactly is going on?"

Someone in my territory has suddenly awakened? And they want to ascend? This—if you have no ill intentions towards our territory, you can step forward! Our territory welcomes all ascendants who will not harm our people!

So who is it? Yang Hao shook his head in confusion, deciding to finish today's work first.

"Hmm... Theresa's surname is... Nowitzki...? I remember that's a declining knightly family in Kazimierz?"

He muttered to himself as he pushed open the door to Teresa's office.

He pondered the information he had gathered about Theresa on his way here.

Theresa, full name Theresa Nowitsky. Her father was a general in Kazimir, as was her grandfather. However, her family fell into ruin because of some disgraceful things her father did, but those deserters who had once followed her father still trusted Theresa completely.

But Theresa didn't enjoy even the slightest benefit from this trust—after her family's decline and her father's execution by those in power, all Theresa could do was try every possible way to survive. Because of her father's tarnished reputation, she was forced to leave the knightly ranks she loved. To make a living, and also for some unknown purpose, she accepted funding from a corporation and was trained as an elite spy before being sent to the Duchy of Koschche to gather intelligence.

And then? Now—the poor little pony's endeavors in Kazimierz have failed once again. She is now completely under Ursus's control, a general in Yang Hao's [Tenet] army.

...In conclusion, Miss Theresa's life was quite eventful. But...what does that have to do with her surname?

Yang Hao knew what his wife was implying.

Theresa's surname actually makes her quite prestigious among the former deserters in Kazimierz... In other words, as long as Yang Hao is willing to use Theresa's surname, even if he does nothing, he will gain a group of regular troops from the former Kazimierz knights... right?

...But here's the problem: it's one thing if this is used on someone you don't know or aren't close to.

Teresa is Yang Hao's little pony! Whether for the sake of their future relationship or for the sake of the present, Yang Hao has to consult her opinion.

So Yang Hao's purpose in coming here this time is very simple—

"Theresa—shall we go for a walk sometime?"

"...Huh? Ah—wait a minute! And next time, boss, could you please knock before coming in?!"

That means dating Theresa and figuring out her current opinion of Kazimierz.

As for what might happen when he got back from the date? He wasn't afraid anymore—he didn't believe Koschke would really squeeze all his blood out, really.

Chapter 25

......

To be honest—

This was Yang Hao's second real date with a woman, and unfortunately, his experience of dating his wife for the first time didn't seem to be working on this lively little pony.