I really didn't want to burn it.

"So, why is that maid so important? Why should we use our only chance to launch a sneak attack?"

Kirshtalia Wodim tapped his fingers, pondering why the fox had squandered its precious, one and only chance.

In fact, Wodim had always wanted to meet the maid he had captured, but unfortunately, after she was captured, the female fox took her away directly, and he never had any interaction with the maid named DD.

"If only that fox could be a little more honest with its allies."

Koyanskaya made no attempt to hide her attitude that she was only using Group A, which meant that Wodym never considered her one of his own from the beginning.

"Well, that's enough about what happened in Afghanistan province."

Kirshtalia Wodim has completely abandoned the issue of Afghanistan province.

Since the Queen herself isn't in a hurry, why should he worry about her?

More than the small province of Afghanistan, Kirshtalia Wodim is concerned about the pact between his Group A and Koyanskaya, and whether he can use this singularity to complete his own plans.

"Ophelia, you've worked hard. You should rest in Luoyang for a while now."

Kirshtalia Wodim's tone was very calm, but Ophelia could hear the helplessness in his voice.

“Okay. Once I’ve finished making the corrections and returned to Afghanistan Province, I’ll make sure Sigurd restores the honor of our Group A.”

"Return to Afghanistan...?"

"Lord Wodem?"

Ophelia tilted her head curiously, convinced that she had not misunderstood the helplessness in Kirshtalia Wodim's sigh.

"I'm sorry, Ophelia. You no longer have that chance."

"How could that be? Am I supposed to take responsibility for the failure?"

Ophelia pursed her lips. She was certainly partly to blame for the disastrous war in Afghanistan. If the higher-ups in Luoyang punished her, Ophelia wouldn't complain.

Judging solely from the battle reports, the performance of the Imperial Guard in this so-called pacification of Afghanistan was nothing short of disastrous.

They marched to the area with great fanfare, only to suffer heavy losses (due to being sniped) before even engaging in battle. Later, when the local garrison was completely wiped out by the rioters, the Imperial Guards remained huddled in their camp, showing a "staying put when allies are in trouble" attitude.

Without knowing the plot details, Ophelia was indeed a very incompetent leader of the Royal Guard expeditionary force. The fact that she wasn't executed on the spot was already out of consideration for Her Majesty the Empress and Kirshtalia Wodim.

Having been defeated in Afghanistan without even seeing the enemy, and without a chance to avenge her defeat, Ophelia felt somewhat resentful.

"it's not true."

Kirshtalia Wodim rejected Ophelia's idea.

"Why then?"

Ophelia looked up in surprise.

"It was those so-called Afghan insurgents who made the request for negotiations."

When Kirshtalia Wodim said this, a rare hint of sarcasm appeared on his usually calm face.

"They wanted to send representatives to Luoyang for negotiations, the content of which was to demand that Afghanistan Province achieve autonomy on the premise that it was part of the Tang Dynasty."

"Autonomy? Them??"

Ophelia's lips twitched involuntarily.

Anyone familiar with the true situation in Afghanistan knows that the so-called Afghan rebels are just a front; the actual identity of this army is, of course, the Qin army from another dimension.

Granting autonomy to Afghan provinces is no different from giving the Qin army a base of operations!

"What a joke! This is simply inviting a wolf into the house!"

Ophelia said emotionally.

Once the Qin army establishes a clear territory (position) at this singularity, the spirit of a certain troublesome emperor will definitely follow.

Ophelia, who had personally experienced the pressure from that freak emperor in the Tang Dynasty, knew very well that if that emperor were to attack this singularity, the consequences would be absolutely unimaginable!

"Why would that mother fox agree to such a request?!" Ophelia demanded loudly, a hint of fear flashing in her eyes.

Does she have a reason to refuse?

Kirshtalia Wodim sneered.

"What's the meaning?"

“Ophelia,” Wodim said, placing a hand on his subordinate’s shoulder, “you only see the outcome of the negotiations, but the negotiations themselves were the key to their confrontation.”

"For Qin Yifang's people, this is a golden opportunity to enter Luoyang legitimately, and they will definitely not let this chance to rescue the hostages slip by. As for that fox..."

Kirshtalia Wodim glanced at the sky and said calmly, "She probably can't wait to negotiate. Although it's just a guess, I have a feeling that this is the result she's trying her best to achieve. I imagine this negotiation will be very turbulent."

"Then let's..."

“We’ll just have to play it by ear,” Kirshtalia Wodim replied. “This is also our chance; we might just find out the fox’s true purpose.”

Wodym narrowed his eyes and looked into the distance.

Outside the room, the sun was setting, leaving only a faint red glow on the horizon where the sky met the earth.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

"Godfather, is this alright?"

Sitting in the carriage ahead, Xiang Yu asked cautiously, "Isn't it a bit too risky for you to come to Luoyang like this?"

"There's no question of risk or risk," Li Ang replied calmly, leaning against the carriage wall. "Since that commander has already returned to Luoyang, our Empress must know I'm here. In that case, instead of hiding, I might as well meet her openly. I'm quite curious about that woman surnamed Yang."

Li Ang revealed a terrifying, sinister smile.

"Speaking of which, Godfather," Xiang Yu muttered under his breath, "you added Chloris... and Ryougi Shiki to your negotiating team, aren't you just here to snatch them away?"

Xiang Yu hesitated for a long time but still couldn't bring himself to say the title "Auntie" or "Godmother".

Li Ang laughed heartily and said, "Isn't that obvious? If we can rescue the person before the negotiations end, the other side will lose a bargaining chip, which is a win-win situation."

[Host, when you say win-win, do you mean you win twice?]

"Humph."

Li Ang crossed his arms and did not answer.

"Speaking of which, I was surprised that Tang's higher-ups agreed to negotiate with us. I thought they would fight us to the death after they lost," Xiang Yu muttered, crossing his legs.

“Because there’s no point in continuing the fight. That place is currently lacking in resources; it’s practically a useless piece of land,” Li Ang replied with drooping eyes. “My original plan was to create chaos in that area and force Luoyang to the negotiating table.”

"I had almost given up on this plan and was preparing to raid Luoyang to snatch people, but I never expected that fat pig would actually help me out."

Li Ang lifted a corner of the curtain on the carriage and looked at the night sky outside the window.

"Well, despite some unexpected events, things are back on track for now. Luoyang, I'm back."

A pale moonlight appeared faintly in the dark blue sky, announcing the arrival of night.

Chapter 294 The First Dance at the Banquet

Luoyang, a city that truly never sleeps.

This city, which is usually brightly lit at night, is exceptionally lively tonight.

Although the rioters in Afghanistan Province are still classified as rebels by the Tang Empire, Luoyang still treated the negotiating team with the highest courtesy in order to demonstrate the grandeur and style of a great power.

In addition to providing the negotiating team with reception etiquette almost equivalent to that of a foreign mission, a grand welcome banquet was also held on the day the negotiating team arrived.

Therefore, even late at night, at banquets in the Luoyang palace, dignitaries dressed in expensive robes continued to chat and laugh.

However, compared to the elegant and sophisticated nobles of Luoyang, the representatives of the rioters in Afghanistan Province seemed rather unsophisticated. Except for one remarkably calm individual, the others looked around in astonishment, like country bumpkins visiting a grand garden.

"Hmph, a country bumpkin is a country bumpkin."

"That's right, even if you put on a formal suit, you're still a clown who looks like a monkey in a crown."

"It was just good luck. If it happened again, the Tang army would definitely not lose."

"However, these people are quite good-looking; you really can't tell from their appearance that they come from a remote mountain village."

"That's true. I wonder what will happen when the imperial court reconquers Afghanistan..."

"Could it be that you've taken a fancy to some pretty boy and are planning to take him on as your male concubine?"

"Hahaha, how could that be~"

……

Chloris ignored the boisterous laughter coming from the hall; her eyebrows twitched, and her expression was full of impatience.

Even Ryougi Shiki and Shiki-no-Kage stared strangely at Li Ang, who was disguised beside them.

"I said, this is Luoyang, right?"

"Claus asked in an annoyed tone."

"Yes."

"This is ancient China, right?"

"Yes."

"This should be a Chinese banquet, right?"

"Of course."

"Then tell me!" Chloris pointed to the center of the banquet and demanded sharply, "Then tell me what's going on with this neither-Chinese-nor-Western banquet?!"

During her time in Da Qin, Chloris had attended many Da Qin banquets and was familiar with the procedures of Chinese banquets.

However, to her surprise, the banquet at the Tang Dynasty was actually Western-style. To be more precise, the banquet's proceedings were more like a ball at the Palace of Versailles in modern France.

Instead of sitting behind their respective tables eating, drinking, and enjoying the song and dance, everyone went to the front of the stage and danced with each other.

Of course, it wouldn't be entirely accurate to say it was completely Western-style. The dignitaries wore Chinese-style formal attire, played Chinese music, and the procedures also conformed to the standards of a Chinese banquet.

However, this only made the atmosphere of the banquet more eerie.

"Well..."

A bead of cold sweat trickled down Li Ang's temple as he awkwardly explained.

“Back then, some people always mocked me for being impolite, so I…”

Chloris chimed in, "So you deliberately orchestrated this completely impolite banquet to get revenge on them, didn't you?"

"Well, that's about it. Watching them dance in front of me with those 'I want to die' looks on their faces, it felt incredibly satisfying," Li Ang said, squinting. "Well, it's only been about ten years. Once the new generation grows up, they'll join in willingly."

"Hmph, what a man with a twisted sense of humor. I remember there should be banquet designers in the palace, right? Didn't they raise any objections?" Chloris asked with a hint of curiosity.

Li Ang shrugged: "Of course he did, but after I locked him up in jail for 5 years, he cried and begged that he would never be involved in banquet design again."

Chloris's eye twitched slightly: "I mean... was your personality really this bad before?"

Li Ang waved his hand: "I was young back then, and I was pretty wild~"

[What nonsense are you spouting, Mr. Host who's forever 20!]

"Long-winded."

Li Ang took a sip of wine from the glass, looking slightly annoyed.

Back then, he never thought he would come back one day, so he did whatever he wanted except in certain timelines.

The Tang Dynasty singularity can be said to be the culmination of Li Ang's arbitrary actions.

"Well, if I had known I would come back one day, I definitely wouldn't have gone this far."

Thinking of this, Li Ang felt even more depressed, and he took another sip of wine from the wine glass.

"Well, there's nothing wrong with this kind of banquet."

Ryougi Shiki took a step toward Li Ang, hooked her hand around his chin, and curled her lips in a provocative smile.

"Sir, would you be interested in dancing with me?"

Her slender, pale fingers gently teased Li Ang's throat, as if hinting at something.

Chloris quickly retorted, "Hey, Ryougi! That's despicable! Shouldn't the first song be with me?"

"Really? Why didn't I know?"

Ryougi Shiki glanced at the dance floor in the center of the banquet hall and replied nonchalantly.