Farm Girl Turns Everything Around: Sly Husband, Let's Farm

Chapter 1744: Chapter 1743: Follow-up

At this moment, Yang Hao arrived. The battle had stabilized, and the residual poison left by the giant insect had also been eradicated. It was time to discuss the follow-up matters.

Among the Three Kingdoms, Taian Country and Longshi Country would undoubtedly have to cede territory and pay reparations. Bei Yun, who had already aligned himself with Daqi, shamelessly proposed a detailed list of demands, insisting that Taian Country and Longshi Country hand over their assets. If they refused, he threatened to join forces with Bei Lingsu and Tong Sanlang to directly annihilate the Royal Families of the two nations.

At this point, the Three Kingdoms also possessed Divine Crossbow Teams, but so did Daqi. While Divine Crossbow clashed evenly against Divine Crossbow, Daqi had three masters who appeared and disappeared without a trace—two of whom were adept at using poison. This ensured that the Three Kingdoms stood no chance against Daqi.

If they didn’t want their Royal Families wiped out, then they had no choice but to comply with the list provided by Bei Yun.

Bei Yun had spent time in the Three Kingdoms in a role similar to that of a strategist, and he was well aware of the national strengths of these nations. The list he drew up severely weakened the vitality of the Three Kingdoms—or rather, the two countries, Taian and Longshi—since Yuchi Country was destined for annihilation and could no longer be considered a separate nation.

When Qiao Xiaomai saw this list, he was overjoyed. The first stipulation on the list required Taian Country and Longshi Country to first pay “life money”: ten million taels of silver per Royal Family member. For every ten million less paid, one person would be executed. For every twenty million less, two would be executed. Pay in full, and no one would be killed.

The Yang Family was famously small in number, but if only direct descendants were counted, there were still eight or nine individuals. Furthermore, one had to include the concubines in the Harem as well. The Royal Families of Taian Country and Longshi Country had a considerably larger population, meaning that just the “life money” alone would amount to four or five billion taels of silver.

With this, funding for the bluestone road was no longer an issue.

Following the life money came clauses for tribute. These two countries were required to submit grain and various rare specialties every year. On top of that, they had to turn over half of their national fiscal revenue annually for a hundred-year period.

These small countries had grown complacent due to their wealth, harboring ambitions they shouldn’t have. Since that was the case, Daqi would extort every penny possible out of them. When they had no money left, they would no longer have the ability to entertain chaotic thoughts.

As for Yuchi Country, it would henceforth become a province of Daqi, and it would be the poorest province at that. Yang Hao ordered a sweeping collection of various property without harming anyone. All the seized assets were to be directed toward canal construction.

This was a cumbersome task, and Yang Ye, Bei Lingsu, Tong Sanlang, Qiao Xiaomai, and Bei Yun were all involved in overseeing it. They traveled back and forth between the lands of the Three Kingdoms, transporting cartloads of treasures northward to the Capital City. During this period, Bei Yun and Bei Lingsu took the lead in thoroughly investigating Yuchi Country’s practices of cultivating Gu worms.

The psychological trauma caused by the giant insect had left a profound shadow on everyone. The Daqi Court took this matter extremely seriously. Yang Wenxiao personally added a clause to the “Daqi Law,” decreeing that anyone who practiced the cultivation of Gu worms would be executed without mercy, with no possibility of pardon. Furthermore, the law encouraged citizens to actively report such practices, offering substantial rewards for whistleblowers.

The giant insect had been meticulously bred by Yuchi Country over the course of more than twenty years, consuming every poisonous substance they could gather from across the land. The success of raising such a creature was nothing short of sheer luck, as it was a bold experiment initially dismissed by Yuchi nationals as hopeless.

Bei Yun and Bei Lingsu personally took action to silence everyone involved in the matter, executing them all and destroying all written records related to the breeding of the giant insect, ensuring that no trace of the creature would remain in the world.

Bei Lingsu even issued a strict order forbidding Bei Yun from entertaining any thoughts about such practices. She vividly remembered the events of that day: had Bei Yun not been curious about examining the remains of the giant insect, he wouldn’t have fallen into the trap set by its hidden venom.