"Let's wait and see the fireworks," Ren Baqian replied. He opened another box carried by a guard that had a set of surveillance equipment, a control unit, and a walkie-talkie.
"Click. This thing is really strange. It is obviously made of iron and can even make sounds...."
"Inform the Great General..."
Ren Baqian had just turned on the surveillance equipment when he heard two sentences and the second one was, "All of you have been surrounded. Surrender immediately and all your lives will be spared..."
"This is....?" Li Qianqiu immediately thought of their radio stations which also had walkie-talkies. Could it be possible that there was one inside the statue?
"More or less." Ren Baqian nodded his head. Although it wasn't really so, it was close enough. "This way, we can know whether this thing has reached the hand of their chief commander. Well, do you know who their chief commander is?"
"It should be Wu Shenghou!" Li Qianqiu said.
"Is he very capable?"
"I'm not sure, but he tussled with the General-in-Chief Who Supports the Nation for over ten years and should be of some caliber. Plus, looking at the situation now, don't you think he is quite capable?" Li Qianqiu smiled bitterly.
Single-handedly, he could take on ten people with confidence, but in terms of leadership, the other party was really outstanding.
Apart from everything else, the Great Xia army had been reduced by more than half, yet there was no large scale desertion. This proved that they were capable of managing the troops.
"What about his personal strength?" This was what Ren Baqian wanted to ask.
"He does not surpass the apex stage of the Earth Wheel level," Li Qianqiu said instantly. Although he didn't know the specific details, Great Xia and the aboriginals were different. The aboriginal court officials were at the Spirit Wheel level, whereas the court officials and the commoners of Great Xia consisted of many Man Wheel level experts. Meanwhile the number of famous Spirit Wheel experts in the imperial court could only be counted on two hands. On the contrary, there were more Spirit Wheel experts outside the imperial court.
Great Xia placed more emphasis on the ability to govern and administer the state.
As for the aboriginals, they were the same from top to bottom... just that the power belonged to their fists.
Upon hearing that the other party didn't surpass the apex of the Earth Wheel level, Ren Baqian had a better understanding of the situation. "You can deliver a banner that ridicules him to the Great Xia barracks."
"What should the content on it be?"
"Mourning for Wu Shenghou, who was living in hardship and died with remorse. Cause of death: lack of knowledge and experience!"
Li Qianqiu was speechless.
"This is an order from Great General. Find out whether there are any problems and send it to the central barracks if possible."
After hearing the voices from the surveillance equipment, Ren Baqian was pleased that he had taken the first step to success.
His utmost concern was that the other side might smash this thing.
Since the other side was fascinated with it, it would be easy to proceed.
The Great Xia soldiers carefully inspected the metallic object for a long time and couldn't find any problems with it. Besides being able to make sounds, the statue didn't have any other strange properties. Finally, the bomb was brought into the central barracks after much promptings.
"All of you have been surrounded..." The message kept on repeating loudly.
"What's this thing?" This question was asked by several people along the way.
Everyone could see that this was a metal statue, but its ability to generate voices was intriguing.
"Is there a man inside?"
This question was also asked repeatedly by many.
However, this notion was quickly dropped because no fool would keep on saying the same thing.
"Sir, this is the statue that can speak!"
"How does this strange thing generate voices?"
"It should be coming from inside. Do you want to open it to take a look?"
Ren Baqian was concerned after hearing that they were thinking of opening this thing. Was Wu Shenghou the person being addressed as "sir?" It would blast him directly if he was the one, but this mission would be a failure if Wu Shenghou wasn't there.
Thankfully, he was relieved and ecstatic to hear the next statement.
"Please wait. Let me ask the Great General."
Ren Baqian rejoiced and asked, "Is Wu Shenghou the Great General they are referring to?"
He didn't believe that Wu Shenghou wouldn't be curious at all or that he wouldn't come to see this thing.
Although the statue was made to resemble Ren Baqian in the hopes that the Great Xia soldiers would recognize the Seventh Prince's likeness and send it directly to Wu Shenghou, the fact that nobody recognized it was still alright because the plan was still very likely to succeed.
"Wu Shenghou is known as the champion Great General," Li Qianqiu added.
"It must be him." Ren Baqian slapped his thigh and hummed, "Little rabbit, be good, open the door quickly, and fall into the bowl..."
After about ten minutes, Ren Baqian heard the voice of the person who was addressed as "sir" say, "Carry this and follow me!"
Upon hearing these words, Ren Baqian joyously asked Li Qianqiu, "Is there wine? Bring some wine and side dishes to watch the fireworks."
"There's food, but only Her Majesty has wine." Li Qianqiu turned his head to look at him. How was it possible to still have wine after being under siege for a month?
Ren Baqian took out a walkie-talkie to call the empress, and she answered in a slightly drowsy tone, asking, "What's the matter?"
"Your Majesty, do you want to see fireworks? I am asking you because the fireworks have already been prepared."
"Fireworks?" The empress sobered up a little, but was still muddled and immediately thought of the fireworks they had seen in Prague.
How could there be fireworks at this time, however?
"There aren't only fireworks, but also dishes. The only things missing are Your Majesty and wine." Ren Baqian giggled.
Li Qianqiu was shocked. Who else would have the guts to say, "The only things missing are Your Majesty and wine." Awesome!
Li Qianqiu retreated back two meters to prevent himself from being entangled in any mess.
Wouldn't Her Majesty kill this little fellow, Principal Ren? She would most likely spare him no matter what he did. It would be better to plead on his behalf later and at least try to save him.
Less than five minutes later, a red shadow stretched across the city wall and a glass bottle hit Ren Baqian on the chest, almost knocking him down.
"What exactly is going on?"
Ren Baqian was caught and stabilized by Li Qianqiu, but he had managed to keep ahold of the bottle as he heartily replied, "Thank you very much, Your Majesty!"
"It is really fireworks. Your Majesty should be able to see it later on," Ren Baqian said.
"It better be!" The empress narrowed her eyes.
Li Qianqiu was surprised that the empress didn't beat Ren Baqian up. She really favored him!
If he had said that, he would simply have been kicked to the Great Xia barracks immediately by the empress.
This was certainly different strokes for different folks!
"How long must I wait?" The empress was already impatient after waiting for less than a minute. She was woken up after just falling asleep and was already being very tolerant.
"It should be very soon!" Ren Baqian heard thumping sounds from the surveillance equipment that indicated a heavy object was being moved forward.
"Put it down here!" Ren Baqian's eyes sparkled after hearing this from the surveillance equipment, and he opened the wine bottle.
"Does Your Majesty want to drink? It can keep out the cold."
Noticing that the empress was ignoring him, he took a sip of the sorghum wine. It burned his throat like a knife cutting through it.
"Ah!" Ren Baqian released a breath that smelled exactly like alcohol.
"Does Sir Li want to drink?" Ren Baqian's voice faltered, and he handed the wine bottle to Li Qianqiu.
Li Qianqiu took a gulp and exclaimed loudly, "Good wine, strong wine!"
"I will present you with ten bottles when the war is over!" Ren Baqian declared generously.
"In that case, I have to thank you in advance." Li Qianqiu laughed heartily at the thought of receiving the good wine.
"Is this the thing that keeps on making sound?" A vibrant voice came from the surveillance equipment.
"Great General, this is the one."
Ren Baqian laughed loudly when hearing this! His plan had finally succeeded.
"All of you have been surrounded? Hmph! Are they talking about themselves? Your lives will be spared if you surrender? Just a bunch of dying people. Tomorrow, we will attack and destroy Liao City in one fell swoop. Then, we will see what else they can say. However, it is really strange that this thing can speak."
"What the Great General says is right. There are now 30,000 laborers cutting down trees to make scaling ladders. This time around, there will not be a shortage of ladders. Liao City will definitely be conquered once and for all. Thinking of Qi Zixiao fleeing in a helter-skelter fashion is enough to make me feel proud."
"True enough..."
It could be deduced that there was a large number of people from the sounds heard.
The more they discussed, the happier Ren Baqian was. With the people calling this person Great General and him acknowledging it, Ren Baqian could certainly confirm that this person was his main target. The rest were just small fries and could be considered extra rewards.
"This statue looks familiar. Is this the Seventh Prince? I have met the Seventh Prince once before he went to Dayao a year ago, and this statue bears some resemblance of him."
"What is the reason for making a statue that resembles the Seventh Prince?"
"I heard that the appearance of the Seventh Prince is very similar to that of the Poison Warrior."
"Could it be possible that this was made by that Poison Warrior? He sent a statue of himself here to poison us?"
"We have inspected it, and there isn't any poison...."
"What exactly is the reason for sending this statue?"
"That Poison Warrior must have a reason for doing this!" Wu Shenghou's voice was heard speaking again.
Ren Baqian hummed a tune, took out another walkie-talkie from the box, pressed a button, and sang whole-heartedly, "It is because I happened to meet you. Leaving a beautiful trail, the wind blew, causing the flowers to drop like tears raining down and because I am not willing to separate..."
When the voice of Ren Baqian was transmitted over, everyone in the Great Xia tent was shocked by the lyrics and looked at Wu Shenghou with ashen faces!
I just happened to meet you? Leaving a beautiful trail? Wind blowing and the flowers falling like tears raining down? Because I am not willing to separate?
What the hell was this? This was very scary!
Everyone expressed fear, but many inexplicably felt that the strange song was pleasant to the ears, which made it even more frightening.
"What kind of person is trying to trick us!" Wu Shenghou fiercely shouted.
"Because I just happened to meet you, leaving behind a promise ten years ago. If we meet again, I think I will remember you..."
Ren Baqian sang affectionately while holding the remote detonator. He then released the safety catch above and used his thumb to press the button.
There was a big explosion in the Great Xia barracks, an explosion that was greater than any of the other explosions before it. Huge flames shot into the sky, and the shockwaves blasted shrapnel all over the surrounding areas, like a storm sweeping across and destroying everything in its path.
A loud boom was subsequently heard by everyone who was at the top of the city wall.
Even the city walls were shaking.
Additionally, many people in the city were awakened abruptly by the shockwaves generated by the distant explosion.
Ren Baqian put down the walkie-talkie and said to the guard beside him, "Record this. The cause of Wu Shenghou's death: too much curiosity, too little knowledge, and limited imagination due to ignorance."
Ren Baqian took the wine bottle from Li Qianqiu to take a sip, turned to the empress, and asked, "Your Majesty, do you like these fireworks?"
"Can anyone survive this?" the empress asked.
"Based on the voices, they should have been within a ten meter range and certainly will not survive!" Ren Baqian said confidently.
"Oh!" The empress nodded her head slightly. She said after a pause, "That song is pretty good. Sing it 100 times for me now!"