Che Ta looked baffled.

Kang Luo toyed with his folding fan, a cold smile on his lips. "When Ning Chen took Qimu City and Biluo City from us, he stripped them down to the dirt and had everything he'd plundered shipped back to the Great Xuan.

But while the goods were passing through Gaoli, this Third Prince of theirs did something that shocked even me. He didn't just send men to seize them. He wiped out Ning Chen's men too, a full sixty thousand of them."

Che Ta's jaw dropped. "Wh-what... Is he sick in the head? He robbed Ning Chen, and then he wiped out sixty thousand Great Xuan troops on top of it? He's just asking to die."

Kang Luo glanced at him. "Sounds satisfying, doesn't it?"

Che Ta nodded. "What this Jin Tiancheng did was stupid, but the thought of Ning Chen getting his comeuppance and the Great Xuan taking a loss... this officer feels good just thinking about it."

Kang Luo's voice was flat. "Then let me tell you something. Jin Tiancheng actually killed close to eighty thousand men. Sixty thousand of them were Great Xuan soldiers. The rest were our Nanyue prisoners that Ning Chen had taken."

The smile froze on Che Ta's face.

It was a while before he came to his senses. His eyes blazed. "That goddamn Jin Tiancheng! He dared kill our Nanyue soldiers? He has to pay for it in blood."

Kang Luo's voice was low. "That score can be settled later.

This crown prince has no choice. I want to avenge our dead soldiers, but Qimu City and Biluo City have well over a hundred thousand people crying out to be fed. Our soldiers have to eat too, and old Second is just waiting to pounce on me. So we need money and grain.

As long as Gaoli agrees to pay reparations, we can save the hundred thousand-odd people of Qimu City and Biluo City, and our soldiers will have full bellies and warm clothes.

As for revenge, if I don't go after Gaoli, Ning Chen certainly will... So we…