Every one of Ning Chen's terms was set down in writing, and then the ruler of Xiliang signed and put his mark to them.

His hand shook the whole time he was signing.

After this, no matter what he did to make up for it... the history books were never going to say anything good about him.

The negotiations ended in a delightful atmosphere!

Whatever the mood of Xiliang's imperial house, Ning Chen's mood was delightful.

He agreed to return the heads of Yu Zhan and the others to Xiliang's imperial house and let them keep a last shred of dignity.

When the talks were over, Ning Chen went back to camp.

He would be staying another three days.

He had added a few more terms at the end.

One of them gave Xiliang three days to put together half a month's grain and fodder for a hundred thousand men.

In three days, Xiliang's crown prince, Tantai Xiao, would escort the supplies himself.

And once he got there, the crown prince and the supplies would both stay.

The crown prince would be sent back to the Great Xuan's imperial city as a hostage.

As for the supplies, Ning Chen needed to cross all of Xiliang and head straight for the Tuoluo Kingdom, and that would take a huge amount of grain and fodder.

Back at camp, Ning Chen was in a fine mood.

In Tantai Qingyue's tent, he tilted his head to look at her and said consolingly, "Xiliang's defeat wasn't your fault... They know their own incompetence did it, so they want to shove the blame onto you to make themselves feel better."

Tantai Qingyue glared at him. She fixed her cold eyes on Ning Chen as he stood there mocking her. The man was vicious. He didn't just kill you; he went for the heart.

"Are you telling me you didn't cause all of this yourself?"

Ning Chen looked the picture of innocence. "What did I do?"

Tantai Qingyue snorted. "Sinister, scheming, heartless and cruel!"

Ning Chen narrowed his eyes at her. "Now you're just being ungrateful. In…