Deposed? I couldn't be happier! I wouldn't even be a dog to the crown prince.

"Tube?"

The Japanese daimyo, who were bound hand and foot, were stunned.

Although they couldn't understand the arrogant and domineering tone in the Chinese, they sensed something was amiss.

This Tang Dynasty crown prince seems different from the envoys from the Central Plains who used to come and spread the nation's power, bestow rewards, and then leave.

He didn't come to ask for tribute.

He's here to kill me!

"Your Highness...we...we are willing to pay tribute every year..."

A famous man with a full-length bob was still stammering as he haggled over the price.

"Noisy."

Li Chengqian didn't even lift his eyelids.

"Old Xu, let's establish a rule for the isolated area. From today onwards, this island doesn't need any big names or family heads."

He pointed to the vast silver mines before him, his eyes as cold as stones in an ice cave.

"Pass on the order!"

"All able-bodied young men that can be captured on Kyushu Island and in the surrounding area, regardless of what they did before, will be incorporated into the 'Great Tang Mining Brigade in Japan'."

"They work from sunrise to sunset, year-round without a break. Their daily rations are based on the weight of the silver ore they dig out."

"Those who don't meet their quotas won't get any food."

"If it can't be finished for three consecutive days..."

A cruel smile curled at the corner of Li Chengqian's lips.

"There must be a severe shortage of materials for filling in the pits down there, right?"

This extremely cold-blooded declaration of exploitation made the Tang soldiers nearby gasp in shock.

This kind of relentless, "007" work ethic shows they're not treating these islanders like human beings! They're being treated like disposable mining machines!

"Your Highness, what about that woman? Were they all killed?"

Cheng Yaojin, carrying his Xuanhua axe, approached and asked in a deep, muffled voice.

He was so bloodthirsty in Liaodong that he now looked at these short, wretched-looking locals as if they were pigs or sheep to be slaughtered.

"Kill? That would be such a waste."

Li Chengqian shook his head, displaying the shrewd and calculating face of a capitalist.

"With such a large army on the field, the costs are enormous. Bandages, sandbags, coarse cloth uniforms—all of these require manual labor."

"Gather all those women together and build a large workshop."

"Have the artisans accompanying the army teach them to use the most basic spinning machines of the Tang Dynasty, and use the coarse hemp from this island to spin cloth for me day and night!"

"As long as they work, they'll be given a full meal. Anyone who dares to slack off..."

Li Chengqian's gaze swept over the trembling Japanese prisoners of war, his voice low and menacing.

"Hang him right at the mine entrance as a warning to the men who work in the mine."

With the issuance of this order.

The entire island of Kyushu was instantly plunged into a dark and hellish state.

Tens of thousands of young men from Japan were herded to Mount Iwami by the Great Snow Dragon Riders like ducks.

Forced by the dark, menacing sight of muskets and sharp blades, they were compelled to pick up makeshift picks and begin their relentless, dark digging.

Of course, this group of islanders, who were inherently cruel and considered themselves to have the spirit of Bushido, did not initially resist.

"Baka! A samurai can be killed but not humiliated! A Yamato samurai will never be a slave!"

It was in a corner of the mining area.

Several ronin with distinctive topknots and dressed in tattered samurai clothes suddenly let out a howl like that of wild beasts.

They had somehow concealed several rusty samurai swords, and with bloodshot eyes, they charged toward a patrolling group of Tang soldiers.

"For His Majesty the Emperor! I will commit seppuku to demonstrate my resolve! I will die a glorious death!"

The leading samurai even tore his clothes open, striking a resolute pose as if he were ready to stab himself in the stomach at any moment.

They believed that this fearless madness would intimidate these outsiders.

Unfortunately, they chose the wrong opponent.

Bai Qi was in charge of guarding this mining area.

The god of war was sitting on a huge silver ore, resting with his eyes closed.

Hearing the noise, he slowly opened his dark eyes, which had no whites.

He did not draw the terrifying scythe from his back.

He simply watched coldly as those ronin charged at him like clowns.

Just as the leading samurai was about to rush in front of him, raising his sword to strike,

Bai Qi moved.

His movements were so fast that he didn't even leave an afterimage.

"Snapped!"

A dull, teeth-grinding thud.

Bai Qi's hand, encased in dark red heavy armor, casually swatted at the warrior's head, as if swatting a fly.

"Bang--!"

The samurai's head instantly exploded like a ripe watermelon under the immense force!

Red and white matter mixed with bone fragments splattered in a radial pattern, covering the faces of several ronin nearby.

The headless corpse even lurched forward two steps due to inertia before collapsing heavily into the mud.

Sold out instantly.

A brutal and unpredictable massacre.

The remaining samurai were all terrified by this horrific scene.

They gripped their samurai swords, smeared with the brains of their comrades, their bodies trembling violently, completely devoid of the courage they had shown earlier in their "suicide pact."

"To commit seppuku as a declaration of resolve?"

Bai Qi shook the filth off his hands, his pale face expressionless.

"I hate tricks that dirty the ground the most."

He raised his foot and kicked a terrified samurai in the chest.

With a few sharp cracks, the samurai's ribs broke, and he flew out like a rag doll, crashing into the rock wall and dying.

"If you're going to die, die somewhere far away."

Bai Qi's hoarse, metallic voice echoed through the mining area, carrying a chilling killing intent that could freeze one's soul.

"Anyone who causes further disturbance will be punished along with ten others."

This ruthless and brutal method completely destroyed the last bit of resistance in the hearts of these Japanese people.

The so-called "Bushido" becomes an extremely ridiculous joke in the face of pure killing machines.

The remaining Japanese all threw away anything they might have been carrying that could be considered a weapon.

Like docile sheep, they swung their pickaxes with extreme obedience and frantic effort, and no one dared to look up at the demon in red armor for even a second.

The juicer of the Tang Dynasty began to operate frantically on this barren land under unprecedented high pressure.

a few days later.

Just as Li Chengqian was looking at the first batch of refined silver ingots and calculating with great satisfaction how many points he could exchange for them.

Suddenly, a very urgent commotion arose outside the tent.

An envoy from Japan dressed in extremely elaborate and flamboyant courtier attire.

Under the extremely rough shoving of several Great Snow Dragon Knights, he tumbled and crawled into Li Chengqian's sight.

As soon as he entered, he prostrated himself in an extremely exaggerated manner and cried out loudly in very broken Mandarin, which was even heavily accented with a sea oyster accent.

"Your Highness, the Crown Prince of the Upper Kingdom! We beg you to show mercy!"

"His Majesty the Emperor of our Yamato Kingdom is extremely terrified upon hearing of the arrival of the Tang Dynasty's heavenly army."

"His Majesty the Emperor has prepared lavish gifts in Asuka-kyo, earnestly requesting a face-to-face meeting with His Highness the Crown Prince to discuss plans for peace between our two nations!"

The messenger wept bitterly, trying to move the notoriously tyrannical god of war before him with such an extremely humble posture.

"A grand plan for peace?"

Li Chengqian held a heavy silver ingot and tossed it in his hand.

Upon hearing that address, his previously nonchalant movements suddenly ceased.

His sword-like eyebrows were slightly raised.

Li Chengqian walked up to the envoy and patted his ridiculously styled head with a silver ingot with great force.

"What did you just say was the name of your local chieftain?"

The envoy was so shocked by the slaps that he saw stars, but he dared not dodge and could only repeat himself in an extremely obsequious manner.

"Your Highness, it is...it is His Majesty the Emperor."

"Emperor?"

Li Chengqian's eyes instantly turned cold, and a dangerous sneer curled at the corner of his mouth.

That laughter revealed a domineering and arrogant air unique to the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty.

"In this entire world, besides my father, who else dares to call themselves 'Emperor'?"

"You bunch of monkeys who can't even get enough to eat, yet you've got quite the nerve."