The brief meeting ended.
The Xie family's clan head naturally went off obediently to see to what Mr. Weitz had charged him with.
One of those things was to urge the Luohe Kingdom to surrender.
Enemies though they were, communication between the two sides was, if anything, unhindered.
The Xie family's clan head very soon got through to the Luohe Kingdom's supreme commander at the front.
General Leng Qian appeared in the video window.
"Why is it you? Where's that old marshal of yours?" The Xie family's clan head was taken aback to see Leng Qian; he naturally knew this woman marshal of the Luohe Kingdom.
But he knew even better that in rank and standing, the old marshal who commanded the Luohe First Legion Fleet stood higher in every respect.
General Leng Qian said coldly, "By order of Her Majesty our Queen, all the Luohe Kingdom's military affairs are now my charge. I am the supreme commander. Whatever you have to say, you can say it to me directly."
The Xie family's clan head looked General Leng Qian up and down contemptuously.
"The Luohe Kingdom truly goes further backward the more it develops, handing battlefield command to a girl like you. Heh, heh, heh… if it weren't for that T6 interstellar civilization you dug up from who knows where, the Luohe Kingdom would have been struck off the list long ago," the Xie family's clan head said mockingly.
General Leng Qian showed no stir of feeling at all, and said coldly, "If this is all you've come to say, there's no need to waste time here. I think that rather than say this, you'd do better to think how you lost those hundreds of thousands of interstellar warships before."
General Leng Qian's words were aimed at the interstellar warships the four families' legion fleets had lost one after another before.
The faces of the Meng family's clan head and the Hu family's clan head, around the Xie family's clan head, changed at once.
This woman was actually mocking them here!
Just as the two of them were about to strike back, a glare from the Xie family's clan head made them hold their anger in and say nothing.
The Xie family's clan head looked at Leng Qian and snorted coldly. "If the Burns Interstellar Civilization's envoy weren't set on giving your Luohe Kingdom a chance, I wouldn't waste words with you here. I'll tell you the truth. Within three days, the Burns Interstellar Civilization will send a million interstellar warships marching into the Luohe Star Region. Then what will your Luohe Kingdom have to stop them with? All that T6 interstellar civilization behind you has sent is a hundred thousand interstellar warships. Heh, heh, heh: a hundred thousand interstellar warships against a million interstellar warships. Such simple arithmetic, any raw recruit should know how to work it out. Do you still cherish some vain hope? Let me advise you: the Burns Interstellar Civilization's envoy is willing to give you a chance. Surrender now, have the T6 interstellar civilization behind you withdraw from the Luohe Star Region at once, and never set foot in the Luohe Star Region again from now on. Do that, and the Burns Interstellar Civilization is willing to keep a place for you in the interstellar federation to be set up in the Luohe Star Region in future. Otherwise… your Luohe Kingdom won't have even a single seed left! I'll give you time to think it over."
Before the Xie family's clan head had finished,
General Leng Qian cut him off outright: "No need to think it over. Our ship's guns are our answer. Surrender is impossible, not in this life. And who told you we're bound to lose? Besides, I can give you four families of traitors a chance as well. Surrender now like good boys, and I can still ask Her Majesty the Queen to pardon the guilt of some uninvolved people in your families. Otherwise, when the time comes to settle accounts with your four families, don't blame us for washing your whole houses in blood!"
"Wash our whole houses in blood?" The Xie family's clan head burst out laughing.
The three family clan heads beside him laughed too, one after another.
"What did you just say? Wash our four families' whole houses in blood? Ha, ha, ha, ha, what a joke. Let me tell you: I'm right here now. If you've got what it takes, come and cut off my head; I'd like to see how you wash my Meng house in blood!" the Meng family's clan head said, laughing loudly.
The Tai family's clan head said with a light laugh, "I've heard that you and your niece are both very full of yourselves. I never felt it before; now I do. I just wonder whether you and your niece will still be so full of yourselves once you're prisoners."
As he spoke, the Tai family's clan head licked his lips and showed a lewd, evil look.
"Threatening us, too. You're at death's door yourselves. So you've found a T6 interstellar civilization too; so what? Do you think anyone at all can be as powerful as the Burns Interstellar Civilization?" the Hu family's woman clan head said disdainfully.
General Leng Qian looked at these family clan heads and said calmly, "Since you don't believe it, and won't surrender, I have nothing more to say to you. Wait for the battle to come."
"Good; I'd like to see how you come crying and begging me then." The Xie family's clan head was naturally glad to see her take such a stand.
That way, the Burns Interstellar Civilization's interstellar legion fleets could wash the Luohe Kingdom in blood openly and aboveboard!
A Luohe Kingdom destroyed utterly was just what the four families wished to see.
The communication was cut off now too.
The four family clan heads looked at one another and laughed.
"That girl really is something, still daring to say that when it's come to this."
"If you ask me, when the time comes we should seize every member of the Luohe Kingdom's royal house, send all the men to the harshest mining areas to dig ore, and all the women to the poorest slums to suffer every abuse!"
"Old Xie, what that woman who doesn't know what's good for her just said: when you pass it on to the envoy in a while, remember to add some oil and vinegar."
The corners of the Xie family clan head's mouth turned up slightly. "Naturally I know what to say."
……
On the other side, General Leng Qian looked at the video window gone dark.
A mocking smile showed on her face too; this crowd of fools still did not know how mighty a power the rescuers they had called in were.
It was no Burns Interstellar Civilization that had only just stepped into T6 technology that could pick a fight with this.
But that was just as well; the Luohe Kingdom had been bullied and held down for so many years, and she rather wanted to see what faces those four family clan heads would make once everything had settled.
It was bound to be quite a sight.
……
Of General Leng Qian's communication with the four family clan heads, Zhao Chen naturally knew nothing.
General Leng Qian wanted to report it to the Owl Dragon Emperor at once too.
But the answer she got was that the Owl Dragon Emperor was busy with something just then and could not be reached for the moment.
General Leng Qian was somewhat puzzled by this, but did not wonder much over it.
After all, the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's hundred thousand interstellar warships were still right under her nose; what was there to worry about?
And General Leng Qian likely never imagined that the Owl Dragon Emperor was at that moment appearing in another universe with his Owl Dragon guard fleet.
The Burns Interstellar Civilization · the outskirts of the capital star system
"Our coordinates are confirmed: we're on the outskirts of that Burns Interstellar Civilization's capital star system," Lilith reported to Zhao Chen.
She looked at this Owl Dragon Emperor with a trace of madness in her eyes.
She had not expected the Owl Dragon Emperor to do something so mad this time.
To save the time this Luohe Star Region business was costing, the Owl Dragon Emperor had charged straight to the doorstep of the Burns Interstellar Civilization that backed the four rebel families.
"Xiong Xiangxiang, confirm our fallback plan," Zhao Chen said, looking at Commander Xiong Xiangxiang beside him.
Xiong Xiangxiang answered at once, "It's been confirmed several times. We can be sure that if the enemy attacks us, we can withdraw safely and quickly, and keep you and the fleet safe!"
Zhao Chen nodded with satisfaction.
Naturally Zhao Chen had not taken this risk without preparation.
The Emperor's Guard Fleet carried not only the "Jade Gate" equipment for cross-universe travel, but T6 Emerald-Dream-class Interstellar Jump Ships as well.
This interstellar jump ship could send an interstellar fleet to another place in a short time.
It could not send them across universes, but it was still very useful.
It was by relying on this that Zhao Chen dared lead the Emperor's Guard Fleet straight to the Burns Interstellar Civilization's lair.
"Since we've come, there's no need to hide anything. Pass on my order. Every interstellar warship of the Emperor's Guard Fleet: lift every lock on starship energy signatures and turn them up to full. Let the people on the Burns Interstellar Civilization's capital planet all know an honored guest has come. Then get me straight through to the Burns Interstellar Civilization's Supreme Consul! Tell them someone wants a word with them." Zhao Chen leaned back in the captain's chair, an air of the young wastrel about his face.
The Emperor's Guard Fleet's doings, on the outskirts of someone else's capital star system, could not fail to alarm the local garrison.
They alarmed the Burns Interstellar Civilization's leadership as well.
Great numbers of interstellar legion fleets raced toward the spot, and the whole capital star system went onto a war footing.
"What? An unknown interstellar fleet has suddenly appeared on the outskirts of our capital star system? With no attempt at concealment, and demanding to see our Supreme Consul outright? Where did these madmen pop out of?" The Burns Interstellar Civilization's highest general of the capital planet's garrison frowned on hearing this.
He did not know what kind of show this was; in all his time in this post, he had never seen anything like it.
"We don't know; up to now we still can't be sure where this fleet comes from," the adjutant beside him said helplessly.
The highest general of the capital planet's garrison thought a moment, then said in a low voice, "Find a way to contact this fleet; tell them I want to speak with their commander."
"Yes."
Very soon a video window appeared.
On the other side appeared a man with a teasing smile on his face.
"Who are you? Why have you brought a fleet trespassing into our Burns Interstellar Civilization? State who you are at once, or bear the consequences!" the highest general of the capital planet's garrison warned outright.
The corners of Zhao Chen's mouth turned up slightly. "Are you sure you want me to state who I am?"
"Of course," said the highest general of the capital planet's garrison.
"I worry that once you know who I am, you'll have a hard time explaining it to your masters," Zhao Chen said with a shrug and a light laugh.