Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 967 - 797 My Son-in-law Is Really Generous

Chapter 967: Chapter 797 My Son-in-law Is Really Generous

Li Xuan really wanted to seriously rip off his own father-in-law, but after careful consideration, he still gave the actual price.

The Black Gold Divine Armor, along with the musket, was priced at twelve thousand silver yuan, while the Yunzhong warship together with its complementing cannons was priced at twenty million silver yuan.

After giving the quote, Li Xuan added, "If my father-in-law wishes to place an order for the Black Gold Divine Armor, we can offer a ten percent discount. Moreover, we are developing a special bullet for underwater use that is as effective as eighty percent of those on land, with a production cost of thirty silver yuan per bullet."

The key was that Master Zhongliu and Lord Tushan with their nine tails also got their goods for ninety percent of the price, and it wouldn’t be fair for him to offer his father-in-law a worse deal.

Otherwise, selling the Black Gold Divine Armor and muskets for eighty thousand silver yuan each would still be quite reasonable.

If one were to sell a Yunzhong warship externally, forty million silver yuan would be a very appropriate price.

If one didn’t have control over steel dragon bone and those cheap yet lightweight aluminum alloys, as well as similarly low-priced cannons, the production cost would be unstoppable even at fifty or sixty million.

The cost for the five ships belonging to Master Zhongliu was around forty-eight million.

Moreover, the electromagnetic gun was a technology exclusive to the Shenqi Union, which they sold to The Court for a price reaching tens of millions of silver yuan each.

After careful thought, the most Li Xuan could hope to make money from was on the space cannon bullets.

Just waiting for Leng Yurou’s blank cartridges to finish development, then he’d be able to make a hefty profit.

Shock appeared in Ao Shenghai’s eyes; this was much cheaper than he had expected.

Ao Shenghai couldn’t help but feel touched, thinking that his son-in-law truly was a magnanimous person, indeed one of the most benevolent and noble men of his time.

He must have given such a sincere discount primarily for the sake of his own daughter.

Therefore, he didn’t haggle any further, and the two men quickly and cleanly settled their deal.

Ao Shenghai then placed an additional order, increasing the Black Gold Divine Armor and muskets to thirty thousand sets and seven Yunzhong warships, cumulating in a total of five hundred million silver yuan.

The Dragon Palace didn’t have that much silver, so they could only compensate with four hundred million taels of pure silver and thirteen million taels of pure gold.

As for the space cannon bullets, Ao Shenghai, however, winced at the cost. The bullets were more expensive than the firearms after only a few dozen shots.

Taking into account that there were no actual bullets yet, Ao Shenghai placed an intention order of eight million rounds.

However, Ao Shenghai hoped that these armaments could be delivered within six months.

"Impossible!" Li Xuan immediately shook his head without hesitation, "I can urge the Shenqi Union to expedite the Black Gold Divine Armor and muskets as much as possible. However, the warships will have to wait. The Shenqi Union’s shipyard is full, and there aren’t any spare hands.

Furthermore, I must clarify in advance that steel does not preserve well in seawater. This issue also involves the status and relationship between the Heavenly Court of Xuanhuang and the East Sea Dragon Palace. Father-in-law—"

He hadn’t finished speaking when Ao Shenghai forcefully swept his sleeve with authority, "No worries! My esteemed son-in-law, you only need to help me place the order. By the end of the month at the latest, my dragon clan will respectfully submit its pledge of allegiance. I will make every effort to ensure this deal goes through!"

He had never intended to store those armors and muskets at the bottom of the sea.

And as for the many elders of the East Sea Dragon Palace, having witnessed the formidable power of Li Xuan’s musket army sweeping through Fusou in two battles at Naniwakyo, he believed the resistance he would encounter this time would be negligible.

Ao Shenghai thought to himself, if he couldn’t depend on a son-in-law whose status was rising like the sun in the east, could he rely on the overly cautious True man Huanglong?

If only he could have been more assertive, their West Sea, North Sea, and South Sea Dragon Palaces wouldn’t have ended up on the brink of collapse.

No matter what, it was imperative for the dragon clan to control those terrifyingly powerful weapons.

As Ao Shenghai was speaking, Li Xuan felt a change in the ’Haotian Seal’ strapped to his waist.

Ao Shenghai, as the ruler of the East Sea, was also a person who held the ’Tianxian’ concept.

Although he hadn’t formally submitted his letter of allegiance, the moment his heart sided with this idea and he spoke it aloud, it could influence the future of the dragon clan.

This also directly affected the ’Haotian Seal’,

The increase in Li Xuan’s authority caused his ’Divine Power’ to grow significantly.

"Then how could your son-in-law delay the matter?"

Li Xuan was in the midst of speaking when he saw a large group of people being ushered in by Jin Dynasty soldiers.

These were the Fusou nobles and many figures from the Muromachi Bakuhu.

At this moment, these individuals all held fear in their eyes, their faces pale, bodies trembling and shivering.

To Li Xuan’s surprise, among these Fusou nobles was one person whose attire was unlike the others, dressed in a reddish-brown court robe with twelve insignias modeled after the Tang style, only the dragon pattern was replaced with a phoenix pattern.

Li Xuan knew this was the attire of the Fusou Emperor.

"Your Highness," Zhang Yue also strode inside behind them, "Over a hundred officials of rank from Heiankyo and all ranks of the Muromachi Bakuhu, including all their close aides, are all here."

Li Xuan wasn’t interested in the others; his focus was on the Fusou Emperor.

"Are you the Fusou King Gohanazono Hikohito?"

——In fact, he was Mikado Gohanazono, but at the moment Li Xuan conquered Heiankyo, the title of Mikado had to be abolished.

The titles of Fusou emperors are quite peculiar, such as the Mikado Gosaga, Mikado Gokomyo, derived from place names or palace titles.

They didn’t have surnames, only given names.

This Mikado Gohanazono was so called because of his ascension to the throne or birth within a garden. Since there had already been a Mikado Gosaga, he could only be referred to as Gohanazono afterward.

As for their descendants, they typically bore one of the three major surnames: Hei, Fujiwara, or Minamoto, or they might take the name of a palace as a surname, such as Yudu Palace or Fenghuang Palace.

There was also the Tachibana surname, but it was extinguished hundreds of years ago, and the royal family no longer used it.

Li Xuan was not interested in this: "Following the course may not assure survival, opposing it may not mean death. When we met at Mount Helan, it was a mere contest for sport, what should I fear? That is the message you conveyed on behalf of your king, isn’t it?"

Mikado Gohanazono’s face paled, but his breathing remained steady as he shook his head, "No, those were the words of my Shogunate General, Ashikaga Yoshinori. Although I bear the title of Mikado, I actually do not oversee military and political affairs."

At the mention of ’Ashikaga Yoshinori,’ a slight twitch flickered at the corner of Mikado Gohanazono’s eyes.

He knew that his Shogunate General had died in battle within this very palace.

Li Xuan nodded, acknowledging that the man spoke the truth.

"Then why haven’t you retreated to Takamagahara? Does the great Amaterasu Omikami really disregard her own descendant?"

Mikado Gohanazono remained expressionless, "Prince Fenyang, the gods have their divine laws, and humans have their rules. Takamagahara is not a place for mortals to enter."

Li Xuan couldn’t help but laugh, thinking that even at this moment, Takamagahara still clung to such rigid beliefs.

However, with the Mikado of Fusou present, many matters could be handled much more easily.

He then turned his gaze to the other Fusou nobles, his eyes bearing a force of intimidation and oppression, "Where is your Chief Minister? Write an edict declaring that from this day forth all divine titles and names of the Amatsugami and the Nitsugami are to be abolished, their worship ceased. Order all regions to destroy all shrines within three days, and prohibit public worship."

Although the gods of Fusou had been defeated, and out of the one and a half million God’s Army nearly ninety percent had perished, ’Takamagahara’ still possessed formidable defensive strength.

Not only were more than two hundred thousand God’s Army stationed there, but those gods of Fusou had retreated into it as well.

Beings like ’Tensho,’ ’Tsukuyomi,’ ’Susa,’ ’Izanagi,’ who wielded the Rule of Extreme Heaven, had also not suffered significant losses.

An edict from the Mikado of Fusou could at least spare the East Sea Dragon Clan tens of thousands of casualties.

But the attending Fusou nobles all changed their expressions.

The elder standing at the forefront of the nobles turned a ghastly pale, standing motionless. He neither refused outright nor did he move to write anything.

Li Xuan watched him for a moment, understanding his intentions.

He immediately waved his hand, signaling the armored soldiers to step forward and drag the man away.

Shortly afterward, a ’crack’ of a severed head echoed from outside the palace doors, and a stench of blood invaded the chamber.

This caused all the Fusou nobles to turn even paler.

Li Xuan, seemingly unaffected, inquired, "Where is your next-in-command, the Left Minister? You take his place."

This was also a man in his sixties, whose expression hesitated for a moment, before he too bowed his body silently, without speaking.

Li Xuan directly swept his gaze over this man; "Where is the Right Minister of the second rank?"

By now, armored soldiers had stepped forward, dragging the Left Minister away.

The Right Minister, another old man in his sixties, changed from pale to ashen, but ultimately succumbed to Li Xuan’s pressure and took out pen and paper from his sleeve to begin writing the edict.

The edict was written in Chinese characters, and after a glance to ensure everything was in order, Li Xuan passed it to Mikado Gohanazono.

"I would ask the king to please affix his seal and imprintation!"

Mikado Gohanazono’s body began to tremble, with large beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

He reached for the seal in his sleeve, but his hands shook uncontrollably, like chaff in the wind.

Seeing this, Li Xuan spoke without reproach, "If Your Majesty is reluctant to use the seal, I can have the Right Minister write an abdication edict instead, selecting a suitable heir endowed with a noble heart and talent from the Fusou royal family."

There were still over twenty in the immediate imperial family of Fusou. If all else fails, one could be chosen from the bloodline of the Mikado of the Southern Dynasty.

The recent separation of the Southern and Northern Dynasties of Fusou had ended not long ago, merely about a century past, and the Southern Dynasty’s royal family was still plotting to reclaim the throne.

The so-called ’individuals with noble heart and talent’ would, of course, be those willing to affix their seal on this edict.

It was at that moment a golden light began to condense in the palace.

"Let us put an end to this!"

It was the goddess Tensho; she coalesced a projected avatar in front of Li Xuan once again.

Her face was solemn, meeting Li Xuan’s gaze across the empty space.

"We of Takamagahara are willing to surrender to Your Majesty!"

Li Xuan raised his eyebrows in interest, looking back at this Amaterasu Omikami.

He noted that the highest of all beings of the Fusou gods was devoid of her usual authority.

"Is that so?" Li Xuan inquired with an exploratory look, "But you must think carefully. My terms will only be more stringent than before."

"Everything is negotiable."

Tensho closed her eyes halfway, her gaze introspective, "Moreover, my grandfather, the ’Master of the Center of Heaven,’ bids me invite Your Majesty to Takamagahara for a discussion."

Li Xuan immediately understood; he knew that the so-called ’Master of the Center of Heaven’ of Fusou was ’Emperor Fusou’ himself.

This Emperor was clearly prepared to intervene personally.

No wonder the goddess Tensho dared to surrender.

In the presence of this Emperor’s overwhelming mana, which could rival that of Randeng, Li Xuan indeed couldn’t wipe out the Fusou gods entirely.

Li Xuan vividly felt as Lv Qiluo, standing behind him, became engulfed in a storm of emotions.

At the same time, Li Xuan sensed something and abruptly turned his head to glare sharply at Jiang Hanyun in the distance.

Jiang Hanyun was apparently gathering her divine energy. Discovering Li Xuan’s gaze, she uttered a ’tsk’ sound, but she ultimately retracted her Divine Skills.

It seemed that the two were indeed engrossed in a serious discussion that might very well reach an agreement.