Chapter 80 - She's Taken (1)
When Xue Fanxin returned to the Duke's Estate, she handed over 2 million taels of gold's worth of silver to Xue Batian and got him to disband the Xue family army. She also mentioned that the Heavenly Treasure Trading Company was willing to help them.
Not only Xue Batian was shocked by the chests of silver but also by the piece of news.
"Little Xin'er, tell me honestly. What agreement have you reached with the people of the Heavenly Treasure Trading Company?"
Xue Fanxin knew that she could not hide it from her grandfather, so she might as well tell him everything. She even gave him the remaining bottle of Spirit Awakening Potion.
When Xue Batian heard her story, his eyes widened in shock, his jaw almost falling to the floor. He held the bottle of Spirit Awakening Potion in his hand. It was an extremely valuable treasure, and he was overjoyed to get it. "Little Xin'er, w-what did you say? You can concoct the Spirit Awakening Potion?"
"Shh… Grandpa, this matter shouldn't be made public, or else we will be in big trouble. Anyway, it's enough that you know. You must not tell anyone. Take this bottle of Spirit Awakening Potion and give it to whoever you want. I'll leave the disbanding of the Xue family army to you. The Heavenly Treasure Trading Company will cooperate with you."
"I know, I know. Only the two of us know about this. I won't tell anyone." Xue Batian lowered his voice and played low-key with his granddaughter. He was filled with happiness.
As long as he was in his granddaughter's heart, he was satisfied.
With this money and the help of the Heavenly Treasure Trading Company, disbanding the Xue family army and letting them leave the Nanling Empire safely was not difficult.
On that day, Xue Batian began to make preparations for the disbanding of the Xue family army. He first gave a little speech, then distributed the silver to avoid panic. After all, once they went their separate ways, none of them had anywhere to go. If they did not even have any money, they would feel very lost.
After obtaining a satisfactory amount of money, everyone felt a lot more at ease. However, they were still unwilling to part. As brothers who had gone through thick and thin together, how could they just leave like that?
But they knew very well that the Nanling Emperor could not tolerate their existence. The Xue family army would disperse sooner or later. If it did not, there would be no good outcome.
"Brothers, I know that everyone can't bear to separate, but the situation has forced us to. We have no choice but to say goodbye to each other. The Nanling Emperor can't tolerate us anymore, and there's no need for us to serve him either. From now on, everything in the Nanling royal family will have nothing to do with us. We can go live the days we want and pursue our dreams. From tomorrow onwards, I'll arrange for you to leave in batches. You can go as far as you want until you're certain that you're safe."
Xue Batian bade farewell to his brothers, then arranged for them to leave in groups.
The next day, the people of the Heavenly Treasure Trading Company came to the Duke's Estate. After a simple discussion with Xue Batian, they started digging a tunnel from the Duke's Estate to the Heavenly Treasure Trading Company.
There was strength in numbers. The tunnel was dug in a day. Soon after, the Xue family army went from the tunnel to the Heavenly Treasures Trading Company and left the Nanling Empire through the secret passage of the Heavenly Treasures Trading Company.
Three days later, the tens of thousands of Xue family troops had all left the Nanling Imperial City. As a result, Xue Batian handed in his letter of resignation to the Imperial Court, foregoing his position as a Duke. He also said that the Xue family army had already been disbanded, and there would be no more Xue family troops in the world.
When the Nanling Emperor found out about this, he immediately sent people to investigate. He discovered that the Xue family army had really been dissolved. As for where they had gone, he had no idea.
"This damned Xue Batian actually dared to play dirty with me. He would rather disband the Xue family army than leave it for me to use. Good, very good. You want to resign, right? I'll fulfill your wish." In a fit of rage, the Nanling Emperor agreed to Xue Batian's resignation and personally issued an imperial edict to let Xue Batian retire and live a carefree life.
However, not long after, there was an urgent report.
"Reporting, Your Majesty. The Dongxiang Empire has sent 500,000 soldiers to invade the Nanling Empire's borders."
"What?"