Had Yun Ya also harbored such suspicions? After all, the Yan King had enumerated so many coincidences that people unaware of the truth would find his evidence quite substantial. And Yun Ya’s understanding of her far exceeded that of the Yan King.

However, she did not take this question to ask Yun Ya.

During the time she left Ursel and traveled to Tingyuan Town, a small coastal country called Tu Yu to the west of Wei Kingdom suddenly disturbed Wei’s borders, causing bloody conflicts, and seized a batch of ore on the pretext that the jointly developed mine had unfair distribution.

Cities and civilians severely damaged in the earth dragon’s upheaval had not yet been fully relieved, battles spreading from Huachao Plateau to the central parts of the kingdom were faltering with wavering morale, and now the Wei Kingdom, while facing natural disasters and war calamities, had gained yet another suddenly hostile neighbor.

Anyone could guess that Tu Yu’s aggression came at the instigation of Yan Kingdom. The Yan King planned to attack on three fronts to quickly dismantle his opponent’s defenses. He also understood that Wei’s foundations were too strong to be easily worn down in direct confrontation in a short time; instead, he needed to target the people’s hearts and morale to accelerate the process.

But at this moment, New Xia, which had been a mere spectator in this world-shaking war, suddenly announced that it would buy back the seven northwestern prefectures of the former An Xia territory from the Wei Kingdom.

After the establishment of New Xia, the seven northwestern prefectures of An Xia had not returned to their embrace but remained under Wei’s control. Tingyuan Town, where Feng Miaojun met with Xiao Yan, was in Xing Prefecture.

When the news spread, people of both Wei and Xia were excited.

It had been less than twenty years since An Xia’s fall, and New Xia had only been established for a little over ten years. Most people still had emotional attachments to their homeland. As long as New Xia could recover lost territory, whether by taking it back or buying it back, it was a morale-boosting achievement that would make people proud.

Although many who harbored hatred toward Wei were somewhat dissatisfied with the method of “purchase,” they also understood that New Xia had long signed a non-aggression agreement with Wei, which had not yet expired. This meant that New Xia couldn’t take advantage of Wei’s difficulties at this moment. If they wanted to reclaim the seven prefectures, the most effective and possible way was to straightforwardly buy them.

When Fu Lingchuan initially established New Xia, abandoning the seven prefectures had its considerations—the land there was barren, mostly covered with desert and salt marshes, as well as primeval forests that were havens for many monsters. In simple terms, these seven prefectures were harsh, inhospitable lands where humans could not live comfortably.

For the then extremely young New Xia, this territory had low value and few residents, so it could be selectively abandoned, and using it as the Wei-Xia border could be regarded as a natural buffer zone for combat. But now New Xia had money and yearned for territorial integrity and a display of strength.

The desire for territory is innate in all living beings, and countries are no different.

For the Wei people, especially the Wei court, giving up a small piece of barren land wasn’t much of a sacrifice, yet it could be exchanged for large amounts of war supplies—a very profitable deal.

Indeed, the “land purchase payment” from the New Xia court wasn’t gold or silver, but massive quantities of grain, armor, medicine, military equipment, horses, and other supplies urgently needed by Wei during the war and disaster relief—truly a dazzling array.

Yan Kingdom immediately jumped up in protest. This was no transaction; it was New Xia beginning to support the Wei Kingdom. Otherwise, why pay such a high price for a piece of barren land? In this vast world, land was the least scarce resource. New Xia had large areas of uninhabited wilderness in both its northern and southern regions, yet they showed no interest in expanding there.

Moreover, the Queen of New Xia had abandoned the conventional method of sending troops and instead supplied materials to Wei Kingdom under the banner of “recovering lost territory,” thus catering to the sentiments of both Yao people and New Xia people. After all, between “doing business with an enemy” and “fighting for an enemy,” everyone would prefer the first option.

Of course, there was another important point: over the years, under the Queen of New Xia’s manipulation, the Yan Kingdom’s impression among New Xia commoners had declined repeatedly, now reaching the level of “disdain.” Even ordinary citizens knew that Yan Kingdom had enormous ambitions, and if Wei fell, New Xia might be the next to suffer.

Therefore, whether clever or confused, commoner or elite, few opposed the Queen’s “buying back” of An Xia’s former territory. Some even delighted in discussing how, nine years ago, New Xia had been destitute, relying on Wei’s reparations to govern and repel invaders. Now New Xia was rich and powerful, able to buy land from the Wei Kingdom in return.

This was truly uplifting.

Supporting the Wei Kingdom yet not provoking strong opposition from her people—the Queen of New Xia had somehow managed to win both ways. For this alone, she earned renewed respect from seasoned politicians across the continent.

The Jin King in Zhaixing City read the war report and couldn’t help but slap the table, saying: “Impressive. This is what we call mutual benefit, and the Yan King should have nothing to say about it.”

The Yan army fighting in Wei territory was indeed frustrated.

But Yan Kingdom was now single-mindedly focused on swiftly attacking Wei, definitely not wanting New Xia to interfere at this critical moment. More subtly, Feng Miaojun had acquired all seven prefectures of An Xia at once, meaning she couldn’t use this pretext to support Wei again. Given that this was a one-time deal, Yan Kingdom ultimately chose to silently swallow its anger.

The supplies transported by New Xia were quickly delivered to the Wei army frontlines.

Under the Yan people’s powerful onslaught, Wei army positions on the Huachao Plateau had become fragmented and scattered. Additionally, with the terrain and river course changes caused by the earth dragon’s upheaval, there were actually large numbers of Wei soldiers roaming in enemy territory and behind enemy lines, but they suffered from shortages of food, weapons, and medicine. Western and northern reinforcements couldn’t break through the Yan people’s blockade to deliver supplies, so they had been struggling desperately.

This was exactly what Feng Miaojun had analyzed before: the Wei frontline didn’t lack people, only the means and materials for war.

New Xia’s supplies came from east to west, avoiding the Yan army’s blockade, and were delivered directly to these Wei soldiers.

What is a war fought with? Given that both sides are evenly matched, it’s a contest of who has more supplies and better logistics.

The materials New Xia used to “buy land” were substantial, but in the context of war, they weren’t enough—at most, they constituted one relatively abundant supply replenishment. However, this was like adding a few liters of fuel to a car with its fuel light on; at least it could keep running for a few more dozen kilometers.

The Wei army in the southeast ate and received weapons, regaining their fighting spirit, which immediately gave the Yan people cause for concern about their rear.

Both Wei and Yan kingdoms were also surprised to discover that New Xia’s armor and military equipment were exceptionally well-made.

After one battle, two blood-stained inner armors were brought before the Yan King. He picked them up and examined them briefly, his face changing slightly: “These are from the equipment New Xia provided to the Wei Kingdom?”

“Yes. We found such inner armor on many Wei soldiers, something we had never seen before since the war began.”