My wife is an immortal black snake.

Page 215

End the war with the Colombians before December this year? That might be a bit tricky—it could mean fighting into next year, so maybe I shouldn't sign this betting agreement now?

Using those physical enhancement abilities or items to gamble on having to feed Miss Elegy every day when she's never full is hardly a good deal!

That was Yang Hao's original thought.

But before he could even smile and reject the betting agreement, he suddenly noticed that the so-called body-strengthening items and abilities seemed to have other uses...

Hmm? Extends lifespan? Added 50 years to my life? This is amazing...

Wow? It can make my body stronger and more resistant to disease? Wow, this is a good thing... What should I do? I'm getting a little craving it?

He hesitated for a moment. But that wasn't all; something else below was drawing his attention...

especially--

When Yang Hao noticed that the betting agreement stipulated that if he won and obtained the prize, he would not only improve his fertility but also have the potential to "win" against Koschche in bed—

He jumped up from his chair in a flash. Then, this man, who had signed the betting agreement without hesitation, solemnly declared in front of everyone that he wanted the officers to come up with a radical plan that could end the war by December of this year—now, immediately!

"But sir, our resources and military equipment—"

"No buts. I'll request more supplies and soldiers from home right now. As long as your plans are sound, I can guarantee you the resources and manpower you need—we have to end the war before December. I almost forgot we have something more important to do."

"Yes."

Yang Hao watched as the officers solemnly overturned their original plan and began devising a more radical battle strategy. He decided that this time, he wasn't just considering his own dignity as a man; he also genuinely needed to ensure that Ursus gained more benefits when this war ended.

So, he had to get moving too.

He frowned, pondering the momentous matter of getting Lady Therese to agree to establish Kazdel as his "protectorate" or "vassal state" after the war in Kazimir ended.

Chapter 104

Yang Hao didn't just sign the betting agreement with Miss Elegy for his own dignity. One reason he wanted the war with Colombia to end as soon as possible was so that his little colt could quickly wipe out the Kazimierz and become the Grand Duchess.

On the other hand, it was also related to his upcoming voyage—although Koschei kept nagging him to return as soon as possible to hold his wedding with her new body, Miss Lorelei's body, while also creating a new body for Green, the bad news from Therese forced Yang Hao to change his plans.

He needs to travel to Kazdel in December, or at the latest by January of next year—he needs to personally investigate what the Gallic territories adjacent to Kazdel have become, and he also needs to discuss the issue of their "little secret" with Lady Therese... So in any case, this war must end as soon as possible: not only for Yang Hao's future dignity as a man, but also for the interests of Ursus!

so...

"Sonia! Sonia's mom! You have to believe me!"

"...My bad boy, it's not that I don't believe you, but you at least have to explain to me what exactly happened, okay?"

The afternoon of July 18th.

Theresa, Karina, and Hela, the little darling, did not come to Yang Hao's private suite to work or play.

Right there in his own room, right in his own bathroom, Yang Hao was cornered by Sonia in the shower room, watching in utter terror as this loving guard slowly approached him step by step, while he could only scream like a woman, even uttering the word "Mom".

So what exactly happened? It's quite simple—through her long-term contact with Yang Hao and her understanding of him, Sonia's mother suddenly realized that her bad child had gone astray again and done something terrible.

Driven by worry and anxious anticipation, Yang Hao was about to go back to his room for a short nap to recharge when Sonia's mother kept pestering him. She kept asking if he had done something "bad" or made a "bet" with someone. Yang Hao, whose questions were repeatedly hitting the bullseye, grew increasingly flustered, which in turn fueled Sonia's mother's anxiety, creating a strange cycle—the more worried Sonia was, the more she asked; the more she asked, the more flustered Yang Hao became; and the more flustered he became, the more worried Sonia became...

After this cycle repeated several times, Sonia's anxious mother realized that she had no choice but to take matters into her own hands and teach her child a lesson.

And so it has come to this—the fearless Mr. Yang Hao has been cornered in the bathroom by his gentle mother. He is now trembling and on the verge of a mental breakdown. Finally, before Sonia's mother could completely crush him like a child, he finally told the truth.

He used his abilities to undertake an extremely risky plan. If it failed, his losses would be minimal, but if it succeeded, he could gain a great deal.

At first glance, it seems he has indeed told the truth. But upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that Mr. Yang Hao is actually using the art of language to deceive his bodyguard, his most trusted mother, Sonia!

Although Mr. Yang Hao honestly explained the risks of the betting agreement he had signed, he didn't specify what those risks were. He also didn't reveal how much profit he would gain after signing the agreement, but he believed Sonia should understand that Ursus could reap huge benefits if the war ended early!

...

However, his art of language meant little to a deep-sea hunter.

4:20 p.m.

Yang Hao was still run over by Sonia's mother in the bathroom.

After being thoroughly "disciplined," the naughty child finally obediently explained his plan to Sonia in a slightly more detailed way—but only in a slightly more detailed way.

"So, Mr. Yang Hao? You just... sigh!"

Sonia knew that Yang Hao would only say so much.

She sighed helplessly, like a mother discovering her college-aged child has started frequenting bars. But she still carefully changed Mr. Yang Hao's clothes, carried him back to the room, and after making sure he was comfortable in bed and covered with a blanket, she whispered in his ear:

"Don't try to hide it from me next time."

"...knew..."

Yang Hao, feeling listless, was gently flicked on the forehead by Sonia's mother with her finger. He then closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

... .....

At 8 o'clock in the evening.

When Yang Hao woke up, he found that everyone had returned sometime earlier and seemed to be relaxing after dinner.

With Sonia's help, he groggily got out of bed, yawned, and walked to his desk to enjoy his dinner. While he ate, Miss Karina, who was hugging Hela and whose face was inexplicably flushed, quietly said that the work reports they had processed that day were already on the table, and if Mr. Yang Hao would like to eat while reading them.

Yang Hao naturally chose to eat while reading—so he listlessly ate with a spoon in one hand and carefully read the documents in the other. He completely failed to notice the strange expressions on Theresa and Karina's faces, nor did he notice that Hela was also unusually quiet today, just staring at the two older sisters and Sonia's mother.

He focused all his attention on eating and studying the statistics. And to be honest, Theresa and the others' work throughout the day did bring him quite a few surprises.

Firstly, Theresa's prestige among the people of the Great Knight Territory is now extremely high. After she returned from visiting the graves, a large number of citizens of the Great Knight Territory volunteered to join the remnant army to defend their homeland, thus making Theresa, a woman who is "more reliable than the capitalists and the current government," the de facto ruler of Kazimir.

This is good news, meaning that no matter how badly Theresa does things to those capitalists and knights, the people of Kazimierz will not feel that Theresa has done anything wrong—so this is undoubtedly good news.

What else?

Yang Hao turned to the next page, and after swallowing the nutritious meat porridge in his mouth, he found that it was a report from Margarita's side.

Chapter 105

"—The Business Entities Federation has three factions... One hopes to relocate industries to Colombia and make a fortune alongside the Colombians... Another hopes to betray the other two factions and persuade them to surrender to us... And the most foolish of all hopes that the War Knights will let them go out of their own good, since they are all from Casimir? Uh... I finally understand why the capitalists of the Business Entities Federation would let me kill myself."

Yang Hao muttered something to himself, flipping through a few more pages of the letter in his hand. He was deeply impressed by the intelligence Margarita and her team had found, thinking to himself that capitalists truly lived up to their name—if the initial national capitalists could be considered patriotic individuals with backbone, then once capitalism developed to a certain level, these scoundrels, whose minds were only filled with money, would ultimately reveal only their ugly and foolish faces. The kind of faces that would sell even the rope used to hang themselves and a street lamp for money.

They were incredibly stupid. While the capitalists who wanted to relocate to Colombia might have had some sense, the other two groups were utterly clueless. And more broadly, even in a life-or-death situation, they didn't even intend to unite against a common enemy; instead, they split into several factions, each going their own way and plotting to sabotage each other...

Even if Yang Hao looked at them with the same eyes he would use to look at wild animals in a zoo, he still couldn't stand it: they were stupid and clumsy, even chickens understood the meaning of unity better than them, and even cockroaches wouldn't betray each other so meaninglessly... To be honest, Yang Hao had already completely blacklisted them. Not only that, he also wanted to kill them all to prevent them from causing any trouble for Teresa later.

“Theresa—remember this. Those business entity associations are no good. Once you come to power, just kill all their remnants with my support, and nationalize all their businesses and factories while you’re at it.”

"Eh? The remnants?"

"After the war ends, Kazimierz will definitely hold a victory parade—I will wipe out both sides on that day. Once those leaders are gone, the remaining henchmen will naturally be the remnants. Does my little colt want to tell me that I can't even handle those henchmen myself?"

Yang Hao looked up, giving Theresa a serious, disappointed look. Theresa rolled her eyes, indicating that if she really couldn't handle those lackeys, she would pack her things and go home the next day, letting Yang Hao find a more suitable person to be the Grand Duchess.

"Don't tell me you're planning to do this on purpose..."

"No, really not. Um... but more importantly, boss? Actually, someone from the Business Entities Federation contacted me this afternoon, saying they wanted to do business with us?"

Theresa's face stiffened abruptly, and she looked somewhat disappointed for some reason. She muttered something under her breath, then blurted out another big piece of news—a group of capitalists had actually come to her at this time.

"what?"

"Is this a message of surrender from the capitalists who want to surrender to us?" Yang Hao looked at Theresa in confusion, then scooped up another spoonful of meat porridge and put it in his mouth. He gestured for Theresa to continue, to see what message the capitalists had brought.

"To put it simply, it's all news about betraying the knights of war to gain benefits for them, you know?"

With this as her opening statement, Theresa explained to everyone in the room a deal that the capitalists had made to her—a dirty deal.

In short, the capitalists plan to sell the country again, or even several times over—in order to protect themselves and for their own interests, they have decided to hand over the most vital part of the conquering knights, namely the location of their current armory and the keys to the warehouses they use for transporting goods, to Theresa.

This is yet another audacious plan by the capitalists... one that even the shameless little pony Theresa couldn't stand. That's the Grand Knights' territory's last arsenal, the final storehouse of their warring knights!

If the capitalists were right, there were also about 3000 sets of chemical defense equipment that the conquering knights had bought from the capitalists at ten times the price to defend against invaders. And if the capitalists were right, besides the chemical defense equipment, the vast majority of the tools the conquering knights used to maintain their equipment, the equipment of the slave soldiers and militia, and even the ammunition for the defensive wall's cannons were also stockpiled there...

Once that warehouse is destroyed and a large amount of military equipment is lost, the conquering knights will lose their fighting ability for several years to come, and will be practically helpless, like salted fish on a chopping board.

Of course, even a fool wouldn't stab the knights in the backside in a situation where everyone's efforts are needed. The capitalists stated that even if Theresa agreed to their terms, they hoped she could use the key again after the war.

They said that this shipping key would help Theresa quickly eliminate the conquering knights of the Grand Knights after the war, ensuring her rule. Capitalists don't care who's above them; even if their superior is a Sarkaz, as long as they don't interfere with their business, they'll acknowledge that Sarkaz as the ancient emperor of Kazimir.

Therefore, the content of this transaction was quite simple: they hoped to use this crucial key to purchase a promise from Theresa, a promise that after Theresa became the Grand Duchess of Kazimierz, they would be able to ensure the continued stable operation of their business activities.

However, Theresa neither agreed nor refused at the time. She simply told the capitalists to go back and think about it for a few more days before presenting the issue to Yang Hao.

"Phew... Boss, to be honest, I actually wanted to get the key now, and then after the war, once I become the Grand Duchess, I'd turn my back on them and wipe out all those capitalists—but I'm not sure what you would do if you were in my shoes... Can you give me some advice?"

"Isn't your plan pretty good? Get the key to the Knights of Conquest's vitals, then after winning the war, I'll blow up the high-ranking officials on both sides, and then I'm thinking... um... won't those capitalists demand to sign a contract with you? And then the contract will have the names of those high-ranking officials written on it?"

"Yes. And it seems like it can't be transferred?"

“That settles it. The contract only states that Grand Duchess Theresa of Casimir cannot harm those capitalists—so we can have the Colombians blow up the capitalists with Colombian bombs, right?”

Yang Hao curled his lip, thinking that as long as everyone was killed cleanly by then, there would be no need to fulfill Theresa's promise.

Chapter 106

After filling his stomach, Mr. Yang Hao flipped through the newsletter again. Soon, he came across the last piece of good news—also good news brought back by Margarita and the others, good news about the conquering knights.

"Oh ho... have the practical knights who are good at fighting become unable to bear the pressure from the capitalists and their incompetent superiors? Do they want to break away... and establish a regime that can make Kazimir even stronger?"

Simply put, the Knights of Conquest were also split in two, and in some ways even more terrifying than the capitalists themselves splitting into three – a split in military power.

The pragmatic knights could no longer tolerate the monopolistic control of the country by domestic capitalists, nor could they tolerate the foolish and incompetent upper echelons using their batons to lead them toward a dead end—they had to find a way out for Kazimir before these two factions squeezed him into a dead end!

These are a group of respectable patriots—but to be honest, you see, Theresa really is making Kazimierz better and better with my help, so why don't you... just join her? Hmm?

Yang Hao laid bare his schemes and tricks on the faces of these battle-hardened knights, but honestly, was Yang Hao deceiving them? Definitely not!

Yang Hao considers himself a rough man, but at least he can guarantee the prosperity and happiness of his people and vassals, right? You said that in the future, under the leadership of Grand Duchess Theresa, Kazimir will become a vassal state of Ursus, but at least you will be a powerful nation, no capitalists will be pulling your pants, and no stupid bosses will be sending you to your deaths!

So, it's a great thing that you've joined Theresa's side! Do you have any complaints about it? Hmm? I've even preserved the country's name for you, and I don't intend to rule you directly, just as a vassal state and protectorate. There's nothing wrong with that—

"Um, boss, just so you know... not everyone wants to be a subordinate, right?"

"So why don't we just give them a fig leaf?"

"A fig leaf?"

"that is..."

Of course, Yang Hao also considered one point—not everyone is willing to be subservient to others. So, in reality, he wouldn't openly allow Kazimir to become a vassal state.

You see, both Casimir and Ursus are powerful independent nations, wouldn't you agree?

Therefore, our two countries can form an alliance, something like the Terra United Nations! Kazimir will be a permanent member of our warm family, and I, Ursus, will be the permanent chairman of this alliance. We can work together towards the same goal while ensuring the autonomy of each member country!

See, you're still an independent country, and Ursus and your Kazimierz don't have any superior-subordinate relationship. Isn't that great?

Yang Hao explained his ideas to the girls in the room. Afterwards, Teresa looked at the eloquent Mr. Yang Hao with the eyes of someone looking at a madman:

"Boss, are you crazy? I'm telling you, if you want to build an alliance of this scale, you should at least drag Yan and Victoria into it, right? Otherwise, those patriotic knights won't believe it, you know? I'm serious."

“Then we’ll talk about it later—anyway, there’s no official superior-subordinate relationship between us. You’re the Grand Duchess of Kazimir, and I’m the Duke of Ursus. On the surface, we’re on equal footing, so isn’t that fine?”

"Then I went to Ursus every week, and every time I came back from Ursus I was pregnant with the seed of a duke who was my equal, and I was also pregnant out of wedlock, and finally gave birth to a black-haired child? Um... I don't think anyone would believe that..."

"..."

"..."

Alright. Theresa's words don't entirely disproportionately make sense—after all, what two equally powerful imperial rulers would have such obvious physical or familial ties? Haha... how about we just leave it at that?

No, no!

Yang Hao thought for a moment—since some people don't believe Teresa's noble words about Kazimierz, why can't we think about it differently?

If you eliminate all those who don't believe in this, won't everyone left be a good person who is willing to believe it?

...Yang Hao explained his bold idea to the girls again, and this time, even Miss Karina, who was holding Hela and seemingly lost in thought, looked at Yang Hao with a ghostly expression:

“Um, Mr. Yang Hao? While I know you would do everything with the utmost efficiency for the future of Ursus... but... if a third of the people in Kazimir show distrust in what you're saying, then what…?”

"—Um? Karina, don't get me wrong, I was just using a metaphor, a metaphor! And Hela, Hela, please don't look at Daddy like that! Teresa, please explain for me..."

... .....

While Teresa was busy explaining Yang Hao's incredibly radical ideas, Yang Hao was indeed seriously considering the future of this land.

After all, as Teresa said, if Yang Hao intends to establish a globally united "nation" in the future, then he will inevitably encounter a lot of resistance. But what if we change our thinking and instead of establishing a publicly unified nation, we establish a "United Nations" organization?