At the beginning, when Great Liang had not yet opened its sea route, concentrating their manpower and resources on the development of iron armor and firepower, it was once despised by the uncivilized barbarians as ‘the southerners who wasted their resources on luxury and heresy’. The Wolf King of the North had too much confidence in his claws, arrogantly missed the opportunity to sit on the clouds of Ziliujin to soar to the sky and was later suppressed by the Central Plains for decades unable to turn the tide. The Ziliujin in the territory was forced to be offered as a tribute, unable to catch up with their own steel armor technology, even now, their equipment still had to rely on the support of the Westerners.

This blood-soaked lesson from the past could not be ignored by the Eighteen Tribes. It was impossible for them to watch Great Liang with its factories springing up, lifting the ban, and about to set off the peak period of development of fire engine and steel armor technology for the second time — if the present momentum continued to develop, if they allowed Great Liang to survive the cold winter and recover slowly, perhaps the Barbarians would truly have no room left for survival.

"I dare not comment on how the Second Prince is," Gu Yun said, "but I understand Jia Lai Ying Huo. The old thing would rather die than sit idly and wait to be mangled, let alone send a son, even if he sends his father, we still have to be on guard — fetch my seal."

That night, ten or so Beacon Orders were issued from the Northern Camp, the level was the same as when the foreign soldiers came to Dagu Port. The post stations along the northwest to the capital were all equipped with additional troops ready to face a great enemy. The Ling Shu Institute sent a batch of people to the garrison of the North Defense Forces to inspect the situation of armors and prepare to go out to battle at any time.

Great Liang entered winter in the midst of the approaching storm, and soon entered a new year. However, the court was strangely quiet.

Yan Wang held the Grand Council, at the center of the whirlpool, his return made the whole court pay close attention to him, but Yan Wang was beyond everyone's expectation, he did not come back and immediately start the follow-up reform as dramatically as Fang Qin imagined. Instead, he started ‘cooking the little fish.’*

*referring to Lao Tzu’s quote about governance: Governing a great nation is like cooking a small fish - too much handling will spoil it.