In the boundless Gobi Desert, a caravan that set out from the City of Tiannan, almost spanning the empire from south to north, finally arrived at the northern border of Xichu. Contrary to the common perception of the Divine Land in the West, the northwestern region of Empire Chu does not border the sea. Beyond the Tianshan Mountain Range, which serves as a border barrier, lie vast grasslands, followed by a range of mountains named "Duan Cang."

Due to the presence of the Duan Cang Mountains blocking moisture from the sea, the majority of the empire's northwest region is extremely dry. In contrast, the grasslands are more suitable for habitation due to the melting snow and ice from the Duan Cang Mountains.

Tiiran also experienced the desolation of the northwest. Since entering the northwest, there were scarcely any decent cities unlike the picturesque water towns of Jiangnan he had seen before.

Most of the population in the northwest is concentrated in areas where there is abundant underground water. Only such places can support enough population to form towns. Other towns in the northwest are mostly military towns with a majority of residents being military personnel and their families. Daily provisions mostly come from imperial allocations, and this expenditure constitutes a significant portion of the annual treasury income.

Past emperors have considered abandoning the barren land of the northwest altogether. However, the Tianshan Mountain Range, once given to the nomads, would leave almost no defenses all the way down to the southern regions. The nomadic cavalry could even directly threaten several economic hubs in the south of the empire. This consequence was unsustainable, so the idea of abandonment remained just that—an idea.

"Your Highness Tiiran, what you see now is the outline of the Yanmen Pass fortress."

Inside the carriage, Moyo pointed outside the window.

"It feels quite impressive," Tiiran leaned towards the window, gazing at the magnificent citadel in the distance.

The stretch of Gobi Desert the caravan traveled through served as a corridor leading to the grasslands, also acting as the gateway guarding the thousands of miles of the northwest territory. Ahead of the vehicles, on the vast expanse of land that seemed endless, stood the abrupt silhouette resembling a distant mountain. This sight momentarily reminded the princess of a king's city on a plain, Minas Tirith, except even more imposing. The fortress was so towering and extensive that it was unimaginable it was built in the desolate desert.

"I wonder how much money it takes to build a fortress in this ghostly place... Let alone maintenance and repairs, the costs must be astronomical, right?" Tiiran clicked his tongue. Truly befitting of an empire from the East?

"The Yanmen Pass has a history of over a thousand years. It was built by Emperor Taizu with the help of several major Daoist sects of the time. The materials and craftsmanship were top-notch, and many areas are blessed with Daoist magic," Moyo explained. "As for the repair costs... a portion is naturally allocated directly by the empire, but there is another part... Your Highness Tiiran, you will find out when you arrive at the fortress."

Although the fortress was now visible, it still took the caravan almost two hours to reach the foot of the stronghold, and the sun had already risen to its highest point in the sky.

The carriage entered through the central gate, and after a brief dimness, the entirety of the border stronghold of Empire Chu was revealed before their eyes.

"Welcome to the Yanmen Pass of Princess Ling."

"Hmm, it's... more lively than I imagined?"

The view outside the car window seemed no different from ordinary cities they had seen, except for the attire of pedestrians with headscarves and shawls to shield against sandstorms, and slightly subdued tones and decorations compared to the south.

Apart from that, children played by the street, vendors hawked their wares, and elders played chess under the trees... It was challenging to feel the military stronghold atmosphere if not for the constant presence of fully armed soldiers and cavalry patrolling or returning from outside the city.

"This is the residential area of the Yanmen Pass, roughly equivalent in scale to a small city with a population of around eighty thousand, all ordinary people."

"Sorry to ask," Tiran tapped on the windowsill, "but how many troops are stationed here?"

"Yanmen Pass has a total of fifty thousand military personnel, with eight thousand directly under His Highness as the Jiangdong Army."

Eighty thousand civilians was already an exaggerated ratio for a military town.

"Wait, is that... a caravan?"

Tiran's gaze once again landed on a group of cargo wagons gathered in front of a gate at the street. Judging by the attire of the people around and the goods on the wagons like flour and alcohol, Tiran was certain that it was not military supplies.

"Yes, there's a merchant guild here, and all caravans arriving at Yanmen Pass register here."

"Who are they selling their goods to, could it be...?" Tiran raised an eyebrow.

"Of course, to the nomads. Otherwise, there would be no reason for them to be attracted to a border fortress." Mo Yi smiled.

The wagon arrived at its destination. Passing through an inner gate, the surroundings immediately quieted down, with the hustle and bustle of the market separated behind them, and before them lay the real fortress.

Three wagons came to a stop in succession, and after everyone got off, auxiliary soldiers responsible for looking after the horses and wagons came to take them away.

"Then, I will take His Highness Tiran to meet His Highness Ling. The rest of you, please go and rest for a while."

Mo Yi stood in front of Tiran and the others, with several soldiers in their regular attire already approaching and gesturing the way after saluting.

After exchanging a glance, Mimi and Shuma, Mimi approached Tiran and asked, "Can I accompany His Highness?"

"If Miss Mimi insists, His Highness Ling shouldn't mind."

Mo Yi shrugged, while Zilan had already walked towards the tower alone.

The internal structure of Yanmen Pass was so complex that even as a military fortress, Tiran couldn't help but suspect that without a guide, she would probably get lost inside. Civilian military personnel, who looked different from her and the fortress surroundings, passed by from time to time without giving them an extra glance, hurriedly making their way through.

The fortress was divided into three levels, each with an exaggerated height. It was said to facilitate the transportation and development of certain large machinery, but what exactly it was for... When they reached the top level, the view suddenly opened up, with a battery almost every twenty meters, and what was mounted on them... Italian cannons?

Tiran couldn't help but think of the contraption she had messed around with, but this one was three times larger in volume than a standard cannon, with a bore diameter comparable to a bombard. Most importantly, it seemed like it wasn't powered by gunpowder.

If it was something similar to magitech cannons, the volume was on par with the largest class of magitech cannons! The "Cloud Breaker" she saw in the Magitech Capital wasn't as outrageous as this, right?

"His Highness is looking at the Pure Yang Annihilation Spear, a product combining mechanical arts and fire-based magical arts, which is one of the main directions in weapon development by His Highness Ling leading the Jiangdong Army."

"You call this thing a spear?" Tiran chuckled awkwardly, "This thing... must cost a pretty penny, right? And this country actually allows border troops to develop such dangerous things?"

"As for the money, there are those merchants." Mo Yi wore a mischievous smile, "They can only do business with the nomads by passing through Yanmen Pass, and collecting fifty percent of the tariff from this area every year is quite lucrative."

"Gee..."

It was truly mind-blowing. If someone under my father dared to do this, allowing border troops to conduct unauthorized trade with enemies and pocket tariffs, wouldn't they be immediately eliminated? It just goes to show that every country is different.

"Another… fifty percent? Isn't that asking for too much? Would those merchants be willing?"

"Whether they are willing or not is not up to them to decide. Besides animal husbandry, there are no resources on the grasslands. Unfortunately, most grassland people enjoy drinking, and those unscrupulous merchants can exchange their inferior quality food and alcohol for goods worth ten times more than what they would get inside the Empire. Under such huge profits, what is a fifty percent tariff?"

Looking at the Eastern nobleman in front of him, who should have been focusing on cultivating immortality with elegance, speaking shrewdly, Tiran suddenly felt that he had a misunderstanding of the two words 'cultivating immortality.'

"To be honest, doesn't your Emperor care about this…" Tiran regretted asking right after the words left his mouth. Wasn't the answer obvious?

"Regarding this, Your Highness, I mentioned it when I entered the city, this is 'Yanmen Pass belonging to Princess Ling.'"

Empire's Princess Ling, since joining the army five years ago, had been stationed at the border of Yanmen Pass. Initially disguised as a man, she started as a foot soldier and gradually accumulated military achievements. After becoming the commander, she openly revealed her identity as a princess, leading her troops to launch multiple raids into the grasslands, eliminating two grassland tribes with over ten thousand people. With countless battles and few defeats, two years ago, she officially became the Grand General of Yanmen Pass.

"Both of Princess Ling's elder brothers have been granted territories, while Princess Ling has dedicated all her energy to guarding the border and has yet to be granted one. In a way, Yanmen Pass is semi-officially considered Princess Ling's territory, and affairs within the territory are naturally none of outsiders’ concern."

"And this kind of thing…" Tiran rarely felt genuine admiration for a girl, this princess was quite fierce. Initially, he had thought of ways to seduce her to eventually take control of her and her army. Now, he needed to reconsider.

Well… from a different perspective, conquering a heroic girl is quite challenging.

"I suddenly feel a little sorry for the people of the grasslands."

Tiran glanced at the pinnacle Pure Yang Annihilation Gun mounted every twenty meters on the city walls. With this kind of firepower, it was clearly bullying to use it against a group of barbarians on horseback. They were still using mounted archery and mass cavalry charges, how could you suddenly change the rules and expect them to cope!

"Your Highness is unaware."

Mo Yi led the way while explaining, "Although Yanmen Pass now serves to repel the grassland invaders, the original intention of Emperor Taizu, along with the immortal sects at that time, in constructing Yanmen Pass was not to block the grassland tribes."

Further northwest from the grasslands was a vast expanse of mountains known as the “Broken Sky,” the largest mountainous region on the continent, with towering peaks covering most of the northern territories from the northwest to the central north, totaling an area equivalent to four times that of the northwest grasslands.

The Broken Sky mountain range was rarely visited by people. Even the grassland tribes closer to Broken Sky had never ventured deep into it, not to mention the Western Chu. But there was one fact that everyone was aware of.

The Broken Sky mountains were home to a large and diverse population of 'feral beasts,' and in ancient times, there were incidents of feral beasts rampaging, causing millions of casualties, almost destroying the dynasty at that time. The construction of Yanmen Pass was initially to prevent that tragedy from happening again.

Mo Yi was a great narrator, and by the time he finished speaking, he had brought Tiran and Mimi to their destination - Princess Ling's audience chamber.

However, the audience chamber was wide open, and Zilan, who had arrived earlier, was standing by the window, lost in thought. In addition to Sword Miss, there was also a bird with white feathers and crimson plumage standing on the back of the main chair in the room, its round eyes staring blankly at the three new arrivals, looking rather naive.

"Cluck cluck cluck?"