In the end, Poplar The First also believed that he had already "proven his innocence." He indeed did not order any trouble with the Emperor of the Great Tang Empire, thus he is naturally innocent.
The performance of his subordinates was also very normal, and there was no potential for anyone to bring trouble upon themselves, so it must have been some other country doing it.
As for which country it was... that was hard to say. Pushing it onto the Dwarfs seemed impolite, as the Elves also had no substantial evidence, and placing the blame on the Dwarfs, who were already wiped out by the Great Tang Empire, could easily lead to misunderstandings about being fooled. So Poplar The First felt it was better to choose a more secure scapegoat.
After thinking it over, he decided it might be better not to specify any particular country and to be more vague: in the end, he gave his judgment: "It definitely wasn't me. As for who it was, I suspect it was one of those human empires. Only they have the capability to organize such shameless actions."
What he didn't know was that both the Suthers Empire and Laines Empire, in the face of the Great Tang Empire's questioning, very tacitly suspected the Elf's Poplar Empire. The reason given by them was simple: after all, the Elves are of a different race, and they have more reason to target a human emperor.
Poplar The First never expected that allies could be so ruthless; he truly had no intent to frame anyone, he just wanted to shirk responsibility.
The Great Tang Empire also didn't intend to make things too difficult for anyone, as they had already internally blamed the entire issue on Sofia.
During this round of negotiation, Poplar The First agreed to pay the Great Tang Empire a ransom of 50 million Gold Coins through a third party, in exchange for the Great Tang Empire's promise not to carry out any missile attacks on the Elf Capital, Ruoslaina, within two months.
This amount was to be settled in five installments, with a payment every 12 days, otherwise, this secret agreement would become invalid.
Poplar The First reluctantly accepted these conditions, as this was his best option at the moment. The Great Tang Empire was already being quite accommodating to the Elf Race by offering him this option.
What he didn't know was that the Great Tang Empire originally had no plan to march south to attack the Poplar Empire within two months, so this two-month missile raid operation was entirely a kind of harassment to trouble him, and extorting 50 million Gold Coins was a completely unexpected bonus.
Of course, if the Elves wanted to renew the secret agreement after it expired, I suspect it would be possible. It's just that, a few months later, whether they would still want to buy insurance against their cities being bombed or shelled, that would be up to them to decide.
By that time, one would think the Elves wouldn't still feel like spending money on such face-saving projects, right?
In the first week of March, the Great Tang Empire released 150,000 Dwarf soldiers who behaved the best and committed the lightest offenses. These soldiers could choose to go home and find work near their hometowns.
If they couldn't find work, they could apply to the local government of the Great Tang Empire to get suitable jobs arranged by local officials. The Great Tang Empire fulfilled its promise, winning the hearts of the Dwarf POWs.
With these individuals as examples, the morale among the Dwarf POWs soared, and the atmosphere in the POW camp was exceptionally good. The Dwarfs, who were already working hard, became even more diligent in their efforts.
As the weather warmed, their speed in building roads and railways increased, as did their speed in house construction. Some small towns ravaged by war were rebuilt, and even connected to the power grid, owning their own bus stations.
Without comparison, there's no harm. After adapting to the conveniences of the Great Tang Empire, the locals naturally had no resistance. With the good reputation left behind by civil officials, the rule of Tang Country is becoming more solidified in the Dwarf District.
The chaos left behind by the Allied Forces' retreat disappeared, and the negative impacts caused by the Dwarf military's looting were gradually being erased. The people's hearts were settling down, and everything was slowly returning to normal.
Everyone was waiting to see the Tang Army's joke, but now the joke was gone, and the newly annexed territories, far from being a hindrance, seem to have become their new leverage.