Dragon Raja: History Simulator

Page 111

From Jormungandr's perspective, this great fire that swept across the Five Tombs originated from the wrath of the King of Bronze and Fire, namely the Word of Power "Lord's Flame".

"No, I'm not of much use to you in Luoyang anymore, but I might be able to gain something in Chang'an."

Wang Anzhi, holding his riding whip, pointed to the vast city of Chang'an before him and said, "Gengshi has stationed his troops in Luoyang and dares not advance westward. Isn't this my opportunity?"

At this moment, looking at the enormous city before her, the Dragon Girl felt a growing unease and whispered:

"I have never been to Chang'an before."

"Oh, why?" Wang Anzhi couldn't help but feel curious.

“Chang’an is Norton’s territory. Ever since the Phoenix Cries in Qishan and marches east to destroy the Shang, I have not dared to pass through Guanzhong, for fear that he will find an opportunity to attack me.”

A thousand years have passed in the blink of an eye. Now Norton is trapped in Sichuan, while Constantine is imprisoned in Chang'an.

Jormungandr's smile grew even brighter. Thinking of her brothers and sisters' misfortunes, she felt that she was just a dragon in the abyss, with a bright future ahead of her.

“Things are different now. The Xin dynasty is about to fall, and Wang Mang may not be able to suppress Liu Xin anymore.”

Wang Anzhi shook his head; Liu Xin was Constantine's current alias.

Just as the two were lamenting, a Roman horse sped across the road, seemingly about to crash into them.

The dragon girl was very dissatisfied, so she simply grabbed the horse lightly, and the horse crashed to the ground as it passed the two of them, kicking up a huge cloud of dust.

"Don't kill me, don't kill me..."

The man on horseback was covered in dust, his hands trembling. Almost instinctively, he raised his hands and gave a French military salute as if by unspoken agreement, but he couldn't utter a complete sentence.

Seeing this, the people around silently walked away. The world was dangerous these days, and they never expected that there would be highway robbers even outside Chang'an. However, no one dared to provoke them.

Wang Anzhi and Jormungandr exchanged a glance, and the latter raised his whip and lashed the man's face, instantly leaving a bloody welt.

The dragon girl said impatiently, "Who are you? What's the situation in Chang'an right now?"

The man touched the painful spot on his face, wiped it with his hand, and held it up to his eyes. Seeing the blood-red color, he was almost instantly terrified. Only after the Dragon Girl lashed his face with her whip again did he speak:

"Spare me, spare me! I am Kong Fen, the fifteenth generation descendant of Confucius, and also a disciple of the Imperial Preceptor. Please don't kill me."

Upon hearing this self-introduction, Wang Anzhi knew he had caught a big fish. Being a descendant of Confucius was nothing special, but the reputation of his family as a family that had cultivated and submitted memorials to Confucius was incredibly well-known to him.

Even though he knew that this sage had several loyal ministers in his family, he still couldn't change this stereotype.

As for the disciples of the Imperial Preceptor, Liu Xin is now the Imperial Preceptor, and since this Kong Fen claims to be Liu Xin's disciple, he should be able to access some information.

So Wang Anzhi looked down at this descendant of the sage and said in a very impolite tone, "Since you are a descendant of the sage and a disciple of the Imperial Preceptor, why are you talking about leaving Chang'an now?"

Seeing Kong Fen's hurried manner, without even a servant, Wang Anzhi knew that he was definitely not going to perform his duties normally, so he could only be running away.

Kong Fen looked at the man and woman in front of him and hesitated for a moment, not daring to speak. It wasn't until the Dragon Girl lashed him with her whip again that he showed the demeanor befitting a member of a sage family.

"The city is in chaos. There are bandits from the Three Auxiliary Regions... no, heroes who want to attack Chang'an and rid the country of this scourge. Fortunately, Minister of Works Wang Yi stopped them, preventing a major upheaval. However, the city is already in chaos."

Kong Fen gathered his thoughts before speaking again:

"As for the disciples of the Imperial Preceptor, don't you two know that the Imperial Preceptor was imprisoned by the Xin Dynasty more than half a year ago? I am a disciple of the Imperial Preceptor. In this chaotic world, why should I not flee?"

"More than half a year ago?" Wang Anzhi and Jormungandr looked at each other in disbelief. They had thought Constantine was about to break free from his constraints after seeing the fire at Wuling, but they hadn't expected him to be stuck in the same situation.

Seeing their bewildered expressions, Kong Fen quickly seized the opportunity and said:

"You two are unaware that several years ago, the Imperial Preceptor had already become estranged from His Majesty and was alienated by him. He took charge of the Imperial Observatory and the Star Observatory. It was at that time that I became his disciple."

Kong Fen then rattled off a long string of words, as if afraid the two might be dissatisfied. After he finished speaking, he looked at them expectantly, as if asking if he could leave.

While Wang Anzhi was still pondering, the Dragon Girl became impatient. She looked at Wang Anzhi, full of vigor and confidence, completely unlike her initial timidity. She was now exuding an air of grandeur. With a wave of her hand, she pointed to the open city of Chang'an before her, her face showing a mocking expression.

She had initially wondered if such a move concealed some kind of conspiracy, but the answer turned out to be so simple.

Chaos erupted in Chang'an. No one inside, whether it was Emperor Wang Mang, anyone else, or even the rebels, had time to control the city gates and could only let the people come and go as they pleased.

Thinking of this, the Dragon Girl was filled with thoughts. She whipped her white horse and prepared to head straight into the city.

Soon, Wang Anzhi shook his head and followed.

Neither of them paid any attention to Kong Fen, the descendant of the sage. Kong Fen watched the two figures enter the city and couldn't help but feel a sense of lingering fear. They had just left Chang'an and had already encountered such a disaster. Where was there any peace now?

As he pondered this, he helped his fallen Roman horse to its feet and continued away from this place of conflict.

……

Inside Weiyang Palace.

It was still quite bright outside, and Wang Mang lay on his side on the ivory bed, fast asleep.

Just then, a young eunuch walked over, his steps light and careful, quietly tidying up the memorials.

Suddenly, a crackling sound was heard.

Wang Mang, who was lying on the bed, suddenly woke up and kept saying, "The blame for the world's affairs lies with me." But he quickly fell silent and stared blankly at the eunuch in front of him, speechless for a while.

The eunuch heard Wang Mang, the emperor of the new dynasty, speak from beginning to end, and knelt down repeatedly, kowtowing and saying:

"Your Majesty, please forgive me. Your Majesty, please forgive me."

Since the news spread three months ago that Sikong Wang Yi had led an army of 420,000 to their complete annihilation, this sage emperor has lost his former gentleness. Or rather, since he plunged the world into chaos ten years ago, this sage emperor has lost the benevolence he once had.

He became sinister, cunning, irritable, and powerless, losing all his former uprightness, confidence, and self-reliance.

The only thing that hasn't changed is that he was the emperor ten years ago, and he still is now, able to easily decide the fate of this lowly eunuch.

Wang Mang stared at the eunuch, then said in a daze, "You... heard everything just now?"

He exposed his inner weakness to a eunuch, along with the dignity he was trying to maintain.

The eunuch kowtowed and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. It was windy just now, and I didn't hear anything."

Wang Mang chuckled to himself. He looked at the candlelight before his bed, which remained perfectly still. Where was the strong wind coming from inside the palace now?

In fact, both of them knew the answer.

However, Wang Mang did not intend to pursue the matter further. He smiled bitterly, his face filled with worry, recalling how a large army had stormed into Chang'an a few days earlier and looted everywhere. Fortunately, Minister Wang Yi stepped forward, preventing a major upheaval.

He put on his robe, got up, and walked to the eunuch, his expression unusually gentle. "Get up!"

The eunuch stood up in fear, repeatedly saying things like "kindness" and "favor".

Wang Mang ignored him and walked out of the palace. He saw a familiar figure. It was Wang Yi, his uncle's son, standing in front of his palace gate, fully armed and wielding a halberd.

Upon seeing him, Wang Mang was greatly surprised. "Minister of Works, why must you act like a mere guard in front of the palace?"

Wang Yi shook his head repeatedly, "Your Majesty, I have committed a grave error that is unforgivable. Being able to serve as a guard is already a great favor from Your Majesty."

Wang Mang shook his head repeatedly. "The defeat at Kunyang was not the fault of the Minister of Works." He paused for a moment and then said with great difficulty, "It was truly... the will of Heaven."

God willing?

Wang Mang smiled bitterly. He had ascended the throne using this very word, never imagining that one day he would use it to describe his own defeat.

But what else could this be but fate?

During the Battle of Kunyang, a meteorite struck the government army camp. Although it was only the left wing, not the main force of the central army, such a natural disaster would still shock everyone.

In the end, it was just a reunion of a few thousand people, while hundreds of thousands of troops vanished into thin air. Isn't this fate?

The thought of this was like a knife to Wang Mang's heart. To admit that fate was in someone else's hands was tantamount to denying his own life.

At the same time, Wang Mang saw a burst of fire in the east of the city, which grew from small to large and soon became uncontrollable.

He paused, then looked at Wang Yi. "Lord Situ, I'm entrusting the defense of Chang'an to you. Do you know what's happening in the east of the city?"

Wang Yi was speechless and could only apologize repeatedly, saying, "Your Majesty is unaware that five or six out of ten officials in Chang'an have already been dismissed, and the rest are uninterested in their duties. I... truly do not know."

Wang Mang was speechless. Fifteen years earlier, it was the citizens of Chang'an who, with one vote each, recognized his acceptance of the Han emperor's abdication, and all the students of the Imperial Academy followed suit.

Fifteen years have passed in the blink of an eye, and the people of Chang'an have abandoned him, or rather, been abandoned by him.

He stared blankly at the raging fire in the east of the city, wondering how the people there were faring. His heart was heavy as he recalled that no one had submitted a memorial to the emperor for several days, and the last memorial he had dealt with was one that had been submitted ten days earlier.

He murmured, "Is this my Chang'an?"

Neither the eunuchs behind Wang Mang nor Wang Yi beside him could utter a word.

Soon, Wang Mang stopped caring about these things; he knew that Chang'an no longer belonged to him.

However, Wang Mang knew very well that he had one last thing to do, a disaster he had left behind, which he had to deal with personally.

He looked at his cousin in front of him, paused for a moment, and did not pursue his dereliction of duty any further. After all, what use would it be to pursue these matters now?

He said softly, "Take me to the observatory."

The eunuch quickly called on the other eunuchs to have the sedan chair carried out, and Wang Yi also summoned several guards to escort it.

The Observatory was built more than half a year ago by Wang Mang for his old friend Liu Xin, the Grand Tutor, who was undoubtedly a great contributor to Wang Mang's usurpation of the throne.

Soon, the group of eunuchs and guards brought Emperor Wang Mang to the Observatory.

The observatory is called a palace, but it is actually a prison. There are no red tiles or bronze artifacts inside, only high walls made of earth on all four sides, which lock the people inside inside.

For the past six months, Wang Mang had not ordered anyone to bring him food, so the eunuchs naturally did not bother to do so. They were all secretly trying to figure out what the emperor was thinking.

Perhaps he wanted to starve the Imperial Advisor Liu Xin to death inside the walls.

For this reason, the eunuchs would avoid this place when they walked by, but there were still rumors that the Grand Preceptor had turned into a giant dragon and left on a cloud, leaving only an empty shell.

When Wang Mang ordered the palace, which had been sealed off for more than half a year, to be opened, he saw the dust that had settled on the gatehouse and heard a faint laugh coming from inside the walls.

Everyone was horrified to realize that the Imperial Advisor Liu Xin was still alive.

Wang Mang ignored his old friend's greeting and walked straight in. He looked at the boy, who was bound to a bronze pillar, restrained by chains, and with long nails piercing his bone marrow. His expression was complicated.

The boy looked up, his smile calm.

"Giant Lord, are you here to deal with me?"

Chapter 173 The Tragedy of the King of Bronze and Fire

Looking at the boy bound to the bronze pillar, Wang Mang felt a pang of pity, but he quickly suppressed it and nodded.

"Zijun, I'm afraid it won't be long before I have to go with you to join you."

The eunuchs behind him all lowered their heads, not daring to listen to the emperor's so-called "heartfelt words," while his cousin Wang Yi also had tears in his eyes.

He was the most talented person in the Wang family at present, so even though the defeat at Kunyang ruined the entire foundation of the Xin Dynasty, Wang Mang had no choice but to use him.

However, Wang Yi was well aware that the tide had turned and they could not spare any troops to defend Hangu Pass, a crucial fortress, just as the rebel army at the end of the Qin Dynasty had marched straight into Guanzhong without encountering any obstacles.