Chapter 74: Rebellion in Qian State
Thousands of miles away.
The original Imperial Palace of Dayue Kingdom.
Emperor Anyue's second son, Ji Xuan, was wearing a dragon robe and looking into the hall with a frown on his face.
When the country was in famine and in crisis, he was the first to disobey his father's order and refused to leave with his family. Needless to say, he was ambitious.
Ji Xuan knew that all the kindness and respect he had shown for many years were shattered by this decision.
When his father ordered him to be the new emperor of Dayue, Ji Xuan understood that if his father could make a comeback.
He will definitely return from the expedition, kill his way through Dayue, and dethrone himself, the 'emperor' who took advantage of the national crisis, from the throne!
However, what Ji Xuan did not expect was that his father had not been heard from since he passed away, so he was temporarily free from worry.
But he still couldn't sit still securely on the throne.
Emperor Anyue led two million soldiers and civilians away, which only reduced Dayue’s food burden, but did not solve the famine!
Those gods of mountains and rivers waited until the turmoil of the big moon reached its extreme and half of the people who stayed behind died before they showed up!
And in this process, he had no way to save the situation!
The mortals who were left behind were saved by the gods when they were extremely hungry. They immediately burst into strong faith, which made the gods very satisfied.
Although the seeds of doubt have already taken root in the hearts of the people, if the gods are willing, they only need to pretend for a hundred years and the seeds of doubt will naturally disappear.
The people were rescued and the famine was resolved, but it instead triggered more unrest.
The throne was easily seized, but after the famine ended, local gentry and powerful people relied on grain to obtain food and frequently disobeyed the imperial orders.
Emperor Anyue originally led 40 soldiers away, of which were elite soldiers from the imperial city, representing the top combat power of Dayue's army at that time.
Without the deterrence of these elite soldiers, Ji Xuan was like a tiger with its teeth pulled out. Although he was impressive, he could only pretend to be powerful.
Ji Xuan had no generals and no soldiers, so he was completely unable to conquer.
Therefore, Ji Xuan chose to be tolerant and mainly appeased the local gentry and powerful people who occupied their own areas.
However, before one wave of troubles subsides, another wave of troubles arises.
When the famine occurred, many powerful people fled to other countries.
The neighboring countries immediately knew that Dayue had suffered the worst famine in history for a thousand years.
I also heard that the emperor who was so talented and ambitious and looked down upon all the other nations...
The 'Emperor of Dayue', who had been weighing on their minds for a long time, had led millions of soldiers and civilians to migrate away.
The Dayue Kingdom is already a toothless, sick tiger.
So, a pack of wolves surrounded them.
The immortals and gods have harvested enough incense and disappeared from the secular world.
But in the human countries, evil hands reached out to the sick Dayue.
The neighboring countries all put pressure on the people: they pointed out that Dayue was no longer able to govern such a vast land and should consider the people, otherwise, they would "save" the people of Dayue...
The people of Dayue who chose to stay were so tight on money that they could barely get enough food to grow crops. How could they withstand the war?
Therefore, under the advice of the newly appointed ministers, in order to avoid war, Ji Xuan had no choice but to cede land and offer money.
Trying to fill the wolf's belly.
Anyway, Dayue has suffered a huge population loss, and the thousands of miles of red land are uninhabited, so it won’t be too painful to cede some of it.
Ji Xuan thought so and comforted himself.
But he was unwilling to admit a fact.
Once I let go, those evil hands will only ask for more...
And those immortals and gods don’t care which country or emperor their territory belongs to.
Even, perhaps some of the gods of Dayue wish that all the suspicious people of Dayue would die and be replaced by a new group of people to survive on this land.
For them, as long as there are people, there is a way to get incense.
Dayue was in great danger, and Ji Xuan was powerless to save the situation.
......
The Qian Kingdom also suffered a terrible war.
There was an official coup in the court, the Emperor Qian was assassinated, and many loyal ministers and princes were squeezed out of the core of power.
Those rebellious officials secretly joined forces to raise private armies, and once the mutiny occurred, they immediately started fighting with the original army of Qian State.
However, before the civil war in Qianlong was resolved, it attracted the attention of neighboring countries.
Next to Qian State, there is a large country called Xu State.
The Xu Kingdom was originally a small country in a tiny area, but it rose up during the chaos of war among various countries hundreds of years ago and swallowed up a large amount of territory from various countries.
The Xu Kingdom was a typical predatory country. Upon hearing that there was civil unrest in the Qian Kingdom, they launched a massive mutiny.
They secretly sent people into Qian State to cause trouble, exacerbating the civil unrest in Qian State.
When Qian State's manpower was depleted, Xu State dispatched its own army and forcefully invaded Qian State.
The civil strife in Qianlong had not been resolved, and he encountered a powerful enemy, which caused him to lose his composure for a while.
In addition, Xu State was much stronger than Qian State. In just half a month, one-third of Qian State's territory was lost.
The flames of war engulfed the common people.
The scene of hell on earth reappears.
The Emperor of Xu was very happy.
His army had recently been plundering the territory of Qian State and unexpectedly found a rare gem in the hands of a wealthy businessman.
This gem had an excellent luster and a perfectly round shape. It was even more precious than the red jade inlaid in the crown on his head!
This is a treasure that even an emperor of a country would find difficult to find!
The Emperor of Xu State has always loved jade, and he immediately became more determined to annex Qian State.
How can a weak and small country have such a large territory and such beautiful pearls and jade?
The offensive of the Xu Kingdom became more and more frenzied, with massacres and plundering of wealth within the territory of the Qian Kingdom.
They are a predatory nation, and their current territory is already the limit of their ability to exercise high-intensity jurisdiction.
They don't care about Qian's territory, they just want Qian's wealth.
All they need to do is plunder 70% to 80% of Qian's wealth and then kill 70% to 80% of Qian's people.
In the next two hundred years, even if the Xu Kingdom is weakened, it is not believed that such a broken Qian Kingdom can make a comeback.
Under the war, the people of Qian State suffered terribly.
Zhao Wanjun is no longer the fourth-rank official he used to be.
Now, she is a sixth-rank patrol officer, responsible only for patrolling border towns. She is not allowed to enter important areas of the capital without orders.
Those corrupt officials eventually defeated her.
The Qian Kingdom no longer has the Zhao Mansion, nor the Lord Zhao who had a close relationship with the Emperor.
There was no trace of Zhao Siya in the capital.
Zhao Wanjun faced the deepest darkness controlled by the officials of Qian State, and was unfortunately swallowed by the darkness.
She realized how naive and ridiculous her former arrogance was in front of those treacherous people.
With just a few moves, he was defeated. Not only did he almost die, but he also implicated his family.
The country of Qian was in chaos, and many officials and dignitaries had no intention of getting involved in the vortex, so they chose to flee and hide.
But when Zhao Wanjun looked at the suffering people of Qian State, he was unable to make the choice to escape.
Although she is no longer an important official in the capital, she still considers herself a member of the Qian Kingdom.
Someone has to lead these innocent people to escape and keep them alive!
During the turmoil, Zhao Wanjun led the fleeing people and dozens of soldiers to fight against the "bandits".
The army of the Xu Kingdom had not yet invaded the territory she was patrolling, but waves of "bandits" were rushing in, slaughtering and looting along the way.
After killing another group of "bandits", Zhao Wanjun was breathing heavily and his bare hands could hardly lift the sword.
As she breathed, the hideous knife marks on her neck looked more terrifying.