#981 - Clouds cover the sun and swallows return to their nests (Part 9)

At dusk, the Tengu Army arrived at the Great Qian capital as ordered by Wei Changtian.

Because the news of Jing Guoqing's death had not yet fully spread, many of the soldiers guarding the city gates did not know about it, and many others thought it was false information, so the Tengu Army was unable to enter the city unhindered, and instead engaged in fierce fighting with the defending soldiers.

Immediately afterward, the Four Great Evildoers, who had been lurking near the four city gates, also took action, causing chaos and peril at each gate from both inside and outside.

Although there were many defending soldiers in the capital, far more than the Tengu Army.

However, because many people had gone to the palace earlier, and the Tengu Army's arrival was too sudden, the Great Qian soldiers were caught off guard and quickly fell into a difficult and sustained battle.

Surrounded by the flashing of swords and the shadows of blades, with a blanket of ferocious beasts before them, and the sound of explosions coming from behind.

The Great Qian defenders were on the verge of collapse several times, but in the end, they managed to hold on.

Thus, the battle temporarily reached a stalemate, and countless people had died only a quarter of an hour after the start of the war.

In fact, under the circumstances of lacking unified command and being caught in a surprise attack, it was already not easy for the Great Qian defenders to withstand the initial waves of attacks from the Tengu Army.

Faced with the aggressive Tengu Army, they gritted their teeth and held on, while waiting for reinforcements, waiting for Jing Guoqing to stand up and stabilize the situation.

Little did they know that the situation in the capital was no better than on the city walls.

Jing Guoqing had been killed in full view of everyone, and all the remaining members of the Jing family in the palace had also died under Wei Changtian's sword.

Even though the latter had already left, the Great Qian court was unable to recommend a person who could command the overall situation for the time being.

After all, the royal family was dead, and the remaining court officials and important ministers all had their own agendas, and power could not be concentrated.

Therefore, no one in the huge capital could win the support of the public at this moment.

To go a step further, even if there really was such a person, it was another matter whether he dared to stand up.

After all, Wei Changtian would definitely not allow the various forces of Great Qian to form a joint force again, so once someone dared to stand up, the next person Wei Changtian would kill would definitely be this person.

No one would not understand such a principle, so no one dared to show off at this time.

Most of the people with some power in their hands were hiding at this moment, thinking about waiting until the situation became clearer before taking the next step.

And since they did nothing, what could ordinary soldiers and people do?

"Ah!!"

"The rebels are about to break in! Run!"

"The emperor is dead! The emperor is dead!!!"

"I don't want to die! Someone, save me!"

"Sir, sir, what are you doing?"

"Wuwu! Wuwuwu!"

"Da da da! Da da da!"

"."

Cries, shouts, the sound of horses' hooves, and the sound of footsteps, all kinds of noisy and chaotic sounds quickly spread to every corner of the city.

And the culprit who caused all this, Wei Changtian, was slowly walking through the chaotic crowd, his expression calm, as if he didn't care about everything that was happening around him.

He had experienced similar scenes too many times.

He had even seen more exaggerated and tragic scenes.

The Yuanzhou City massacre, where three million people died unjustly overnight.

The Battle of Niutou Mountain, where 200,000 people died in one battle.

The surprise attack on Xianchi, the final battle of Fengyuan

Compared with these, what is this?

At least not so many people died.

I don't know when, Wei Changtian's attitude towards "life", or "human life", has changed a lot.

When he first heard that Ning Yongnian did not hesitate to kill three million people in Fengyuan City in order to eliminate the main force of the Great Qian, he was furious and even decided to support Ning Yuker in rebellion because of this.

Later, during the ambush at Niutou Mountain, when he saw the rebel army entering the valley, he could take away hundreds of thousands of lives with just one thought. Wei Changtian had hesitated, and finally had to use "war is for peace" to convince himself.

But now?

Wei Changtian suddenly realized that he would no longer have any psychological fluctuations because of similar things, and he no longer needed to use some "reasons" to be able to kill.

As long as some people need to be killed for their own sake, then kill them.

As long as some people deserve to die from their own interests, then die.

Human life seems to no longer have any special meaning, and sometimes it is just a number.

When he killed Jing Guoqing just now, there was no ripple in Wei Changtian's heart, and he did not feel any regret or regret for this emperor.

This is undoubtedly completely different from his previous mentality when he killed Xiao Feng, Yun Lian, and Ning Yongnian.

So... has he become cold-blooded?

Wei Changtian paused slightly, turned his head to look at a little girl not far away who was covered in dirt and sat crying on the ground, and then continued to walk forward indifferently.

From a certain point of view, being in such a feudal society with a low level of civilization, a world of immortal cultivation where the law of the jungle is the most basic rule, his transformation is inevitable and necessary.

But if he is completely cold-blooded, Wei Changtian seems to be unable to do it.

Otherwise, he would not have let Wang Qian go, let Tang Chen go, let Chu An go, or even let Chu Xianping go.

In this way, he seems to still retain a trace of "compassion" that seems shouldn't exist.

Wei Changtian didn't know whether the appearance of this contradiction was because he was a time-traveler or because of human nature.

He also doesn't dislike himself for being overly "cruel" at times, and overly "kind" at others.

He just sometimes can't understand some of his own practices.

For example, now.

Looking down at the pastry box in his hand, Wei Changtian showed a wry smile, and still didn't understand why he really wanted to bring these three boxes of mung bean cakes back.

If it was because of Youjia, but Cuier had already made it clear that she had nothing to do with Youjia.

Even Youjia was just an assassin who once wanted to harm him, but was instead used by him. He had no reason to care about her life or death.

Then is it simply for Cuier?

But this is even more inexplicable.

What does such a maid have to do with him?

"Alas"

Sighing, shaking his head and throwing these things out of his mind, Wei Changtian turned a street corner and walked into the alley.

Compared to the chaos outside, it was much quieter here. At a glance, there was no one in the alley, only a few old willows slowly swaying thousands of branches in the afterglow of the setting sun.

Stopping under one of the old willows, Wei Changtian looked up at the closed courtyard door in front of him, then looked down at the blood stains on his body, and the hand stretched out in the air paused slightly.

In the end, he didn't knock on the courtyard door. He simply placed the three boxes of mung bean cake in front of it and turned to leave.

"Creak~"

Not long after he left, accompanied by a slight creaking sound, the courtyard door slowly opened a crack.

Cui'er peered through the gap at the distant figure, gently biting her lip, her expression incredibly complex.

Clearly, given the poem Wei Changtian left behind yesterday, coupled with this morning's warning, even if Cui'er still couldn't connect him with the rumored "Wei Yama", she could certainly deduce that Wei Changtian was on the rebel side.

Therefore, she undoubtedly shouldn't have any more interactions with such a dangerous person.

However, after struggling for a moment, she suddenly stepped out of the courtyard and called out urgently to the departing figure:

"Wei... Young Master Wei!"

“. . . ”

The distant figure paused, slowly turning his head, but said nothing.

Seeing the bloodstains on Wei Changtian's body, Cui'er was stunned for a moment, and the words at the tip of her tongue failed to come out.

She stood there dumbfounded for a long time, then mustered her courage and whispered in a voice that perhaps only she could hear:

"Thank you..."

“. . . ”

It's hard to say what this "thank you" was for, but it probably wasn't for the three boxes of mung bean cake.

Faced with this expression of gratitude, Wei Changtian didn't respond, only smiled and nodded, before returning to his small courtyard.

Entering the house, he took out the dual jade pendant and sent a few messages, boiled water for a pot of tea, and then sat at the table, gazing blankly at the sunset outside the window.

The last rays of the setting sun faded, taking with them the aura of an emperor, half entering the river breeze, half disappearing into the clouds.

The clamor seemed to become even more ethereal. Wei Changtian sat quietly, watching the twilight scenery, awaiting the fall of a dynasty.

That night, at the end of the You hour (5-7 PM).

With the Tiangou Army's seventh assault on the city walls, the Great Qian capital's west gate was the first to fall.

The news of Jing Guoqing's death had by now spread throughout the city walls, so the Great Qian defenders, their morale shattered, were unable to prevent the counterattack, and could only retreat towards the city with difficulty.

Countless ferocious demon beasts appeared before the common people for the first time, and the black Tiangou flag stood proudly atop the city walls for the first time.

At the first quarter of the Xu hour (7-9 PM).

With the west gate breached, the pressure on the other three gates naturally increased.

However, because all three directions had loyal generals leading their troops in a desperate fight, and because the Tiangou Army was outnumbered, they did not continue to attack strongly, but instead used their "air force" to carry out large-scale "air raids".

For a time, explosions and flames erupted on the three city walls, and countless soldiers were killed in the explosions. The sound of the explosions was deafening and could be heard throughout the city.

At the third quarter of the Xu hour (7-9 PM).

After a round of bombing, the Tiangou Army continued its full-scale attack on the city, and within two quarters of an hour, they successively captured the south and north gates.

Three of the four gates had been breached, and the fall of the city was a foregone conclusion, but the remaining east gate was still in fierce battle, with the Great Qian soldiers on it fighting desperately, covered in blood, and had not yet collapsed.

At the beginning of the Hai hour (9-11 PM).

One hour ahead of schedule, the bulk of the 300,000 rebel army arrived at the east gate battlefield.

Although the army had been marching continuously for several days and was already exhausted, the Great Qian defenders had run out of ammunition and food, so they finally collapsed half an hour later and retreated into the city.

At the first quarter of the Hai hour (9-11 PM).

With all four gates breached, the siege warfare turned into street fighting. The rebel army formed an encirclement and suppressed the defenders from the outside in. Corpses littered the ground wherever they went, including many ordinary people who were accidentally killed.

By this time, no more than one in ten of the Great Qian soldiers still had the will to fight, and countless surrendered or fled.

At the fifth quarter of the Zi hour (11 PM-1 AM).

After more than an hour of street fighting, all the soldiers and civilians in the Great Qian capital who were determined to fight to the death had been forced back into the imperial palace, with only about 30,000 remaining.

Among them, there were only two experts above the third rank, and both were of the third rank.

The whereabouts of the other Great Qian experts were unknown.

At the first quarter of the Chou hour (1-3 AM).

The Great Qian imperial palace was breached. Most of the 30,000 soldiers were killed by the rebel army, and the remaining men retreated to the Golden Luan Hall.

At the second quarter of the Chou hour (1-3 AM).

The rebel army stormed into the Golden Luan Hall. All the Great Qian soldiers who fought to the death perished, and the last soldier shouted "Alas" three times before his death.

At the third quarter of the Chou hour (1-3 AM).

Under the protection of the rebel army, the rebel leader Su Qi walked into the Golden Luan Hall.

"Congratulations, Lord!"

"The fatuous emperor is dead! A new dynasty should be established! We wish the Lord a prosperous age!"

Heads were crowded in the Golden Luan Hall, and the corpses and blood all over the ground could not stop the excitement of the crowd.

Although these rebel soldiers were originally from Great Qian, and initially did not want to participate in this "rebellion" at all, they were simply forced to do so by Wei Changtian.

In fact, most people had already made up their minds, thinking that they would "defect" as soon as the fighting started, and would never do such a thing as fratricide.

But after they arrived at the battlefield, they never expected such a situation.

Jing Guoqing had died, the Tiangou Army had breached three city gates, and Great Qian's defeat was a foregone conclusion.

This was simply picking up a bargain!

No one was a fool, and everyone could of course see what to choose in this situation.

So afterwards, no one thought about "defecting" anymore. One by one, they simply really "rebelled", and all mercilessly raised their knives and killed their "compatriots".

Since Great Qian was destined to perish, it would be better to establish a certificate of loyalty as soon as possible.

In this way, when Su Qi really sat on the dragon throne, not only would he not be liquidated, but he would also be a sure-fire "founding hero".

And now, that dream was already within reach...

"This humble general congratulates the Lord!"

"Lord Su, what should we do now?"

“. . . ”

One by one, the rebel generals surrounded Su Qi with excitement, imagining their future success and wealth, while congratulating and flattering Su Qi.

They only cared about showing their faces as much as possible in front of this man who was destined to become the new dynasty's emperor, but none of them noticed Su Qi's expression and eyes at this moment.

His mouth opened, and his gaze fell on the blood-stained golden plaque of "National Prosperity and People's Peace" in front of him. Su Qi couldn't say a word.

The fact that he could stand here today, and that he would sit on that dragon throne in the future, actually had almost nothing to do with him.

In other words, Wei Changtian just needed someone to take this position. Without him, finding someone else would be the same.

Not only Su Qi, but everyone present was very clear about this.

But the others didn't care about these things.

After all, Su Qi was the nominal emperor of the new dynasty, and they were the founding generals of the new dynasty. They would definitely enjoy endless glory and wealth in the future.

As for how this emperor came to be, it didn't matter.

In fact, Su Qi knew that he should think this way too.

Because only in this way could he save his life and not spend the rest of his life in guilt and self-blame.

But...

Slowly closing his eyes, two lines of old tears streamed down his cheeks, and the tears dripped into the pool of blood on the ground.

Under the stunned gazes of the crowd, Su Qi slowly knelt on the bloodstains and kowtowed three times to the empty dragon throne.

His last kowtow took a long time, and the noise in the hall gradually subsided in the howling cold wind.

Thus, at the fourth quarter of the Chou hour (1-3 AM).

The Great Qian dynasty perished.