Capítulo 1127: Chapter 173: The Truth of History

Inside the Metal Hall, the atmosphere was especially heavy.

On the central high platform, a man dressed in a Golden Silk Nine Dragon Robe sat silently at the table, staring intently at a small golden booklet on the tabletop.

The man appeared to be around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, graceful and handsome, with an extraordinary aura.

However, at this moment, his expression was as cold as frost.

“Bang!”

A loud noise echoed as the man abruptly overturned the table in front of him, his eyes bloodshot as he glared at the people below.

“Useless! All of you are useless!”

“Four hundred thousand troops! The grand four hundred thousand troops of my Da Fu Dynasty! Yet, they’re being held outside a mere Han Yue City!”

“Half a month! A whole half a month! And you haven’t even touched the city walls!”

“Their City Guard Army doesn’t even add up to ten thousand! Aren’t you ashamed!?”

Below, several ministers all trembled slightly, lowering their heads, not daring to speak.

This Emperor Jingxuan is different from those previous puppet emperors, he is a truly ruthless person.

He had unified military power within just two years of his reign, using iron-fisted means to drive the barbarians all the way back south of Lizhou, intimidating the court and public.

Such might was rarely seen in previous dynasties.

Yet, it was precisely this kind of emperor who was now suffering a great setback within his own territory.

Not long ago, a war report arrived from the north.

The six armies led by the Jinlin Army, numbering over four hundred thousand, suffered severe losses when attacking Han Yue City, losing battle after battle, and ultimately could only besiege the outside of the city, not daring to attack rashly.

The golden booklet that His Majesty was reading just now was a war report urgently sent back from the front lines.

According to the report, the reason for their failure was not that the City Guard Army was formidable, but because Han Yue City was under the protection of an Immortal, making it impossible to breach the city.

Outside the city walls, there was an invisible barrier, extremely strong, impervious to swords, spears, sticks, arrows, or falling rocks.

Within the city, there was a powerful demon beast, a huge striped tiger that leaped down from tall buildings of ten zhang, pouncing into the crowd, killing countless people within moments, causing the soldiers to flee in terror.

The Immortal in the city could summon winds and rains, calling forth storm clouds, and after the rain fell for seven days, the area outside the city was flooded, and disease even began to spread in the army.

…

These were only part of what was reported from the military intelligence.

The ministers could all imagine what the scene on that side must be like.

“Your Majesty! With an Immortal protecting Han Yue City, and our soldiers being mere mortals, how can they easily contend against such foes…”

An old minister couldn’t help but speak out:

“I urge Your Majesty to rescind the order! Let the soldiers at the front return! We truly cannot continue to send them to their deaths!”

The others wiped the sweat off their foreheads secretly upon hearing this.

They greatly admired their colleague’s courage to speak such words.

On the high platform, Jing Xuan fixedly stared at the elder below, slowly walked up to him, and coldly said:

“With war imminent, how dare you disturb our army’s morale! Li Shiren! Don’t think that just because you are my teacher, I dare not kill you!”

“Han Yue City defies the imperial edict, keeping its gates tightly shut, and now it even promotes cultivators, openly defying my command! Do such people not deserve death!?”

Below, facing the awe-inspiring authority of the current emperor, Li Shiren’s face turned blue and purple.

He held back for a long while before suddenly gritting his teeth, kneeling on the ground with a thud, and loudly exclaiming:

“Your Majesty! This old minister does not understand!”

“No matter what, Han Yue City is still a part of my Da Fu territory, and the people within are all our citizens! They just want to live, Your Majesty! Why do you insist on annihilating them, causing mutual destruction!?”

Once the words fell, the Golden Book Pavilion became so quiet that a pin drop could be heard, frighteningly silent.

After a long while, Jing Xuan’s laughter finally broke the silence.

“Mutual destruction… heh… quite a mutual destruction! Li Shiren! Do you too believe that I cannot defeat those so-called Immortals!?”

Although his voice was severe, everyone below could feel that His Majesty seemed to lack the formidable confidence he once had.

“This minister dares not!”

“We all dare not!”

The crowd responded in unison.

Jing Xuan angrily looked at this group of insincere ministers, his fingers tremblingly pointing at them, but in the end, he only managed to squeeze out one word.

“Fine!”

After speaking, he seemed somewhat exhausted, taking a few steps back, before suddenly sitting down on the dragon throne, quietly watching them without speaking.

“Your Majesty?”

After a long time, someone couldn’t help but want to inquire, only to be interrupted by a wave of his hand.

“I know, you all want to ask why I insist on attacking Han Yue City…”

“Everyone present here is a loyal minister of my Da Fu Dynasty, so it’s not harmful to tell you some things…”

The ministers didn’t expect the emperor to say this suddenly, and for a moment, their spirits lifted, ready to listen to what explanation he had to offer.

“It is not that I am cold-blooded and bloodthirsty, it is truly because I do not wish to see the chaos of Immortals from the past repeat itself!”

Jing Xuan sighed deeply, looking towards the north as if, through the vast distance, he could see the Immortal of Han Yue City.

“Since the founding of the Da Fu Dynasty, it has been over three hundred years. In the beginning, the Central Continent was war-torn, with various states vying for dominance, and we were merely one among them.”

“In such chaotic times, human life was as insignificant as grass, deaths occurred every moment, countless bodies were buried daily, and innumerable small states were annexed and perished.”

Below, everyone nodded, being naturally familiar with this part of history.