SEHE Chapter 149

The Emperor’s Demise

Amidst the war cries filled with fighting spirit, Pei Yanci pulled Xu Du onto the tree stump and stood beside him. “I appoint Xu Du, son of the Grand General of Cavalry, to serve as Deputy Commander of this battle to protect the nation.”

“Me???” Xu Du’s spirit trembled as he widened his eyes.

“Thank you, Brother Pei!” He was overjoyed, but immediately whispered in difficulty, “Neither of us has led troops before. These three thousand-plus men cannot lose their lives in vain because of us.”

“Show your usual pride. Look, many people from the Imperial Academy respect you greatly.” Pei Yanci placed his hands heavily on his shoulders, gazing directly into his eyes. “Whether dealing with privileged disciples or commoner disciples, you handle relationships well. You’re not afraid of the tyrannical power of those erudite scholars in the Imperial Academy, daring to fight back and say no to unreasonable treatment.”

“Am I really that impressive?” Xu Du didn’t know that the person in Pei Yanci’s words was actually himself.

Praised until dizzy and floating, he subconsciously glanced at the masked Tangxi Zhui and others by the tree, then looked at Pei Yanci’s firm and trusting gaze. Infinite heroic spirit arose in his heart as he solemnly said, “Pei Daren, tell me what to do.”

“You lead two thousand men to the eastern part of the city. The remaining thousand-plus will follow me to the Imperial City.” Pei Yanci said.

“We have no armor or weapons.”

“The Northern Yamen Imperial Army’s armory has been opened.” Pei Yanci said, “The eastern city is entrusted to you. There may not be fighting, but prepare for the possibility.”

How could Peng Chulang not know that with no one guarding the eastern city, it would be a major vulnerability? But compared to the Great Xi forces, the Southern Yamen Imperial Guards were far too few in number. Combined with other factors, the troops defending Anjing City were all unwanted by the regional Military Commandery offices—each one like a bumbling fool. Just defending the southern and northern gates alone stretched his defenses thin, making him curse furiously.

(TL: Military Governor → Military Commandery)

“General Peng, people from the printing house have arrived.”

“At a time like this, those scholars are still causing trouble? Tell Pei Yanci to get lost as far as possible!” Peng Chulang had already seen them once in the first half of the night. Now they came again, only annoying him further.

“But they brought several carts of weapons, saying they’re… muskets!”

“What things?” Peng Chulang was stunned.

He went out with several deputy generals. Yu Sucheng lifted the covering cloth, revealing thick bamboo tubes underneath.

“This is…” Even though Peng Chulang had fought in campaigns for many years, he had never seen such strange weapons.

“Please allow this official to demonstrate how to use them for Daren.”

Yu Sucheng took a spear from a soldier’s hand, installed and fixed the bamboo tube on the front end, lit it, and suddenly a loud explosion rang out. Peng Chulang and the soldiers all flinched, covering their heads and turning sideways, their faces full of bewilderment.

“Did something fly out?” a vice general asked doubtfully.

“Isn’t this just an ordinary firecracker?”

Yu Sucheng gestured for him to look across. “Do you know how powerful firecrackers are?”

Everyone looked over. “There’s nothing there.”

Yu Sucheng had them follow him. They walked nearly a hundred and fifty paces before they saw a blasted hole in a brick wall—not large, but completely penetrated.

“This is the power of muskets.” Yu Sucheng said proudly. “Using the explosive power refined by Daoist priests, supplemented with stones, ceramic shards, and iron pellets, with just a movement of your finger, you can easily pierce through enemies from a distance on the battlefield.”

“Good, excellent! Your printing house—is it actually a printing house or an armory? Hahaha…”

Peng Chulang waved his large hand. “Come, move these carts of muskets and attach them to the spears.”

At the same time, at the eastern city, the Imperial Academy’s spears had just been fitted with muskets when they noticed faint movements in the forests to the south and north.

“Don’t rush.” Xu Du commanded methodically. “Erudite Scholar Xu, you lead thirty men south. Erudite Scholar Liu, you lead thirty men north. Report any movements immediately. Archers prepare—show the vigor from your usual training assessments. Release arrows within three hundred paces. Within one hundred paces, we’ll use muskets!”

Inside the Imperial City, Pei Yanci led over a thousand men to meet with some of the Elu Bureau’s elite forces.

“Adoptive father, the western city is about to fall. What should we do?” Huo Cun asked.

“How many Great Xi forces are at the western city?”

“Twenty-five thousand men.”

Pei Yanci lowered his eyes. “The enemy army still has too many.”

Those cursed Imperial Guards were all useless!

If added up scattered here and there, the two sides actually only had a difference of twenty thousand troops. On the terrain of hills and forests outside Anjing City, the additional numbers didn’t provide an advantage.

“Not good! Pei Daren, Chief Overseer, the Northern Yamen Imperial Guards scattered and fled with almost no resistance. The western city has fallen!”

Over twenty thousand enemy troops drove straight in from outside the city as if entering an uninhabited realm.

When the eastern and southern cities received the news, the Great Xi forces had already reached the Imperial City’s outskirts.

The Imperial City walls were very high—even higher than Anjing City’s walls by a level, built to emphasize Great Yu’s former glory and prosperity.

“Fire!”

With Pei Yanci’s command, earth-shaking explosions rang out continuously.

The Great Xi forces only felt the earth shake and mountains tremble. After the nearly deafening roar, they watched in shock as their front ranks fell one after another.

Not a single arrow on their bodies.

“What’s happening?”

“What are those tubes? How are they more powerful than arrows?”

The soldiers were all intimidated, caught in a dilemma for a moment.

“These are divine weapons! If you dare take another step forward, death awaits!” someone on the city wall declared.

The Great Xi soldiers couldn’t help but retreat several steps.

They had never even heard of such things.

“Don’t believe the Yu dynasty brats’ wild claims! Our divine troops descend from heaven. They weren’t fully prepared. Charge in and capture the dog emperor alive!”

“Capture the emperor! Capture the emperor!” The Great Xi soldiers’ eyes blazed as they charged again.

While fierce fighting raged outside, inside the palace, the Emperor and a handful of concubines and palace servants hurriedly packed their valuables.

“Your Majesty, everything is ready. You must leave the city quickly! I’ll cover your rear!” Pei Yanci directly grabbed the Emperor’s arm, walking swiftly outward while speaking, placing him on a horse. “General Peng and Prince Qi are returning to provide aid, working with the Imperial Academy students on the city gate towers to attack the Great Xi army from both sides. Let’s quickly escape in the chaos.”

“Pei Qing, if you hadn’t organized the Imperial Academy people to come protect Zhen, Zhen would have truly lost his life here.” The Emperor seemed to have aged ten years overnight, his well-maintained black hair now considerably grayed.

“Zhen only has you left, only you are most loyal to Zhen.”

“This subject is merely doing his duty.” Pei Yanci gripped his hand firmly, giving the old man some comfort. “This subject only wishes for Your Majesty’s safety.”

“Have you heard about this before? Can we safely get through this crisis?” The Emperor sat on the horse, asking hopefully.

“Yes.” Too lazy to waste words with him, Pei Yanci directly slapped the horse’s rump.

Exiting through the palace’s north gate, passing through Taiji Lake and countless jade towers and pavilions, they would reach the Imperial City’s north gate.

The remaining north gate Imperial Guards, seeing the Emperor, Crown Prince, and hundreds of Elu Bureau guards riding toward them, became even more excited, vowing to kill a bloody path for the imperial family.

Tonight, corpses lay strewn across all of Anjing, blood flowing like rivers.

Pei Yanci hurriedly passed through the palace to meet with Huo Cun on the Imperial City walls.

“How much longer until Jiang Yi arrives?”

“Young General Jiang abandoned the supply train and is rushing here first with a thousand cavalry and three thousand infantry. His last message said he’d arrive at dawn tomorrow.”

“How long until dawn?” Pei Yanci asked gravely.

“At least two hours.”

“Spread the word—we’ll withdraw with His Majesty first.”

The Imperial City was just an inanimate object. Even if occupied, it wouldn’t matter. They had resisted for a day and night to cover the Emperor’s safe departure. As long as the Emperor and the Gu family survived, Great Yu would not fall.

Pei Yanci drew his sword and severed flying arrows. Beside him, the masked Tangxi Zhui had already blocked most swords and blades.

He grasped Tangxi Zhui’s hand.

Tangxi Zhui looked back and lightly kissed his forehead. “Afraid?”

“A little. What if Jiang Yi doesn’t agree?” Pei Yanci’s words floated lightly amid the flash of blades and smell of gunpowder.

“It’s fine. His influence isn’t great.”

Pei Yanci looked at him questioningly.

Withered white, cold fingers gently scraped across his face, wiping away a few drops of sweat.

“I will let Xiao Pei’er obtain what he wants.”

“Daren, we can’t hold out much longer!” an Imperial Academy student said.

“Withdraw first!”

“Kill the dog emperor and reclaim Great Xi’s territory!” Below the city gate, someone shouted. Then hundreds and thousands of excited, hoarse voices roared into the night sky.

More chilling than swords and blades.

“Kill! Kill! Kill the dog emperor!” Seeing victory in sight, the Great Xi soldiers’ arrogance soared even higher.

Whether students or soldiers, Great Yu’s fighting spirit was now being extinguished by this overwhelming momentum.

“Run quickly!”

Chaos reigned on and below the city walls.

Just then, a palace servant came to report that the Emperor had returned.

Pei Yanci frowned and asked, “What happened? Couldn’t get out of the city?”

“Yes, His Majesty encountered Qi Lan before leaving the city. The Elu Bureau even had their blades at Princess Zhangping’s throat as a threat, yet that beast Qi still dared shoot arrows at His Highness. His Majesty had no choice but to hastily retreat with his people. Daren, what should we do now?”

“I’ll go find His Majesty.” Pei Yanci said, turning his head and instructing Tangxi Zhui with concern, “Wait for me.”

His black hair slapped chaotically against his face. His eyes contained red threads dried by the evening wind, yet remained very firm.

Tangxi Zhui reached out, wanting to tuck the loose hair behind his ear. His fingertips had just touched his cheek when the scattered, messy strands slipped through his fingers as Pei Yanci turned around.

Going to the palace, the long night stretched on. Pei Yanci’s retreating figure never turned back for him again.

The Emperor and various ministers had just returned to the Nine Heavens Hall in disarray when Gu Jiuqing immediately approached with concern, but was directly ignored by Pei Yanci.

The Emperor was also badly frightened. Seeing him arrive, he hastily grabbed his hand. “When will Jiang Yi arrive? How is the situation outside?”

In the hall, Gu Yueqian’s expression was cold, an arrow stuck in her arm while palace servants carefully bandaged it.

“The Imperial City just fell. The enemy army has killed their way in.” Pei Yanci said coldly.

Everyone erupted in shock.

The Emperor and concubines who had just thought the Imperial City’s inner court was safe immediately turned deathly pale with fright, cold sweat pouring down.

“Protect Zhen! Protect Zhen! Someone come quickly!” The Emperor no longer cared about decorum, shouting like a madman.

The Elu Bureau quickly engaged in melee combat with Great Xi soldiers. Before long, the entire Golden Luan Hall descended into chaos with killing and screaming. Pei Yanci pulled the Emperor behind the dragon throne to hide. Several soldiers attacked, then countless flying arrows broke through the windows from outside the great hall.

Outside, Great Xi morale reached unprecedented heights.

Countless soldiers in red armor rushed in, shouting to kill those defenseless palace concubines, servants, princes, and imperial grandchildren.

“Zhen’s life is finished!” The Emperor sobbed while hiding behind the dragon throne.

Pei Yanci tugged at his collar, blocking and killing Great Xi soldiers with one hand while saying coldly, “Your Majesty, first go hide in the rear hall—”

“General Jiang Yi’s reinforcements have arrived!”

Everyone was caught off guard by this scream. The Great Xi soldiers who had thought it was a rumor heard the thunderous sound of hoofbeats outside the palace and finally panicked.

“It’s the Great Yu cavalry! The cavalry has come!”

The situation instantly reversed.

“Great Yu’s reinforcements have arrived!”

“Heaven protects Great Yu!”

The Emperor’s mood could truly be described as moving from great sorrow to great joy. Just as he was about to crawl out, another volley of arrows shot in through the broken doors and windows. Wails and screams echoed throughout the entire hall.

Like Great Xi’s dying struggle.

The Emperor who had just tried to poke his head out quickly crouched down, hiding securely behind the wide dragon throne, sighing, “This time Zhen must greatly reward you and Jiang Yi.”

“Rewards won’t be necessary.”

Pei Yanci pulled an arrow from a nearby corpse. Suddenly, with lightning speed, he covered the Emperor’s mouth and firmly sent the arrow into the Emperor’s heart.

Fresh blood splattered onto the porcelain-white, flawless face like red plum blossoms blooming in snow—red and bewitching, shocking to the heart.

The Emperor looked in shock at those smiling crescent-moon eyes.

“Your Majesty would surely ask later why such dangerous muskets appeared in Anjing City.” Pei Yanci looked at him, speaking gently and softly, as if murmuring.

The hands clawing at him gradually lost strength, his eyes gradually becoming unfocused.

“Your Majesty would surely suspect my intentions. Rather than that, it’s better to spare Your Majesty such worries.”

He swept his hand to close the Emperor’s relaxing eyelids.

“You know, I’ve always been very thoughtful.”

He wiped the hot blood from his face and hands clean with a handkerchief, then kicked the Emperor out from behind the dragon throne with one foot.

Instantly, several more arrows struck the Emperor’s body.

“Your Majesty—”

When Jiang Yi arrived with Great Yu soldiers, he saw exactly this scene: Pei Yanci collapsing before the Emperor, shielding him with his own body.

Everyone in the hall looked over to see that the Emperor had already been struck by several arrows and had stopped breathing.

Pei Yanci’s eyes brimmed with tears as he gazed toward Jiang Yi at the hall’s entrance.

“His Majesty… has passed away!”

“If this revenge goes unavenged, we are unworthy of being Great Yu people!”