ALL NOVEL
Chapter 82: Admire the Son of Heaven
“The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth has fallen?”
In Eternal City Rome, the Pope widened his eyes in disbelief.
“That’s right,” his aide replied, “All our sources support the authenticity of the news.
“The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth’s king and the Holy Knight Order fought the Khitan Caesar at the outskirts of their capital, Krakow. The Commonwealth is estimated to have around 30,000 soldiers, whereas the Khitan Caesar only had 5000 troops.
“The Commonwealth initially succeeded in encircling the Khitans, but their entire army was crushed in a single day except for a few escapees. Their king and the captain of the Holy Knight Order died in the battle.”
At this point, the aide shook his head and said lamentably, “Who could have thought that a nation as powerful as the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth would be destroyed in a single month? Your Eminence, you’re right… That person is indeed our Lord’s enemy.”
“This could be our Lord’s final trial to us,” the Pope let out a deep sigh, “Continue contacting the other lords. Get them to come to the Eternal City no matter what it takes. I have to relay to them the grave importance of this Holy War. Only then will they be willing to throw in their lot.”
“Your will is my command, Your Eminence.”
The aide bowed before retreating from the room.
After the aide left, the Pope settled down and closed his eyes out of exhaustion. A second later, his eyes suddenly shot open, and he exclaimed, “No, how could I… Those words… Damn it! A demon is controlling me… AH!”
Ding. Ding. Ding.
Ding. Ding. Ding.
Bells sounding like they had come from the sky rang within the cathedral.
The Pope’s eyes rolled white, and his old body shuddered nonstop. He let out pained groans as if he was suffering from a stroke. It looked as if something was invading his soul.
Moments later, the Pope stopped moving. Silence returned to the majestic cathedral.
“Hmph!” a young woman sneered from the depth of the basilica, “What a foolish old man. You only have to follow my instructions. Don’t waste your time thinking about meaningless things.”
Tak. Tak.
With the sound of a scepter knocking against the floor, a person slowly emerged from the shadows.
It was a tall and well-built woman dressed in silk. On her head was a resplendent crown embedded with jewels. She was holding onto a golden scepter in one hand and a golden sphere containing a little ringing bell in the other.
“Scourge of God.” The woman raised her head and looked into the distance. “What an arrogant title. I shall see if you’re worthy of your reputation.”
…
In the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Shu Yichao found himself faced with another fortress.
However, the troops stationed on the walls were trembling, having lost their fighting will.
Their king had died together with his 20,000-men strong army. Similarly, Cassivia had been slain alongside her Holy Knight Order. The two pillars propping up their nation suddenly vanished.
To the Poles and the Lithuanians, this was no different from the world collapsing on them, just the collapse was evidently not over yet as the disastrous force of nature began sweeping across the grassland, sieging every city he saw and slaying every noble and knight in sight.
Nothing could stop the Khitan Caesar’s rampage.
My Lord, why are you punishing us like this? Why are you sending the Scourge of God after us again? Is our devotion insufficient to pacify you?
Those standing on the walls weeped.
However, the true reason Shu Yichao was going on a rampage was…
“Sometimes, the mod mechanics can be half-assed. I have slain the royal family, but the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is still not dead yet?” Shu Yichao was at a loss for words.
Any other lord would have deemed the Commonwealth as dead, but under the Beacons of the Otherworld’s mechanics, the nation was considered to be alive as long as the country had a city that hadn’t surrendered yet or a noble who could still inherit the throne.
Thus, Shu Yichao had no choice but to continue sweeping through the Commonwealth and hanging every noble in sight.
The Commonwealth plunged into despair. Civilians fearfully hid in fortresses, praying that they wouldn’t become Shu Yichao’s next target. Breadwinners wrote down their wills, and they would tearfully bid their family farewell whenever they went out in the morning.
Fearful soldiers would crouch on the city walls, their heads occasionally peeping out to check for the blood twin-headed eagle flag and gleaming heavy cavalrymen.
If the Khitans didn’t appear, they would hold a banquet at home to celebrate having survived yet another day.
But today, this specific fortress was going to be destroyed.
“Step aside! Step aside! I want to meet your lord!”
While the soldiers were busy weeping, a man charged up the city walls.
“Bobo?” the city lord said as he wiped off his tears. “What are you doing here? I know you rascal have been flirting with my daughter, but now…”
With death creeping on them, he couldn’t be bothered to tear them apart anymore.
“Go and meet her if you want. The Khitan are going to kill all of us anyway.”
“Milord,” the man gasped for air as he said, “they aren’t Khitans! They are Seres! Some of the people escaping from the Scourge of God have heard the Scourge of God speak and learned his tongue. I recognize some of the phrases he speaks…
(Greek and Roman people identified Northern China as Serica and their people as Seres back then.)
“My master is a Mongolian, and he has told me things. The Seres often wage war to make others bow down to them!”
Seeing the city lord’s glazed eyes, the man realized that there was no point explaining.
“Milord, the important thing is I know a way for us to survive this ordeal,” the man anxiously said.
The crowd was shocked.
“You?” The city lord was skeptical. “A mere horse vendor?”
“The Scourge of God executes anyone who is taller than a sedan. Not even surrendering can stop his massacre. Since we are doomed anyway, why don’t you let me give it a try? What if it works?” the man replied.
“…Very well.”
Thus, Shu Yichao and his army arrived at the fortress, only to see that the gates were open.
A bunch of people walked out.
The one leading the group was a young man. He was carrying a plate containing a seal, a sword, and all kinds of bizarre things. Behind him was a bound middle-aged man and a coffin. Someone was even holding onto a white flag.
“…”
Why does it feel like something is off?
Shu Yichao couldn’t help but feel that something was off looking at these people.
The young man proceeded to speak aloud in disfluent Mandarin, “We have long admired the Son of Heaven, and we are willing to surrender to him.”
“Oh?” Shu Yichao was surprised to see the city’s color change on the minimap. “Some of the NPCs know how to surrender too? I thought they are all obstinate fools who are determined to guard their fortresses to their dying breath.”
When Shu Yichao accepted the surrender, the young man breathed a sigh of relief.
Thank you, master.
Moved, he instinctively reached into his bag and grabbed a half-tattered book. Written on its cover were the words ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’.
News of the fortress’ successful surrender quickly spread across the land.
The city lord was shocked to find many people whom he had lost touch with suddenly regained their memories and wrote letters to him reminiscing their friendship. Some distant relatives also wrote in to ask how he was faring.
Even high nobles who had previously snubbed him sent gifts over.
All of them had the same goal.
Please save us too. We have also admired the Son of Heaven for a long time!
…
While Shu Yichao was going around testing people’s mastery of Mandarin, someone was secretly organizing a vicious retaliation against the Eastern Romain Empire.
“Your Majesty,” Frederina’s aide asked, “will the White Knight really listen to us?”
White Knight Hunyadi was Hungary’s regent.
In his earlier years, he had fought on the frontlines against the Ottomains and achieved significant victories against them. However, he fell silent a few years ago after he and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth lost a major battle against the Ottomains.
Even so, he was still revered by the public as a formidable general.
“He will listen,” Frederina said. “He knows that the Khitan Caesar will go after Hungary after leveling the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.”
While Shu Yichao was traveling to Venice, he had turned a blind eye to the Holy Romain Empire’s cities, but he attacked all of the Hungarian cities along the way. Clearly, he thought that the Eastern Romain Empire and Hungary were still at war.
By this point, the nearby countries had figured out Shu Yichao’s tendencies: he simply attacked whoever was closer, no matter how strong the country was.
“I know that woman doesn’t have good intentions at heart,” Hunyadi told the Hungarian officials. “They are treating us as cheap mercenaries. They want us to charge at the forefront and serve as their spears and shields. But… we don’t have a choice here.”