r18novel Page 14
Page 14
He slowly recited the short phrase he remembered, which was inscribed on the urn containing the bones of the Bronze and Fire King. This was Norton, the king most like the Black King Nidhogg, and his understanding of his father.
Xia Mi quickly understood, "Senior brother, are you talking about the academy's Kui Dragon Project? This matter has nothing to do with us, so let the academy test Norton!"
My father said Norton was the child who most resembled him, but unfortunately he said it to all of us.
Xia Mi couldn't help but sneer.
"This son is just like me" was an emperor's greatest praise for his son. Unfortunately, the emperor's words had to be heard by everyone, so this most favorable condition became a death warrant.
Of the four monarchs, only Norton remained asleep from the time of Liu Xiu's conquest of Shu nearly two thousand years ago until the new millennium, which is unimaginable among the four monarchs.
Leaving aside the mysterious and unpredictable King of the Sky and the Wind, just take Xia Mi, the "strongest second-generation species," as an example. According to records, she was active during the "Scourge of God" westward expedition 1,600 years ago, and her most recent awakening was 400 years ago during the "Wanggongchang Explosion."
Waking up once every few hundred years is not a short time, but compared to Norton, who slept for two thousand years, Xia Mi is quite a diligent girl.
In modern history, the Bronze and Fire Lord was the first to be eliminated. Before he could even receive an epic buff to alchemy, he was brutally killed in his own territory.
Clearly, this dragon king, who most resembled the Black King, was targeted by its own kind and could only helplessly meet a tragic end. This is a classic case of the nail that sticks out gets hammered down first.
Xia Mi was unaware of Norton's tragic fate. She simply turned and went out, saying softly:
"Senior brother, I know you want to ascend to that supreme position. The desire in your eyes is impossible to hide."
Wang An subconsciously rubbed his forehead, wondering if his inner ambition was really that obvious.
Xia Mi had already walked further and further away until she gradually disappeared from his sight.
"I don't know what you're relying on, but if I can't get up there, then letting you sit there might not be a bad option, right?"
Xia Mi, pale-faced yet smiling, asked from behind the door, "Senior brother, tell me, can I trust you?"
Wang Anzhi did not answer. Trust was a luxury, especially for them, a luxury they could not afford.
Xia Mi didn't care, nor was she surprised.
The door was closed and opened, opened and closed again. The girl who had been lingering behind the door left, but her words still echoed in his ears.
"I promised to be your queen back then, otherwise you would have been my king consort!"
If we can all survive the end of the world.
Chapter 28 The Seventh Simulation
[Seventh simulation begins]
[Simulation Selection: The Last Emperor (Valentian III)]
[Simulated selection time: ...]
[Selected: 452 AD (Attila's second westward expedition)]
[Simulated Location: Roman Imperial Palace]
Wang Anzhi breathed a sigh of relief. After Xia Mi left, the seventh simulation he had been waiting for finally began.
In reality, today Lu Ming has officially signed the admission letter to Kassel College, and the tide of the times is rolling in.
The feeling that time was running out first came to Wang Anzhi's mind.
During his short 36-year life, Valentian III ascended the throne at the age of 6 with the support of his maternal grandfather, the Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius the Great, beginning his 30-year reign.
During these 30 years, for the first 12 years, as a minor emperor, the country was in turmoil and his mother, Placidia, acted as regent. In the latter 18 years, although the emperor came of age, the empire, which was already on the verge of collapse, was no longer able to support an emperor's personal rule.
Thus, even 18 years after the emperor came of age, Valentian III still failed to establish an effective reign.
The real power in the central government of the empire was held in rotation by local warlords and barbarian generals, while local sovereignty was firmly controlled by the Senate. The court was merely a place for factional struggles.
In the world of dragons, the Secret Society, hybrids, and even the dragons themselves are an indispensable part of the Roman court.
Witchcraft, magic, rituals, and alchemy are not unimaginable or unbelievable things in this era of gods and demons dancing together, where the Dragon King personally leads his army to rule.
The imperial family itself was a member of the Presbyterian Church of the Secret Society, and the Pope, who symbolized divine authority, had also participated in dragon-slaying activities for generations. Even Avinus, the chief senator of the Roman Senate at the time, was a member of the Presbyterian Church of the Secret Society.
Throughout Rome, every noble and high-ranking official had dragon blood flowing through their veins and took pride in their lineage, looking down on the commoners of lowly blood.
In a sense, the Secret Party was Rome.
Wang Anzhi chose this time not for any other reason than he was well aware of how insignificant an ordinary person, even a mixed-race person, was in such a "trend of the times".
Even though Valentian III was the emperor of the Western Roman Empire, he never truly grasped the reins of power until his death. In 454, he summoned Aetius, a foreign warlord who controlled the court, to the palace and killed him with his own hands, thinking that this would allow him to regain power.
This seems like a very clever approach. Everything a powerful minister has depends on him. When the leader dies, the officials scatter like birds and beasts. Kangxi executed Ao Bai using this method, thus cleanly and efficiently taking control of the court.
History is that simple: you kill me, I kill you, and the survivor is the ultimate winner.
However, the tricks that Kangxi could use were of little use to emperors at the end of a dynasty. The death of a powerful minister would not affect a country that was destined to perish anyway.
then……
A year later, the emperor was assassinated, following Aetius, whom he had killed.
In the 20 years following his death, the Western Roman Empire had nine emperors before finally collapsing in 476. From then on, the light of Roman civilization was lost, and its remaining brilliance continued to burn in Byzantium in the East, only to be completely extinguished a thousand years later.
Emperors are such creatures; they may not necessarily make a country better, but they can cause the demise of tens of millions of people with a single action.
Wang Anzhi was well aware that in such a fragmented and chaotic power structure, even the emperor's life was constantly in danger.
With the addition of dragons and hybrids, history will only become more unpredictable, not simpler.
The only thing that could break the deadlock was war, a war that could actually destroy the country. And coincidentally, there was such a war in 452 years: the second westward expedition of the Dragon King and Attila the Scourge of God.
This is why Wang Anzhi chose to enter the simulation at this point in time; before that, even as a "time traveler," he couldn't do much more.
technology?
Traditional alchemy was no less advanced than later science, and may even have surpassed it.
system?
Don't be ridiculous, how could an emperor revolt against himself?
Historically, the capital of the Western Roman Empire at this time was Ravenna, not Rome. However, in this world of dragons, Rome has an added layer of mystery compared to other cities. It was not only the fiefdom of the King of the Earth and Mountains in ancient times, but also the absolute center of the Secret Society at present.
Therefore, Emperor Valentine III also resided here.
As Wang Anzhi repeatedly pinpointed the time.
[Simulation officially begins]
Wang Anzhi suddenly awoke to a blood-red sky and the sound of swords slicing against each other.
"what happens?"
Wang Anzhi rubbed his head, which was still a little throbbing from just waking up. He wasn't flustered at all; instead, he seemed quite relaxed and experienced as he casually asked the question.
In his memory, Valentian III had asked this question many times, but none of the soldiers guarding the place dared to answer. They only vaguely said that a rebellion had occurred outside and that they were here to protect His Majesty the Emperor on the orders of the commander of the Praetorian Guard, Trigeius.
For your safety, Your Majesty, please refrain from leaving the palace and wandering around unnecessarily.
His Majesty the Emperor knew, of course, that these lowly soldiers couldn't possibly know much inside information, but out of his inner fear, he still didn't want to overlook any details, hoping to piece together the truth from these details.
"Your Majesty, a small-scale rebellion has occurred. Some rebels attempted to coerce you into leaving Rome and surrender to Attila the barbarian king. Fortunately, we have completely annihilated them."
At this moment, a valiant general, still clad in armor, walked in. He looked at the composed Emperor with some surprise, but did not think much of it. He calmly reported that a certain family in the Senate wanted to surrender and take this opportunity to hand over the city gates and the Emperor, hoping to gain wealth and honor in the new country.
Fortunately, General Aetius discovered it in time and annihilated it.
"The city is already surrounded by Attila's army, right?" Wang Anzhi asked, rubbing his head.
The man before him, Aetius, was also an elder of the Secret Society. The Praetorian Guard under his command was the main military force that the Secret Society could control in Rome. Ironically, the emperor's Praetorian Guard was not entirely under his control.
However, it is only natural that an emperor who can command an army would not be easily assassinated by a minor nobleman, indirectly causing the collapse of the empire.
Even so, Wang Anzhi knew very well that this general was currently the one who understood the situation best and was also relatively close to him, the emperor.
As expected, the general remained silent for a moment before speaking:
"That's not the case, Your Majesty. The roads to the north, west, and east have been completely blocked by the barbarian army, but they have left us a way out in the south."
As he spoke, Trijejus's hand gripping the sword hilt turned pale, making the unwashed blood and wounds on it appear even more gruesome.
As a general with some ambition, Trijejus still felt a sense of shame.
“I remember Attila grew up in the palace when he was young. He came here under the pretense of marrying my sister Honoria.”
Wang Anzhi recalled that in one simulation, his choice was to take advantage of Attila's position in the Roman court and use the Secret Service to kill him directly, and then reorganize the organization.
Attila is the future fool Fenrir, and Wang Anzhi believes the advantage lies with him.
Unfortunately, very few people were willing to listen to the young emperor, not even his mother, Placidia.
Rather, it's more accurate to say that Placidia was more wary of her "son," and the bond between mother and son, forged when they fled to Byzantium for help in their youth, had long been eroded by power and changed beyond recognition.
Therefore, even after being pushed into the mercury pool, the Dragon King still staggered away from Rome and regained his memories.
This strategy failed.
Chapter 29 A Familiar Encounter: The Swallows Return
"Your Majesty, no."
Trijejus's expression changed. He sensed that the emperor intended to make peace with Attila the Hun, and he quickly tried to dissuade him.
Emperor Valentian III was merely a figurehead, a signboard, and held no real power.
However, after all, he had been the flag and banner of Rome for nearly thirty years, and he was the Roman emperor who could win people's hearts and was the one who was respected by the masses. In addition, the emperor himself was one of the core hubs that united the entire city of Rome in the Alchemy Matrix. If he was determined to surrender, it would be a major blow to the morale of the army and even the war situation itself.
“Someone of your noble status should never think of negotiating peace with a barbarian king, especially…” Trijejus looked at his bewildered subordinates and pulled the emperor back into the hall, whispering, “Attila is no longer the Hunnic prince you know.”
“I know,” the emperor said, showing no surprise whatsoever. He knew even more than these ancient secret society elders. Looking at the strange-faced Trijejus, the emperor said, “You say he is an evil dragon.”
“No, Your Majesty, it’s not just us saying it, it’s him himself. And Attila is no ordinary dragon. Ordinary dragons don’t have the power to keep us holed up in this corner of the world, and even Rome is on the verge of collapse.”
Trijejus did not shy away from the dire situation. As far as the Eastern Roman Empire was concerned, he was in fact powerless to provide any more assistance. The Western Roman Empire itself had lost its biggest ally, and many of its barbarian allies had been subdued by Attila one by one, and were filled with fear.
Internally, the rebellion in North Africa in the south of the empire has been slow to subside, and the country remains divided among warlords. The empire has lost its largest granary. In the north, almost all of Gaul and other areas north of the Alps have fallen. The empire's capital, Ravenna, has been captured several times, forcing the empire to move the capital to Rome and abandon the vast area north of the Alps, retreating to a corner of Italy.
However, he still believed that even in this situation, it was not a certain defeat. Rome contained the last essence of the entire empire, the last core of the Secret Society, the last strength of the Church, and even the wealth of most members of the Senate.
Beyond that lay Rome and the Mediterranean Sea; the empire had no further chance of retreating.
As Trijejus looked at His Majesty the Emperor in his purple crown robes, he felt a pang of nostalgia. How magnificent and splendid must the empire have been at its peak?
He spoke with a firm tone: "Attila is the Dragon King. In the ancient past, he was one of the four great rulers of the dragon race, the King of the Earth and the Mountains, known as Fenrir, the monster who first sounded the twilight of the gods." As he spoke, the general's tone became somewhat somber. "Now he is the Scourge of God, the serpent that once tempted Adam and Eve, the King of the Huns, and the greatest enemy of the Roman Empire."