nycdaug Chapter 563 The Demise of Chu (Part 2)
Chapter 563 The Demise of Chu (Part 2)
"If I hadn't delayed sending reinforcements... if I hadn't listened to slander... Xiang Yan might not have surrendered to Qin, Chencheng might have been able to hold out... how could that old man Wang Jian have so easily brought his army to the city gates?" A heart-wrenching regret gripped him, burning him more than the approaching flames outside the palace.
He seemed to see Xiang Yan's disappointed, even desperate, eyes, and the struggling figures of the soldiers of Chencheng, consumed by hunger. He had not only driven the pillars of the nation to rebellion, but had also chilled the hearts of soldiers across the land!
And what about the common people…? Palace intelligence had reported that there was a food shortage, and people were even resorting to cannibalism… And what about him? He continued his nightly revelry, indulging in wine and women. What the Qin newspapers wrote, though exaggerated, was… not entirely untrue.
"Am I... a tyrant?" he muttered to himself, a bitter smile more painful than tears appearing on his face. This question, which he had always refused to acknowledge, was now laid bare before him in the face of national ruin and the destruction of his family.
"No! It's not my fault!" He suddenly raised his head again, a mad ferocity flashing in his eyes. "It's the Qin people who are cunning! It's that witch Ying Wuyou who is full of tricks! It's Xiang Yan who betrayed his lord for personal gain! It's that traitor Jing Ju who is afraid of death! It's all their fault! They've ruined me! They've ruined Great Chu!"
He shifted all the blame, trying to mask the gnawing fear and shame with anger. However, this self-deception was so fragile. When a eunuch rushed in, screaming, "Your Majesty! The Qin army has breached the palace gates!" his last line of defense completely collapsed.
It's over, completely over.
A chilling despair, mixed with extreme fear and anger towards fate, finally took hold of him. He could not fall into the hands of the Qin people, could not be like King Han An and King Zhao Qian, escorted to Xianyang, subjected to humiliation at the feet of the Qin king, and become a laughingstock of the world!
He abruptly stood up, staggered down from the throne, and roared hoarsely, "Burn the palace! Burn the palace for me! I will die with the state of Chu! I cannot allow the Qin people to defile the ancestral temples of Chu!"
At his command, oil that had been prepared beforehand was poured onto the palace curtains and beams. Loyal guards and eunuchs, either out of their final loyalty to the emperor or out of a shared unwillingness to face capture, lit torches.
Flames erupted instantly, greedily devouring everything. Exquisite carved beams and painted rafters twisted and collapsed in the flames, precious books transformed into fluttering black butterflies, and ritual objects melted in the intense heat.
Fu Chu stood in the center of the raging fire of the great hall, looking at the scene of destruction, and burst into maniacal laughter, his laughter filled with endless sorrow and self-mockery.
"Qin! Ying Zheng! You have won! But I... would rather die a glorious death than live a shameful life!"
Thick smoke choked his lungs, and scorching flames licked his robes. In his final moments of blurred consciousness, he may have thought of his ancestors from the Chu Kingdom, of the magnificent history of Jingchu, and a fleeting sense of responsibility and guilt as the King of Chu may have briefly crossed his mind, but ultimately, it was all swallowed up by the all-consuming flames.
When Wang Jian's elite troops broke through the fire and found Fu Chu, all they found was a charred corpse hanging from the rafters, its face unrecognizable by smoke and fire. He ultimately chose to hang himself, ending his own life and that of his ancient kingdom in an extremely tragic way.
The fire in the Chu royal palace burned all night, turning half the sky above Yingdu red. This towering flame not only heralded the formal demise of the Chu kingdom, but also seemed to be a commemoration of the end of an old era and the birth of a new imperial era.
Wang Jian stood at a distance, silently watching the sea of fire. He knew that after this fire, the world's格局 (geju, a term referring to the overall situation or landscape) would be completely changed, and the biggest stumbling block on Qin's path to unifying the six states would be completely crushed.
Next came the task of maintaining order in Yingdu and handling the aftermath. Wang Jian was very experienced in this task, after all, he was a veteran of many battles and had a wealth of knowledge.
He calmly directed his soldiers to take action: on the one hand, he dispatched capable officers to various places to appease the nobles of Chu, especially the Jing clan and others who had voluntarily surrendered to Qin.
On the other hand, people were sent to conduct a detailed registration of the ordinary people in Chu and to carefully investigate the state treasury and the financial situation of various government warehouses.
Moreover, Wang Jian did not keep the large amount of grain and money he captured for himself or squander it. Part of it was used to relieve the starving people suffering from the war, so as to help them get through the crisis as soon as possible and start a normal life again. The other part was reserved as reserve materials for future use to ensure the stability and tranquility of social order in the Yingdu area.
In addition, Wang Jian also issued an order requiring that all the precious books, ritual objects and other treasures in the Chu King's palace be preserved intact and that strict sealing measures be taken. When the time was right, all these treasures would be transported back to Xianyang.
Upon learning of the fall of Yingdu and the suicide of the King of Chu, Xiang Yan locked himself in his room for an entire day. After emerging, he seemed to have shed a burden and threw himself even more enthusiastically into training the surrendered troops. He knew that Chu was dead, and the future of the Xiang clan was now firmly tied to the Qin Dynasty.
Meanwhile, in a secluded villa in Xianyang, Xiang Yu read a detailed report of the fall of Yingdu in the *Da Qin Xin Bao* (New Qin Gazette). He remained silent for a long time before finally throwing the newspaper into the fire. The firelight illuminated his sharply defined face, and in those eyes that had once burned with the flames of revenge, only a cold calm and… a resolute determination after a trace of confusion remained.
He took the initiative to find the guard and asked to see Princess Jiayang.
“Your Highness,” he looked at Ying Wuyou, his voice low, “the State of Chu has fallen. Yu wishes to serve the Great Qin like his grandfather. But please grant me one request.”
"speak."
"If in future campaigns we encounter any of Fu Chu's direct descendants who stubbornly resist, please allow me to personally execute them to atone for the loyalty and valor of the Xiang family!" This was not for the sake of the Chu state, but for the sake of his betrayed grandfather and for the dignity of the Xiang family.
Ying Wuyou looked at him and knew that the chains of this fierce tiger were being handed to her by him personally.
"allow."
Wang Jian's war to destroy Chu lasted only a few months, yet with overwhelming force, he completely annihilated this once-powerful nation that had stood in the south for hundreds of years.
This not only marks the final countdown to the Qin state's unification of the world, but also proclaims to the entire world that a new era, brought about by the flapping of wings of Ying Wuyou, a "butterfly," which may differ from the original course of history, is advancing rapidly and unstoppably.