Call of the Heroes of Chaos in Another World

Chapter 2167 The Sun and Moon Reopen in Heavenly Kingdom, Zhu Jiang Joins Forces to Defeat Xuan Xiao

However, judging from the strength of the Gun God and the Vulcan, Wang Yu guessed that the Gun God was more likely to die.

However, this time he guessed wrong; it wasn't the God of Guns, but the God of Fire.

Furthermore, Vulcan did not die.

However, his strength was greatly reduced, to the point that he could no longer even maintain his position as a true god.

Emperor Qian died without leaving any heirs, and Jiang Lin, the most prestigious of the princes, had long since passed away.

Therefore, most of the princes of the Great Qian Dynasty, especially the most powerful ones, had their eyes on the central position.

At this moment, although there are still old guys like Jiang Ze in the royal family, he is not enough to take charge of the overall situation.

Whether it's Huang Tian and Huang Ying of Da Cang, or Jiang Ze of Da Qian, the kings will respect them to some extent, but they will never listen to them blindly.

The reason is simple: without troops, one has no absolute say.

Therefore, it can only provide reference opinions and cannot play a decisive role.

It is precisely because of this that, without a person of sufficient prestige and authority to step forward and take charge, the Great Qian Dynasty is now in complete chaos.

Chaos had broken out. Not only were the princes fighting amongst themselves, but even Zhu Yuanzhang, from the southeast of the Great Qian Dynasty, couldn't resist extending his reach into the fray.

Zhu Yuanzhang's strategy remained the same: build high walls and store up grain, except he didn't delay declaring himself king. After all, many of the rebel kings in the land had already declared themselves emperors, let alone kings.

After the fall of the Great Wu, Zhang Shicheng, Han Chen, and Wang Gaizhi were eager to seize the most prosperous central area of ​​the Great Wu.

Instead of penetrating the heart of the Great Wu, Zhu Yuanzhang steadily developed his northeastern regions, which allowed him to occupy four half-regions, including Bojin and Hanjin, making him the one with the largest territory among the remaining four rebel kings.

Zhu Yuanzhang's strategy was to wait until the few rebel kings vying for control of the center had fought to a standstill, and then, with his strong and well-equipped army, he would step in to clean up the mess.

After all, although the central land was incredibly wealthy, it was clear that all three families wanted it. Not only the three of them, but also Chi You in the south wanted it. No one was willing to give it up to someone else; it was a blatant conspiracy.

At this time, while focusing on developing domestic affairs, Zhu Yuanzhang also set his sights on the Daqian Dynasty, whose situation had suddenly become completely chaotic.

Although everyone rose to power by rebelling against kings, Zhu Yuanzhang did not say that he would not take action against them.

One was a former rebel king of the Great Wu, and the other was a rebel king of the Great Qian. Even if they had cooperated before, when it came time to fight each other, Zhu Yuanzhang didn't even blink.

After all, when great powers wage war, self-interest is the most important factor.

In particular, the rebel kings of the Great Qian Dynasty had just been attacked by Donghuang Taiyi, Jiang Ze and others leading the Di Ze Great Formation not long ago, and three rebel kings even died.

Zhu Yuanzhang's target was the territory of one of the three dead rebel kings, Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan, and the territory of a local rebel king, Li Zhen.

There was nothing he could do; the territories of those two families happened to be right next to his, separated only by the Great Chuan Dynasty.

In this situation, if we don't fight them, who should we fight?

Even if Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to attack others, he couldn't get the chance!

On one hand, Zhu Yuanzhang's son Zhu Di led an army of 150,000, along with former Wu generals Xie Feng and Xie Quan, as well as his own generals Yu Gao, Tian Zaibiao, Xue Gang, and others, to launch a northern expedition against Dachuan and then attack the rebel king Hong Xiuquan and Li Zhen of Daqian.

This army was actually just a smokescreen for Zhu Yuanzhang.

His real troops, at this time, had already taken the sea route and were directly attacking Hong Xiuquan, the rebel king of the Great Qian Dynasty.

At this time, due to Hong Xiuquan's death, his kingdom was also in a mess, and everyone wanted to take over Hong Xiuquan's position as Heavenly King, especially the remaining kings of the Heavenly Kingdom, none of whom wanted to relinquish the position.

Against this backdrop, Zhu Yuanzhang's surprise naval attack caught them completely off guard.

Furthermore, Zhu Yuanzhang somehow gained the support of the new Ming Cult leader, Zhang Wuji. With the cooperation of tens of thousands of followers, Zhu Yuanzhang launched a coordinated attack from within and without. Before Shi Dakai and others, the most capable fighters in the Heavenly Kingdom, could even make their mark, they were captured by Zhu Yuanzhang in one fell swoop.

From then on, Hong Xiuquan's forces collapsed like an avalanche, and the situation became uncontrollable.

The Ming Cult, which initially formed the prototype of the Great Qian Dynasty uprising, boasted hundreds of thousands of followers at its peak. Of course, the number of hundreds of thousands in a peasant uprising is not a reliable indicator of combat strength.

However, although this sect was one of the earliest peasant uprising armies to develop, its leader, Yang Dingtian, did not have any ambition to become emperor.

The higher-ups don't have that idea. Those below either oust the one above and take power themselves, or they join the higher-ups in choosing a new supporter. After all, even if they don't make the decisions themselves, they still need to follow someone who can.

And the person they initially chose was Hong Xiuquan.

The main point is that the Ming Cult leaders, represented by Yang Dingtian, were initially misled by Hong Xiuquan's propositions, such as "all fields under heaven should be cultivated by all people under heaven" or "there should be no uneven distribution of resources and no one should go hungry or cold." Yang Dingtian and his group genuinely believed these ideas.

After all, what were these people rebelling against the Great Qian Dynasty for? Wasn't it for these very reasons?

However, after Hong Xiuquan rose to power, especially after he officially ascended the throne and became emperor, he began to completely abandon his duties and became even worse than the Daqian regime.

Furthermore, with Hong Xiuquan's support, his God Worshipping Society grew stronger, squeezing the living space of the Ming Cult. But at this very moment, the previous leader, Yang Dingtian, disappeared.

Within just a few years, the Ming Cult lost a large number of followers. It wasn't until a year ago that the Ming Cult welcomed its new leader, Zhang Wuji.

However, after Zhang Wuji took over, the Ming Cult, which originally boasted hundreds of thousands of followers, had declined to only a few tens of thousands of followers of varying quality.

Zhang Wuji may not have been a good leader, but he was at least a good person.

He also couldn't stand Hong Xiuquan's actions after he became emperor.

It was precisely because of this that when Zhu Yuanzhang sent the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Dragon Guard Manor to jointly contact the Ming Cult, Zhang Wuji made the decision to lead the Ming Cult to rebel against the Heavenly Kingdom.

Amidst this environment of internal and external troubles, the entire Heavenly Kingdom fell into the hands of Zhu Yuanzhang in just three months.

After all, among the rebel kings of the Great Qian Dynasty, the Heavenly Kingdom was indeed one of the weakest, occupying only a small territory barely enough for one county. At this time, Zhu Di had not even conquered the Great Chuan Kingdom yet, but Zhu Yuanzhang had already taken down the Heavenly Kingdom, one of the rebel kings of the Great Qian Dynasty.

In contrast, Li Zhen, whose leader was still alive and who was not like Hong Xiuquan who neglected his duties after taking power, was much more resilient.

The two sides were locked in a fierce battle for a time.

Since the Ōkawa Dynasty was not completely destroyed, the land-based logistics routes were not yet open, and the sea-based logistics routes were completely needed.

Zhu Yuanzhang was about to go to war with Li Zhen again, so he had to both wage war and carefully manage the original territory of Hong Xiuquan to prevent any unforeseen events from happening behind the scenes while he was fighting on the front lines.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang arranged a marriage between his second son, Zhu Shuang, and Hong Xiuquan's sister, Hong Xuanjiao, to appease the remnants of the former Heavenly Kingdom.

At the same time, it abolished many of the policies implemented during Hong Xiuquan's reign and appeased the people.

Just as he was making some progress, Jiang Che, a prince of the Great Qian Dynasty in the north, began to have designs on him.

With Hong Xiuquan dead, Jiang Che originally intended to head south to pick on this easy target and eliminate the rebel kings along the way.

Just as he was preparing to send troops, the death of the Great Qian Emperor occurred, which made him waver between two options: whether to directly enter the capital to seize the throne or to head south to expand and strengthen his forces.

Unfortunately, while he was hesitating, Zhu Yuanzhang made his move first.

Jiang Che was furious and wanted to teach Zhu Yuanzhang a lesson.

Zhu Yuanzhang knew that before Zhu Di had conquered the Sichuan dynasty and consolidated his sphere of influence, he would absolutely not launch a two-front war. Under such circumstances, his chances of winning a two-front war were too low.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang first catered to Jiang Che's tastes by presenting him with ten beautiful women.

Afterwards, he took the initiative to seek peace with Jiang Che, and even sought cooperation, wanting to unite with Jiang Che to deal with the rebel king Li Zhen, as well as the biggest rebel king in the Great Qian Dynasty, Xuan King Xiao Ping'an.

After that, Jiang Che could use his unparalleled merit in quelling the rebellion to officially ascend the throne of the Great Qian Dynasty.

Jiang Che could not possibly completely trust Zhu Yuanzhang, but he was indeed persuaded.

After all, although he also coveted that position, he knew his chances of winning among the princes were not high. At least for one thing, the three Jiang brothers together controlled almost the entire northern border of the Great Qian Dynasty.

With Jiang Lin dead and the central government's troops suffering heavy casualties, the three Jiang brothers together are now the most powerful force in the Great Qian Dynasty.

If he could quell the rebellion of Xiao Ping'an, the largest rebel leader in the Great Qian Dynasty, with the help of Zhu Yuanzhang, he could indeed gain the support of a large number of members of the imperial family and court officials.

Even if things don't go well, he has taken over Xiao Ping'an's territory. If he develops it diligently for a few years, he can be completely on par with the three Jiang brothers working together.

It was because of this battle that "Flaming War God" Lei Zhaohai lost his position as a True God General.

Lei Zhaohai, the "Blazing War God," was not Jiang Che's subordinate, but rather directly under the central government. He was seconded to Jiang Che.

After all, Xiao Ping'an wasn't Jiang Che's enemy alone. The imperial court was already suffering heavy losses and couldn't send troops, which was one thing. But they couldn't just leave without offering any help!

Originally, Jiang Che wanted to use the Flying Thunder God General Jiang Qianqiu, but Jiang Qianqiu was also a prince and would never listen to him. So he settled for second best and borrowed "Blazing War God" Lei Zhaohai instead.

At the same time, the previous major battles between the rebel kings of Daqian and the imperial court were not only a case of heavy losses for the imperial court alone, but also a case of both sides suffering heavy losses.

After that, Xiao Ping'an wanted to invite the rebel kings to a meeting, but was ambushed by Donghuang Taiyi and Jiang Ze. As the host, he also suffered heavy losses, even losing his only son.

His own brother and his brother's son also died one after another.

Without an heir, and even being unable to adopt one from a brother, the foundation of the family was shaken.

Even if I wanted to have children now, I couldn't. I've suffered too much these past years, and I was injured in my lower body during the war.

Otherwise, in the original historical timeline, why would Mu Xuanyang be willing to surrender to the emperor? On the one hand, wasn't it because the Xiao family only had one son?

On the other hand, Xiao Ping'an raised an army to fight for food for the people who could not survive. His initial goal was not to become emperor. It was only after he grew stronger that he gradually developed such ambitions.

However, the standard of living of the people under Emperor Zhiling's rule was much higher than that of the people under Xiao Ping'an's rule at that time.

To put it bluntly, even when defeat was inevitable, the real decision behind Mu Xuanyang's surrender to the throne was actually made by Xiao Ping'an.

However, he was already an emperor at that time. Others could surrender, but he could not. He could persuade Mu Xuanyang to surrender, but he could not persuade himself to surrender.

Xiao Ping'an started from humble beginnings and gradually built his empire. In the process, his abilities grew to the top level at the time, but ultimately he lacked the courage and boldness of many others.

In conquering the world, those who have the last laugh are all those who risked everything. Many people, once they embark on this path, are already prepared to die trying if they don't succeed.

If they succeed, the entire family will rise to prominence. If they fail, they will all fall into an abyss, at most one bloodline will be wiped out.

To want both is too extravagant on a path with no turning back, fraught with thorns.

However, it was precisely because of Xiao Ping'an's desire to have it all, his inability to let go of certain things, and his low starting point that his later development was so slow. Although he became a major obstacle to the new dynasty, even the strongest obstacle at one point, when he fell into a disadvantageous position, he easily suffered a complete and utter defeat.

In short, on the surface, the Great Xuan is still the most powerful anti-king force in the Great Qian Dynasty.

But in reality, without an heir, he was already in a precarious state.

The alliance between Zhu and Jiang was originally proposed by Xiao Yuesheng to seek peace with Zhu Yuanzhang. Xiao Yuesheng clearly saw that after Zhu Yuanzhang conquered the Heavenly Kingdom, his only remaining objective was Li Zhen.

If we were to continue north to eat them, they wouldn't have the appetite. It's not just a matter of whether they could eat it, but whether they could digest it.

Without Zhu Yuanzhang, Jiang Che wouldn't dare to provoke them.

With their internal situation in turmoil, it is not the right time for them to wage war; they should first try to stabilize the internal situation.

No matter what method is used, even if it means creating a fake son, internal stability must be achieved first before considering other matters.