Four-Armed Divine Emperor

In a recent westward expedition, the northern rebel army directly penetrated the empire's western territory and marched all the way to the western border, shaking the empire's rule in the land of Canaan - the western part of the Fertile Crescent.

The rebels who emerged from the remote areas in the north fought their way to the westernmost territory of the empire, broke through the national border, and bordered Antolia's neighboring country, the Seven Shields Alliance. Whether in the eyes of the empire itself or its neighbors, this was undoubtedly a sign that this old empire was about to completely collapse.

Originally, it was only with the support of the Kronos Empire and the Aegean League that they were liberated from the slavery of the Zoroastrians and used as a land defense to limit the westward expansion of the Zoroastrians.

Chapter 318

The Seven Shield Alliance, the first barrier of mountains, now has different ambitions for the old empire in the east that is already in decline.

As a local force in Antolia, the Seven Shields Alliance was the weakest under pressure from the eastern and western powers. To the west, they had to curry favor with the Aegean Empire and the Kronos Empire to gain support and independence, while to the east, they had to concede to the Alan Empire to avoid provoking the Zoroastrians to resume war...

However, the Alan Empire has now declined to the brink of national destruction, and even the Canaanites have begun to plot a rebellion and independence. After all, a great destruction must be followed by a great restoration. A new dynasty that emerges from the chicken roll will inevitably have a long period of rise and a new dynasty atmosphere.

If we do not take advantage of its decline to limit the upper limit of the future new empire as much as possible and reduce the inheritance it can directly take over from Alan, then even if the newly rising empire has the desire and obsession to expand, it will at least encounter considerable obstacles when it actually expands.

At the very least, they won't be able to come back within their generation...

When the northern rebels marched westward to Antolia, the Seven Shields Alliance sent people to contact them and provided some support, which was considered to be a way to establish a good relationship with Qianlong, who was most likely to succeed in "seizing the tripod".

However, the latter were soon "expelled" due to the efforts of the local "loyalist army", and their forces retreated to the heartland of Alan. Shafasha attached great importance to these "loyalists" in the west, and rewarded them vigorously. Those who made outstanding contributions were granted great authority regardless of their bloodline or past power. He asked them to train new troops, prepare military forces, stabilize the local area, and suppress the increasingly unstable situation in the western territory.

Of course, these loyalists were precious and capable in the eyes of Iskhanfa, but in fact, almost without exception, all the prominent figures were either descendants of Ai'er with four arms born from their ribs, or secret believers who secretly worshipped the Holy Father and offered their daughters in order to obtain extraordinary blood and their own power for their family.

When the Four-Armed Man discovered the secret of Amen-Ra, El came here and began to take charge. At the same time, Aisha, Roland, Kyle and other descendants who led the Roman-Northern Alliance also began to promote the plan to completely overthrow the Alan Empire, sounding the death knell for the demise of this dynasty.

Among all of El's children, Elsa, as the eldest daughter born first, has the highest talent. As a daughter, she is also loved by her partial father, so she is the undisputed eldest son.

There is no competition or infighting among the El people. The capable ones will be promoted and the incapable ones will be demoted. If Elsa thinks that either Cyrus or Caesar is more capable and qualified than herself, then they will naturally exchange dominance, unless the will of the El takes the lead.

The eldest daughter has always exercised authority on behalf of her father. After Ansuna and others were "retired" in the harem by El, and spent the whole day with El, Elsa became the actual "head of government" and "chief consul of Rome". Naturally, the strategy against the Alan Empire was also led by her.

Caesar, who prefers direct combat, excitedly took thousands of his descendants and brothers to the grassland after receiving Ai'er's order and began to conquer all directions for the expansion of "Dragon Eagle Khan" and "Purple Tent Khan Court". Now he is leading his troops to conquer the Kipchak steppe with all his strength.

As the second oldest of the three brothers of the first generation, Cyrus, because of his "Zorania bloodline", directly became the leader of the rebel forces in the north. He "consolidated his prestige" by relying on one battle after another, and became one of the few heirs with an open identity to the outside world. Of course, his identity has naturally undergone a series of disguises. Cyrus is now a noble youth of the former Kingdom of Xerxes. After the kingdom that ignited the fire of revenge was destroyed by barbarians, he fled to the north and eventually joined the rebels. He worked for the conspirators who conspired to support the barbarians to destroy their motherland and turned to deal with the Alan Empire.

Elsa, Cyrus, Caesar, Roland, Kyle, Cyrush, Darius, Senna... El's descendants are now spread across all aspects of the world, not counting the Roman mainland. Even within the territory of the Alan Empire, the "eighteen rebel kings and sixty-four smoke and dust" are actually forces controlled by the Four-Armed Man. If they unite and flow together, they are a force that can directly overthrow this old empire.

However, in order to be "logical" and allow the demise of this empire and the birth of a new dynasty to be a natural process, the Four-Armed Man has greatly slowed down the speed of their attack, allowing Artasis IX to hold on until now. If you don't care about the attitude of Sky City on this matter, would you have doubts? In the morning, Shafasha was assassinated and the Iskhanfa riots occurred at the same time. At noon, more than a dozen princes and rebel kings ranging from tens to hundreds of thousands of people would announce their target of Iskhanfa, and the coalition forces would go to Luoyang. Then, there would be a vote to elect the King of Kings. Everyone would make incredible concessions and jointly support one person to ascend the throne - or simply, have an anti-king to rule, a powerful parliament, and turn the Zoroastrian Empire into a parliamentary system or a Zoroastrian Federation.

Originally, this kind of "interpretation" would continue for some time.

Aisha and other descendants have about two years of "grace period" for the fall of the Alan Empire. They take it step by step, first allowing the situation in various places to further collapse, then controlling a certain usurping force to expand, directly challenging the authority of Iskhanfa and then being defeated.

Even the Northern Allied Forces, which seem to have the greatest ambitions, the strongest potential, the most mystery and the most suspicion, can play the role of the pawn that serves as the king's vanguard.

It seems to have given the court a chance to breathe, but then it will become more and more difficult.

Chapter 319

The more fierce the offensive, the more likely Artasis IX would be killed or expelled in the Iskhanfa Rebellion if he was still on the throne at that time. Then several rebel groups would fight and attack each other, and finally a winner would be chosen to unite all the parties, naturally enter the Iskhanfa, and then establish a new dynasty.

You can even add some more drama, such as indulging in pleasure and being incompetent after entering the imperial capital, and being killed by his subordinates and usurping the throne, and then having a drama like eating chicken.

But all this became unnecessary after El turned his gaze outside the world and realized that the enemy he feared was not as powerful as he had imagined.

With the demise of Alan, the establishment of a new dynasty controlled by the Four-Armed Man can be accelerated.

Chapter 12: Palace Coup

After his brother Ahmad IV died of "drunkenness", Artasis IX was supported by the then Grand Vizier to ascend the throne, ascended the shield, became a man respected by all the soldiers and people, and the master of the bright throne. He ruled the world according to the Ish Khan law and was called "Artasis IX".

This is the ninth year of his reign.

This reign was more than half of the fifteen years that his father and brother had ruled as emperors combined. However, during this period that exceeded more than half of his father and brother's reigns, the Alan Empire, under the rule of Artasis IX, collapsed at a much faster rate and lost far more than before.

Starting from the sixth year of the ninth generation, after finally getting the government in order, and defeating the second wave of challengers to the Grand Vizier who had supported him to the throne and then controlled the government, Shafashah ambitiously wanted to implement his grand blueprint of reviving the empire and rekindling the great flame on the basis of completing the unification of the government...

However, the situation in the empire was in a state of confusion, as if it was being manipulated and pushed by countless invisible hands behind the scenes, and it was collapsing visibly.

The empire was like a castle built on the beach. With the erosion and beating of the waves, it collapsed and disintegrated everywhere, and soon became dilapidated and in a mess.

Not to mention the emperor's confusion, even the most ambitious and ambivalent people in the central government could not help but sigh in the face of the rapid collapse of the current situation:

Is it the time or the fate?

Just three years ago, despite the decline of the Zoroastrian Empire, which had suffered a series of defeats in the west and was plagued by unrest, rebellion, and internal strife, Alan was still Alan. It was still the third pole of Tartarus, stretching eastward to the Indies and the Vast Ocean, westward to the Titanic Sea, and southward, colonies and trading city-states sworn to Iskhanfa spread across the Holy Sea and the Sahar continent.

The banner of the Eternal Blazing Sun was hoisted from one end of the continent to the other. Culture flourished, ushering in an enduring golden age. The Aegean Alliance, which gave birth to the earliest "First Empire - Asta", had the highest mage-to-mage ratio in the entire continent. They were in constant fear of the Zoroastrians sailing their warships into the Aegean Sea and blockading the city-states' ports, and the tyrants from the East with their endless, brutal and barbaric slave armies desecrating the temple of freedom and wisdom.

The predecessor of the Kronos Empire, the Saracen Empire, also located in the Central Realm and sharing blood ties with the elves, once humbly addressed the Zoroastrian Shafasha in its diplomatic correspondence as "Emperor of the East, King of the World, Supreme among Kings, Guardian of the World's Axis." Their words were sincere, as if they were paying tribute. At the time, the Apennine Peninsula in the western Aegean had almost entirely fallen to the Zoroastrians, and the virtues of the knights were worthless under the might of the scorching sun.

The Zoroastrian King of Kings, intent on conquering the western continent and recreating and surpassing the great achievements of Emperor Ashtar, bound captured knights who refused to surrender to him in their prized armor and tied them to crosses. Braziers were erected at their feet, and he brutally burned them at the stake. Along the roads built by ancient colonists, he penetrated all the way from the southern peninsula to the snow-capped mountains in the north. Wailing cries accompanied by smoke spread across the western part of Tartarus, horrified and shaken the nations. The Aegean League and the Saracen Empire held several conferences, demanding that Sky City mediate and intervene in this conflict between mortals...

That was the heyday of the Zoroastrian Empire, a great era that the people still cherish to this day, and a grand achievement that Artasis IX dreamed of replicating...

However, for the time being, all of this has nothing to do with the Alan Empire, Artasis IX—real name Ardashir Zubutin Azad, the 19th King of Kings of the Azad Dynasty of the Alan Empire, or the bloodline dynasty represented by this surname.

For the end of the empire built by the Azad lineage among the Zoroastrians had come.

.........

What does “the collapse of an empire” remind people of?

Is it chaos?

riot!

conflict!

war!

The wailing of the old and weak, the fragmented territory, the crumbling palace, the fighting of armies, the collapse of city walls, the destruction of order, shadows, fire, slaughter, blood...

And the essential:

death.

Although the death of an emperor and the death of a commoner are essentially the same, both are the collapse of a body that will return to dust, and both are the breaking free of the constraints of the body.

But within a certain period of time after it happens, the deaths of different people do have different meanings.

For example, the sudden death of a civilian man may cause his wife to cry, and his ignorant children may lose a father who can protect them from the wind and rain.

Chapter 320

Our family has lost a strong laborer and the main source of income, and the future has become uncertain...

But the death of an "emperor", to be precise:

"The Last Emperor"

The impact on this country is difficult to estimate at the moment.

Some are happy, some are sad, some are furious, and some are confused...

But it did happen, and in a way that most people "expected" it to happen.

.........

The rebellious army rushed open the palace gate with great momentum. At the last moment, those slaves who wanted to close the gate and prevent the foreign soldiers from entering the palace, whether out of loyalty or the instinctive duty cultivated over a long period of time, were slaughtered by the violent soldiers. This is what they have been doing all the way. The smell of blood filled the Iskhan Palace, and together with the dark clouds above it, it formed an ominous bloody sign in the darkness.

This was not a simple "palace coup" but a clear-cut armed rebellion.

The Iskhan Palace is more like a vast city than a "palace". If an offensive and defensive campaign is deployed here, the defenders can easily pile up 70,000 to 80,000 troops there. Without several times the attackers' strength, it is impossible to launch an effective siege.

In the past, in this "palace city", except for a few imperial guards and royal relatives, the rest were palace slaves who served Shafasha alone. Of course, those royal relatives could also receive some "gifts" from the King of Kings and were granted the qualifications to serve as palace slaves.

The chaotic situation in the empire finally produced a poisonous fruit in the empire's thousand-year-old capital, Iskhanfa.

The opposition, who had suffered a heavy blow in the Great Chariot and were extremely resentful of the royal family, united with some local rebel forces and started a riot in Iskhanfa. This rebellion, which took place before the emperor's death, was supported by many famous families in the imperial capital, because they generally believed that judging from the current situation, the Azad dynasty would not last long.

No matter what, it may be too late if we don’t take action now.

As long as he can hold the "Emperor" in his hands and the two cards of the imperial capital, he will never be afraid of falling behind others if he controls the power of Iskhanfa. The rest is just a matter of whether he can fight for the dragon himself or find one or more reliable allies to cooperate with.

Chapter 13: Not a King Who Lost His Country

On their way to suppress the rebellion, the imperial army was besieged by internal strife and traitors, and suffered heavy losses. Both the rebels and the loyalists realized that the best (worst) moment had come.

The defense of the Iskhanfa Palace was very weak and was even infiltrated by rebel forces very early on. Due to the successive incidents of the imperial guards, the court no longer trusted even the traditional imperial guards and instead vigorously promoted slave soldiers as military pillars. However, under the instigation of various parties, the latter's main force had been mostly dispersed and was fighting fires everywhere in the chaotic Iskhanfa province.

The defense of the palace was weakened as a result. Perhaps the emperor did not foresee that while the central court was still barely able to hold on, there would be internal traitors who wanted to end his fate in advance and seize the imperial power.

The rebels successfully entered the palace. Except for a few armored and armed slave guards who resisted, the other palace inhabitants fled in all directions or lay down in surrender when faced with such a group of vicious rebels. The rebels' advance into the palace was very rapid, and there was not even any obstacle to speak of.

And their purpose is naturally only one, which is to pass on information through insiders and find out that the King of Kings has only been going back and forth to the palace in those fixed places in recent days.

The rebels have joined forces and spared no expense to hire mage consultants to perform large-scale rituals and spell scrolls, release space spells, and lock the teleportation nodes around the palace to prevent Artasis IX from escaping from Iskhanfa through teleportation.

Of course, this is not necessarily foolproof.

There is also a very crucial person in the palace who can even directly influence the outcome of the rebellion in the imperial capital.

Osiris, the eight-ringed Shaper wizard.

But the extraordinary people, even the great Dharma King who receives royal offerings, will not force himself to do things that go against the "general trend" and go against the will of heaven.

The alternation of dynasties and the decline of empires cannot be controlled by a single figure. If it is just a local rebellion of a certain scale, a blatant palace coup, or an invasion by foreign enemies, it is understandable that the Dharma King would take action to prevent a war for the empire.

In today's situation where "the country is in danger, the mountains and rivers are in turmoil", and "the world is full of smoke and dust", even if Osiris forcibly suppresses such a rebellion, it will only be like forcing a leaking ship to continue for a while.

......

Located in the center of the Iskhanfa Palace.

On the sacred fire platform that can accommodate tens of thousands of people for sacrificial activities at the same time.

Burning continuously for hundreds of years, as if it would never be extinguished, the "Eternal Flame" revered by fire worshippers was said to be a power left by the ancient King of Ashes. But Osiris knew it was merely a large, ingenious tool. The skill of mortal craftsmen combined with the power of transcendent beings had created a sacred place that was considered "sacred, majestic, and inviolable" by mortals...

Of course, at this moment, this solemn tradition of treating life as "sacred... and inviolable" in the past seems a little ridiculous in the present.

At least the rebels who were wearing armor and holding weapons, forcing the palace and committing numerous atrocities did not care about this.

Otherwise, wait for the fire

Chapter 321

When the priests raised the "light from the eternal fire" and shouted at the rebels to retreat and not offend the King of kings, the rebels would not rush forward, capture and kill the noble priests, and snatch the torch from the sacred altar from their hands.

The shouts and cries of killing outside were getting closer and closer. At this time, the magic ban of the palace had been broken, and many figures were flying in the sky. They had obviously noticed the scene beside the altar of the Eternal Fire, but because of the existence of Osiris, no one dared to offend the majesty of the Great Dharma King who symbolized the highest combat power of the entire Alan Empire.

As one of the very few eight-ring legendary wizards walking the mortal world, perhaps no more than a handful, Osiris could not make any immediate improvement measures for the collapse of the empire and the change of dynasties he cooperated with. After all, that was not an area that the extraordinary people cared about. But at the last moment, no one dared to say anything about using his own strength and prestige to help the emperor, with whom he was quite happy to cooperate, choose a decent ending that the other party wanted.

......

"They can't wait any longer."

The middle-aged man who stood side by side with the Dharma King but had a more mature face laughed heartily, and seemed quite carefree at this moment.

Osiris's real age is already three hundred, but he still looks like a handsome young man. On the contrary, the ones standing next to him, who are actually less than forty years old, Shafasha, Artasis IX, Ardashir Zubutin Azad, the nineteenth King of Kings of the Azad Dynasty and most likely the last "last king", look older.

The Dharma King looked at Shafasha, who, even just yesterday, was always surrounded by a crowd of servants, guards, and relatives, numbering in the hundreds. But now, he was all alone. He pondered for a moment and said,

"There is still a chance, Your Majesty."

If the emperor gave in at this time, considering that Osiris had been worshipped by several generations of emperors in his family and the cooperation between the two sides had been quite pleasant, no one would be able to stop him from taking the "last emperor" away and leaving Iskhanfa to the rebels.

In any case, when the emperor abandoned the capital and the country, it was automatically regarded as abdication and death.

The rest is just the "heroes" playing among themselves.

But Ah Jiu simply shook his head and solemnly saluted Osiris, touching his chest. "I've troubled you so much, sir. I won't leave... The end of Azad's cause and the rise and fall of the empire are truly beyond my personal control."

"Since I ascended the throne, I have never personally led an army in battle. I know nothing about military and national affairs. My ambitions were based on optimism, but I acted hastily, leading to the current situation being utterly ruined. This is all my fault...Today, to avoid humiliating my subjects and to preserve a legacy for my descendants, I have sought refuge abroad. While this may prolong my life, it will not be the end of my reign."

Ardashir smiled with relief after saying this. His loyal servants and relatives had either followed the royal family to avoid disaster, or had already thrown themselves into the sacrificial fire before him, waiting for their king in the world of light.

Didn't he think he was kind and generous when he sacrificed his political enemies to the fire?

Even his enemies were grateful to him before they died for not punishing officials and treating them as "nobles". Now, if he, the last emperor, was afraid of the embrace of fire at the end of his life, how would people view him?

Osiris remained silent.

Ardashir didn't say anything more. Beads of sweat had already appeared on his forehead, and his white robe was wet with sweat.

The emperor turned and walked towards the flames rising into the sky behind him.

After taking two steps, he suddenly stopped and said to the Dafa King with emotion:

"If my brother were still alive, I would have indulged in worldly pleasures like a prince, or followed the footsteps of the prophet, Your Excellency, and swam in the boundless ocean of wisdom. It is unknown, but, but..."