I really didn't want to burn it.

"let's go."

Before boarding the Penglai, Li Ang took one last look around at the scenery of Lin'an.

"I'm afraid I'll never be back here again," Li Ang said with a hint of sadness.

[The next time you come to this place will probably be when you're truly returning home, host.]

"probably."

Li Ang shrugged and then boarded the Penglai.

Just as Li Ang and his men were locked in a fierce battle for a dragon in Lin'an, the situation in Bianliang was also changing rapidly.

As the number of "rebels" grew, the situation in Bianliang became increasingly chaotic. So much so that when Group A's own army attempted to capture Bianliang, they entered the main city of Bianliang with remarkable ease. It should be noted that before this, the local forces in Bianliang had been constantly on guard against the entry of the Kirshtalia army into the city.

In fact, the term "capture" is not quite accurate. The government officials in Bianliang were eagerly anticipating the arrival of Group A's Imperial Guards.

When they broke away from the Tang Dynasty and followed Kirshtalia, the Bianliang government did not seriously consider the consequences; they were only doing so because Kirshtalia promised them power.

But now the upper echelons of Bianliang have paid a heavy price for this irresponsible behavior.

Public distrust made their rule shaky and fueled a growing rift. Ultimately, through the instigation of certain individuals, this rift erupted during the election, plunging the entire city into chaos.

In the Tang Dynasty, it would have been completely unimaginable for the people to take to the streets in rebellion.

More importantly, this situation is something the Bianliang leadership absolutely does not want to see. They may be pursuing power, but Bianliang is the stronghold of these local forces, and maintaining the stability of their base is the most basic need for each faction.

This is why the Bianliang leadership was so accommodating to the entry of Kirshtalia's army into the city.

If the Imperial Guard had arrived a month or two later, Bianliang would have been unable to maintain even basic order. At that point, this wretched place would have become a chaotic zone where order was completely out of control, far more bustling than the three "simple and honest" places of Neversnight, Hell's Kitchen, and Gotham City combined.

However, although the Imperial Guards entered Bianliang, they did not rush to take action. They merely isolated the areas where people had gathered, seemingly leaving them to fend for themselves.

The Imperial Guards did this out of necessity; the chaos in Bianliang was not part of the original plan and was simply an extra task.

During the Bianliang riots, all members of Group A, including Kirshtalia Wodim, were doing their own jobs.

Kirshtalia, who was not present at the scene, could only order the Imperial Guard to control the situation and prevent Bianliang from becoming more chaotic.

As for what to do next, we'll have to wait until Kirshtalia returns to Bianliang.

In fact, the purpose of the Imperial Guard was less to stabilize the situation and more to prevent information from being transmitted.

Bianliang is in chaos, but other places absolutely cannot be allowed to descend into chaos, otherwise Group A's controlled area will become a complete joke.

That would not only threaten Group A's dominance, but also shake the morale of the troops fighting on the border. It should be noted that the three forces have not ceased hostilities on the border, and the three armies are in a stalemate.

With internal unrest and powerful enemies on the outside, the high command of the Imperial Guard had to pretend to the front-line troops that nothing had happened, which was a thorn in their side.

Of course, comparing goods will only lead to waste, and comparing people will only lead to exhaustion.

Compared to the high command of the Imperial Guard, the atmosphere within Group A's inner circle was far worse.

"Wouldn't it be an exaggeration to describe the current situation as precarious?"

During Group A's video conference, Pepe said this in a carefree tone.

"If that's really what you think, then so be it."

Kirshtalia responded calmly with a light laugh to the other person's teasing.

"Tch, that's no fun."

Pepe pinched his chin, finding Kirshtalia's overly calm reaction uninteresting.

"Without further ado, let's get straight to the point!"

Kirshtalia's expression turned serious, and he propped his chin up with his hands.

"I am truly sorry, Lord Kirshtalia."

In the video window, Riofilia lowered her head and admitted her mistake.

"It was my incompetence that led to the complete failure of the plan in Lin'an."

During the entire Lin'an incident, Group A lost three Heroic Spirits: Sigurd died at the hands of Qiantang Jun, Katniss was captured, and Anastasia and her Master Kadoc lost contact.

Adding to the fact that Beryl Gat was captured during the previous raid on Qin, Group A can't even field half of its original strength, which is absolutely terrible.

“This has nothing to do with you, Ophelia,” Kirshtalia said with a smile, trying to comfort her. “None of us knew that the dragon in Lin’an would have such great strength. You didn’t lose unjustly.”

"But……"

Ophelia was about to say something when Kirshtalia interrupted her.

"It's not a big problem. Although Lin'an suffered a setback, progress is going smoothly elsewhere. Let's just treat Lin'an as bait to lure them in."

Kirshtalia gently patted his knee and spoke slowly.

Although the amount of bait was so large that it was somewhat uneconomical, they at least didn't lose out from the perspective of equivalent exchange.

"So, all the other dragons have already been captured?"

Ophelia looked at the others.

"Yes, they've got it sorted out over there~"

Pepe made a peace sign at the camera.

Kirshtalia nodded: "The dragons in Chang'an, Beiping, and Jinling have all been captured."

Although dragon veins exist in every place, there are different levels among them. The best dragon veins in the Central Plains are naturally the six ancient capitals.

According to the original Kirshtalia plan, of these six places, except for Luoyang, which was occupied by Li Ang, which was not touched, and Bianliang, which was used as the site for the ceremony, the remaining four places were all captured in one go.

This is the direct reason why he went berserk after hearing about the unrest in Bianliang. That was the place chosen for the ceremony, and it was a place where nothing could go wrong.

Kirshtalia could only lament his bad luck. Not only was there trouble in Bianliang, but the dragon-catching operation in Lin'an also went awry.

Chapter 338 Ying Zheng: I Disagree

In fact, when the plan was being formulated, Kirshtalia had taken into account the fact that the dragon in Lin'an would be extremely ferocious, and that Lin'an was also the fox's current stronghold.

Therefore, Kirshtalia specifically assigned the largest number of people to Lin'an, and even had Kadoc act as an inside agent.

Unfortunately, problems still arose in Lin'an in the end.

"If I had known, I should have given up on Lin'an and gone to find Li Ang's Luoyang instead."

Kirshtalia sighed softly.

Because they didn't want to attract the attention of that scourge Li Ang, Kirshtalia deliberately avoided Luoyang when making her plans. Who would have thought that Li Ang would actually go to Lin'an on his own initiative?

Fortunately, Li Ang ran there; otherwise, if that dragon from Qiantang had really gone berserk and flooded the Central Plains for several years, it would not have been something Kirshtalia wanted to see.

"Only three of the four dragons originally ordered are available. What about the remaining one?" Debit asked bluntly.

“We’ll have to use dragons from other places instead. They won’t be as good as the quality, but at least they’ll work.” Kirshtalia looked at the screen on the right. “Pepe, could you please make another trip and catch the dragon from Ye County?”

Although Ye County's dragon vein is not as good as the previous six, as the capital of the Shang Dynasty, the quality of Ye County's dragon vein is still considered top-notch in the world.

"Let's leave it to someone else."

Peipei winked playfully at the others before cutting off contact.

“Ophelia, Debit, you two, rejoin me as soon as possible,” Kirshtalia ordered her two remaining companions.

"Yes, Lord Kirshtalia."

Ophelia responded immediately, while Debit simply nodded silently.

Kirshtalia smiled slightly, picked up her cane, and stood up.

"Gentlemen, prepare for war!"

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

"Kirshtalia, does he really dare to do this?"

On the Penglai, which was returning to Luoyang, Li Ang's face wrinkled up after hearing the intelligence.

“Yes, he dared to do it.” Ying Zheng’s white fingers slid lightly across the table. “Because you were still busy killing the dragon when the message came, I took it upon myself to have them withdraw on their own.”

"That bastard Kirshtalia!"

Li Ang kicked over the chair next to him.

Such a large movement startled Xiang Yu, who had just entered the bridge.

"What happened to my godfather?"

Sensing something was amiss, Xiang Yu asked in return.

Based on his understanding of his adoptive father, Li Ang would never have lost his temper so much if it were just because the war was not going well.

Ryougi Shiki explained in a low voice, "While Kirshtalia was causing trouble in Lin'an, he also arrested [Dragon]s in Jinling, Beiping, and Chang'an at the same time."

Xiang Yu hadn't expected his opponent to have such a grand scheme, and couldn't help but exclaim, "He's got some skills! That guy is indeed not simple, cough cough, I mean, he's too despicable."

He had just praised his opponent's prowess when he saw Li Ang glare at him, forcing him to quickly change his tune.

Ryougi Shiki continued, "Kirshtalia, having obtained the three dragons, is preparing to gamble everything. He has now mobilized most of his forces to approach the borders of his territory."

"Isn't this a logical strategic approach?"

Xiang Yu didn't find anything strange about it. With such powerful weapons as the three [Dragons], it was perfectly normal to gather strength for a sweeping victory; he had personally witnessed the power of the [Dragons].

"It's nothing, but before that, the rioters in Bianliang will be completely eliminated."

Ryougi Shiki deliberately emphasized the pronunciation of the word "clear".

Although she didn't say what Kirshtalia planned to do, her tone said it all.

"Is he really going to do this?"

Xiang Yu now understood why Li Ang had such a volatile temper. If such a thing had happened within the Qin Dynasty, he would have definitely hung the person who made the suggestion on the city wall to dry in the wind.

"Why not do it? They have no feelings for the people of Bianliang anyway," Ryougi Shiki said emotionlessly.

"Kirshtalia...you just wait!"

Li Ang had some idea of ​​what the captain of Group A was thinking.

Although Kirshtalia's ultimate goal was for all mankind, he was not a saint with a compassionate heart.

On the contrary, Kirshtalia sees "humanity" as a whole, and what he wants to save is "humanity" as a whole, not a specific individual.

The fact that the Olympian gods attack humanity in the Kirshtalia mode of the game's storyline offers a glimpse into this.

For Kirshtalia, eliminating a small portion of humanity to carry out its own plans posed no obstacle whatsoever.

However, knowing this is one thing, but Leon himself will certainly not choose to forgive Kirshtalia for making this decision.

"Then what should we do?" Xiang Yu asked in a low voice.

"I just said that our people should evacuate immediately."

As if he hadn't noticed Li Ang's outburst just now, Ying Zheng responded in a slightly indifferent voice.

"Ying Zheng, are you planning to abandon those people!?"

Li Ang glared fiercely at Ying Zheng.

"We both know very well that once Kirshtalia gets serious, the unsupported populace will be wiped out almost without resistance!"

"Don't look at me like that, Li Ang," Ying Zheng said coldly. "They are not subjects of the Great Qin."

"But they are citizens of the Great Tang!"

"Oh ho, really? His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty doesn't even know how to use the Imperial Seal."

"I just don't have it on hand."

Li Ang scraped his cheek.

"Stop with the nonsense, Li Ang, you're not a child anymore. How many more fighting forces do you think we can send?" Ying Zheng said coldly. "You need to think about the people on this ship."

Ying Zheng's words caused Li Ang to lower his head.

After the battle with Qiantangjun, although the crew of Penglai did not suffer any casualties, all the combat members were injured, especially Xiang Yu and Chloris, who were seriously injured and unable to immediately join the battle.

The Penglai itself was well-preserved in terms of combat capability, but in front of the three-headed dragon of Kirshtalia, the Penglai was just a large target.

After a moment, Li Ang's tightly clenched hands gradually loosened.

"When exactly will it be launched?"