Shen Lang looked at the scene in front of him and was speechless.
He wanted to conquer the north, to take back the Eastern Empire, to take back the Xilun Empire, to take back the entire world.
But … what could he take back?
Jiang Li stayed in the North Pole and did not come down. He did not even proclaim himself an emperor. The emperor of the entire world was still Shen Lang.
Shen Lang did not appear in the past few decades. In the official records of the empire, Shen Lang did not go south either.
This was the first time the people of Tiannan Province saw Shen Lang.
Of course, the ancient humans of the Jiang Li Empire were definitely aware that this Shen Lang before them was the greatest enemy of the Jiang Li Empire. In fact, he might even be the only enemy of the Jiang Li Empire.
But to the majority of the ordinary people, be it the officials of the Governor's Office, the warriors of the Black Water Platform, or even the hundreds of thousands of soldiers or the countless citizens of Tiannan City, they only had one feeling when they saw Shen Lang.
The emperor of the empire had arrived.
In the past few decades, Shen Lang had always been the highest emperor of the empire in their hearts. The emperor had never appeared before, but now he had descended into Tiannan Province.
"Long live the emperor, long live, long live!"
"Long live the emperor, long live, long live!"
At first, there were tens of thousands of people shouting, then hundreds of thousands, then millions.
All the soldiers landed on the ground and kowtowed. All the civilians and finally all the slaves outside put down their work and knelt on the ground.
In the beginning, the cheers were merely echoing his words. Their blood did not boil too much.
But gradually, everyone's blood seemed to heat up. Regardless of the tsunami of cheers, everyone's eyes were filled with fanaticism, reverence, and worship.
Not just the soldiers, but also the countless slaves.
By right, the slaves should hate Shen Lang. The empire had made them into redeemers for their sins, allowing them to live like livestock. But this was not the case. The originally lifeless eyes of the slaves were now filled with warmth and enthusiasm.
"Long live the emperor, long live, long live!"
The millions of people shouted. All the bells in Tiannan City rang without being rung.
At this moment, Shen Lang could feel the sentiments of countless commoners and slaves toward the Jiang Li Empire.
These slaves were treated worse than pigs and dogs, but … they actually somewhat understood Jiang Li. They seemed to somewhat approve of his sense of duty.
Save the world. All the existing oppression, all the unfair order, was for the sake of saving the world.
Of course, no one knew that in the end, Jiang Li would sacrifice the lives of hundreds of millions of people. The only people he wanted to save were the hundreds of thousands of Homo Evolutis. Everything else was a source of energy and cannon fodder.
In the hearts of countless people, no matter how dark the empire was, it had no other choice.
In their hearts, the emperor of this empire was Shen Lang. His Majesty was forced to treat us like this.
In that instant, Shen Lang's emotions were extremely complicated. How was he going to continue the northern expedition? How was he going to take back the entire empire? If everyone was loyal to him, how could there be a northern expedition?
Wherever he went, everyone would kneel down and shout 'Long live His Majesty'. In everyone's hearts, Shen Lang was the emperor of the empire. The entire empire was his. How could they take it back?
Of course, all the Homo Evolutis saw Shen Lang as their enemy. They played the role of the upper echelons of the world, helping Jiang Li rule and enslave the world.
But now, they did not resist. Instead, they played along.
There was no war in the empire.
There was no war in the world!
There was only one war, the Battle of the North Pole!
… … …
Shen Lang looked at the millions of people, then without saying a word, entered the governor's palace and pointed at Shen Cheng.
Inside the governor's study, there were only two people, Shen Lang and Shen Cheng.
"Now that there are only the two of us, you can restore your front eyes," Shen Lang said lightly.
Tiannan Province's governor, Shen Cheng's face began to change. His figure also began to change, restoring his true appearance as an Homo Evolutis.
He really was not Shen Cheng.
"I won't ask what your name is." Shen Lang said, "I just want to ask you, where is the real Shen Cheng?"
"I don't know!" The fake Shen Cheng said, "I really don't know."
Chen Lang nodded, and then he said, "I rode a dragon all by myself and entered the South Sky Province. You possess an army of hundreds of thousands of troops, and you even control the weapons system of the entire South Sky Province. So, why didn't you attack me?"
"I don't dare …" The fake Shen Cheng said, "Because in everyone's eyes, you are the emperor of the empire. And the most important reason is that we didn't receive any orders regarding you, so we couldn't take any action. "
Understood!
Shen Lang narrowed his eyes, looking at the fake Shen Cheng in front of him.
"In the entire Tiannan City, how many Homo Evolutis are there?" Shen Lang asked.
"Nineteen." The fake Shen Cheng said.
It was hard to imagine that the huge Tiannan City, with a population of nearly three million, was completely under the rule of nineteen Homo Evolutis, and it was still so peaceful.
Shen Lang looked at the fake Shen Cheng in front of him. Should he kill him? Should he kill these nineteen Homo Evolutis?
After a long while, Shen Lang gave up on this idea.
Of course, Shen Lang could completely execute them. Moreover, he could directly use the emperor's decree to execute them, and then directly send people to take over the entire Tiannan City. The hundreds of thousands of troops and millions of citizens would not have any resistance, they would even feel that it was natural.
But, was there a need?!
Once he was prepared to take over the Tiannan Province, Shen Lang had to make all the necessary preparations. He even needed to have the entire energy system, which could directly replace the Jiang Li Empire's Hell Crystal System in Tiannan City, allowing the huge Tiannan City to seamlessly connect. If there was a small mistake, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of people would die.
The struggle between him and Jiang Li was not a struggle for power, nor was it a struggle for territory, but a struggle for the right to speak in this world, the right to choose the route.
That year, when Shen Lang and the Great Yan Empire had a decisive battle, they did not engage in any large scale battles, they directly fought with the Great Yan Emperor. Whoever won would be the ruler of the world, everyone had to agree to this result, including Prince Ji.
Then, between Shen Lang and Jiang Li, it was even more so!
If he didn't kill the fake Shen Cheng, then he could just warn him to not squeeze more than a million slaves? Completely liberate them?
That wouldn't do either!
Any order, no matter how bad, no matter how dark, was at least still order. If he wanted to change, he had to plan it slowly, and not directly and violently change it, that would cause terrible consequences.
"I'm leaving, you're on your own," Shen Lang said indifferently.
The fake Shen Cheng stood on the spot, motionless.
Shen Lang left the Governor's Mansion, mounted the huge dragon, and directly soared into the sky, flying towards the north.
"Long live the Emperor, long live the Emperor, long live the Emperor!"
"Long live the Emperor, long live the Emperor, long live the Emperor!"
Millions of people once again shouted in unison, kneeling on the ground to send Shen Lang off.
Only when Shen Lang could no longer be seen did Shen Lang stand up from the ground. His entire body felt hot. Even though the Emperor did not say a single word, neither did he encourage them, nor did he comfort them, countless people were still very excited.
His Majesty the Emperor had disappeared for dozens of years, and finally appeared again!
… … …
Shen Lang rode the huge dragon, heading north, heading north, and flying along the Hell Crystal's energy channel.
More than two thousand kilometers later, he arrived at a huge domed city. This should be Sky Bridge City, the former capital of the State of Yue.
Sky Bridge City was of a higher level than Tian Nan City. It was the capital of the entire Yue territory, and the highest ruler was Shen Lang, the first son of Shen Lang and Princess Ning Yan.
At this time, Sky Bridge City was even larger than Tian Nan City, and its population probably exceeded four million. The diameter of this Sky Bridge City probably exceeded eighty kilometers.
When Shen Lang flew into the Sky Bridge City, he received an even more shocking welcome.
Before he appeared, millions of people were already kneeling on the ground, motionless, waiting for his arrival.
And when his figure appeared in the sky, millions of people knelt in an orderly manner.
"Long live the Emperor, long live the Emperor, long live the Emperor!"
"Long live the Emperor, long live the Emperor, long live the Emperor!"
Most of the people in this empire were living a miserable life, but most of them were loyal and fanatical to His Majesty the Emperor. Perhaps some people would rebel, but the rebels were encouraged by the Mojing Warriors. Only those who knew the truth would want to rebel. They knew that Dark Emperor Jiang was not Shen Lang, and they knew that Dark Emperor Jiang wanted to destroy the entire world. That was why they rebelled.
And most people didn't know the truth. They thought that the Emperor of the Jiang Empire was Shen Lang, and they never knew of the existence of Jiang Li, let alone the existence of the ancient new humans. They always thought that everything that Emperor Shen Lang did was for the sake of the entire world.
… … …
Shen Lang entered Sky Bridge City's palace. It was still preserved, and it was almost the same as thirty years ago.
This was very rare. The entire Sky Bridge City had undergone earth-shattering changes, and it had the typical characteristics of the Jiang Li Empire. It was huge, shocking, cold, magnificent, and oppressive. Only the palace was completely preserved, and it was exactly the same as when Ning Yuanxian was on the throne.
Shen Lang entered the palace and saw many familiar faces. Yan E, Crown Prince Zhong, Zhang Chong's son, and so on. There was also the empire's Prince Shen Li, who ruled over Sky Bridge City.
But … all of them were fake. All of them were ancient humans in disguise. Not a single one of them was real.
Therefore, there were no old friends! Shen Lang looked at the face of this fake Shen Li. Although he was from the family, the real Shen Li should have looked like this.
This child was the least handsome among Shen Lang's sons. He looked serious and earnest, but he also had a trace of honesty.
Although he was an enemy, and an ancient new human in disguise, Shen Lang could still see his face and feel the longing in his heart.
There were a total of nineteen ancient new humans in the entire Sky Bridge City, but there were more than a hundred in the entire Sky Bridge City.
This group of people was extremely respectful when they were outside the palace. This was especially so for the fake Shen Li, who addressed him as' Father Emperor 'with utmost respect and filial piety.
However, after entering the palace, only Shen Lang and the 100 ancient Homo Evolutis were present. Not a single normal human was present. Their faces instantly turned cold, and they fell silent.
The hundred ancient new humans had all returned to their original appearances. They didn't kneel, beg for mercy, or threaten.
They just coldly faced each other!
"You guys didn't receive Jiang Li's decree, right?" Shen Lang asked, "So you don't know how to face me."
"Yes." The fake Shen Li replied.
Of course, Shen Lang could kill these hundred ancient humans now, but was he prepared to take over the five million people in Sky Bridge City?
No, he wasn't prepared. The Great Qian Empire's new capital, Raging Tide City, was still under construction. There weren't enough nuclear cores to take over the millions of people, and they didn't even have enough officials.
… …
Amidst the endless cheers, Shen Lang left Sky Bridge City and continued north.
There was no war in the empire! All the cities couldn't be fought, and there was no need to fight. He was the emperor. Was he supposed to fight himself?
Other than the few hundred thousand ancient new humans, the remaining few hundred million people were his people. They were loyal to him, so how could he start a war? How could he take it back?
As long as he defeated Jiang Li, the entire world would naturally belong to Shen Lang. Of course, if he lost, then everything would be destroyed.
Therefore, after that, Shen Lang simply flew very, very high up. All of them were above 10,000 meters. Along the way, he would pass by many domed cities of the Jiang Li Empire. If people saw him, they would be cheering again, and millions of people would kneel to welcome him.
It was very shocking, but there was no need.
At ten thousand meters in the sky, Shen Lang could still see the entire land.
The further north he went, the colder the weather became. After passing the State of Yue, the temperature was already negative 100 degrees Celsius.
Outside the energy barrier, it was no longer suitable for anyone to survive. Everything in his field of vision was ice and snow.
Even the mountains and rivers had disappeared, and the world was snowy white. The only difference was the Hell Crystal energy passageway, which connected the domed cities of the Jiang Li Empire like a spider web.
More than half of the world was dead.
Ten thousand meters in the sky, Shen Lang couldn't help but think, even if he defeated Jiang Li, even if he had the nuclear power core, even if he had the ancient crops, even if he could feed a few hundred million people.
But would this world be like this from now on? Would the entire world's people live within the energy barrier?
Of course, this was Shen Lang's thought process.
In other words, if humans from Earth developed Mars, they would also live underground. There would also be a barrier, because the atmosphere on Mars was so thin that it was almost non-existent.
Shen Lang continued flying north.
After a few hours, he arrived at the Imperial Capital, which used to be the Flame Capital of the Great Yan Empire.
… …
Once again, he came to the Flame Capital, but everything had changed. In fact, it was completely turned upside down. There was almost no trace of the Flame Capital.
This … this was a mega city that had never been seen before in this world.
It was not inferior to the mega metropolises on Earth. It truly felt like the skyline of a city.
Of course, the entire city was still very ancient, cold, and eerie, but it was also filled with a strange and magical feeling.
The surface area of this city was only a few thousand square kilometers, not more than ten thousand. But the houses in this city were even taller, larger, and more majestic.
Yet, these houses did not feel like skyscrapers. They were completely ancient houses, but very, very tall, with dozens of floors.
Therefore, it looked very strange.
But no matter what, even if there was no artistic feeling, the Imperial Capital was still filled with a strange feeling.
Shen Lang had never seen a city like this in any of his movies. There was Mordo City in the Lord of the Rings, but compared to the Imperial Capital of the Jiang Li Empire, it was too small.
The Imperial Capital before him looked like a realistic evil empire. The dark forest was brightly lit.
The entire Imperial Capital had changed, but there was one place that was still the same as before, and that was the palace. It was exactly the same as when Shen Lang left.
The other houses in the city were very tall, but the palace was still the same as before. There were no tall buildings, and even the Forbidden Tower was not very tall.
But … the entire palace still looked down on the entire Imperial Capital, high up. That was because the terrain of the palace had been raised by more than a few hundred meters.
Therefore, the Imperial Capital Palace was like a real city in the sky.
… …
Shen Lang flew above the Imperial Capital. He was not attacked, but there were no countless people cheering for him.
No one knew of Shen Lang's arrival.
In the past few decades, Jiang Li did not appear, and neither did Shen Lang. Therefore, the ruler of the entire world was Crown Prince Jiang Ye in the east, and Queen Helen in the west. The Xilun Empire had become a part of the Jiang Empire, so Queen Helen became the queen.
The Imperial Capital before him was the ruling center of the entire world, or at least the ruling center in name.
In the past few decades, all the known decrees and orders came from within the palace. To be more precise, they came from Crown Prince Jiang Ye.
He was very diligent and wise. With the assistance of Prime Minister Prince Jin, he had firmly grasped the ruling power of the entire Empire in the past few decades.
At this time, it was already night. In the Imperial Study of the Imperial Palace.
Crown Prince Jiang Ye, Prime Minister Prince Jin, Deputy Prime Minister Jin Mucong, and the few Prime Ministers of the Imperial Secretariat were still busy.
The entire process was very quiet. No one even spoke.
The Prime Ministers were all reading memorials. The less important memorials could be decided by the Prime Ministers, and those that could not be decided were directly handed over to Crown Prince Jiang Ye.
The few of them did not even need to use words to communicate. They communicated completely through the memorials. Moreover, the words were extremely simple. A sentence could be expressed in two or three words. Unless one was at the highest level of the Empire, no one would know what they meant.
That's right. Jin Mucong had become the Deputy Prime Minister of the Empire. Moreover, he was diligent and conscientious. He may not be the smartest, but he was definitely the most serious.
"Dong, dong, dong, dong …" The clock struck ten times. It was already ten o 'clock at night.
The First Prime Minister of the Imperial Secretariat, Prince Jin, said, "That's all for today. Please come early tomorrow. Everyone, please go home and rest."
Crown Prince Jiang Ye's eyes moved away from the memorials. He nodded. "Alright. Everyone, please go home. There's no need to rush so early tomorrow. Just be at the palace before seven o 'clock."
It's not early? Leaving the palace at ten o 'clock at night and having to go to work before seven o' clock the next morning? This is worse than 996.
"We will take our leave!" Under the leadership of the First Prime Minister, Prince Jin, the Prime Ministers stood up and bowed to the Crown Prince. Then, they left in an orderly fashion.
After a while, only the Crown Prince was left in the study.
An old eunuch came in. "Your Highness, it's late. Go back and rest."
Crown Prince Jiang Ye said, "The Prime Ministers can rest, but not me. There's still a pile of memorials before me."
The old eunuch said, "It's not too late to approve these memorials tomorrow."
Crown Prince Jiang Ye said, "Today's matters will be pushed to tomorrow, and tomorrow's matters will be pushed to the day after. One day, it will be too late. Not to mention me, even the Prime Minister, Prince Jin, and the Second Prime Minister, Jin Mucong, will be busy until one o 'clock before they can sleep. "
The old eunuch said, "Your Highness is too diligent. You should learn from His Majesty. He knows how to enjoy life."
Crown Prince Jiang Ye said, "My father and I are different. Our missions are different."
The old eunuch said, "I don't understand what you are saying. I will make a bowl of bird's nest soup for His Majesty. After you drink it, you will sleep better."
"Alright." Crown Prince Jiang Ye began to read the memorials again.
For the past few decades, this Crown Prince had been working for more than fifteen hours a day. Every night, he slept at one o 'clock, but he had to wake up before six. It was the same for decades.
His diligence could be said to be a one-in-a-thousand-years model of a ruler.
When Shen Lang was the Emperor of Great Qian, he looked so carefree. He didn't need to attend court, and there was no such thing as diligence. But that was when he was conquering the world. Once he was governing the world, it was impossible for the Emperor not to be diligent.
To be in power and to live a carefree life? Impossible. Emperor Jiajing and Emperor Xuanzong both learned a painful lesson.
… …
At midnight, Crown Prince Jiang Ye ate a bowl of soup and continued reading the memorials.
Because he had just eaten, it wasn't good to sleep immediately. An hour later was the perfect time.
He mastered a unique rhythm and read the rest of the memorials. One book, then another.
"Dong!"
This was the second time the bell rang. It was already one in the morning. It was time to sleep.
At this time, Crown Prince Jiang Ye (Shen Ye) had just finished reading the last memorial. He was finally done for the day and could go to sleep.
The Crown Prince stood up and stretched. He left the study and was about to go to his bedroom.
But … he soon realized that something was wrong. Because at this time, the old eunuch and the Imperial Dragon Guards had to come and escort the Crown Prince back to his bedroom.
The air in the study suddenly flashed, and a figure appeared in front of him.
It was Shen Lang.
Crown Prince Jiang Ye was slightly surprised to see Shen Lang.
"You're here? You're finally here. "Crown Prince Jiang Ye slowly sat back down.
Shen Lang looked at the Crown Prince's face.
He was the most handsome man in the world. When he was young, he was already shockingly handsome, even more so than Shen Lang.
Now, he was in his prime, so handsome that people couldn't look at him directly. His Little Ye had grown so big. It was as if it had happened overnight.
But … the Crown Prince in front of him wasn't Jiang Ye. He was still an ancient human in disguise.
He wasn't the only one. Prince Jin, Jin Mucong, and the other prime ministers were all fake. They were all ancient humans in disguise.
It was just that every day, they seemed to be exactly the same. They even forgot their true identities and really thought of themselves as Kaneki Satoshi, as Kami-jun.
"Sigh, after decades of disguise, I've almost forgotten my real identity," the fake Jiang Ye said. "If you hadn't come, I really would have thought of myself as Shen Ye."
As he spoke, the fake Shen Ye put on his real mask. He was still as handsome as ever, and even bore some resemblance to Shen Lang and Shen Ye.
"Let me introduce myself. I am Jiang Xie's son, Jiang Mie."
Although the person in front of him was a fake Shen Ye, he was the real Crown Prince. He didn't expect him to be Jiang Xie's son.
"Of course, don't misunderstand. My mother is not Queen Medusa," Jiang Mie said. "Also, my name was given to me by my father when he was young."
Jiang Mie. Should this name be considered pessimistic or optimistic?
Shen Lang said, "Isn't Zhang Chong also the Empire's Vice Prime Minister? Where is he? "
Jiang Mie said, "Zhang Chong is the Vice Prime Minister, but he went to Xilun on behalf of the Imperial Capital to meet with Queen Helen."
Shen Lang couldn't help but be stunned.
The fake Shen Ye (Jiang Mie) said, "Oh, of course, Zhang Chong is fake. We ancient humans are impersonating him. Queen Helen is also fake."
Shen Lang said, "Is there a need to be so serious? They are all ancient humans, so why did you have to let fake Zhang Chong visit fake Helen? "
Jiang Mie said, "If we don't act seriously, how can we govern this incomparably huge empire? These hundreds of millions of people are real."
Shen Lang could hear the sorrow in these words.
Jiang Li had taken care of everything by himself. Therefore, the hundreds of thousands of ancient humans under his command could only play the game of world domination. That's right, this was a game. No matter how serious or realistic it was, it still seemed like a game.
This was because Jiang Li's goal was not to maintain or develop the empire, but to devour the vitality of the entire world. These hundreds of millions of people would eventually become cannon fodder and become a source of energy.
Even Jiang Xie's son was no exception. He wanted to play this game. This reminded Shen Lang of when he played games on Earth. What was the most important thing? Immersion. For a game to be fun, one had to take it seriously.
Shen Lang came to the study and carefully looked at the books on the shelves.
He had stayed in this study for a short period of time. After defeating Great Yan's emperor and before heading to the north pole, Shen Lang had spent most of his time in this study.
Shen Lang took out a book at random and flipped through it.
As for the Crown Prince, Jiang Mie, he sat quietly on his chair, motionless.
Shen Lang felt very sad, but also very gratified.
He was sad because Shen Ye had been replaced. Originally, Shen Lang thought that Shen Ye was Jiang Li's grandson and the true successor of the Jiang royal family. Therefore, Jiang Li should have given him a way out and allowed him to truly become the crown prince and rule the empire.
He was gratified because Shen Ye was still loyal to his identity. He firmly remembered that he was Shen Lang and Mulan's son first, then the successor of the Jiang royal family.
"Jiang Mie, all of the upper echelons of the empire, including all of my relatives, are fake. They are all impersonated by ancient humans, am I right?" Shen Lang asked.
"Yes," Jiang Mie (fake Shen Ye) said.
Shen Lang asked again, "Then do you know where the real Shen Ye is? And where are my other children and relatives? "
Jiang Mie said, "I'm sorry, I don't know. Only the Emperor knows about this. Why don't you ask him yourself? Go to the north pole and ask him. I believe he has been waiting for you all this time. "
Jiang Mie didn't call him father. He called him the Emperor, or him.
Jiang Mie was probably very confused. The soul of the dark Emperor Jiang was Jiang Xie, but he always thought of himself as Jiang Li, so Jiang Mie couldn't call him that.
Shen Ye, Bing'er, Ning Yuanxian, etc. Where were all of Shen Lang's relatives imprisoned? Other than Jiang Li, no one knew.
"Go to the north pole? Fight the final battle with Emperor Jiang Li? "Shen Lang said," I will! I will go! "
But at that moment!
The sandalwood smoke suddenly condensed and formed the face of Emperor Jiang Li.
Deep, simple, mysterious, powerful!
Even though it was only a face formed by the smoke, it was still very intimidating. Even though it was just a smoke, it seemed to be able to turn countless lives into ashes.
Shen Lang said, "Emperor Jiang Li, I trust you have been well!"
Jiang Li said, "Emperor Shen Lang, I trust you have been well!"
Jiang Li said, "Emperor Shen Lang, I trust you have been well!"
Shen Lang said, "May I ask where my wife, children, and all my relatives are imprisoned?"
Jiang Li's face looked at Shen Lang for a moment before saying, "Your Majesty Shen Lang, I'm going to Raging Tide City to take a look at your brand-new civilization. Prepare yourself."
Shen Lang was shocked!
He was coming to the Imperial Capital of the Jiang Empire, but Jiang Li was going to his Raging Tide City?
Jiang Li was going to Raging Tide City personally?
Even if he didn't go personally, even if it was just a clone, it would still be very terrifying.
The Ji Clan's dragon, the Sky Gazing Totem, and everyone else in Raging Tide City couldn't even defeat half a finger of Jiang Li.
Whether it was Mo Jing, the deep abyss, or even the ruins of the ancient Great Tribulation Temple, Jiang Li never appeared. At most, he only sent second and third-rate people. Now, he was going to Raging Tide City?
Jiang Li said slowly, "Your Majesty Shen Lang, prepare yourself. I will be there soon!"
Then, Jiang Li's face formed by the sandalwood smoke completely dissipated!
… …
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