Deposed? I couldn't be happier! I wouldn't even be a dog to the crown prince.

This is no longer a war.

This was a one-sided harvest, a carnival devoid of any political motives, purely for destruction.

"Ghosts! They are evil spirits!"

A Goguryeo veteran threw away his broken sword and ran desperately into the depths of the mountains.

He had participated in the battle against the Sui army thirty years ago and had witnessed how the people of the Central Plains were worn down by the mud and the bitter cold.

But he swore he had never seen such a monster in his life.

Those three thousand killing gods, clad in dark red heavy armor, seemed to feel neither pain nor fatigue.

With each swing of their meteorite iron scythes, they unleashed a shower of crimson blood. Even surrounded by Goguryeo's heavily armored infantry, they wielded their weapons with mechanical precision.

Cut off the head.

Sever the limbs.

Like harvesting ripe wheat in a field, it's done without emotion or pity.

"We surrender! We surrender!"

Several Goguryeo soldiers, driven to the brink of despair, knelt in the snow, raised their hands high, and screamed desperately in broken Chinese.

In past wars, as long as they laid down their weapons, the armies of the Central Plains would usually accept their surrender and even be treated well.

This was, in their understanding, their last hope of survival.

however.

The Iron Eagle Warrior wearing the Iron-Faced Asura Mask merely glanced at them indifferently.

The war scythe drew a strange arc in mid-air.

"laugh--"

Three fine heads shot into the sky, their warm blood spraying onto the pristine snow, instantly freezing into ice.

There was no scolding, no mockery.

The Iron Eagle Warriors silently stepped over the headless corpse and continued towards their next target.

"The Lord has ordered that no one be left alive."

The hoarse voice echoed in the wind, becoming the last words that all the Goguryeo soldiers on this land heard.

From the moment Bai Qi took control of the land battlefield, Goguryeo's border defenses completely collapsed.

Those fortified mountain fortresses, which Yeon Gaesomun had placed high hopes on, were turned into silent tombs by the infiltration and slaughter of the Iron Eagle Warriors.

When the news reached Pyongyang, the entire palace fell into an extremely terrifying silence.

"Completely...annihilated?"

Yeon Gaesomun slumped on the tiger-skin couch, his fleshy face ashen white as paper.

He was still holding a wine glass in his hand, but the wine had already spilled all over the floor.

"Besha Castle has fallen... the border defenses have fallen too..."

"It wasn't just the Tang army's artillery, but also a group of monsters... They wouldn't accept surrender and killed anyone they saw..."

The messenger knelt on the ground, his voice trembling like a leaf, his eyes filled with despair.

"Lord Molizhi, the Tang army is less than a hundred li from Pyongyang!"

Less than a hundred li!

This distance is only half a day's journey for those monsters who can easily cross even mountain cities.

Meanwhile, on the Taedong River, the invincible fleet of the Tang Dynasty, which blotted out the sky, was approaching Pyongyang as if it were in an empty field, amidst the roar of red cannons.

Yeon Gaesomun finally panicked.

His arrogant and overbearing nature was shattered into nothingness by absolute power and ruthless slaughter.

"Quickly! Send an envoy!"

He threw down his wine glass and sprang up from the bed like a mad dog.

"Go to the national treasury! Bring out all the gold, silver, ginseng, and deer antlers!"

"And all those exquisite beauties sent by Silla and Baekje, send them all to the Tang army!"

Yeon Gaesomun grabbed the collar of a trembling minister next to him, his eyes practically bulging out.

"Tell the Crown Prince of the Great Tang! I, Yeon Gaesomun, am willing to submit to the Tang Dynasty and pay tribute! I will pay homage to the emperor every year!"

"As long as he withdraws his troops, Goguryeo is willing to be the Tang Dynasty's lapdog for generations to come!"

Half a day later.

Outside Pyongyang, in the central command tent of the Tang Dynasty expeditionary force.

The wind and snow subsided slightly.

Li Chengqian sat on a grand chair covered with thick fox fur, holding a silver skewer in his hand, idly poking at the charcoal fire in the brazier.

At his feet.

The envoy sent by Yeon Gaesomun was lying on the ground in utter humility, his forehead pressed against the cold dirt.

Outside the tent were dozens of carriages loaded with gold and silver jewels, and a hundred Goguryeo beauties shivering from the cold.

"Your Highness... Our Lord Molizhi has deeply realized his mistakes."

The envoy's voice was choked with sobs.

"These treasures and beauties are merely a small token of Goguryeo's apology."

"If Your Highness calms your anger, Goguryeo is willing to immediately withdraw all its armed forces, open the city gates to welcome the Tang army, and from then on, honor the Tang Dynasty as a superior celestial empire, never to betray it!"

The atmosphere inside the tent was very quiet.

Xue Rengui stood to the side, holding his halberd, his eyes coldly fixed on the envoy.

Zheng He had just arrived from the flagship and silently observed all of this.

Li Chengqian remained silent.

He simply watched the flames dancing in the brazier.

After a long while, he slowly raised his head, and there was not a trace of greed for money and beauty in his deep eyes.

There was only a chilling indifference.

"Now you want to be a dog?"

Li Chengqian threw away the silver skewer in his hand and dusted off the ashes on his hands.

He stood up, walked up to the envoy, and looked down at him condescendingly.

"Why didn't you do this sooner?"

"When your Molizhi dug up the bones of Tang soldiers and built that mound of corpses on the banks of the Liao River, why didn't you think of submitting to them and paying tribute?"

"When you cut off my envoy's features and froze him to death on the ice, why didn't you think of never betraying him?"

The envoy shuddered, his face turning deathly pale.

"Your Highness! It was Molizhi who acted rashly for a moment! The people are innocent..."

"innocent?"

Li Chengqian sneered and interrupted him rudely.

"There are no innocent snowflakes in this world."

"Look at that mound of corpses; it was built with the blood and flesh of the men of the Tang Dynasty!"

Li Chengqian pointed outside the tent, his voice suddenly rising, revealing an undeniable, violent killing intent.

"You think you're worthy to be dogs of the Tang Dynasty?!"

He suddenly waved his hand, turned around and walked back to the armchair.

"Drag him out and behead him. Hang his head on the gate as a sacrifice to the flag."

The envoy was terrified and struggled desperately to beg for mercy.

"Your Highness, spare our lives! In times of war, envoys are not to be killed!"

"Take him away." Xue Rengui coldly uttered two words.

Two fierce-looking snow dragon knights rushed in and dragged the envoy out like a dead dog.

The piercing screams quickly ceased outside the tent.

Li Chengqian put the white fox fur coat back on.

He strode out of the central command tent.

Outside, there were 30,000 Snow Dragon Riders and 5,000 Divine Machine Battalion Musketeers lined up in neat rows.

Further away, there was Bai Qi's dark red Iron Eagle Warriors formation, resembling a demon.

Li Chengqian flipped himself onto his black horse and drew the jewel-encrusted Emperor's Sword from his waist.

The sword's edge gleamed with a blinding cold light in the afterglow of the setting sun.

His sword was pointed directly at the magnificent city of Pyongyang ahead.

"Soldiers."

Li Chengqian's voice echoed across the plains of Liaodong, carrying a magical power that stirred the blood.

"Tonight, I do not want any of the city's treasures, nor do I want any of its beauties."

"I only want Yeon Gaesomun's head!"

"Tonight, I will wash the ground in Pyongyang's royal palace with their blood!"

"kill--!"

The deafening battle cries instantly tore the sky over Liaodong.

The Tang Dynasty's iron cavalry finally launched a final, fierce attack on the heart of Goguryeo.