Rise of a Lonely City: From Exiled Prince to Ruler of the Nine Provinces

The spring of the first year of Yongning began with Shu King Xiao Liang swearing an oath in Chengdu, raising the banner of "cleansing the court of corrupt officials and executing Zhao Chong".

But the fire did not spread to the capital as many had expected, burning the "treacherous" Zhao Chong to death.

Instead, it spread like wildfire across the vast body of the empire in an almost absurd and out-of-control manner, ultimately dragging the entire Great Xia into a bloody and fiery abyss of full-scale civil war.

The Shu King's proclamation was like a key, unlocking a Pandora's box that had been barely imprisoned for hundreds of years by the fragile shackles of "imperial power".

The demons in the box are named "Ambition," "Greed," "Resentment," and "Despair."

They roared out and were no longer under control.

King Xiao Rui of Chu responded the fastest, but he clearly "purged" more than just Zhao Chong's "royal advisors." He turned his attention to all the surrounding forces that did not obey him, as well as... King Xiao Jun of Wu next door.

The land of Wu and Chu has been prosperous since ancient times, but it has also been rife with conflict.

The King of Chu, using the pretext that "the King of Wu was secretly colluding with the Zhao traitor," led his army eastward and marched straight towards the Wu territory.

King Xiao Jun of Wu was no pushover. He immediately raised the banner that "King Chu is a traitor who pretends to cleanse the court of corrupt officials but actually seeks to annex other states." He then mobilized his powerful navy and infantry to engage in fierce battles with the Chu army along the Yangtze River.

The once prosperous Jianghuai Plain was transformed into a battlefield in an instant, with cities changing hands repeatedly and people being displaced.

When Prince Xiao Li of Dai raised an army in Hedong, he shouted the slogan of "purging the court of corrupt officials" loudly, but in reality, he joined forces with several tribes on the grasslands to plunder southwards, bringing the flames of war to the relatively peaceful Hebei region.

Wherever he went, under the guise of "raising military funds and punishing traitors," he actually committed arson, murder, and looting, even worse than bandits.

Gui Wang Xiao Xian's actions in Lingnan were much "milder." He did not make a large-scale northward advance, but instead took the opportunity to annex several unruly prefectures and counties and the territories of local chieftains under the banner of "protecting the borders and people and observing the situation." He turned Lingnan into an independent kingdom.

Meanwhile, local powerful figures without royal titles—military governors holding military power, aristocratic families occupying a region, and even notorious bandits who gathered in the mountains—saw an opportunity.

With the court's prestige shattered and the central government preoccupied with its own problems, if they don't seize territory now, when will they?

As a result, all sorts of banners sprang up like weeds: "Jingnan", "Punishing the Rebellion", "Supporting the Imperial Family", "Pleading for the People"... Even some mountain bandits dared to drape a piece of yellow cloth, claiming to be the "orphan of the late emperor" or "the chosen one of Heaven", occupying mountains as kings and conquering cities and territories.

Law, order, and morality are as fragile as paper in the face of swords and hunger.

On the map of the Great Xia, there were no longer unified government decrees, nor clear borders.

Every day, new "generals," "governors," and "grand marshals" are born; every day, old cities are breached, and new "regimes" are established only to be quickly overthrown.

The army no longer fights for the country, but only for military pay, food, and the personal ambitions of its commanders.

The line between soldiers and bandits became completely blurred. Today's government troops might turn into bandits tomorrow due to unpaid wages; today's outlaws might be incorporated into the army by some "general" and become "righteous army" again.

Shenjing, the once-powerful central hub, has now become a strange "calm spot" in the eye of the storm.

It wasn't because it was safe, but because it was "frozen" in a delicate and fragile balance by the four forces of the Crown Prince, the King of Qin, the King of Jin, and Zhao Chong.

No one dared to make the first move, fearing they would become the target of everyone's criticism; but no one would give up, and they were all desperately expanding their strength, waiting for the opportunity to deliver a fatal blow to the other.

Zhao Chong's "court" had a limited reach, with its orders not extending beyond a hundred li. The "imperial envoys" he attempted to send out were often ambushed and killed halfway by unknown "righteous armies" or "bandits."

He attempted to mobilize troops to "suppress the rebellion," but the order was secretly obstructed by the Crown Prince, the Prince of Qin, and the Prince of Jin as soon as it arrived at the military camp. The Prince of Qin wanted to go south to gain military merit, the Prince of Jin wanted to take the opportunity to control more of the capital region, and the Crown Prince wanted to use the "court" as a pretext to win over the southern vassal kings.

As a result, no one could move, and they could only watch helplessly as war broke out across the land.

The court assembly was no longer a place to discuss state affairs, but a marketplace where the four factions attacked each other, shirked responsibility, and fought for limited resources.

The young Emperor Xiao Yan remained fast asleep on the dragon throne, drooling, completely oblivious to the princes' quarrel.

Zhao Chong's hair had turned completely white in the past few months. He looked haggard, with sunken eyes. His once shrewd and calculating gaze had become cloudy and filled with despair.

He was like a frantic paperhanger trying to repair a leaky ship, only to find that every time he plugged one hole, more and bigger cracks appeared.

The economic collapse was followed by the political and military collapse.

War broke out in various places, trade routes were cut off, farmland was abandoned, and handicrafts declined.

The prosperous Jiangnan region was reduced to a battlefield, and the land of fish and rice was littered with the corpses of the starving; in the Central Plains, not a rooster crowed for thousands of miles; in Hebei, the provinces were repeatedly ravaged by the Prince of Dai and the Hu cavalry, leaving nine out of ten houses empty.

In the capital city, prices have skyrocketed to an astonishing level. A peck of rice costs as much as its weight in silver. The once bustling East and West Markets are now deserted, with only one in ten shops remaining. Everywhere you look, there are emaciated starving people and fierce-looking soldiers.

The tragedy of exchanging children to eat is no longer just a record in history books, but a real event that happened at the foot of the city walls, in those neighborhoods where smoke once rose from the chimneys.

The plague also began to spread among the refugees and defeated soldiers who lacked food and clothing and whose corpses were left unburied.

Typhoid fever, cholera, smallpox... all sorts of terrible epidemics, like maggots clinging to bones, spread everywhere with the fleeing crowds, taking even more lives than war.

"White bones lie exposed in the wilderness, and for a thousand miles there is not a rooster's crow."

The tragic events of the late Han Dynasty were repeated in the Xia Dynasty, more than three hundred years later, in an even more brutal way.

The entire empire, from south to north and from east to west, was plunged into utter and indiscriminate chaos and slaughter.

The once prosperous and powerful Xia Dynasty, a vast empire that attracted tribute from all nations, is now reduced to an empty reign title and an imperial city that is used as a facade by various forces but is no longer truly revered by anyone.

The world was in complete uproar.

The northern border, Zhenbei City.

Compared to the hellish landscapes of the south, this place seems like another world.

In spring, the crops in the fields are growing well, and the newly built irrigation canals ensure irrigation. Although the farmers are worried about the impact of the war in the south, they are more hopeful for a good harvest.

The furnaces in the workshop area burned day and night, and the sounds of forging, sawing, and looming blended into a magnificent symphony.

Although the caravans were affected by the war in the south, their trade with Xiliang, Donghai and the Western Regions became even busier. Leather, ironware and medicine from the north were exchanged for much-needed food, copper and warhorses.

In the military camp, the shouts of drills, the clash of weapons, and the neighing of warhorses were filled with high morale and a solemn atmosphere of strict discipline.

Under the guidance of veterans, the new recruits diligently trained in new tactics and formations.

Inside the military academy, officers studied the latest battle examples and military strategies, their thoughts highly unified: loyal to the Prince of Jingbei, and loyal to Han Yuan.

In the secret chamber of the Prince's mansion, the huge map of the world was already densely covered with small flags of different colors representing different forces, and it was almost impossible to find a complete area belonging to the "Imperial Court".

Chaos is presented visually on the sand table.