Courtyard House: A System Connecting Two Worlds, Resources for the Nation

At this moment, the only sound in front of Xuande Gate was the suppressed sobbing of the imperial guards.

Blood flowed like a river, and the air was thick with the pungent smell of rust and a sweet, metallic odor, mixed with gunpowder smoke and dirt, making it hard to breathe.

Even those who wanted to cough covered their mouths tightly, afraid that Zhou Feng and the others would notice them because of a cough.

However, Zhou Feng, standing before the city gate, completely ignored the thoughts of the imperial guards behind him. His eyes were fixed on the city gate tower directly in front of him, and he took a few steps forward.

A figure was clearly reflected in the carved wooden window illuminated by the car headlights, and it was swaying slightly.

"Your Majesty, things have come to this, are you still not opening the city gates?"

Zhou Feng's voice carried clearly up.

There was a long silence in the city gate tower. Zhao Heng gripped the window frame tightly, the blood under his fingernails had congealed, but he seemed to feel no pain.

The civil and military officials behind him were all silent and trembling with fear.

Some people looked down at their toes, while others hunched their shoulders and huddled in a corner.

Qi Mu, in the most disheveled state, was still sprawled on the ground, the wet patches between his legs emitting a faint, unpleasant odor.

Even the scent of ambergris, which Zhao Heng had specially ordered for this occasion, couldn't mask the smell emanating from him.

Turning his gaze away from the crack in the window frame, Zhao Heng scanned the ministers behind him one by one. These men, who were usually quick to pledge their loyalty, didn't even have the courage to look him in the eye at this moment.

What Zhao Heng didn't know was that Xiao Qinyan had already won over a small portion of these people to his side.

However, before they could even choose sides, he summoned them to the palace for discussion, which led to them being trapped here together by some twist of fate.

"Zhou Feng!" Zhao Heng's voice drifted down from the city gate tower, already terribly hoarse.

"To put it another way, if you are willing to withdraw your troops, I will grant you a kingdom within a kingdom and bestow upon you the title of 'King of the First Rank,' so that we may rule the world together! Otherwise, even if you occupy the capital city of Kaifeng, it will be of no use. My Great Song Dynasty has a vast territory, and there will always be armies to come to the aid of the emperor! What do you say?"

There was a moment of silence below the city gate. Xiao Qinyan and Gao Hu immediately perked up their ears, eager to know Zhou Feng's thoughts.

Only Chen Xiao and the others wore smiles, completely unconcerned.

They were all from this world, so they naturally knew what Zhou Feng's purpose was in coming to this world.

Let alone becoming a king of equal rank, even if Zhou Feng were to become emperor, he wouldn't stay in the Song Dynasty for long.

How could someone who can travel between different worlds be confined by a mere Song Dynasty?

Not to mention Zhou Feng, even Chen Xiao felt a surge of ambition, wanting to follow Zhou Feng and see all the worlds.

Zhou Feng looked up at Zhao Heng on the city wall, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, and then raised his right hand.

He only asked Zhao Heng whether he wanted to open the city gates and surrender, why did he ask so many questions?

Lu Ming, inside the tank at the rear, noticed Zhou Feng's actions and immediately began to operate the controls.

The massive cannon barrel adjusted its angle for a few seconds, aiming the muzzle at the vermilion gate in the center of the city gate, and Lu Ming's hand rested on the fire button.

As Zhou Feng's right hand swung down...

"boom!"

The tank's cannon burst out in a burst of orange-red flame, and the shockwave from the shell even kicked up dust within several meters around it.

The 75mm high-explosive fragmentation shell, trailing a sharp whistling sound, slammed into the Xuande Gate.

The next second, a deafening roar tore through the night sky. The vermilion door shattered into pieces in the explosion, and the fragments of wood flew in all directions like leaves swept up by a hurricane.

Even the copper nails on the door, which had been deformed by the explosion, had been blown away and disappeared somewhere.

The city wall, more than ten feet wide, above the gate was blasted in half, bricks and stones fell down with a crash, and dust rose several feet high, shrouding the area in front of the gate in a hazy smog.

Zhao Heng, who was on the city tower, was so shaken by the explosion below that he could barely maintain his balance and fell to the ground with a thud. Splinters of wood from the shattered window frame splattered all over him, making him look extremely disheveled.

"Your Majesty... what's happening? Is the earth turning upside down?"

The officials behind him looked at Zhao Heng with some curiosity, since he was the only one by the window who could see what was happening outside through the crack.

Zhao Heng didn't speak, but only sighed.

Even if he doesn't want to admit it, the Zhao dynasty will probably end in his hands today.

As the smoke and dust began to dissipate, Zhou Feng led Chen Xiao and Tie Jianguo to the side.

The military trucks behind it started slowly, their engines humming in a continuous roar.

More than twenty trucks lined up in a column, crushing the broken wood chips and scattered brick fragments of the city gate, and drove into Xuande Gate one after another.

Upon entering, hundreds of fully armed Taoist priests jumped out of the carriages, each carrying a gun and dispersing to advance rapidly along the passageways on both sides of the palace road, beginning to clear out every corner within the palace where the Imperial Guards might be hiding.

The imperial guards on the city wall, needless to say, had already dropped their weapons upon witnessing the power of the tank's cannon fire.

These weapons, which seemed to possess the majesty of the heavens, were far beyond the capabilities of the broken copper and scrap iron in their hands.

And these men under Zhou Feng were all carrying only a black pipe.

Although they had never seen guns before, the bodies of more than 2 of their comrades below the city walls were piled up like mountains. Weren't they slaughtered by those big, thick black pipes?

These people are only using smaller weapons now, but their power is still incredibly impressive.

No one wanted to test whether their mortal bodies could withstand the weapons in the opponent's hands, so most of the Imperial Guards' knees buckled faster than their brains, and upon seeing the opponent, they immediately knelt down in unison.

Only a few self-proclaimed experts from the Imperial City Guard, who considered themselves highly skilled in martial arts, tried to rescue Zhao Heng amidst the chaos. However, what they didn't know was that with their martial arts skills, they would be easy targets flying through the air.

Its body is larger than a bird, but its speed is not as fast. Even the guards of the Celestial Master's Mansion, who have not had much time to practice shooting, can easily shoot them.

Before the kung fu was fully revealed, the bullets inside the body were heavier than flesh and blood.

With these people as role models, the rest immediately gave up resistance, put their hands behind their heads and knelt down against the wall, staring intently at the ground, not daring to even breathe loudly.

Zhao Heng was also brought down from the city gate tower by several guards.

At this moment, he had already unfastened his sword, his dragon robe was covered in soot and wood chips, and a few strands of his hair were loose.

But his back remained straight, and although his steps were slow, he did not stagger at all, maintaining his final composure.