In the third year of Xuan, during the Grain Rain season.
With the battle outside the Great Wall of Righteous Qi against the Barbarian City's Corpse Puppets drawing to a close, the Human-Barbarian War finally reached its end.
Although humanity had won this battle, it had also suffered enormous losses.
Across Great Xuan, the land was scorched, more than a hundred cities had been reduced to ruins, the dead numbered in the tens of millions, and hundreds of millions of refugees had been left homeless.
With thirty percent of the nation's fortune dissipated, disasters such as floods and earthquakes suddenly became far more frequent.
Besides that, the Northern Border defenses on the main battlefield had also suffered devastating casualties.
The line in the history books would read, "The land was scarred wherever the eye could see, all turned to wasteland." But how much suffering of ordinary people lay hidden behind it?
"But Your Majesty, we won!" Hou An gazed at Ye Heng, who had grown melancholy from the reports arriving from every region, and offered him a cup of fragrant tea. "Looking back through the emperors of every age, none has ever exterminated the barbarians so thoroughly. Even Emperor Lin Martial Emperor fell short."
"Alas..." Ye Heng lifted the tea and sighed deeply. "I was reminded of a poem by Minister Chen."
"Whether a dynasty prospers or falls, the people suffer."
Ye Heng took a sip and looked outside the Imperial Study. Beyond it lay the Imperial Garden. It was late spring and early summer, and the garden was in full bloom, a sight of breathtaking beauty.
"Hou An, stay with Me for another twenty years," Ye Heng said softly.
"Huh?" Hou An froze before he could answer, only to hear Ye Heng continue, "Twenty years. I will win back