The fall of the Zhao state was marked by the massacre of the people of Handan.

Banban was still in a daze until she was pulled into the carriage bound for Handan, the capital of Zhao. Ji Changyue, on the other hand, was beaming with joy, constantly looking out the window and laughing uncontrollably.

—It was her laughter that brought Banban back to her senses.

To be honest, Banban didn't actually hate the people of Handan. Whether it was the rumors and insults that the people of Zhao had spread against her, or the humiliation of her by composing dance music, these things were irrelevant to her. She was angry when she first heard about them, but then she calmed down. Perhaps it was also because she had never witnessed these scenes with her own eyes, so she was naturally indifferent.

She lived her own life, believing that those people could only indulge in gossip and idle chatter.

From another perspective, the people of Handan were also part of the Chinese nation. The coexistence of various states represented a temporarily divided China.

In her mind, the various states were a unified whole, without any sense of separation between them. Therefore, she could not understand their national sentiments, nor could she comprehend the hatred between them.

Ji Changyue was different; she had suffered too much in Handan, and Ying Zheng had suffered even more in Handan. Even for his mother's sake, Ying Zheng never dared to forget the hatred of Handan, not to mention that his beloved wife had also been verbally humiliated by the people of Handan, which further fueled his anger.

Taking the official road to Handan, the capital of Zhao, saved a lot of time.

Leaving the border of Qin and arriving in the territory of Zhao, the surrounding scenery gradually changed.

Unlike the lush and prosperous Qin state, the Zhao state was barren and desolate. Along the way, the smoke of war rose and fell. At first, there were only dead bodies, but as they approached Handan, mountains of corpses were everywhere.

The pungent smell of blood filled his nostrils, and the visual stimulation further aggravated his internal organs, causing him to gag immediately.

Ying Zheng quickly lowered the curtains, gently stroked her back, opened the water bag containing sweet milk and handed it to her. She drank two mouthfuls with lingering fear and resolutely refused to look anymore.

"Haha, that's great! Those men wearing Zhao armor should all die!" Ji Changyue faced the wind, staring intently at the mountain of corpses outside, showing no fear whatsoever.

The wind carried her excited voice to Banban's ears.

It was as if her usual facade of normalcy had been ripped away, and she no longer wanted to suppress herself, letting everything out completely.

The royal carriage stopped at the gate of Handan city, which had been completely cleared out.

Banban helped her cousin out of the car, shielding her nose slightly and looking around.

Wang Jian, Huan Yi, and others waited at the city gate early in the morning, ready to receive the emperor. The black flag symbolizing the Qin Dynasty flew high above the city gate.

The King of Qin's personal visit to Handan was no different from inspecting military achievements. The Qin army's morale was high, and every soldier was strong and powerful. They knelt on the ground and shouted hoarsely, "Long live the Great Qin! Long live our King!"

Ying Zheng inspected the densely packed Qin army one by one, his face beaming with undisguised pride. He shouted, "You are all heroes! You deserve to live ten thousand years!"

The Qin army was further encouraged, roaring like tigers: "We swear to be loyal to the death! We will never regret it in this life!"

Ying Zheng smiled faintly, turned around and placed his hand heavily on Huan Yi's shoulder, then turned to look at Wang Jian: "How is it? General, you are a meritorious official of my Great Qin. You have never been defeated in your life. You made great contributions in conquering Handan. I truly cannot spoil you too much."

Wang Jian immediately knelt down on one knee, clasped his hands in a fist and said, "This is my duty as a subject."

Banban: "..." She looked away and happened to see that the ground around the city gate was completely black.

She took a few steps to examine it closely, then looked up at the towering city wall.

"Your Majesty, please do not get too close."

Banban turned around, and the person speaking was a familiar face.

It was none other than Qian Yin's husband, Xu Jinghe.

He cupped his hands in a gesture of respect and explained, "The black color around this wall is entirely stained with the blood and flesh left behind by the falling corpses."

She immediately withdrew her foot, no longer daring to discern what the black things were, and asked suspiciously, "Was it from being hit by an arrow and falling during the siege?"

"No." Xu Jinghe hesitated slightly and said hesitantly, "During the final siege, the resistance inside Handan was extremely fierce. However, under the iron hooves of my Great Qin, the Zhao people were like a mantis trying to stop a chariot. Perhaps knowing that the country was about to perish, Zhao Qian chose to surrender. But the Zhao people vowed to fight to the death. At the last moment, they urged the children in the city to jump off the city walls and commit suicide."

"These are all..." He stopped speaking, the unfinished words lingering in his mind.

Banban's eyes widened suddenly. "What?"

"They did not want to be Qin people, and they would not even leave their children to Qin. They would rather take them with them to die and sacrifice themselves for their country."

The State of Zhao would rather perish than surrender to Qin.

Xu Jinghe witnessed children jumping off the city wall and dying, as easily as stones falling from a riverbank, yet the scene was still awe-inspiring.

The general on the city wall raised the Zhao flag high, knelt by the wall, and uttered his final cry to the sky: "Zhao will never surrender!!" He then scooped up the child, grabbed his long spear, and leaped down.

Banban felt a chill run down his spine, his hands trembled slightly beneath his robes, and he felt an indescribable unease. The Zhao army swore to never surrender, but the King of Zhao was the first to kneel down.

At this moment, she seemed to understand the Zhao soldiers' desperate resistance, but she didn't understand their arrogant pride.

Do those children have to die? For the starving common people, just surviving is already difficult enough.

While the state of Zhao still existed, they could not enjoy any blessings; when the state of Zhao faced destruction, they were forced to die for their country.

"What's wrong?" Ying Zheng was reviewing the battle situation in detail with Wang Jian and Huan Yi when he immediately noticed that his cousin was acting strangely.

"N-nothing." Banban covered her nose. "It smells awful. When can we go inside?"

Wang Jian and Huan Yi understood the Queen's discomfort. She had been raised in the inner chambers of the palace and had never been to the battlefield. Cong Yun immediately brought her a face towel and put it on her.

"Where are the common people in the city now?" After putting on his face mask, Banban asked proactively.

“Your Majesty,” Wang Jian replied, “they are all being held in a prisoner-of-war camp, heavily guarded, and have no chance of escaping.”

"I heard that the State of Zhao has been suffering from famine for months. They must be starving and freezing, and they're probably dying soon."

“The nobles of Zhao refused to release grain, and Zhao Chancellor Guo Kai inflated grain prices to amass wealth, causing widespread suffering among the people of Zhao. Countless people starved to death long before our Qin army breached the city gates,” Wang Jian said gently. “After we subdued the common people of Zhao, we took out the military rations from our march and cooked meals for them, filling their stomachs one by one.”

Banban relaxed a little, raised her lips and comforted him in a sweet voice, "General Wang Jian is indeed a good general who cares about the world. His Majesty will surely reward you."

After saying that, she poked Ying Zheng's waist, urging him to make a statement.

“That’s natural.” Ying Zheng took his cousin’s fingers and held them in his palm.

Once inside the city gates, the situation improved considerably, as the Qin army had not massacred the city and still showed compassion for the ordinary people.

However, the city of Handan was in ruins.

Banban and Ying Zheng, supported by the Qin army, ascended the capital of Zhao, where thousands of steps vividly displayed the majesty of the royal family.

Ji Changyue had already been looking around when she followed the two of them into the hall.

Inside the Dragon Terrace Hall, Zhao Chen knelt on both sides, his court robes a bright red. He bowed his head in a deep red robe, and Banban followed his cousin into the hall to receive their kneeling welcome.

This situation is beyond words.

The first to kneel were Empress Dowager Zhao and King Zhao Qian.

The once beautiful face of the courtesan was now pale, streaked with burnt tears, and Zhao Qian's face was ashen. The two of them held trays, presenting a map of the Zhao state and the royal seal.

The prostitute's voice was filled with sorrowful sobs as she pleaded, "I am willing to offer up the map of Zhao and the royal seal, begging the King of Qin to spare my son's life."

Zhao Qian closed his eyes, his heart dead, and he collapsed to the ground.

Ying Zheng glanced at the royal seal lightly, a slight smile playing on his lips. "I heard that Zhao Jia led some of the Zhao royal family and officials to flee Handan and go to Dai. It seems he intends to establish a kingdom there."

Zhao Qian said in a low voice, "Zhao Jia refuses to listen to me."

Ying Zheng snorted coldly, arrogantly walked past them, and went straight up to the high platform.

"From this moment on, there will be no more throne for the King of Zhao in Handan, and the entire state of Zhao will belong to Qin." After saying this, he gracefully sat down and waved to Banban.

Banban lifted her skirt and sat down with her cousin, sitting close to him.

The ministers below bowed their heads, not daring to utter a word. Where was their former disdainful attitude? None of them dared to raise their heads.

Guo Kai quickly stepped forward, cupping his hands in a fawning manner: "Your Majesty, in accordance with the will of Heaven, has annihilated the Zhao territory. Now, the entire Zhao state has submitted to Your Majesty." As he spoke, he winked at the Queen.

The prostitute, who had been kneeling helplessly on the ground, received the signal and hurriedly got up to beg for mercy: "Your Majesty, I surrender to Qin. Please have mercy, Your Majesty!"

After the courtesan began, all the Zhao ministers immediately prostrated themselves, saying, "We beg Your Majesty for mercy."

Ying Zheng's lips curled into a nonchalant smile. "From this day forward, Zhao Qian is hereby demoted to a commoner, and the ancestral temple of Zhao will be moved to Xianyang. You shall all acknowledge me as king and Zhao Ji as queen."

Guo Kai immediately took the lead and shouted, "Long live the King! Long live the Queen!"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a harsh snort came from the head of the table, "Does the Queen not deserve to live for ten thousand years in your hearts?"

Guo Kai, a master of flattery, quickly changed his tune: "Long live the King! Long live the Queen!"

Hearing such flattery for the first time, Banban could hardly suppress the smile playing on his lips, which was hidden beneath his wide sleeves! He winked and grinned at Ying Zheng with delight.

When it was announced that the ancestral temple of the Zhao state would be moved to Xianyang, the Qin army acted swiftly, immediately arranging for troops to escort Zhao Qian and the Empress back to Qin.

Ji Changyue said, "Zheng'er, now that we've returned to Handan, we should also visit the former residence of Mr. Ji Hao to pay our respects."

So the three escorted him to Ji Hao's former residence, which had been razed to the ground. The grave was just a small mound of grain with a crooked wooden stele.

Banban jogged over, straightened it, and wiped the stains off with his sleeve. After wiping it a couple of times, he discovered that the back was covered with words written in charcoal.

[A disgrace to the Zhao state!]

[Go to hell!]

[Go to hell!]

[Reborn as an animal!]

These kinds of things are crammed together, some of them faded in color, indicating they are quite old.

The flames suddenly flared up, and Banban shouted angrily, his eyebrows shot up: "Who wrote all this?!"

Ji Changyue came over immediately, and after seeing the words, her shoulders trembled with anger.

Ying Zheng gently wiped the charcoal characters on his back, his fingertips pausing repeatedly. He remained silent, but a flash of murderous intent flickered in his eyes.

As night fell, the courtiers held a grand banquet to welcome the new king.

Banban had not worn Handan clothes for a long time, but now that she was the Queen of Qin, she naturally could not wear them anymore. Yun knew that Handan had stirred her heart, and the makeup he did for her had a touch of Handan style.

It is said that these dances are customs of the Zhao state, which are completely different from those of the Qin state.

Many Qin soldiers had never received such an award, so Ying Zheng allowed the soldiers with titles to watch it together.

Ying Zheng had seen Ji Changyue and Banban dance a lot since he was a child, so he wasn't very interested.

Ever since seeing the insults and curses following Ji Hao's wooden stele, my cousin has been mostly silent, lost in thought. To divert his attention, Banban brought up his childhood experiences learning dance in Handan:

"I didn't like dancing back then, but because my cousin was diligent every day, and my aunt specially taught me to dance next to you in order to take care of you. I had to practice dancing for as long as you studied.

"I didn't notice that at the time."

Ying Zheng had no concept of time when he was studying, which meant that his cousin was indeed working hard every day.

"It's perfectly normal for me to want to rest; it's not like I'm deliberately being lazy."

"I misunderstood my cousin."

As they talked, the atmosphere gradually improved.

Ji Changyue was in a great mood. Being able to trample the Zhao people under her feet and make them kneel down in submission was an extremely pleasant thing for her. It was a pity that she was no longer the King of Zhao of yesteryear, which was a little regrettable, but it didn't really matter.

As the dance ended, a new performance began, and many people came out.

Ying Zheng designed a 'stage play' for Banban, and this type of performance quickly became popular in the various states. It was not surprising to see this in the Zhao state.

However, the people's heavy makeup and outlandish clothes piqued her interest.

The song started playing quickly, and Banban poured a cup of wine for Ji Changyue.

The Qin soldiers below had calm expressions, whispering to each other with smiles, creating a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere.

However, the song began to be sung.

The first half of the story tells of a heavily made-up woman who is deeply in love with a man. They grow up together, he teaches her to write, and she composes songs to accompany him.

As she danced, the rabbit tail behind the female performer appeared and disappeared, her expression becoming increasingly alluring and lewd. At the same time, another female performer was dressed as a cat demon, spending her days entangled with different men.

Just now, Banban was thinking, "Wow, can stage plays be this daring?"

Until the rabbit-tailed female entertainer shyly called out "cousin" and sang: "I am a lowly rabbit demon, who has transformed into human form to bewitch the monarch, wreak havoc on the nation, and cause chaos throughout the land."

The man entangled with the cat demon was wearing Zhao Kingdom armor.

Her smile faltered for a moment, and she stared at the actors in confusion. Were they portraying her and Ying Zheng? They even recreated some details of their interactions. Who revealed this? Was it the neighbors in Zhu Lane?

Ji Changyue's scream rang in my ears: "Insolence!"

The next moment, the male singer's head fell to the ground. Ying Zheng killed him with a single sword stroke, blood splattering everywhere, and screams erupted all around. His gaze was dark and sinister, his face revealing his sinister intent and boundless rage. "How dare you insult my wife and mother! Who gave you the audacity?!"

Despite the danger, the female entertainer's expression twisted with defiance. "King Qin! We, the loyal subjects of Zhao, will never submit to you. We would rather die!" With that, she threw herself headfirst into the King Qin's sword.

Ying Zheng was consumed by extreme rage, repeatedly slashing at them with his sword until his entire arm trembled. "Then die!"

"Guards! Proclaim my decree: behead all clans and scholars in Handan with fiefs exceeding 600 shi! Bury alive all wealthy gentry within a ten-mile radius of the Ji family's former residence! Slaughter all the nobles and officials of Zhao! Leave no one alive!!"

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Author's note: Here it comes, there should still be an extra chapter at 11 PM!