Chapter 636 Those who obey me prosper, those who oppose me perish!
On the third day after Li Shiyue and his group arrived in Heian-kyo, they had loaded almost all the valuables they could carry onto the ship by early morning.
Li Shiyue stood atop the highest watchtower of the south gate of Ping'an City, overlooking the city that appeared particularly dilapidated and desolate in the morning light.
The wooden buildings stretch out in a continuous line; if a fire breaks out...
"Xiao Liu, have they all evacuated?"
She turned to ask Sun Xiaoliu, who was standing behind her.
"General, our men and those who are willing to follow us have all boarded the ship."
All the valuables have been inventoried and loaded onto the ship.
Sun Xiaoliu bowed and answered Li Shiyue in this way. He paused, and his voice became even lower, "General, there are still a large number of civilians in this city."
Li Shiyue's face remained expressionless, her gaze as cold as ice.
"I know."
Li Shiyue remained silent for a moment, as if she were making a simple decision, or as if she had already made up her mind.
Then, she waved her hand gently, as if brushing dust off her sleeve.
"set fire."
Her orders were carried out swiftly.
Squads of Zhenhai soldiers carrying torches were dispatched to various parts of Heian-kyo, especially the core areas such as the imperial palace, noble residences, and temples.
Arrows soaked in kerosene were shot onto the dry wooden roof, and torches were thrown into specially piled flammable materials.
At first, only a few scattered flames sprang up in various corners of Heian-kyo, but soon they turned into wisps of black smoke rising into the air.
If we wait another fifteen minutes, the spring breeze will become an accomplice.
The wind fanned the flames, and the fire, aided by the wind, quickly spread out, transforming into roaring fire dragons that engulfed everything in their path along the narrow streets.
The wooden house crackled and popped in the flames before collapsing into a pile.
The relatively well-maintained Heian Palace, the solemn temples, the crowded houses... none were spared.
The flames spread wildly from the center of the Heian Palace outwards at an unimaginable speed.
The crimson flames illuminated half of the sky above Heian-kyo, and thick smoke billowed and rose like a giant black mushroom cloud, obscuring even the sunlight. What should have been daytime over Heian-kyo suddenly became as dark as night.
Heian-kyo was transformed into a giant melting pot.
The civilians who had not yet evacuated the city only now truly realized that their annihilation was imminent.
They cried out and ran, trying to escape the inferno.
However, the exits in all directions had already been blocked by the raging fire, and the four city gates had long been tightly closed and guarded by the indifferent Zhenhai soldiers.
High temperatures, thick smoke, collapsed buildings... mercilessly reaping lives.
Screams, wails, the roar of collapsing buildings, and the howling of flames intertwined to form a melody from the underworld.
The smell of burning flesh and the stench of burning flesh filled the air of Heian-kyo, making it suffocating.
Li Shiyue was already standing on the deck of the "Breaking Waves II" ship, which was moored in the harbor. She gazed at the burning world, and the towering flames reflected in her dark pupils, flickering and erratic, yet failing to melt away the slightest bit of coldness within them.
The heat from the fire could be faintly felt even from this distance, and the ash drifting in the air, like black snow, landed on Li Shiyue's shoulder.
Sun Xiaoliu and the others stood behind her, looking at the hellish scene in the distance. Some of them moved their lips as if they wanted to say something, but in the end they remained silent.
These people were already used to obeying Li Shiyue's orders, no matter how cruel those orders were.
The fire burned for three days and three nights.
When the last embers were extinguished, Heian-kyo, which had flourished for hundreds of years, was completely erased from the map.
All that remained was an endless expanse of charred ruins, wisps of smoke rising from them, and countless charred corpses, twisted and contorted beyond recognition.
The pungent smell of smoke and the stench could travel dozens of miles with the wind.
Surviving civilians?
Very few.
Li Shiyue didn't even glance at the ruins again.
After confirming that the fire was beyond repair, she ordered the fleet to set sail.
The massive fleet, laden with enormous wealth plundered from the heart of Japan, set sail westward, leaving behind the coast kissed by flames.
The fleet sailed through the waves.
Li Shiyue stood alone at the bow of the boat, the sea breeze blowing through her hair and the hem of her clothes.
Behind them, the gradually blurring outline of Heian-kyo after it was burned, and the lingering smoke and dust under the sky, still carrying the aura of death.
She knew that this fire not only burned down a city, but also destroyed the political symbol and cultural center of Japan that had lasted for thousands of years.
The severity of this action will surely shock the entire country of Japan, and even spread back to Dairyū and surrounding countries.
She will be branded as a "butcher" and a "devil".
But so what?
Yes, she did a terrible thing, setting fire to the city of Heian-kyo and killing tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of people.
But so what?
What's done is done!
Li Shiyue never intended to establish a long-term and stable rule in Japan.
Even if they look similar, they are still people of a different race!
Those who are not of our kind will surely have different hearts!
Even people who look alike, speak Chinese, and write with a brush pen, all of whom are Han Chinese, still have various contradictions.
What's more, these are all different peoples who look different, speak different languages, wear different clothes, and eat different food.
Many of them still stand behind the Japanese pirates and are beneficiaries of the Japanese pirates' invasion of Jian'an, Dalong!
They were burned to death, so what?
Li Shiyue's foundation lies in Jian'an, on the golden shipping route, in maritime trade, and in the continuous flow of silver and the powerful Zhenhai Navy.
Destroying Heian-kyo and killing the Emperor and those high-ranking nobles was to fundamentally dismantle the old power structure of Japan, create a huge power vacuum and long-term chaos, and make way for the new order that she wanted to establish in the future!
Massacre of civilians?
In her view, this was a necessary deterrent, meant to instill fear deep into the bones and extinguish any potential flames of revenge before they could even rise.
What if I have to bear the infamy?
Then I'll just listen to it.
"Japan... is gone."
Li Shiyue murmured to herself, a cold smile curving her lips.
This is not the end, but rather a step in her grand strategy.
Beneath the waves of the East China Sea lies a greater ambition and a greater journey.
This land, purified by fire, will become the best testament to her ambition—those who submit to me will prosper, those who oppose me will perish!
The fleet sailed westward toward Shimane Prefecture, the land of her roots.
Behind Li Shiyue, only Heian-kyo remained, its spine completely broken, howling in despair amidst ruins and ashes.
From that moment on, Li Shiyue's name, along with the raging fire, will be deeply imprinted in the historical memory of Japan, never to be erased.
Li Shiyue's fire not only destroyed the wooden buildings of Heian-kyo and countless lives, but also the central authority and the last vestiges of dignity of the great nobles that had lasted for hundreds of years in Japan.
The towering flames and the resulting power vacuum were like pouring a ladle of cold water into a scalding oil pan, instantly triggering a violent explosion.
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