Puppet Emperor 01

"Your perspective is way too unconventional..." Little Hei muttered. "I thought you were really going to just conquer the world."

"What are you thinking? Everything has a balance point..." Fang Zhiyi sighed. "This is the best I could do."

Little Hei chuckled, "But a hundred and fifty years after you left, humanity started a civil war, and the original Macabre Council faded from human sight again. I think it's quite boring."

"That's their own fate, but I believe there will always be people who desire peace." Fang Zhiyi smacked his lips. "If you hadn't forgotten to give me the plot, I wouldn't have accidentally killed the male lead, and I wouldn't have had to fix things afterward!"

"Alright, alright, my bad, my bad."

Fang Zhiyi subconsciously looked down and grinned. "At least you're considerate enough to know how to compensate me."

This dazzling bright yellow dragon robe looked so incredibly familiar and welcoming.

"Um..." Little Hei inexplicably felt a bit guilty.

"Hmm?" Just as Fang Zhiyi was about to ask, a eunuch with disheveled hair rushed in from outside the palace doors.

"Your Majesty! The Imperial Guards have been routed! We must flee immediately!"

Fang Zhiyi froze, shooting Little Hei a nasty glare.

Little Hei coughed. "Well... it seems we're a little bit late... It can't be helped, right? I haven't fully recovered yet..."

"Your Majesty!" The eunuch, holding a sword in his hand, urged, "Don't just stand there, let's go! This old servant will protect you and fight our way out!"

Behind him, over a dozen more eunuchs followed, some bearing wounds. They all clamored at once, "Your Majesty! Let's go!"

Fang Zhiyi stared blankly at the scene before him. He could already see black smoke rising outside. His brain was working in overdrive—how was he supposed to break out of this situation? Wasn't this a guaranteed death trap?

Seeing no reaction from him, the head eunuch stomped his foot fiercely. "Everyone, follow me! Remember this! Although we are eunuchs, we will not be slaves of a fallen nation! Let's buy the Emperor some time!"

"Yes!"

Just as they turned to charge back out, Fang Zhiyi suddenly spoke.

"Stop!"

"Your Majesty?" The eunuch turned back to look at Fang Zhiyi, his eyes full of determination.

"Put down your swords and wait for them to come in," Fang Zhiyi said calmly.

"But..." The eunuch hesitated, but after a moment, he gritted his teeth and dropped his weapon. The entire grand hall fell into a dead silence.

"You owe me one," Fang Zhiyi muttered.

Fang Zhiyi was the last emperor of this dynasty, and a disgrace in the history books. Almost all future generations would mock him upon seeing his name, for no other reason than the fact that he was the final ruler of the Li Kingdom.

It was normal for dynasties to rise and fall, and there were many emperors of fallen nations, but Fang Zhiyi was a bizarre outlier among them.

Before he ascended the throne, the Li Kingdom was already plagued by internal strife and external threats. Shortly after his coronation, the neighboring foreign dynasty launched a war. The border armies hadn't received their pay for years, and corruption was rampant. They collapsed at the first sign of contact, retreating for thousands of miles, while the defending generals of even more cities fled at the mere rumor of the enemy's approach.

It took the foreign army only two months to reach the capital. The capital's garrison held out for a mere half month before the defending general opened the gates and surrendered.

Who would have thought that in the end, the ones with the most backbone were the eunuchs by Fang Zhiyi's side. The head eunuch, Dexiang, gathered the fleeing young eunuchs, personally executed a few maids and eunuchs who tried to run away with stolen valuables, and led his people to fight the enemy on the palace walls.

Meanwhile, Fang Zhiyi had long been scared witless. When Dexiang came to find him and urged him to flee, he didn't know where to run. It wasn't until Dexiang was hacked to death that the enemy troops dragged Fang Zhiyi out of a dog hole.

But they didn't kill him. Because the Li Kingdom's territory was vast, civilian resistance continued even without the royal court. They needed this emperor of a fallen nation to help them control the entire Li Dynasty, especially the northern regions that had already been occupied by the Mang Kingdom.

Hearing that he could live, Fang Zhiyi agreed. From that day on, he became a puppet emperor. The generals of the Mang Kingdom would often swagger into his royal court and issue orders to him in front of everyone. If they wanted to levy taxes today or demand the surrender of a resistance force tomorrow, whatever they asked, Fang Zhiyi would do.

His son, Fang Fengqi, was different. Fang Fengqi knew that as royalty, they could not suffer such humiliation, leading to many conflicts with Fang Zhiyi. However, while Fang Zhiyi was subservient to the outsiders, he still maintained the airs of an emperor internally. Faced with Fang Fengqi's accusations, he flew into a rage and ordered his son to be severely beaten with wooden boards. Fang Fengqi didn't stop there; instead, he secretly contacted former officials, wanting to do something.

But when Fang Zhiyi learned of his son's dangerous actions, his first response was to put a stop to it, causing the father and son to sever ties completely.

Due to a traitor's betrayal, Fang Fengqi was captured. They even demanded that Fang Zhiyi personally oversee his execution. Fang Zhiyi sat on the execution platform, as useless and cowardly as a mascot. He could see the commoners wiping away tears, and he could see the contemptuous glares of the people and former officials directed at him.

But he had no other choice.

Fortunately, righteous warriors suddenly appeared that day and crashed the execution grounds, and Fang Fengqi's whereabouts had been unknown ever since.

The next time news of him surfaced was a few years later. Fang Fengqi had gone to the south, and civilian rebel armies flocked to join his banner. They advanced triumphantly, and many cities occupied by the foreign tribes fell back into the hands of the Li Kingdom's army.

After several battles, the old capital was reclaimed by the Li Kingdom's army, but Fang Zhiyi was taken away by the people of the Mang Kingdom. They used Fang Zhiyi's identity to continue controlling the thirteen northern cities until he completely lost his usefulness and was finally executed.

"This Fang Fengqi is the main character, right?" Fang Zhiyi asked.

Little Hei nodded. "He really is."

"..." Fang Zhiyi stroked his chin. He had just tested it out; there were no supernatural powers in this world. Relying solely on his martial arts and this frail body, fighting his way out would be a bit difficult.

A commotion erupted outside the doors, and a group of armored soldiers carrying broadswords swarmed in. The eunuchs nervously gathered in front of Fang Zhiyi to protect him.

The soldiers looked at Fang Zhiyi with eyes full of excitement, but when a burly man strode in through the doorway, they had no choice but to part and stand on either side.

"Respected Emperor of the Li Kingdom, my name is Teng Shuchang." The man spoke of respect, but his demeanor was incredibly arrogant. He looked at Fang Zhiyi on the dragon throne. "Your army has abandoned you now. If you don't want to die..."

Fang Zhiyi suddenly stood up. Teng Shuchang stopped speaking and watched as Fang Zhiyi pushed past the eunuchs beside him and slowly walked down.

"Hello, hello, I've looked forward to meeting you for a long time." Fang Zhiyi's enthusiasm took Teng Shuchang somewhat by surprise.

Normally, when an emperor saw an invader, wouldn't they either cry and beg for mercy, glare and curse angrily, or try to take the enemy down with them?

He gripped the sword at his waist tightly, but even as Fang Zhiyi grasped his hand, the other party did not show the slightest hint of hostility.