Chapter 1522: Chapter 1439: Walking the Streets of Wuyang

Walking down the streets of Wuyang, Liu Guozhu felt as if he had traveled through time. He found it difficult to associate this city with the nation’s capital, for he had seen Chang’an.

Within Chang’an City, the bustling traffic needs no mention, and skyscrapers had long become commonplace. People dressed smartly and behaved courteously, making it seem like a completely different world.

But this Wuyang before him…it truly didn’t deserve to be called the capital. The streets and alleys were chaotic, and there wasn’t even a trace of so-called scenery.

The streets were covered in shattered glass fragments, which crunched underfoot. Children, barely clothed, timidly watched the passing Tang Army Soldiers, with no one daring to make any noise.

There was no subway here, no decent bus stops, and even the streetlights seemed far fewer than in Chang’an, than in Linshui, than in Tongcheng…well, than in Fengjiang.

The streets of the city weren’t wide either, and to Liu Guozhu, they seemed poorly designed. If such a situation occurred in Chang’an, traffic jams would definitely happen every day, and installing traffic signals wouldn’t improve it at all.

The city had no giant shopping centers, no bustling large commercial areas, and the occasional pedestrians wore tattered clothing, leaving Liu Guozhu feeling that the city lacked necessary embellishments.

There were no red dresses, no sky-blue coats, no purple ones…the whole city appeared gray and dull, monotonous to look at.

Some filled-in craters had clearly been there for a while, remnants left by the long-range missiles of the Tang Empire.

Many houses had lost gas and electricity, as there simply weren’t the conditions to repair the lines and equipment damaged by missiles or bombings.

To be frank, Liu Guozhu regretted a bit coming here. He regretted using his precious vacation to visit this so-called Northwest majestic city. This city left no good impression on him, only the lasting memory of ruin and chaos.

Parked by the roadside was an armored vehicle adorned with a Dragon Banner. It was equipment from the 33rd Mechanized Infantry Division of the 3rd Armored Army, 3rd Corps of the Tang Empire. Two Soldiers stood at the rear of the armored vehicle smoking; when they saw Liu Guozhu, they symbolically saluted, “Emperor long live!”

“Your Majesty long live!” Liu Guozhu returned the salute, then noticed the shattered glass windows behind them and the shopkeeper inside cleaning the clothing decorations in display cabinets.

Order was indeed being restored here, albeit somewhat slowly. Throughout the streets, one could see Tang Empire Soldiers both visiting and patrolling, along with some locals working hard to repair collapsed or near-collapsed buildings.

“Up ahead is the Silver Fox Tavern. It was closed due to the war before, but it’s reopened now. I hear officers get free drinks if they show their military ID,” said a sergeant from the camp serving as Liu Guozhu’s guide. He greatly admired Liu Guozhu’s impressive battle achievements, so volunteered to take a boring trip around the city again.

“Forget it. Their beer was requisitioned from us to begin with, and it’s not good at all,” Liu Guozhu shook his head, knowing the inside scoop, of course.

The beer was specially supplied within the Military, with the Armored Corps often consuming this brew. To be honest, the taste really wasn’t great.

“A bit further ahead is the Imperial Palace…though I hear past Kings of Qin were quite frugal, so the palace isn’t large in scale,” said the sergeant while leading the way.

“Can we go inside?” Liu Guozhu looked towards him, having some desire for a palace visit. He hadn’t seen much of an Imperial Palace growing up, and later only glimpsed the majestic Forbidden City from afar, which left a very deep impression on him.

“No, we can’t go in,” shaking his head, the accompanying sergeant awkwardly switched to other topics, mentioning some other dilapidated places.

Though the Qin Country’s Imperial Palace wasn’t particularly wealthy, it was still a place requiring careful statistics and inspections. How could it be immediately opened to ordinary Soldiers…the valuable collections there all needed to be recorded and catalogued, then sent to the Forbidden City for selection, with the remaining unwanted items sent to the Tang Empire Museum.

Additionally, inside the palace were many secret archives, precious records, and numerous intelligence reports from Qin Country…all of these needed to be documented meticulously, without the slightest error.

Therefore, until all these were processed, Qin Country’s Imperial Palace could not be opened to the public, allowing any idle person to enter.

Likewise, some residences of the Royal Family, estates, offices of officials’ government departments…would also be strictly controlled, inspected and inventoried, and upon completion of work, repurposed.

“However, we can watch the executions at the gate. Those officials found committing crimes under the guise of war, along with implicated family members, will be judged and executed in the square in front of the Imperial Palace…some are directly killed…” the sergeant said quieter and quieter, eventually closing his mouth completely.

“I’m not going to watch…” Liu Guozhu had no interest in such matters. He had witnessed too much slaughter on the battlefield, becoming completely immune to this so-called excitement.

If a person had seen through a commander’s observation device the enemy crawling out from a burning Tank, upper body exposed above the Tank while writhing and struggling, letting the flames scorch their arms, face and body char black, they’d hardly find any interest in executions.

A bullet smashing a head was far too commonplace for Soldiers returning from the front line. Only sergeants newly assigned to the camp, having not experienced much of war’s brutality, would be keen to watch such events.

Yet clearly, the people of Qin Country were very interested in the downfall of corrupt officials and oppressing Nobility. The streets ahead became gradually crowded, with a cheer echoing further forward.

They were applauding the hanging of a noble, as that noble had a truly bad reputation in Wuyang. A simple execution platform had a row of nooses hanging, and with each command, those once lofty individuals turned into lifeless corpses.

On the distant city walls, Tang Country Soldiers were busy unfurling an enormous Dragon Banner. This flag was custom-made, brought in from within Tang Country, showcasing the strength of the Tang Empire.

After all, producing such a massive, seamless flag required a special weaving machine. And globally, currently only the Tang Empire could manufacture such a large national flag!

Precisely because of this, it was delayed until today to be unfolded atop the city walls.