That tiny flake of peeled gold coating drifted slowly to the ground.
Blacksmith Bach stared at the “gold coin” in his hand, now missing a corner.
Black.
Rough.
Reeking of rust.
Plain iron.
It felt as though someone had smashed him over the head.
Just moments ago, for these five gold coins, he had broken three of his neighbor’s ribs and taken a slash across the back from a guard.
His blood was still flowing.
And all he had gotten in return—
Was a piece of scrap iron.
“AAAAAHHH!!!”
Bach let out a howl that barely sounded human.
He hurled the fake gold coin onto the ground with all his strength, sending sparks flying.
“Fake! They’re all fake!”
He grabbed a skinny man nearby who was still frantically stuffing coins into his shirt and smashed a fist into his face.
“Stop picking them up! They’re iron! Scrap iron!”
The man’s nose burst with blood, but he still clutched his sack tightly and opened his mouth to bite Bach’s hand.
“You liar! You just want them all for yourself!”
The man pulled out a coin from his pouch and bit down on it with the few teeth he had left.
Crack.
Half a tooth flew out mixed with blood.
The “gold coin” split open halfway.
Inside—
Pitch black.
The man froze.
The people around him froze too.
Crunch! Crack! Crunch!
All along the street came the sound of teeth striking metal.
Then—
Dead silence.
And after that, an even more terrifying roar erupted than when they had been fighting over the money.
“Fake! The Qin tricked us!”
“My teeth! My teeth shattered!”
From the shadows at the corner of the street, the noblewoman rushed out with her hair disheveled.
She still clutched those three burning-hot “gold coins” in her hands.
For these three worthless scraps of iron, she had traded away her family’s sapphire necklace.
“Give it back!”
She lunged after the soldier who had already run far away, her shrill scream scraping through the air like nails on a chalkboard.
“That was my necklace! Give my necklace back!”
No one paid her any attention.
The crowd had become a boiling nest of ants.
Everyone suddenly felt like the biggest fool in the world.
The Qin had played them like monkeys.
And the shame of being deceived instantly transformed into a fury that wanted to tear everything apart.
…
Outside a grand mansion belonging to the Senate—
The fat-faced senator Marcus was directing several servants as they loaded sacks onto a carriage.
All of them were filled with the “gold coins” his servants had desperately fought to obtain.
More than a dozen sacks.
At the gate stood a squad of fully armed Roman guards.
The captain’s expression was dark as his hand rested on his sword hilt.
“Lord Marcus… are you fleeing?”
Marcus wiped greasy sweat from his forehead and kicked a slow-moving servant in the backside.
“Fleeing? Nonsense! This is a strategic transfer of resources!”
Turning around, he pulled out a handful of glittering gold coins and stuffed them into the captain’s hand.
“Escort me out of the city to my estate in the south.”
“These are just the advance payment. Once we arrive, I’ll pay each of you ten times more!”
The captain weighed the coins in his hand.
Heavy.
But he could already hear the roaring in the streets.
“Fake… they’re all fake…”
The captain’s hand trembled slightly.
He picked up one coin, held it between two fingers, and squeezed hard.
The golden coating peeled away.
Revealing black pig iron beneath.
The captain’s face twisted instantly.
He looked up at Marcus’s pig-like face.
“My lord,”
the captain said softly.
“What? Too little?”
Marcus waved impatiently.
“I’ll give you more—”
SMACK!
A loud slap sent Marcus spinning in place three times.
Several gold teeth flew out along with a spray of blood.
Clutching his face, Marcus stood there dumbfounded.
“Y-you dare strike me? I’m a senator! I am Rome’s—”
“You’re a pig!”
The captain kicked Marcus in the stomach, sending him tumbling across the ground.
“Brothers! This old bastard tried to fool us with scrap iron!”
The captain drew his sword and pointed it at the wagon loaded with “gold coins.”
“These may be fake, but there’s definitely real treasure in his vaults!”
“Take it all!”
“ROAR!”
More than twenty guards charged forward with bloodshot eyes.
Not only did they refuse to escort Marcus—
They were the first to smash open the gates of the mansion.
“No! This is rebellion! I’ll report this to Caesar!”
Marcus screamed from the ground.
The captain walked over, grabbed Marcus by the hair, and dragged him toward the beam above the entrance.
“Tell Caesar in hell.”
Five minutes later—
Marcus was stripped down to only his undergarments and hung like a white pig from his own mansion gate.
Inside his estate, flames roared into the sky.
His guards rushed out laughing wildly, clutching real silverware, silk, and genuine gold coins hidden in the cellar.
…
On the main road leading to the inner fortress—
Caesar rode his warhorse, his whip already broken from use.
Behind him followed his last three hundred personal guards.
“Suppress them! Suppress them all!”
Caesar pointed at the rioting mob ahead that was looting, burning, and killing.
“Those are rioters! Kill them all!”
But—
His guards did not move.
Caesar abruptly turned back.
He saw his personal guard commander staring fixedly at a “gold coin” in his hand.
It was one Caesar had just awarded him.
A token meant to boost morale.
Now, the gold coating had fallen off.
The commander slowly raised his head, his once-loyal face now twisted with ferocity.
“General.”
He tossed the piece of scrap iron under Caesar’s horse.
“Is this what we are sworn to defend?”
“Is this the glory you promised us?”
Caesar’s heart contracted violently.
“Listen to me—this is a Qin trick, I—”
“Go to hell with your trick!”
Someone in the ranks shouted.
“Caesar is definitely hiding real gold!”
“There are treasures in his inner fortress!”
“Rob Caesar!”
BOOM!
The three hundred personal guards—the last elite force of Rome—exploded in that instant.
They turned their weapons not toward the rioters, but toward Caesar himself.
“You’ve all gone mad!”
Caesar swung his sword, cutting down one rushing soldier, then turned his horse and fled.
Spears whistled past his skull.
If not for the speed of his warhorse, the ruler of Rome would have been torn apart by his own guards that very day.
He staggered into the inner fortress and ordered the heavy iron gates shut.
Listening to the earth-shaking screams and hammering blows outside, Caesar slumped against the door.
Slowly sliding down.
It was over.
No need for Qin to storm the city.
Rome had already destroyed itself.
…
Outside the city.
On the hillside—
The wind carried the smell of blood and burning from the city, making the black Qin dragon banner whip violently in the air.
Ying Ziye sat on horseback, holding a monocular telescope.
Through the lens—
Rome was engulfed in flames.
Streets were filled with corpses.
Soldiers killed civilians, civilians killed nobles, nobles were hung from street lamps.
No one defended the walls anymore.
That once “impenetrable fortress” now looked like a naked woman left open to violation.
“Tch.”
Ying Ziye lowered the telescope and shook his head.
“All for a bit of scrap iron. Was it really worth it?”
Behind him, Wang Jian and Meng Tian exchanged a glance, both seeing deep chill in each other’s eyes.
This was the Crown Prince’s method.
Not a single soldier lost.
Not a single arrow fired.
Just a few pots of stew, a few carts of scrap iron—
And a western superpower was brought to the brink of annihilation.
Such control over human nature was more terrifying than any blade.
“Your Highness.”
Wang Li rode over, his face filled with bloodthirsty excitement.
“They’ve collapsed! Completely collapsed!”
“Shall we charge in and finish them off?”
Ying Ziye ignored him.
Instead, he turned toward a craftsman from the Gongshu clan waiting nearby.
The man wore a grease-stained leather apron and carried a strange wooden box on his back.
“Gongshu Chou.”
“Yes.”
The craftsman immediately stepped forward and knelt.
Ying Ziye pointed at the burning, screaming city.
“Their minds have fallen into chaos.”
“Now…”
“Let their weapons fall into chaos as well.”
His voice was soft—but cold and absolute.
“That big thing… is it ready?”
Gongshu Chou grinned, showing a mouth full of yellow teeth, his expression uglier than crying.
“Reporting to Your Highness, it’s been starving for a long time.”
“As long as you give the order, anything made of iron in that city will obey us.”
Ying Ziye nodded.
He raised his hand and brought it down gently—
As if swatting away a fly.
“Then what are you waiting for?”
“Light the fire.”
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