DLERB -Chapter 198 I Am a Qin Citizen! I Also Want Candy!

Five years.

Only five years.

The wind of the Mediterranean was still salty, but the smell drifting through the streets of West Sea City (formerly Rome) had changed.

A bakery on the street had torn down its old sign and replaced it with a brand-new wooden plaque.

Three crooked but correctly written Qin seal-script characters were carved on it:

“Li’s Steamed Cakes.”

The shop owner was a red-haired, bearded man. He was originally called Lucius, but now he went by Li Big Hammer.

“Fresh out! Hot and fresh!”

Li Big Hammer shouted in Qin dialect with a Central Plains accent.

A few blond passersby in Qin-style short jackets stopped, took out two half-tael coins, and slapped them on the counter.

“Two!”

After the transaction, they cupped their hands in salute. Li Big Hammer also returned the gesture.

No one felt anything was strange.

It was as if they had been born living like this.

……

East of the city, First West Qin Academy.

Smack!

A bamboo stick struck the desk sharply.

On the platform stood the teacher—a one-armed veteran of the Qin army.

He looked down at dozens of children kneeling on mats below.

They had blond, brown, and red hair, with eyes of all colors.

But all of them wore Qin-style topknots and small black scholar uniforms.

“Recite!”

The old soldier spat out a single word.

A boy about ten years old, blond-haired and blue-eyed, stood up abruptly.

He straightened his back and pressed his hands to his sides.

“I am a Qin citizen! Born a subject of Great Qin, and in death a Qin ghost!”

His voice was childish, but fierce.

The old soldier remained expressionless.

“Continue.”

The boy took a breath and recited rapidly.

“From the Law of Great Qin, Section on Treason: those who plot rebellion or surrender to the enemy shall be executed by waist-cutting!”

“Their father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters shall all be publicly executed!”

“Those who know but do not report shall be punished the same as the offender!”

He finished in one breath without a single stutter.

A faint change finally appeared on the old soldier’s bark-like face.

He took out a piece of malt candy the size of a fingernail.

“Reward.”

The candy flew through the air and landed in the boy’s hand.

“Thank you, teacher!”

The boy shouted loudly and stuffed the candy into his mouth, his cheeks bulging.

Outside the window—

A few parents peeking in had their eyes locked tightly on it.

Candy.

Something transported all the way from distant Xianyang, something only nobles could usually afford.

A Roman woman in coarse cloth gripped the window frame so hard her nails dug into the wood.

That was her son.

“He’s doing great…”

She panted, then turned to the man beside her.

“Tomorrow, send the second one too! If he refuses, break his leg!”

The man was a cripple—his leg had been smashed in the mines five years ago.

He looked at his son eating candy and nodded hard.

“Learn Qin language, get candy.”

“Become Qin, don’t starve.”

……

Rumble—

The ground began to shake.

Everyone in the academy, the parents outside, and Li Big Hammer on the street all stopped.

They looked toward the city gate.

Dust rolled like a storm.

A massive black-water dragon flag pressed forward like a dark cloud.

“The army is returning!”

Someone shouted.

People on both sides of the street quickly scattered. Everyone knelt by the roadside, not daring to lift their heads.

The sound of hooves shattered the silence of the stone-paved streets.

Wang Li rode at the front on a pure black warhorse.

Five years had passed. A scar now marked his chin, and he looked like a drawn blade.

Behind him were three thousand cavalry.

All of them had Roman faces. All wore Qin black armor.

From each saddle hung something bloodied.

Heads.

The heads of the Germanic barbarians who had occupied the northern mountains.

“Stop!”

Wang Li pulled the reins.

The warhorse neighed and reared.

Three thousand cavalry halted instantly, perfectly synchronized.

Wang Li grabbed a head from his saddle.

It was the barbarian chief’s head, his beard still crusted with dried blood.

“You uncivilized beasts!”

He cursed in Roman language, then paused.

Smack!

He slapped himself.

Then he switched to Qin language and roared while pointing at the head:

“This is what happens to those who defy Qin rule!”

“Spit!”

He spat on the head and tossed it aside like trash.

“New Western Qin Army!”

Wang Li raised his whip.

“ROAR!”

Three thousand Roman-born soldiers lifted their spears and struck their armor.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The sound of metal was deafening.

“Kill! Kill! Kill!”

They roared in stiff yet fanatical Qin language.

The civilians kneeling by the roadside were trembling.

Not from fear.

From excitement.

They looked at the mounted knights—these proud, murderous cavalrymen—who were their neighbors, brothers, even sons.

Five years ago, they were slaves waiting to be slaughtered.

Now, they were conquerors stepping over the corpses of others.

A young man kneeling in the front row stared fixedly at the barbarian head on the ground.

Suddenly, he rushed forward and kicked it hard.

“Damn barbarians! How dare you touch the borders of Great Qin!”

His face turned red as he shouted.

Wang Li looked down at him.

He smiled.

Then tossed him a piece of broken silver.

“Reward.”

The young man held the silver in both hands and began frantically kowtowing, his forehead hitting the ground with heavy thuds.

“Thank you, General! Thank you, General!”

……

Noon.

Central square of West Sea City.

The statue of Jupiter that once stood here had long been smashed into paving stones.

Now, it had become a towering military command platform.

Zhao Ziye stood on it.

At thirteen, he had grown taller. His shoulders broadened. The last trace of childishness had completely vanished.

He wore a black brocade robe embroidered with golden dragon patterns on his sleeves.

If one ignored the surrounding architecture, this place looked exactly like Xianyang.

Below him:

Fifty thousand soldiers stood in formation.

Some were original Qin elite troops. More were the “new Qin citizens” recruited over the past five years.

Wang Jian and Meng Tian stood behind Zhao Ziye. They exchanged a glance, both noticing the veins bulging on their hands.

The scene was terrifying.

Not because of the numbers.

But because of the fanaticism etched into their bones.

Zhao Ziye stepped forward.

No amplification was needed.

Fifty thousand pairs of eyes locked onto him like nails.

The entire field fell silent.

Only the sound of the wind whipping the banners could be heard.

Zhao Ziye raised his hand and pointed at the land beneath his feet.

“Five years ago, I said—”

“Rome is gone.”

His voice was calm, but carried far.

“Today, I tell you this.”

“From this moment on—”

“There are no more Romans.”

Zhao Ziye pulled out a scroll of parchment from his sleeve.

It was the last surviving ancient record tracing the origin of the word “Rome.”

A brazier burned beside him.

He released his hand.

The parchment fell into the fire.

Boom!

Flames swallowed the last remnants of history.

Zhao Ziye drew his Qin sword and pointed it at the sky.

“This land shall be called Western Qin!”

“You are all Qin citizens!”

“Wherever the sun and moon shine, wherever rivers flow—there lies Qin territory!”

A brief silence.

Then—

BOOM!

The roar erupted.

Not just from soldiers.

But from the hundreds of thousands gathered around the square.

Li Big Hammer raised his fist.

The child Qin Zhong from the academy raised his fist.

The young man who had just received silver reward raised his fist.

Everyone screamed with all their strength.

“Great Qin! Great Qin! Great Qin!”

“Eternal! Eternal! Eternal!”

At that moment—

Whether blond or black-haired.

Blue-eyed or black-eyed.

Their expressions were the same.

Ferocious. Fanatical. Proud.

Wang Jian watched this scene, his sword hilt soaked with sweat.

He had spent his life in war, destroying six states.

But he had never witnessed a conquest like this.

No rivers of blood.

Yet more complete than any massacre.

He turned his gaze toward Zhao Ziye’s back.

That figure was not tall.

But it felt like a mountain, pressing down on the entire West.

Zhao Ziye sheathed his sword.

He looked at the sea of fanatic faces below, expressionless.

As if all of this was only natural.

Then he turned and said calmly to Wang Jian:

“Old General.”

“The house is clean now.”

“It’s time to write a letter to Father.”

“Tell him that the Western Qin Province has officially been incorporated into the Great Qin territory.”

“Also ask him—”

“Back in Xianyang…”

“Is someone missing me so much they can’t sleep?”