Chapter 2118: World in Crisis! (1/2)

Whoosh!

A few moments later, Wang Chong strode out of the main gates, a gust of wind striking him in the face. It had gotten dark, and as Wang Chong raised his head, he could sense an unusual chill in the wind blowing from north to south.

”Hyah!”

Time was short, so Wang Chong quickly composed himself and boarded his carriage. The driver set the horses into motion, driving the carriage toward the Imperial Palace.

Wang Chong alone did not have the strength to resist the cold wave. He needed the full support of Li Heng and the Imperial Court.

It was a calm day in the empire, but it was a day that would forever be remembered in the history of the empire.

When Wang Chong entered the palace and divulged the truth of the great cold wave, Emperor Li Heng felt an unprecedented shock.

One hour later, countless eunuchs were dispatched to summon all the officials of the capital into the palace: King Song, Zhangchou Jianqiong, the Grand Preceptor, the Grand Tutor, the Six Ministers and their assistant ministers, the director of the Imperial Academy, the director of the Board of Astronomy, all the palace historians, and also the Yan Clan.

This was an unprecedented court session. For the period of a day and a night, all the officials were so busy that their feet hardly touched the ground and they barely had time to even eat or drink.

Only on the evening of the second day did they solemnly leave the Imperial Palace.

After this special court session, the entire empire was put into motion. Countless decrees and commands were sent to officials across the empire.

The tens of millions of tons of coal Wang Chong had extracted from Hengan, Yangquan, and the Shuo Province were placed under the escort of countless soldiers and distributed to the eleven circuits, three hundred and sixty provinces, and fifteen thousand, five hundred and fourteen counties of the Great Tang.

Besides the officials of the court, the power of the people, the great clans, and the merchants was also put into action.

Under the direction of the court, Arabian Kerosene and the clothes made from the wool and cotton Wang Chong had purchased were distributed by nearly ten million caravans to areas they were needed.

For this unprecedented cold wave, heat preservation was far and away the first priority.

Meanwhile, beyond the bustling cities, in the more remote circuits of Jiangnan East, Jiangnan West, Jiannan, Lingnan East, and Lingnan West, Wang Chong ordered all the large granaries he had constructed in these places to open their doors, mobilizing the various local garrisons to deliver grain to the various counties.

”Wang Chong, do you think that we can really weather this cold wave and continue the previous Emperor's wish of ensuring the empire's peace for many generations?”

On the high walls of the palace, Li Heng and Wang Chong stood side by side, looking down worriedly at the capital.

After reading all the information regarding the cold wave, Li Heng found himself incapable of sleeping.

Everyone wanted to be Emperor for the supreme authority the position granted, with First Prince Li Ying even rebelling for it. Only someone upon the throne would understand that this power came with the heavy burden of responsibility.

”We will! We definitely will!” Wang Chong said, his eyes gleaming with determination.

The chill winds were getting colder.

Whoosh!

As the Great Tang busied away, doing all it could to deal with the imminent Great Ice Age, the terrifying cold wave began to make itself felt across the world, in Goguryeo and the Turkic Khaganates in the north, in Ü-Tsang, the Cong Mountains, from the western world to the northern regions.

The Goguryeo Empire.

The Hochon, Changjin, and Chasong Rivers were the three great rivers of Goguryeo, and they were known by Goguryeons as the mother rivers.

Cold winds howled out of the north, carrying flecks of ice and hailstones that carpeted the world in white.

The hailstones pinged and cracked loudly against the walls of Hwando.

Within Hwando, the majority of the soldiers that should have been vigilantly standing guard had retreated into the city, and the world was still.

Kaclack!

A soft crack came from the river. At some point, the surging flow of the river had begun to slow. A thin layer of ice had formed, and as the cold air continued to surge past, the layer of ice rapidly thickened and spread.

The Eastern Turkic Khaganate.

Twenty-some li east from the Shilka River was Chita.

This area on the northern border of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate was an extremely important pasture area. From a distance, one could see the numerous cows and sheep the shepherds had let out to pasture across the plains.

The livestock here were packed together. There were nearly one million cows and sheep, along with numerous herds of horses.

Once the mounted shepherds had finished pasturing their livestock, they would return to the nearby Shilka River to drink its waters. They would drive their livestock in the morning and return at dusk, a practice that had endured for centuries.

The plains were quiet and peaceful.