Chapter 220: Conquer Rome, Unify the World. Journey to the Antarctic

Cavalry! Cavalry, charge! Break through those iron monsters!

Caesar's eyes reddened as he sent out his last reserve—the most elite Imperial Guard cavalry.

Hundreds of Roman cavalry, clad in ornate armor and bearing long spears, shouted and surged forward, targeting the iron wagons that spewed lethal fire.

The iron wagons showed no fear; they even altered course, aligning their front machine guns and short-barreled cannons toward the charging cavalry.

Boom! Rat‑tat‑tat‑tat—!

The short cannon expelled a burst of flame; shrapnel detonated amid the cavalry, sweeping a swath down.

Immediately after, the machine‑gun fire roared at full power.

The charging Roman cavalry seemed to hit an invisible wall of steel; men and horses were thrown, suffering heavy casualties.

After just one contact, the elite cavalry was almost entirely annihilated.

Caesar was stunned.

In his lifetime of campaigns, he had never seen such a terrifying killing machine, nor endured such a desperate battle.

This was not a battle at all; it was a massacre.

The surviving Roman soldiers broke down completely, dropping their weapons and fleeing in all directions.

Qin infantry began a steady advance, clearing the remaining foes.

The iron wagons rumbled forward, crushing toward Caesar's central command.

The last dozens of Imperial Guard troops beside Caesar raised their weapons in desperate, final resistance.

But the machine guns on the wagons easily swept them down.

Caesar himself was struck in the thigh by a stray shot, screaming as he fell.

The battle ended.

The Roman expeditionary legion of fifty thousand was reduced to ash.

Caesar was captured alive and dragged before Meng Tian.

In a hastily erected tent, Caesar was bound and forced to kneel on the ground.

He strained to lift his head, looking at Ying Zheng seated on the throne in black dragon‑scaled armor, and the young man beside him in flowing white robes, Gu Shanhe.

Ying Zheng sized him up and, through a translator (a scholar in the army fluent in Latin and Greek), asked, "You are Rome's commander? What is your name?"

"Gaius Julius Caesar."

Caesar endured the searing pain in his leg and gritted his teeth to reply,

"Who are you…? What demonic weapons are you using?"

"I am the First Emperor of Great Qin, Ying Zheng."

Ying Zheng pointed to Gu Shanhe and said, "As for these weapons, they come from my national teacher, Gu Shanhe."

"They are not demonic; they are civilization, wisdom beyond the comprehension of your barbarians."

Caesar looked at Gu Shanhe, his eyes filled with fear and confusion:

"National teacher?... Immortal teacher? Your weapons come from... the gods?"

Ying Zheng laughed heartily, "You may think so. Now tell me, Rome, do you submit?"

Caesar watched the Qin soldiers outside the tent, standing silent and solemn with terrifying iron tubes, and the iron‑clad monsters on the distant beach exhaling faint blue smoke.

Finally, he glanced at his own mangled leg and gave a grim smile,

"Facing the power of the gods, mortals... what reason not to submit? Rome... will submit."

Ying Zheng nodded with satisfaction, "Very good."

"I will not kill you; I will take you down and heal your wound."

"I want you to see with your own eyes how Rome is incorporated into Great Qin's territory."

What followed unfolded more smoothly than anyone could imagine.

Rome, having lost its main legion and supreme commander, fell into internal chaos.

The Great Qin fleet swept along the Mediterranean coast, its powerful artillery easily blasting open any port city that dared resist.

On land, Qin infantry squares armed with fire‑arms and a few steam tanks, though few, proved unstoppable.

Occasional scattered resistance was swiftly crushed under the overwhelming gap in equipment and firepower.

One year passed.

Only a single year.

Great Qin's black flags were planted along the Mediterranean shoreline and even atop the Roman Senate's roof.

After his wound healed, Caesar was appointed by Ying Zheng as the Roman Prefect, assisting the Qin forces in governing and pacifying the region.

The vast Roman Empire remained in name, but in reality became a highly autonomous Special Administrative Region of Great Qin, garrisoned by Qin troops and required to pay taxes and tribute to Xianyang.

The news spread like a hurricane, sweeping across the known world.

The Persian Empire, terrified, voluntarily sent envoys to submit and pay tribute.

The Indian princely states hurriedly pledged allegiance.

The Egyptian pharaoh offered treasured relics and maps.

City‑states along Africa's northern coast surrendered at the first sight of the flag.

The massive fleet did not pause, pressing westward, crossing Gibraltar, sailing south along Africa's western coast, establishing supply bases and asserting sovereignty.

Then it turned eastward, crossing the Atlantic—guided by Gu Shanhe's navigation charts and weather forecasts, a perilous journey that succeeded.

It reached an entirely new continent—named America by Gu Shanhe.

The indigenous peoples here were even more primitive.

The Qin forces, with little effort, established colonial outposts on both the eastern and western coasts.

Potato, corn, and sweet‑potato seeds from the Central Plains were reverse‑introduced here (paired with soybean rotation to restore soil fertility).

At the same time, resources such as gold and silver mines, tobacco, cocoa, and rubber in the Americas began to be surveyed and mined, and were continuously shipped back to Great Qin.

A global network centered on Xianyang, linked by sea routes and relay stations, began to take shape.

Great Qin's edicts, though still unable to reach the entire world from dawn to dusk, could already be effectively transmitted to the major strongholds on each continent.

The embryonic form of global trade began to appear, though it was mainly Great Qin's one‑way plunder and commodity export.

Ying Zheng became, in human history, the first "co‑sovereign" whose nominal and actual dominion approached the whole world.

Xianyang became the true "World Capital," with myriad nations paying tribute and exotic treasures gathering.

Standing at the highest point of the newly expanded, more magnificent Xianyang Palace, he looked down at the bustling streets below, teeming with people of every complexion.

Ying Zheng felt an unprecedented sense of satisfaction rise within him, yet a faint… emptiness lingered.

Has there truly been no more land in the world left to conquer?

At that moment, a long‑absent, cold chime from the system rang in Gu Shanhe's mind:

【Ding! Detected that the host's long‑term ultimate goal "Unify the World" has been preliminarily achieved (effective control area exceeds 90%, civilization subjects have submitted).】

【Ultimate mission completed! Generating mission rating…】

【Based on multi‑dimensional assessment of mission completion speed, civilization advancement, world peace, host's personal influence, …】

【Final mission score: SSS (highest)!】

【Reward granted: Golden Core Stage cultivation infusion!】

【The host may now choose to return to the original spacetime node at any time.】

【After returning, the flow of time in this world will revert to sync with the host's original world (current ratio 1 year: 1 day).】

【May the host return now?】

Gu Shanhe felt a stir in his heart.

It's been more than three years (Great Qin time); finally… should I go back?

Golden Core Stage! This is what he needs most right now.

In Great Qin, because the world's ambient Qi is thin, his cultivation growth after Foundation Establishment is extremely slow, relying solely on the system‑exchanged spirit stones piled hard, and he has only reached Foundation Establishment Mid-stage.

The Golden Core is a qualitative transformation.

He did not choose to return immediately.

There are still matters to handle, some places… he wants to take Ying Zheng to see.

"Your Majesty," Gu Shanhe said to Ying Zheng, "are you interested in going to the edge of the world to take a look?"

"The edge? Does the world even have an edge?" Ying Zheng became interested.

Gu Shanhe exchanged with the system for a special blueprint of a steamship equipped with icebreaking capability and handed it to the shipyard.

A few months later, a bizarre vessel with a thick steel‑clad bow, the "Icebreaker," was launched.

Antarctic Continent.

Ice and snow stretched everywhere, and the cold wind howled.

Even wearing the specially made thick fur‑lined garments, Ying Zheng still froze, rubbing his hands together.

But when he stood on a black‑rocky shore and saw a group of waddling, curious creatures in black‑and‑white formal attire—fat birds (penguins)—his eyes widened instantly.

"National Teacher, what… what bird is this? It looks so comical and can't fly?" Ying Zheng asked, pointing at the penguin.

Gu Shanhe suppressed a laugh: "This bird is called 'penguin'; it lives in this extreme cold, feeding on fish and shrimp in the sea. It indeed cannot fly, but it is very agile in water."

Ying Zheng examined the goofy, unguarded penguins, waved his hand: "Fine, staying here makes a sight. Plant the flag!"

The black Qin flag was planted on the Antarctic ice sheet.