My Chinese ancestors

Chapter 697 No Time to Rest

Within a few days after Emperor Daxia returned to the court, he beheaded the four masterminds of the rebellion in Ding'an City, Rongzhou.

The weather in mid-October was sometimes rainy and sometimes sunny. Fortunately, on the 17th, the sky was blue and the clouds were white.

Fifteen miles north of the eastern suburbs of Yanjing, you can see a huge monument standing on the hill from a distance on the stone road carved on the mountainside.

This towering building has stood here for many years, weathered by wind and rain, and on its flat sides, there is a little moss growing on each of the carved names of individuals.

Below it and even around it are densely packed stone tablets, half a person's height, which are also engraved with the names of the heroes who died in the battle.

Over the years, as Emperor Daxia fought wars across the country, more and more stone tablets appeared here, filling up both hills and forming a shocking forest of tablets.

The Forest of Steles, which was once sparsely populated, is now crowded with people, including residents of the city and surrounding towns who have come to watch.

From a distance, you can see a wooden platform outside the Forest of Steles.
It is the execution platform that has been circulating recently.

There were many guards around the wooden platform, holding weapons and guarding the place without looking around.

Among the mixed crowd, most of the voices were the people whispering to each other. After all, they wanted to see what kind of guy was so brave to rebel in the martial arts-famous Da Xia.

Moreover, I heard that His Majesty will also come.

As the huge crowd looked around and waited, they heard a different sound. Many people subconsciously looked over and saw four prison vans slowly approaching.

Inside were four figures in prison uniforms.

Along with the prison cart came a number of galloping war horses. The figure in the lead was dressed in military uniform, with a red cloak fluttering behind him.

Hundreds of soldiers standing in a neat row on the execution platform, leaning on their weapons, half-knelt on the ground, and shouted in unison: "Greetings to our emperor!"

Wang Lang, who already had a lot of black hair, looked happy. He, Di Renjie, Li Bai and a large number of other civil and military officials came forward to greet him, and all bowed and said, "Your Majesty, we are here to see you."

"Zhu Qing, no need to be polite. You will just wait in the audience today."

Su Chen waved his hand and asked them to stand still on the stage. Then he led Dian Wei and Xu Chu to bypass the prison car and walk onto the execution platform with the steps of dragons and tigers.

The soldiers around rang their weapons, and the sound of metal clashing shook the sky for a moment.

Su Chen's face was dignified. He walked up to the platform step by step, and his voice resounded at the same time.

"I led the soldiers on the Western Expedition to avenge the people of Xizhou, expand the territory for the descendants of the people of Daxia, and demonstrate Daxia's martial arts. But some people think that when I am not here, Daxia will be able to succeed!"

The wind howled and whistled among the mountains and forests.

Two bronze ingots were burning with flames, black smoke was rising, and the flames were shaking violently, reflecting the tall and mighty figure of Emperor Xia on the execution platform.

"I have defeated even the great kings of the West, and even taken the heads of the gods they were so proud of."

Su Chen raised his hand, and soldiers pulled a carriage and carried out King Arthur's stone head so that the people and soldiers present could see it clearly.

Seeing that the facial features on the stone head could move and occasionally utter strange languages, the crowd immediately started a noisy uproar.

"Even the gods of the Western barbarians have become a rare plaything in my hands. And what are these rebellious people?!"

Su Chen walked to the front of the execution platform, stretched out his arms, and his cloak fluttered in the wind, making a rustling sound.

"I have never been a soft-hearted person. Since I started my rebellion against the tyranny of the State of Yan, more than a million people have died directly or indirectly at my hands. Why would I care about these four people? Rebellion is a serious crime. If a person makes a mistake, he must be punished. But I will not implicate their families and will only kill the ringleader!"

Su Chen's voice was low and wrapped in pure internal energy, floating clearly in everyone's ears: "At the same time, I also want to tell the people of the world that whoever wants to destroy the people's peace and happiness must die, without any luck. Even if you escape to the ends of the earth, my generals and spies are familiar with the road!"

After that, Su Chen signaled Wang Lang to go on stage and read out the evidence of the four people's crimes to everyone. When the last word fell, the four disheveled prisoners were dragged out of the prison van by the soldiers, taken to the execution platform one by one, and hit on the back, forcing them to kneel side by side.

The sun shone on the fanatical faces. They roared and screamed at the top of their lungs, trying to tear apart the unified Great Xia Empire with great difficulty. Countless arms were raised above their heads.

"kill!"

"kill!"

The murderous aura seemed to have become a physical object. The birds living in the woods were startled and flew into the sky, forming a black mass flying around in panic.

"The time has come for execution!"

Four swords were unsheathed, bringing with them a chill. The four men kneeling on the ground were trembling nervously. Lai Junchen had tied them up in a special way, so they could only be hit on the head and their necks could not be lifted up, thus making it impossible for people to see their real faces.

The four executioners, holding heavy swords, walked up behind the four trembling men, stood still, and then slowly raised the blades.

"In the land of Daxia, there will be no place for traitors!" On the high platform, Su Chen turned and walked towards the big chair, sat down, raised his hand and said, "Send them on their way!"

The four men trembled and tried hard to raise their heads. The executioner raised his blade and fell down together.

With four thuds, four heads with messy hair fell to the ground and rolled, blood spurting all over the ground.

Not long after, it was time to worship the monument again. Every time after returning from a battle, Su Chen would lead the civil and military officials to worship the heroic souls in the mausoleum, as well as all the soldiers who died in past expeditions.

After the sacrificial ceremony, countless people around began to disperse in groups of two or three, and the troops stationed here and all the civil and military officials in the court also left one after another.

When almost everyone had left, only Su Chen led Dian Wei and Xu Chu to a hill not far from Fengbei Mausoleum. There were already two people waiting here with horses for a long time. "Your Majesty, my two brothers are leaving soon."

Zhang You and Xu Qinghu were dressed like ordinary people. They were both from military backgrounds and were relatively old. At first glance, they looked no different from old farmers working in the fields.

"I may never have the chance to meet your Majesty again."

Xu Qinghu suddenly burst into tears, clasped his hands and knelt down. Zhang You beside him also knelt down, and they both kowtowed to the ground three times.

Their voices choked with sobs: "Your Majesty, take care!"

"I will never forget the two old generals!"

Su Chen helped the two people up from the ground. Looking at their expressions, he had mixed feelings. "You... take care of yourself along the way."

"Your Majesty, please return to the palace quickly. We will say goodbye now!"

Zhang You and Xu Qinghu bowed once more, then mounted their horses, turned around, swung their whips and galloped away. Halfway up the slope, they stopped their horses, looked at the emperor in the hot summer, then suddenly dismounted and bowed once more.

"Your Majesty, let me go, my old minister!"

Bathed in the late autumn sunshine, the two figures ran along the ridge and gradually disappeared behind the woods.

"Let's go back too."

Su Chen pulled the reins and whispered to Chao Dian and Xu, "Where is Li Ru?"

"he?"

Dian Wei frowned and looked at Xu Chu for help. Xu Chu's eyes widened: "Why are you looking at me? You are in charge of all these matters!"

The three men rode back down the mountain, where Wu Zixun led the Shenji Camp to wait. Only from him did they learn that Li Ru had fled to Feiyun Port.

"Why, he wants to go to sea with Qin Hui?"

On the way back to Yanjing, Su Chen held the reins and smiled on horseback.

"Your Majesty, no." Wu Zixun whispered, "When Governor Li went to Feiyun Port, he was full of anger and kept cursing Lord Qin, saying he was going to kill him. I heard that Governor Li also went with the general named Yue."

Su Chen was stunned for a moment, and then his expression quickly returned to normal.

He knew in his heart that Qin Hui was probably in great danger this time.

The mountain breeze blew across the marching troops, and the flags fluttered. Su Chen glanced across the distant fields. Farmers were putting down their farm tools and preparing to go home. When the cool breeze blew across their necks, he picked up his hoe, stood by the road, and watched the team gradually passing by him from a distance.

Soon, his two children came to greet him at the entrance of the village. He watched the two children running around happily in front of him, and from time to time they greeted other people in the village obediently.

This made the farmers following behind laugh happily.

……

In fact, Su Chen was also happy. Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong came to the palace as promised. According to Zhang Jue's instructions, the two men were fully armed, holding weapons, and guarding the door of the emperor's bedroom in a majestic manner.

Qin Qiong returned to his old temper and told Su Chen to sleep peacefully.

"What about the God of this world? If he dares to come down to the mortal world, Heitan and I will kill him. Your Majesty, go to bed without worry. Jingde and I are outside and will make sure you sleep until dawn."

Qin Qiong was not bragging, he and Yuchi Gong really had experience in this area. Back then, Li Shimin killed too many people and they had trouble falling asleep every night, always feeling that there was something fishy going on.

Finally, he let Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong guard outside the bedroom. With the murderous aura of the generals that could not be approached by gods and ghosts, he was able to sleep peacefully.

From then on, people began to regard Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong as door gods, replacing Shentu and Yulei.

However, Su Chen remembered that Guan, Zhang, Ma, Zhao, or Guan, Zhang, Zhao, and Huang were also used as door gods by the people. However, given Guan Yu's arrogance, Su Chen knew without a doubt that he would not be able to invite him.

Unless the one sleeping is Liu Bei.

Sure enough, when Su Chen closed his eyes and opened them again, it was already the next morning. He had not slept so comfortably since returning to Yanjing.

"It seems that the God here is really interfering."

As for counterattack, Su Chen had never thought about it, and there was no way to do it. That kind of thing is elusive and traceless.

As long as he can find the secret of immortality on the scabbard, what is the way of heaven, what is the man of destiny? At that time, he and the ancestors of the Chinese people will be the real men of destiny.

After putting on his clothes, washing his face and teeth, Su Chen walked out of the bedroom, asked Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong to go back and rest, and then took Dian Wei and Xu Chu to the front palace. When Wu Zixun heard the news, he hurried over to greet him.

"Have you handed Beigong Shu over to the prince?"

"When His Majesty was still asleep, a palace servant came to report that the person had been sent to the East Palace."

Su Chen nodded, looked at the rising autumn sun shining through the clouds in the east, and suddenly smiled again.

"Let's see what the prince does. Come, accompany me to visit the workshop outside the city."

(End of this chapter)