My Chinese ancestors

Chapter 698: No More Fighting
The whole mountain is golden, and the mountain breeze creates ripples and rustling sounds.

It was still early before noon. Su Chen, who had just left the north gate, traveled light with Dian, Xu, and a group of guards from the Embroidered Uniform Division.

Passing by the unloading area planned by Xun Yu, there were many caravans returning from Shengnu Snowfield and the snow forest north of Feiyun Port.

Soon, these caravans, after unloading their goods, settled cash with the merchants who bought the goods, deposited their livestock, and walked into Yanjing with their caravan servants, where they naturally spent some money in this glamorous world.

The streets were bustling with people coming and going, including Mongols wearing fur hats and fur coats that gave off a foul smell, Western Hu merchants who were traveling with their concubines looking for performances, and a drunken slave who was sleeping with his upper body naked at the feet, and was then dragged away by several patrolling constables, which caused a burst of laughter.

Street vendors opened their steamers and used palm-leaf fans to blow the fragrance out into the street; the shouts of shops open for business under the eaves and waiters in taverns greeting passers-by filled the market.

The streets are lined with flags from bars and restaurants, and there is a lot of noise inside, and southern accents can often be heard.

In the northern capital, it is now common to see scholars, wanderers, and wealthy people from the south.

Since the establishment of Daxia, each country has been changed into a state, each state into a county, and under the government's decree, they have become a connected whole, and there is enough energy to eliminate banditry in various places.

After the road was opened, not only did more vendors appear, but wealthy families in the south, thousands of miles away, would also take ships or horse-drawn carriages to tour the mountains and rivers of Daxia.

The northern capital of Yanjing is naturally a must-visit place.

You may try your luck or buy a house here. After autumn, you can take a ship from Wuzhou to the north, pass through the Central Plains, arrive at Feiyun Port in the north, and finally take a horse carriage west for three days to reach Yanjing. By then it will be almost mid-December, the best time to enjoy the snow in the north.

With the return of the Western Expedition, they learned that there was still vast land to the west, and that there was a puppet court supported by the Emperor of the Great Xia governing the area. It was rumored among the people that officials might be sent there to govern in the future, and even people in need of land might be recruited to migrate there.

Some children from poor families have achieved academic success, but many places in Daxia are already saturated, and being sent to the government office for training may not necessarily give them a chance of promotion.

It’s better to try your luck in the West.

As a result, in late autumn and early winter, young men from various families came to the northern capital to seek their future in large numbers. Many inns were booked, and those who did not have much money rented from private homes. As a result, many stories about scholars and young girls becoming friends were spread.

In fact, running here doesn't have much use, after all, the selection of scholars is based on the five subjects of the imperial examination set by Su Chen himself.

"Another group coming from the south."

Su Chen was riding a war horse, his hooves stepping on the dust on the ground. To the right of his eyes, several literati with southern and Central Plains accents were strolling outside the workshop.

However, when he tried to go in, he was stopped by the patrolling soldiers outside and they were arguing with him.

Wu Zixun had trouble sleeping recently. After a long journey back from the West, he thought he would be able to sleep well, but it turned out that he could not fall into a deep sleep and woke up in a daze at four o'clock in the morning.

Hearing the emperor's sigh, his face was somewhat tired. Looking at the quarreling group of people over there, he smiled and said, "When I came back, I heard Commander Li talk about this. Many people came to Yanjing this year, trying to find connections everywhere, hoping to get a job."

"These people must have heard that there are still large tracts of conquered land in the west. If they want to go there in the future, the nearest ones are the counties and kingdoms in the Western Province where they can serve as officials."

Su Chen smiled and revealed the reason, but he didn't bother with these people, "These will be the things that the prince will worry about in the future. He is thirteen or fourteen years old, and he should have some skills."

"Come to think of it, why did Your Majesty hand Beigong Shu over to the Crown Prince...it would have been better to just throw him onto the execution platform and chop him to pieces." Dian Wei, who was walking on the side, suddenly spoke.

"You can't see it?"

Su Chen stroked the swaying horse mane and smiled: "My prince has a gentle temperament and is a bit modest. Although he will be a wise ruler in the future, a wise ruler is one who governs law-abiding people and knows how to advance and retreat. A wise ruler must also be able to kill people. With blood on his hands, he will be a different person."

"Your Majesty, are you a little anxious?" Wu Zixun wanted to say that the prince was so young, but he didn't continue when he remembered that his father had mentioned in the letter he sent that he should not interfere too much in the affairs of the royal family.

Su Chen on horseback did not answer him. In the eyes of outsiders, he was young and strong, with numerous meritorious officials under him, and Daxia was thriving, improving day by day. Why would he be in such a hurry to train a prince?

But only Su Chen and the ancestors behind him knew that after conquering the West, they would kill the people who were destined to target them.

If I anger the Heavenly Dao here, I'm afraid I won't be able to bear it.

Sure enough, judging from the performance in the past few days, Tiandao has already taken action. Although it was blocked once by Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong, what if Tiandao executes other clearing procedures?
Immortality is his only bargaining chip.

Su Chen is a person who refuses to admit defeat. As long as there is a bargaining chip, he will try his best to carry it. His ancestors’ souls cannot carry it, so he will do it!

"Your Majesty, there is a person over there..."

Xu Chu, riding a brown warhorse, wearing a green shirt over leather armor and holding a tiger-head sword, came forward from behind. At this time, the team had almost passed the crowd of quarreling people.

Over there, where the soldiers were arguing with several southern literati, a man standing behind the soldiers was also shouting, leaning on a crutch, and bouncing towards the advancing team.

Just as Xu Chu reminded Su Chen and he turned his head to look over, the man suddenly raised his hand and threw a flying knife in his hand.

In the skylight, the flying spear made a bang and smashed the flying knife away.

However, the figure on the other side with crutches rushed up immediately, and the crutch in his hand directly poked at Da Xia Zi who was above the black warhorse.

when!
Before he could get close, the man and his crutch were blocked in mid-air by the visible martial arts energy and fell to the ground.

The quarreling crowd over there stopped, except for the soldiers who stayed behind. The literati and scholars from the south turned around and ran away in shame, fearing that the fire would burn them.

In the team, Wu Zixun shouted on horseback and waved his hands: "Catch him——"

The guards from the Embroidered Uniform Division rushed forward with swords flashing in their hands.

Only then did Su Chen see clearly that the assassin was dressed in ordinary clothes and had only one leg. He was not afraid of the guards who surrounded him. He sat on the ground and swung his cane in a very methodical manner.

However, he was still attacked from both sides by the guards of the Embroidered Uniform Department, his crutches were knocked away, and he was captured alive and dragged before the emperor.

"Who are you? How dare you assassinate me!" Wu Zixun stepped forward and shouted, but was interrupted by Su Chen. As the former looked puzzled, Su Chen jumped off his horse, walked to the front of the guards, waved his hand, and asked them to disperse.

Finally, he looked at the soldier. There were two scratches on his face from arrows, but they were old wounds.

"My brave man...you are a retired veteran. Which army are you from?"

When Su Chen hit the nail on the head, the assassin raised his face and smiled frankly, his tone even sounding quite proud.

"Your Majesty... I am a soldier of the Tang army. I lost this leg while following you in the expedition against the Japanese pirates."

The old soldier looked at the guards on both sides with a defiant look, as if he did not take these people seriously.

Su Chen frowned slightly: "Since you are my old soldier, why did you want to assassinate me? But you will be left without money and food for the rest of your life?"

"Humph, I have a house to live in, money to spend, and I train these soldiers every day in the market. Life is very comfortable!"

"So you're alone, childless, and you feel unhappy?"

"I have a wife and children, and I am never lonely."

Not only Su Chen, but even Dian Wei and Xu Chu were stunned. This old soldier had everything he needed except for losing half of his leg, so how could he commit assassination?

"Your Majesty!" The old soldier on the ground had his crutches thrown back. He supported himself and slowly stood up, looking at Su Chen opposite him. "I stab Your Majesty, not for myself, but for the soldiers who have not died in the future."

Speaking of it.

The old soldier suddenly dropped his crutches, bent one leg, knelt on the ground with the other half of his leg, and burst into tears.

"Your Majesty... stop fighting."

Su Chen, who was about to get angry, slowly put down his raised hand, and his brows furrowed even further after hearing the old soldier's words.

"War is no joke. I will never start a war without permission!"

"Your Majesty, I am a rough man. Thanks to Your Majesty, I was able to learn a few words in the army." The old soldier couldn't stop crying, wiping his tears and snot while crying.

"...But Your Majesty...we can't fight anymore. So many brothers are gone...My own brother died in my arms..." When he said this, he cried even more sadly.

The guards from the Embroidered Uniform Division around him clenched their sword handles tightly, fearing that the other party might get too emotional and do something else, and end up losing his life.

Under everyone's gaze, Su Chen was silent for a moment, "You mean, I was wrong to conquer those barbarians and unify the country?"

The man shook his head.

"Your Majesty is right. When you were in Ding'an, you did not sit still and wait for death. That's why you became the King of Yan. Then you unified the six kingdoms with lightning speed so that the people no longer suffered from war and were not restricted by the region... You swept the grasslands and attacked the Japanese in the East China Sea. You were far-sighted... But..."

The old soldier raised his head and said, "Your Majesty! Have you ever been to the Forest of Steles?!"

“I just went there a few days ago.”

"Have you ever walked inside, Your Majesty? You can see with your own eyes that stone tablets are being erected one after another. Over the years... many meritorious stone tablets have been erected... and all of them are engraved with the names of our Great Xia men..."

The old soldier knelt on the ground and crawled towards Su Chen. The guards grabbed his shoulders and held him down. He kowtowed on the ground: "Your Majesty, we can't fight anymore... Please..."

"Who ordered you to die in this way today?"

"Your Majesty, I will not accept orders from others..."

Before the other party could finish speaking, Su Chen's voice drowned him out.

"How can you, a soldier, think so much? Most likely your family is being controlled by someone, so you have no choice but to obey the person behind the scenes. However, I think you are doing this for your family, so I don't want to make things difficult for you, so throw this person out!"

"Your Majesty... I didn't do that. I came here alone to kill you," the old soldier roared.

Wu Zixun stepped forward and slapped the old soldier on the head, holding him down, and yelled at him in frustration.

"Everyone knows it's you... Why are you so stubborn? His Majesty is saving you, saving you!"

The voice rang in his ears, and the old soldier finally reacted. He was silent for a moment. He looked at the great Xia Zi in front of him. He had watched Su Chen rise from a prince to an emperor step by step.

"Your Majesty... I... I..." The old soldier's broad shoulders trembled slightly, and his voice was choked with sobs.

Su Chen brushed away the swords and knives around him, and put his hand on his shoulder, "I know you feel sad for those soldiers who died in the battle, and you are also worried about the soldiers who will join the army in the future..."

"My heart is made of flesh and blood..."

After taking a deep breath, Su Chen continued, "The battles that should be fought have been fought. There will be no more major battles. I promise you."

The sobbing sound gradually died down, and the old soldier pursed his lips and nodded heavily, saying in a hoarse voice: "Your Majesty, you can kill me now."

"Haha, why should I kill you? I want more soldiers like you!"

In the eyes of the guards, an assassination plan was averted by Su Chen's laughter.

Su Chen asked everyone to let him go, and personally went up to brush off the dust off the old soldier's body.

"The soldiers engraved on the monument are the ones who opened up more land and rivers for the descendants of Daxia. There are fertile farmland, dense forests, and hills there. When they are filled with our Daxia people, there will be no more wars."

Su Chen held his hand and took out a cane to lean on for him: "I can't kill you, and I won't kill you. I want you to live well and watch the prosperous future of Daxia with your children and grandchildren."

The sound passed through everyone's ears and was carried into the sky by the wind.

The white clouds ran like dogs across the sunlight rising into the clouds.

The light rushed towards the busy streets, where pedestrians were bustling about, and all kinds of laughter and insults mixed together.

The two groups of people who were arguing and pushing each other were caught by the yamen runners and handed over to the government office; outside the busy restaurant, a scantily clad Hu girl twisted her slender waist, and her veiled eyes occasionally cast seductive glances at the spectators around her. A Hu merchant held a copper basin and asked the men who were watching for copper coins amid the endless Hu music. Occasionally, a generous reward was thrown into the copper basin, and the Hu girl twisted her waist even more happily.

An old farmer brought his grandson, who had never seen the world, into the city, carrying several bags of dried fruits. The greedy little boy ran around his grandfather. After leaving the city gate, the slaves spoke fluent Chinese and argued with the fur buyers. In the distance, there were families getting married with music and dance, and a banquet was set up when the sun set.

Among the colorful lives, some people leave in this gradually stable world, and new lives are born, continuing to unfold countless new stories.

In the huge Su Mansion, the old woman sat on a recliner, holding a pair of jade pendants closed together and comparing them in the sunset.

The corners of his wrinkled eyes unconsciously shone with tears.

"Brother...your nephew is promising, your help to him is not in vain."

The cool breeze of late autumn caressed the old trees in the courtyard, and the few dead leaves were left. Butterflies fluttered down and scattered around the old woman.

At the turning point of the mansion's Langyuan, Su Lie was standing under a tree in the courtyard, doing horse stance. His slender figure brought over some ginseng soup and placed it on a stone table not far away.

Hua Hongzhen sat aside, quietly watching her husband. Over the years, her temperament had changed. At this moment, she looked at her husband's back and said softly, "My husband, please take a concubine and have a child."

Su Lie, who was doing horse stance, turned his head slightly and nodded silently.

The wind blows thousands of miles.

Beigong Shu, with disheveled hair, was thrown into the East Palace, and the eunuch holding poisoned wine walked aside.

Su Chen looked at Beigong Shu, who was not much older than him, and his body began to tremble. He looked at Li Bai, Xun Yu and Guo Jia beside him.

The three of them also looked at the young prince nervously.

It was not until Su Chen closed his eyes and raised his hand to press the eunuchs over there twice that Xun Yu and the other two breathed a sigh of relief.

The terrified Beigong Shu was forced to drink the poison. His screams of pain gradually disappeared, and Su Chen opened his eyes. With a pale face, he was supported by Guo Jia and left.

Occasionally, thunder could be heard in the northwest corner not far from the East Palace. It was close to the royal garden. In a three-story loft, Zhang Jue and Zhang Dongzhi were carefully studying the scabbard of the Sword in the Stone.

Amid the thunder, lightning was occasionally drawn into the window lattice, falling onto the scabbard and sparking dozens of electric arcs.

Not far away, King Arthur's head, placed on a specially made round table, watched this scene in horror.

On the sea, the large ship breaking through the waves completed its affairs in the Mediterranean, replenished supplies, and sailed south with the Bingzhou army.

Amidst the wind and waves, there was a huge piece of land in the western sea, which made Zheng He's eyes shine.

"My boys, we think it's still early. Let's change our course tomorrow and explore the west. This will be a great achievement."

Gao Shun leaned on his knife and sighed helplessly.

"I really think about expanding my territory whenever I can..."

……

Su Chen turned to the eastern suburbs and walked up to the observation deck on the hill opposite the monument. In the red sunset glow, everything he saw was dark. Densely packed stone tablets stood on two hills, leading from the foot of the mountain along the road around the hill to the top.

"Looking at it with this mood... the old soldier is right, we can't fight anymore." Su Chen looked at the forest of steles in the sunset glow, his robe fluttering in the wind.

"Let the people and the civil and military officials take a breath!"

He turned and looked at the huge city in the distance, "It's time for me to have a good rest."

On the 20th day of the winter month, horses galloped from all over the country, carrying the imperial edict just issued to the counties.

The ninth year of Yuanxing was changed to the first year of Zhongxing.

(End of this chapter)