Chapter 1606: The Capital Quakes!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
“Very good!”
Wang Chong squinted as he tapped his finger against the desk twice.
“Pass on my order! Begin the operation!”
Wang Chong closed his hand, stood up, and exited his study.
The last and most important moment in this border operation had finally arrived.
At this moment, a massive energy began to revolve around Wang Chong. A few moments later, thousands of scouts appeared all around the capital and began to put posters on the walls.
“What?! Those Hu savages who massacred that village were captured and have even been escorted to the capital?”
“They’re going to be publicly executed in the eastern part of the city?”
“So fast! Was it men sent by the King of Foreign Lands? But everyone will definitely be happy about this!”
In various parts of the city, great crowds had gathered around the thousands of posters. There was no one in the capital that did not know of the border incident by now.
As they came to know more and more about it, they came to revile those Hu responsible for the crime all the more while feeling sympathy for those innocent villagers. And when that lone woman reached the capital, the masses were moved to rage and sorrow.
But the Imperial Court showed no signs of taking action. To everyone’s surprise, it had been the King of Foreign Lands who was the first to act, and with such speed!
This was the best of news to the people of the capital.
“Let’s go! This old man has lived for many years and my body can’t stand for very long, but I must go and see those two brutes today! No matter what sort of problem this might cause for me in the future, this old man must see those two brutes executed!”
A white-haired elder in the crowd gripped his cane as he trembled in agitation.
He was keeping a close eye on the border incident, looking for new developments every day. Now that the two ringleaders had been captured, he was simply elated.
There were many others in the crowd who shared the same view as this elder. The vast crowd began to make their way to the execution ground designated in the announcement. Similar developments were playing out all across the capital.
“What? The King of Foreign Lands really captured those people and is going to execute them today?”
It wasn’t just the ordinary people of the capital who were shaken by this news. As the great clans learned about what was going on, they were also stunned.
Even the Beiting Protectorate had ignored that tragedy on the border. It was rumored that only the King of Foreign Lands had taken notice and was determined to act. It was even said that he had already sent a force of several hundred elites to the northern border to complete a mission.
Such rumors abounded in the capital, but none of the great clans knew whether they were true. Some of the great clans had learned from their scouts that the guilty party was very difficult to deal with. Those soldiers who had massacred the village had already returned to their main force and were hiding in a force of more than ten thousand soldiers, ready to flee at any moment.
This mission was basically impossible to complete.
But to everyone’s surprise, the rumor was true. Wang Chong’s men had not only defeated that army, they had even brought back the criminals.
“Come on! Let’s go and look!”
All the noble houses and great clans sent men to the execution ground stated on the posters.
Soon, countless people of various levels of status were converging on that location.
On Xuanwu Street, in the eastern part of the city, stood a massive stage which had taken less than ten minutes to set up. In fact, before the announcement had even been posted, seventy to eighty skilled craftsmen had already started to set it up.
All the needed material had already been stored in the surrounding stores, and the stage was built using steel modules Wang Chong had shipped over from the Western Regions. It was obvious that this had all been planned out beforehand.
A few moments after the announcements had been posted, a great sea of people had surrounded the platform, and some people had even taken to climbing onto roofs.
“Why is there nothing? Where are they?”
“Didn’t they say the execution was taking place here? I don’t see anything!”
The crowd was impatient and uneasy. The border massacre had truly stirred their anger, and all of them wanted nothing more than to see justice carried out with their own eyes.
Bang!
After some time, the crowd suddenly exploded with commotion, and everyone began to turn in one direction.
“Everyone, look over there! They’re coming!”
The crowd became restless. To the southeast of the stage, a group of soldiers was escorting two Hu who had hoods covering their heads.
“Brutes! Kill these two beasts!”
The crowd erupted in fury, and even women and children began to curse. The commanding Tang officer made a gesture, and a moment later, the two guards removed the hoods.
“Beat them to death! Beat them to death!”
The furious crowd treated this as some sort of signal, their curses and rebukes intensifying as they tossed vegetables, eggs, and even rocks at Hulugan and Ashide. As the two were escorted through the crowd, some of the furious mob even ran past the guards to claw and kick at them.
For just a little food, they had killed four-hundred-some people and even set their bodies aflame. Not even death was enough to forgive their crimes!
Such was the crowd’s fury and so vigorously did they surge forward to tear and beat at the pair that the two guards that Wang Chong had sent had to work with all their might to protect them. They did not want the mob to beat the pair to death before they could be executed.
“It wasn’t me! You’ve got the wrong person! I didn’t kill anyone!”
Hulugan fearfully looked around at the infuriated mob, his face pale.
On this journey, every time the convoy had been intercepted, he thought he would be saved and returned alive to the Great Steppe, but after so many days, none of those people had succeeded, and they had only gotten closer and closer to the capital.
Hulugan had never imagined that he would be taken from the Great Steppe and escorted as a prisoner all the way to the capital of the Great Tang.
His initial courage had long ago crumbled to nothing, and when he looked at the furious mob who wanted nothing more than to tear him to pieces, he felt only a fear that reached into the depths of his soul.
When he first planned that raid, he had never imagined that this would be the result.
But as he didn’t understand the Tang language, he had no idea what all these people were saying.
“Useless thing, you’re a Turkic warrior, not a beggar. Even if you have to die, I need you to stand up straight!” Ashide cursed, a look of contempt on his face. If he had a saber, he probably would have executed Hulugan himself.
Because of this bastard, at least six thousand soldiers of the Black Wolf Army’s vanguard were now eternally slumbering on the steppe, and even he had been dragged in. If he had known that there would be so much trouble, he would have killed Hulugan on the steppe.
“Release me! I’m a Western Turkic general! You have no reason to kill me! Kill me and you will only cause an even greater problem, even cause a war between our two countries!” Ashide bellowed, unshaken by the eggs and vegetables striking his face.
He was the general of the vanguard, completely unlike Hulugan.
Although Ashide had spoken in Turkic, Cheng Sanyuan had understood.
“Hmph, you think you’re innocent? The moment you protected Hulugan and his men and began to feast on the spoils of that village, you decided your fate. And besides, Hulugan is your subordinate. Even if Hulugan holds the main responsibility for the lives of those four hundred villagers, as his commander, you cannot escape the blame! A commander will attract subordinates of the same ilk. If not for your lack of discipline when commanding your troops, and even your encouragement of this behavior, would such a thing have happened? Would those Tang have died in such a meaningless manner?”
Cheng Sanyuan coldly sneered as he replied in Turkic.
Ashide was rendered speechless.
Yes! When he first learned of the incident, he had taken the matter in stride and even encouraged the action. He had even distributed the supplies Hulugan had plundered to the rest of the army.
In this aspect, he truly was not innocent!
“Take them away!”
Cheng Sanyuan saw the complicated look on Ashide’s face and knew that he had understood. Without another word, Cheng Sanyuan had the guards take the pair onto the platform.
Boom!
The seething crowd reached new peaks of fury when they saw the pair ascend the stage, exploding with vehement curses. If looks could kill, those two would have already been executed via death by a thousand cuts.
……
In the western part of the city, Li Junxian was flying through the streets.
Flapflap! Carrier pigeons descended around him, and the Confucian Sect experts began to converge on Li Junxian.
“Young Master! It’s bad! The King of Foreign Lands has posted announcements across the city that he plans to immediately execute those two Hu!”
“Young Master, the King of Foreign Lands has left his residence for the execution ground!”
“Young Master, Hulugan and Ashide have appeared! The majority of the city’s population has gathered!”
All this news, from the posting of the announcements, to the setting up of the stage, and Wang Chong’s departure, came within seconds of each other. It was obvious that Wang Chong had planned everything out well ahead of time.
Even Li Junxian was forced to admit that he was badly losing.