Volume 1 Chapter 72 Entering Jiuquan Pass

Autumn and winter have arrived, and a large number of death row prisoners are scheduled to be executed today.

A few days ago, Sun Shang investigated corrupt officials in the imperial court and arrested most of the officials in the court. He put them and their nine clans into prison and sentenced them to be executed in the autumn.

Now the day has come, the three chancellors have issued orders, appointing Sun Shang as the executioner, to escort these people from the Tianlao to the execution platform for execution!

A total of 282 officials of all ranks were involved in this case, and nine clans were implicated, with a total of more than 1.4 million people imprisoned. They were all beheaded today.

Sun Shang led his troops to escort them out of the Tianlao. The road to the execution ground was blocked by these death row prisoners. There were also a large number of ordinary people on the street watching the fun and pointing fingers at these people.

Some people who were full of hatred or from wealthy families would throw the eggs and vegetables they had just bought at the target, even mixing in stones.

When Sun Shang saw this, he just frowned slightly but did not stop them. These people usually bullied ordinary people. Now, there was finally a day when the ordinary people could bully them. It was fair.

Suddenly, Sun Shang saw a woman in green among the crowd of ordinary people. She had a fair almond-shaped face, a pair of beautiful eyes, and black and shiny hair. She looked like a beautiful lady in her twenties.

Such a face made Sun Shang's heart beat fast. It was as if she had seen this kind of woman in her dream.

But he had official business to attend to now, otherwise Sun Shang would have come up to him and started a conversation.

While Sun Shang was distracted, many little boys about eight or nine years old suddenly appeared in front of him. They rushed up fiercely and pounced on Sun Shang, trying to pull him off his horse.

These little boys kept shouting fiercely: "Let my parents go, let my sister go!"

"You big bad guy, big devil, you are not a human!"

"Everyone listen, let's kill him together, avenge our parents, and rescue them!"

It turned out that these people were the descendants of the court officials among the criminals. The emperor had promised them that if they confessed their crimes and conscientiously handed over their work and business, he would be able to leave their bloodline. These people were the ones who were rescued.

Although Sun Shang was a scholar, he was still an adult man after all, so he would not be afraid of a few children.

As soon as the reins were pulled, the warhorse beneath them neighed, immediately scaring the little boys so much that they stepped aside. However, they did not want to give up and wanted to come up and make trouble.

Sun Shang frowned and ordered loudly: "Come here, arrest these troublemakers for me!"

Immediately, more than a dozen guards from the capital rushed up and captured all the little boys, but some people still kept yelling, "You son of a bitch, you killed so many people, you must die a horrible death! Give me my parents back!"

Upon hearing this, Sun Shang's face darkened. He dismounted from his horse, walked up to the little boy, and slapped him in the face, making his face red and his nose bleeding.

Sun Shang cursed, "These people are all criminals, that's why they are prisoners. This is an order issued by the current emperor himself. Are you cursing the emperor by saying this?"

"You little bastards better behave yourself. If it weren't for the Emperor's mercy, you guys would be among those being beheaded!

You dare to come and cause trouble? Even if you have ten heads, they are not enough for me to chop off."

After Sun Shang finished cursing, he looked at these people coldly, mounted his horse and prepared to continue to rush to the execution ground. He turned his head to look at the beautiful girl, only to find that she was also looking at him!

When their eyes met, Sun Shang's heart was extremely excited, his heartbeat quickened, and he felt a little nervous.

But the next moment, Sun Shang saw a hint of disgust in the girl's eyes, and it was obvious that she had a bad impression of him.

"What's going on? Could it be that just now..." Sun Shang felt a chill in his heart and quickly blamed himself for being too impulsive. Why bother to get angry with some children.

Zhen Cai squeezed through the crowd and came behind the woman in green, saying loudly: "Big sister, what's so good about these death row prisoners? Let's go home."

Zhen Yueling smiled bitterly and said, "The current emperor is so cruel that he killed more than 1.4 million people with one sword. There are many children who have not grown up among them..."

Zhen Cai quickly pulled her aside and said, "Big sister, can we talk about the emperor casually? Moreover, these people deserve it. Okay, let's go back. Now that the third sister is the queen, the emperor's knife will never fall on our heads."

Zhen Yueling nodded, and as Zhen Cai left, this scene happened to be seen by Sun Shang. He secretly thought in his heart: "The young master of the Zhen family actually knows that girl. Now I have a place to go!"

On that day, more than 1.4 million people were beheaded. Even the executioners were replaced seven times, and they were all tired of chopping.

The entire execution ground was soaked with blood, and the good land became like a bloody swamp. A breeze blew by, and the pungent smell was like thousands of souls wailing for their lives.

Later, it took three days to collect the bodies of these people. This case was called the "Shangshu Case" in the history of the Da Ri Dynasty!

Jiuquan Pass, the western frontier of the Great Sun Dynasty

Xiang Yun brought an army of 700,000 and finally arrived here after going through "untold hardships". However, three days ago, the dark force arranged by Xiang Yun here conveyed him a very interesting message.

The generals at the four major borders are preparing for treason and rebellion, and want to open the gates to allow the enemy troops of Chengbao Kingdom to enter the pass!

Moreover, the commander of Jiuquan Pass, Tu Hei, was prepared to take his head and offer it to the Mahayana Kingdom in exchange for the throne.

This made Xiang Yun laugh. My goodness, this Mahayana Kingdom is playing such a shady trick and has such a big plot. If I don't make the king of Mahayana Kingdom kneel down and beg for mercy during this trip, I will never return to Beijing!

At Jiuquan Pass, as soon as Xiang Yun's troops arrived, Tu Hei came with his men to greet them.

"This humble general pays homage to His Majesty the Emperor. Long live the Emperor!"

Tu Hei bowed and said, "I am wearing armor, so I hope Your Majesty will forgive me for not being able to kneel and kowtow."

Xiang Yun looked at him with a smile and said calmly, "My subjects have never refused to kneel before me. Since it is inconvenient for General Tu to wear armor, just take it off. I will wait patiently."

"This..." Tu Hei's face darkened upon hearing this, and he quickly explained: "Your Majesty, this is an important border area. As the commander-in-chief, I must wear armor even when I am wearing clothes or sleeping. Otherwise, if the enemy comes to attack, wouldn't I be guilty of dereliction of duty?"

"Ah, you old man, you are really going to fight me, right? You have been staying at the border for so long, and you really don't take me, the emperor, seriously. You even dare to use the enemy army to suppress me!"

Having said that, Xiang Yun did not intend to save Tu Hei's face, and immediately said in a cold voice: "General Tu must have made a mistake. I am personally leading the army this time, and the commander-in-chief is no longer you, right?"

Tu Hei's face turned extremely ugly, and he cursed in his heart: "Damn little emperor, you are so arrogant now, but I will chop off your head tonight!"

He never expected that this little emperor would be so difficult to deal with and so powerful that he wanted to seize his power as commander right away.

But for the sake of the greater plan, Tu Hei decided to endure it. However, it was not so easy to take away his commanding power!

Tu Hei bowed and said, "Your Majesty, it's not that I don't want to hand over the command, but this position is of great importance. Before receiving the order from the Ministry of War, I dare not make the decision on my own."

Xiang Yun cursed in his heart: "Old fellow, you are still acting like a hooligan in front of me. In this regard, I am your ancestor!"

Xiang Yunke didn't take Tu Hei seriously at all. The army at Jiuquan Pass was only 300,000, while he brought 700,000. Even if a fight really came to a head, he would not be afraid at all.

Xiang Yun waved back, and Xiao Guazi quickly took out a piece of rice paper and a brush from his arms and handed them over.

"Sensible!" Xiang Yun praised, then picked up a brush and wrote the word "command" on the rice paper and threw it at Tu Hei's feet.

Tu Hei's face turned pale and he was shaking with anger, but he couldn't lose his temper. The man in front of him was the emperor, and even if he wanted to take action, it was not here.

Before Tu Hei could react, Xiang Yun suddenly shouted, "Come here, help General Tu change his clothes!"

"Yes!" Four Lieyang Army soldiers immediately stepped forward with knives, ready to take off Tu Hei's armor, but it didn't look like it was as simple as just taking off clothes.

Tu Hei was so frightened that he quickly said, "Wait! I will do it myself."

Tu Hei had a gloomy face. He slowly took off his armor, then knelt on both knees towards Xiang Yun and bowed, "General Tu Hei, the General of the Western Expedition, pays homage to the Emperor!"

The sound was so loud that all the soldiers behind Xiang Yun were laughing at him.

But Xiang Yun didn't even look at him this time. His eyes were fixed on the inside of Jiuquan Pass. Xuanyuan Dabing beside him immediately shouted, "Welcome the Western Expedition Army to enter the Pass!"

Since Tu Hei had given in, the soldiers at Jiuquan Pass naturally would not stop them. They all made way for Xiang Yun and others to lead their army into Jiuquan Pass.

Xiang Yun occupied Tu Hei's general's mansion that day and used it as his temporary bedroom. The 700,000-strong army surrounded the entire general's mansion and also surrounded the camps of the 300,000 border troops inside Jiuquan Pass.

Xiang Yun wanted to see what tricks Tu Hei could come up with under such circumstances!

Tu Hei was completely confused now. What was going on? He was clearly sure of victory and everything was under control, but now he couldn't even get within 300 meters of the general's mansion.

Tu Hei began to get anxious. In the current situation, it would be better to fight Xiang Yun to the death at the beginning!

This cooked duck can’t fly away!

Tu was thinking to himself, and suddenly a plan came to his mind, with a ferocious look on his face.

"My dear daughter, consider this as your father begging you. Just this once, the life and death and wealth of our entire family depends on you!" Tu Hei pulled a beautiful young woman and walked towards the general's mansion.

The woman's name was Tu Xiang, the youngest daughter of Tu Hei. She was only eighteen years old and it was time for her to get married, but Tu Hei was very picky and had never found a good family for her that would satisfy him.

"Father, that's the emperor, I'm afraid!" Tu Xiang said in embarrassment.

"What are you afraid of? If you don't help father, our whole family will die. Do you want father to die?"

Tu Xiang immediately shook her head upon hearing this, and Tu Hei took out a sharp dagger and put it in her hand, and told her: "Hide it well. If the little emperor touches you, don't do it first, just give in to him. Remember, at the most critical moment, you must suddenly take out the dagger and stab it into his body. Do you understand?"