The Hundred Cavalrymen, who were carrying out the execution, were dumbfounded upon seeing this. They stood there stunned, unsure whether to plead guilty or commit suicide to atone for their sins.
In contrast, Sun Simiao appeared much calmer.
Instead of taking Li Zhi seriously, he looked at the two small bowls that were only half full and then sighed.
"well!"
"I'm getting old, I can't even make a proper cut anymore!"
After saying this, Sun Simiao swiftly slashed Li Zhi's wrists twice, leaving the Hundred Cavalrymen standing nearby dumbfounded.
"Immortal Sun, you...you intend to kill Prince Jin?"
"What do you mean by 'kill'?"
"The old Taoist priest is saving him!"
"Given his crimes, even being torn to pieces would be too lenient. He only had 20,000 lives saved, yet he dared to play dead for the old Taoist priest!"
"Playing dead?"
"You mean His Highness Prince Jin is alright?"
Sun Simiao sneered upon hearing this.
"Of course it's alright!"
"He was just scared unconscious..."
Upon hearing this, the Hundred Cavalry Commander was immediately relieved and continued to perform his duties.
The anger of the thousands of people below the altar, watching Li Zhi lying on the altar dripping blood, gradually subsided.
Even if the royal family does nothing, there's nothing they can do about it.
After all, who would dare to rebel these days?
They were still very grateful that the royal family had done this!
When they learned that it was the Crown Prince who had made great efforts to bring about this, they transferred their gratitude to the court to Li Jue.
With such a fine imperial grandson, the Tang Dynasty has hope!
Li Shimin had been anxiously watching his son's condition. When he saw his son lying motionless on the bed, his heart immediately panicked.
"Li Jue, is something wrong with your Ninth Uncle?"
"Don't worry, Uncle Jiu is very lucky and will definitely be fine!"
Li Shimin snorted coldly upon hearing this.
"snort!"
"If anything happens to your Ninth Uncle, see how I deal with you!"
Li Jue rolled his eyes dismissively upon hearing this, thinking to himself, "Am I afraid of you, old man?"
Although Li Jue thought this way, he still glanced at the situation on the altar with considerable concern.
He was, after all, a person from later generations, and knew some secrets that the people of the Tang Dynasty did not know.
For example, this act of bloodletting actually has a certain probability of scaring the prisoner to death on the spot.
He wasn't sure if Li Zhi would be scared to death, so he could only place his hopes on Senior Brother Sun, hoping that Senior Brother Sun could keep an eye on Li Zhi's condition.
After cutting Li Zhi's wrist for the third time, Sun Simiao on the altar finally collected two bowls of royal blood.
Although it was the old Taoist priest's first time doing something like this, he was extremely happy doing it.
The reason is simple: he is acting on behalf of Heaven!
Sun Simiao carefully placed two bowls of royal blood on the table, then poured in the cinnabar he had prepared beforehand, mixing it with the blood from the Li family to create a thick cinnabar pigment.
After Sun Simiao finished all this, he immediately wrote scriptures on the altar using cinnabar mixed with royal blood.
Because there was so much paint, he wrote with a rather unrestrained style, almost writing a whole chapter of the Tao Te Ching in huge characters, before finally using up all the paint.
Then Sun Simiao recited scriptures to help the souls of the deceased find peace.
After he finished all this, he threw the scriptures into the fire and burned them to inform Heaven.
After the ceremony, all the people wept loudly and prostrated themselves on the ground, unable to rise.
Amidst deafening cries, Li Zhi was also carried down from the altar.
Li Shimin rushed over immediately and gripped Li Zhi's wrist tightly. When he saw the wounds of varying lengths on Li Zhi's wrist, his hatred for Li Jue reached its peak.
"Li Jue!"
"Li Jue!"
Li Shimin shouted twice, but no one answered. He then looked around in confusion and realized that Li Jue had long since disappeared.
Where is Li Jue?
"Your Majesty, the eldest grandson said there was an urgent matter in the army, and he went to handle military affairs first..."
Upon hearing this, Li Shimin was furious.
"You bastard!"
"He's not going to handle military affairs; he's clearly avoiding me!"
"You all keep a close eye on him these next few days. If that bastard does anything wrong, no matter how big the mistake, give him thirty lashes first!"
"promise!"
After Li Shimin finished speaking fiercely, he immediately looked at Sun Simiao with a pitiful expression.
"Master Sun, is my young servant alright?"
"Your Majesty, Prince Jin has simply fainted from fright. I can revive him simply by inserting acupuncture needles into his acupoints."
"However, I do not recommend waking him up now. Let His Highness Prince Jin sleep a little longer and recover his energy."
Upon hearing this, Li Shimin nodded quickly.
"The Taoist priest is right, let's do as he says!"
"Guards, immediately take my young servant back. He must be well cared for by me for the next few days, and there must be no neglect!"
"promise!"
Li Shimin was still not satisfied after doing all this. Why should his son have to be bled while the former officials of Shuozhou were unharmed?
no!
I want to drag them all out and bleed them dry!
Under Li Shimin's petty-mindedness, dozens of officials in Shuozhou, along with the two unfortunate men Xue Wanche and Liu Rengui, were dragged out and placed on the altar to have their blood shed.
In fact, the people of the Tang Dynasty were terrified of bloodletting. It was only because Li Zhi had just bled two bowls of blood and hadn't died that they had the courage to live.
The common people were already quite satisfied with the royal family, and now, seeing that His Majesty had dragged out all the officials to bleed for their sake, they were all so moved that they kept kowtowing.
"Your Majesty is wise!"
"Long live the Emperor!"
Li Shimin was elated amidst the cheers of the people, but the thought of the instigator filled him with resentment.
What reason should we find to teach that rebellious grandson a lesson?
Little did they know that Li Jue was leading several thousand cavalrymen in a standoff against tens of thousands of Xueyantuo cavalrymen.
These Xueyantuo soldiers were there to welcome their Khan, or perhaps to find out how the Tang Dynasty intended to deal with him.
If the Tang Dynasty were to kill the Khan directly, they would still take the Khan's body back with them.
"Yebuhua, what exactly do you want?"
"Your Highness, we simply wish to see our Khan!"
Why are you looking at that thing?
"Your Khan is no good. The Xueyantuo's current state is inextricably linked to your Khan!"
Yebuhua smiled bitterly upon hearing this.
"The Crown Prince is right!"
"However, you Tang people have a saying: 'No one is perfect, who can be without fault?'"
"Our Khan did make mistakes, but he ultimately sacrificed his life to bring peace between the two countries and bring all his loved ones back. He is the hero of our grasslands!"
Upon hearing this, Li Jue scoffed dismissively.
"Your standards for heroes on the grasslands are too low..."
"Let me correct you on another point. It was my decision to release all his relatives; it wasn't something that could be exchanged for his life!"
"If you want to express your gratitude, you should thank me for my generosity, not a foolish and arrogant dictator!"
Although Li Jue's words were a bit harsh, in his eyes, Ba Zhuo was the only one who deserved those words.
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