Chapter 1581: The Schemer in the Shadows! (1/2)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
”The Hu have gathered? How could this happen?”
”The Public Order Squads! It's the Public Order Squads again!”
”Lord Zhangchou, I didn't do anything. You've caused this disaster all on your own!”
Everyone stared at Zhangchou Jianqiong, who once more became the target of their arrows.
”Zhangchou Jianqiong, just look at the fine work you've done!”
The ashen-faced First Prince glared at Zhangchou Jianqiong.
Never in the three-hundred-year history of the Great Tang had such a thing ever occurred. The Hu were actually blocking the gates of the Imperial Palace!
In the past, the First Prince would have driven them away without a second thought, but the situation had changed now. There was no such thing as a trifling affair in politics, and if he handled this matter too poorly, the peace accords the Great Tang had signed earlier would all be ruined.
The Great Tang might even have to face war on all sides.
As the heir apparent, the First Prince could not allow this to occur.
Down below, Zhangchou Jianqiong's heart sank and his face paled.
”How could it be like this?”
Truly, when it rained, it poured. Not even Zhangchou Jianqiong had imagined that the Hu would come to make trouble on top of the matter of the Public Order Office. And given the timing, wasn't this a targeted attack?
At this time, a vast and clamorous crowd had gathered in front of the Imperial Palace's gates.
Standing or sitting, these people had packed themselves in front of the palace gates and completely blocked it off.
More importantly, these people were of all sorts. There were Turks, Kanjuts, Goguryeons, Characenians, Arabs, and even Mengshe Zhao people. But there were no Han in this crowd.
”Release the Hu!”
”Punish Zhangchou Jianqiong and disband the Public Order Squads!”
”As long as the Great Tang doesn't let the Hu go, we won't leave!”
”The Public Order Squads were set up by Zhangchou Jianqiong and the King of Foreign Lands! Punish the King of Foreign Lands!”
”The King of Foreign Lands is numb to killing people, a criminal who has broken the peace between the Great Tang and the other countries! Everyone has seen it with their own eyes!”
The Hu shouted well-practiced Tang slogans, their faces and ears red from agitation, their roars reaching the heavens. Tens of thousands of people shouting in unison in front of the Imperial Palace's gates was truly an intimidating sight.
Groups of commoners had been drawn over by the ruckus and watched from the perimeter.
Not even people who had lived in the capital for decades had ever seen such a thing.
As the Hu shouted and protested, a Hu man looked to Mochi Xiangyang and whispered, ”Milord, we've succeeded! There are more than forty thousand people gathered in front of the Imperial Palace, more than eighty percent of the Hu living within the capital. Everyone who could come has come. In addition, I've ordered that all our men in the provinces and prefectures of the Great Tang gather in the capital. In a few more days, we'll have even more people.”
”Hmph, very good!”
Mochi Xiangyang turned his gaze to the spectating crowd of commoners and to the Imperial Army soldiers standing atop the gate.
Few people noticed a smile slowly creep onto his lips.
”The court session isn't over. Let's see how the First Prince deals with this,” Mochi Xiangyang indifferently, his expression oozing confidence.
”But, Milord, is this really okay? This is the Great Tang Imperial Palace, and I can't help but feel uneasy. That King of Foreign Lands… is planning something against us,” an Arab fearfully said.
The Arabs were the ones who feared Wang Chong the most.
Even now, the corpses of the nearly one million Arab soldiers who had died to the west of the Euphrates had still not all been buried. Those vultures circling in the sky and occasionally descending to peck the exposed guts and flesh of the bodies made a chill go through one's heart.
The Arabs had always regarded themselves highly, taking Arabic to be the world's most noble language and disdaining to learn the language and words of other countries. Before this, their goal had been to conquer the world, conquer the continent, and then have everyone learn Arabic.
But now, even the most arrogant and the most foolish of them knew the words 'Wang Chong'. They could even pick out these two words from a pile of meaningless Tang words.
And in the schools the Great Tang had opened in the various countries, the Arabs were the most willing to enter and learn the Tang language.
The crucial factors in this were the Battles of Khorasan and Talas!
All the Arabs feared the King of Foreign Lands down to their bones. Even the Caliph of Arabia was forced to admit this.
”Heh, relax. With forty thousand foreigners gathered here, the Great Tang wouldn't be so bold as to kill them all. And besides, hah, do you really think that we're only dealing with Zhangchou Jianqiong?”
Mochi Xiangyang shook his head, a smile on his lips.