Chapter 267: No one understands how to build momentum better than Chen Yan!

Chang'an.

The autumn sun shone through the sparse clouds, plating the West Market execution ground with a layer of cold white light.

The withered yellow paulownia leaves were rolled by the wind, spinning between the wooden pillars of the guillotine, stained with some dark red marks that hadn't been washed away, and then rolled rustlingly to the feet of the onlookers.

The area around the execution ground was already packed tightly.

A peddler from the south carried a half-empty load, his carrying pole leaning against the wall, standing on tiptoe to peek inside, not even caring that the head of the sugar figurine in his basket had been squeezed off; the ruffians from the North Ward hugged their arms and crowded in the front row, chewing on hard, dry cakes, their eyes staring straight at the executioner on the stage.

Those five men were slowly wiping their ghost-head sabers, the blades reflecting the sun, making people's eyes ache.

"Why are there so many people surrounding the execution ground today?"

Wang Dazhu, who lived in the West Market, stood on the outermost edge, looking at the crowded execution ground, scratched his head, and asked suspiciously.

On ordinary days, there was no lack of executions at this West Market execution ground...

But there had never been a situation like today, where people rushed from all directions to watch, blocking it so tightly!

A strange thing!

"I heard they are going to behead five extremely treacherous traitors!" Wu Tiedan heard this, remembered the rumors he heard yesterday, and said.

"Right!"

Liu Rang, who was also standing on the side watching, heard this, nodded, and said: "The notice says it's related to the royal prince who led troops to attack the Mingjing Si a few days ago and wanted to snatch people..."

Liu Rang was a scholar, knew many characters, and would go to look at the notices posted by the government whenever he had nothing to do.

"Are you talking about that prince who confronted Lord Chen Yan outside the Mingjing Si?"

Zhang Si, who squeezed over from the back, happened to hear Liu Rang's words and asked.

The incident of the Prince of Yan leading troops to surround the Mingjing Si had already spread throughout Chang'an and had become after-dinner conversation for many people...

Of course, behind this, there was no lack of deliberate promotion by a certain comrade surnamed Chen!

Public opinion had to be guided...

"It's him, Prince of Yan, Yuwen Lun!"

Ma Shuanzi, who had been listening silently, clapped his hands and said firmly.

He paused and continued: "I happened to be at the scene at the time and witnessed the whole thing..."

"Lord Chen Yan is worthy of being the Chang'an Military Immortal, heroic to the extreme, facing the Prince of Yan who led troops, without the slightest fear!"

"Moreover, the Prince of Yan admitted himself that those treacherous traitors were his household servants!"

"And he even tried to let his guards charge into the Mingjing Si to snatch people..."

"Fortunately, the Grand Marshal arrived in time to calm this storm!"

Ma Shuanzi vividly recounted the thrill of that day...

The people around listened intently.

"Right, that Prince of Yan was truly arrogant to the extreme; it's a good thing the Grand Marshal came in person..." Zhao Aniu, who was also an eyewitness, said, "And I heard that the person who made the Prince of Yan spare no effort to surround the Mingjing Si was captured by Lord Chen Yan himself!"

Ma Shuanzi nodded, recalling Yuwen Lun's posture that day, and echoed: "That's right, you don't know, that day the Prince of Yan hated Lord Chen Yan so much that his teeth were itching!"

"Lord Chen Yan is truly a good official who makes decisions for the people!"

Liu Rang listened to the two of them describing it, one word after another, and couldn't help but praise.

"Exactly, exactly, today those five treacherous traitors are being executed, let's go join the fun!" Zhang Si, who originally didn't have much thought about watching beheadings, suddenly became very interested and suggested.

"Let's go!"

Ma Shuanzi, Zhao Aniu, and others all had the same idea and squeezed forward.

The sun was hanging high above Chang'an City, like a burnt-through red copper mirror, baking the autumn-dry sky until it was transparent.

The cloud wisps had long been scorched out of shape, leaving only a tile-blue sky, clean without a single wrinkle, letting this scorching sun pour down hot light.

Li Tieshan, who had stood in position early, looked up at the sky and then at the execution ground, puzzled: "Looking at the sun, it should be almost noon..."

"Why hasn't the execution supervisor come yet?"

The executioner and the prisoners were already in place, but the supervisor's seat was empty, and his figure had been slow to appear...

Just as this question was asked, someone shouted from the side: "They're coming, they're coming!"

"The execution supervisor is here!"

"Is it Lord Chen Yan?!"

"This is actually Lord Chen Yan supervising the execution himself!?"

"It really is Lord Chen Yan!"

The sharp-eyed onlookers in the crowd had already recognized who the person wearing the purple official robe was.

In the voice of disbelief, there was more excitement and agitation.

Many of the commoners had already subconsciously raised their hands above their heads, cheering and jumping.

"With Lord Chen Yan sitting in charge, I'm afraid those powerful officials in the court won't have the guts to swap the prisoners..." A middle-aged man in a blue robe stroked his beard, clenched his fists, and laughed.

"With Lord Chen Yan here, where would they have the guts!" A scholar in a green shirt raised his head and said firmly.

If it were other powerful officials, they wouldn't trust them; after all, officials protect each other, but they had an incomparable trust in this Mingjing Si Superintendent...

It was absolutely impossible for him to be in the same boat as those corrupt officials!

There really are quite a few people here today... Chen Yan walked unhurriedly to the edge of the execution platform, stopped, swept his gaze over the crowded crowd, muttered to himself, then picked up the loudspeaker for stopping, and said loudly: "Commoners of Great Zhou!"

"Some of you may know, and some may not, the monstrous sins committed by these five people!"

As he spoke, he pointed at Xu Zhixiang, Shi Hanzhang, and others who were tied up and waiting to be beheaded.

He paused and continued: "I believe you have all heard of the name of the five great merchant guilds, right?"

"They are the helmsmen of those five great merchant guilds..."

"Eating the food of Great Zhou, yet smashing the bowl of Great Zhou; on the surface, they are bright and beautiful, but behind the scenes, they do things like scraping the people's fat and ointment, smuggling and colluding with the enemy, and committing treason!"

"They should be killed!"

"They should be killed!"

"They should be killed!"

As soon as the words fell.

Deafening shouts of killing erupted from the onlookers below!

No matter what kind of corrupt official it was, the commoners hated them...

The emotions of the whole audience were directly incited!

Chen Yan's mouth curled slightly upward. Seeing that the heat was brewed to a suitable degree, he continued with rising and falling tones: "The Grand Chancellor adopts a zero-tolerance attitude toward such things that damage the interests of Great Zhou and the interests of the commoners!"

"National interests are above everything!"

"Today, they will be executed with extreme punishment to rectify the hearing!"

At the point of excitement in the speech, Chen Yan couldn't help but wave his fist.

"The Grand Chancellor is still thinking about the people!"

"The Grand Chancellor is a good person!"

Hearing that someone was willing to preside over justice for them, the onlookers couldn't help but sigh.

Chen Yan struck while the iron was hot, held up the loudspeaker, and continued: "I believe everyone has also heard about the incident of the Prince of Yan surrounding the Mingjing Si a few days ago, right?"

"What was the reason?"

"Because the Prince of Yan was manipulating the smuggling behind the scenes!"

"The Grand Chancellor will never tolerate, never indulge, and never shield this!"

"He has already stripped Yuwen Lun of his royal title and demoted him to a commoner to give the people of Great Zhou an explanation!"

The onlookers who heard this looked at each other, and from each other's eyes, they saw astonishment and shock...

No one expected that the Grand Chancellor would not only not hide it, shield and indulge it, or turn a big matter into a small one.

Instead, in order to preside over justice for them, the commoners, he had dealt a heavy blow to the Yuwen clan royal family!

Immediately after, mountain-shaking shouts erupted from the stage:

"Long live the Grand Chancellor!"

"Long live the Grand Chancellor!"

"Long, long live the Grand Chancellor!"

Chen Yan pursed his lips and smiled, cleared his throat, and said loudly: "The Grand Chancellor sympathizes with the hard work of the commoners and will take out the farmland they occupied and distribute it to the commoners of Great Zhou who have no farmland!"

As soon as these words came out, a thunderclap exploded on the ground in the hearts of the onlookers...

No one understands how to build momentum better than Chen Yan!

Anyway, he only needed to take out two or three out of ten of the farmland obtained from the raid to pull the gimmick of today to the extreme!

To push the prestige of the Grand Chancellor in the hearts of the commoners of Chang'an to a new height!

"Long live the Grand Chancellor, long live, long, long live!"

The mountain-shaking shouts of the commoners were endless. ===== CHAPTER 268 =====