Chapter 231

"Roar!!"

The round-eyed, white-eyed tiger with a hanging brow bared its teeth and roared.

Its roar was like a subwoofer cannon's howl, shaking the ears and heart.

Especially those eyes; meeting their gaze directly made one's heart tremble.

At this moment, the people surrounding the cage were all fierce generals who had long experienced the battlefield.

Lin Dao was the same.

They were used to life-and-death slaughter, and felt no fear of this whatsoever.

"This big beast is truly ferocious."

Cheng Zhijie laughed loudly, "I'd actually like to spar with it."

Subduing a dragon is hard to say, but taming a tiger is a required course for fierce generals.

Of course, the premise is having armor and weapons in hand.

Historically, those who could beat a tiger to death barehanded are exceedingly few, and their authenticity is doubtful.

"The wolves over here have all been scared into pissing themselves."

Hou Junji laughed heartily, pointing at the wolves trembling in the cage nearby, "Could it be a mistake, catching dogs and passing them off as wolves?"

Having won a victorious battle, the generals were all joyful, very lively.

Lin Dao stepped forward, reaching out to lift the lid of a clay pot.

"Wait!"

Li Shiji shouted, "There are venomous snakes inside."

Lin Dao stood up and withdrew his hand, "I want fierce beasts, what's the point of bringing venomous snakes?"

"I originally wanted to find a giant python."

Li Shiji stepped forward to explain, "But simply couldn't find one."

"Any slightly larger ones have all been eaten up."

"If you really want to find one, you have to go to deep mountains and old forests."

Over there, Li Yuanji glanced over and muttered, "Just let him lift the lid, watching the excitement would be so much fun."

His muttering wasn't quiet at all; everyone who should have heard it heard it.

On Lin Dao's side, a fierce gaze immediately swept over.

Li Yuanji's heart tightened, and he even subconsciously took a step back.

On this side, Li Erfeng gritted her teeth and scolded, "Go patrol the camp!"

Li Yuanji was very displeased, but in his heart he still feared his second brother.

He gave a heavy cold hum, turned around, and left.

On this side, Luo Shixin and the others exchanged a glance, their eyes conveying a message.

The killing intent Lin Dao had just displayed was absolutely that of someone who had been on the battlefield and killed.

Restraining his aura, Lin Dao's gaze looked toward another cage holding a wild boar.

"They even brought a wild boar, does this count as a fierce beast?"

Lin Dao's thought was to have all kinds of fierce beasts surround a demon king like Zhu Can and tear at him, letting him also taste the flavor of being eaten.

But the fierce tiger let out one roar, and all the captured beasts trembled and squealed in chaos; they were all ruined.

Lin Dao's interest greatly diminished, he waved his hand, "Let it be like this then."

What "one pig, two bears, three tigers" — the tiger roars once, and they all behave.

The trembling Zhu Can was brought up.

At this time, this man-eating demon king no longer had his previous arrogance and domineering attitude, treating human life like grass.

He was humming in a low voice, unknown what he was saying.

Outside the fence about a zhang high, everyone was craning their necks to look.

The fence closed, two Tang soldiers pulled hard on the rope, and the cage holding the tiger was opened.

"Roar~~~"

With one tiger howl, Zhu Can immediately knelt on the ground.

The fierce tiger exited the cage, stepping forward to probe.

Step by step, it walked to Zhu Can's front.

In the space of a breath, a foul stench rushed into his face.

Zhu Can, trembling all over like a sieve, knelt on the ground with eyes closed, hands clasped, muttering incessantly.

"Namo Amitabha~~~"

"Namo Guanyin Bodhisattva~~~"

Praying to gods and worshipping Buddha now is indeed a bit too late.

Never mind that they don't exist; even if they truly did, they would never come to save a demon king like him.

He chanted for a while, yet discovered no movement.

Zhu Can slowly raised his head and opened his eyes.

Right before him, at close range, was a huge tiger head!

The tiger's eyes stared straight at him, suddenly opening its mouth to reveal sharp teeth.

"Roar~~~"

Lin Dao turned his head and instructed, "Send Wang Shichong in too."

Li Erfeng nodded heavily, "Yes!"

At mealtime, Li Erfeng invited him to eat.

Among the dishes served were roasted wild boar, snake soup, and roasted wolf legs.

Lin Dao took a bite of the wild boar.

It was dry and tough, with a poor texture.

He looked at Li Erfeng and asked, "Has that tiger been dealt with?"

"Already dealt with."

Lin Dao nodded. "Man-eating beasts cannot be left alive, and neither can the Hu People."

The generals exchanged glances.

How did this god person come to bear such great resentment toward the Hu People?

"Brother Zi Hou."

Li Erfeng beamed. "This time, in destroying the false emperor Wang Shichong, you shall take the primary credit."

"Without Brother Zi Hou breaking the city, I do not know when we could have won."

"When we return to Chang'an, I shall certainly report Brother Zi Hou's achievements to the Emperor Father."

Lin Dao smiled inwardly. "So we are returning to Chang'an City?"

"About that."

Li Erfeng was in high spirits. "Luoyang has fallen; the rest of the regions can be settled by transmitting documents."

"If nothing unexpected occurs, we shall naturally return to the court."

Far away, at Mingzhou City.

"Quick, quick, quick!"

Xiao Yu, the Shishi who had come to negotiate ransom, scrambled onto the horse cart in a fluster and shouted loudly, "Hurry down and mount!"

Princess Tong'an, in the horse cart, came out supported by her maidservants, confused and puzzled. "What matter?"

"The Qin King has already destroyed Wang Shichong!"

Xiao Yu grabbed her hand and ran toward the horses that had been brought over. "Hurry!"

Li Shentong, behind on the cart, also jumped down and mounted his horse.

After autumn last year, Dou Jiande attacked Xiangzhou's Liyang City and other places that had submitted to the Great Tang.

Li Shentong, Li Shiji, and others stationed there could not resist, and were defeated in succession and captured.

Wei Zheng, who had come transporting grain, was also trapped in the city and captured.

At that time, Li Yuan's sister, Princess Tong'an, was also in the city, and was captured along with them.

Afterward, Li Shiji chose a good moment to escape and ran back to the Great Tang's territory.

This time, while Li Erfeng sent troops to attack Wang Shichong, Li Yuan sent Xiao Yu as a Shishi to Mingzhou City to negotiate with Dou Jiande, seeking to recover the Li family members through negotiation.

Dou Jiande did not make things difficult over this, and agreed to release Li Shentong and Princess Tong'an.

They had only last night attended Dou Jiande's farewell banquet within Mingzhou City, and the atmosphere at the time had been not bad.

Today, leaving the city to return to Chang'an, they had not gone long when Xiao Yu, as the Shishi, acted as if mad, pulling them to run.

"Erlang is truly formidable."

Princess Tong'an mounted her horse, and while delighted, she was also confused and puzzled. "But why must we run so fast?"

"Erlang defeating Wang Shichong has nothing to do with us."

She could not understand.

Xiao Yu did not reply, only urging the envoy group to separate and set out as quickly as possible.

Their party brought only a few guards, riding horses to flee.

Others guarded the horse carts, continuing slowly in a changed direction.

Li Shentong, riding over on this side, spoke to explain things to Princess Tong'an.

"The Great Tang, Wang Shichong, Dou Jiande—like the Three Kingdoms standing in balance."

"Mutually entangled, mutually threatening."

"Erlang destroyed Wang Shichong so quickly; the might of his troops astonishes all under heaven."

"Dou Jiande here must already be frightened out of his wits."

"We have thus become important hostages that must be kept!"

Princess Tong'an now understood.

The tripod balance was broken, and the Tang Army's fierce combat power would greatly stimulate Dou Jiande.

At this time, hostages who had previously been of little importance suddenly became especially important.

Holding them in hand could make the Great Tang have misgivings.

If Li Erfeng's great army comes, they can be pushed out as hostages to make things difficult for Li Erfeng.

Needless to say, Dou Jiande's pursuers must be right behind them.

The party wasted no more words, all gritting their teeth and desperately urging their horses to flee.

They fled until dusk, when the party finally found a village to rest.

They had to rest; otherwise, even if the people could endure, the horses could not run.

At midnight, a large force of Dou Jiande's troops arrived and surrounded the village.

"Liu Heita is here!"

Amid the light of many torches, Dou Jiande's great general Liu Heita rode forward and shouted, "The Xia King invites you all back to feast!"

Xiao Yu gave a dry laugh, stepped forward and saluted. "Thank you for the Xia King's good intentions, but we are in a hurry to travel~"

"So much nonsense!"

Liu Heita glared with wide eyes: "Anyone who doesn't listen gets chopped!"

Xiao Yu paused, then spoke again: "Since that's the case, we certainly cannot slight the Xia King's goodwill; we ought to return and feast."

"But~"

"We must send a letter to His Majesty to explain this matter."

Liu Heita thought nothing more of it, nodding: "Very well."

In his view, the Tang would learn of this sooner or later; whether early or late made no difference.

Xiao Yu quickly summoned an alert attendant, shouting loudly: "You go back and report to His Majesty that we have been treated well by the Xia King and will stay as guests for now; please tell His Majesty not to worry~~~"

He then lowered his voice to give quick instructions.

"Hurry to Luoyang City and tell the Qin King!"

Jingkang Spacetime.

Lin Dao was in high spirits, holding the child born to Roufu Princess Zhao Huanhuan, softly coaxing and comforting.

Happier than him was Zong Ze, rubbing his hands, tiptoeing, and leaning forward.

His joy overflowed: "A boy, wonderful~~~"

"Good thing we didn't dismantle the Imperial Palace to sell off earlier, or we'd have nowhere to live."

Lin Dao saw his ruddy, delighted face and smiled teasingly: "Why are you so happy?"

"The world has a ruler."

Zong Ze was truly happy; even his wrinkles seemed fewer.

"This is the most important good thing in the world."

Without a ruler, countless heroes vie for the world.

In ancient times, without a monarch, countless ambitious men would arise.

These ambitious men would bring endless war.

And Yue Fei, Han Shizhong, Zhang Jun, and others—no one knows whom they truly serve; given enough time, trouble will surely come.

Thus, chaos in the world is inevitable.

Before this, Zong Ze had already grown many more white hairs from worrying over this.

Now, with the birth of Roufu Princess's child, it is like a ballast stone, enough to gradually bring stability to the world.

This child bears the bloodline of the Former Dynasty and will surely draw the allegiance of many who cherish the Former Dynasty.

Moreover, his father is an immortal; such an identity is unique in thousands of years~~~

Zong Ze's gaze swept over several pregnant princesses laughing and chatting lively.

There are several with such bloodlines, and there should be more in the future.

"I want to personally teach him."

Hearing this, Lin Dao shook his head with a smile.

"Don't joke; he's barely this old."

"Let's talk about it later."

Zong Ze nodded repeatedly: "I was too rash."

He was indeed too impatient.

Having seen how Zhao Ji and his son brought ruin to the nation and people, how cowardly and weak they were, and how their foolish acts nearly destroyed their own country.

Zong Ze wanted nothing more than to cultivate a truly excellent emperor.

At the very least, not like Zhao Ji and his son, where every choice was wrong.

And most importantly, he must have the courage befitting an emperor!

"I must take care of my health, must live a few more years, must see him become talented!"

He was truly afraid!

Two fools nearly destroyed a nation!

End of Chapter