Chapter 1591: The Law Code of the Great Tang!

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

Wang Chong didn’t even glance at King Qi. His expression was determined, as if he had been expecting the First Prince’s question.

Ultimately, if Wang Chong didn’t give a good explanation for the Public Order Squad, it would be very hard for this matter to be brought to rest.

“Hehe, Your Highness, in the law code of the Great Tang, in article one thousand, three hundred and sixty-four, section three, line two, it is clearly written that if the local government and city guard are incapable of performing their duty, and the prefectures, provinces, and capital are experiencing major disorder that affects the safety of the people, the Bureau of Military Personnel should expeditiously lead soldiers in taking over the duties of the local government and city guard to restore order.”

Wang Chong’s voice loudly resounded above the gates.

“This article was personally drafted by Emperor Gaozu, and Imperial Censor Zhou Yu edited it and added it into the Tang law code!”

Bzzzz! The area in front of the Imperial Palace gates fell still.

King Qi, Li Junxian, the First Prince, and the important officials who supported the Confucian Sect felt like they had been slapped in the face, and they were rendered speechless.

Even Minister of War Zhangchou Jianqiong’s face froze. Not even he had known that the Bureau of Military Personnel also had the duty of public safety in addition to its duties of defending the borders and military campaigning.

“Impossible!”

The First Prince paled, and his first instinct was to reject these words. The various bureaus of the Great Tang all had their separate duties. The Bureau of Military Personnel was only responsible for war, while public safety was left to the local governments. How could such an article possibly exist?

But from Wang Chong’s expression, he didn’t seem to be lying, nor would Wang Chong lie so boldly in front of so many nobles, ministers, and the people of the capital.

“What’s going on here? Hurry and summon the law historian responsible for maintaining the Tang law code!” the First Prince ordered, fiercely waving a hand.

A few moments later, a white-bearded and slightly bowed elder tottered up the steps.

The law historians were different from all the other historians of the Great Tang. They spent their entire lives researching the classics and interacting with various texts, so they knew the various law books like the back of their hands.

The First Prince got straight to the point. “Sir Kong, what’s going on here? Is there really such an article?”

Everyone instantly focused their attention on this law historian.

“Your Highness, this truly is the case!”

The law historian’s words shook the officials and caused the First Prince to nastily scowl.

He had never imagined that Wang Chong was speaking the truth. Meanwhile, the law historian continued to speak.

“Emperor Gaozu lived at the end of the Sui. At the time, bandits were rife and not all the rebel armies had been pacified, so the local governments were simply incapable of handling everything. In many cases, the local government offices were even destroyed. Thus, Emperor Gaozu decreed that the Bureau of Military Personnel should lead the soldiers of the Great Tang army in occupying the local government offices and temporarily upholding public safety. Later on, it was appended to the Tang law code under the specific request of Gaozu. Thus, it was added in a supplement to Article 1364, in the second line of the third section, written in small characters.

“The Great Tang has been at peace for so many years that there was no need for the Bureau of Military Personnel to use this law, so everyone gradually forgot about it.”

The law historian went on and on, speaking very slowly.

Li Junxian, King Qi, and the First Prince felt chills in their hearts.

They had never expected this level of preparation from Wang Chong. It was obvious that he had settled everything before beginning this operation, making sure that he could counter any of their attacks.

Li Ying’s face shifted between green and white as he stared at Wang Chong, his eyes showing a variety of emotions.

In the end, a situation in which he had held the absolute advantage had turned into a complete rout.

“Let’s go!”

After one last glare at Wang Chong, the First Prince swept his sleeve and left.

Whew!

Nearby, Zhangchou Jianqiong breathed a long sigh of relief.

He could finally relax.

“Damn it!”

In the distance, the ashen-faced King Qi angrily turned his horse around and rode away.

“Let’s go!”

His meticulously made plans had so easily been undone by Wang Chong, and King Qi was extremely reluctant to leave. It would be incredibly rare to encounter such an opportunity in the future, but even the First Prince had decided to call it a day, so what could King Qi do?

“Brat, don’t get too cocky! This matter isn’t over!”

After making some distance, King Qi turned to make one last glare at Wang Chong before leading his men away.

In the end, only Wang Chong and Li Junxian were left.

“Young Master!”

Elder Song and the others worriedly glanced at Li Junxian.

“King of Foreign Lands!”

To their surprise, Li Junxian suddenly swept his sleeve and began to stride toward Wang Chong.

Li Junxian stared at Wang Chong and coldly said, “The Public Order Squad is merely a pretext. I know what you’re trying to do, but let me tell you that you will never succeed. This matter won’t come to an end as easily as you think!”

“Heh, is that so? That’s what I wanted to say. Your Harmonious World is impossible to realize! At least while I’m here, I can never permit your Confucian Sect to drag the Great Tang with you into the abyss of death.”

“Hmph!”

Li Junxian merely took one last glance at Wang Chong before turning to leave, exchanging no more words with him.

Wang Chong grinned at Li Junxian, knowing that he had won. Whether it was the First Prince, Li Junxian, or King Qi, they had all probably sensed Wang Chong’s rage and ferocity. But this was only the beginning.

He would never let these people bring devastation and destruction on the empire.

Hiss!

Taking in a deep breath, Wang Chong quickly turned to the crowd of fearful Hu in front of the palace gates.

“Hmph, come and take them all away!” Wang Chong ordered, upon which his men descended upon the Hu like a pack of wolves.

The Confucian Sect members turned ghastly pale.

Wang Chong hadn’t even waited for them to leave the area before ordering mass arrests of the Hu. He was clearly not showing them even one bit of face.

Bamboo Mirror turned to Li Junxian and asked with unwillingness in his eyes, “Young Master, what do we do? Is this really how it has to be? And Sword Ghost is still in his hands!”

“He won this round! We didn’t prepare enough. As for Sword Ghost, the King of Foreign Lands prepared a trap for him, intentionally stirring his rage. The King of Foreign Lands won’t be letting him go for the time being.

“However, even if he’s really trying to get at us, he won’t do anything too bad to Sword Ghost. After a few days, he must release him all the same.”

After saying this, Li Junxian quickly took his leave. Although he had spoken in an extremely calm tone, everyone in the Confucian Sect knew that this meant that he was burning with rage.

A few moments later, a shabby covered wagon emerged from the western gate of the capital and began to make its way along the Silk Road.

This was an extremely common sight on the westward road. This was how many merchants of the Western Regions traveled.

Unlike the merchants of Arabia and Charax Spasinu, the merchants of the Western Regions were not as prosperous, and what they sold were grapes, pomegranates, dates, and other fruits of the Western Regions. Thus, these crude covered wagons became their ideal mode of transportation.

“Damn it! I can’t stay any longer in the Great Tang’s capital! That man is truly as crafty as a fox and as vicious as a tiger. I thought that if I used both Li Junxian and the First Prince, I could end this threat to Ü-Tsang forever, but not even the pressure exerted by the Confucian Sect, the First Prince, King Qi, and all the Hu were able to do anything to him! No wonder Dalun Ruozan died at his hands.”

Within the wagon, Mochi Xiangyang had disguised himself as a merchant. His scarf-covered face was stricken with fear.

The thought of what had happened at the Imperial Palace gates still made his heart beat frantically in fear.

The Public Order Squad cavalry led by the King of Foreign Lands had clearly come with a plan.

The captains leading the squads each had a drawing in their hands which they used to search the Hu. At a glance, he had seen the faces of the various spy captains and also his own face.

His portrait even had a red checkmark next to it. It was clear that he was an important target to be captured.

Unlike the spy captains, who had worked in the capital for five or six years, even ten-some years, Mochi Xiangyang hadn’t operated in the capital for very long. And Mochi Xiangyang had always been reclusive, using the spy captains to realize his plans.

One could say that the only people in the capital that knew his appearance were the foreign spy captains. Not even the Tibetans living in the capital knew what he looked like.

But the portraits Wang Chong possessed had his exact appearance, even the small birthmark on the corner of his lips. This wasn’t possible unless someone had seen his face.

But the two of them had never even met before. Just how had Wang Chong managed to do it?

This man was simply too terrifying!

“The Imperial Minister was right when he said that the capital isn’t a place to stay for the long term. I was rash with this matter.”

Neeeigh!

At this moment, a slight turmoil and the neighing of horses could be heard, and the wagon stopped.

Before Mochi Xiangyang could understand what was going on, a voice rumbled at his ear, “Sir Mochi, His Highness sent me to wait for you here. Sir Mochi, please come with me!”

These words caused Mochi Xiangyang to turn as white as a sheet.

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