Those inside, upon seeing the Jinyiwei draw their swords and charge in, instinctively reached for their own weapons.
Lu, the captain, shouted: “There is something amiss with the Fuso people, all Fuso people, come out and answer!”
Fuso?
The envoys of other countries immediately relaxed.
They put away their weapons.
Some even shouted in the official language of Daqian: “Wono, you’ve been called, get out here and die!”
“Exactly, exactly, a bunch of shameless beasts!”
“If you don’t get out, we’ll beat you out!”
Those deceitful, fickle fellows, everyone had long grown impatient with them.
Seeing them suffer was even more enjoyable than finding money!
Wokou… the Fuso envoy’s face turned ashen, he roared:
“What are you doing!”
“九州 has never executed envoys since ancient times!!”
“Are you, Daqian, going to set a precedent of utter inhumanity?!”
His tone grew heavier with each sentence, as the Jinyiwei’s swords drew closer to him.
When the sword reached his neck, he couldn’t take it anymore, he fell to his knees with a thud, stammering:
“Don’t, don’t kill me, don’t kill me, I don’t know, I don’t know anything…”
Another envoy, watching the spectacle, muttered under his breath: “What’s that smell?”
Everyone raised their noses and sniffed.
Such a strong fishy and rank smell!
They took a closer look.
Hiss—
The Fuso envoy had actually wet his pants!
Hearing the envoy’s words, Captain Lu knew something was wrong.
His face changed, he roared: “Search, search the place yourselves!”
Not just him, but any astute envoy could see what was happening.
Initially, they were worried that the Jinyiwei had stormed the Huitong Residence, signaling Daqian’s unwillingness to show mercy to foreigners.
But now it was clear that the Fuso envoy had done something wrong!
Several guards from the Fuso envoy’s retinue attempted to resist.
Li Xuan calmly said from outside: “Those who resist, kill.”
His voice was soft but it reached the ears of everyone inside, making each one feel a chill run down their spine.
Such a heavy killing intent!
One guard didn’t believe that the Jinyiwei would actually dare to strike.
He was arrogant, believing that two nations at war would not execute envoys, and he was extremely contemptuous of the envoy’s earlier performance.
At this moment, he raised his sword and yelled:
“Baga, who dares come forward, I’ll kill them!”
As he spoke, he swung a Kesa斩 (袈裟斩) at the Jinyiwei charging towards him.
Swoosh swoosh swoosh!
Several Jinyiwei, stationed at vantage points, had already been on alert with crossbows. The moment they saw someone resist, they instantly launched their attack.
The forehead, temples, throat, left and right chests, the heart.
In a split second, five arrows killed the guard who attacked the Jinyiwei.
Even with multiple lives, this would take four deaths.
The rest of the guards were stunned, they immediately dropped their weapons in fear.
Being an envoy to Daqian was a lucrative position, and absolutely safe, so those who came were naturally not the kind who would fight to the death.
Now, seeing that they were actually killing, they quickly surrendered, what else could they do, wait to die?
The Jinyiwei were finally able to barge into the Fuso envoy’s room.
After a demolition-style search, a Jinyiwei officer shouted:
“I found it, the Fuso envoy was indeed up to no good!”
His fellow Jinyiwei looked over, and sure enough, they saw him holding aloft a small bottle, identical to the one containing poison that had been found on Liao Yongchang.
The team was full of talented people, someone stepped forward to examine it, and called out:
“Same poison, same formula, unmistakably from the same person!”
Case closed!
Even if they hadn’t poisoned anyone yet, having the intention was enough!
The Diqi (堤骑) escorted the Fuso people out of the Huitong Residence, forcing them to kneel in a line before Li Xuan’s horse.
That’s right, Li Xuan had not even dismounted throughout the entire ordeal.
Daqian’s etiquette did not include kneeling, even when meeting the Emperor or the Sage, there was no such practice, but now the Fuso envoy was kneeling before his horse, feeling extremely humiliated.
The envoy couldn’t help but say: “A man can be killed, but not humiliated, you’ll be affecting the diplomatic relations between our two nations!”
Oh, kneeling down, and acting up again?
Ignoring him, Li Xuan looked at the officer who found the poison: “Where was this found?”
“Report to my lord, it was found in the room of the envoy’s errand boy.”
“Take him aside, he’ll be sent to the Imperial Prison later.”
“Yes!”
“The rest of the errand boys, execute them with the cangue (廷杖).”
“Yes!” ×N
Speaking of the cangue (廷杖), this was an old skill of the Jinyiwei.
Some Jinyiwei were on duty in the palace, either carrying out the cangue themselves or supervising its execution.
If you wanted to kill with one stroke, you could. If you didn’t want them to die, you could give them a hundred strokes and they wouldn’t die.
These people were all skilled in martial arts.
If you wanted them to be beaten until their skin was torn and flesh was exposed, but actually nothing happened, you could.
If you wanted them to be beaten so that their skin didn’t even seem to break, but they died at home that night, you could too.
Two pieces of soft tofu stacked together, if you said to crush the top one, you would crush it into bits, while the bottom one remained unchanged.
If you said to crush the bottom one, the top one wouldn’t even have a speck of residue, while the bottom one would turn into a puddle of mud.
That’s what’s called skill!
In front of the envoys and the crowd of onlookers, the Jinyiwei made the Fuso envoy watch, watch as their people were beaten to death.
The Fuso people didn’t say anything yet.
The Honglu Temple Right Vice Minister and others, who had rushed over upon hearing the commotion, were anxious.
“You, who are you, how dare you kill foreign envoys in public?”
“Stop this, I command you!”
“If you provoke a war between our two nations, you will be a traitor to your country!”
Li Xuan, from atop his horse, looked down at him with eyes that sparkled with golden light, frightening him to the point of taking two steps back, almost ending up sitting on the ground.
Gold, golden light?
It must be the sunlight!
Before he could say anything, Li Xuan waved his hand: “Interceding for another nation?”
“Take him down, he’ll be sent to the Imperial Prison later, we’ll see what benefits he’s received.”
“Yes!” ×N
The Diqi rushed forward, regardless of the Right Vice Minister’s shouts, and tied him up.
Fuso envoy: Good heavens, they even arrest their own people, I better be good!
After the wailing subsided, and all the errand boys were finally beaten to death, Li Xuan finally turned to the envoy and the rest, and asked: “Are you convinced now?”
Even though I know why you’re treating us like this, you still have to tell us!
The envoy muttered to himself, but said aloud:
“Convinced, we’re convinced, the heavenly officials of the Celestial Empire are right to discipline us, it was some of our people who had evil intentions, they deserve to be beaten to death!”
Li Xuan snorted, scanning the remaining people.
Besides officials and guards, they were all part of the envoy’s retinue, they couldn’t be killed, not even a single sailor.
He snorted again, the golden light in his eyes gradually faded.
He said indifferently: “Captain Lu, tell them why we are treating the envoy’s retinue like this, lest someone say we didn’t warn them.”
“Remember, there is no next time, do not say I didn’t warn you!”
Captain Lu stepped forward, his voice cold:
“In the ninth year of the Chongping reign of Daqian, Fuso… attempted to poison… undermine the culture and education of Daqian, therefore the King of Loyalty and Righteousness ordered the Jinyiwei, Captain Li Xuan, Li Wei Jin, to severely punish the Fuso envoy’s retinue.”
Finally, Li Xuan threatened:
“Your small country, you dare to offend the Celestial Will, if you have such intentions again, the might of Daqian will come upon you, crushing your tiny island nation!”
“Scram!”