Nanjun, outside Yunmeng County.
In front of a rare flat ground, countless people were lying on a low wall, carefully peering into the open space not far away.
This is where the grass market of Yunmeng County is located. It's said to be a wall, but it's actually just a wooden fence that's no more than half a person's height. Yunmeng County is sparsely populated and wild animals are rampant, often attacking residents. The purpose of this wooden fence is only to prevent animals from intruding, and it does not have a military role.
Of course, there is no need to have a military role anymore, because eight years ago, the six countries were unified, and the world was called Great Qin!
What everyone was watching with curiosity and fear was none other than a group of Qin troops!
Except for a dozen knights who were probably used as scouts and personal guards, and a dozen vacant war horses, the rest of this Qin army were all infantry. Although the number is less than a hundred, it is still divided into phalanx formations such as crossbowmen, sword soldiers, and swordsmen. All of them stood quietly, like Yue Linyuan.
It can be seen from their slightly old armor full of repair marks that they are obviously the same army that defeated the Six Kingdoms in a hundred battles!
A Qin general was quietly riding his horse and standing in front of the military formation, on the earthen platform where the tax collectors of Caoshi originally sat.
He has a majestic figure, and the large armor can't even hide it. A square face with the characteristics of a typical Qilu warrior, iron-blooded and cold, with a full beard that looks like a lion's beard. Coupled with the helmet tassel on top of his head that has turned dark red, as if stained with enemy blood, it makes people look intimidating.
General Qin's eyes were like those of a hawk. He glanced under the platform. Several men, women and children wearing wide robes and long sleeves were tied under the platform and kneeling in front of a large pit.
In addition to these men, women, old and young, there were also several monkeys, goats, cranes and other various animals that were also tied tightly and placed in front of the pit, with their mouths even sealed. The scene was extremely weird.
"Wait, are you an alchemist?" General Qin's voice was as sonorous as gold and iron, shocking the prisoners in the audience.
No one answered, and no one dared to look at General Qin's sharp eyes on the stage. Everyone shrank subconsciously.
General Qin was not angry. He casually glanced at a personal guard in the audience who was holding a sword to guard against the prisoners' uprising. The latter understood, strode in front of a bound prisoner, and waved his sword fiercely in the latter's desperate and frightened eyes.
There was a muffled "dong" sound, and the head fell to the ground and rolled into the dust. The blood fountain shot out with a "chi" sound, dyeing one side of the platform red. The headless body even straightened up as if on conditioned reflex, and then fell to the bottom of the pit, with a splash and a cloud of dust.
Low exclamations came, and the Chu people behind the fence not far away were slightly commotion, while the thirty or so people kneeling under the pit were shaking like sieves.
"Hey, are you an alchemist?" General Qin spoke again, while the guard was eager to try with a blood-stained bronze sword in his hand.
A soft sigh sounded, and the oldest old man among the group finally spoke. He glanced at the headless corpse still twitching in the pit, smiled bitterly and said, "We are indeed alchemists."
He reluctantly raised his head and looked at General Qin on the high platform: "I wonder who the general is?"
"General, Tian!" General Qin said indifferently.
The old man's eyebrows jumped suddenly: "Unexpectedly, it was Jiu Qing in front of him!"
He spoke humbly: "But I don't know why our alchemists were wronged by the general?"
"You really don't know?" General Qin's eyes suddenly became sharp.
He looked down at the bound old man in the audience with a cold voice.
"In the twenty-seventh year of the First Emperor's reign, the alchemist Hou Sheng and others came forward and said that they had learned the magic of immortals and that they could refine the elixir of immortality by not eating millet or wheat, but drinking gold and pearls."
"As per the letter, we will allocate 200 miles of land in Xianyang, build 270 palaces and temples, recruit scholars from all over the world to refine the medicine, and order the palace servants and beauties from the six countries to test the medicine and serve. Wei Weijie will lead 10,000 elite soldiers to guard, and provide gold beads every day. For food and drink.”
"Also, because the alchemist said that the elixir needed the blood of spiritual beasts, he opened a deer park in the city. From then on, the stench of excrement in Xianyang City skyrocketed!"
"The rewards are not generous, and the expenses are not small."
"Over the past six years, there has been no golden elixir of immortality. However, there are no less than three thousand more boys and girls in these two hundred and seventy palaces."
General Qin glanced at all the alchemists kneeling under the platform, and his voice was still cold: "At the end of last year, the golden elixir was finally completed. The alchemist Xu Fu said that the elixir of immortality is extraordinary, and it requires fasting and praying for ten days. He said hurriedly Three thousand boys and girls went to sea to find the gods and tell their stories to heaven.”
"I was pleased to obey and ordered the whole palace to fast and pray. According to what the alchemist Xu Fu said before leaving, on the night of the full moon on the 15th, I ordered a total of thirty people including servants, generals, ministers, and concubines to test the medicine."
"After taking the medicine for only ten breaths, all thirty people died of bleeding from their mouths and noses!"
"I was angry and ordered Jie to arrest Hou Sheng. But I saw that Hou Sheng left a letter saying that Emperor Qin was tyrannical. We should go that morning."
General Qin's eyes suddenly became sharp. He stared coldly at the old alchemist under the earthen platform, and his voice was as sonorous as a knife: "In this case, you alchemists, should you die?"
The old alchemist's lips moved, but he had nothing to say and could only lower his head dejectedly.
Yunmengze was far away from Xianyang. He was old and frail and could not travel far, so he never thought of answering the call of the First Emperor, but he also knew that the First Emperor treated the alchemists very well.
But last month, the situation suddenly changed. Dozens of alchemists fled into Yunmeng Mountain in panic. The First Emperor ordered the alchemists to kill nine thousand in three days!
He didn't know the reason before, but at this moment, he just felt as sad as death.
Hou Sheng, Xu Fu and his like have harmed the scholars of the world!
Emperor Qin's cruel killings were known to the whole world. In this case, why deceive him?
Since you have deceived him, how can you survive?
He turned his head with difficulty and looked at the donkey beside him. The donkey had been tied tightly and could not move at all. A pair of big eyes looked at him with tears.
The alchemist lives in the mountains, has difficulty traveling, and often feels lonely. So most of the alchemists kept birds and animals, one for companionship and the other for transportation.
They are just ordinary beasts, but they are called spiritual beasts to the outside world.
Many alchemists also raise white cranes, monkeys and other seemingly more spiritual animals, and train them every day to deceive the villagers.
The old alchemist also raised a donkey, but the ignorant villagers actually called it the horse of the immortal family.
But are there really immortals in this world?
The old alchemist has never been seen before.
In any case, the old alchemist has been with this donkey for many years and has a very deep relationship. He subconsciously looked up at General Qin, and was about to plead for his donkey, but the latter no longer gave him a chance to speak.
"Beheaded!" General Qin waved his hand coldly.
The swords flashed together, and General Qin's guards under the platform drew their swords in unison. Screams suddenly sounded, blood fountains flew, and heads rolled.
Several alchemists and several bound so-called spiritual beasts were killed in an instant, and their bodies fell into the pit one after another.
"Good kill!" A hoarse roar suddenly sounded out. Standing on one side of the platform was an official wearing the black robe standard for low-level officials in Da Qin.
With a flushed face, he glanced at the corpses scattered in the pit, turned back to look at the villagers lying on the fence, and said excitedly: "These alchemists are not engaged in production, but they ask us to worship them every day, and they also run rampant in the countryside. !”
"Originally, we thought that he could refine the golden elixir for His Majesty the First Emperor, so we indulged in it. But we didn't expect that the rats would dare to deceive His Majesty!"
"Well done, kill all these liars!"
"Alchemists deserve to die!"
"That's right, last time my little girl was ill, I exchanged two stones of new grains for an alchemy pill. Zi Shi took it all, and Zi Shi died at the beginning of the day!"
The villagers are in a fierce mood. If the superiors do something good, the subordinates will follow suit. The government treated the alchemists favorably, and the villagers were naturally in awe of them. Although I have doubts, I dare not say anything.
Unexpectedly, everything came to light today. These alchemists were really all liars!
All the famous alchemists in the world were with Emperor Qin. If he wasn't a liar, how could he not be able to refine a golden elixir in seven years?
General Qin's eyes finally changed. He glanced at the black-robed county magistrate with slight appreciation, and suddenly let out a roar.
"Listen!"
He roared and shouted: "The First Emperor's decree!"
"Anyone in the Qin Dynasty who is called an alchemist will die!"
"Those who are called gods, die!"
"Those who are called supernatural beasts shall die!"
This is the three-kill order..." General Qin continued to speak, but before he finished speaking, his voice suddenly stopped, and a glimmer of light suddenly appeared in his eyes as he looked to the side of the platform.
Everyone turned their heads subconsciously and followed his gaze. The next second, everyone present was stunned.
I saw a deer appearing by the bushes no more than ten steps away from the pit.
A white deer!
This is a doe that is all white, without a single hair of any color. Judging from the body shape and size, it should be a sika deer.
Obviously, the scene was packed with people, and there were a hundred Qin soldiers holding weapons and staring eagerly. The blood on the corpse at the bottom of the pit had not drained out. There was a pungent smell of blood in the air, and there was even a trace of blood that shot directly into the white deer's head. Underfoot, the white deer showed no fear at all.
It stood quietly on the path outside the bushes, its big eyes fixed on the old alchemist's deer. The male deer had been beheaded, and the head had fallen into the pit, leaving only the headless, tied body twitching slightly at the edge of the pit.
There was no sadness in the white deer's eyes. On the contrary, there was only tranquility and peace in its eyes, as well as a trace of pity.
In addition, it was holding an unknown grass in its mouth, which seemed to be the flower of some unknown plant.
General Qin stared at the white deer, his eyes shining brightly.
All pure white animals have been regarded as auspicious in ancient times. And the white deer is the most auspicious of all, and there are even rumors that when the white deer appears, the world will be at peace!
This is no exception in Da Qin, but it was the previous Da Qin!
Because of all this, seven years after the alchemist deceived His Majesty the First Emperor, it has become a joke.
His Majesty the First Emperor did not care about the gold, pearls and property taken away by the alchemists in the name of food and drink. Anyway, the world belongs to him, just go and get it if you want it.
What he really cares about is that the alchemists dare to deceive him!
General Qin knew how angry His Majesty the First Emperor was.
With the dignity of the emperor, he personally beheaded the captured Hou Sheng and other eleven alchemists, and ordered Wei Jie to lead two thousand cavalry to directly trample the Deer Garden in the palace city to the ground!
Thousands of so-called spiritual deer that were carefully raised were trampled into mud by war horses!
But at this moment, at the scene where the Qin general, on the orders of the First Emperor, captured and beheaded the alchemist, and read out the First Emperor's decree, the deer suddenly appeared and lightly stepped on the blood under its feet...
It's just like stepping on the face of His Majesty the First Emperor!
