Chapter 1303 - Penetrating Deep into the Minds of the People!
Chapter 1303: Penetrating Deep into the Minds of the People!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
“Aaaah!”
Chen Dazhong’s face went pale as he staggered backward onto the ground.
“What are you doing?! Have gone so crazy that you don’t even recognize me anymore?!”
But the gray wolf in the cage seemed to hear nothing. After its attack on Chen Dazhong failed, it seemed to go crazy, its body writhing as it crashed against the bars of the cage, fixing its bloodshot eyes at the crowd below, as if it was choosing which one to eat.
Waaaa!
“How could it be like this?”
The crowd cried out in alarm, countless people backing up with pale faces as they stared at the wolf’s strange and vicious appearance.
“Not good! Hurry and report this to Young Master!”
The Confucian Sect disciples hidden in the surroundings paled and swiftly made their way to the Secretariat Advisor Residence.
Flapflap! At the same time, countless birds took to the air.
Bang!
As the crowd fell into chaos, a foot stomped onto the stage. After four days, Su Shixuan finally appeared, wearing a suit of black armor and escorted by eight guards.
“You lost!” Su Shixuan said to Chen Dazhong.
Chen Dazhong sat in a daze on the ground, so dejected and dispirited that he couldn’t manage a word. He had always believed that, no matter what, a wolf that he had raised would never eat a dog that he had raised. But reality had given him a heavy slap.
Su Shixuan said nothing more, understanding that Chen Dazhong had still not recovered from the cruel reality. Su Shixuan stood to the side together with the guards, somberly waiting for something.
At this moment, a handsome and refined figure wearing an azure robe emerged from a nearby restaurant, his hands behind his back.
“It’s the King of Foreign Lands!” the surrounding crowd called out in surprise.
This person was none other than that supreme existence of the capital who had triggered this ideological storm, the King of Foreign Lands.
Wang Chong silently made his way to the stage, and at this moment, he appeared like the dazzling sun, the most striking existence in the world. Countless gazes peered down at him from the surrounding restaurants.
Whoosh!
The winds howled, causing the two banners planted next to the stage to snap in the wind, revealing the words ‘King of Foreign Lands’ and ‘Might Makes Right’. The banners were unchanged, but as Wang Chong stepped onto the stage while the aggressive wolf rampaged around the cage, the corpse of the dog still within, these banners gave a completely different feeling.
“Everyone has seen the result…”
Wang Chong’s robes flapped in the wind and his voice resounded like thunder, pealing out over the entire world. At this moment, the crowd was somber and silent. In the face of that corpse of the small dog which was still not cold, no one could say a thing.
“A wolf once tamed can be incredibly docile, can protect your home, play around with your child, coexist with your dog, and even give you the misperception that it is a dog, not a wolf. But at no point can you forget this. That bloodthirsty and savage nature is deeply buried in its blood. Once it has a chance, that nature will erupt in the most fatal fashion, biting through your throat just as it did to that dog. This is the law of the jungle!”
Wang Chong’s voice clearly delivered itself into everyone’s ears. And on the stage, the dazed hunter paled, his body twitching. He had raised Little Hui for so long, but to his surprise, in the end, Little Hui was still a savage wolf.
“…Right now, the Great Tang has signed peace treaties with the surrounding countries, coexisting with them just like that wolf and dog did. We can talk peace with them and coexist with them, but do not forget that a wolf is a wolf. At any time, if you are careless for even a moment, it can use the speediest and most savage method to tear open your throat. This is the law of the jungle, the wolfish nature of these foreigners.
“And if one wants to deal with wolves and tigers, one must be more ferocious than wolves and tigers!”
Wang Chong gestured at a guard near him. This guard immediately stepped up to the cage. The wolf within, sensing a person approaching, immediately turned its bloodshot eyes on this visitor, baring its sharp teeth. It lowered its body, preparing to strike the moment this guard got too close.
However…
Clang!
There was a metal clang as the muscular guard extended a vigorous hand into the cage, clenched it around the wolf’s neck, and dragged it out.
The frenzied wolf continued to struggle in the guard’s hand as if trying to escape and strike back. Its ferocious appearance made the crowd yelp in fear. But a moment later, crack! The frenzied wolf only had time to howl before the guard used immense force to twist and shatter its neck. Its limbs and head dropped down to lifelessly hang in the air.
“Ah!”
The civilians covered their mouths and gasped once more.
“Do you see? Even the most ferocious and bloodthirsty wolf, in front of an even more powerful soldier, is no different from the little dog that it just ate.
“This is the nature of the relationship between countries. In the dark forest, what can protect oneself is not benevolence or righteousness, but immense courage to face difficulties and even greater strength. This is might! Makes! Right!”
Wang Chong’s words seemed to bang against the floor. After scanning the crowd, he left the stage with a sweep of his sleeves.
The vast crowd behind him was silent.
Silence!
A deathly stillness!
Even after Wang Chong was gone, everyone who had come to Azure Dragon Street to watch these events, including those within the restaurants and tea houses, and those clan heads who had come after hearing the news, were in a daze, seemingly petrified to the ground.
Everyone was still immersed in the shock brought about by that scene.
Although Wang Chong was gone now, for the people of the capital, this matter was far from concluded. When Chen Dazhong had appeared on the stage with his wolf and dog, everyone believed that they would be watching a play. Many people had forgotten that one of the banners Wang Chong had placed by the stage had declared ‘Might Makes Right’.
All this was for Wang Chong to prove his theories.
But when the dog was killed and eaten, when the wolf was butchered, no one could bring themselves to laugh. No one could continue to treat this as some play.
Facts could overcome any strong argument!
Wang Chong had used a most blunt and irrefutable method to illustrate this law of survival to the people of the capital and the Great Tang.
Bang!
After this brief period of silence, there seemed to be a peal of thunder in the air as the crowd exploded.
“The King of Foreign Lands was right! We were all wrong!”
“All of us liked that wolf, but in the end, it still ate that dog. Wolves are wolves, and nothing can change this!”
“The surrounding countries have always been envious of the Great Tang’s wealth, have always wanted to attack the Great Tang. Alas, we were all fooled. Only the King of Foreign Lands… only he was the most clear-minded. This was why he wrote that book! The King of Foreign Lands is right!”
The crowd chattered amongst itself. The scenes that had taken place on that stage had been deeply branded into the minds of many, perhaps to remain with them for the rest of their lives.
“Don’t listen to his nonsense! This was all a coincidence, a coincidence! One incident can’t be used to prove anything! Everyone, you must believe in the Imperial Court!”
Several Confucians loudly called out in the crowd, but no one paid them any attention or listened to their opinions. All their voices were suppressed by the chatter of the crowd. The dog and wolf had made all of them think like they never had before.
No! It was not simply the crowd that was beginning to reconsider their ideas, but the entire empire!
“It’s over!”
“The situation is bad! The King of Foreign Lands has won! If this continues, our peace with the Great Tang will soon be broken! All the effort from before will have been for nothing!”
“I must report this to His Majesty!”
The scouts in the crowd turned ghastly pale. As they looked around at the crowd and the wolf corpse on the stage, they backed out of the crowd and rushed in various directions.
This event rapidly took hold of the capital, having more influence than anyone could imagine. In only half a day, the entire capital knew of what had transpired, and countless people went to the stage. Meanwhile, according to Wang Chong’s orders, the hunter had been appropriately taken care of and guided away.
But the corpses of the wolf and dog and all the blood they had spilled were still there.
Every person of the capital who saw that gory scene was dealt a massive mental blow. This was precisely because all of them had heard about how this wolf and dog had coexisted, and developed a great fondness for this pair. Even children knew a few little rhymes about the friendliness of this dog and wolf. All this maximized the shock they felt from the sight of the blood on the stage.
As people arrived and saw the dark red bloodstains on the stage and the gaping maw of the deceased wolf, they were rendered speechless.
The cruelty of reality and the destruction of children’s tales were callously and bluntly displayed before them. The mood in the capital became oppressive, as if a heavy stone had been placed over everyone’s heads, so heavy that they could barely breathe.
A day passed of countless people privately discussing this matter. They spoke about the ‘docile wolf’, the ‘innocent dog’, spoke of ‘the eruption of nature’, the ‘final carnage’, and the words the King of Foreign Lands had said before leaving.