The Devil's Tribulation

Chapter 188 Sun Demon King

Empress Zhang's bedroom, Empress Zhang, Zhou Zhixiong's first wife, the mother of the Great Zhou Kingdom, the mother of the country, dignified and generous, elegant temperament, curvy figure, although almost fifty years old, but very well maintained, still like a young woman in her twenties. Empress Zhang, wearing a light yellow crown and clothes, was drinking the new tea this year, when she heard the palace maid report: "Empress, the prince is here." Empress Zhang's face lit up, and she said: "Jun'er is here? This child hasn't come for half a month, right? Let him in quickly and serve tea quickly."

When the prince came in, he bowed and said, "I am an unfilial child. It has been more than ten days since I came to pay my respects to you, mother." Empress Zhang said with a smile, "You are busy with state affairs. I heard that you have not slept much recently and have been with your father all night to discuss state affairs? Is that true?" The prince said, "It is true, but it is not that exaggerated. Mother, please do not listen to those servants' exaggerations."

Empress Zhang said with a smile, "You all go down, I will have a good chat with Jun'er." All the maids left, leaving only the Empress's personal maid, who was also a female official. The Empress extended her hand and said, "Jun'er, come here, let me see if you have lost weight?" The prince came to Empress Zhang, knelt down, and leaned his fat face on the Empress' thigh, muttering, "Mother, I am so tired. I don't know how long this life will last. I can't stand it anymore. Sometimes I think, if I were not the prince, how much easier it would be."

Empress Zhang caressed the prince's forehead with heartache and said, "My child, you were born to be the emperor. Since you are the emperor, these hardships are inevitable. Don't you still have your grandfather and uncle to help you? Your mother is in the harem and can't help you. She can only help you get out of the palace. The rest depends on you."

The prince said, "Grandpa and uncle are helping me, but my father is too..." Empress Zhang suddenly pushed the prince away and scolded, "Don't say bad things about your father! He is the person my mother loves and respects the most in her life. He is a man of great talent and strategy, and is determined to enrich the country and strengthen the people and expand the territory! You must assist your father well! Did you hear me?" The prince stood up and thought to himself, "Sure enough, my father is more important to my mother!" The prince bowed and said, "Mother, how dare I say that my father is not good, but my father has been too tired recently. Please persuade him more." Empress Zhang's expression eased a little, and she smiled bitterly, "Your Majesty hasn't come to this palace for a month." The prince hurriedly said, "Why is my father..." The prince thought to himself, "My father didn't come for seven or eight days at most before, but this time he hasn't come for a month? Is it because of my grandfather and uncle? Or is it because of me?"

The prince thought of a lot of things at once. Who the emperor went to the harem to spend the night with was a signal. The prince originally wanted to seek comfort from his mother, but now he left the queen's bedroom with a heavy heart. The prince had been smooth sailing these years and had not encountered any major events. This was the biggest thing he had encountered since he was born. The emperor of the Great Zhou wanted to take back power, which would inevitably affect him. He couldn't think of a good way, so he could only act according to his grandfather's instructions. Because his grandfather would definitely not harm him, and the old ministers hoped that he would inherit the throne the most.

A few days later, the court meeting was over. Zhou Zhixiong returned to the study with a gloomy face. As soon as he entered the room, he couldn't help but slap the imperial desk. With a bang, everyone knelt down and trembled. Zhao Quan didn't know how long it had been since he saw the emperor so angry. Zhou Zhixiong said in a deep voice: "Okay, okay, you've grown wings! You're really my good son!" Zhou Zhixiong suddenly roared: "You dog slave! How did you do it? How did the news leak out!!" Zhao Quan shivered, knelt down hurriedly and said: "Your Majesty! I don't know either. I definitely didn't miss anything from the beginning to the end. Your Majesty's mission, I dare not be careless at all~"

After a cup of tea, Zhou Zhixiong slowly calmed down. Seeing the people kneeling on the ground below, the emperor said, "Let them all go down." Zhao Quan quickly turned around and waved his hand, saying, "Let them all go down." The emperor was silent for a while, thinking, "Zhao Quan has always been cautious in his work. It is unlikely that there is a mistake on his side. That means that those old guys have their own information channels, and it seems that their speed is no slower than mine! It seems that I have worshipped the immortal master. Well, a bunch of old stubborn people, just wait for me!"

This morning, Zhou Zhixiong was in a good mood at the court meeting. But the Minister of Personnel suddenly handed over a list of names of old officials over 60 years old, all of whom said they wanted to retire and return home. Below were some successors recommended by themselves, and some ministers' signatures. When Zhou Zhixiong saw this list, he almost couldn't help cursing, thinking, "A bunch of old foxes, cutting off their tails to survive!" Zhou Zhixiong originally wanted to make a one-size-fits-all decision, but now he had to compromise. He didn't want to confront a group of ministers head-on, which would affect the stability of the court. In the end, he could only deny some and approve some. He took some positions that he had wanted for a long time, and found some young people he had promoted over the years to take over.

When making this decision, Zhou Zhixiong was not so angry. In the end, it was the prince who came out and talked about a lot of deeds and achievements of the previous emperor, especially mentioning that the previous emperor appointed virtuous people and listened to the advice of ministers without being arbitrary. These two sentences almost made Zhou Zhixiong angry to death! Zhou Zhixiong really wanted to depose the prince on the spot. Unfortunately, Zhou Zhixiong knew that he could not touch the prince yet, so he could only endure it.

The Tongming City of Chu State is now the Tongming City of Great Zhou. Wei Qing, the Marshal of Great Zhou, led an army of five million soldiers and divided them into three routes. They were all the main attack. The left army was led by the eldest prince, and the right army was led by his deputy general Song Lian. He led the central army to the Qiantang Pass of Chu State. The three routes launched an attack at the same time, catching Chu State off guard.

Chu was distracted and didn't know which city the enemy was going to attack. As a result, there was no one to say who was the main attacker, all of them were the main attackers. The third prince followed Wei Qing and finally got Sun Erleng the job of the vanguard. Sun Erleng led his 3,000 troops and the 2,000 body forging soldiers given to him by the third prince, like a sharp knife, and kept charging in the front. None of the enemies who came to stop him could fight him for a second move, and all of them were chopped down by a single axe! Then he led 5,000 troops to disperse the enemy's formation, and finally began to reap lives.

After several battles with enemy generals, the Chu people gradually gave him a nickname, the "Demon King" because so far, no one has appeared who can take his second axe. Even Wei Qing sighed: "My Great Zhou actually has such a tiger general!" This made the third prince very happy. Sun Erleng was his man, and praising him was the same as praising himself. Wei Qing, the military god of the Great Zhou! It is not a small matter to praise someone in person.

In a mansion in Tongming City, Wei Qing was looking at a map. The Third Prince followed him to learn and ask questions from time to time, and Wei Qing also patiently explained to the Third Prince. This time, he captured three cities in the middle route at once, and the other two routes are still in a stalemate. Wei Qing was very dissatisfied with this. Just when he was explaining to the Third Prince, a personal soldier came to report: "Marshal, General Sun is back, and he brought back more than 1000 enemy left ears." Wei Qing smiled and said, "The Demon King Sun is back, haha, let him explore the terrain, he also wants to charge in. Your Highness the Third Prince, this is your man, you have to talk to him."

The third prince bowed and said with a smile: "Marshal, you are joking. There is no prince in the military camp. I am your deputy general now. How can I have the right to scold him? Everything is decided by the Marshal." Wei Qing nodded and stroked his beard. He was very dissatisfied with His Majesty's arrangement of another prince. However, after more than half a year of contact, Wei Qing found that the third prince was not only interested in military affairs, but also very talented. He was also very humble and polite, much better than the eldest prince. Wei Qing smiled and said: "Okay, let him come in and see what news our Sun Demon King brought."

The guards turned around and went out. After a while, a 1.8-meter-tall, muscular general wearing armor strode into the meeting room. After seeing Wei Qing, he knelt on one knee, clasped his hands together and said, "I pay my respects to the Grand Marshal and His Royal Highness the Third Prince!" The clear distinction between the main and the secondary made Wei Qing more satisfied. In this military camp, even if the emperor comes, he has the final say. Otherwise, he would not accept the seal of commander. Zhou Zhixiong not only respected him, but also trusted him. Wei Qing ignored Sun Erleng, and smiled and asked the Third Prince to sit down together. Then he picked up the teacup and drank tea with the Third Prince, ignoring Sun Erleng who was kneeling below. Although Sun Erleng was puzzled, he still maintained his posture, motionless, thinking about whether he had made a mistake.

Wei Qing and the third prince were chatting for half an hour. During this time, the third prince glanced at the kneeling Sun Erleng, and seeing that he had not moved, he nodded secretly. He didn't know what Wei Qing wanted to do, but Sun Erleng's method of not changing in the face of ever-changing situations was the best. Finally, Wei Qing looked at Sun Erleng, as if he had just discovered that Sun Erleng was kneeling there, and said, "Oh, this is General Sun, why are you kneeling all the time, get up quickly." Sun Erleng said calmly, "Thank you, Marshal!" Wei Qing stroked his beard. This calm temperament made him more satisfied the more he looked at Sun Erleng. He smiled and said, "The third prince is so lucky. General Sun is not a reckless man with only military power." The third prince smiled and said, "Marshal, you said too much. General Sun is a general of the Great Zhou, not a man of my Zhou Shijun. I am just selecting talents for the country and sharing the worries of the king. It's my job."

Wei Qing liked to hear this. He had been wooed by some princes over the years, but the crown prince and the third prince did not win him over. The eldest prince even asked the emperor to marry Wei Qing's only daughter many times, which made Wei Qing very angry, but fortunately the emperor never agreed. This incident made Wei Qing particularly disgusted with the eldest prince. How could Wei Qing agree to let his daughter be a political sacrifice? He just gave birth to a precious daughter in his forties, and he wanted to find a good family for his daughter. Now he felt that Sun Erleng was quite suitable. Wei Qing suddenly asked: "Is General Sun married?" Sun Erleng and the third prince were stunned at the same time, but Sun Erleng still replied: "My wife died ten years ago, and now I only have five concubines." Wei Qing was not surprised to hear that Sun Erleng had five concubines. He himself also had two concubines. In this era, it would be strange for people of their status not to have concubines.