Execution ground.

After the proclamation of the execution of the rebels was posted, the place was already overcrowded, and there were black and oppressive heads as far as the eye could see.

"Your Majesty, do you really want to execute Luo Hong?"

Niu Ben's eyes were full of regret in the monitoring platform on the side of the execution ground, which was a specially set up room for observing the execution process at the execution site.

Outside the room, Luo Quan carried the two of them on his back like executing soldiers, carrying a Han-style rifle, and he couldn't see the look on his face at this time.

Xiao Ming sighed and said, "General Niu, if the soldiers in your army make the same mistake as Luo Hong, what will you do?" ”

"Of course, it's a slash!" Niu Ben said: "The army is afraid of corrupt discipline, and if it is not handled fairly, it will be extremely harmful to the army. “

"What if this person is the person you trust the most?"

"In the army, there is only military law, and there is no difference between relatives and aliens!" Niu Ben said loudly.

"That's it, the army has military law, the state has national law, the army violates the law and does not deal with it seriously, what is corrupted is military law, and if the violator of national law cannot be dealt with impartially, it is the law of the country that is corrupted, today Luo Hong can be extrajudicial and benevolent, and others can also be extrajudicial in the future, so what is the use of this national law?"

Niu Ben sighed slightly, and he said: "What the emperor taught is that it is the old ministers who are confused, if Luo Hong's rebellious crime is extrajudicial, the laws of the empire will lose the trust of the people, and the people will no longer trust the law, they will no longer believe in the court, and the country and the people will no longer be of one heart and one mind." ”

"That's right, that's why I killed Luo Hong, if the person in this execution ground is replaced by my son, I will kill him as well, and the laws of the kingdom will be like the road of nature, the avenue will collapse, the mountains will collapse, the stars will fall, all things will be annihilated, the law will collapse, people's minds will be confused, the mountains and rivers will be broken, the country will not be a country, I would rather lose all the land I have conquered than see the laws of the empire trampled on."

Niu Ben looked at Xiao Ming's cold expression and nodded slowly, he understood that the empire in front of him was no joke.

It seems that the era when the nobles of the Great Chongqing Kingdom could trample on the law is coming to an end, and from now on, everyone from the king to the people of Li will have to live under the constraints of the law.

A commotion suddenly sounded as the two spoke, Niu Ben looked out the window, and the soldiers escorted Cao Kun and his son and the remnants of the merchant council to the execution ground.

"Traitor!"

"Traitor!"

“……”

Angry roars erupted from the crowd, and the cabbage and stones were thrown at Cao Kun and his son like rain.

There were two gallows on the execution ground, Cao Kun and Cao Zhengtong were taken to the bottom, while the others were taken to a long white wall.

The executing soldiers stood in long platoons, waiting for the order to be shot.

"Dog thief!" Niu Ben looked at the two of them and couldn't help gritting his teeth, after this period of interrogation, they obtained little information.

With their help, both England and France made great progress in basic sciences such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, geography, etc.

Although the students they brought did not master the advanced technology, they had a solid and comprehensive grasp of the knowledge they learned on a daily basis.

Now the West is in the stage of exploration in science, and what they bring with them is enough to improve the Western scientific system.

Although even without these traitors, with the popularization of imperial education, this knowledge will sooner or later spread along with trade, but their act of actively betraying the country is still treason, after all, the West, which now has mastered the basic sciences, only needs to digest this knowledge to create a lot of trouble for him.

"Your Majesty, all the prisoners have arrived, will they be executed?" The executioner asked Xiao Ming for instructions.

"Execution!"

Xiao Ming decisively gave an order, and the bronze statues of Cao Kun and Cao Zhengtong's confession have been cast, and after the execution of the two, the two bronze statues will be transported to the gate of Qingzhou, where they will be spurned by the world for generations to kneel at the gate of the city.

Under the gallows, Cao Kun and Cao Zhengtong were swaying like dysentery, and in front of them was a circle of hemp rope.

As soon as their heads are stuffed in, the planks under their feet will be opened.

"I don't want to die, I don't want to die...... Cao Zhengtong muttered, but the soldiers waiting for him to be executed put a rope around his neck.

Cao Kun was speechless, and let the angry people smash things on him.

"I don't want to die... uh..."

Cao Zhengtong's babble quickly turned into the sound of struggle being choked by the throat, and at this time, their feet were suspended in the air, and they struggled for a while, and the two of them quickly stopped moving.

At the same time, a neat burst of gunfire rang out, and the remnants of the merchant council were exhausted.

There was a sudden burst of applause in the execution ground, and the people were excited after the death of these rebels.

The bodies of Cao Kun's father and son were dragged down, and then another group of people were brought up, which was the rebellion led by Ge Yiren and Luo Hong.

Seeing Luo Hong, Luo Quan's body moved, and he came to the execution position with the rifle on his back and the other soldiers who were executing.

Niu Ben sighed again, he couldn't bear to look at it, he looked away, and Luo Xin's eyes were slightly red, he had accepted this fact, but even so, the one who was about to die was still his brother.

"Luo Hong, you are really confused, even if you die on the battlefield, it is better than dying here."

At the execution ground, Luo Quan stood behind Luo Hong, looking like he hated iron but not steel.

"Father, there is no need to say it again, I made the Luo family embarrassed, I am sorry for the Luo family, I am sorry for the emperor, and I am even more sorry for those brothers who followed me from birth to death, I brought them into the ghost gate." Luo Hong looked straight at the white wall in front of him, and after thinking about it all night, he figured out a lot of things.

The ups and downs of officialdom are commonplace, and he is too obsessed with his status.

"One misstep becomes a thousand years of hatred, it is because my father is wrong, I should have let you come to Qingzhou, so that the commander of the Southwest Army is you, Luo Xin's personality is gentle, and he will not be as impulsive as you." Luo Quan's hand holding the gun trembled a little, Luo Hong was his son, and it was a difficult and inevitable decision for him to personally shoot his own son.

"Father, it's not your fault, I'm just unwilling to admit that I'm not as good as Luo Xin, watching him rise step by step, my eldest brother is inferior everywhere, and my heart is indeed out of balance, now I think about it, I am really wrong, the emperor is right not to let me be the commander of the military region, let's do it, the child will come back to repay his father in the next life."

His words fell, and suddenly a gun rang out, and Ge Yiren and all the nobles who were plotting to rebel fell in a pool of blood.

Luo Quan picked up the gun, and in trembling, he pulled the trigger, and the gunshot rang out, and Luo Hong's body slowly fell.

Xiao Ming closed his eyes the moment he was shot, and now he finally understood Zhuge Liang's mood when he slashed Ma Jian with tears.

Walking out of the room slowly, Xiao Ming said to Luo Xin: "Luo Hong has made outstanding achievements in war, and he is a pillar of the empire, and I am determined to posthumously crown him as the commander of the empire." “

"Thank Emperor Longen!" Luo Hong bowed in gratitude.

Looking at the sun peeking out of the dark clouds in the eastern sky, Xiao Ming walked out of the execution ground step by step under the protection of the guards.

The rebellion, which had spread throughout the empire, was over, and he believed that the shock would surely make it clear to many in the country that it was impossible to overthrow the empire during his reign.

In this way, the interior of the empire will be calmed, and he will have more time to lay out the foundation of the empire.