In the backyard of Prince Wu's mansion, the servants led Du Changsheng slowly towards the banquet hall. Every time they passed an intersection or a gate, the servants of the mansion would extend their hands to invite him in, which was considered a complete courtesy.
"Master Du, this way please."
"good!"
After passing through the porch and the garden, and walking between pavilions and towers for a long time, he finally arrived at the venue for tonight's banquet. There was a group of servants there preparing for the dinner, but when Du Changsheng looked over, he didn't see any other guests.
"Uh... the adults from the prince's side just now didn't come over?"
Du Changsheng asked the person next to him.
"To answer the question from the Heavenly Master, perhaps the prince has something else to do. You can wait here for a while. Please enjoy the cakes and preserved fruits on the table first!"
While they were talking, another servant came hurriedly trotting over from the front and bowed to Du Changsheng outside the banquet hall.
"Master Du, the prince has ordered that Master and the guests can have their meal first. He has something to do today, so he won't be here."
"So, what about the other guests?"
"We'll be there soon. Please take your seat first, Master!"
Du Changsheng nodded with a smile on his face.
"good."
Just as the person who delivered the message left, Du Changsheng looked around and then towards the front hall of the palace, and in a trance he saw billowing red flames rising.
He shook his collar, and hot sweat came out of it.
"Oh my god, you came earlier or later. Today is really the wrong time. The almanac issued by the Imperial Astronomical Bureau says today is a good day... Forget it, if I don't leave now, I'm afraid I'll get involved in something big..."
Du Changsheng was sweating all over, but he didn't show it on his face. He asked others with a smile.
"Excuse me, is there a toilet near the banquet hall?"
"Master Du, the toilet is at the end of the corridor on the left behind the banquet hall. I will take you there."
"Oh, no, no, Du can go there by himself, you guys get busy, you guys get busy!"
Du Changsheng used the excuse of having to pee to bypass the banquet hall and walk through the back corridor to the toilet. He looked around to see if there was anyone around, then he took out a bag from his chest pocket and carefully took out a small piece of yellow paper cut into the shape of a human.
"Why… "
Sighing, Du Changsheng frowned, bit his index finger, and dropped a drop of blood on the yellow paper.
"Recruiting the strongman!"
A human-shaped yellow paper fell to the ground. After a burst of yellow halo spread, the yellow paper quickly expanded. A figure grew from skinny to strong in an instant and appeared where the paper fell. The figure was blurry and looked like a real person from a distance, but upon closer inspection, it looked like an exquisite paper figurine in a funeral shop.
"Hurry up, help me get out of the house!"
Master Du said something impatiently, and then the strong man lowered his body to act as a stool, and the Master stepped on its back. Then the strong man slowly stood up and helped the Master climb the wall.
"Hey, hey, hey, be careful, slow down, slow down... Ouch!"
He hurriedly climbed over the wall and fell when he landed. Fortunately, he was cleansed by spiritual energy and had a strong body, so the fall did not hurt much.
Looking at the remote alley outside, Du Changsheng raised his hand to catch the falling yellow paper and leave quickly, but the yellow paper did not fly over.
"Oh no, it may have fallen back into the yard. What should I do?"
He had to turn it back because the thing was too important. Just as he was about to take another piece of yellow paper, he looked up at Du Changsheng on the courtyard wall and found a strange paper bird on the wall at this corner of the palace, and it seemed that his yellow paper was still stuck in the bird's head.
'Whose kid is this? The yellow paper got stuck when it flew over?'
Du Changsheng was stunned for a moment, looked around, found a relatively long dead branch, raised it and prepared to pull down the paper bird and yellow paper, but as soon as he poked the branch, the paper bird on the courtyard wall actually flapped its wings and flew up, scaring Du Changsheng.
"Can fly? Hey, wait! My Paper Hercules!"
In a moment of anxiety, Du Changsheng ran through the alley chasing the paper bird. After passing through the long alley, he suddenly stopped and came to his senses.
'How can there be a paper bird that can fly by itself? Did it meet some monster? Or did it meet some real master? Should I chase it or not?'
While he was thinking, he found that the paper bird was perched on the wall on one side of the alley, with a human-shaped yellow paper sandwiched between its beak and neck, facing him. Although the paper bird should have no eyes, Du Changsheng always felt that it was looking at him.
'It's too weird, let's just run away...'
Just as Du Changsheng was about to turn around, he saw a man in green clothes walking towards him from the other end of the alley. The paper bird immediately flew up and landed on the man's shoulder with a human-shaped yellow paper.
"The method used by Master Du is quite unique. My last name is Ji. I wonder if I can have the honor to invite Master Du to chat and drink tea with me?"
Du Changsheng looked at the person who came. He seemed to be an ordinary person no matter how you looked at him. However, given the timing and situation, he was not ordinary at all. Upon closer inspection, the other person's eyes seemed abnormal, and the paper bird landed on the man's shoulder.
"Uh... Mr. Du has some urgent business, so it may be inconvenient..."
"Oh, please do as you wish, Master Tian... Return the things to the Master Tian."
Ji Yuan addressed the first half of his sentence to Du Changsheng, and the second half to the paper crane, but the latter held the yellow paper without moving, as if it didn't want to return it.
"Huh? You don't even listen to me?"
The paper crane twisted its two paper wings for a moment before it flew up again, carrying the yellow paper to the top of Du Changsheng's head, then let go of its head and let the yellow paper fall.
"In that case, I will take my leave. I am sorry to bother Master Du."
Ji Yuan saw Du Changsheng take the yellow paper, bowed, and turned away.
"Sir, please stay, sir, please stay!"
Du Changsheng almost instinctively asked to keep his man, and after a slight hesitation, he quickly chased after Ji Yuan in two steps.
As the two were talking, they walked towards a teahouse on Yongning Street.
Ji Yuan also looked back at the aura rising from the Prince of Wu's Palace in the distance. He said with emotion that a prince could emit such murderous intent that it even affected the atmosphere of the imperial city.
"I don't think it will be peaceful tonight!"
Du Changsheng looked at the person next to him and happened to see a pair of pale eyes turning to look at him. There were no waves in their deep eyes, and there was no reflection at all.
"Uh, sir, you mean the Prince Wu's Palace?"
"Haha, I guess so."
. . .
In Zhang Jian’s camp, a communication expert from the Prince of Wu’s palace quietly entered the commander’s barracks and conveyed the King of Wu’s order.
"What did you say!?"
Qian Junke, who was eating, stood up when he heard this.
"His Highness has ordered us to raise an army to force the emperor to abdicate! Commander Qian, your service to the emperor begins tonight!"
Qian Junke closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, his expression was determined.
"Now that things have come to this, there is no turning back! All right, let's raise our army!"
…
"Boom boom boom..."
The sound of drums in the camp was deafening.
"Hurry, hurry, prepare your armor and weapons, everyone assemble!"
The camp of Zhang Jian was filled with the sounds of soldiers gathering, the cadence of footsteps and the clashing of weapons and armor.
"Everyone hurry up, archers, bring your arrows!"
"The palace has encountered a great change, and there are traitors holding Your Majesty hostage. We are following the order of His Royal Highness Prince Wu to rush into the palace to defend the king! Quickly, quickly, this is a matter of great importance to the whole world!"
Under such encouragement, all the soldiers became extremely nervous.
In addition to Zhang Jianying, at nightfall, soldiers from Beixuanying and the Southern Army gathered in groups.
Later, the King of Wu put on his armor and held a sword, and personally led a group of military officials and masters of the royal palace, and led the soldiers to rush towards the palace.
There was still a dim glow of the setting sun in the sky, and some large lanterns in front of the palace had just been lit. The imperial guards guarding the palace suddenly discovered that a large number of soldiers were invading the imperial city. Upon closer inspection, they found that it was led by King Wu.
"Stop! Your Highness, King Wu, this is the imperial palace. You are here with soldiers. Are you planning to rebel?"
The goalkeeper held his sword with both hands and shouted angrily, and a soldier nearby went to deliver the message.
"There are thieves who are holding my father hostage and disrupting the order of our Great Zhen Dynasty. I have received the news and led the people to defend the country. Anyone who tries to stop me will be killed without mercy!"
“Zheng~” “Zheng~” “Zheng~”…
It had come to this point, and the King of Wu didn't waste any time. He waved his hand and the soldiers in the rear drew their weapons and rushed towards the palace, and the two sides in confrontation started fighting directly.
On the long street outside the Prince of Jin's mansion, there was a fight going on around the Prince of Jin's carriage, and even the Prince of Jin himself was fighting with a sword.
There were masters everywhere. In addition to the high-altitude confrontations, the fighting around the moving carriages was particularly fierce. Even though they had secretly prepared hidden guards, there were too many people coming this time, and the number was definitely over a hundred.
"puff…"
The flesh was cut with a bare knife. A man who was standing next to Prince Jin was hacked to death. The guard who did it didn't even have time to catch his breath before he suddenly felt a thorn in his back.
"Your Highness, be careful!"
Whoosh whoosh whoosh…
Dozens of crossbow arrows flew over.
“Knock knock knock…” “Dang dang dang…” “Puff puff puff…”
At least three guards were shot dead, and Prince Jin himself was shot in the left arm.
Amid the horses' mournful cries that seemed to tear the eardrums, the horses dragged the broken carriage and rushed forward.
"teacher!"
"Your Highness, you are injured!" "Protect Your Highness!"
"Stop the carriage, the teacher is still on it!"
"It's Huang Nu! Your Highness, hurry up, the Imperial Guards may be here too!"
King Jin was sweating all over, and he gritted his teeth and endured the pain as he bandaged his wound himself.
"Stop the carriage. Don't panic. These are not the heavy troops of the Imperial Guard. They have long ago embezzled the heavy weapons from the military treasury. Go and stop the carriage!"
Several guards carried Prince Jin and ran rapidly, while the remaining dozen or so masters fought desperately to catch up with the carriage in front.
At this moment, the injured horses on the carriage seemed to be crazy, rushing forward with the carriage. Several masters used their light skills to rise up and rushed to the carriage to fight and clear the way.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh…
This was the sound of the deadly yellow crossbow. After the crossbow arrow, several guards fell down to protect Prince Jin. More and more assassins surrounded them and killed them. Although the people in Prince Jin's mansion generally had higher martial arts skills, they were gradually no match for four hands with two fists.
"Where are our people? How long will it take for them to arrive?"
"All those who had dispersed into the city a few days ago should be coming here!"
"Kill them, kill them... Towards the Gyeonggi Prefecture government office!"
. . .
At midnight, the blood-soaked King Wu led his soldiers to the outside of the emperor's study, where only two hundred imperial guards and a dozen sword-bearing guards were guarding.
At this time, Emperor Yuande was still reading in the imperial study.
Of course he knew about the deafening fighting at night. Even when the first few lines of defense in the palace were not broken, there were secret reports coming in that Prince Jin was attacked by many assassins outside the palace and broke through and escaped into the government office in the capital.
"Your Majesty... If, if Commander Qian really... "
The old eunuch's forehead was covered with sweat. He knew that His Majesty had already made arrangements, but he could not remain calm in this situation.
The emperor looked at him and put down the book.
"Then let him rule the world."
The old emperor dragged his exhausted body up from the couch.
"Let's go meet my son, Li Sizhe."
"The old slave is here!"
"Bring the imperial edict."
The old eunuch was stunned for a moment and asked subconsciously.
"Which one?"
Emperor Yuande laughed.
"Prince Jin's share."
"yes!"
The old eunuch slowly walked to the bookcase beside the dragon desk and opened an agarwood box. There were two volumes of imperial edicts inside. To make sure he had not taken the wrong ones, he unfolded them and took a look.
The two volumes of imperial edicts belonged to the King of Wu and the King of Jin respectively, and the dates of both were the first day of September, which was the day when Yin Zhaoxian went to Beijing to meet the emperor.