The night was falling, and the breeze from the prairie was cold to the bone, like a fine knife slashing a person's face.
The atmosphere tonight was particularly solemn, and almost every guard on patrol had a stern face.
At the third watch, the imperial court guards changed their shifts again, but this time they were replaced by the fresh faces of Qi Shuishu.
The fourth prince was dressed in armor, with a large sword hanging from his waist.
His appearance followed that of the Great King of Northern Xinjiang, so dressed up like this, he looked majestic, like a lion patrolling the territory.
"Everywhere is arranged?" He asked his confidant again, tirelessly, "What time is it now?"
The confidant said, "It's just midnight, and there is still a quarter of an hour before His Highness's agreed time to start."
"Another quarter of an hour?"
The fourth prince felt that every second was like a year. Seeing that his long-cherished wish for many years was about to be fulfilled, he couldn't even wait for half an hour.
"Go and check everywhere, and make sure nothing goes wrong."
He paced back and forth, as if remembering something, and called back the subordinate who had just turned around, "Where's Mr. Sun?"
At such an important moment, he hoped that someone would witness with him, and if Sun Wen was there, he would feel more at ease.
The advisor who played a major role in the political situation in Northern Xinjiang, in the heart of the Fourth Prince, left the wise men of Northern Xinjiang for a few streets.
The confidant said, "Mr. Sun claims to be too old to see blood, and has already gone back."
After the fourth prince heard this, the corners of his mouth twitched, and there was nothing he could do with Sun Wen.
He forgot that Sun Wen was a weak literati who couldn't lift his hands or shoulders.
If a bloody battle breaks out later, he will stay here with a literati, and no one can guarantee his safety, so it's better not to come.
"Let him go."
Anyway, the overall situation has been set, and the presence or absence of Sun Wen has little impact.
The fourth prince had a suspicious temperament, so he couldn't help but go to the king's tent to take a look. He felt relieved when he saw that the king of Northern Xinjiang was still on the bed.
Time passed minute by minute, and finally the appointed time came. The fourth prince's heart was beating like a drum, and he became more and more nervous.
However-
Why no one
Several confidants came to report one after another, and all the levels were all their own people, and they didn't see the old nine people at all. What's going on
"... This old ninth, did he have such a good time with his wife that he wasted the time?"
The fourth prince murmured in private, not daring to slack off. He ordered his people to guard each level and not take it lightly.
After the appointed time, the people who had been highly stressed gradually felt that they were not in good spirits.
The fourth prince's fist tightened and loosened, loosened and tightened, and finally he couldn't help but want to get up.
Before he took two steps, he heard a faint sound of killing in his ears, and his eyes widened with joy.
However, the smile on his face has not faded, dozens of subordinates rushed in covered in blood, and the leader was his confidant.
"Fourth Highness - we've got a plan - let's go!"
The words of the confidant made the heart of the fourth prince tremble, and an ominous premonition spread.
"Wait—what do you mean?" The fourth prince subconsciously supported his confidant, and the characteristic rattan armor on the other side was cut into a long wound by the sharp blade, the flesh turned out, and the blood was flowing outwards, he said emotionally, "What is it? 'We got caught'—"
The confidant raised his hand and tied his waist with a cloth to stop the wound, and the guards who rushed in from the outside firmly protected the fourth prince.
Just as his subordinates were about to explain, the shouts of killing were getting closer and closer, and the fourth prince saw that the private soldiers he had carefully raised were retreating.
As he retreated, he dropped several corpses.
The enemy outside was aggressive, and the fourth prince could only lead people to fight and retreat, forcing them to the vicinity of the king's tent.
The fourth prince's confidant was a man from the northern Xinjiang. His face was already stained with blood, his eyes were slightly red, and he was about to cry.
"His Royal Highness, there is no coercion at all—we were calculated—"
Even a stupid person can see that something is wrong, let alone the fourth prince is not stupid at all.
"There is no forced palace - if no one forced the palace -"
If Lao Jiu didn't force the palace, then he used his power to transfer the guards of the king's tent and replace it with his own actions, wouldn't it be—
After a fierce battle, more than a thousand elites of the four princes lost 80%, and the remaining soldiers were defeated soldiers.
Seeing that they were about to be forced into the king's tent, suddenly hundreds of knife and axemen rushed out of the king's tent, and cooperated with the pursuers to stop them.
The fourth prince's mind turned quickly, he vaguely guessed something, and his back molars creaked with hatred.
He was caught in the trick of Lao Jiu!
Seeing the people around him die one by one, the number of enemies is increasing, and the more they get closer, the fourth prince is no longer able to recover.
"Fourth brother, I really didn't expect you to do such a frantic act to force the palace to kill your father!"
The screams of killing gradually subsided, and the surroundings were full of corpses and mutilated limbs. The fourth prince stared at a certain direction, the crowd surrounding them separated on both sides, and a familiar figure came.
"The one who forced the palace to kill his father is clearly you!"
The fourth prince clenched his back molars angrily, and his canths were split with anger.
"Fourth brother, now that it's like this, you still want to open your eyes and talk nonsense?"
The ninth prince laughed contemptuously, and the important court officials stood behind him one by one, looking at the fourth prince with complicated eyes.
Some were disappointed, some were angry, some were indifferent, some were shocked... but no one trusted him.
"You changed the guards near your father's king's tent, and secretly replaced your own people. You are wearing armor and wearing a sword. You dare to say that you have no heart?" The nine princes sneered, "Brother Wang received the news early in the morning, at first I didn't believe it, and I didn't believe it. Think of the fourth brother actually doing this. So many people have seen it with their own eyes, what medicine does the fourth brother have to refute? If it wasn't for the younger brother who came early, the fourth brother would have forced the father Wang to make you the heir, right?"
The fourth prince felt cold all over.
The ninth prince said again, "If the fourth brother doesn't have any remorse, why would he kill him when he sees the king's brother?"
The fourth prince said stubbornly, "Gu received the news that you are forcing the palace to kill his father, and specially arranged for people to intercept it in advance..."
The nine princes looked up to the sky and laughed, and tears were about to burst out.
They didn't know if the ninth prince had any remorse, but they saw the ironclad evidence that the fourth prince wanted to force the palace to kill his father.
Now that he was caught, he didn't even want to repent, but instead found such a lame excuse to quibble.
The ninth prince sneered, "Fourth brother, you can't do this even if you slander your younger brother. You should leave it in front of your father and king!"
The fourth prince was like falling into an ice cellar, looking at the ninth prince with a bit of horror in his eyes, as if he didn't know this younger brother.
"Fourth Brother—"
The ninth prince walked up to the fourth prince, the others had already been subdued, and the fourth prince was also tied into a zongzi.
"Bah!" The fourth prince spit in his face.
"Fourth brother - don't be angry." The ninth prince raised his hand in a good-natured manner to wipe off the saliva, and put it on the fourth prince's face as it was, pressing his facial features into a deformed shape. "You know how you lost?"
The fourth prince suddenly opened his eyes.
"Because, who asked the fourth brother to treat the younger brother's confidant staff as his own staff."
Sun Wen
"Is Sun Wen yours?"
"Otherwise? My good fourth brother, thank you for your hard work and helping the younger brother remove so many stumbling blocks."