The moment the lantern wheel lit up, Sui Sui and Huan Xuan both understood what Huan Rong was going to do. Their faces changed, and they both realized that they had underestimated the extent of the prince's madness.
The struggle for power always involves bloodshed, but it is rare to attack unarmed civilians. Huan Rong was the crown prince of Dayong, and these were his subjects, among whom there were many women, children and the elderly who were powerless. In addition, the area was densely populated, and the weather was dry recently. If the lantern wheel collapsed and the fire spread, many people would be burned to death.
Even though Sui Suiwen was not a good person, she still felt a chill, as if the spring chill suddenly penetrated her clothes and muscles and bones, as if it was going to freeze her bone marrow.
Even if I don't want revenge, I can never let such a person become emperor.
At this moment, someone gently held her shoulders and asked, "Are you cold?"
Without waiting for her answer, Huan Xuan quickly withdrew his hand. He just felt a chill on his back and subconsciously hugged her - no matter how their identities changed, they would still inadvertently bring out their old habits when they got along with each other.
Sui Sui shook his head, glanced at the lantern and said, "If it keeps burning like this, it will collapse soon. There are so many people nearby, if there is chaos, the situation will definitely be out of control."
She paused and said, "I will take people to the bottom of the Qinzheng Building, and you go to evacuate the people."
Huan Xuan raised his eyebrows and said, "No, I will go to rescue the emperor, and you go to evacuate the people."
He took off the jade pendant from his waist and put it in her hand. She touched it and found it was the one he gave her, which she had placed on the charred corpse when she escaped.
"Take it," Huan Xuan said, "If anything happens, you can leave the city through Yanxing Gate. The gatekeeper there will be one of my old subordinates. He will let you through when he sees the jade token."
Sui Sui did not answer: "The chaos in the city requires someone to take charge of the situation. Only you can command the Jinwu and the Imperial Guards."
Huan Xuan thought her words made sense. With the riots in the city and the assassination attempt on the emperor, the Twelve Guards would be leaderless and in chaos. The commander of the Jinwu Guard would not be able to cope with such a situation, and there would be no telling how many casualties there would be.
But secretly he wanted to take the risk for her.
Sui Sui put his five fingers together and said: "If I am captured, you can still go out of the city to ask for help."
This is of course a lie. If the prince wins this battle, he will definitely not let her live.
But Huan Xuan still held the jade token: "Okay."
Sui Sui brushed the scattered hair and smiled lightly, the stars reflected in her amber eyes: "Isn't it that the scourge will last for thousands of years? I won't die that easily. I have also encountered dangerous situations. This is nothing."
After a pause, he said, "Don't worry, I won't lie to you."
It would have been fine if she hadn't said this, but as soon as she mentioned this, Huan Xuan immediately snorted coldly: "How many times have you lied to me?"
Sui Sui thought about it and felt guilty, so he curled his lips and said, "At least I didn't lie to you about one thing."
Huan Xuan raised his eyebrows.
Sui Sui said: "My nickname is real, but it has the character 'Sui' in it. You just didn't guess it right."
Huan Xuan was startled for a moment. When she came to her senses, she turned around and walked forward. After a while, the familiar figure disappeared in the crowd.
He resisted the urge to follow, gripped the hilt of the sword at his waist, jumped on his horse, and galloped towards the direction where the lantern wheel was tilted with his followers.
…
When the lantern wheel was burning, the emperor guessed that the prince had finally lost control and took action. The moment he saw Wu Yue, all his guesses were confirmed.
He was more angry than shocked. Su Han had betrayed him. He had trusted this boy in vain, but he had never expected that Su Han would secretly betray him and defect to the prince. If he had not trusted Su Han, the prince's evil plan would never have been so easy to succeed.
He always thought that this boy was wise and far-sighted, and of course he knew who was more worthy of following, the crown prince whose throne was in danger or himself, but he forgot that he was already very old, and for an ambitious young man, the merit of following the dragon was so tempting! Moreover, for such a traitor, a mediocre and incompetent monarch was far better than a wise and capable ruler.
However, it was futile to grieve at this moment, as Wu Yue led a group of Eagle Guards and attacked with swords.
The Qianniu Guards protected the emperor, and the two sides fought in a group. The Qianniu Guards leader shouted: "The Twelve Guards, come to rescue the emperor! The prince is plotting..."
Before he could utter the word "ni", a feather arrow pierced his chest.
The emperor was horrified and turned to look for the prince, but he was nowhere to be found.
“Huan Rong!” He roared at the top of his lungs, and the trapped old beast let out a desperate roar, “You rebellious son, come out!”
But his voice was so weak and feeble, drowned out by the shouting and fighting, and only a few people around him could hear it.
The Qianniu guards around him fell one after another. Wu Yue said, "Your Majesty, don't worry. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is safe and sound in the Qinzheng Building."
Just as he finished speaking, several more feather arrows shot from the upper floor, and an injured guard was shot and fell to the ground.
It turned out that the Crown Prince and the Eagle Guards took advantage of the recent chaos to occupy the Qinzhengwu Building and used this magnificent gate tower as a fortress.
Wu Yue's blade was approaching.
The emperor turned around and saw several Yulin Guards and Huben Guards trying to stop the crowd in a formal manner, but they turned a deaf ear to the commotion here. Only his most trusted guards were fighting the rebels to the death.
He felt a chill in his heart. The guests had not left yet, but the tea had gotten cold. Although they were unwilling to shoulder the burden of treason, they were ready to change their ways.
The emperor had never admitted defeat or old age in his life, but now he was like an aging lion, gradually falling into despair as he was surrounded and bitten by hyenas.
The swordsman raised his hand, the blade reflecting the firelight, emitting thousands of golden rays.
The emperor slowly closed his eyes, but the expected pain and death did not come. Instead, a warm liquid splashed on his face and chest.
Then, there was a clang sound, and the knife that threatened him fell to the ground.
The emperor opened his eyes and saw Wu Yue slowly falling down. His head was missing and blood was oozing out from his broken neck.
A man stood beside him holding a knife.
The emperor raised his hand to wipe the blood from his eyelids. There was still a red light in his vision, and he could not see the face of the person clearly, but he recognized that it was a woman from her figure, and of course he guessed her identity.
Sure enough, a slightly hoarse female voice came out: "Your Majesty, please forgive me for being late in coming to your rescue."
The emperor couldn't imagine how he felt. He had always regarded Xiao Ling as the biggest threat, but he didn't expect that he would be saved by her in the end.
When did she sneak in? She must have arrived a long time ago, watched him being cornered, saw his embarrassment, and did not take action until the critical moment.
But what does it matter? His own sons plotted to murder him, and his enemies saved his life. This is an indisputable fact.
The emperor seemed to have aged ten years in an instant, and said dejectedly: "Thank you, General Xiao, for your timely rescue."
In the blink of an eye, another five or six Eagle Guards surrounded him - they were involved in the rebellion, and the emperor had no way to survive unless he died, so they had to give it a try.
Someone attacked Sui Sui from behind, but she just turned her head and glanced casually, then swung out the cold blade in her hand and stabbed the Eagle Guard in the abdomen with a backhand blow.
The blade turned and cut another person's throat.
In the blink of an eye, she took the life of several people, and the people around her didn't even see her make the move.
She just shook off the blood on the tip of the knife, raised her chin slightly, and looked at them calmly.
Her face was as white as jade, and her eyes were like glass. She was too beautiful to be real, yet too scary to be real.
Her expression was indifferent, as if killing a person was as easy as blowing off a petal of a flower. There was even a slight smile on the corner of her lips, which made her look even more terrifying.
Several guards stopped and held their swords tightly, but did not dare to take a step forward. Finally, someone collapsed in this vicious confrontation, his legs went limp, and he fell to the ground.
Sui Sui Yang said, "The chief rebel has been executed, why don't you abandon darkness and join the light?"
Several people looked at each other, and finally threw away the knives and knelt on the ground.
The other Yingyang Guards who were still resisting stubbornly also threw down their weapons and surrendered.
At this moment, there were several "bang bang" sounds of bowstrings. Xiao Ling pushed the emperor hard, pulled over an Eagle Guard to use his shield to block the arrows, took off the longbow on his back, drew the bow and put an arrow on it, and "swoosh, swoosh, swoosh" three feather arrows shot almost simultaneously into the building, and the three archers fell to the ground in response.
The guards she brought with her shot arrows into the building.
The emperor raised his head and said, "Huan Rong is plotting treason. Twelve guards, listen to my order. Capture this traitor for me!"
The guards who had been watching the situation from the other side of the river saw that the emperor was safe and sound and the crown prince was doomed, so they all rushed forward to rescue him. Soon, archers on the upper floor kept falling to the ground, and the rain of arrows gradually became sparse.
The guards rushed to the gate tower, only to see corpses strewn all over the building, with most of the palace maids and eunuchs killed.
The prince and a few remaining rebels were captured.
Sui Sui took out a handkerchief and wiped the blood off the blade, then put Jingsha back into the sheath.
Tian Yuerong stepped forward and said, "General, most of the rebels were executed or captured alive, but there were still a few who slipped through the net and escaped during the chaos."
Sui Sui frowned and said, "Send more people to chase them."
It was not known where Huan Rong had recruited these thugs. Most of them were desperate criminals who might do something cruel and crazy after blending into the crowd.
…
The lantern wheel collapsed, crushing the wall of Daozhengfang. The fire spread along the houses. Huan Xuan ordered the Jinwu Guards and the Imperial Guards, and ordered the guards of Wuhoupu to organize the officials and civilians in the square to put out the fire. He also directed the Imperial Guards to guard the various intersections, evacuate the people, rescue women, children, the elderly and the weak, and prevent any evildoers from causing chaos in the city.
When encountering such an incident, the most terrifying thing is the spread of panic. Prince Huan Xuan was a reassurance. He and his personal guards rode around on horseback, directing the flow of people and comforting the people. If they encountered criminals who took advantage of the chaos to commit crimes, they would kill them with a single knife.
Thanks to the timely response, the fire was brought under control when it spread to the fourth floor, and the residents near the Qinzheng Office Building were gradually evacuated.
Huan Xuan breathed a sigh of relief, glanced at the golden and green "fairy mountain", gave a few instructions to the commander of the Jinwu Guard, and then said to Song Jiu and other guards, "Follow me to the Qinzheng Office Building."
When they were near the market, they suddenly heard panicked cries for help from the front. Many people ran away. Song Jiu pulled the reins and asked someone, "What happened ahead?"
The man hurriedly said, "There are a few thugs hacking people at the northwest corner of Anyifang..."
He then ran away without looking back.
Upon hearing this, Huan Xuan turned his horse's head, kicked its belly, and galloped towards the northwest corner of Anyifang. When he arrived near the intersection, he saw several thugs in black holding long knives and hacking at everyone they saw. Everyone was crying and running away. The place was in a mess, with lanterns scattered all over the ground and the smell of blood and lamp smoke filling the air.
Several people were hacked and fell to the ground groaning in pain.
Huan Xuan knew from the skills of these criminals that they were not ordinary thugs. Most of them were desperate criminals who escaped from the Qinzheng Building. He said to the guards solemnly, "Kill them without mercy!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye - it wasn't so much the figure that was familiar, but the snow-white clothes that were particularly eye-catching.
He frowned, thinking, why didn't this person stay at Duting Inn peacefully, why did he come here
As he was thinking, he saw a flash of a knife, and a thug with a knife slashed at Cheng Zheng.
Cheng Zheng's feet seemed to be nailed to the ground, and he just stared blankly at the shining cold blade, as if he had forgotten even to dodge.
As long as Huan Xuan sat back and watched, this annoying guy would be killed. Without any effort, without even lifting a finger, he could get rid of a powerful enemy. The temptation was huge.
What's more, the two men were too far away. Even if he rode over immediately, he would not be able to save him in time, and no one could find fault with him.
However, he thought clearly in his mind, but his hands just wouldn't obey him. Before he could come to his senses, his unruly hands suddenly threw the long knife at the gangster.