Chapter 443: Soldiers Arrived in the City

　　Chaos erupted amidst the crowd.

　　Those few people were wearing very ordinary clothes, and they didn’t look any different from the nosy civilians. This was why it was even more sudden when they took action.

　　Si Ye looked at them and roughly estimated that there were at least hundreds of people. They clearly came for Rong Jiu! The key point is that judging from their vicious attacks, they were clearly trained on the battlefields.

　　Si Ye suddenly realized something and gasped. Rong Jiu actually mobilized the Northwest Army to come and save him? I thought he already handed over his military power after he came back to the Imperial City and that he didn’t contact the Northwest Army anymore? What’s with all these people suddenly appearing?!

　　In no time, the screams, sounds of weapons clashing, and the sounds of sharp knives piercing into people’s skins were all mashed together.

　　Numerous people screamed and ran away!

　　Si Ye was about to chase Rong Jiu, but two people suddenly rushed in from the side and blocked his way.

　　The next moment, they attacked Si Ye first.

　　Tsing!

　　Si Ye was forced to battle.

　　The two parties exchanged a few blows, and Si Ye felt very uneasy. All these people killed their way out of the battlefield. Even if their cultivation level is lower than mine, they are the best at killing people! Once they attack, every move is lethal with no playing around!

　　In the midst of the chaos, Si Ye looked at his surroundings and realized that the situation was exactly like he had predicted. The many imperial guards that had the upper hand at first are gradually weakening.

　　He flung something out of his sleeves without hesitation.

　　Bang!

　　A signal shot to the sky.

　　…

　　At the same time, Emperor Jiawen was reading something alone in his Imperial Study. However, he only took two glances before stopping and rubbing his brows. Thinking of the time, it should be…

　　Suddenly, Eunuch Min’s anxious and nervous voice could be heard from outside. “Your Majesty! Your Majesty, something happened!”

　　Emperor Jiawen’s heart skipped a beat as he walked over and personally opened the door. With knitted brows, he asked, “What the hell is wrong?”

　　Eunuch Min was taken aback as he hurriedly moved a step back and knelt down. “Your Highness, T-Third prince ran away!”

　　Emperor Jiawen’s face turned cold. “What do you mean he ran away? What are Si Ye and all those imperial guards doing?”

　　Eunuch Min wiped the cold sweat that kept covering his forehead as he rapidly spoke with a shaky voice. “Your Highness, some people mixed in with the crowd and fought with the imperial guards. They protected Third Prince as he left.”

　　Emperor Jiawen’s uneasy feeling became increasingly intense. “This is the Imperial City! Who is willing to help him?!”

　　“I-I think it’s the Northwest Army—”

　　Bang!

　　Emperor Jiawen kicked Eunuch Min’s heart. “Imbecile!”

　　Eunuch Min fell to the floor as excruciating pain rose in his chest, causing him to vomit blood out violently.

　　However, Emperor Jiawen had already walked outside in big strides. “Immediately supply more manpower and lock the city gates. Not only Rong Jiu but don’t let anyone related to this incident today escape!”

　　Eunuch Min endured his pain and hurriedly went forward. “Y-yes!”

　　Emperor Jiawen’s face turned dark. As expected! Rong Jiu had secretly contacted the Northwest Army long ago. He even made such a preparation and directly escaped from the execution grounds! Previously, someone still said that he should be made the Crown Prince. What a joke! Rong Jiu is so ambitious; how can he be satisfied with being a prince with no power? Once he becomes the Crown Prince, I might not even be able to sit on my throne!

　　Emperor Jiawen was just walking forward when someone hurriedly rushed over and directly knelt in front of Emperor Jiawen. “Your Majesty!”

　　Upon seeing this person, Emperor Jiawen’s face drastically changed. If it’s not something urgent, this person will definitely not be here.

　　As expected, the sentence that this person blurted out was akin to lightning striking beside him. “Wei Lin led the Northwest Army, and they’ve already arrived about 20 miles outside of the Imperial City. T-they said that… Third Prince had slogged for Country Yao Chen and had always been loyal to Your Majesty, yet you listened to some petty people’s words and wanted to execute him! This hurt the hearts of countless warriors that are stationed at the borders. Hence, t-they… came to ask Your Majesty to return Third Prince his innocence!”

　　Emperor Jiawen’s body shook. Northwest Army… Wei Lin… Aren’t they all Rong Jiu’s people? How is this returning Rong Jin his innocence? They clearly want to revolt! This place is far away from the borders, and it takes at least three or four days for the news to come back and forth. However, the imperial edict to execute Rong Jiu only came yesterday. These people arrived so quickly, which means that they were long here! How dare they play the blame game?!

　　Eunuch Min hurriedly helped Emperor Jiawen up, but Emperor Jiawen flung him away. The next moment, Emperor Jiawen gave the person kneeling in front of him a tight slap.

　　Pak!

　　That man was instantly beaten to one side as his cheeks rapidly swelled up. However, he still lowered his head and kowtowed. “Your Majesty, don’t be angry. It’s all my fault—”

　　“This is such an important thing, yet you only discovered it now! What do I need you for?!” Emperor Jiawen hit him until his hand became numb, but the fire in his chest kept boiling, and his face turned green.

　　“I… I… Your Majesty, those people seem to have come in batches. They only gathered together after they all arrived, so I couldn’t discover them in time…”

　　What kind of place was the Imperial City? How can they dare to slacken when they are in charge of the Imperial City’s gate? But those Northwest Army soldiers are too scheming, so they didn’t even notice them! When they realized something amiss, it was too late!

　　“How many people are there?!” asked Emperor Jiawen as he took a deep breath.

　　“Around… 5,000!”

　　Emperor Jiawen sighed. “Five thousand… Five thousand isn’t an issue… Imperial guards! Where’s Chu Ning? Get him to bring men there immediately!”

　　“…Your Majesty, did you forget that you just sent Lord Chu Ning out of the city yesterday…” reminded Eunuch Min carefully.

　　Emperor Jiawen was dazed; he then remembered that he did receive some news about the bronze vat previously in the Imperial City, so he sent Chu Ning to bring men over and investigate. Thus, he wasn’t in the Imperial City now.

　　“Get Zhao Ming to substitute! And you, immediately gather all the imperial guards! We must stop them outside the Imperial City’s gates!”

　　There were more than 10,000 people in the imperial guard, so it wouldn’t pose much of a problem to handle these 5,000 people.

　　The man kneeling in front of Emperor Jiawen seemed to guess his thoughts as the man braced himself and said, “Your Majesty, the imperial guards are separated all over the Imperial City. It’s already hard to gather them together immediately. The most important thing is: the people who came all seem to be elites from the Northwest Army. T-this…”

　　It’s not that I’m afraid, but I know too well how sticky this situation is! How can the people who survived wars be compared to the imperial guards that led a comfortable life in the Imperial City? If there isn’t any other way, the city gate will be broken in no time!