Chapter 473: A man who knows the times is a hero

Facing Murong Qi's questioning, he just had a faint smile on his face.

"You have hostages, and I have hostages too. When my father passed away, I saw that the Princess of Chu and the Prince of Chu did not come. I thought that this was really disrespectful to my father, so I sent someone to invite them over. Sixth brother, fourth brother, you have to think carefully. If you continue to stand by Murong Sheng, you may get glory, but you will lose all your family and descendants. Is it worth it?" Murong Sheng had just said this, and now it was his turn to speak.

As soon as they arrived in Beijing, people from Fengyue Villa sneaked into Chu and brought the Princess of Chu, the Prince of Chu, and the little princess to Kyoto.

The mountains there are high and the waters are long, and it is controlled by the people of Fengyue Villa, so no letters can be sent. Their troops have now come to Kyoto, so the backup defenses are naturally insufficient, and no news can be received.

Princess Chu was crying silently while holding her child. Concubine Zhuang was also crying. Only Concubine Shu was shouting like a shrew:

"Sheng'er, don't worry about me. If I die, I die. Your great cause is the most important."

Seeing her so crazy, Jiang asked someone to hold her down and pinch her chin to prevent her from biting her tongue to commit suicide.

It was a great shame and humiliation for a dignified concubine to be held down like this by two guards.

Murong Sheng's fingernails had already dug into the flesh.

But the current situation is that not only his mother is a hostage, but also hostages from the families of King Qi and King Chu.

"I have known for a long time that you were going to take action. How many people are there and what is your plan? King Jin, guess how I knew it?" Murong Huai looked at Murong Sheng with a smile.

Murong Sheng didn't say anything, his eyes and brows were extremely gloomy.

"Prince Jin couldn't guess it? How boring! Why don't you let me tell you? Thanks to Concubine Gu's suppression of Princess Jin in the past, Princess Jin harbored a grudge and got a lot of useful information. She passed it all to me in Kyoto. Now, outside the Imperial City, the 50,000 troops from the Xishan Camp have already arrived at the gates of Kyoto. How can you, with just over 30,000 men, compete with me?"

The signal has been sent from the city wall that Duke Jiang is at the gates of the city. By then, the rebels will have no way to retreat.

It was impossible for them to kill these ministers, nor was it possible for them to kill all their families. In this way, even if he seized the throne, who would work for him?

But the problem now is that he has no chance to seize the throne.

Gu Yue gritted her teeth. No wonder Zhao Hui suddenly changed her personality half a year ago and was willing to serve her as a slave. It turned out that she did it to get some information.

Prince Yong was the first to express his opinion. He walked directly into the hall and knelt down:

"Your Majesty, I am loyal and have no intention of rebelling!" He did not want to be involved in this unprovoked disaster.

"Second brother, you don't have to be afraid. Since you didn't participate, I will naturally not offend you. Get up quickly."

Seeing Prince Yong's statement, Prince Qi could no longer bear it and followed him out and knelt:

"Your Majesty, I only provided some financial assistance to the King of Jin. If Your Majesty wants to punish me, then punish me, but do not bring disaster upon my child and my family."

Murong Huai was also aware of this. Over the past three years, Murong Sheng and Murong Qi had needed a large amount of money to raise elite soldiers. The cost of these 35,000 elite soldiers was extremely high.

Unlike the imperial court which had its own special agency to maintain an army, they had to cast all their own armor and weapons and hide them so that they would not be discovered. However, the imperial court collected a large amount of taxes and royal merchants every year, and the treasury was extremely full, so they had no shortage of money.

Their fiefdoms also need to pay a certain amount of money to the imperial palace every year. The Gu family alone is not enough to support it, so at this time, they asked King Qi for funding.

"A man who knows the current situation is a hero. Fourth brother, it is a wise choice to turn back after making mistakes. I have never thought of taking your lives. Haven't you been living in peace and stability in your fiefdoms these past few years?

Sixth brother, I will give you another chance. Do you want the princess and the prince, or do you want to continue to stand by Murong Sheng's side?"

King Murong Qi of Chu is facing the most difficult situation at this moment. On one side are his brothers and allies, and on the other side are his wife, children and mother.

At this time, the Queen of Chu spoke, crying to the King of Chu:

"Your Highness, please stop. Our daughter has only just come out of confinement. You promised me that you would take good care of the children as they grow up. Have you forgotten? Please stop being confused. Let's go back to Chu and live a good life, okay?"

Murong Qi's eyes turned red and he started crying, with a look of hesitation in his eyes.

Now it seems that Murong Sheng and Gu Yue are isolated and helpless.

"Brother, I'm sorry. I can't just stand by and watch my family go to waste. Why don't you just give up and stop killing so many innocent people in this world? Their lives are lives, too."

Murong Qi's meaning was very clear. If he surrendered, the matter would be resolved simply and fewer people would die.

He can also have a way to survive, right?

Murong Qi walked to the center of the hall and knelt down directly, which meant he obeyed Murong Huai's wishes.

"Murong Huai, you are really calculating, but what if I don't surrender today? I said, the winner is the king and the loser is the bandit, and the capable ones take the throne. Even if I fail today, I will still try my luck. Maybe if I'm lucky, I can always drag a few people down with me.

If I can't succeed, you won't have an easy life either. If you want the throne, I will make you deserted by everyone."

After he finished speaking, he picked up the porcelain cup and threw it hard on the ground. The sound of the porcelain pieces breaking was particularly harsh in the hall.

When the rebels outside heard the noise, they rushed over without hesitation.

The sound of swords clashing could be heard outside.

Gu Yueren was dumbfounded. She gasped in panic, thinking that she couldn't get out today. She could only close her eyes in despair.

The hall was filled with civil officials. Murong Sheng laughed loudly:

"Murong Huai, I want all those hostages buried with me. I wonder who is willing to defend your kingdom."

After saying that, he threw out a white ball, which hit the ground and immediately dispersed into clouds of smoke.

Jiang Yu covered his mouth and nose immediately, but Murong Huai was a step too late and inhaled some poisonous smoke.

Murong Sheng then threw a few more in the hall. For a moment, the entire Hall of Supreme Harmony fell into chaos, with coughing sounds one after another.

He took the opportunity to grab Gu Yue's hand and wanted to escape from the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the chaos.

Jiang Yu took out an anti-poison pill from his arms and swallowed it. He held his sword and groped in the dark.

There were more than a dozen imperial guards surrounding Murong Huai, but they all fainted due to inhaling the poisonous smoke.

A crossbow arrow flew straight towards Murong Huai at the top, accompanied by the sound of wind. Fortunately, Jiang Yu predicted it in advance and blocked the arrow.

It turned out that Murong Sheng shot an arrow towards Murong Huai based on his feeling. If he was lucky, he could take his life, but if he was unlucky, he could at least hurt him.

After shooting the arrow, he pulled Gu Yue out through the side door while the poisonous fog was still there.

It was impossible for him not to leave himself a way out. He clearly remembered the direction of the side door and easily found his way out of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

He knew that he couldn't leave today, but he didn't want Murong Huai to have an easy time.

So he took out the signal fireworks from his waist and fired them into the sky.

A small ball of blue fireworks bloomed in the sky, which was a signal for the rebels outside the imperial city to kill the hostages.