Chapter 666 The internal strife in Jinling is over!

The more the people talked, the more indignant they became.

"Although His Highness Prince Su is in the Great Chu and is now the Emperor of the Great Chu, he possesses the backbone that we, the people of Great Liang, should never lose!"

"And he even helped us reclaim the city. His Highness still cares about our Great Liang."

"I've heard about it. Back then, many people in the court wanted to force Prince Su to his death, and even sent people to secretly assassinate him. His Highness had no choice but to resort to this desperate measure, faking his death to escape and find another way out."

"Besides, Your Highness made great contributions after the late Crown Prince's rebellion. If you hadn't suddenly left Jinling and given up the position that was within your grasp... what role would this Crown Prince play now?"

"Shh—are you looking for death? How dare you say such things?"

"Anyway, Jinling is now a chaotic place where they fight each other. So what if we die? We'll be heroes again in eighteen years!"

"Now that I think about it, if our Great Liang hadn't driven His Highness Prince Su into a corner back then, Great Liang wouldn't be so humiliated by the Western Regions and wouldn't dare to retaliate."

"Today, it is our Great Liang Kingdom that should be the one to punish them in the Western Regions!"

"Daliang is no longer the Daliang of yesteryear when the Pei family army still existed..."

The people had long since lost all hope in the entire Duan dynasty.

However, the court was still preoccupied with vying for power and did not take seriously the restless public sentiment stirred up by Duan Rongshi.

Princess Xiyue and Crown Prince Duan Rongjue were both eager to finalize the matter of the throne.

The Crown Prince's refusal to send troops ultimately angered the Eldest Princess.

The eldest princess secretly contacted the Panqi army, which she had already been secretly colluding with, and one day broke into the palace, intending to kidnap the still-dead Emperor Yan and launch a full-scale rebellion.

But when she rushed into the palace, she was dumbfounded.

Where was Emperor Yan, who had been under her strict watchful eye?

The palace maids and eunuchs have all disappeared.

The entire palace was empty, as if no one had ever lived there.

The guards at the door were completely unaware of all this!

Xi Yue panicked and quickly searched the palace.

Because her father is her only bargaining chip now!

If she cannot control her father's life and death, she will lose her last trump card!

However, the Crown Prince had already made preparations. He sent the Imperial Guards to surround the princess and the rebel army: "Elder sister, where are you going?"

"Hand over your father right now!"

Xi Yue looked at her third brother, Duan Rongjue, and felt a burning hatred in her heart.

"Duan Rongjue! It was clearly you who kidnapped the Emperor, and now you're turning around and accusing him."

"My father can't live without my witch doctor. You wouldn't be planning to kill me, then kill my father and rebel, would you? You have some nerve!"

Duan Rongjue walked towards Xi Yue with a cold smile: "Isn't it I who want to ask you, my royal sister, what exactly do you want to do?"

"Your father loves you so much, trusts you so much, and bestows upon you the honor of being named the eldest princess of Liang, yet is that not enough for you?"

"You, a woman, dare to covet my father's throne."

"Now you're holding onto Father Emperor's last breath, refusing to let him ascend to heaven soon, just to threaten me and prevent me from doing anything to you."

"You've even stirred up the court like a quagmire! You've formed cliques, colluded with powerful ministers, and tried to pull me down from the position of Crown Prince."

"If Father Emperor truly loved you, he would have deposed me long ago and made you the Crown Princess."

Don't you understand?

"Royal sister, I am the rightful heir. You, on the other hand, are rebelling and treasonous!"

"You now have only one path: death!"

The two of them had been fighting for several years.

Even now, the outcome remains undecided.

Nobody has any patience right now.

We must seize the throne as soon as possible to stabilize the country.

Otherwise, if the border attacks again, that would be a real internal and external crisis!

The Imperial Guards and the Panqi Army fought for three days and three nights inside and outside the palace.

In the end, Duan Rongjue, who was more shrewd and had made ample preparations, narrowly won.

The princess fled outside the city with several hundred defeated Rock Army soldiers, and their whereabouts are unknown.

Duan Rongjue naturally wanted to kill her completely, so the area outside Jinling City was once again engulfed in bloodshed...

However, ten days passed, and not only was the whereabouts of the eldest princess not found, but the whereabouts of Emperor Yan also completely disappeared.

Along with the disappearance, the witch doctor from the Western Regions also vanished.

The Crown Prince suspected that Xi Yue had hidden the person away again.

Enraged, he slaughtered the entire princess's residence.

This includes the prince consort and the sons of the two princesses.

They even arrested the entire family of the imperial son-in-law.

"Neither alive nor dead. It seems that Father has been hidden away."

"That Xi Yue, what a shameless woman who never gives up her wicked intentions!"

"My father disappeared without a trace, and I was unable to rightfully ascend the throne."

"Keep searching! Keep searching!"

"However, if I cannot find my father in ten more days... I will have to take the next step myself!"

The next step the Crown Prince mentioned was to fabricate the corpse of Emperor Yan.

The corpse was so rotten and infested with maggots that its face was unrecognizable.

Once he donned the yellow robe and declared himself Emperor Yan, who would dare to deny it?

Secretly, a death order was issued: if any news of Emperor Yan were to come, all those involved would be killed without exception!

Perfect timing! He can use this opportunity to lure out Xi Yue, and then kill two birds with one stone to completely eliminate his biggest worry!

Power ultimately drives people completely mad.

The Third Prince, who once vowed never to submit to the Lotus Sect, has now been blinded by power and has completely abandoned human ethics and humanity.

However, just as the Crown Prince, dressed in his dragon robe, was walking toward the throne, the gates of Jinling were easily breached by the Wan family army from the outside.

"The Crown Prince is plotting a rebellion!"

"His Majesty is still alive, yet the Crown Prince fabricated the death of the true dragon to ascend the throne. This is a capital offense of plotting to usurp the throne!"

"The Wan family army, acting on His Majesty's orders, is to capture the Crown Prince!"

"Your Highness, quickly confess your crimes and submit to the law!"

Upon hearing the name of the Wan Family Army, the Crown Prince collapsed onto the steps leading to the throne.

The day the Crown Prince plotted rebellion, it was the appearance of the Wan family army that set the tone for the overall situation.

Afterwards, Wan Jiajun retired after achieving his goal and returned to guard the northern frontier.

Over the years, he has remained quiet and unassuming.

In order to win over the Wan family army, the crown prince even married the eldest granddaughter of General Wan as his concubine.

Even so, the Wan family army neither supported nor opposed the crown prince, but the crown prince thought that with marriage ties, the Wan family army should be considered one of his factions.

However, now Wan Jiajun has betrayed him!

"You old dog!! You've let me down!!"

The prince was so angry that he spat out a mouthful of blood.

When he urgently summoned the Imperial Guards to protect him again, the Imperial Guards instead surrounded the court.

Commander Wu Wei came out.

"Your Highness, please confess your crimes and submit to the law."

The crown prince then realized that even the Imperial Guards had never truly belonged to him!

"you--"

"Wu Wei, don't forget, I married your own sister!"

Wu Wei: "If you hadn't forced me to marry you, why would my sister have had to become someone's concubine?"

"You wanted to completely win me over, so you did this disgusting thing. Did you think the Wu family would be grateful to you?"

"My sister was already happily married! It was your arrogance that ruined her life!"

"Rest assured, Your Highness, after you have confessed your sins, I will use all my merits to ensure my sister's safety."

"My master will grant this request!"

After saying that, Wu Wei waved his hand.

The Imperial Guards surrounded all of the Crown Prince's faction.

The crown prince stood up, his face ashen, and drew his sword from the side, pointing it at Wu Wei.

"If you want to take me, then you'll have to step over me first!"

Wu Wei certainly wouldn't let him die.

After a fierce battle, Duan Rongjue was ultimately no match for the martial arts of the top expert in the palace, and was disheveled and forced to the ground.

The Wan family army stormed into the palace and quickly brought the situation under control.

"Welcome Your Majesty back to the palace—"

Emperor Yan, barely clinging to life, was carried back to the palace.

And the witch doctor who had disappeared with him was serving him.

Duan Rongjue then realized that this witch doctor was not one of Xi Yue's people at all.

Has he betrayed us?

Or was she never truly a pawn of Xiyue from the beginning?

But now he gets no answer and can only shout in frustration, "You are the ones who are committing treason!"

"You are the traitors who falsely conveyed the Emperor's decree!"

"My father has long been unable to speak, how can he give you an oral decree?"

"You have deceived the world—"

General Wan sneered, "Your Highness, Crown Prince... no, Your Highness the Third Prince, please watch your words."

"It is a fact that you plotted to usurp the throne, and it is also a fact that His Majesty has now regained his right to speak."

"Your Majesty, whom this old minister personally served, how could this be fake?"

Duan Rongjue's eyes were filled with hatred: "Old dog Wan!! Do you think that by sowing discord among us Duan family members and causing us to kill each other, you can ascend the throne and control the country with my young son?"

"Don't even think about it!!"

"Duan Rongshi will definitely not sit idly by. He will definitely come back to kill you, you old dog, and restore peace to the land of Liang!"

General Wan: "You also knew that His Highness Prince Su would return."

"Why bother trying so hard to get to that position?"

"Your Highness, rest assured."

"Even if my granddaughter were to give birth to your child through your schemes, that child would never sit in that lonely, high position."

"As for your concubine, she is the granddaughter of this old minister."

"I will follow the old minister back to the northern frontier to live a good life for them, mother and son."

"I will never return to Jinling."

"Your Highness, please stay in the prison and await your fate!"

With a wave of his hand, General Wan was immediately dragged away, leaving Duan Rongjue looking shocked and bewildered.

"Then who are you really fighting for?"

"And who exactly are you loyal to—?"

"You old dog—you'll die a horrible death—"

General Wan's eyes were full of disdain: "You still can't guess this? You're incredibly stupid!"

"If His Highness didn't urgently need troops, there would be no need to confront you so soon. What's wrong with letting you run wild for another two years?"

"Power really can corrupt people beyond recognition."

"Now that the land of Daliang has become like this, we are still fighting over this every day. We are only fighting for an empty shell and will not win the hearts of the people. Won't we perish sooner or later?"

"If it weren't for Prince Su, the Duan family would truly be beyond saving."

"Someone come here—"

"Quickly assemble the three armies, mobilize troops, and send 300,000 soldiers to the frontier!"

"The Western Regions are ruthless and lack humanity! They have bullied our Great Liang and humiliated our Great Liang princess who was sent to marry a foreign ruler. This is an unforgivable crime, and our two tribes have become irreconcilable enemies!"

"Today, in accordance with His Majesty's oral decree, we are to launch a military campaign to conquer the Western Regions—"

"To avenge the humiliation of our nation—"

"Welcome back—His Highness Prince Su—"

This battle lasted from last winter to this spring, and then into autumn.

Winter has arrived again in the blink of an eye.

Although winter in Mantuo City is tough, Li Qingluo has lived here for a year and has long since gotten used to it.

Upon returning from outside, Dong'er immediately stepped forward to help her remove her cloak.

"Your Highness, His Highness has sent a letter."

Since Duan Rongshi led his troops to launch a proactive attack on the Western Regions three months ago, Li Qingluo has been defending Mantuo City alone.

Today, Mando City is peaceful and serene.

The entire city was well-managed and prosperous.

A month after Li Qinglu gave birth to the princess, Duan Rongshi held a relatively simple ceremony in Mantuo City to officially recognize her as empress.