Su Lichen was unaware that the Prince of Jin was mocking him in his mind again, but of course, he had no time to care about that now.

What he cares about most now, and what he hopes for most, is that the Prince of Jin will kill Jing Zhe as soon as possible. After all, he witnessed Jing Zhe taking the leader of the martial arts alliance in Jinxi.

He was well aware of Jing Zhe's ruthless methods, and therefore felt the same deep fear of Jing Zhe.

He had initially thought that Jing Zhe wouldn't know about his plot with Su Lichen to murder Emperor An, which was why he had hoped Jing Zhe would win before. Now, he couldn't wait for Jing Zhe to die, to avoid any unforeseen complications, since Jing Zhe was a very vengeful person.

"Your Majesty, something terrible has happened!"

As the two were talking, Feng Lianru rushed in, his face full of panic.

"What? Jing Zhe has already reached the outskirts of the city?"

Prince Jin looked up and glanced at Feng Lianru, then asked.

In his view, there was only one thing that could excite Feng Lianru so much.

Feng Lianru shook his head and said, "More and more people are gathering in the city. They're all gathered outside the palace gates, and they're shouting..."

"What are you yelling about?"

The Prince of Jin asked with great interest.

Feng Lianru whispered, "Kill the rebels..."

Prince Jin laughed after hearing this, while Su Lichen turned pale. When Emperor An was in power, he once said that to be a good emperor, one must have the support of the people. But now all the people are calling him a traitor. How can he continue to be the emperor?

"Prince Jin...this matter...is quite troublesome!"

Su Lichen said nervously, "Jing Zhe never fights a battle unprepared. When he dropped the note last night, he probably already anticipated this situation. Now we have completely incited public anger. We don't even need Jing Zhe to take any action; the spittle of the people of Jingzhou alone could drown us! The most urgent task now is to appease them..."

"hehe…"

The Prince of Jin shook his head and sneered. He was increasingly disdainful of Su Lichen. He said coldly, "Appease them? What are the common people? They're just a bunch of rabble! Why should I appease them? What, you don't really think Jing Zhe wants to defeat me with this bunch of unruly people?"

"But they... there are just too many of them. If we ignore them and go to war with Jing Zhe directly, it might escalate the conflict with the common people. That would be a difficult situation!"

"Pooh!"

The Prince of Jin spat, then stood up: "Today I'll show you what these commoners are capable of!"

So the Prince of Jin strode outside.

...

Outside the palace gates, more and more people gathered.

When Emperor An died in battle, some of the smarter people felt something was wrong. When the Southern Qi army attacked the city, Emperor An could have just stayed inside the city to defend it. Why did he have to go out of the city to fight?

Even if they leave the city, would Emperor An still need to personally lead the expedition?

Therefore, there are many suspicious points surrounding Emperor An's death.

However, most people didn't think too much about it at the time, since no one would have thought that the seemingly gentle Crown Prince Su Lichen would murder his father and usurp the throne.

But the notes flying everywhere last night made all the people realize the reality. The reason they believed them was because what was written on the notes matched the reality perfectly!

Why did the Southern Qi suddenly attack Jingzhou? And why did Emperor An personally lead the expedition? What is most puzzling is that although Emperor An was wounded by the Southern Qi, he was clearly not seriously injured when he returned to the city. However, he died suddenly just one night after returning to the palace. This death is really suspicious!

Even stranger things were yet to come!

Su Lichen then ascended the throne as a matter of course, and surprisingly, instead of ordering resistance against the Southern Qi, he directly ceded Jiangling to the Southern Qi...

Everything is exactly as described on the note, which means that this is all Su Lichen's conspiracy!

In fact, the common people are at most angry about things like regicide, patricide, and usurping the throne. But after Su Lichen came to power, he did not think about the common people. Instead, he ceded Jiangling. If he becomes the emperor of Anguo, how will the common people live in the future?

So the common people spontaneously formed a group and came to the outside of the palace, determined to get an explanation from Su Lichen! Among these people was a leader named Chen Guang. Because he was young, always meddlesome, and had a loud voice, the people were willing to listen to him.

At this time, the palace gates were tightly closed.

Chen Guang shouted behind him, "We won't cause trouble, but we're absolutely not afraid of trouble! If they don't value the lives of ordinary people like us, we will never stand for it!"

"Yes, absolutely not!"

"We're here today for two reasons. First, to ask the Crown Prince in person whether what's on that note is true or false! Second, if what's on the note is true, the Crown Prince must voluntarily abdicate!"

"Yes, voluntarily give up your place!"

As Chen Guang shouted his proposal, the people joined in, their voices deafening. Chen Guang no longer addressed Su Lichen as "Your Majesty" as he had a few days earlier, but as "Crown Prince," which clearly showed their change in attitude towards Su Lichen.

At this moment, someone in the crowd asked, "Brother Chen, if the Crown Prince abdicates, who should succeed him? The Prince of Xiang?"

"Prince Xiang? Bah!"

"Didn't you see what was written on that note? It says 'King Xiang succeeds to the throne'?"

"That's right! The note says that the Prince of Xiang and the Crown Prince colluded and conspired together to harm His Majesty!"

"..."

Before Chen Guang could even answer, the people spontaneously began to complain, already convinced of the contents of the note.

The man who had just asked the question nodded and continued, "If the Crown Prince abdicates and the Prince of Xiang cannot succeed to the throne, then who will succeed him after they are all removed from office? It can't be the Prince of Jin, can it?"

"It definitely can't be him!"

The common people unanimously said that before Prince Jin was sent to Jinxi, his reputation in Jingzhou was already bad, especially after he harassed Jing Wenmao's wife and was stabbed by Jing's eldest daughter, leaving him crippled. He was then sent to Jinxi.

The Jing family was implicated as a result, and the Jing couple were demoted to Pengzhou to serve as officials, where they lived out their lives. The people felt great regret whenever they thought of this, but they were somewhat comforted when they saw Jing Zhe, a descendant of the Jing family.

"Yes, it can't be him!"

Chen Guang also said, "The note says that when the Crown Prince plotted to harm His Majesty, not only did the Prince of Xiang propose it, but the Prince of Jin and the third prince of Southern Qi were also involved. So the Prince of Jin is definitely not qualified! Moreover, older people should know that when Lord Jing was an official in Jingzhou, he was such a good official. But because the Prince of Jin harassed Lady Jing, the Jing family was torn apart. Fortunately, President Jing was a man of exceptional talent, and was able to rise step by step from Pengzhou to Jingzhou, and even took the blame for His Majesty's injury, becoming the president of the Da'an Newspaper!"

"..."

————