Upon hearing this news, Shenxi immediately asked, "Have you sent anyone to protect them?"

Cao Qiang cannot afford any accidents on his way back.

"We've sent people, so there's no need to worry, sir."

The chaos in the Cao family actually benefited her; she merely gave it a push.

Cao Qiang never imagined he would be able to get out one day.

His wounds had just begun to heal; the fire had burned him badly, and he had another fever in the middle of it.

Cao Qiang's men reported that the Cao family was in chaos, and the patriarch had been assassinated and seriously wounded.

We need to get back as soon as possible to reclaim the power in our hands; otherwise, the power of the Cao family belonging to Cao Ying will all fall into the hands of Cao Changyu.

"Hmph." Cao Qiang, who was born with a sense of superiority, naturally did not take Cao Changyu, Cao Changgeng and the others seriously.

"When I get back, will they still be able to cause trouble?"

His subordinates were all Cao Ying's confidants and Cao Qiang's supporters.

He immediately began to flatter, "As long as the young master goes back, who among them will dare to cause trouble?"

Cao Qiang shook his head, looking very smug.

Those illegitimate sons and uncles all bowed and scraped before him; who would dare to disrespect him?

Even Cao Changyu, whom his father liked, was treated with great respect, wasn't he?

Although the father liked his youngest son very much, he had absolutely no intention of deposing the eldest son and establishing the youngest in his place. The Cao family would definitely belong to him in the future.

Who knew that as soon as he got into trouble, these people dared to rebel.

Several of Cao Qiang's men protected him, and apart from the occasional foolish vagrant trying to extort money from him, they returned to Jianming Prefecture without any incidents.

At this time, Jianming Prefecture was under heavy security.

Tao Feng's army outside the city has already set up its battle formation.

They repeatedly denounced the Cao family for their treachery and ingratitude, calling them traitors and urging the powerful clans that had not followed the Cao family to join them in opposing the Cao family.

Regardless of which side the Cao family was on, they all sent people to guard the city gates with utmost vigilance.

They weren't guarding one place; Cao Changyu's side occupied and guarded the south gate, focusing their attacks on Tao Feng directly.

Cao Changgeng and Cao He occupied the east and west gates, facing the deputy general Cui Pingwei and two other captains.

Zhao Peng, on the other hand, was under Cui Pingwei's command.

Cui Pingwei was afraid of dying, so he took Zhao Peng, who was good at fighting, to his side.

The north gate, however, was in the hands of Prefect Wu Aimin.

Wu Aimin panicked, and his advisors gave him a suggestion: lead all available troops to guard the north gate.

If things really go wrong, we can run away through the north gate immediately.

They also wanted to occupy the south gate so that they could enter the city to quell the rebellion when Tao Feng returned.

But the Cao family wasn't stupid; how could they let him occupy the south gate?

After a fierce battle, Wu Aimin had no choice but to give up the south gate.

Even if Tao Feng wanted to go around and enter directly through the North Gate, no one was stupid. The North Gate was backed by a mountain. Going around would take time, and even if they could, who could guarantee that there wouldn't be an ambush by the Cao family there?

If you fall into an ambush there, it will be really hard to escape.

This is why Wu Aimin didn't want to escape through the north gate and wanted to occupy other gates.

But reality left him with no choice.

Fortunately, the Cao family was in turmoil. Not only did each member of the Cao family occupy a city gate, but battles also frequently broke out within the city.

This caused the people to stay indoors and not dare to go out.

Those soldiers won't refrain from harassing the people just because they've locked themselves in their homes.

Arson, murder, robbery, and rape of women occurred frequently.

Ordinary people who could no longer survive also wanted to leave through the north gate, but Wu Aimin was not a good person.

They were basically all captured by Wu Aimin's soldiers, and were either used as soldiers or as food.

Even the wealthy families in the city became targets of oppression by these groups.

The main reason was that wealthy households had money and grain, and what they got from robbing the wealthy households was much more than what ordinary people could get.

Under such immense pressure, within a short period of time, a small civilian self-defense force emerged in the city, frequently engaging in maneuvering and guerrilla warfare against several opposing forces.

The deputy captain of this civilian self-defense force is named Zhao Yi.

He was one of the spies trained by Tang Junyao.

He infiltrated the An family of Jianming Prefecture, and because of his outstanding abilities, he quickly became a favorite of the young master, An Junyi.

The An family is one of many aristocratic families, but it is not a large one; it is just a small aristocratic family.

The An family, who had never taken sides, were robbed as wealthy people during the turmoil.

The head of the An family was killed tragically, and their property was stolen.

With the help of servants and guards, An Junyi barely escaped danger, but had nowhere to run.

Zhao Yi then gave An Junyi an idea: to establish a self-defense army for self-protection.

It's not too late to leave the city once an opportunity is found.

An Junyi does have a certain social network.

They immediately organized the wealthy households who were living in fear into a self-defense force.

Relying on the money and food of these wealthy households, they recruited some civilians, and the number of people in this self-defense force reached one thousand.

Under the protection of this self-defense force, the vast majority of the wealthy households who joined survived.

Those soldiers or guards were also clever; later they dared not rob wealthy households protected by the Self-Defense Forces, but instead robbed ordinary people or wealthy households who were not members of the Self-Defense Forces.

The arrival of Tao Feng's army did not make the people in the city feel safe.

On the contrary, they felt even more fear.

Tao Feng's arrival means there will be a battle. Will they be pushed onto the city gate to become city guards?

Or they might be conscripted for labor, become supply corps members for soldiers, or even become reserve sergeants.

Therefore, at this time, most ordinary people had some kind of connection with the Self-Defense Force, whether openly or secretly.

Some paid money to have the Self-Defense Forces protect them, while others sent family members to join.

As the captain of the Self-Defense Force, Ahn Joon-il is eager to avenge his family.

But it was the Cao family who killed their entire family.

His thousand men were all ordinary people, and they could hardly stand against the Cao family, who had ten thousand well-trained guards.

Looking at the dilapidated city, Zhao Yi couldn't help but sigh.

In such a short time, many places have become ruins.

"Young Master, Tao Feng will inevitably have a battle with the Cao family. The Cao family has now split into two branches, each with more than 10,000 guards. It is said that there are also stragglers, and the total number exceeds tens of thousands."

If the Cao family holds their ground, Tao Feng will truly find it difficult to break through, and it will inevitably lead to a protracted and fierce battle.

This is also what An Junyi is worried about.

The protracted battle meant they were doomed to be unable to escape, and their chances of getting out were extremely slim.

Although Wu Aimin had several thousand soldiers and recruited several thousand more, he was a coward. He only cared about himself. If Tao Feng won, all was well, but if Tao Feng showed signs of defeat, he would be the first to run away.

Even if Wu Aimin were to coordinate with him from within and without, and even if Wu Ta had a few more lives, he still wouldn't dare to come out.

An Junyi frowned slightly: "Then what should we do?"

"Young Master, shouldn't we lend Tao Feng a hand?"