Huo Gang brought Shangguan Wanning to the execution platform, opened his executioner's hand, and stood in front of Jin Ruhong.
"Princess?" Jin Ruhong was shocked, anxious and annoyed, "What are you doing here? You will die. Go away."
Shangguan Wanning squatted down and looked at Jin Ruhong, who was covered in wounds. She couldn't help but feel guilty. "I'm sorry, I made a mistake in my calculation."
She always felt that victory and defeat in marching and fighting were common in the military.
Since the army was defeated, they should return home and make plans. Even if the imperial court knew about it, there would be no objection.
Who knows...she was thinking things too simply after all.
"My Lady, this has nothing to do with you. If you want to accuse someone of something, you can always find a pretext for it."
"Who are you two? You are so brave." Liu Xian came to his senses and waved his hand lightly. A group of archers drew their bows and aimed at them.
"You are so brave."
Shangguan Wanning stood up and looked at Liu Xian, accusing him righteously: "As an official appointed by the court, you not only did not support the frontline troops during the war, but also deliberately withheld their food and military pay. They finally came back, but not only did you not appease them, you also wanted to kill the commander. What's the reason?"
Liu Xian was stunned.
He didn't expect that a young girl would have such courage, and she seemed to have a sharp and majestic aura.
"When is it your turn as a woman to make comments on important matters of the court? You are committing a capital crime by trespassing into the execution ground. If you don't get out of the way, the archers' arrows will have no eyes."
"If you dare to let them shoot, you will definitely lose your head." Shangguan Wanning accused Liu Xian forcefully, "Jin Ruhong is also an official appointed by the court. If you kill him, you must report to the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Justice before you can convict him. You didn't do that, which is not in accordance with the rules. If you kill him, you will also break the law."
The last sentence made Liu Xian feel a little guilty.
"Humph, you are just a little girl, what do you know about the laws of the court?"
"I have been with my father since I was young, and I can recite the laws of the court by heart. If you don't believe me, you can test me however you want."
Liu Xian looked at Shangguan Wan Ning seriously, his heart beating in fear. "Follow your father? Who is your father?"
"The prime minister of the dynasty, Shangguan Yue."
"Hahaha."
After hearing Shangguan Wanning's words, Liu Xian was not only not afraid, but also laughed out loud.
"You are so bold that you dare to pretend to be Princess An Ning. You will die." Liu Xian shouted, "Come on, shoot the arrows."
Shangguan Wanning understood that Liu Xian didn't care who she was at all, he just wanted a reason to kill her.
At his command, the archers were about to shoot at them, and at the critical moment, three sharp arrows came from the other side.
Two sharp arrows pierced through the chests of the two archers closest to Shangguan Wanning, and another arrow flew towards Liu Xian, shooting off Liu Xian's black hat and nailing it to the pillar.
Liu Xian was so scared that his face turned pale and his legs were trembling.
A figure came over, stepping on the shoulders of the onlookers, and landed steadily on the execution platform.
Shangguan Wanning was surprised and delighted. "Jing Rui?"
Mu Jingrui glanced around with his sharp eyes, and when he looked at Shangguan Wanning, he revealed a bit of helpless doting.
Liu Xian's face turned pale. He barely stood up, put his hands on the table, and asked, "You... who are you? Do you know, you..."
Without waiting for Liu Xian to finish his words, Mu Jingrui threw a token and the emperor's edict on the table.
"My name is Mu Jingrui. I'm the Minister of War and the Grand Marshal of the Army. I've come here on orders to attack the Turks." Mu Jingrui threw his bow aside and strode up to Liu Xian.
At this time, beads of sweat were already oozing out of Liu Xian's forehead, and he led all the soldiers and yamen runners to kneel down.
"Your humble servant greets Lord Mu."
"Master Liu, can you tell me what crime the two people who are to be beheaded today committed?"
Liu Xian stated the charges, but his voice was so soft that even he felt reluctant.
"snort."
After listening to this, Mu Jingrui snorted. "She is Princess An Ning, she is not pretending at all."
Liu Xian still refused to accept the result. "Where is the evidence?"
"I am the evidence." Mu Jingrui looked at Shangguan Wanning, "I am not so bad as to not recognize my own fiancée."
Liu Xian became even more panicked.
"Ning'er is right. You executed the generals without the permission of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Justice. This is against both reason and law." Mu Jingrui said, then turned to look at the other side, "Come here, take Jin Ruhong away and retry him on another day."
Liu Xian had no choice but to watch Jin Ruhong being taken away by Mu Jingrui's men.
"Things here have come to an end for now. Sir Liu, please go back and gather all the civil and military officials of Southeast Prefecture and come to the post station to see me in the evening."
"Yes." Liu Xian took his black hat off the pillar and left in a hurry with the yamen runners.
The onlookers were dispersed, and Mu Jingrui finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He walked towards Shangguan Wanning, but before he could open his mouth to blame her, Shangguan Wanning came up to him, took his arm, and whispered, "You're finally here. Do you know that I've been running around with Brother Huo these days, and it's been very hard."
Mu Jingrui looked at Shangguan Wanning and found that she had really lost a lot of weight.
"And look." Shangguan Wanning showed Mu Jingrui the wound on her wrist, "I also went to the Turkic camp and got stabbed."
Mu Jingrui looked at Shangguan Wanning's festering wound, and even though he knew that she was playing the victim to avoid being scolded by him, his heart softened anyway.
"You!" Mu Jingrui poked Shangguan Wanning's forehead, took her hand and walked down the execution platform, taking her to the post station.
As soon as he entered the room, Mu Jingrui hugged Shangguan Wanning tightly in his arms.
"Do you know how worried your father and I are about you?"
Shangguan Wanning leaned on Mu Jingrui's chest, still feeling frightened when she thought of the scene just now.
If Mu Jingrui had not arrived in time, Huo Gang might not have been able to protect both him and Jin Ruhong.
"I'm fine now, right?"
Mu Jingrui sighed, pulled Shangguan Wanning to sit on his lap, and the two talked about everything that happened after they separated.
"I really didn't expect that after coming here to investigate those murders, I would end up... making no progress. Instead, I was trapped here because of a sudden attack by the Turks."
Shangguan Wanning felt very disappointed.
"It's not completely useless. At least, you saved 40,000 lives." Mu Jingrui was a little scared. Shangguan Wanning was too bold to go to the enemy camp with Huo Gang alone.
"Jing Rui, next..."
"Leave the rest to me." Mu Jingrui looked at the wound on Shangguan Wanning's wrist and felt distressed.
"Now that you are here, I am no longer worried. So, I want to go with Brother Huo to find the governor who was transferred away."
Shangguan Wanning hopes to have a complete and lasting relationship.
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