Chapter 198: Suppression
Murong Ye's troops suffered heavy losses in the two rains of arrows.
But once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back. From the moment he decided to rebel, he had no way out.
So what if we fail in Dongdaying?
He had a backup plan. As long as Nanny Li could get Queen Mother Yin out of the palace, he could turn the situation around and win.
At this moment, everyone was shocked by the rain of arrows just now.
He must find a way to re-inspire the morale of his soldiers!
Murong Ye weighed the pros and cons in his heart, gritted his teeth, made up his mind, and tore off his armor with force, revealing a white undershirt.
On his abdomen, the bright red blood had soaked the snow-white cloth. "Don't be deceived by Xue Wuji! The wounds on my body are the best evidence that Murong Che killed his brother! He is narrow-minded and cannot tolerate me! You are all loyal to me. Once I die, how can Murong Che let you live?"
Xue Wuji's handsome face was cold, and his tone was sonorous and powerful, "The emperor loves the people like his own children, and everyone can see it! He is the one the people want! The traitor Murong Ye deliberately provoked the war, and he has ulterior motives. Do you really want to point the swords in your hands at your compatriots? The court trains you to defend our country together, not to let our compatriots kill each other! Now the 50,000 troops of the East Camp have surrounded Murong Ye! You have been deceived by the traitor. If you surrender immediately, you can be spared! Otherwise, thousands of arrows will be fired at you, just as a cleanup!"
The soldiers at the palace gate looked up and saw rows of archers appearing on the palace wall. They drew their bows and arrows, and there was always one archer aiming at them.
Looking at the corpses lying all over the place at their feet, they shuddered in their hearts and showed hesitation on their faces.
"Everyone, don't be fooled by Xue Wuji's sweet words! He keeps slandering Your Highness as a traitor. Even if we surrender at this time, it will be a heinous crime that will exterminate all nine generations of our clan! It is better to fight them. If we die here in battle today, it will be a glorious death..."
call out!
Among the crowd, some of Murong Ye's loyalists attempted to incite them to continue the rebellion.
However, before he could finish his words, the arrow in Xue Wuzhi's hand flew over and pierced his chest on the spot.
His body stiffened, and he fell straight to the ground, completely motionless.
The people around him looked at him with their eyes open and their defenses were gradually crumbling.
Those who were originally waving flags and shouting fell silent.
Seeing that they were so frightened by Xue Wuji's few words that they dared not even fart, Si Sha suddenly had an ominous premonition in his heart.
I'm afraid we can't continue this battle today!
He looked at the rows of archers on the city gate and reminded Murong Ye in a low voice, "Your Highness, I was negligent in the matter of the East Camp. I didn't expect Xue Wuji to be so cunning and pretend to be drugged! Now the enemy outnumbers us. If we continue to confront each other, we will suffer. Let me escort you out of the siege! As long as we have a safe place, we will not be afraid of running out of firewood!"
Murong Ye waited for so long, but still received no news from Nanny Li. He couldn't help but curl up the corners of his lips in dismay, "It seems that my hidden chess piece is gone too."
Si Sha is right, only by staying alive can we have a chance to turn things around in the future!
He cannot die here before he accomplishes his great cause!
"Your Highness, let's retreat northward from there!"
Murong Ye struggled in his heart for a long time, and finally made up his mind.
He took a deep breath and nodded slowly, "Okay, let's go!"
So, Sisha used his little finger as a whistle, put it to his mouth and blew it hard.
When the assassins heard his command, they immediately scattered. Some tried desperately to climb up the palace walls, while others raised their sleeve crossbows to shoot the archers on the wall. They attacked with all their might, without any defense at all, and fought at the risk of their lives to get rid of Murong Ye.
Si Shachong made a gesture to his assassins, then took Murong Ye and rode away to the north.
In order to cover Murong Ye's escape, these assassins rushed forward in wave after wave.
As soon as the first wave falls, the next wave will quickly make up for it.
The death squad escorting Murong Ye fought and retreated, and did not want to fight any longer.
However, when Murong Ye rushed out of Xue Wuzhi's encirclement, most of his nearly one hundred soldiers were killed, leaving only about thirty people still following his horse firmly.
Seeing that Xue Wuji did not catch up, Si Sha said to Murong Ye thankfully, "Your Highness, we got out!"
Although they were all injured to some extent, as long as His Highness was safe and sound, those dead warriors died for a good cause.
At this moment, Murong Ye suddenly discovered that there was a man on horseback blocking their way.
He was startled, and only when he got closer did he see the other person's face clearly, "Fifth brother?"
In the alley between the two palace walls, Murong Nan led a team of people and had been waiting here for a long time.
Originally, when Chu Xinyue told him that Murong Ye was going to rebel, he didn't believe it.
At this moment, he looked at the man whose clothes were stained dark red by blood, his eyes full of disappointment and anger, "Why? Second brother, why do you want to rebel?"
"Fifth brother, didn't you see clearly when I was under house arrest in the Imperial Hospital? Murong Che simply couldn't tolerate me. He wanted to stab me with a knife himself! Even if I don't rebel today, he still won't let me go!"
In order to escape, Murong Ye had been stumbling on the horse, and the wound on his abdomen had burst several times.
He was so nervous just now that he didn't feel any pain, but now the pain in the wound was so piercing that he even trembled when he spoke.
Murong Nan slowly raised the sword in his hand, pointed the tip of the sword directly at Murong Ye's face, and shouted at him, "Second brother, I must keep you here today!"
As Murong Ye's confidant, Si Sha knew very well how good the relationship between the brothers Murong Ye and Murong Nan was.
He glanced at Murong Nan, who had a determined look in his eyes, and asked Murong Ye in a low voice, "Your Highness, what should we do now?"
Murong Ye looked at Murong Nan who was ten feet away from him and said to Si Sha, "Murong Nan's fighting skills are not good enough, so just leave two assassins to hold him back. We must leave the capital as soon as possible and head north to meet up with my sister!"
The moment Murong Ye decided to take action, Murong Mian left the capital overnight.
She is Murong Ye's last resort.
If Murong Ye's rebellion failed, he could retreat to the northern border with Murong Mian and be protected by Jiang Yuanshan's 100,000-strong army.
The Northern Frontier is a bitterly cold land thousands of miles away from the capital, bordering the Northern Desert and Japan. If they can join forces with the Northern Desert and Japan, they may be able to compete with the Kyushu army.
What's more, he will create some trouble for Murong Che before leaving.
"Yes!" Si Sha responded, and then thought that Murong Nan was definitely no match for the assassins, so he said, "I will definitely tell the assassins to show mercy and not to harm King Kang's life."
"No need. If necessary, you can just take his life."
Murong Ye looked at Murong Nan, who liked to follow him around since childhood, from such a long distance. It seemed as if he saw the crybaby little boy through him.
Unfortunately, Murong Nan didn't know that Murong Ye had planned to cause him to fall into the ice cave, and that Murong Ye's rescue of him was also carefully planned, all in order to win him over to his side.
Since Murong Nan chose to stand on Murong Che's side, he doesn't need to show mercy to his men.
Si Sha received his instructions and pointed at the two assassins beside him, "You hold back King Kang, and the rest of you follow His Highness to fight your way out of the encirclement!"
These assassins seemed to feel no pain during the fight, and would deliver a fatal blow to their opponents even at the risk of getting injured themselves.
Murong Nan's troops were quickly at a disadvantage in the fight that almost ended in a fight to the death.
One of the assassins took advantage of Murong Nan's unpreparedness and slashed the horse's leg with a sword.
The horse felt pain and threw Murong Nan off its back.
Murong Nan was caught off guard and was thrown to the ground, rolling several times before stopping.
Before he could even catch his breath, the assassin swung the long sword at his head.
Murong Nan fell to the ground, his whole body felt like it was falling apart, and he was in so much pain that he had no time to dodge.
At this moment, there was a muffled "whoosh" sound, and a long arrow shot from behind the assassin and hit his left atrium.
The assassin froze in his sword-swinging motion, and then he fell to the ground, dead.
Such fast and accurate archery!
Murong Nan looked up with a lingering fear, and when he saw the slender figure on the horse, his eyes lit up instantly, "Ayue!"
The person who came was Chu Xinyue.
She looked at Murong Nan, who was covered in dust, and frowned in disdain, "I told you, you can't do without me!"
Murong Nan raised his hand to wipe the blood foam from the corner of his mouth, looking aggrieved, "If you hadn't arrived in time, my life would have come to an end!"
Chu Xinyue rode up to him and held out her hand to him, "Come on up."
Murong Nan extended his hand to her, and she gently pulled Murong Nan onto the horse's back. "After a stroll through the gates of hell, do you now see Murong Ye's true face clearly?"
"From today on, I will pretend that I don't have this brother!"
Murong Nan glanced in the direction of Murong Ye, stretched out his hands and tightly hugged Chu Xinyue's waist, "Ayue, you saved my life, I will definitely follow your orders from now on... Over there! Si Sha is trying to take Murong Ye away!"
Chu Xinyue looked up and saw that Si Sha, despite being repelled by the assassins, was protecting Murong Ye and breaking out of the encirclement.
Seeing that their horses were about to run out of the trap, Chu Xinyue calmly drew her bow and arrow.
call out!
The sound of an arrow breaking through the air rang out without warning.
The long arrow hit Murong Ye's back accurately.
Murong Ye's body stiffened in severe pain, and his hands holding the reins suddenly loosened.
“Your Highness!”
Si Cha let out a low roar, leaped from his own horse onto Murong Ye's horse, and at the same time reached out to grab Murong Ye who had fallen off the horse.
He pulled Murong Ye back onto the horse, holding the reins with one hand and supporting Murong Ye with the other, squeezing the horse's belly tightly, "Drive——"
Murong Ye had already been injured in the abdomen, and now he was hit by an arrow in the back. His body was covered in blood, and the waves of tearing pain made his body tremble uncontrollably.
Every detail of his journey replayed in his mind frame by frame.
He suddenly started laughing, and his laughter got louder and louder.
There was a mocking smile on his handsome face, which was as pale as paper.
"Your Highness, what's wrong with you?"
Si Sha listened to his miserable laughter and felt a great tightness in his heart.
Murong Ye's cracked lips opened and closed, and he asked in a hoarse voice, "Si Sha, am I taking the wrong road?"
He always acts decisively, and once he has determined the direction, he will go forward without hesitation.
However, now his most capable subordinates are leaving him one by one.
Liu Sanniang, Liu Siniang, Ye Ya, and the warriors who were trained with countless efforts...
"Your Highness, the road to becoming an emperor is a journey of sacrifice for one general. You are not wrong, it is Murong Che who is pushing you too far!"
"Yes, if he hadn't pressed me so hard, why would I have chosen to take action in such a hurry? He wants to force me to death, and I can't let him off easily! The Nanzhao envoys led by Meng Shi are about to arrive in Lingnan, right? Notify the assassins following them that you can take action now. Make sure they die in Jiuzhou and provoke a war between Nanzhao and Jiuzhou... cough... cough cough..."
Before Murong Ye finished speaking, he started coughing violently.
Si Sha heard his cough and his heart was in his throat. "Your Highness! How are you? Can you still hold on?"
Murong Ye panted for a long time before he stopped coughing.
He closed his eyes with a pale face, his thin lips opened and closed, and after a long time he spoke in a low hoarse voice, "I'm fine, I'm just too tired. I want to sleep for a while, and I'll be fine when I wake up..."
After that, the whole person seemed to lose strength and slowly fell into Sisha's arms.
Si Sha looked at the fallen man, and was so nervous that his heart almost jumped out of his throat, "Your Highness! Your Highness!"
He called out several times, but Murong Ye didn't respond at all.
Si Sha quickly slowed down the horse, stretched out a hand and put it under Murong Ye's nose. When his fingers felt the hot breath from the man, the tense string in his head finally relaxed.
Fortunately, fortunately!
His Highness is still alive!
Just now, His Highness instructed him to sow discord between Nanzhao and Jiuzhou and plunge southern Xinjiang into war again. He will definitely not let His Highness down!
Now that His Highness is seriously injured, the more chaotic the situation in Jiuzhou is, the better it is for them!