Chapter 37 Stance
Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw Princess Ruian, Xiao Yue, wearing a phoenix-patterned cloak and escorted by a group of guards from the princess's residence, slowly walking out from behind the pillars.
She remained calm, as if what lay before her was not a battlefield of corpses and blood, but her own backyard.
"Xiao Yue! Are you here to die?!" Xiao Yu's eyes flashed with malice.
Xiao Yue ignored him, her gaze sweeping over the assembled ministers as she slowly said, "Second brother keeps talking about purging the court of corrupt officials, but now that Father is in a coma and the truth is still unclear, you can't wait to slaughter your own brothers and coerce the ministers. Is this your way of being a ruler?"
Unable to win with verbal sparring, Xiao Yu's eyes flashed with anger as he prepared to order a final all-out attack to completely wipe out the Qing Palace.
From outside the palace came a commotion even more intense and massive than the fighting inside.
The earth-shaking sound of horses' hooves, the heavy thuds, and the deafening shouts of battle grew louder as they approached.
"Report! Your Highness! Something terrible has happened!" A rebel captain, his face filled with terror, scrambled over. "Xuanwu Gate! Xuanwu Gate has been breached!"
"The General Who Guards the North has led his elite troops into the city!"
"What?! Shen Wei?!" Xiao Yu's smug expression froze instantly, turning into disbelief and shock.
"How could he be in the capital?! Without the Emperor's Tiger Tally, how dare he leave the Northern Frontier?! Are all the guards at Xuanwu Gate useless?!"
Before his exclamation had even faded, a well-equipped army in black armor, like an iron torrent, broke through the rebel rear and quickly cleared a path.
The leading general, nine feet tall, clad in heavy black armor and helmet, wielded a terrifying long-handled sword. Wherever the sword went, blood and flesh flew everywhere. This was none other than Marquis Zhenbei and General Zhenbei, Shen Wei!
The Second Prince Xiao Yu was terrified when he saw Shen Wei descend like a divine warrior, but he had managed to build his power over many years and did not immediately collapse.
He abruptly reined in his warhorse, brandished his sword and pointed it towards the Vermilion Bird Gate, which faced the Xuanwu Gate, and roared sharply, "Quickly! Send the signal! Tell the elite cavalry stationed at the Vermilion Bird Gate to come and protect me immediately! Hold them off for me!"
As he roared, he directed the rebels to fight and retreat, attempting to move towards the Vermilion Bird Gate and join forces with the troops he had pre-arranged to provide support and block the outside world, hoping to launch a counterattack.
The rebels followed orders and moved towards the Vermilion Bird Gate to consolidate their formation. However, before they could even regain their footing, deafening battle cries came from the direction of the Vermilion Bird Gate.
Xiao Yu was initially delighted, thinking that the elite cavalry had arrived.
But the sound grew closer, and the flags and armor that appeared were clearly not of the Beijing Garrison style.
A force, though smaller than the Zhenbei Army, was far more elite and fierce, and pierced the rebels' back from the direction of Zhuque Gate.
The leader, with his black hair tied high, wielded a silver spear with the agility of a dragon emerging from the sea, causing rebel soldiers to fall and their horses to tumble wherever he went.
It was Shen Qinglan.
At this moment, she was dressed in a neat riding and archery outfit, with light armor on top. The heroic spirit between her brows and eyes was further enhanced by the bloody atmosphere of the battlefield, making her appear even more unstoppable.
With a flick of her spear, she sent a rebel general flying, and shouted, "Shen Qinglan, the left vanguard of the Princess's residence, is here! Traitor Xiao Yu, surrender now!"
The rebels were caught in a pincer movement, unable to defend themselves, and their formation quickly fell into disarray. They were compressed into an ever-shrinking area in front of the Qianqing Palace, becoming like turtles in a jar.
Xiao Yu was surrounded by his personal guards, with nowhere to retreat. Looking at the desperate situation before him, his face was filled with disbelief and madness.
He stared intently at the composed Xiao Yue, and roared hoarsely, "Impossible! This is absolutely impossible! The Vermilion Bird Gate is heavily guarded! How could you have entered silently?! Unless..."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Yue's lips curled into a mocking sneer, her gaze as if she were looking at a hopeless fool:
"Second brother, isn't it a bit too late to think about this now? You should have thought about how I got through your so-called 'impregnable fortress' as soon as you saw me here unharmed."
Xiao Yu's pupils constricted sharply as a thought he least wanted to believe surfaced, and he trembled with rage: "Traitor! There's a traitor! Who is it?! Which despicable villain has betrayed me?! Show yourself!"
"Heh," Xiao Yue scoffed, "So you can't handle losing and just blame others for betrayal? You push all the blame onto others and think you're always the one who's been let down. You're still as arrogant and pathetic as ever."
The situation had become one-sided, which calmed the Queen somewhat, but she still felt uneasy, as if something bad was about to happen.
Just then, a woman dressed as a palace maid, covered in blood, stumbled in, crying and collapsing to the ground: "Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Something terrible has happened! The Fourth Prince... the Fourth Prince is missing!"
This palace maid was clearly someone close to the Fourth Prince. The Empress was struck dumb, her voice changing drastically: "What—?!"
Her appearance made the fact that the Fourth Prince had met with misfortune seem even more believable.
The Empress lunged forward, gripping the palace maid's arm tightly, her nails almost digging into her flesh: "How did you take care of her?! My Jin'er—"
Before she could finish speaking, she was pulled away by Duke Xie.
Duke Xie kicked the crying palace maid several steps away.
"Nonsense!" Xie Wei's voice boomed. "His Highness the Fourth Prince is protected by skilled guards. How could a mere palace maid like you be allowed to get close enough to decide his life or death?! Your failure to die for your master in times of crisis is surely a blatant lie to mislead the public!"
Xiao Yue's gaze hardened. This Xie Wei was a slippery character. His words were not only refuting the palace maid, but also reminding the Empress and everyone present.
"This servant...this servant is not lying! This servant was guarding the Fourth Prince, but for some reason, I suddenly felt weak all over, and then everything went black and I fainted."
Wait, wait until this servant wakes up, and the Fourth Prince is gone!
"I rushed off to find them, but on the way I encountered rebel soldiers and nearly lost my life..."
As if suddenly grasping at a straw, she cried out urgently, "It was...it was Chief Ling! It was Chief Ling who led the men to rescue me! Chief Ling can testify for me! The scene was chaotic at the time, and the guards...were indeed killed or wounded many times..."
"Lord Ling?" The Empress murmured to herself upon hearing the familiar name.
"Your Majesty, Lord Xie, what she said is true."
A voice came from behind Shen Qinglan's group, and the crowd suddenly parted to the sides like a tide, making way for them.
Under everyone's gaze, a figure slowly walked out.
Ling Wei, dressed in the blue official robes of a seventh-rank palace official, stood out conspicuously amidst the carnage of the battlefield.
She was followed by Su Jingyu and several other female officials of lower rank.
Behind them were several men dressed in the attire of low-ranking eunuchs, with unusually sharp eyes, and even carrying blood-dripping daggers.
Ling Wei walked steadily through the automatically parting crowd, standing silently beside Princess Xiao Yue of Ruian, with Su Jingyu on either side.
This position says it all.
Empress Xie, who had been wavering between panic and hope, immediately had a bad feeling when she saw Ling Wei appear in the princess's camp in this manner:
“Ling…Ling Wei?! You, how could you…”
Upon hearing this, Ling Wei merely turned her head slightly, her gaze calmly meeting the Empress's shocked look.
At this moment, no further words are needed; the stance is clear.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com