Chapter 366 Kill Without Mercy
Before he could finish his words, Ling Jingyu had already drawn Lu Chengxu's sword, raised his hand and swung it, directly slashing his neck.
The prefect still had his mouth open, his hands covering his bleeding throat, his face full of disbelief.
Ling Jingyu returned the sword to Lu Chengxu, his face icy cold, as if he had just done something insignificant. He then puffed out his chest and looked down at the chaotic imperial city with disdain, "I am the Son of Heaven, and I have the final say in this world! It is not your turn to interfere!"
As soon as he said this, the surroundings became much quieter. All the court officials were silent and no one dared to disobey him anymore. They all advised him to return to the palace and hide.
…
Although Qin Qingyao learned horse riding from Dugu Yu, there was a huge difference between riding leisurely for a while under the protection of her husband and riding alone at full speed for dozens of miles.
She hadn't even walked halfway when her legs felt numb.
Although she was wearing thick clothes in winter, her thighs were still rubbed raw, and the distance between her and Dugu Yu was getting wider and wider.
When she brought Zhao Xiaohe and others to the outside of Yulin City, they saw from a distance that the fighting was in full swing under the city wall.
"What's going on? Whose people are attacking the city?"
Zhao Xiaohe carefully identified them and said, "They look like soldiers from the Northwest Camp under the prince's command. However, the emperor has already announced that the prince has been dismissed from his position as general and handed over military power to a man named Lu, the commander of the imperial guards."
"Right now, even the subordinates don't know who is leading these people."
Dugu Yu gave the military token to Qin Yuelin, and Qin Yuelin gave it to Ling Jingyu. Few people knew about this.
Qin Qingyao frowned, "It seems we can't enter the city from here, let's try other directions."
Zhao Xiaohe said, "Princess, if someone attacks the city, they will definitely attack from all sides. They can't just attack this one gate."
Even if there is no fighting, the other city gates are definitely heavily guarded. Otherwise, when we attack from here, won’t the people inside all escape through other gates?
"What should we do? How do we get in? How did the prince get in?"
Zhao Xiaohe sighed softly, "I'm afraid the prince and his men had already entered the city before these people attacked it."
Qin Qingyao looked at the chaos on the city walls. Dugu Yu must have already taken action inside the city. Ling Jingyu must have made preparations and wouldn't let him rescue anyone easily.
Even if he really saved the Qin family, how could they break out with so many people in such a situation?
"It seems we have no choice but to force our way in."
"That's not necessary, Princess. I know of a secret passage that leads directly from the city walls to the palace. However..."
"I knew you didn't tell me earlier, why don't you lead the way!"
"yes!"
Zhao Xiaohe responded respectfully, but didn't have time to say that the secret passage was a fallback route reserved by the prince for emergencies, and no one would use it unless it was absolutely necessary.
Not only is the passage narrow, but the conditions inside are definitely not very good. Water accumulation is a small problem, but I'm afraid some snakes, insects, rats and ants will scare the princess. Fortunately, it's winter now, so it should be better.
Zhao Xiaohe personally took the lead, and the rest of the troops were in front and behind Qin Qingyao, protecting her in the middle.
When Dugu Yu built this secret passage, he only thought of using it to pass messages within and outside the city in case of emergency. Obviously, he did not think of sending an army into the city through here, so it was built in a simple and narrow manner, and only one person could pass through at a time.
There were more than 300 of them, lined up in a row and advanced in the dark. The air inside was so thin that it was almost suffocating, and lighting torches was a completely suicidal act.
After finally reaching the end, Zhao Xiaohe and his two men worked together to push away the large rock blocking the cave entrance.
After Qin Qingyao came out, she found that everything in front of her was so familiar. Isn't this the garden that she used to visit almost every day?
The exit is right here at the rockery in the center of the garden. Not far away are the wintersweet trees planted by her and Dugu Yu. Now, yellow flowers are blooming on the branches of the two trees, emitting a refreshing fragrance.
The pain of being suffocated in the secret passage was immediately dispelled by the fragrance of flowers.
Qin Qingyao didn't have time to appreciate her own garden and hurriedly left with everyone.
Fortunately, because of today's plan, Ling Jingyu had already transferred all the guards previously arranged outside the Wuling Palace to ambush near the prison van.
Therefore, apart from alarming some servants in the palace, Qin Qingyao and the others did not attract much attention.
Bai Zhi heard the noise and hurried to the garden. She was shocked by the scene before her. She looked at Qin Qingyao and asked nervously and excitedly, "Princess, are you...are you back?"
For some reason, Qin Qingyao always felt that Bai Zhi's words were a little strange, but she didn't have time to delve into it.
"Well, inform the steward to immediately dismiss all the servants in the palace, return their indentures to them, and give them an extra year's salary."
"When there's an opportunity, have everyone leave the city and find another way to make a living. Those who don't want to leave should keep a low profile in the city for a few days and wait for the dust to settle before looking for a way out."
"From today on, no one will be needed to serve in this palace."
Bai Zhi's eyes were red and she almost cried. She knew that their princess was really back. This was their princess, a normal princess!
"Yes, I will tell the housekeeper right away!"
Bai Zhi hurried out, and Qin Qingyao led Zhao Xiaohe towards the main gate. Zhao Xiaohe was a little worried, "Princess, if so many of us go out so blatantly, won't it be too..."
"Why, do you think we'll be in trouble if we're too conspicuous? Haha, that would require Ling Jingyu to have enough people to trouble us, right?"
She had just thought a lot in the passage. Those soldiers attacking the city outside were definitely not called by Dugu Yu, because Dugu Yu had no intention of usurping the throne or becoming emperor. Why would he attack the city?
The most likely possibility is that those people belong to Ling Jingxuan!
Ling Jingxuan is not dead, he is back, back to seize the throne! This is in line with his resourceful setting, this is what he should do as the number one male protagonist!
In this situation, what Ling Jingyu wanted to do most was to catch Ling Jingxuan and cut him into pieces. How could he have the mood to care about the hundreds of people under her command?
Ling Jingxuan was able to lead the soldiers of the Northwest Camp to attack the city, which would have been impossible without Dugu Yu's help.
Therefore, everything that happened today should have been planned and discussed by Dugu Yu and Ling Jingxuan long ago.
All of this is so similar to the original work.
Ling Jingyu, Ling Jingxuan and Dugu Yu seemed destined to be involved in a fight outside the palace walls.
However, in the original novel, it was Ling Jingyu who faked his death who suddenly rushed out to grab the jade seal. Dugu Yu took the lead and pretended to be Ling Jingxuan, attracting and eliminating most of Ling Jingyu's troops for him.
In the end, he successfully helped Ling Jingxuan ascend the throne, while Dugu Yu himself died without a complete body.
Today, Ling Jingyu is no longer the man who faked his death, but the emperor who is high above everyone else. However, Dugu Yu and Ling Jingxuan are still working together.
Dugu Yu was in the open, attracting Ling Jingyu's attention and most of the attacks, while Ling Jingxuan was in the dark, jumping out at the last moment to announce to the world that he was not dead, and then catching Ling Jingyu off guard.
The difference is that in the original novel, Dugu Yu was for Lin Xiafeng, in order to fulfill her love with Ling Jingxuan and her dream of becoming a queen.
And today, Dugu Yu appeared here and cooperated with Ling Jingxuan, all for Qin Qingyao, and to save dozens of lives in her Qin family.
She doesn't care about the original work or the reality, the settings or the plot, just forget about it!
This time, Dugu Yu must not be in any danger!
When Qin Qingyao reached the palace gate, Bai Zhi rushed over with a sword and a dagger.
"Princess, I will go with you!"
"Baizhi, please go. From now on..."
"I'm not leaving!" Bai Zhi was unusually firm. "I'm not going anywhere. I want to stay with the princess! I know martial arts, I can protect you, and I definitely won't hold you back!"
After Bai Zhi finished speaking, she stuffed the dagger in her hand into Qin Qingyao's hand.
But he didn't tell her that this was the dagger that Wu Gang had carefully selected from the armory of the royal guard camp when he took her there, and she also used this dagger to stab Dugu Yu twice!
Qin Qingyao gripped the dagger tightly and nodded to Bai Zhi, "Okay, let's go together."
The street in front of the palace was also in chaos, with people fleeing in panic everywhere, and all kinds of goods, tools, vegetables, and food thrown all over the street.
Even blood, body parts, and corpses can be seen everywhere...
When she was in the underground secret passage, Qin Qingyao knew that the situation in the city must be very serious, but what she saw with her own eyes still gave her a great shock.
Zhao Xiaohe and Bai Zhi both looked at Qin Qingyao worriedly, "Princess..."
"I'm fine. The prince must be with the prisoner carriage now. Let's go to the Meridian Gate."
Ling Jingxuan's relentless approach, Yang Tingxiao's absence, and the gradual reduction in the number of troops at his disposal have made Ling Jingyu irritable and uneasy.
"Lu Chengxu!"
"I am here."
"Liu An, replace him with archers and kill them all!"
Lu Chengxu's eyes darkened, but he immediately accepted the order, "Yes, I obey your command!"
Liu An was the deputy commander of the Imperial Guards and the main leader responsible for the ambush on Dugu Yu.
He led his men to hide in the crowd, mainly to capture King Wu Ling. There may have been some accidental injuries to the surrounding civilians, but they were few in number.
But at this moment, Ling Jingyu no longer wanted to waste his military forces on the Qin family and Dugu Yu. His top priority now was to kill Ling Jingxuan!
Therefore, he asked Liu An to replace the archers. He wanted to shoot everyone to death with arrows. The so-called 'kill without mercy' refers to everyone present, including the Qin family and King Wuling's men, including innocent civilians and their own people who did not have time to retreat!
Everyone understood what he meant, but no matter whether they were angry, sad, or anything else in their hearts, no one dared to stand up and say a word against Ling Jingyu.
As an emperor, he actually ordered the massacre of the people, while all the civil and military officials collectively chose to turn a deaf ear and a dumb.
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