Fan Li stood guard on either side of the Crown Prince, drawing his sword and confronting the Imperial Guards.
"Where is Wu'an?" the Crown Prince roared.
"Her Highness the Princess is praying for His Majesty and will be here shortly. Your Majesty, you should hurry and write the decree of succession, otherwise..."
The emperor, who was barely breathing, suddenly found the strength to pick up the jade ruyi from beside his pillow and smash it over there.
But he didn't have much strength, and the jade ruyi fell off the bed, rolled twice, and then stopped.
He mumbled something, but it was too inaudible to understand.
The look in Eunuch Fu's eyes suddenly turned cold.
"In that case, we can only deal with His Highness the Crown Prince first, and then His Majesty can write the edict of succession."
As he spoke, Eunuch Fu waved to the imperial guards, who then charged toward the crown prince.
Fan Li was fighting with these people when Eunuch Fu frowned as he looked at the sky outside. He gave someone a signal, and someone bypassed Fan Li to assassinate the Crown Prince.
The prince drew his long sword from his side, but he couldn't fight off several people by himself. Just as a sharp blade was coming towards him, a group of people rushed into the palace.
A troop of imperial guards escorted Princess Wu'an in.
The man who had just been attacking her quickly stopped and bowed to her.
Princess Wu'an met the Crown Prince's gaze across the crowd, smiled slightly, and gave him a courtly salute.
"Wu'an greets the Crown Prince."
“I don’t have a sister like you. It seems Father has spoiled you for nothing. How dare you do such a rebellious thing.”
"What's wrong with doing this? If I don't do it, how could I possibly have the chance to sit in that position? I'm not like my brother, the Crown Prince, who was born to be the Crown Prince."
"Although you are a princess, your father loves you dearly. He even gave you the most prosperous Wu'an as your fiefdom. How can you do this to your father?"
As she spoke, Princess Wu'an looked at the bed, her gaze falling on the trembling, aged hands, before she looked away.
"Affection? But after she found out I wanted to fight for that position, didn't she still try to kill me? Stop pretending, there's no room for kinship in this palace today."
As soon as she finished speaking, the emperor, who was lying on the bed, struggled to sit up.
"Rebellious son!"
The Emperor glared angrily at Princess Wu'an, and the Crown Prince quickly put down his sword to help the Emperor up.
"Father."
"If I had known you harbored such ambitions, I would never have spared your life!"
Princess Wu'an laughed wildly, and when she stopped, she subtly wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes.
"But now it's Father Emperor and my Crown Prince who are in danger. It's getting late. After I deal with this, I still need to go and support General Meng in eliminating the traitor. But since Father Emperor and my Crown Prince won't cooperate, I'll have no choice but to use force."
As she spoke, she took a step back, and all the Imperial Guards in the room attacked the bed.
The crown prince has no martial prowess; if they were to hack him down with their swords, he would surely die.
Before their swords could even touch the prince, an arrow shot from an unknown direction struck them squarely in the forehead, killing them instantly.
Everyone in the palace was on edge, and Eunuch Fu and the Imperial Guards surrounded Princess Wu'an to protect her.
Who is it?
Princess Wu'an looked around warily.
When the Imperial Guards were besieging the capital, they had already taken stock of the people around the Crown Prince.
The Emperor and Crown Prince should be alone at this time, while Zhao Shi'an is also fighting Meng Ran...
No, Zhao Shi'an and Meng Ran are fighting, but the people from Fengyulou are everywhere.
"Princess, be careful!"
Eunuch Fu exclaimed in surprise, then stepped in front of Princess Wu'an.
Princess Wu'an came to her senses and saw a hidden arrow piercing Eunuch Fu's chest.
"Grandpa Fu!"
“Curtains…”
With great difficulty, he uttered those two words, and then Grandpa Fu breathed his last.
Princess Wu'an looked up at the imperial bed, where the man in black who had been hiding jumped out.
There were only two men in black, but each of them had a small but powerful black iron crossbow strapped to his hand.
"Your Highness, a group of men dressed in black have suddenly appeared outside!"
A member of the Imperial Guard stumbled in.
Princess Wu'an's expression changed drastically.
"Kill the Crown Prince and the Emperor first!"
Princess Wu'an gave the order, and a large number of imperial guards poured in, beginning a fierce battle.
Meanwhile, ten miles outside the capital, Zhao Shi'an and Meng Ran faced off.
Their two armies had clashed before, but neither side could gain the upper hand. Now, news had come from the palace that he had to cooperate with Princess Wu'an to attack the capital and join her.
Although Zhao Shi'an's forces were fewer in number than his, they were not easy to deal with.
He had to admit that Zhao Shi'an was a brilliant strategist.
He was already struggling to deal with Zhao Shi'an, and there was no point in continuing to wear him down. He just wanted to end things quickly and then go around to meet up with Princess Wu'an.
But just as he led a portion of his troops to the city gates of the capital via a roundabout route, Zhao Shi'an, who was supposed to be stationed ten miles away, was waiting for him outside the city gates.
The lights were on full display, illuminating half the sky.
At this moment, the city gate was closed, and Zhao Shi'an stood at the gate with more than a dozen personal guards, seemingly waiting for him to arrive.
If Zhao Shi'an had troops at his disposal, he might have been wary, but with only a few men around him, there was really nothing to fear.
"Zhao Shi'an, you'd better open the city gates for me right now, or Princess Wu'an will be the first to cut off your head after she succeeds!"
Zhao Shi'an calmly took a step forward.
Are you sure Princess Wu'an can succeed?
"Nonsense! How can that useless Crown Prince compare to Princess Wu'an? Princess Wu'an is magnanimous; otherwise, we would have dealt with that Crown Prince long ago. Why wait until today?"
"I originally intended to persuade you to surrender today, but judging from your appearance, I don't know how Princess Wu'an hypnotized you. Anyway, you probably won't listen to anything I say. Since that's the case, then I have no choice but to offend you."
After saying this, Zhao Shi'an waved his hand, the city gate opened, and Xiao Liu led more than a dozen men, escorting an old woman, a young woman, and three boys out.
It wasn't until he saw them that Meng Ran's expression changed drastically.
"Mother! You audacious scoundrel, how dare you lay a hand on my mother, wife, and children!"
Zhao Shi'an gave Xiao Liu a wink, and Xiao Liu's longsword landed on Meng Ran's mother's neck.
The Eighth Prince's men worked day and night to send Meng Ran's family to the capital. The family was already in a bad mood due to their fear and anxiety. When the Sixth Prince put his long sword to her neck, the old lady was so frightened that her legs went weak.
"Son, quickly save your mother! We must turn back before we do anything rebellious!"
Meng Ran's eyes were bloodshot with rage, and he wished he could tear Zhao Shi'an apart.
"You despicable scoundrel! Threatening me with women and children, what kind of hero are you?"
Zhao Shi'an scoffed.
“I’ve never considered myself a good person, but General Meng, you’re probably worried about more than just them right now. Don’t you think about how I managed to get your mother, wife, and children to the capital, since they’re all in the heart of Yizhou?”
Meng Ran was stunned for a moment, an idea echoing in his mind, but he couldn't believe it.
"How could this be? It's impossible..."
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