After figuring things out, Guan Hongsheng immediately rejoined the battle, fighting as he approached Li Qiji and whispered, "Your Majesty, where is Yue'er? I haven't seen her."
While hitting her, Li Qiji said, "She's in a safe place."
Guan Hongsheng was relieved and, holding his shuriken, began to slash at the men in black. Were these thieves going to fight to the death?
The battle lasted for about 15 minutes before all the men in black were finally wiped out.
Some had already jumped into the sea and escaped, so they were no longer pursued.
The sky gradually began to lighten with the first light of dawn. Everyone was exhausted. The beach was tinged with a reddish hue, and with the sea breeze, the smell of blood became even more pungent and unpleasant.
"Reporting to the general, they are Japanese." A soldier walked up to Chen Jianjun and Guan Hongsheng and reported very solemnly.
"Damn it, these Japanese, I haven't even settled accounts with them yet, and they dare to send so many people to raid our camp."
Chen Jianjun stood up, wiped the sweat from his face, and cursed.
Guan Hongsheng weakly raised his hand and tugged at his sleeve, saying, "Don't be angry. Aren't you tired? I can't even lift my arm now. Rest for a while, then quickly count the number of people."
"The Japanese sent a group of highly skilled martial artists. We suffered heavy losses this time. This is a warning to us."
Guan Hongsheng recalled the men in black from last night; their martial arts skills were something ordinary soldiers couldn't withstand.
After Li Qiji finished fighting, he went to the place where Guan Zhiyue was hiding. Guan Zhiyue was very worried in the space and hadn't slept at all.
She and Xiao Tuantuan stared at the big screen, feeling very worried. Now, they finally saw Li Qiji coming to find them.
She quickly slipped out of the space and hugged Li Qiji tightly, asking, "How are you? Are you alright?"
"Yes, just some minor scratches, nothing serious. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, I'm all inside the space."
Li Qiji looked Guan Zhiyue up and down with some concern, and only relaxed when he saw that Guan Zhiyue was indeed fine. He then pulled Guan Zhiyue to sit down.
He then said, "This time we suffered heavy losses. The black-clad men we sent were all skilled in martial arts, and many of our ordinary soldiers were killed."
As Guan Zhiyue listened, she clenched her fists. She knew that Japanese people liked to fight in groups, not separately. They would usually gang up on one person. Their soldiers were suffering because they didn't know martial arts.
"What about the special squad? Hasn't General Chen distributed those guns yet?"
Li Qiji shook his head. "I guess we didn't have time to give it to them yet. After all, we just gave it to them yesterday afternoon, and then we were ambushed last night."
"These people are too arrogant; they're completely disregarding us!"
"Let's just send troops directly. Since they are so ruthless, then we will be ruthless too."
Guan Zhiyue clenched her fists and said fiercely, not wanting to leave any trace of survival for the Japanese.
"Alright, let's send troops directly."
——
In the capital city.
Although Li Qishang did not go to the battlefield, a huge upheaval still occurred in the capital.
After receiving a letter from his elder brother yesterday, he joined forces with Prime Minister Su to formulate a series of plans.
They were preparing to arrest the concubines in the harem, but before they could even begin, trouble broke out on the Empress Dowager's side.
"You audacious thief, release the Empress Dowager! You're all alone now. Do you still intend to resist?" Li Qishang gripped his fan tightly as he pointed at the woman who was holding a dagger to the Empress Dowager's neck.
"Hahaha, what a joke, am I the only one here?"
"Hey, Prince Xiaoyao, are you really the Prince Xiaoyao? Don't be so naive, okay?"
"If I were alone, how dare I try to hold the Empress Dowager hostage? Open your dog eyes and see who's behind you!"
Upon hearing the woman's words, Li Qishang mechanically turned around and saw Grand Secretary Liu leading a large group of soldiers rushing in from outside, along with some familiar ministers from the court, all standing together.
Su Xu and Li Qishang stood back to back, looking at everyone in the hall, who seemed both strange and familiar.
"Grand Secretary Liu, it's actually you?" Li Qishang looked at the old man in disbelief.
Grand Secretary Liu chuckled and stroked his beard, then mocked, "You carefree prince, are you surprised? Are you delighted? It's me, this old man."
"Old Lao has worked diligently for so long, yet he's still just a Grand Secretary. This pretty boy has only been in office for a few years, but he's already climbed to the position of Grand Secretary. He's really putting us old guys on the ground and grinding us into the dirt."
"There are also daughters of other ministers who, after being sent to the palace, were treated like neither human nor ghost. Your brother is not a good emperor."
He dotes on only one woman in the harem, while our daughter lives a life worse than death in the deep palace, enduring a living widowhood every day. Have you so-called royals ever considered their feelings?
"If you don't want it, why agree to it?"
As Grand Secretary Liu spoke each word carefully, those who had daughters serving as concubines in the palace and who had not been promoted for a long time all clenched their fists, as if they were determined to bring the Li family down to the ground tonight.
"Chongyi, release the Empress Dowager immediately, and I will guarantee your life. But if you dare to harm the Empress Dowager in the slightest, I will have you skinned alive."
Li Qiji saw that Empress Dowager Xin's neck was already bleeding, his eyes were bloodshot, and his hand holding the fan was trembling.
Chongyi, also known as Tong Chunfang, laughed and looked up. "You carefree prince, don't you know what kind of occasion this is? Your words are completely unreliable."
Shang Yao shook her head at Li Qishang, signaling him not to provoke the woman any further. Su Xu, who was standing back to him, also whispered a reminder, "Don't provoke her anymore. Nobody knows what will happen next."
Li Qishang took a deep breath and slowly said, "What are you two trying to do? A concubine colluding with a minister?"
"Oh no, it should be said that you ministers colluded with Japanese pirates, sold state secrets, and even joined forces with foreigners to invade our own country."
"You traitors, do you know that this will lead to the extermination of your entire family, nine generations of your relatives?" Li Qishang said, enunciating each word clearly.
Some ministers looked at Grand Secretary Liu in shock after hearing Li Qishang's words.
"Your Excellency, didn't you say you were here to seek justice for our daughter? That's why we agreed to come. Now you've turned us into traitors... This..."
Some ministers looked at Grand Secretary Liu in disbelief. They were convinced he was being deceived, and by a very powerful one at that.
"That's not a capital offense. You're going to die anyway, so what are you afraid of?"
Upon hearing this, the ministers' eyes widened in shock. They had been branded traitors, and their families were to be executed.
"What? Scared now? You're scared now? What were you doing before?"
Li Qishang looked at the ministers as they spoke, word by word, and he was furious. How could there be such stupid ministers?
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