Jiang Shuwan sipped her tea with relish. There were also some snacks in the carriage box. When she tasted something delicious, she asked the guards to send some to Qingxing and the others in the back.
Pei Yanzhi's carriage was at the front. When the news of his assassination attempt came, Jiang Shuwan almost choked on a piece of hibiscus cake.
She knew Pei Yanzhi had been having a hard time in court lately, but she never expected that someone would actually try to kill him on his way to a banquet in broad daylight.
After swallowing the hibiscus cake, she quickly jumped off the carriage. Jiang Yao heard the sounds of assassins and clashing weapons, and she huddled in the carriage, trembling.
"In broad daylight, under the clear sky, how dare you kill someone? Have you gone mad...?"
Liu Yunyan was also quite frightened; her thin, beautiful face turned pale instantly. However, she still staggered and followed Jiang Shuwan off the carriage and ran forward.
Ahead, a cold light flashed and sword shadows flew everywhere.
The assassins, wielding sharp blades, slashed at Pei Yanzhi like ghosts. The sound of clashing blades and swords echoed through the sky, ringing out as if tearing apart the cold air.
Blades clashed, sparks flew.
This was just a routine banquet, and he didn't bring many guards. The assassins were numerous and had been lying in ambush, so Pei Yanzhi's side was at a disadvantage for a while.
"cousin……"
Before Liu Yunyan could finish speaking, Jiang Shuwan covered her mouth, pressed her head down and hid behind the carriage, not letting her show her face.
"Are you good at fighting or killing? Going there now will only cause trouble."
Liu Yunyan originally wanted to run towards Pei Yanzhi, but after hearing Jiang Shuwan's words, she didn't dare to go over. She just anxiously hid behind the carriage, staring at the assassins attacking Pei Yanzhi with bloodshot eyes.
"Cousin, you absolutely can't be hurt..."
Jiang Shuwan wasn't too worried about Pei Yanzhi's safety. If a minor official couldn't even dodge a mere assassination attempt, he would have died eight hundred times over.
However, as time went on, seeing that Pei Yanzhi had already suffered several knife wounds on his arm, he became somewhat anxious.
In his previous life, when Pei Yanzhi introduced the commercial tax, he already held great power. The eldest son, the crown prince, and various powerful families in the court had been almost completely wiped out by the fourth son, so there was little resistance to the implementation of the commercial tax.
In this lifetime, commercial taxes appeared ahead of schedule, Pei Yanzhi's influence was not yet fully established, the power of aristocratic families was overwhelming, and the eldest prince and the crown prince were at their most powerful.
It can be said that all three parties could be the instigators of this assassination.
If Pei Yanzhi was truly killed...
Her heart sank as she thought about it, but she couldn't think of a solution for the time being.
In this real, brutal situation, even if she were incredibly clever and resourceful, she would have no use for it. She could only hope that the patrolling soldiers would arrive soon.
Speak of the devil and he appears.
A troop of soldiers rushed from the end of the long street like an iron torrent. Their steps were uniform, and the sound of their boots hitting the stone pavement was crisp and powerful, like the booming of war drums.
Sunlight shone on their gleaming armor, reflecting a dazzling light that was almost blinding.
The leading general, in particular, was clad in red armor, with sharp eyebrows, fierce eyes, a straight nose, and a sculpted, angular face.
He looked a few years older than Pei Yanzhi, but considering his position as the city defense commander, he was quite accomplished at a young age.
"General Fei Hong".
Jiang Shuwan's eyes lit up when she saw him.
Before Lu Shaogan, General Fei Hong, who came from a humble background, was clearly the fastest-rising military officer, especially since he had the merit of saving the emperor.
They were considered part of the old emperor's faction.
Of course, most importantly, Jiang Shuwan knew that General Fei Hong was also one of Pei Yanzhi's trump cards.
Otherwise, if it were someone else, who knows whether they were there to rescue or kill?
Upon hearing Jiang Shuwan's voice, Fei Hong, who was riding on horseback, paused for a moment. It was not surprising that he recognized Jiang Shuwan, since she would send a batch of silver to the palace on the first and fifteenth of each month.
He now oversees the curfew, and Jiang Shuwan got together with Su Gonggong from the palace after the curfew was lifted.
By the time they finished handing over the items, it was already past midnight. Although Pei Yanzhi didn't say it explicitly, he secretly sent someone to escort them home.
He secretly followed her a few times during that time, so he could immediately recognize that the woman hiding by the carriage was Jiang Shuwan.
But the fact that Jiang Shuwan recognized him was a bit mysterious.
How could a young lady who rarely goes out recognize him at a glance?
With these doubts in mind, Fei Hong didn't slow down. He charged forward with his horse, and without saying a word, he knocked two assassins away with his twelve-foot red spear.
With Fei Hong and his group joining the fray, the assassins were no match for them. The assassination was over in no time, leaving blood flowing on the ground and forming shocking dark red streams.
The assassins' bodies were scattered everywhere, some with twisted limbs, some with their eyes wide open, lying in the cold snow as if they had died with their eyes open, some half-buried in the snow, and some still clearly visible.
The air was thick with the pungent stench of blood, making one want to vomit.
Pei Yanzhi held a sword in his right hand, standing expressionlessly in this hellish scene, with the corpse of a boy at his feet.
Fei Hong walked over and turned the body over, examining the tiger's mouth, hands and feet, and found that they were covered with thick calluses.
He immediately exclaimed in surprise, "Huh?"
He had seen many assassins trained since childhood, but such thick calluses would take thirty or forty years of training to form.
So he quickly parted the "boy's" disheveled hair and sure enough, he saw a weathered old face with skin as deep as ravines.
"Great, you actually fooled me!"
Yin Quan came over with his sword, and was shocked when he saw the corpse.
Previously, this person was of the same height as an ordinary child, so he mingled with the children and had a snowball fight, getting his head covered in snow.
His hair was disheveled, making him look like a beggar and obscuring his face. Plus, he had many children, so he really didn't notice.
"Your Highness, are you alright?"
"It's just a minor injury."
Pei Yanzhi touched the wound on his left arm and nodded slightly.
Hearing this, Fei Hong grinned and laughed heartily, "It's good that you're alright. If the Marquis's son had been assassinated in broad daylight, and something had happened to him, I'm afraid I would have been held responsible."
As he spoke, he clasped his hands in a fist salute to Pei Yanzhi, introduced himself and his official position, and acted as if he were not familiar with Pei Yanzhi.
Pei Yanzhi was also cold to him, saying, "Thank you for your trouble, General."
"You're welcome, it's my duty."
After Fei Hong finished speaking, he went to check the other corpses, especially their mouths. When he pried them open, he found that their tongues had been pulled out.
"What a grand gesture! Training these assassins must have cost a fortune. It seems the young master has offended quite a few people."
Fei Hong said jokingly, then glanced at the corpses scattered on the ground.
Of the more than thirty, apart from those killed by guards and soldiers, the rest committed suicide by biting open the poison hidden in their mouths, which shows that the people behind these suicide warriors were determined to do so.
However, they left two survivors, both with their jaws dislocated and the poison in their mouths extracted, making suicide impossible for them.
"Your Highness, please come with us."
Fei Hong said to Pei Yanzhi.
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