Jiuxi

Chapter 771 769 [To the Emperor]

After hearing the emperor's answer to the fourth prince, more than ten princes had different expressions. Some pretended to be calm, some looked panicked, and some were pale and full of fear.

At this time, the Sixth Prince Wu Lie said sincerely: "Fourth brother, stop it, you have already lost, why do you have to make a fuss until you die without a burial place?"

The fourth prince turned his head and stared at the other party fiercely with red eyes, but Wu Lie showed no fear and sighed, "If I am not mistaken, although my father only brought 4,000 soldiers to the hunting ground, he must have deployed elite soldiers outside in advance. You and Jiagu Yong's troops have no hope of winning, otherwise they would not have been unable to arrive until now. As for this side, my father has also been prepared. The Hezha warriors were not poisoned. Your people have no chance of winning."

The fourth prince said nothing, but there was a mad look in his eyes.

Wu Lie said calmly: "Even if you kill us, you can't change my father's attitude. Don't you understand my father's temperament? If you really do that, my father will definitely nail you to the pillar of shame in Dajing and make you hated for thousands of years. In addition, even if you don't consider yourself, you have to think about the queen and the loyal subordinates around you. Do you really want to force my father to kill?"

The Fourth Prince sneered twice in extreme pain, then looked back, only to see that the Hezha warriors were fighting more and more bravely and had begun to counterattack, while more and more of his subordinates were killed and wounded. At this time, not to mention continuing to threaten the emperor, even protecting themselves became difficult, and they could only retreat step by step to his front.

At the same time, more than 2,000 elite soldiers ambushed by Emperor Jing on the eastern mountain approached and immediately surrounded the entire banquet venue. Among them, more than a hundred armored and armed tiger soldiers advanced forward, forming a two-sided encirclement with the Hezha warriors beside Emperor Jing in front and behind.

Right now, the bargaining chips in the Fourth Prince's hand consist of only the lives of more than ten princes, apart from the more than forty loyal subordinates who are still standing.

As for Jiagu Yong and the four followers he brought with him, although they were not poisoned due to the Fourth Prince's reminder, they were completely powerless to change the situation at this time.

Not to mention the emperor who stood tall and majestic, Jiagu Yong also did not have the courage to face Qing Yugong in the distance.

There is no doubt that Jiagu Yong is deeply regretting his decision at this moment, because of his ulterior ambitions, because he wants to gain the credit of being a follower of the emperor, and more importantly, he wants to change the current situation of the Jiagu family being inferior to others. He finally chooses to stand with the Fourth Prince, and then stands up to force the emperor to abdicate at the most critical moment.

If he had not seen Sagai's martial arts lost and more than a dozen princes being controlled by the blade, how could he have made up his mind to stand up? But in the end, he was one step behind, and this was originally a trap set for him by Emperor Jing.

But there is no regret medicine in this world.

At this moment, the eunuch who had received the authorization from Emperor Jing shouted loudly, and the Hezha warriors and the armored soldiers who arrived later temporarily stopped their attack and surrounded the Fourth Prince, Jiagu Yong and dozens of others.

Emperor Jing stood under the canopy, his cold eyes swept over the subordinates of the Fourth Prince, and he said in a deep voice: "You are so audacious and reckless that you attempted to assassinate the emperor. This is simply an unforgivable crime! I will give you one last chance now. Put down your weapons and surrender, and send the princes here unharmed. I will only take your heads and will not implicate your relatives. Otherwise, your entire family will be executed, and your property will be confiscated and your clan will be exterminated. This will be your fate!"

"Who dares!"

The Fourth Prince shouted angrily. He knew of course that the situation was now under the control of the Emperor, but as he had said before, the only thing he felt was unwillingness.

His subordinates did not give up resistance immediately because of the emperor's words, but at this moment they were not looking at the Fourth Prince, but at the middle-aged scholar beside Brother Hai, actually waiting for this person's decision.

This scene made Qing Yugong narrow his eyes slightly, and his deep gaze fell on the scholar's face for the first time.

Emperor Jing was standing on a high place, and he could see all the people's reactions, and he also noticed the seemingly ordinary scholar.

The fourth prince turned his head and said with guilt and despair: "Sir——"

"Your Highness, I said that day that it would be my honor if I could follow Your Highness to death in this life."

The middle-aged scholar bowed, then glanced at the sharp soldiers in front of him. He saw hesitation and indecision in their eyes, so he said to the Fourth Prince sincerely: "Your Highness, now that things have come to this, let them decide for themselves. It will not be in vain for your Highness to have such a master-servant relationship with them."

The fourth prince was silent for a moment, then he smiled sadly and said to everyone, "Did you hear everything?"

These people are his loyal followers whom he has carefully cultivated over the years, and in recent years they have been led by middle-aged scholars.

Since they dared to show their weapons to the emperor, they were naturally fearless people. But in the final analysis, like Jia Guyong, their original intention was not to seek death, but to hope to have a meritorious service from the emperor and rise to prominence from then on. Now that things are impossible, they will definitely not survive, but if they can avoid implicating their relatives, they will definitely not hesitate to follow the fourth prince and continue to go crazy.

The most important thing is that the emperor made a promise in front of everyone, which was the last straw that broke the camel's back for these warriors.

The middle-aged scholar saw through this, so he advised the Fourth Prince not to make any unnecessary struggles.

Even if the Fourth Prince ordered the killing of more than ten princes, the people below might not obey.

Under the gaze of many important ministers and nobles, after an unknown amount of time, someone finally dropped the steel knife in his hand.

The sound of weapons falling to the ground spread quickly.

Emperor Jing watched this scene from afar, his expression remained unchanged, as if the escape of more than a dozen princes from danger was not a very important matter to him.

The Hezha warriors and elite soldiers loyal to the emperor immediately stepped forward, restrained the Fourth Prince, Jiagu Yong, the middle-aged scholar and dozens of elite soldiers, and at the same time escorted a group of princes to the imperial court.

At this point, the overall situation has been decided.

The third prince Wu Yan and the second prince Na Gu immediately stepped forward. Everyone was filled with mixed emotions at this moment, as if they were in another world.

"Father."

Led by the third prince Wu Yan, more than ten princes knelt in a row. "Step back."

Emperor Jing waved his hand without trying to comfort them. He walked forward a few steps, looked at Qing Yugong and said, "Prince of Changshan."

Qing Yu bowed his head and said, "I am here."

Emperor Jing looked at him thoughtfully, and said slowly: "Besides the 4,000 soldiers I brought with me outside the hunting ground, there are also 8,000 elite soldiers ambushed in the southeast. At the moment, they are fighting with the rebels, and they may not be able to annihilate the rebels in a short time. Since the prince has not been poisoned and is the military god of Dajing, it should be easy to deal with this rebel army. I plan to send you to command on the battlefield and settle the overall situation as soon as possible. I wonder if the prince is willing to share my worries?"

The wind was blowing sadly, and most people were looking at Qing Yugong at the same time.

The Fourth Prince's rebellion seemed like a child's play under the Emperor's countermeasure, but Qing Yugong was obviously not as simple as the Fourth Prince.

Looking at the previous details, Qing Yugong's attitude was indeed somewhat ambiguous. Although he did not explicitly stand on the side of the Fourth Prince, whether it was the details of his confession of the poison, or his action of only protecting Qing Yu Huaijin when the Fourth Prince's subordinates attacked the Hezha warriors, it showed that the Prince of Changshan seemed to be struggling between inner thoughts and inner desires.

However, given the chaotic situation at the time, it was natural for Qing Yugong to choose to be cautious, and it did not mean that he was disloyal to the emperor.

Qing Yugong remained calm and said calmly, "It is my honor to share your majesty's worries."

"very good."

Emperor Jing nodded slightly and said in a clear voice: "I will hand over Jiaguyong to you. You must quell the rebellion before sunset."

"The minister obeys the order."

Qing Yugong bowed and then turned around and walked out.

"Father——"

Qing Yu Huaijin's voice suddenly sounded, and at this moment Qing Yu Zhongwang was also standing beside her.

Qing Yugong turned his head and looked at the two of them, saying gently, "Don't worry, you and Zhongwang will stay here and listen to His Majesty's instructions."

The meaning of this sentence was very clear. Qing Yu Huaijin moved his lips, but in the end he said nothing.

Qing Yugong knew very well that this was still a test from the emperor. Even if he was allowed to command the troops outside the hunting ground, it did not mean that he could do whatever he wanted. He thought that the emperor had already instructed the generals in advance.

He left his two children here. Although the emperor certainly did not agree with him taking them away, he also used this sentence to express his true feelings to the emperor - there were indeed many contradictions between the monarch and his subjects, but he always hoped to limit the conflicts to a controllable range. He never thought of choosing a desperate approach like the Fourth Prince.

Several Hezha warriors escorted Jia Guyong and followed Qing Yugong through the human wall formed by the imperial guards and went straight to the outskirts of the hunting ground.

Emperor Jing looked quietly at Qing Yugong's back, recalling the words that this man had told Qing Yu Huaijin.

The expression of this ambitious king was gloomy. Regarding today's situation, he never took the Fourth Prince seriously. He just wanted to give the other party a chance to see how many people would jump out.

Except for the area near the hunting grounds, he had already made arrangements in advance around the outskirts of Dadu and inside the city. After all, this was the foundation of his twenty years of business. Even Qing Yugong could not guess how deep the emperor's control over this city was.

Trying to attack Emperor Jing in Dadu was an impossible task.

In the end, Qing Yugong did nothing. Although he did not behave as loyally as Sagai, it still surprised Emperor Jing.

Was I really too suspicious in the past?

At this time, the Hezha warriors had already taken the Fourth Prince's subordinates away and handed them over to the guards who were surrounding the place outside for temporary custody. Only the Fourth Prince and the middle-aged scholar were left in the banquet venue. The civil and military officials and the Jinglian nobles could finally relax a little.

Only the bloodstains on the open space in the middle reminded everyone that a brutal fight had just taken place here.

"Everyone, please take a seat."

Emperor Jing spoke in a calm tone. After everyone bowed, they returned to their seats. Only the Fourth Prince and the middle-aged scholar who were controlled by the Hezha warriors were left in the room.

"Bring the scholar forward."

Emperor Jing seemed too lazy to pay attention to today's protagonist, the Fourth Prince. Instead, he looked at the middle-aged scholar who was escorted by two Hezha warriors, his eyes as cold as thousand-year-old ice.

The middle-aged scholar sighed softly, came to three feet away from the imperial court, raised his ordinary, weathered face, and looked at Emperor Dajing who was sitting high on the throne.

Looking at each other from a distance.

(End of this chapter)