The prince is more stable

Chapter 998 The Whole City Was Alarmed
That night, Bianjing City was like a drop of water falling into a boiling oil pot, and the entire city exploded.

At dawn, before daybreak, the imperial palace urgently dispatched wave after wave of imperial guards. Di Zi, the commander of all the guards, personally led the troops out of the palace, and the sound of their orderly footsteps broke the silence of Bianjing in the night.

The constables from Kaifeng Prefecture also arrived, forming a human wall with frightened expressions to block the onlookers. The Kaifeng prefect was disheveled, clearly having just been woken up from his bed.

Zhen Qing, from the Imperial City Guard, knelt before Zhao Xiaoqian with a face full of self-reproach, repeatedly begging for forgiveness.

All the city gates of Bianjing have been sealed off, and the imperial guards have cleared the area around the Daxiangguo Temple to protect Zhao Xiaoqian, Chen Shou, and others.

Many imperial guards generals rushed over, only to learn that the emperor had been assassinated that night.

The generals were shocked, then their faces turned furious. What kind of world is this? How could someone be so crazy as to dare to assassinate the emperor? Does he have a grudge against his own family?

The fighting continues on Zhouqiao East Street.

The Imperial Guards who came to reinforce had surrounded the assassins. Remembering Zhao Xiaoqian's instructions, they tried to capture them alive, so the Imperial Guards were unable to subdue the assassins for a while, and the battle was somewhat deadlocked.

At this time, Zhao Xiaoqian had gathered several thousand imperial guards around him, so there were no safety issues. Zhao Xiaoqian then got up, helped up the almost exhausted Chen Shou, and the remaining few imperial guards, and slowly walked towards East Street.

Officials from Bianjing kept arriving, including the prime minister Zhang Dun, as well as officials from the Council of State Affairs, the Privy Council, and the Palace Guard.

A large crowd of people, all wealthy and noble, gathered in front of the Daxiangguo Temple, making it almost like a court assembly.

After the civil and military officials gathered together and learned the cause of the incident, they were all terrified, and cold sweat poured down their faces.

Zhang Dun and other high-ranking officials wanted to step forward to pay their respects, but upon seeing Zhao Xiaoqian's face, which was filled with sinister murderous intent, Zhang Dun couldn't help but feel fear and dared not step forward, for fear of offending the emperor.

Zhao Xiaoqian helped Chen Shou, and the two walked step by step toward East Street like two brothers who depended on each other for survival.

Civil and military officials followed silently behind him, while the imperial guards on guard moved slowly with the emperor's steps, clearing and sealing off the vicinity in advance.

Walking onto East Street, where the battle had just raged fiercely, one finds the ground littered with corpses—some of them comrades from the Imperial Guards, others of assassins.

At this moment, in the open space outside a restaurant on East Street, hundreds of imperial guards had surrounded the assassins. After the fierce fighting that night, the assassins had suffered heavy losses, and now only about twenty people remained, all of them wounded.

Most of them were exhausted and could no longer stand upright; they just stood there, bent over and panting heavily.

A military commander, standing a dozen paces away, was still earnestly trying to persuade the assassins to lay down their weapons, surrender, and that the government would spare their lives.

Most of the assassins had stiff expressions and empty eyes. They had killed many Imperial Guards tonight, but they knew they had failed.

Their target was Zhao Xiaoqian, but Zhao Xiaoqian was unharmed, so killing more imperial guards would be pointless.

These assassins must have been specially trained. Judging from their meticulous plan to set up the assassination plot, it was clearly a carefully planned operation. With such a meticulous plan, Zhao Xiaoqian had at least three brushes with death tonight.

Poisoning, surprise attacks, sieges—if any of these were not avoided, the Song Dynasty would face national mourning.

Therefore, there must be someone behind this group directing and orchestrating the operation. In fact, there should be an entire team behind them planning to maximize the success rate of the assassination.

At this point, the assassins' operation had completely failed, and they were about to bear the consequences of their failure.

Of the remaining twenty-odd assassins, some had resolute expressions and gripped their swords tightly, while others had shifty eyes and a yearning for survival in their gaze.

When Zhao Xiaoqian arrived outside the encirclement of the Imperial Guards, they made way for him, but fearing for his safety, they still had guards standing in front of him with shields to protect him.

Having just fled in a sorry state, ten comrades from the Imperial Guard sacrificed their lives to save Zhao Xiaoqian's life. Less than half an hour later, Zhao Xiaoqian returned with thousands of troops. When the assassin's eyes met his again through the wall of men, both revealed a chilling killing intent.

The Imperial Guard commander was still shouting, urging them to lay down their weapons and surrender, but the assassins huddled in a circular defensive formation, ignoring the commander's calls.

Zhao Xiaoqian frowned. He knew the Imperial Guard generals wanted to capture him alive for interrogation, but Zhao Xiaoqian was getting impatient.

Grabbing his short-barreled flintlock pistol, Zhao Xiaoqian swiftly shot the head off the most determined-looking assassin in front of him.

After a loud bang, the assassin fell to the ground. Zhao Xiaoqian put away his gun and said sternly, "After three counts, those who lay down their weapons will be considered to have surrendered. Those who do not lay down their weapons will be killed on the spot. Imperial Guards, prepare your muskets!"

With a loud bang, the Imperial Guards soldiers leveled their flintlock muskets and aimed at the group of assassins.

"one!"

"two!"

The extreme psychological pressure finally made the assassins lose their composure. Of the remaining twenty-odd assassins, not everyone was willing to die; some of them wanted to survive.

With a clang, the swords of four or five assassins fell to the ground.

The remaining assassins turned and glared angrily, about to unleash a torrent of curses, when the Imperial Guards fired their guns. A puff of smoke dissipated, and only four or five of the assassins who had surrendered remained standing; the rest lay dead on the ground.

Zhao Xiaoqian stared coldly at the corpse on the ground, then suddenly shouted, "Where is Liu Dan of Bingjingwu?"

A slightly plump figure emerged from the crowd of court officials behind him. Liu Dan's face was deathly pale, and his lack of sunlight made him appear particularly sinister in the darkness. Yet, at this moment, he was giving Zhao Xiaoqian what he thought was a fawning smile, making him look more like a wronged ghost who had sneaked into the country through the gates of hell in the middle of the night.

"Your subject Liu Dan is here."

Zhao Xiaoqian didn't bother to look at him. He pointed to the four or five surviving assassins and said indifferently, "These people are yours. Dig out who's behind them, and do it cleanly. I don't care about the methods or whether they live or die. I just want their truthful confessions."

Liu Dan bowed and smiled obsequiously, "Your Majesty, rest assured, I will deliver the confession to you within a day."

The assassins were taken away by the Imperial City Guard and the Bingjing Bureau. They probably didn't know the reputation of the Bingjing Bureau, and they left with a rather indifferent expression. They believed the Imperial Guard general's words and thought that they could live by laying down their weapons and surrendering. They thought that what followed was just a matter of being interrogated.

If they had actually heard of Bingjingwu's reputation, they might have envied their comrade who had just died so easily.

East Street remained blocked. The Imperial Guards began to clean up the aftermath in an orderly manner, carrying away the bodies of their comrades and assassins, and washing the blood-soaked ground. The Kaifeng Prefecture officials began to review the events, retracing how the assassins had set up the trap and carried out the assassination.

Zhen Qing, from the Imperial City Guard, knelt before Zhao Xiaoqian to plead guilty, admitting with a face full of self-reproach that the Imperial City Guard had lost its vigilance and failed to investigate any unusual activity in Bianjing beforehand, thus placing the Emperor in a dangerous situation.

The prefect of Kaifeng and Zhang Dun and others stepped forward one after another, first to pay their respects, and then, regardless of whether they were responsible or not, they all apologized to Zhao Xiaoqian.

Zhao Xiaoqian glanced indifferently at Zhang Dun and the others. As an emperor, when faced with such a heinous assassination attempt, he would inevitably implicate others and even trigger a major purge of the court.

Whether someone was guilty or innocent was not within the emperor's considerations. The emperor only knew that he had been assassinated, which was a serious provocation against the dignity of the emperor.

To consolidate imperial power, it was necessary to ruthlessly eliminate all rivals and let the world know that this emperor was not to be trifled with, and that offending him would result in the extermination of one's entire family.

But Zhao Xiaoqian was not a foolish ruler after all. Although he had escaped death tonight and was indeed angry, reason told him that he had to stay calm.

The Song Dynasty is currently implementing new policies internally and waging wars to destroy other countries. It is a critical period for the country's rise. If such a huge case is handled at this time, involving too many people, it will not be good for the Song Dynasty.

There's a clear cause for every wrong, and Zhao Xiaoqian had no interest in dragging unimportant people into this case.

Zhang Dun, the prefect of Kaifeng, and even the Imperial City Guards—these people were all innocent.

With a population of up to one million in the vast city of Bianjing, how could the imperial court distinguish between good citizens and assassins with so many people entering and leaving every day?

Therefore, it's a stretch to say that Zhang Dun, Zhen Qing, and the others are guilty. They really can't be blamed; they can only blame their bad luck. Who told them to finally get out of the palace only to encounter such a thing?

"Get up, everyone, and go home. Today's court assembly is cancelled. We'll discuss everything once we receive news from Bingjingwu," Zhao Xiaoqian said slowly.

Zhang Dun and the others breathed a sigh of relief, bowed respectfully, and remained silent.

"Chen Shou."

"The minister is here."

Zhao Xiaoqian closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again and said sadly, "Give the fallen comrades a proper burial, send their parents, wives and children to receive preferential treatment, and from now on, the court will grant them favors and support their parents, wives and children. When their children and grandchildren grow up, they will be given priority to join the Imperial Guard."

"On behalf of my fallen comrades, I thank Your Majesty for your grace," Chen Shou said, clasping his hands in gratitude.

"I owe them my life..."

Zhao Xiaoqian stood silently in the quiet open space of East Street for a long time, his mind still flashing back to the brave and fearless scene of the soldiers who had just sacrificed their lives. He could not even name some of them, but they had paid the price of their lives for him.

Thinking of those who died fighting for him, Zhao Xiaoqian's resentment towards the assassins grew even stronger.

He gritted his teeth and emphasized, "Tell Liu Dan that after the interrogation, those assassins need not be spared, and don't let them die too easily!"

"Your subject obeys the decree!" Zhen Qing replied readily.

Bianjing was bustling with activity tonight. Even before dawn, when everything was over, the people of Bianjing were all awake.

People gathered everywhere in the streets and alleys, whispering about everything that had happened that night. A faint smell of blood still lingered on East Street. Many people stood at the street corners, pointing to the location of the fierce battle and telling those who were unaware what had happened.

Escorted by the Imperial Guards, Zhao Xiaoqian returned to the palace. As soon as he alighted from his carriage at the palace gate, a group of women surrounded him.

Di Ying and the other women looked anxious and surrounded him. Several hands touched his whole body, and they asked him anxiously and worriedly where he was injured.

Zhao Xiaoqian forced a few laughs, pretending nothing had happened, and casually recounted the dangerous scene of the night.

(End of this chapter)