Among the crowd.
Someone immediately recognized the identity of Prince Tang.
Li Gong?
Chen Sansi had never seen this man.
After the fall of Yongle Prefecture City, Li Gong disappeared without a trace.
Unexpectedly, he appeared here.
Meng Quji was in charge of the siege at that time.
According to what Chen Sansi knew.
Meng Quji was the Emperor’s only trusted aide left in the Eastern Territory.
The Emperor certainly wouldn’t kidnap someone to assassinate himself, would he?
Otherwise...
The Crown Prince?
But the problem was.
Such an incident brought no benefit to the Crown Prince himself.
Three Mysterious Phenomenons, one Martial Saint.
After eliminating the four High Realm Martial Artists, a dozen more masked assassins with Hua Jin and Meridian Passage surged from all directions, all attacking indiscriminately as well.
"Boom—"
After just a few exchanges.
The Jinyi Guard, Hu Ben Army, and West Factory, along with various troops, arrived one after another.
Li Gong still wouldn’t give up.
Shockingly, he managed to fight and retreat under the joint force of two Martial Saints until he finally leaped off the cliff, descended the steep rock wall into the valley, and quickly vanished from sight.
Huang Hong and Fan Tianfa exchanged glances before pursuing him together.
The rest surrounded the remaining three assassins.
"Protect His Majesty!"
Chen Sansi, wearing a crimson official robe and unarmed, stood barehanded in front of the Emperor, his face deathly pale, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.
"Father!"
At this moment.
Prince Qin and Prince Qi finally reacted, snatched a knife from the Jinyi Guard, and rushed forward to stand in front of the Emperor, "Father, don’t be afraid. With your sons here, the assassins will definitely not harm a single hair on you!"
"Father!"
The commander of the Jinyi Guard, the Twelfth Prince Cao Zhi, also came hurriedly with Xiu Chun’s Blade in hand. He glanced at Chen Sansi with concern, then brandished his blade to fight the assassins.
"Clang clang clang!"
The sounds of weapons clashing and armor tearing reverberated.
The three assassins were quickly overwhelmed.
In the end, two were left alive.
The chaos came to an end.
"Your Majesty!"
The frantic officials asked one after another, "Has Your Majesty been injured?"
"We deserve death!"
"We deserve death!"
"Imperial Physician, call the Imperial Physician!"
"..."
"Boom!"
Noises of combat came from the woods.
Several Imperial Physicians, each carrying the corpse of an assassin, approached the Emperor, "Is Your Majesty unharmed?"
From beginning to end.
Emperor Longqing had stood still, watching everything with detached serenity, as if it had nothing to do with him, until the dust had settled, and then he slowly walked towards the crowd.
He gazed at the corpse of the Seventh Prince on the ground, his dragon eyes calm, betraying no emotion.
"Quickly!"
Several eunuchs called out, "Escort His Majesty back to the sleeping palace!"
"The sleeping palace?"
Finally, Emperor Longqing spoke faintly, his voice like that of a dragon from the netherworld, "Yangxin Palace, court assembly."
"Assembly!"
"What are you waiting for, the officials are to attend court!"
"..."
The Jinyi Guards and others were left to deal with the aftermath. Your journey continues on freewebnovel
Officials gradually arrived at the Yangxin Palace.
"Junior brother, are you alright?"
Fang Qingyun, pushing a wheelchair, came closer, "Is your injury severe?"
"It’s okay."
Chen Sansi had kept the situation under control; it wouldn’t affect his following tasks, yet he was indeed injured.
He really didn’t want to get involved in this mess.
But the problem was...
That the assassin chose to strike just as he was walking with the Emperor.
In such a case, he had no choice.
If he didn’t protect the monarch, it would be considered a capital offense.
He had to put on a show no matter what.
"Damn it."
Wang Zhi, when no one was around, lowered his voice and said, "Who do you think did it? The Crown Prince wouldn’t be this foolish. If it’s a set-up, the methods are equally crude."
"Just watch."
Fang Qingyun said indifferently, "It has nothing to do with us."
Once everyone had arrived inside the Yangxin Palace,
Emperor Longqing had already been sitting upright on the brand-new Dragon Chair.
This Dragon Chair had been made half a year ago; a great amount of resources had been expended to transport it from the Capital City.
At the signal of the eunuch,
The courtiers paid their respects.
"May our Emperor live for ten thousand, ten thousand, ten thousand years!"
Yet, when shouting long live the Emperor, most people were still shaken, considering many of their colleagues were speaking beside them one moment, and the next, were lying in pools of blood, making their voices tremble.
Emperor Longqing didn’t speak, merely lifting his hand to signal them to rise.
Then, he left them hanging.
He left them hanging for a full two hours.
The old Emperor himself leaned on the Dragon Chair, resting with his eyes closed, not saying a word.
It wasn’t until dusk, when the glow of the setting sun slanted into the hall,
The Chamberlain Mr. Huang and the Commander of the Hu Ben Army, Fan Tianfa, along with Meng Quji and others, hurried back to report the situation.
"What’s the status?!"
Yan Maoxing asked harshly, "Was the assassin caught?"
"Your Majesty, this subject deserves to die!"
Meng Quji knelt on the ground, knocking his head hard on the floor, "The, the assassin has escaped!"
"Escaped?!"
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The entire place erupted in an uproar.
"What nonsense are you talking about, how could he have escaped?"
Prince Qin stood up and asked, "There are more than twenty thousand troops inside and outside the mountain, and with you three Martial Saints, you let Li Gong escape alone?"
"Your Majesty, we are incompetent!"
Fan Tianfa said with remorse, "After chasing him to the cliff, Li Gong used some sort of sorcery, and then he just vanished into thin air."
"Mr. Huang?"
The white-haired Chief Minister Yan Liang slowly raised his head, directing his gaze.
The Ritual Supervision Chamberlain, the eunuch Mr. Huang, who grew up with the Emperor, spoke up, "Your Majesty, what General Fan and General Meng have said is the truth, Li Gong has indeed disappeared."
"Ridiculous!"
Yan Maoxing, in anger, accused, "An assassin from an enemy state kills numerous officials, among them even a Prince, and then... just walks away? There must be a traitor, there has to be a traitor!"
"Right, right."
"There has to be an inside accomplice."
"Otherwise, he wouldn’t even be able to make it up the mountain."