Chapter 590: Mixed Battle

"Princess, Xiao Cheng is leading troops toward the Imperial Palace. Han Zheng, Liang Cheng, and the others have all left Jingshi. The Xie Family has also made their move; their men have seized the West Gate of the Imperial Palace and the North Gate of Jinling City, preparing to rescue the Emperor."

In the garden pavilion of the Chun Wang Mansion, a woman in green was reporting the current chaotic situation in Jinling to Liu Yanyu.

"What is Chun Wang doing?" Liu Yanyu did not answer, but asked instead.

"After we spread the news, the Prince went to see General Wei," the woman said.

Liu Yanyu frowned slightly. "Jinling is in great chaos, and he is taking this opportunity to rescue the Emperor. That blockhead, why is he so loyal to that muddled ruler Zhao Heng?"

After a pause, she said, "However, Zhao Heng is not entirely stupid. Years ago, he had Wei Zheng feign defection to Xiao Cheng, and now it can finally be put to use. The play in this Jinling City is becoming more and more interesting."

When news of Yan Wang's great victory at Ningjin Dusi arrived, she decided to make the Dou Family's secret public.

Some time ago, Yan Wang was constrained by the Northern Di, and a plague was rampant in Yanzhou.

If the war between the Imperial Clan and the powerful clans were officially ignited, she feared the Imperial Clan would lose completely.

But now, she believed the time had come.

For one, the Northern Di had suffered heavy losses and would not pose a threat to Yan Wang in the short term.

For another, it also allowed her to see Yan Wang's strength.

She wanted to use Yan Wang's power to eradicate all the powerful clans that had participated in the plot to murder the Jin Prince.

Therefore, taking advantage of Dou Wei summoning the powerful clans to the mountain villa, she immediately ordered people to spread the news.

She also sent the evidence to Xie Huanghou so that the Xie Family would understand that this was not a rumor, but fact.

Thus, the secret could not be concealed, and Dou Wei had no choice but to take a desperate risk.

The Xie Family had always sought stability and did not wish for Da Song to fall into chaos, so that the First Prince could smoothly inherit the throne.

Facing the disaster triggered by Dou Wei, the Xie Family would inevitably strike back.

When that time came, if Dou Wei failed, he would certainly flee back to Jingzhou to declare independence.

If the Xie Family were defeated, then Dou Wei's claim to power would be illegitimate, and other powerful clans would also take the opportunity to declare independence.

In short, no matter what, her goal had been achieved.

Only when the world was in chaos would Yan Wang be unable to remain in a corner and be forced by her into this chaotic situation of Da Song.

As she was thinking, a servant hurried over and said to Liu Yanyu, "Princess, the Prince asks you to go to the Jinling Pier immediately. A boat has been prepared there to take the Princess to Yanzhou."

"Yanzhou?" Liu Yanyu was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized, thinking to herself, "So that's it, this is their plan. Hmph, very well, let that muddled ruler Zhao Heng live a little longer. That way, Da Song will be even more chaotic, and Yan Wang will have to fight whether he wants to or not."

……

At the same time.

The West Gate of the Imperial Palace.

The sound of killing was everywhere.

Just as Zhao Heng and Xie Huanghou arrived at the West Gate, a unit of the Imperial Guard rushed over, blocking their path.

The commander leading this Imperial Guard was the Xiao Family general, Xiao Qian.

Seeing this, Xie Huanghou

immediately ordered Xie An to lead troops to charge over.

Taking advantage of the chaos, she ordered soldiers to protect Zhao Heng and Mi Fei as they boarded a carriage, and under the protection of cavalry, they galloped toward the North Gate.

Not long after the carriage left the palace gate, Xiao Cheng arrived with a large group of men.

Looking at the Imperial Guard fighting, his face was cold as frost, and he said to the generals beside him, "Pursue! Whoever captures the Emperor and Mi Fei will be rewarded with one hundred thousand taels of silver and titled Wanhu Marquis!"

Hearing this, the generals felt a surge of excitement, and a large number of cavalry galloped away. Xiao Cheng also followed, leaving behind only a troop to assist Xiao Qian in fighting Xie An's Imperial Guard.

Jinling was prosperous, and the streets were crowded with people.

Xie Huanghou's carriage could not gallop at full speed and had to slow down from time to time to avoid pedestrians.

Compared to the carriage, the cavalry was more flexible on the streets.

Before long, the pursuing cavalry discovered the carriage, and the cavalrymen lashed their whips, urging their warhorses forward.

Inside the carriage, Xie Huanghou sat on the left, and Zhao Heng sat on the right.

Watching the cavalry about to catch up, Xie Huanghou became increasingly anxious, constantly urging the coachman to go faster.

Zhao Heng, however, looked at the street, seemingly waiting for something.

Originally, he had always carefully maintained the balance between the Imperial Clan and the powerful clans.

Because he knew that as long as the balance was not broken, the powerful clans and Yan Wang would both be under his control.

But he never expected that a few months ago, news of the plague in Yanzhou would suddenly reach Jinling.

Through investigation, the powerful clans concluded that Yan Wang would not survive this plague, so they decisively took action to kill the Imperial Guard generals he had promoted and seized control of the Imperial Palace.

He, the Emperor of Da Song, was sidelined overnight and became a puppet of the powerful clans.

The state affairs of Da Song no longer passed directly through his hands, but were reviewed directly by the Cabinet composed of powerful clans.

From then on, he became completely disillusioned with the powerful clans and plotted to flee Jingshi for Yanzhou.

Perhaps Yan Wang did not care for him, but they were father and son after all.

He did not ask for Yan Wang to be respectful to him, only to be able to spend the rest of his life in peace in Yanzhou.

For this reason, he summoned Chun Wang many times, nominally to find relief from boredom, but actually to plan his escape from Jinling through him.

Over the years, Chun Wang had always acted as if he only knew how to eat, drink, and have fun in front of others, almost deceiving everyone.

Only he knew that Chun Wang was not stupid, and the name he bestowed upon Chun Wang was not intended to humiliate him.

It was to deliberately create the illusion that he looked down upon Chun Wang.

Most importantly, because Chun Wang had an important handle held by him.

Even if the whole world betrayed him, Chun Wang would not betray him.

Otherwise, even if he died, someone would spread his handle far and wide.

Therefore, he instructed Chun Wang to secretly find Wei Hao, whom he had planted beside Xiao Cheng, to plan the escape.

Unexpectedly, before this plan could even be implemented, Jinling fell into great chaos because of the matter involving Dou Wei.

He believed that with Prince Chun's intelligence, he had already gone to find Wei Hao by now.

After all, this was a rare opportunity for them.

And while in the palace, he had reminded Liang Cheng once more.

Just now, during the chaotic battle at the West Gate, Liang Cheng had seized the opportunity to send a young eunuch to find Prince Chun.

Imperial Concubine Mi was caught between Zhao Heng and Empress Xie, panicked and confused.

She knew that a major incident had occurred in Jinling, and she might die in the ensuing turmoil.

Thinking of this, she suddenly remembered Zhao Xu, and tears streamed down her face like rain.

Now, her only regret was that she could not see Zhao Xu one last time.

While lost in thought amidst the jolting of the carriage, the carriage suddenly came to a violent stop and overturned onto the ground.

Then she heard loud sounds of metal clashing, screams, and roars.

Crawling out of the carriage, he saw two groups of men fighting, while nearby commoners screamed and fled, creating a scene of utter chaos.

Just then, she suddenly felt a great force, and she was dragged into the chaotic crowd.

She was about to scream when a voice suddenly said, "Imperial Concubine, do not be afraid; we are the men of Yan Wang."

Having said that, they pulled Imperial Concubine Mi away and disappeared into the crowd.

Both Zhao Heng and Empress Xie had fallen in a rather disheveled state.

In the tense moment, neither of them had thought of Imperial Concubine Mi.

Just as the two were at a loss, a general rushed out, pulled Zhao Heng onto the back of a horse, and rode away.

Empress Xie, who had been guarding the carriage, was also lifted onto a horse by the Xie Family Cavalry and headed toward the North Gate.