Chapter 607: The Curtain Falls

"By the grace of Heaven and the mandate of the Emperor, the decree states: The Sixth Prince Zhao Fang, as a member of the Imperial Clan of Great Song, does not think to serve the Imperial Clan, but instead maintains close ties with the traitor Yuan Li in secret, intending to rebel. His crimes deserve death. I hereby order the Regent Zhao Xu to reclaim Jinzhou and apprehend him. Respect this!"

In the Prince's Council Hall, Liang Cheng held the Imperial Edict and read it aloud to Zhao Xu.

Not long after the news reached Zhao Heng that the Sixth Prince had defied the Imperial Edict and intended to rebel, Liang Cheng arrived.

Handing the Imperial Edict to Zhao Xu, Liang Cheng smiled obsequiously and said, "The Emperor said that the Sixth Prince has committed grave errors repeatedly, and he has already shown leniency several times. Now, he has done all that benevolence requires. Your Highness need not worry about him; just act according to your own ideas."

Zhao Xu nodded; Zhao Fang was, after all, an Imperial Prince.

Before killing Zhao Fang, he felt it was still necessary to inform Zhao Heng.

Now that Zhao Heng had promised this matter, he no longer had any concerns.

Accepting the Imperial Edict, Zhao Xu ordered men to head to Feihu Pass.

There, Niu Cha commanded ten thousand of the Prince's Personal Army.

This time, he had Niu Cha lead five thousand men to Jinzhou to apprehend the Sixth Prince.

According to the intelligence provided by Xu Ke, during this period, the Sixth Prince had scraped together an army of over thirty thousand men.

After all, the population of Jinzhou was only so large; this was basically the limit.

Now, the Sixth Prince was going everywhere to press-gang men; in his view, no matter how he scraped, he could not assemble an army of more than eighty thousand.

Moreover, because Jinzhou was surrounded by Yancheng and Sizhou, the Sixth Prince's army could not access muskets or artillery at all; what they currently used were merely swords and Armor.

Furthermore, because this army was forcibly conscripted, the soldiers' morale was worrying, and their training was extremely poor; they were nothing but a rabble.

More importantly, even among these thirty thousand soldiers, seventy percent were under his control. As soon as he gave the order, these seventy percent of the troops would mutiny, leaving the Sixth Prince with no place to be buried.

However, to reduce the casualties of these soldiers, he still decided to let Niu Cha make the trip.

Five thousand Wangfu Army soldiers holding Rifled Musket, combined with the internal response attacking from both sides, would resolve the battle quickly.

Two days later, Zhao Xu's order arrived at Feihu Pass.

After counting five thousand troops, Niu Cha led the army toward Jincheng.

Once the Prince's Personal Army set out.

The Sixth Prince's men sent the discovered news to Jincheng.

The Sixth Prince immediately broke out in a cold sweat.

He said to Yuan Hang, "I knew the Yan Wang just wanted me dead. Whether I accept this Imperial Edict or not makes no difference. Since that is the case, let us fight to the death."

Yuan Hang nodded, his heart tightening at the same time.

Originally, they thought they could attack Yanzhou from both sides with Qi.

But clearly, the Yan Wang would not give them this opportunity at all and was prepared to resolve the Jinzhou problem immediately.

Just as the Sixth Prince said, they had no choice but to fight the Yan Wang to the death.

"Your Highness, I will go count the troops now and defend Jincheng to the death, hoping to hold out until Qi attacks Yanzhou."

"In that way, we will be safe then."

The Sixth Prince nodded and urged Yuan Hang to go quickly.

At the same time, while Niu Cha was marching toward Jincheng, Xu Ke also secretly dispatched personnel to enter Jinzhou.

After arriving in Jincheng, they made contact with the internal response in the Sixth Prince's army.

They were to cooperate with Niu Cha to take Jincheng.

Three days later, the five thousand troops commanded by Niu Cha arrived outside Jincheng.

Looking at the soldiers on the city walls wearing tattered Armor of various colors and holding swords, he and the generals burst into laughter.

"This Sixth Prince truly does not shed tears until he sees the coffin. Relying on an army like this, he still wants to fight us; it is simply a pipe dream."

Having said that, Niu Cha ordered the generals beside him to line up the twelve pieces of Artillery they brought in front of the North Gate of Jincheng.

Once, this city was captured by the Yan Wang, which established the victory of the Jinzhuzhizhan.

The blood and tears of the Yanzhou soldiers flowed on this land; now that they had returned, they were only taking back what belonged to them.

"Boom, boom, boom..." As the Artillery were set up, Niu Cha immediately ordered the attack on the city. He had nothing to say to the Sixth Prince inside the city; there was no need for idle talk.

Most of the Sixth Prince's army were young and strong men snatched from the countryside; otherwise, they could not have scraped together so many soldiers.

These soldiers only stayed in the army out of fear; they did not want to fight at all.

Now that the Artillery sounded, they were scared to death; after all, many people had never seen this thing in their entire lives.

The fear of loud noises is engraved in the instinct of every living creature, and humans are no exception. Many soldiers were so scared that they covered their ears and squatted on the ground.

Just then, the sound of "Bang, bang, bang" came.

On the city walls, the Sixth Prince's personal guards, dressed in bright armor, fell one after another.

These were the elites the Sixth Prince brought from Jingshi; it was precisely through these elites that the Sixth Prince controlled the troops under his command.

Niu Cha realized this point, so he had the soldiers aim their fire at these guards, which would quickly disintegrate this ragged army.

Sure enough, the death of these guards seemed to free the soldiers from their shackles; many soldiers simply lay on the ground and would not get up again.

"Kill!"

At the same time, bursts of battle cries pierced the clouds.

However, this sound did not come from outside the city, but from inside the city.

When the Artillery sounded, the generals who had received the secret order from the Four Courts led their soldiers out to kill.

Their slogan was simple: "Kill the Sixth Prince, Jinzhou belongs to the Yan Wang."

During the Jinzhuzhizhan, the people of Jinzhou begged the Yan Wang to stay, but at that time, without the Imperial Court's order, the Yanzhou Army could only withdraw.

Now that the Yan Wang had fought his way back, how could they not respond to the call?

Moreover, compared to the soldiers resisting Niu Cha, these soldiers were as spirited as if they had been injected with chicken blood, excitedly waving their swords, each running faster than a rabbit.

Facing a formidable enemy outside the city and internal chaos inside the city.

When the news reached the Prince's mansion, the Sixth Prince was frightened out of his wits.

He thought he could hold out for ten days or half a month, but he did not expect that he would be unable to hold on after only the first day.

Just as he was thinking this, Yuan Hang rushed in in a panic, grabbed the Sixth Prince, and ran outside.

"Your Highness, hurry and leave! The rebel soldiers are about to arrive at the Prince's Mansion; if we don't leave now, it will be too late."

As he spoke, he helped the Sixth Prince put on a set of clothes; these were the clothes of commoners.

After changing their clothes, they walked out of the Prince's Mansion, attempting to hide in a civilian residence and find an opportunity to escape Jinzhou.

Once outside the gates of the Prince's Mansion, the rebel soldiers had already charged over; Yuan Hang immediately ordered the guards to resist, while he took advantage of the chaos to lead the Sixth Prince away.

But they had not even gone a hundred meters when they were suddenly surrounded by a group of people.

They were none other than members of the Four Courts.

During this time, they had been keeping a close watch on the Sixth Prince's mansion; how could they let the Sixth Prince escape just like that?

Seeing there was no way to escape, the Sixth Prince fell to his knees on the ground with a "thump."

He cried out: "Don't kill me, don't kill me! Please tell Yan Wang that I surrender. Ask him, for the sake of us being brothers, to spare my life. From now on, I am willing to serve him faithfully and work like a beast of burden for him."

"You are thinking too much; His Highness Yan Wang has ordered that you remain in Jincheng forever," one of the Four Courts members said.

Having said that, they brandished their swords and blades and charged toward the Sixth Prince and Yuan Hang.

Amidst cries of agony, the Sixth Prince and Yuan Hang fell into a pool of blood.

Once the Sixth Prince was dead, the guards under his command no longer had the will to resist and surrendered one after another.

Before long, the four city gates opened, and Niu Cha led his troops to flood into Jincheng, officially taking control of the place.

Then, he ordered for the news to be sent to Yancheng.