“They came to me because of Father.”

On the street thick with night and blazing with torches, after Eunuch Qi finished recounting what had happened, Chu Zhao added this statement.

Zhong Changrong was stunned by what he heard. He had been in the city, gleaning fragments of information from the chaos, knowing that the Third Prince and the Crown Prince had clashed. The tightly closed city gates had cut off news, so he hadn’t known the Crown Prince was actually dead.

“Uncle Zhong, the imperial city has also been surrounded. Eunuch Qi trusted Father, so he came here to take refuge,” Chu Zhao continued. “But this place was also targeted, so I brought them to escape.”

As for the specific details—Chu Lan’s murderous intent, Xiao Xun’s visit, and so on—now was not the time to discuss them at length.

Zhong Changrong collected his jumbled thoughts. He didn’t ask much either. Right now, he shouldn’t think about anything else. He looked at the child sitting in front of Chu Zhao.

“This subject will guard the young Your Highness with my life,” he said solemnly.

Eunuch Qi said, “Seeing Miss Chu, and seeing you again, I can rest easy.”

Someone nearby let out a snort.

The three turned to look and saw it was that girl. Earlier when they were speaking, she had been standing to the side with her neck twisted away, but neither Chu Zhao nor Zhong Changrong had told her to leave. Eunuch Qi certainly wouldn’t either, since this girl had appeared out of nowhere and saved all of them.

This girl had stood to the side with her neck twisted but ears pricked up, listening to everything.

Crown Prince this, Third Prince that, death and killing and survival—she had no reaction, as if she were just listening to some excitement. Only when she heard Zhong Changrong’s declaration did she speak up.

“Guard what?” She wore a mocking expression. “This city is full of soldiers and horses. No matter whose people they are, we can be certain most of them are unfavorable to you. How will you guard him? With just these few people of yours?”

She lifted her chin to look behind Zhong Changrong. He had brought over a dozen people to the capital, but at this moment only four followed him into the city.

Zhong Changrong’s face darkened, his scar twisting fiercely as he glared at the girl.

Xiao Man wasn’t afraid of him. “Don’t think about relying on us. We don’t have many people either. Besides, we came only for—”

At this point, she glanced at Chu Zhao and didn’t continue her words.

Chu Zhao seemed to understand but also not understand as she looked at the girl. However, Zhong Changrong understood the girl’s meaning very clearly in his heart. She didn’t care about the life or death of any Crown Prince’s young Your Highness. She had only come to protect Chu Zhao. Only Chu Zhao’s life or death could make them fight desperately. These bandits—

Zhong Changrong gritted his teeth and swallowed back the words at the edge of his mouth.

Getting angry at them now was useless. Even adding them, there still weren’t enough people. The Third Prince and Crown Prince’s battle—who knew how much power they had accumulated? At this moment, everything erupted at once, determined to win, extremely fierce.

Then they could only hide first. The capital was so large—relying on these people, hiding should be achievable.

But Chu Zhao had said the young Your Highness had already been targeted. Those people had already surrounded the Chu residence. Now that they’d been eliminated, the news would spread quickly, and those people wouldn’t give up—

Zhong Changrong gripped his blade, the scar on his face twitching, his mind in chaos. If only the General were here—he wouldn’t be like him, not knowing what to do—

“Deputy General Zhong,” Eunuch Qi said softly beside him. “We do have manpower.”

Deputy General Zhong was stunned. Chu Zhao and Xiao Man both looked at him.

Manpower? What other manpower did they have? If they’d had manpower earlier, the previous situation wouldn’t have been so dangerous.

Eunuch Qi glanced at Chu Zhao. “Miss Chu probably doesn’t know why I brought the young Your Highness to the Chu residence.” He looked at Zhong Changrong again. “Deputy General Zhong should know why.”

Why? Chu Zhao was slightly stunned. Wasn’t it because of trust in Father? She also looked at Zhong Changrong.

Zhong Changrong’s expression had changed. He seemed both incredulous and sorrowful, his expression very strange, his body even trembling slightly.

Eunuch Qi looked at him and said softly, “His Majesty has always kept it, never abandoned it.”

Zhong Changrong’s expression grew even more agitated. He couldn’t even speak, only reached his hand to press against his waist, as if grasping something, yet hesitating, not daring to take it out.

“Deputy General Zhong,” Eunuch Qi looked at him and nodded. “Please summon General Chu to guard His Majesty, to guard Great Xia.”

Summon General Chu?

Chu Zhao seemed to understand something, yet didn’t understand.

Zhong Changrong said nothing more. He took a signal rocket from his waist, lit it with a fuse, then raised it high.

The signal rocket wasn’t heavy, but Zhong Changrong seemed to use all the strength in his body.

With a sharp sound, fireworks exploded in the night sky, colorful and brilliant, sketching the image of burning flames.

At this moment, heaven and earth alike seemed to be burning, eerie yet dazzling.

“Long ago, His Majesty and General Chu conceived an idea. They secretly formed a force belonging to the two of them.”

“This force had complete configuration—scouts, spies, assault troops, courier stations, and more. Members were selected from various places but didn’t leave their positions. Under their existing identities, they added one more identity, and that identity was: Dragon Authority Army.”

Under the burning flames, Chu Zhao looked up at the night sky, listening to Eunuch Qi’s soft narration.

“At necessary moments, they have the authority to act first and report later.”

“They carry Dragon Authority tokens and can freely come and go from the imperial city to have audience with the sovereign.”

“Chu Ling—on the surface he is the Guard General, but in reality, he is the leader of the Dragon Authority Army.”

So that’s how it was—Chu Zhao clenched her hands. No wonder, no wonder in that life, Xiao Xun would have her become this Empress.

Zhong Changrong looked up at the night sky. He too hadn’t seen the Dragon Authority flame signal for many years.

His voice was hoarse as he said, “After that incident, although His Majesty broke off contact with the General, the General continued as before, managing and training the Dragon Authority Army. He just never again deployed the Dragon Authority signal.”

That incident—Chu Zhao knew about it. Father and the Emperor had a dispute over the matter of suppressing bandits, then Father’s words angered the Emperor, and after that, Father was cast aside and no longer used.

Eunuch Qi also looked at the night sky. He was in the deep palace, while the Dragon Authority Army mainly fought battles in the border commanderies. This was also his first time seeing the Dragon Authority flame signal.

When the flame signal was first created, Chu Ling had described it to His Majesty. His Majesty said it looked really beautiful, but it was a pity he couldn’t see it sitting in the deep palace. Chu Ling said, then this subject will come to the capital to show Your Majesty. His Majesty had scolded him angrily then, saying if the flame signal was used in the capital, he would be in trouble and need rescuing. Chu Ling hadn’t been afraid of the Emperor’s scolding then either, laughing and saying, then this subject wishes Your Majesty will never see the flame signal in his entire life.

Thinking of this, Eunuch Qi’s eyes reddened and his nose felt sour. A lifetime was so long—who could have imagined His Majesty would indeed see the flame signal in the capital?

Aside from those few times when he was calculated against and framed, using the Dragon Authority Army to collect evidence against his opponents, Chu Ling had never again used the Dragon Authority Army in the capital. The Dragon Authority Army, like Chu Ling, had been sealed away in dust.

“But His Majesty has always maintained these soldiers of General Chu in the capital according to the regulations General Chu originally established,” he said with more choking in his voice. “I brought the young Your Highness fleeing into the city and hid in the Chu residence because in this entire city, there is only one reliable, trustworthy force.”

But in that life, Eunuch Qi and the young Your Highness hadn’t waited for that reliability. Because of her own ignorance, because of Chu Lan’s greed, because Xiao Xun had moved one step ahead—Chu Zhao lowered her gaze.

Zhong Changrong said nothing more and signaled to the four people behind him. Those four also each took out signal rockets and lit them.

Flames bloomed in the air one after another, half the sky burning up.

Chu Zhao looked toward the dark night. In the darkness, countless shadows from all directions gathered toward the blooming flames.