The commotion outside continued, along with people’s hurried footsteps. They must have all come out from their houses, shouting and clamoring, their voices sometimes near and sometimes far. Children were crying, and dogs were barking—it was extremely chaotic.

In this scene of great panic, Jiang Li sat at the doorway, her eyes bright, reflecting the glowing sky. She showed not a trace of fear. Wenren Yao watched and watched, then suddenly smiled. When he wasn’t being glib, he was actually quite serious. He said, “Second Miss Jiang isn’t afraid at all.”

“Compared to the unarmed common people and the soldiers confronting each other at the city gates, there really isn’t much to fear,” Jiang Li replied.

“Being so bold, you’re quite similar to A’Heng in some ways,” Wenren Yao seemed to think of something. “When he had nothing, when he had nothing to rely on, he was also this bold.”

Jiang Li smiled slightly, neither confirming nor denying. She didn’t know what Ji Heng’s past was like, and right now she didn’t have time to listen to Wenren Yao talk about these past events. This was because in the sky, a signal fire suddenly rose. This signal fire was different from the earlier drum call—it vanished in an instant.

Immediately after, the sounds of people outside suddenly became clamorous. The crying of women and children grew even louder.

At the same time, several torches were suddenly thrown from outside the estate. The courtyards in Huangzhou were not large, and the houses were made of wood. As soon as they touched a spark, they caught fire. Zhao Ke leaped up and knocked away several torches, but one torch still caught fire. The house almost immediately burst into flames. Zhao Ke was heard cursing, saying, “They’ve splashed oil everywhere—run quickly!”

Wen Ji immediately protected Jiang Li and ran out of the house. As soon as they emerged, they were stunned by the scene outside. The entire city of Huangzhou was ablaze with flames everywhere. A row of orderly estates on the street was now burning fiercely, like winding serpents of fire chasing the fleeing people.

This was bad enough, but the common people who had been awakened by the noise immediately wanted to fetch water to extinguish the flames. However, the fire grew fiercer and fiercer. Those people had apparently splashed oil beforehand to help the estates burn.

Before Jiang Li could ask Wen Ji anything, she heard screams rising and falling in waves from the distance, along with sounds of people being chased and crying. From the street at the other end, many common people ran out. The clothes those people wore were splattered with blood, and someone was chasing them from behind.

They were people Prince Cheng had arranged in Huangzhou beforehand.

Jiang Li frowned. Prince Cheng wanted to begin with Huangzhou and head north to Yanjing. Tonight’s night raid—he had his people inside the city and his troops outside. With forces coordinating from within and without, the Huangzhou city garrison would naturally be no match for Prince Cheng under such sudden circumstances. But Prince Cheng probably hadn’t anticipated one thing—that Ji Heng would actually come.

Those people ran extremely fast. Around Jiang Li were panicked fleeing common people. Wen Ji protected Jiang Li, saying, “Second Miss must leave first!”

Jiang Li said, “Can’t we save them?”

“The city garrison will arrive soon.” Wen Ji’s tone was very cold. “Our responsibility is to protect Second Miss.”

As he spoke, Jiang Li watched with her own eyes as a child just a few steps away was pushed and shoved by the crowd and fell behind. A black-clothed man wielding a sword laughed menacingly as he gave chase. He was about to catch up.

Jiang Li didn’t have time to think of anything else. She pushed Wen Ji aside and ran toward that child. The child had already been scared stiff, had fallen to the ground, and was crying in despair. But just then, he felt someone run over to him, pick him up, and turn to run.

That black-clothed man also hadn’t expected someone would suddenly rush over to save this child, but he didn’t hesitate. He immediately followed Jiang Li. Dragging a child along, Jiang Li couldn’t run for much longer. Just as she was about to be caught, Wen Ji caught up and began fighting with that black-clothed man.

Jiang Li took advantage of the opportunity to run to the side. Zhao Ke caught up and couldn’t help saying, “Second Miss, you were truly too reckless!”

“I…” Jiang Li also knew that what had just happened was truly too dangerous, so she said, “I’m sorry, but… I couldn’t just watch him die like that.”

That child was only about five or six years old. He stared blankly at Jiang Li, seeming to only now react. With a “wah” he burst into loud tears, hiccuping pitifully. Yet his hands clutched tightly at Jiang Li’s sleeves. Jiang Li also felt immensely sad. This child’s body was covered with bloodstains—his parents had probably already met with misfortune. Those round eyes of his reminded Jiang Li of Xue Zhao. How could she bear to leave this child here unattended?

After entangling with that black-clothed man for a while, Wen Ji found him extremely cunning. Seeing he was no match for Wen Ji, he didn’t continue fighting stubbornly and turned to flee. Wen Ji didn’t pursue him either. What if he fell for someone’s ploy to lure the tiger away from the mountain? When Ji Heng left, he had told him to protect Jiang Li well, so naturally he had to protect her.

Wenren Yao muttered, “This Prince Cheng has committed countless murders and created immeasurable evil karma… He doesn’t even care about the lives and deaths of common people.”

Zhao Ke took a much more detached view of this. He was completely unlike his harmless baby-faced appearance. He said, “When one general achieves glory, ten thousand bones are left to dry. It’s been this way since ancient times. What about common people? The world has no shortage of common people.”

As he spoke, the drum calls at the city gate intensified again. Jiang Li didn’t know if it was her imagination, but she felt the ground beneath her feet shake several times as well.

Wenren Yao’s expression turned ugly. “There’s been a change in the battle situation. Prince Cheng’s troops are probably even stronger than imagined.”

“What should we do now?” Jiang Li asked. “The entire city has been burned. There’s no safe place.”

“After the city garrison arrives, those black-clothed men shouldn’t be running around everywhere. Right now, what’s important is the city gate.” Wenren Yao said seriously, “They created chaos earlier precisely to take advantage of it to open the city gates and let those people in. Once Prince Cheng’s troops enter the city, even with A’Heng, the city garrison has so few people—they’d be no match for them.”

Jiang Li pondered for a moment, then said, “They probably haven’t succeeded yet, right? At least not right now. If they had succeeded, it wouldn’t be like this.”

“That’s true, so they’ll redouble their efforts.” Wenren Yao said, “I hope A’Heng can handle it.”

This time, Jiang Li didn’t suggest going to the city gate. The few of them couldn’t accomplish anything right now. If they went and were captured by those people, becoming a means to threaten Ji Heng, that would truly be more harm than good.

The people from the city garrison arrived quickly. They seemed to be acquainted with Zhao Ke and Wen Ji. One of them asked Zhao Ke and Wen Ji to take Jiang Li to one side. Fires were burning everywhere in Huangzhou city, but by this time some had been extinguished. The common people had all gathered together, and only now did they come to their senses and feel slightly better.

The men were somewhat uneasy. The women held their children tightly, all looking toward the direction of the city gate. Time passed, and everyone felt this night was exceptionally long.

That child Jiang Li had saved stared blankly at the horizon. His family never came to find him. Every time Jiang Li asked him about it, he would cry. After much difficulty getting him to stop crying, Jiang Li learned from him that those black-clothed men had started from the south of the city. His family was the very first—at that time, his entire family was fast asleep, and they were all cruelly killed by those people. Only his older brother had carried him and rushed out, but in the end, his brother also died. Just as he was about to die too, Jiang Li saved him.

Jiang Li asked him, “What’s your name?”

“Lin Yao.” He said between sniffles, feeling extremely wronged. Such a small child probably didn’t yet understand what it meant to have his entire family exterminated in a single night. If he were a bit older and more mature, after experiencing such a great blow, who knew what he would become.

Jiang Li could only comfort him, just as she used to comfort Xue Zhao when he was small. After much difficulty getting him to sleep, she handed the child to Wenren Yao. Fortunately, Wenren Yao didn’t seem unwilling. On the contrary, he looked at the child with great curiosity, not knowing what he was thinking. Jiang Li looked around. There were also many wounded lying on the ground. The physicians of Huangzhou who were still alive were all here, busy treating these people. Some city garrison soldiers were helping to find medicinal herbs from the pharmacies. After obtaining the herbs, they brewed medicine on the spot.

In the end, many people had died or been injured.

Jiang Li sighed, looking outside. This place was still some distance from the city gate, but faintly, she seemed able to hear the sounds of weapons clashing at the city gate, as well as the sounds of horse hooves. These sounds carried here, making the women tremble even more. Fearful expressions appeared on everyone’s faces.

Jiang Li was somewhat worried.

For this moment, Prince Cheng had already been preparing for many years. Counting from that time, Ji Heng had merely been a young child. By the time Ji Heng understood and began to plan for this moment, many more years had passed. People like her, like Wen Ji and Zhao Ke, like Wenren Yao, Lu Ji, Kong Liu and the others—they always blindly believed in Ji Heng, thinking Ji Heng could accomplish anything. But when all was said and done, Ji Heng was also just an ordinary person, also just flesh and blood, also subject to danger.

But she could do nothing at all.

Jiang Li sighed. Being unable to do anything was always better than causing trouble. As long as they endured through this night, as long as they endured through this night, Prince Cheng’s troops’ morale would likely be damaged and not as strong as before. If they waited longer, reinforcements would arrive. Staking everything on Huangzhou alone wouldn’t be appropriate. Prince Cheng would certainly reorganize his troops before the reinforcements arrived and head north to Yanjing, launching an all-out assault on the imperial palace.

But that wasn’t right. If that were the case, what was Ji Heng’s purpose in performing this act here?

Jiang Li kept feeling something was wrong. In Yanjing city there were imperial guards, but there were too many common people in Yanjing. Once Prince Cheng broke in, the consequences would be unimaginable—they would have to request reinforcements. The Xiazhou Prince and General Zhao De from the northwest… General Zhao De?

Like a beam of light finally illuminating reality, Jiang Li suddenly understood.

Ji Heng wasn’t in Yanjing but had come to Huangzhou, entangling himself with Prince Cheng like this—what was it all for? It was probably to make the Emperor in Yanjing issue an order for General Yin Zhan to return to the capital. When Prince Cheng finished entangling here and headed to Yanjing, he would happen to encounter Yin Zhan.

But why was Ji Heng doing this? To better eliminate Prince Cheng? That was too roundabout. Or perhaps… was it just for Yin Zhan?

Jiang Li didn’t understand. She wanted to think through this question. Without realizing it, the eastern sky turned white. A night had passed—it was actually dawn.