Pei Qiantong did not stop there. He grabbed a eunuch who was cowering in a corner, trembling all over. The latter had witnessed the entire incident firsthand, so before Pei Qiantong could even ask, he was already saying urgently: “Don’t kill me, please, don’t kill me!”

Pei Qiantong said coldly: “If you don’t want to die, tell me where Yang Guang is. I’ll only ask you once. If you don’t speak, I’ll ask someone else!”

“I’ll tell! I’ll tell!” The eunuch nodded frantically, then pointed toward the western pavilion: “This servant… this servant saw General Dugu take His Majesty into the western pavilion. As for the specific… specific location, this servant doesn’t know.”

After ordering the eunuch to leave, Pei Qiantong stared at the western pavilion for a long time without moving. No one knew whether there were traps inside, whether there were soldiers. Having come this far, with his great enterprise right before his eyes, he didn’t want to lose his life at this moment.

After thinking for a while, he said to Sima Dekan: “You take some men and go in to have a look.”

Sima Dekan’s face changed slightly, and he said to Cuiji: “I ran too urgently just now, my legs are somewhat uncomfortable. How about you, Brother Cui, take some men in to have a look?”

Cuiji smiled without warmth: “What a coincidence, I also feel my legs are uncomfortable and can’t walk.” These two old foxes wanted to push him to his death – not a chance!

Seeing that each of them was passing the buck and refusing to enter, Pei Qiantong’s expression looked somewhat unpleasant. He glanced at the soldiers who had come with him and said loudly: “Whoever captures Yang Guang will have the first merit, be promoted three ranks, and be rewarded with a hundred bolts of cloth!”

The saying “under great reward, there must be brave men” was absolutely correct. Not long after Pei Qiantong’s words fell, someone said: “I’ll go! I don’t believe that Yang Guang, this phoenix that has lost its feathers, can still play any tricks!”

The speaker was Colonel Linghu Da, a rough man without much learning, but he was good at fighting and had decent martial arts skills.

Linghu Da carried his sword toward the western pavilion. The long palace corridor had rooms on both sides. When he reached one of them, by the light of day, he saw what seemed to be a shadow moving inside, and faint sounds came from within. Could Yang Guang be hiding here?

Thinking of this, Linghu Da raised his sword and broke open the window. Sure enough, he saw Yang Guang with a pale face hiding inside, and beside him was Xiao Shi, whose hands and feet were bound and whose mouth was gagged.

When Linghu Da saw Yang Guang, the latter also saw him. Yang Guang was shocked – he hadn’t expected these people to actually find their way to the rear palace. Dugu Shengming had clearly told him that no one would come looking here. Could it be… that Heaven truly wanted him to perish?

For some unknown reason, as he gazed into Yang Guang’s eyes, Linghu Da, who had always feared neither heaven nor earth, actually felt somewhat afraid. He unconsciously turned his face away and said: “Come quickly, Yang Guang is here.”

With these words, the door was forcefully pushed open, and Pei Qiantong and the others all crowded into this small room. Yang Guang slowly stood up, staring at them: “Have you come to kill me?” His words carried the invisible majesty of an emperor.

Though they had already made up their minds to kill Yang Guang, at this moment, not one of them dared to move. Even the swords in their hands unconsciously drooped down.

Yang Guang had been emperor for more than ten years, always decisive in his commands, wielding the power of life and death. Over the years, fear had taken deep root in everyone’s hearts – it wasn’t something that could be discarded at will.

Pei Qiantong bowed and said: “This subject dare not. This subject has only come to escort Your Majesty back to Guanzhong.”

Looking at Pei Qiantong, Yang Guang supported himself against the wall and stood up, walking step by step to stand before him: “When I was still Prince of Jin, you began following me. It’s been nearly twenty years now. All these years, I trusted you and treated you well, yet you brought people to rebel against me. Pei Qiantong, how can you face me?”

Pei Qiantong’s face reddened at his words. Indeed, although Yang Guang was tyrannical and ruthless, he had been exceptionally trusting toward him, making him Director of the Palace Gates and putting hundreds of palace guards under his command, yet he had…

At this moment, Pei Qiantong did feel some regret, but there was no turning back once the bow was drawn. Having come this far, there was no way back. Thinking of this, he raised his head and said: “Your Majesty wants to move the capital to Danyang. If that happens, this subject and all the soldiers will never be able to return home. This subject was forced into today’s actions out of desperation. Please forgive me, Your Majesty!”

“Forgive?” Yang Guang laughed coldly: “You bring people to kill me, and you still want me to forgive you. Pei Qiantong, how did I never notice your face was so thick?!”

“This subject was also…” Before Pei Qiantong could finish, Yang Guang had already walked out of the room and looked at the thousand-plus imperial guards: “What you want is nothing more than to return to Guanzhong. Actually, how could I not want to go back? It’s just that the grain ships haven’t arrived, so I wanted to wait a bit longer. But I never expected that someone would take this opportunity to cause trouble and commit treasonous acts. It truly breaks my heart.” After pausing for a moment, he said: “As long as you capture the rebels now, I’ll pretend nothing happened. I’ll even promote you one rank, reward you with rice and cloth, and immediately take you back to Guanzhong.”

Yang Guang was an extremely intelligent man – otherwise he couldn’t have ascended to the throne. He knew the current situation was extremely unfavorable to him. His only way out was to turn Pei Qiantong’s imperial guards against him. If he could just buy some time, he could mobilize the forces at his disposal and kill them all!

Pei Qiantong, who had followed him out, sensed Yang Guang’s intention. Cursing silently in his heart, he said: “Don’t listen to his nonsense, soldiers! He just wants us to kill each other. Once he escapes, he’ll immediately mobilize the army to kill us all – none of us will survive. There’s an abyss behind us – we absolutely cannot retreat!”

Yang Guang knew this was his last chance and immediately said: “I am the Son of Heaven, and my word is as good as gold. If I say I’ll let bygones be bygones, I absolutely won’t hold grudges. From now on, you’ll all be my benefactors, and I will never treat you poorly!”

Cuiji sneered: “Back then, Yang Su helped you ascend to the throne, and you said he was like a father to you. But what happened? Wasn’t he still killed by you in the end? A person who can kill even his own father, brothers, and benefactors – his words have no credibility at all. What ‘word as good as gold’ – it’s all bullshit!”

Yang Guang stared at him with hatred: “I treated the Cui family well enough, yet the Cui family repays me in this way. How impressive!”

Cuiji ignored him and only looked at those soldiers whose faces showed signs of wavering: “What kind of person Yang Guang is – even if you haven’t seen it with your own eyes, you must have heard about it. This man is cruel and ruthless. Only by killing him can we have good days, and only then can the people of the world continue to live!”

Sima Dekan also took the opportunity to say: “That’s right. Today we’re acting on behalf of Heaven to eliminate this dog emperor.”

Their words caused a commotion among the soldiers, followed by angry shouts: “Kill him!” “Kill this dog emperor!” “Don’t let him go!”

Hearing these life-threatening words, Yang Guang let out a long sigh. It seemed the situation was truly hopeless – he was unable to turn the tide!