The Crown Prince covered his face and cried out in agony: “There’s an assassin!”
At the foot of the city wall, the chaos intensified.
“Even the Crown Prince doesn’t dare to enter the city. They’re leaving us here to die. Let us out!”
“Yes, let us out! We want to leave, we want to live!”
People surged from all directions, gathering in increasing numbers at the city gate, seemingly on the verge of breaking through.
Assistant Minister Zhao glared at the foolish Qianhe County Magistrate and hurriedly said to the Crown Prince, “Your Highness, please come down from the wall first.”
The Crown Prince readily agreed. It was too dangerous. Had these lowly people gone mad? They even dared to attack the Crown Prince!
As Assistant Minister Zhao shielded the Crown Prince as they retreated down the city wall, Yu Jin remained motionless.
A bloody conflict had erupted at the city gate.
Seeing a man about to break through the gate, a guard, unable to tolerate it any longer, thrust his spear forward.
The man was pierced in the chest, let out a terrible cry, and his head drooped.
This commotion immediately subdued the people charging at the gate.
These unarmed civilians normally wouldn’t dare to confront armed guards directly. It was only the imminent threat of death that forced them to resist.
Suddenly witnessing the death of someone beside them, the crowd fell silent.
Yu Jin grabbed the Crown Prince, who was climbing down the ladder towards the outside of the city: “Second Brother, in this situation, you need to say something. Otherwise, a bigger conflict will erupt.”
The Crown Prince hurriedly shook off Yu Jin’s hand: “Don’t joke around! I hadn’t said anything when I was attacked with a shoe. If I say anything more, I might be attacked with arrows!”
Yu Jin twitched his mouth: “Second Brother is overthinking. Where would these disaster-stricken people get arrows? They’re even running out of shoes.”
“No, absolutely not!” The Crown Prince pulled his sleeve free and hurriedly climbed down the wall ladder.
After a brief moment of calm at the city gate, a woman holding a child began to wail: “Tiger’s father, you can’t die! What will happen to the children if you die?”
The boy in the woman’s arms began to cry loudly.
Suddenly, the woman, clutching her son tightly, rushed towards the city gate, shouting frantically: “Please, have mercy! I won’t leave, but let my son go out. My son isn’t sick, he isn’t sick—”
Several spears blocked the woman’s path.
The woman pushed her child towards one of the soldiers: “Please save my child. He’s perfectly healthy. He can’t stay in the city waiting to die… I won’t leave, even if you let me. I need to go back and take care of Little Girl—”
The woman’s cries made the soldiers’ faces show a hint of reluctance, but they couldn’t disobey their superior’s orders. As the woman pushed her child forward, their spears instinctively thrust forward. By the time they realized and tried to pull back, the child had already been stabbed and let out an earth-shattering cry.
“Tiger Head, my Tiger Head!” Holding her bloodied child, the woman finally broke down. She lowered her head and charged towards the spears, “You beasts, just kill me too! Our whole family can be reunited—”
Yu Jin’s eyes narrowed. He picked up the shoe that had been thrown at the Crown Prince and threw it.
The shoe hit the woman’s popliteal fossa, causing her to stumble and fall to the ground.
All of this happened in a flash, but the civilians thought the woman and child had both been killed by the guards’ spears.
If the man’s death had momentarily cowed these people, the apparent deaths of the woman and child unleashed their fury.
The soldiers who were supposed to protect the country and its people had raised weapons against women and children. What hope did they have left?
There was no choice but to save themselves.
The crowd became increasingly violent.
Yu Jin cursed: “These fools!”
The situation could have been controlled. Just a few appropriate words from the Crown Prince could have avoided this needless bloodshed. But the Crown Prince had fled at the first opportunity, causing the scene to spiral out of control.
“Bow and arrow!” Yu Jin reached out his hand.
Long Dan immediately handed over a long bow and quiver.
Yu Jin took an arrow from the quiver, quickly drew the bow, and released. The arrow flew like a shooting star toward the tall bell tower.
“Bong—” The solemn and melodious sound of the bell suddenly rang out, echoing throughout the city.
Two more arrows were shot in quick succession, and the bell rang again, the sound carrying even further.
Drums signaled the closing of the city gates and people retiring for the night; the bell announced the opening of the gates and the start of a new day’s work.
The morning bell and evening drum were familiar sounds to the city’s residents. But since the disaster struck, they hadn’t heard the bell that heralded dawn.
Without dawn, only darkness remained.
The people stood stunned, somewhat dazed, and then instinctively traced the arrow’s trajectory to the young man standing on the city wall.
The young man drawing the bow was backlit, his face unclear, but his figure stood tall and straight as a poplar tree.
Seeing that he had controlled the situation, Yu Jin, with a stern face, leaped down from the city wall.
“Your Highness!” Assistant Minister Zhao, who hadn’t yet left, was shocked.
The less than two-zhang high city wall posed no difficulty for Yu Jin. He landed easily on the ground, right in front of the crowd.
“I am the seventh son of the current Emperor, Prince Yan,” Yu Jin announced, then strode towards them.
The people instinctively parted to make way.
Yu Jin walked through expressionlessly, approaching the woman who had fallen into the grass by the roadside. He bent down and picked up the boy who had been frightened into silence.
Blood was still seeping from the boy’s shoulder.
“Long Dan!” Yu Jin called out.
Long Dan, who had jumped down from the city wall with Yu Jin, came running over: “Your Highness?”
“Bandage this child’s wound.”
Long Dan hurriedly took the boy.
As soon as the boy was in Long Dan’s arms, he began to wail loudly.
Those disaster victims, who had been in despair and numb, smiled with joy upon hearing the child’s cries.
So the child was alright after all!
The human heart is strange indeed. For these disaster victims who saw no way out, what they thought was the boy’s death had been the last straw. But when they realized the child was still alive, hope sprouted like a spring bud, quietly growing.
Soon, the woman who had fallen onto the grass also got up, looking anxiously at Yu Jin.
Yu Jin didn’t withhold his smile and said gently, “Sister, rest assured. I will take your child out of the city and settle him safely.”
“Really?” The woman’s eyes burst with intense joy.
“I have come with the Crown Prince on the Emperor’s orders to look after everyone. Naturally, I won’t make empty promises. Will you trust me, sister?”
The woman, gazing at the young man’s incomparably handsome face, nodded vigorously: “This humble woman believes—”
She spoke halfway, then suddenly burst into tears.
With her cry, countless people began to cry as well.
They stood there, wiping their tears with their hands. Men and women, old and young, all wept loudly.
This scene was quite strange, almost unheard of, yet profoundly moving.
At least Assistant Minister Zhao was deeply moved.
He had been appointed as the chief official to command the disaster relief efforts, which meant he was considered a capable official in Emperor Jingming’s eyes. His earlier preparation to retreat with the Crown Prince had been a reluctant move, severely hindered by the Crown Prince.
Looking at the young man who had jumped into the city, Assistant Minister Zhao rolled up his sleeves.
If Prince Yan, with his royal status, was willing to risk himself, who was he to do any less?