Consort Dowager Shan finally managed to steady herself and finish her makeup. Outside, the sky had already darkened. She stood up and walked out. The guard outside frowned slightly, his hand resting on his sword hilt. “Why is Your Ladyship alone? Where is your attending maid?”
Consort Dowager Shan said coldly, “She’s staying behind to watch the house. What, is the palace going to assign me additional maids?”
The guard said nothing.
They had fled all this way with many dead, scattered, or lost. Consort Dowager Shan wasn’t a particularly important person either. Their general hadn’t abandoned her halfway—that was already good enough. How could he possibly assign her additional maids?
Seeing him remain silent, Consort Dowager Shan walked toward the banquet hall on her own. Two guards immediately followed.
Hearing the footsteps behind her, she couldn’t help but clench her fists nervously. Fortunately, her wide sleeves concealed this, so no one could see.
Passing by the main path, she couldn’t help but pause and turn to look toward the main gate.
The guard behind became tense, stepping forward and asking quietly, “What is Your Ladyship looking at?”
Consort Dowager Shan said, “Looking to see if my son has entered the palace.”
The guard didn’t dare relax. Instead, his hand on the sword hilt pressed down slightly harder. “Several ministers have already arrived. The Prince of Beihai will enter the palace soon too. Your Ladyship will be able to see him before long.”
Only then did Consort Dowager Shan withdraw her gaze and walk step by step toward the great hall. In her heart she prayed: don’t come, don’t come…
Liu Yi brought his attendants to the main gate, where he was stopped by the palace guards, who demanded his attendants not enter.
Liu Yi immediately rebuked angrily, “When has there been such a rule? They are performers I found to entertain Fourth Brother. If they don’t enter, this banquet will be boring. I won’t participate either.”
The guards could only retreat a step, demanding Liu Yi’s attendants remove their weapons.
Liu Yi frowned tightly. After arguing for a while and finding it impossible, he gave his attendants behind him a look, telling them to proceed with the second plan.
The attendants were just about to remove their weapons when a dark figure suddenly darted out from behind the screen wall with a whoosh, shouting loudly, “My lord, you must not! There’s danger in the palace—flee quickly!”
Liu Yi jerked his head around to see a palace maid run out from behind the screen wall and sprint toward him.
The palace guards’ expressions changed drastically. With a swish, they drew their swords to cut down this audacious maid. Liu Yi’s attendants also drew their swords with a swish as the maid shouted.
Liu Yi shouted, “Quickly save her!”
The two groups immediately engaged in fierce conflict at the main gate. Liu Yi’s attendants outnumbered the gate guards and quickly seized the maid.
Liu Yi recognized her as a maid who attended his mother. He couldn’t help but ask anxiously, “You’re here—where is Mother Consort?”
The maid’s face was streaked with tears. “Her Ladyship told me to come inform you, my lord. You must flee quickly. His Majesty has set a trap in the palace to harm you.”
Liu Yi’s lips trembled slightly as he looked toward the garden inside the gate, wanting to rush in. An attendant grabbed him with quick reflexes—he was from the Zhao Family Army, temporarily acting as Liu Yi’s attendant. He said quietly, “Liu Cong was already prepared. If we go in now, it’s death. Please immediately join Lord Wei, my lord. We must leave Lu County at once.”
“But my mother, and Grand Commandant Liu and the others are all in the palace.”
“It’s too late. We must go!” As he spoke, he and another attendant lifted Liu Yi up and ran.
The maid hurried to follow.
They managed to mount horses and flee before reinforcements from the palace arrived.
Though Wei Jie had been driven out, he hadn’t really left at all. He was just outside the city not far away. Seeing them flee in disarray, he immediately stood up to greet them.
Hearing that the palace had been prepared, Wei Jie sighed. “We wanted to take his life, and he also wanted to eliminate you, this trouble.”
Zhao Xin at the side said, “Grand Commandant Liu and the others have already entered the palace and cannot be rescued. The urgent matter now is to take away those they wanted us to take. Prince of Beihai, where are the tokens they gave you?”
Liu Yi, his face pale, took out tokens from his bosom and asked anxiously, “What about my mother?”
Wei Jie comforted him. “Liu Cong will kill Grand Commandant Liu and the others, but he probably won’t kill Consort Dowager Shan. He committed regicide and usurped the throne, and now wants to move against you. If he also kills Consort Dowager Shan, I fear military morale will be unstable. The more people we take away, the more wary he’ll be.”
Liu Yi didn’t quite believe it.
Zhao Xin pondered for a moment, then said, “Rest assured, we have people in the palace who will try to help Consort Dowager Shan at critical moments.”
Liu Yi’s eyes widened. “You have people in the palace?”
Zhao Xin smiled and asked, “Is that so strange? My lord, don’t forget that Lu County was under Youzhou’s jurisdiction just a month ago. This is Han people’s territory. The former owner of this garden was from an aristocratic family.”
He didn’t go into much detail. His willingness to provide this information was already to put Liu Yi’s mind at ease. Truthfully, he didn’t know how many places Advisor Ji had planted people.
Zhao Xin’s confidence made Liu Yi’s anxious heart relax slightly.
Zhao Xin said, “The urgent matter is to unite with those willing to leave with us and depart. General Beigong is at the defense line to receive us. My lord, rest assured—as long as you’re still alive, I believe Consort Dowager Shan will be fine.”
Liu Yi asked, “Are we just leaving like this? Three of the five Xiongnu tribes have people willing to leave with us. Why don’t we gather troops and attack the palace?”
Zhao Xin wasn’t as naive as Liu Yi. He had studied in the army and followed behind Zhao Hanzhang onto battlefields. He knew assembling troops wasn’t so easy. He sighed. “It’s divisions within the three tribes, my lord. You’ve just returned to the city and haven’t yet gained the trust of the central troops, while Liu Cong commands his main forces as easily as moving his own limbs. With Grand Commandant Liu and the others trapped in the palace and Liu Cong prepared, I fear you won’t be able to kill him.”
“However, what you say also has merit.” Zhao Xin also thought they could give it a try. Let Lu County fall into chaos—the more chaotic the better. Only then would General Beigong have an opportunity to exploit. Therefore he said, “Why don’t we divide our forces—let Lord Wei lead the Xiongnu women and children to retreat into Jizhou, while I join you, my lord, in leading troops to attack the palace?”
“If we can restore order, naturally that’s best. If not, we can still escape.”
Liu Yi was simply worried about his mother. Hearing this, he nodded repeatedly, too concerned to think it through carefully.
Wei Jie glanced at Zhao Xin. Attacking the palace now meant directly using Xiongnu people to consume Xiongnu people. After this rebellion, the Zhao Family Army could take advantage of the void.
Wei Jie’s heart wasn’t pure white either. He didn’t remind Liu Yi. After discussion, he immediately went with Liu Yi to mobilize troops and lead away the civilians who had been prepared in advance.
The Xiongnu were all soldiers—there were no ordinary civilians among adult males. So the people Wei Jie was taking away were children under fourteen, women, the elderly, etc.
They only obeyed their superior generals’ orders, and the superior generals obeyed their own superiors or leaders. Regarding surrendering to the Zhao Family Army, they had heard of it early on. So seeing Liu Yi produce the tokens, the contact person didn’t think much and directly followed the requirements, having them pack and follow.
By the time Wei Jie led the people away, fires of war had ignited in four places throughout the city. Only after sending the people away did the general who had handed them over belatedly realize that the Grand Commandant and others had been in the palace all along without coming out, their fates unknown. So was this battle for real?
But they no longer had the chance to retreat, because their families had all been taken away.
There were those who resisted, but not many. Shi Le, holding the disheveled Wang Jun, didn’t take them to heart. He was just about to hand this place to Sima Youjong while taking Wang Jun himself to persuade the Youzhou army at the city gates to surrender, when the sounds of battle grew more intense, accompanied by screams.
The alarm at the main gate spread into the great hall. Liu Cong, who had just taken his seat, heard the report. Before Liu Huanle and the others could react, he immediately smashed his wine cup. Guards hiding outside the windows rushed in.
Liu Huanle and the others had come to the palace intending to take advantage of Liu Cong’s drunkenness to capture him together. Naturally they had also made preparations. Seeing the guards rush in, they immediately resisted.
However, with the other side better prepared, they quickly failed and could only be forced to kneel on the ground.
Liu Cong walked down from his seat expressionlessly and stepped on Liu Huanle’s hand. “This world was conquered by me and Father together. Since I ascended the throne, I’ve treated you all well everywhere. Yet you still want to betray me—such ungrateful wolves! You deserve death!”