Yingyang and Wulie

"You?" Shang Chaozong exclaimed in surprise. "What's going on?"

Lan Ruoting gave a wry smile. "Your Highness was imprisoned, and I discovered the situation was dire. People were kicking you while you were down, clearly intending to kill you. The one in the palace feared the late King's military power, yet also worried about the consequences of his absence in deterring other kingdoms. I knew what the one in the palace was worried about, so I spread a rumor that the late King had secretly selected a hundred thousand loyal souls who died on the battlefield to refine a batch of 'Crow Generals'."

Shang Chaozong suddenly understood, a cold laugh escaping his lips. "So I thought the one in the palace spared me out of kinship. It turns out they want to obtain those hundred thousand 'Crow Generals'. If that's the case, my survival and release from prison are likely tied to those hundred thousand 'Crow Generals' as well, aren't they? What's the current situation in the Yan Kingdom?"

Lan Ruoting nodded. "Your Highness is wise; you've hit the nail on the head! Since the late King's passing, His Majesty has been aggressively purging the late King's former subordinates. This has destabilized the military. Shao Dengyun, the commander in the north, was forced to open the city gates and surrender, allowing the Han Kingdom's army to breach our northern border. They advanced like a hot knife through butter. The court paid a huge price just to halt the Han army's advance. Not only did vast territories fall into enemy hands, but it also attracted the covetous eyes of surrounding nations. The situation is precarious. His Majesty had no choice but to send out several princesses for marriage alliances, appeasing some countries to create a balance and barely stabilize the situation. However, amidst internal strife, some generals have gradually harbored ambitions. Some have begun to seize power and refuse to obey orders. With both internal and external crises, the Yan Kingdom is teetering on the brink!"

Thump! Shang Chaozong slammed his fist onto the seat, his face contorted with ferocity. "Sending princesses for marriage alliances, a complete disgrace! Shao Dengyun dared to betray the enemy, he deserves to die!"

Lan Ruoting remained silent. How could he explain some things? Without marriage alliances, there was the risk of national annihilation; what could the one in the palace do? If Shao Dengyun didn't betray the enemy, he would have faced certain death; what could Shao Dengyun have done?

After his emotions calmed, Shang Chaozong sighed. "I understand. My release at this time is precisely because of Yan's internal and external crises. The one in the palace is eager to obtain those hundred thousand Crow Generals to stabilize the situation. My release is meant to lure out those hundred thousand Crow Generals! If they can't get them, that person likely won't let me go!"

Lan Ruoting replied, "Now is not the time to consider that. As long as Your Highness can escape this Capital City, there is still a chance. If you cannot leave the Capital City, then there will never be another opportunity..."

As the sun rose, the Capital City began its noisy day. Shops opened one after another, and vendors and commoners bustled in the streets. No one knew who sat within the seemingly ordinary carriage.

Upon reaching the East City Gate, the carriage received special attention. A group of people dispersed the surrounding pedestrians, blocking entry and exit, and surrounded the carriage.

A guard tapped the carriage with the flat of his saber and shouted, "Get out! Submit to inspection."

Lan Ruoting emerged first, intending to help Shang Chaozong, who had difficulty moving. However, Shang Chaozong refused and jumped down himself.

Upon seeing the surrounding situation, both men knew they were specifically targeted.

"Well, isn't this Young Prince Shang Chaozong!" the guard suddenly shouted gleefully, drawing the astonished gazes of the onlookers who had been pushed to the sides. He then taunted, "Young Prince, why are you dressed so shabbily?"

Shang Chaozong shot the guard a cold glance. He had already inherited the throne. Although demoted from Prince to County Prince, he was still a Prince. The guard's address of 'Young Prince' was clearly meant to mock him.

Lan Ruoting cupped his hands and said with a smile, "Your Highness is leaving the city by imperial decree. We hope the General will be lenient."

The guard sneered. "Leaving by imperial decree does not exempt you from inspection! The Young Prince can kill innocent civilians in broad daylight and swagger away, but we subordinates must follow the rules." He waved his hand. "Search them!"

A group of soldiers swarmed forward, roughly patting and pulling at Shang Chaozong in front of everyone. His tattered clothes were torn even further, and his backside was almost exposed.

This was clearly intentional humiliation. Shang Chaozong's jaw tightened, and he stood still, allowing the search.

Lan Ruoting watched, secretly sighing. It seemed the years in prison had not been in vain for the Young Prince; he had been tempered and become much more mature. If it were his previous temperament, he would have already retaliated. Otherwise, how could he have fallen into a trap and killed someone? Fortune is hidden in misfortune, and misfortune is hidden in fortune; this is likely what it means!

However, the coachman trembled with anger, his eyes wide, on the verge of erupting. Just as he was about to move, Lan Ruoting grabbed his wrist.

Lan Ruoting shook his head at him, signaling him not to act rashly.

Upon hearing that it was a noble and that an innocent civilian had been killed in broad daylight, the surrounding crowd, regardless of whether Shang Chaozong was wrongly accused and humiliated, were mostly ignorant citizens with incomplete information. Seeing Shang Chaozong being humiliated, they all watched as if it were a spectacle, with some even gloating or applauding.

The person who instigated this from the city wall watched coldly, finding the foolish crowd amusing. They failed to consider why this crowd so detested the nobility and wished to see them all drowned!

Two people stood before each window, each observing the scene below through a crack in the slightly opened window. One was the Minister of Justice, Song Jiuming.

The other was a lean, pale man with no beard, his temples streaked with white hair tied up with a jade hairpin. He was impeccably clean, with a hooked nose and a calm, cold gaze. He wore a black cloak, exuding a restrained elegance that created a sense of distance, making him unapproachable.

Anyone who could have Song Jiuming personally accompany them was naturally not ordinary. His name was Gaa Miaoshui, a eunuch in the palace, someone close to the Emperor, who had watched the Emperor grow up. His status was self-evident, known as Eunuch Shui.

"Is this meaningful?" Song Jiuming asked, turning his head.

Gaa Miaoshui calmly replied, "To humiliate him a bit, to make him obsessed, and force him to reveal Shang Jianbo's trump card sooner."

Song Jiuming pondered, understanding.

The commotion below finally subsided, and Shang Chaozong, whose clothes were so tattered that they barely covered him, re-entered the carriage. The coachman drove the carriage forward again.

However, as the carriage exited the city gate, someone suddenly ran out from within the city, pointing at the carriage and shouting, "Officer, quickly stop him! The carriage, someone stole my carriage!"

As if rehearsed, the officers outside the city quickly surrounded the carriage, blocking it once more.

The person shouting rushed to the front of the carriage, grabbed the reins, and cried, "This is my carriage, my carriage! Officer, please uphold justice for me!"

The guard who had previously harassed them led a group of people and strode over, stopping beside the carriage and shouting, "Get out!"

Shang Chaozong, seated inside the carriage, let out a cold laugh. "It seems this Prince no longer has the right to ride in a carriage. Do you want me to walk to my fiefdom? Tao Xin, blow the horn!" Tao Xin was the name of the coachman outside.

"Wait!" Lan Ruoting interjected, cupping his hands towards Shang Chaozong. "Your Highness, please endure this!"

Shang Chaozong bent down and emerged from the carriage, standing on the carriage shaft and blocking Lan Ruoting behind him. Although dressed in tattered rags and looking disheveled, he stood with his back straight.

The guard pointed at Shang Chaozong and yelled, "Young Prince, it's best you come down and clarify this matter!"

Shang Chaozong's voice suddenly boomed with unquestionable authority, "Blow the horn!"

The coachman, Tao Xin, produced a dark, lustrous ox horn with a sense of antiquity from somewhere, placed it to his lips, puffed out his cheeks, and blew with all his might.

"Wooo... woo woo... woo..."

The muffled sound of the horn echoed outside the city gate, startling the surrounding soldiers. The guard was even more stunned. A military horn!

Immediately after, a rumbling sound came from a distance, growing louder and closer. Soon, the expressions of the city gate guards changed drastically.

Gaa Miaoshui and Song Jiuming, who were peeking through the window cracks on the city wall, both frowned. They pushed the windows open completely and saw two groups of cavalry approaching rapidly from the front, left, and right. Each group consisted of about two hundred men, dressed in dark green and earth-gray attire respectively, charging forward in formation, their momentum fierce and unwavering!

Song Jiuming's pupils contracted sharply as he muttered, "Yingyang Guard! Wulie Guard!"

When the late Emperor was alive, he had commended Prince Ning Shang Jianbo's military achievements and bestowed upon him the four characters 'Yingyang Wulie' as an award. Shang Jianbo had split these four characters and named his left and right personal guard units, thus giving rise to the Yingyang Guard and the Wulie Guard.

Five thousand Yingyang Guards and five thousand Wulie Guards had accompanied Prince Ning Shang Jianbo on the battlefield, achieving numerous feats and striking fear into the enemy's hearts. The most classic battle was when the current Emperor's imperial expedition encountered danger. Prince Ning Shang Jianbo personally led the Yingyang and Wulie Guards on a hundred-mile dash to rescue the Emperor, charging into a Korean army of a hundred thousand with only ten thousand men, breaking through the encirclement and rescuing the current Emperor. That battle made the Yingyang and Wulie Guards famous throughout the land, yet it did not earn the Emperor's gratitude, but rather his fear.

Now, both guards were a thing of the past, almost completely purged by the current Emperor. The several hundred men before them were likely some remnants gathered together.

The two cavalry units merged into one, kicking up dust as they charged forward. The city gate guards turned pale, and someone exclaimed, "Yingyang Guard! Wulie Guard!"

"Young Prince, are you trying to rebel?" the guard standing by the carriage asked, his face pale and trembling.

Shang Chaozong, standing on the carriage shaft, ignored him and looked with pride at the approaching cavalry.

Tao Xin, driving the carriage, had red eyes. He looked at the charging horses, tears welling up. Wiping his eyes, he raised his horn and blew it again.

Leading the charge was a woman in a green shirt, her face hidden by a veil under a bamboo hat. As the horn sounded, she coughed, drew her sword, and pointed it forward.

The five hundred charging cavalrymen quickly formed into a cone formation. They drew their Zhanmadao, which glinted in the sun, and charged forward fearlessly.

Gaa Miaoshui, watching from the window, frowned as he looked at the defending troops below the city walls. The guards were already intimidated and retreating without a fight, instinctively falling back.

The soldiers blocking the path to the carriage had already been scared into parting and retreating.

The five hundred cavalrymen reached the carriage and quickly reined in their horses, stopping abruptly. They were as swift as thunder when moving and as immovable as mountains when still!

"Brother!" The woman in the green shirt, who had reined in her horse nearby, spoke with a trembling voice. It was Shang Shuqing, Shang Chaozong's sister. She clearly hadn't expected her brother, who was always so robust and strong, to be so gaunt and emaciated. She could only imagine the suffering he had endured, and tears were already streaming down her face from beneath her veil.