Regardless of the commotion at the front, Sun Ping, who lived in a small courtyard at the rear of Prince Dai's Residence, was already past fifty. He had stepped down from his post as residence commandant several months ago and now merely lived out his retirement in the residence. Yet every day, he still liked to stroll over to the drill grounds to watch the residence soldiers train, filling his days to the brim.
Keeping to a schedule of rising with the sun and resting at sundown, he was already fast asleep when Ma Shunde arrived with his troops.
The sound of wind and rain drowned out the clamor ahead. Sun Ping was sleeping soundly when he heard someone pounding on his door with a loud bang-bang-bang.
"Who is it?" Sun Ping asked loudly as he frowned, climbed down from the couch, and slipped into his shoes.
"Father, Father! Something's happened! Open the door, quickly!" Sun Ping's youngest son cried anxiously from outside.
Sun Ping hurriedly said, "Coming, coming, I'm coming."
He went over and opened the door. The instant it cracked open, his youngest son darted inside.
"Father! Why did you take so long? Something terrible has happened!" His youngest son was soaked from head to toe, but he had no time to care. Though he kept his voice low, it was thick with panic.
As he spoke, Sun Ping's eldest and second sons came running over in their outer robes.
Sun Ping immediately knew matters were bad. Gritting his teeth, he smacked his youngest son across the head. "What are you panicking for? Explain yourself clearly. What exactly happened?"
The eldest and second sons both looked toward their third brother.
Sun Ping's youngest son hurriedly said, "It's the Prince's Residence! Something has happened! People from the palace came