At noon, in the Southern Commandant Office's yamen.
The government office was deathly silent.
Commissioner Ouyang looked haggard, his eyes hollow.
Though hoofbeats thundered outside and thunder occasionally roared, he remained seated like a clay statue, his eyes steeped in gloom.
An utter defeat!
Everything had spiraled completely out of control, into collapse!
Who had ordered the assassins to slaughter everyone at the Duke's Maternal Uncle's Estate and hang the imperial uncle's head high above its plaque no longer mattered.
The Central Court unanimously concluded that Jia Huan had sent his family fleeing out of guilt. He was the murderer behind it all, driven utterly mad after losing his power.
Commissioner Ouyang did not regret taking an enormous risk to help a man everyone cried out against, but he knew Jia Huan was finished. There was no possibility of turning things around.
Not merely a homeless cur, but a man whose name and reputation lay in ruins.
"Run. Run as far as you can." Commissioner Ouyang's voice was hoarse as he leaned wearily against the Grand Secretary Chair.
"Lord Ouyang."
Officer Fu of the Southern Office hurried in, his face grave.
"At Capital City's gates, thirteen hundred Embroidered Uniform Guards from the Kirin Office stripped off their Flying Fish Uniforms and threw away their Waist Tokens. Armed only with Embroidered Spring Sabers, they fought their way out through the gates, battling the Five City Troops Command along the way until blood filled the air."
"In Anyi Ward, the Kirin Office's former Deputy Thousand-Household Commanders Yan and Zhang are leading large numbers of martial-world deathsworn in fighting the Embroidered Uniform Guard's White Tiger Office through the alleys."
Commissioner Ouyang's face filled with bitterness.
More than thirteen hundred men!
The number might not seem large, but this was treason, a capital offense