Step by step, Yang Qingshan retreated, his heart sinking lower and lower.
Behind him lay a sea of blood and corpses.
The guards, personal bodyguards, and trusted officials who had once followed him with great swagger were now sprawled across the floor, lying or collapsed in every direction. It was a truly unsightly scene.
After only a few steps, Yang Qingshan tripped over a body and fell heavily to the ground.
His hand landed in a pool of blood, making him instantly sick with disgust.
But he quickly restrained himself, calmly wiping the blood from his hand onto the clothes of the dead before slowly standing back up.
Xiao Yunting let out a sneer and glanced at Qingfeng. “Did this prince permit him to stand?”
Without another word, Qingfeng strode forward and kicked Yang Qingshan in the abdomen.
Yang Qingshan reacted quickly. He immediately grabbed Qingfeng’s ankle and twisted it violently, his face contorting viciously.
Qingfeng was completely unfazed.
He spun around and delivered a powerful kick, sending Yang Qingshan flying backward. Then he lunged forward again, grabbed Yang Qingshan’s shoulders, and viciously kicked the back of his knee.
Everyone clearly heard a sharp crack.
With a thud, Yang Qingshan dropped to his knees.
At that moment, Fang Jing, who had been hovering near death, finally regained consciousness. His eyes were so swollen that he could barely open them. Even after using all his strength, he managed only a narrow slit. When he saw Yang Qingshan kneeling on the ground, he burst into laughter. “You’ve finally gotten your retribution! Corrupt official! You’ve finally gotten your retribution!”
A venomous look appeared on Yang Qingshan’s face.
Xiao Yunting curled his lips into a smile. “Lord Yang has already dispatched twenty thousand troops to kill me. Such a grand gesture. So why is it that now that I’m standing right in front of you, you don’t seem to have much of a reaction?”
What reaction could Yang Qingshan possibly have?
At that moment, he only hated himself for underestimating his enemy.
He had actually fallen for a strategy of luring the tiger away from the mountain while striking elsewhere.
Everything happening in Xuanfu had been a decoy. The claim that Xiao Yunting was heading to Zijing Pass to find Lu Ting had been a decoy too.
The entire purpose had been to draw most of Great Tong’s forces away.
But even so, Xiao Yunting’s audacity was astonishing.
He had actually dared to secretly infiltrate Great Tong City.
Thinking of this, Yang Qingshan let out a cold laugh. Not a trace of fear appeared on his face. “Even if Your Highness kills me, what use will it be? After killing me, do you really think you’ll be able to leave Great Tong alive? This isn’t the capital. Simply revealing your identity as the Imperial Grandson won’t make everyone answer your call.”
After years of careful cultivation, the situation in Great Tong had long become one where people knew only the commander-in-chief and not the imperial court.
Every important official position in Great Tong was occupied by his people.
In other words, if Xiao Yunting killed him now, the next thing that would happen would be everyone rising up against Xiao Yunting.
With a provocative click of his tongue, he said: “Your Highness, go ahead and kill me.”
Xiao Yunting smiled slightly. “I do intend to kill you.”
Yang Qingshan snorted with laughter.
What a fool who only knew how to throw his weight around.
Go ahead.
Kill one Yang Qingshan, and Great Tong and the entire northwest would descend into chaos for at least ten years.
He wanted to see how Xiao Yunting planned to clean up that mess.
Xiao Yunting bent slightly and smilingly patted Yang Qingshan’s face. “But I won’t do it myself. Lord Yang, you’ve treated your soldiers so well. So naturally, your life should be decided by those very soldiers.”
What did he mean by letting the soldiers decide?
A sudden sense of unease gripped Yang Qingshan.
He immediately struggled to stand.
But Qingfeng mercilessly shoved him back down.
Then Xiao Yunting clapped his hands and said softly with a smile: “The show is beginning.”
At the same time, loud noises suddenly erupted outside. Panicked shouting. Running footsteps. Cries of alarm. “This is terrible! This is terrible! Oirat spies have infiltrated the city! They’re killing people everywhere!”
The voices grew louder and louder.
The crowd outside seemed to be growing larger as well.
People began shouting: “To the yamen! Find the Prefect! Find the Commander-in-Chief!”
People rushed back and forth. The chaos continued from broad daylight until dusk began to fall.
Everyone was terrified.
Holding his wounded forehead, Fang Jing had recovered somewhat. He looked uncertainly at Xiao Yunting, unable to understand what exactly he was planning.
Why not simply kill such a corrupt official with one stroke? Why drag things out like this?
Then, suddenly, anguished cries from the citizens echoed outside: “They’ve run away! They’ve all run away! Prefect Zhang Fei has fled! He’s the commander-in-chief’s brother-in-law! The commander-in-chief is gone too! And Lord Ma, he’s disappeared as well!”
Fang Jing abruptly lowered his hand and stared at Yang Qingshan in disbelief.
Yang Qingshan’s expression was far worse than Fang Jing’s.
At last, he understood what Xiao Yunting had meant.
The people who would kill him would be his own soldiers.
Now he understood why.
The soldiers’ families lived in this city.
The city’s residents were their parents, wives, children, relatives, and friends. Abandoning the people of the city and colluding with the Oirats to let them enter, to the soldiers and civilians, that was the ultimate betrayal.
An unforgivable hatred.
He began struggling violently. “No! No! I still have over five thousand men in the city! How could you possibly….”
“Your brother-in-law Zhang Fei’s name truly disgraces his predecessors,” Xiao Yunting interrupted with a chuckle. “He doesn’t have much backbone. A little intimidation was enough to make him hand over all the evidence and the military command seal.”
“These five thousand men no longer obey you.”
A chill ran through Yang Qingshan’s entire body.
At that moment, Xiao Yunting suddenly smiled softly. “Lord Yang, when you framed my grandfather, this was the method you used as well, wasn’t it? The difference is that my grandfather truly was a loyal minister. While you are a great traitor.”
Yang Qingshan could not say a word. He stared fixedly at Xiao Yunting. If looks could kill, Xiao Yunting would have died countless times already.
But Xiao Yunting did not care in the slightest.
He even smiled faintly.
“Now let Lord Yang have a proper taste of the bitter wine he brewed himself.” After speaking, he waved a hand coldly. “Throw him into his mansion on Northern Road and reunite him with his beloved wife, concubines, and children.”
This time, Yang Qingshan wasn’t merely horrified.
He completely lost control.
“No!”
“No!”
“Your Highness, you can’t do this!”
“You can’t do this!”
“This official confesses! I confess!”
Confess?
Some people in this world are qualified to confess their crimes. Others are not.
Xiao Yunting slowly adjusted his robe and looked at him leisurely with a smile. “Go beneath the earth and confess to the common people you killed. To the loyal ministers, to the honest officials, and to all those innocent people who were dragged into your schemes. That will be much faster.”
With a wave of his hand, Qingfeng and Linhai personally stepped forward.
They struck Yang Qingshan unconscious, grabbed him, and dragged him away without the slightest hesitation.
When Yang Qingshan woke up again, he found himself inside his brightly illuminated mansion on Northern Road.
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