The Double-Chapter 647 - 197 Chaos

The noise from outside continued, with the hurried footsteps of people who seemed to have all come out of their houses; the clamour was at times distant, at times near. Children began to cry, dogs barked, it was a lively scene indeed.

In this chaotic scene, Jiang Li sat at the door, her eyes bright, reflecting the glowing sky, yet not a hint of panic could be seen on her face. Wen Renyao, watching her, suddenly laughed. When he was not joking around, he was quite serious. He said, "Miss Jiang the Second seems not to be afraid at all."

"Compared to the unarmed citizens and the soldiers confronting at the city gates, there really is nothing to be afraid of," Jiang Li replied.

"You are as courageous as Ah Heng," Wen Renyao mused as if thinking of something, "Even when he had nothing and no one to rely on, he was just as fearless."

Jiang Li smiled without agreeing or disagreeing. She didn’t know about Jih Heng’s past, and now was not the time to listen to Wen Renyao talk about the past. All because suddenly, a signal fire soared into the sky, different from the previous drum signals, it vanished in an instant.

Immediately afterward, the voices outside became noisier and the crying of women and children grew louder.

At the same time, a few torches were suddenly thrown into the compound from the outside. The courtyards in Huangzhou were not large, and the houses were made of wood. Once touched by a spark, they caught fire instantly. Zhao Ke leapt up, swatting away several torches, but one torch ignited, and the house almost instantly burst into flames. Zhao Ke cursed and said, "They’ve poured oil, let’s go quickly!"

Wen Ji immediately escorted Jiang Li out of the house. As soon as they stepped out, they were stunned by the sight outside. Huangzhou City was ablaze, rows of neatly arranged houses on the street were burning fiercely. It was as though wriggling serpents of fire were chasing after the fleeing people. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com

This was bad enough, but the citizens who got up at the noise immediately tried to fetch water to extinguish the flames. However, the fire grew fiercer, and the perpetrators had already doused the place with oil to ensure the houses would burn.

Before Jiang Li could ask Wen Ji, she heard screams from afar, cries of pursuit, and sobbing. Numerous citizens were running out from another end of the street, their clothes splattered with blood, being chased by others.

They were the men Prince Cheng had arranged in Huangzhou in advance.

Jiang Li frowned. Prince Cheng wanted to start with Huangzhou and then march northward to Yanjing. With tonight’s surprise attack, his men inside and his forces outside the city, in cahoots with each other, the Huangzhou City Garrison Army, caught so off-guard, of course, stood no chance against Prince Cheng. But Prince Cheng likely hadn’t anticipated one thing—that Jih Heng would be there.

Those people ran extremely fast, and everyone around Jiang Li was running in panic. Wen Ji, protecting Jiang Li, said, "Second Miss, go first!"

Jiang Li said, "Can’t we save them?"

"The City Defense Army will arrive soon," Wen Ji replied coldly, "Our duty is to protect Second Miss."

As he spoke, Jiang Li watched helplessly as a small child, just a few steps away from her, was jostled by the crowd and fell behind. A black-clad person wielding a sword chased after the child with a sinister laugh, about to catch up.

Without thinking any further, Jiang Li pushed Wen Ji aside and ran towards the child. The child, already petrified, fell to the ground and broke into desperate tears. It was then that he felt someone run over, scoop him up, and flee.

The man in black hadn’t expected someone to rush over to rescue the child so abruptly, but he didn’t do much, quickly catching up to Jiang Li. Dragging a child along, Jiang Li wouldn’t be able to run for much longer. Right as she was about to be caught, Wen Ji caught up and engaged in combat with the man in black.

Seizing the opportunity, Jiang Li ran to the side. Zhao Ke caught up, unable to help but say, "Second Miss, you’re being too reckless!"

"I..." Jiang Li, aware of the close call, said, "Sorry, but... I couldn’t just watch him die like that."

The child was only five or six years old, staring blankly at Jiang Li, seemingly realizing only now and started to cry loudly, hiccuping with injustice. His hands clung tightly to Jiang Li’s sleeve. Jiang Li’s heart was also heavy with sorrow—the child was covered in blood, his parents likely having met with misfortune. But those round eyes made Jiang Li think of Xue Zhao—how could she bear to leave this child here unattended?

Wen Ji fought with the man in black for a while, and the cunning man, realizing he was no match for Wen Ji, didn’t linger and turned to run away. Wen Ji didn’t pursue, for what if he fell for a trick and left Jiang Li unprotected? Jih Heng had instructed him to protect her before he left, and naturally, that was what Wen Ji intended to do.

Wen Renyao murmured, "This Prince Cheng has caused countless deaths... he doesn’t even care about the lives of the common people."

Zhao Ke, however, had a more detached view, nothing like his harmless baby-faced appearance; he said, "The old saying goes, ’A single general’s success is built atop a mountain of bones.’ This has always been the case. What of the common people? The world is never short of common folk."

As they spoke, the sound of the drums and horns at the city gate intensified, and whether it was just Jiang Li’s imagination or not, she felt the ground beneath her feet tremble as well.

Wen Renyao’s complexion turned unsightly, "The tide of battle has changed; I’m afraid Prince Cheng’s forces are even stronger than we imagined."

"What should we do now?" Jiang Li asked, "The whole city is on fire, and there’s no safe place left."

"Once the City Defense Army arrives, those men in black shouldn’t be running amok. Right now, the most important thing is the city gates," said Wen Renyao solemnly. "They previously caused chaos simply to seize the chance to open the gates and let those people in. Once Prince Cheng’s soldiers enter the city, even with Ah Heng, our small number of garrison troops won’t be a match for them."

Jiang Li pondered for a moment and said, "They shouldn’t have succeeded, right? At least not for now. If they had, things wouldn’t have come to this."

"Indeed, and that’s why they will double their efforts," Wen Renyao said. "Let’s hope that Ah Heng can handle it."

This time, Jiang Li didn’t suggest going to the city gate. Their small group wouldn’t be able to accomplish anything now. If they went and those men captured them, using them as leverage against Jih Heng, the loss would be even greater.

The City Defense Army personnel arrived swiftly. They seemed to know Zhao Ke and Wen Ji, as one of them invited Zhao Ke and Wen Ji, along with Jiang Li, to step aside. Fires were everywhere in Huangzhou City, but some had been extinguished by now. The civilians had all gathered, and it was only now that they were coming back to their senses, feeling somewhat relieved.

The men were anxious, while the women clutched the children close, all of them looking in the direction of the city gates. Time passed, and the night felt unusually long.

The child whom Jiang Li had saved was staring blankly at the sky, still not seeing his family come for him. As soon as Jiang Li asked about them, he would cry. It took a while to calm him down, and from his mouth, Jiang Li finally learned that those men in black had started from the south of the city. The very first household they attacked was his, and at that time, all his family were asleep and were brutally killed by the assailants. Only his brother, carrying him, had managed to rush out, but in the end, his brother died too, and he was about to die when Jiang Li rescued him.

"What’s your name?" Jiang Li asked him.

"Lin Yao," he sobbed, extremely aggrieved. Such a small child, he likely didn’t understand what it meant to have his family exterminated overnight. If he were a bit older and understood the situation, having experienced such a huge shock, who knows what he would have become.

Jiang Li had no choice but to comfort him, just as she would have soothed Xue Zhao when they were young. After much effort, she finally lulled him to sleep and then handed the child over to Wen Renyao. Wen Renyao was fine with it, not unwilling at all, but seemed rather curious, watching the child, lost in thought. Jiang Li looked around; there were many injured people on the ground. The surviving doctors of Huangzhou were all here, busy treating the wounded. Some of the City Defense Army personnel helped to retrieve medicinal materials from the pharmacies, brewing medicine on the spot.

After all, many had died or were injured.

Jiang Li sighed and looked outside. They were some distance away from the city gates, but faintly, it seemed she could hear the sounds of swords and horses’ hooves at the gates. These sounds reaching here made the women tremble even more. Fear appeared on everyone’s faces.

Jiang Li was worried.

Prince Cheng had been planning for this moment for many years. Starting from that time, Jih Heng was just a young child, and many more years went by before Jih Heng was old enough to start preparing for this moment. People like her, Wen Ji, Zhao Ke, Wen Renyao, Lu Jiu, Kong Liu, they had always blindly believed in Jih Heng, thinking he could achieve anything. But in the end, Jih Heng was also just an ordinary man, a mortal flesh and blood, and he too could be in danger.

Yet she could do nothing.

Jiang Li sighed. Not being able to do anything was still better than causing trouble. As long as they could survive this night, as long as they could get through it, Prince Cheng’s forces would likely suffer a blow to their morale, diminishing their initial dominance. If they waited any longer, the reinforcements would return. It wouldn’t be appropriate for Prince Cheng to risk all his stakes on Huangzhou, as he would certainly reorganize his forces and head north to Yanjing before the reinforcements arrived and make a move to seize the imperial palace.

But that didn’t seem right. If so, what was Jih Heng doing staging this act here in Huangzhou?

Jiang Li felt something was amiss. In Yanjing City, there was the Imperial Forest Army, but with so many people in Yanjing City, the consequences would be unimaginable if Prince Cheng managed to break through. Assistance would have to be requested. The Prince of Xia County, Zhaode General... Zhaode General?

Like a gleam of light, reality finally illuminated, and Jiang Li understood at last.

Jih Heng wasn’t in Yanjing but had come to Huangzhou, and the reason he was in this protracted struggle with Prince Cheng was perhaps to compel the emperor in Yanjing City to order Zhaode General Yin Zhan back to the capital. By the time Prince Cheng finished entangling here and moved to Yanjing, it would coincide perfectly with Yin Zhan’s arrival.

But why was Jih Heng doing this? To be in a better position to eliminate Prince Cheng? That seemed overly complicated, or perhaps... was it just for Yin Zhan?

Jiang Li didn’t understand. She wanted to ponder this issue, and before she realized it, the eastern sky turned white. The night had passed, and day had broken.