38: Meeting your Majesty is like meeting your Majesty!

"Come! Seize these two traitors who disregard the court and intend to rebel! Their lives or deaths do not matter!"

Huang Jianzhong shrieked, his voice becoming somewhat sharp due to excitement.

His eyes were filled with mad triumph; he had already envisioned Qin Huaiyu and Yuchi Baolin bleeding on the spot.

However, one breath passed.

Two breaths passed.

Ten breaths passed.

The entire Yuexiang Restaurant, apart from the whimpering wind outside the window, remained deathly silent.

Those axmen who should have rushed out from behind screens, beside pillars, and from private rooms, not a single one appeared.

The smile on Huang Jianzhong's face froze.

"Where are the people? Where are my people!"

He looked around in a panic, shouting at the empty hall with all his might, "Come! Where did everyone go!"

"Governor."

Qin Huaiyu's voice drifted over, carrying a hint of mockery, "Are you looking for your axmen?"

Huang Jianzhong spun his head sharply, staring fixedly at Qin Huaiyu, his gaze wanting to devour him.

Qin Huaiyu did not see his murderous gaze; he merely tidied his sleeves slowly before saying nonchalantly, "Your Highness the Crown Prince knew of your treacherous intentions long ago. Before you set up this banquet, His Highness had already ordered us to eliminate all five hundred axmen you had ambushed inside and outside Yuexiang Restaurant."

As soon as his voice fell, a bloody head rolled in from outside the door with a "gurgle," stopping right at Huang Jianzhong's feet.

The head's eyes were wide open, its face still bearing the terror and disbelief from before death; it was precisely his most trusted confidant, the leader of the axmen.

"Ah!"

The Officials in the hall let out a series of terrified screams; several timid ones had already collapsed to the ground, soiling themselves.

Huang Jianzhong's body trembled violently, the color instantly draining from his face, turning ashen white as paper.

He lost?

No!

He hadn't lost yet!

He had three thousand Jing Province soldiers ambushed outside the city; as long as he gave the order, these men would immediately rush into the city and raze The General Governor's Mansion to the ground!

"Thump! Thump! Thump!"

Just then, a heavy and uniform sound of footsteps came from outside the building, approaching from a distance, like giant hammers pounding the earth, and pounding the hearts of everyone present.

Hope reignited in Huang Jianzhong's eyes.

It was his army!

It must be his army that had arrived!

He scrambled to the window and looked out.

But the next second, the hope in his eyes was completely replaced by boundless terror.

Below Yuexiang Restaurant, on the long street, cavalrymen in black profound armor, holding sharp blades, had appeared at some unknown time.

They stood silently under the moonlight, forming a steel torrent, their chilling Killing Intent capable of freezing the air.

Great Snow Dragon Riders!

It was Li Chengqian's personal army, the Great Snow Dragon Riders!

When did they enter the city?

Why hadn't he received any news at all?

"Where are my soldiers? Where are my three thousand Jing Province soldiers!"

Huang Jianzhong shrieked madly, clutching the window frame tightly with both hands, his knuckles turning white from the effort.

He saw them; at the end of the long street, his three thousand Jing Province soldiers were indeed there.

But they did not charge forward as he had expected; instead, they stood in formation, confronting the Great Snow Dragon Riders from a distance.

Even more astonishing, some officers who looked like generals had actually put down their weapons and bowed towards the Great Snow Dragon Riders.

They… they had actually defected!

"No… impossible… this is absolutely impossible!"

Huang Jianzhong muttered to himself, as if struck by lightning, and completely collapsed.

He utterly failed to understand why his Jing Province army, which he had painstakingly cultivated for many years, would defect at such a critical moment!

These people were all promoted by him, and usually loyal and obedient to him!

"Why… why is this happening…"

He was distraught, as if all his strength had been drained from him.

But he was unwilling to accept it!

The desire to survive made him spring up from the ground.

He pulled out a bronze military tally from his embrace, trembling as he held it high.

"I am the Governor of Jing Province! I hold the military tally bestowed by the imperial court!"

He shrieked at the Jing Province army outside the window, "All Jing Province soldiers, listen to my command! Kill these rebel soldiers! Kill them! I will reward ten thousand taels of gold! And a promotion of three ranks!"

However, what answered him was only a profound silence.

Those Jing Province soldiers merely looked at him indifferently, as if watching a clown.

Gold?

Official position?

In the face of absolute power, these things seemed so ridiculous, so pale and powerless.

Huang Jianzhong's face turned from red to white, and then from white to green.

He felt as if his heart was being fiercely gripped by an invisible large hand, making even breathing difficult.

Fear, like an icy tide, instantly spread from the soles of his feet to his entire body, completely submerging him.

Just then, Qin Huaiyu slowly walked to his side.

He did not look at the distraught Huang Jianzhong, but instead took out a token from his embrace.

The token was entirely made of profound iron, heavy and ancient, with only a single character carved on its front in a vigorous Dragon and Phoenix style — Qian!

Qin Huaiyu held the token high and proclaimed loudly, "By the Crown Prince's order!"

The voice was not loud, but it clearly spread throughout the entire long street.

The next moment, the earth-shattering happened!

"Boom!"

Whether it was the murderous Great Snow Dragon Riders downstairs, or the defected Jing Province soldiers at the street corner, tens of thousands of people, at the same time, uniformly knelt on one knee, the clanging sound of their armor colliding, forming a torrent.

Seeing the token was like seeing the sovereign!

They lowered their proud heads, and with all their might, let out a thunderous roar like mountains and seas: "Greetings, Your Highness the Crown Prince—!"

"Greetings, Your Highness the Crown Prince—!"

"Greetings, Your Highness the Crown Prince—!"

Their voices shook the heavens and swallowed mountains and rivers!

The entire Jing Province city trembled amidst this earth-shaking shout.

Huang Jianzhong stood stiffly by the window, the military tally representing the court's authority clanging to the ground.

His eyes were wide open, pupils dilated, his mouth agape unconsciously, yet he could not utter any sound.

He was finished.

He was completely finished.

He finally understood that what he had provoked was not a disgraced Crown Prince banished to his fiefdom.

But a true Dragon that had long broken free from all shackles and was about to sweep across the world!

The wind grew stronger.

A bloody storm, sweeping across the entire Great Tang, seemed to be quietly brewing in the night of Jing Province.

The thunderous shouts gradually subsided, but their echoes transformed into countless invisible steel needles, piercing Huang Jianzhong's eardrums, nailing down his last shred of sanity.

He collapsed to the ground, a gasping sound escaping his throat, like a dying fish thrown onto the shore.