Fifteen minutes ago.
Prince Gong found him, took out an imperial edict, and read His Majesty's decree. He ordered him to lead the middle army to the East Palace and take down the Crown Prince.
He was Prince Gong's man and had been promoted by him. He firmly believed in his orders.
However, this concerned mobilizing the troops and arresting the Crown Prince. This matter was too big and he did not agree for a moment.
The Five City Defense Divisions were divided into the left, right, front, back, and middle armies. Each army had 20,000 people, a total of 100,000 people. They were in charge of the security of the capital.
Although he was the Military Governor, he still had the Grand Governor above him, who was in charge of supervising the Five City Defense Divisions.
To mobilize the troops, he had to agree.
However, Prince Gong had an imperial edict in his hand that could bypass the Grand Governor and directly mobilize 20,000 troops.
He had also read the imperial edict. It was stamped with a jade seal.
As for why he wanted to take down the Crown Prince, he had also asked. This concerned the lives of his family. There was nothing wrong with being cautious. Prince Gong told him that although the plague outside the city had been cured, it had been confirmed that the Crown Prince was a woman.
His Majesty was furious and ordered him to be taken down.
However, this matter concerned the reputation of the imperial family. He was told to know his limits and not make too much noise.
In that case, everything could be explained. Moreover, he was a hardcore fan of Prince Gong. There was no reason for him to harm him, so this scene happened.
The two armies faced each other, swords pointed.
Ma Ping'an was furious. His gaze was cold, and his monstrous killing intent was about to break through the sky. He berated sternly, "Feng Jingyao, how dare you! How dare you harm His Highness!"
"Hmph! The bold one is the Crown Prince. I've been ordered to take him down after lying to His Majesty for fifteen years! You don't want to be implicated and have three generations of your family executed. Put down your weapons, and surrender immediately."
"Dog, you're determined to rebel. I'll fulfill your wish!"
Ma Ping'an waved his right hand, killing intent soaring.
"Kill as I command!"
He took the lead and rushed toward Feng Jingyao. As long as he took him down, he could control the situation and resolve the current crisis.
"Stubborn! Kill them all and capture the Crown Prince alive!"
20,000 soldiers rushed forward.
A huge battle began, and the battle was intense.
The five armies of the Five City Defense Divisions were all elites drawn from various borders and rotated every two years. Their combat strength was shocking.
Ma Ping'an's side was not as many as the other party, nearly five times fewer, but their overall strength was stronger.
Especially the Flood Dragon Guards. Although there were only 500 people, they were all martial artists. Although most of them were at the first or second level of the Postnatal Realm, they were not enough to deal with the experts. It was not difficult to deal with this group of elite soldiers.
Coupled with the Crown Prince's Guards, although they were not martial artists, they were still elites.
For a moment, they blocked all the troops of the middle army outside, preventing them from taking a step forward.
Seeing Ma Ping'an rushing over with his men, Feng Jingyao's eyes flickered coldly. He had the same idea as him. To take down an army, he had to capture the king first. As long as he took him down, the Flood Dragon Guard and the Crown Prince's guards were nothing.
A terrifying aura erupted, sweeping up a huge might as it rushed forward.
He slashed out with the Hundred Battle Violent Blade. The saber aura erupted and slashed at his head.
"I was looking for you!" Ma Ping'an was not afraid.
The Flood Dragon Sword went forward to fight him.
After a dozen moves, Feng Jingyao kicked him away. He slashed horizontally with the Hundred Battle Violent Blade, killing the surrounding Flood Dragon Guards. He pointed the blade at him and slashed again, preparing to kill him here.
Ma Ping'an struggled to get up, but the kick was too heavy. It broke a few ribs in his chest. For a long time, he did not get up. He watched the approaching blade.
"Die!"
The Hundred Battle Violent Blade slashed down, only three inches away from splitting him in half. A dazzling sword aura descended from the sky and severed the saber in Feng Jingyao's hand. The violent power contained in the sword aura severely injured him.
A golden light flashed.
Zhang Ronghua appeared in front of him and helped him up from the ground. "Can you hold on?"
"I'm fine!" Ma Ping'an wiped the blood from his mouth.
"He provoked his superior and led troops to besiege the East Palace, wanting to kill His Highness."
"Leave it to me."
Zhang Ronghua turned around and charged forward with the Golden Dragon Sword in his hand. Feng Jingyao was helped up by his guards and wanted to retreat to the back. Before he could move, the guards were killed. With a flash of the sword, he lost consciousness.
He grabbed his neck and jumped onto the roof at the side. He circulated his Black Yellow True Essence and shouted, "Feng Jingyao is here. Stop!"
A terrifying wave of air sounded in the ears of every soldier.
The soldiers of the middle army subconsciously looked at him. Seeing that the commander had been captured, some people were subconsciously stunned on the spot, and some people were resisting.
Towards them, Zhang Ronghua slashed down more than ten sword auras in a row and killed them.
A cold gaze swept across, and a dazzling golden light enveloped him, like a god in the night.
"Drop your weapon!"
The soldiers hesitated, not knowing what to do.
Hurried footsteps sounded as a large number of soldiers rushed over from all directions. The leader was an old general. His name was Xia Guozhi, and he was the Grand Governor of the Five City Defense Divisions. Although his surname was Xia, he was not from the imperial family and had high prestige in the army.
He didn't know anything about tonight.
When he received the news, he was about to bring people to stop Feng Jingyao, but he was stopped by a group of sacrificial soldiers. By the time he killed these sacrificial soldiers and rushed to the Five City Defense Divisions, Feng Jingyao had already brought people over. He was almost scared out of his wits. He wished he could eat this traitor's flesh and drink his blood. If Feng Jingyao wanted to die, don't bring him along!
He hurriedly gathered his troops and brought the left and right armies. A total of 40,000 people rushed over like flying. They used all their strength, afraid that they would be late and cause a monstrous disaster.
Seeing that they were confronting each other and that the troops of the middle army had yet to kill their way into the East Palace, Xia Guozhi was glad. He was just one step away and roared angrily, "I'm Xia Guozhi. Put down your weapons for me!"
Only then did the soldiers of the middle army throw their weapons to the ground.
The crowd parted.
He walked up quickly from behind. Zhang Ronghua also came down from the eaves and threw Feng Jingyao to Zheng Fugui, looking at him coldly.
"Is His Highness okay?"
"Watch them. Don't let anyone leave."
Xia Guozhi was aggrieved. Normally, if the people from the Flood Dragon Guard dared to speak to him like this, they would definitely not give him a good attitude. However, now that the middle army was in trouble, no matter how unhappy he was, he had to hold it in and hurriedly agree.
"Supervise them!"
"Yes." Zheng Fugui clenched the Flood Dragon Sword in his hand.
Zhang Ronghua brought some Flood Dragon Guards into the East Palace. Feng Jingyao was also escorted over.
In the bedroom.
The remaining Flood Dragon Guards were transferred over to guard outside.
Seeing Zhang Ronghua arrive, he bowed respectfully.
"His Highness is inside?"
"Qing'er has instructed you to go in directly when you come."
He pushed open the hall door and closed it after entering.
In the inner hall.
Qing'er and Shuang'er guarded the bed. The Crown Prince leaned against the bedhead and read. His face was flushed and he did not look poisoned at all.