Fire Captain

When Princess Zhao and Minglan arrived at the Funing Palace where the emperor was, they saw that the entire Funing Palace had been surrounded by rebels. The rebels were banging on the door, and it seemed that the Funing Palace was about to collapse.

The arrival of Princess Zhao and her group attracted the attention of the rebels. Seeing the rebels slowly surrounding them, Princess Zhao pulled out the knife from the hand of her maid and chopped at them. Princess Zhao came from a family of scholars and had practiced martial arts since childhood. A few rebels were no problem at all. She danced with the knife in her hand with great vigor and rushed into the crowd like chopping melons and vegetables.

Except for the two people who stayed behind to protect Minglan, the rest followed Princess Zhao into the rebel army. Soon, the people in Funing Palace felt that the killing noises outside the door had greatly decreased. Just as they were wondering, they heard someone outside the door shouting, "Prince Zhao's Mansion is late to rescue you, Your Majesty, please open the door!"

Prior to this, the current emperor and the queen were cursing Prince Yan in Funing Palace: "If I had known this would happen, I should have deposed him!"

The Queen consoled him, "Your Majesty, scolding him now is useless. The most urgent thing is to find someone to save you!"

As they were talking, they heard the voice of Princess Zhao outside and couldn't help but say, "It's Princess Zhao, hurry up, open the door and let the princess in."

Princess Zhao and her entourage walked in quickly. Blood was still dripping from the tips of the knives they were holding upside down. Although their clothes were a little messy, they looked very heroic as they walked in from outside the door.

When Princess Zhao saw the emperor, she immediately said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty. I think Prince Zhao will come to the palace to rescue you soon after hearing the news."

The emperor said excitedly: "Yes, yes!"

The queen held Princess Zhao's hand, and her panicked heart gradually calmed down.

At this time, Prince Yan was in the side hall dealing with Prince Yong's family. He was looking at the corpses all over the floor and was feeling very proud. Suddenly, the soldiers outside the door came running in and shouted to Prince Yan, "Your Highness, something bad has happened. Prince Zhao and his son have brought their troops into the palace to capture you!"

Upon hearing this, the King of Yan kicked over the soldier who reported the incident and angrily said, "Capture the king! Why should I be afraid of a scholar who can only write poetry? It's a good thing that they came here. I can deal with them both at once!"

Before the soldier could get up, another man ran in and said, "Your Majesty, the people brought by King Zhao are extremely skilled in martial arts. Our army has no power to fight back. They are now approaching the side hall!"

King Yan asked, "How many people are there?"

The soldier replied: "About 200 people!"

These 200 men were trained by Bai Ziyang. All of them were highly skilled in martial arts and could easily defeat ten enemies alone. They were divided into teams of ten and scattered throughout the palace to wipe out the rebels. At this time, the so-called army of Prince Yan was scattered throughout the palace. They had not yet won a victory, and their morale had already been demoralized. Many of them took the opportunity to make money and rape the palace maids, and were easily killed by the people led by Bai Ziyang. The remaining timid ones put down their swords and surrendered after Bai Ziyang said that they could be pardoned.

King Zhao and Zhao Zihui were indeed men of letters who were not good at fighting. They were currently waiting at the city gate for the army to enter.

"Report!" At this time, someone came to report from the side hall where Prince Yan was, "The North Gate has been lost, Gu Tingye has led the army into the city!"

Prince Yan: "What?" Hearing that the army had entered the city, Prince Yan completely collapsed. He knew that there were Bai Ziyang's elite soldiers in the palace and Gu Tingye's army outside the palace. In order to deal with Prince Yong first, he did not get the emperor's edict of succession in advance. It seemed that there was not even a shred of hope... Now he could only hope to escape safely. Saving his life was the most important thing.

As he spoke, Prince Yan tightly grasped the knife that had just killed Prince Yong and was still dripping with blood, and said, "Call everyone to follow me and charge out of the south gate!"

"Yes!"

Unfortunately, before the Prince of Yan reached the palace gate, he met the Prince of Zhao. The Prince of Zhao was sitting upright on his horse, smiling and saying, "Where are you going, Prince of Yan? I have been waiting for you here for a long time."

The King of Yan pointed at the King of Zhao and said angrily: "King of Zhao, I have no grudge against you in the past or in the present, why do you have to kill us all?"

King Zhao said: "It is not my decision whether to kill or not. Take him away and hand him over to the government for disposal!"

The Prince of Yan was doomed to die, but the Emperor showed mercy and spared his life with his body intact.

After the rebellion was quelled, Bai Ziyang joined Prince Zhao and Zhao Zihui to pay homage to the emperor. They also met Princess Zhao and Minglan. When no one was paying attention, Bai Ziyang quietly asked Minglan, "Are you scared?"

Minglan shook her head and whispered, "No, I've always been with the princess... The princess is amazing!"

What's with the look in the eyes of this little fangirl? Bai Ziyang looked at Princess Zhao depressedly.

After this battle, two of the three princes in the capital were killed, and the position of crown prince naturally fell on Bai Ziyang's father, Prince Zhao. This battle also allowed the emperor to see another side of Prince Zhao, which was not just about romance.

The emperor was already old and frail, having been ill for a long time. Not long after the coup, he only had time to write the edict of succession before he passed away. The new emperor ascended the throne and rewarded his meritorious officials. In addition to appointing Zhao Zihui as the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace and Bai Ziyang as the Prince of Jing, the first person to be rewarded was Gu Tingye. After all, it was thanks to him that he led his troops into the city in time that the rebellion was quelled so quickly.

Gu Tingye was chased out of the mansion in a miserable state at the beginning, but now he has been given a glorious title and has returned to the Gu family to show off and vent his anger.

It was now a period of national mourning, and all folk entertainment, singing, dancing and opera had stopped. Many families treated the Gu family's affairs as a drama. As soon as Gu Tingye left the Gu family's door, the news spread throughout Tokyo Prefecture. However, in addition to the Gu family's affairs, people also mentioned the Sheng family in their casual conversations.

In the past, when Prince Zhao was still an idle prince, Bai Ziyang's marriage with the Sheng family had caused a lot of talk, not to mention that now Prince Zhao has ascended the throne, Bai Ziyang is a legitimate prince with real power. There are countless wealthy families waiting to marry Bai Ziyang. Everyone is wondering whether Bai Ziyang will break off the engagement, or marry a lady from a wealthy family and keep the girl from the Sheng family as a concubine, which would already be a great honor for the Sheng family.

Even the Sheng family thought so. Let's not talk about Wang Ruofu's nagging over there, which annoyed Sheng Hong to no end. Let's talk about Minglan. At night, Minglan rested her head on Wei Xiaoniang's legs. Wei Xiaoniang stroked Minglan's hair as she did when they were children. She knew her own child. Although Minglan had not grown up by her side in recent years, she was born after ten months of pregnancy. Minglan looked calm in the eyes of others, but in fact, she must have been very nervous.

Minglan was silent for a long time and suddenly said: "Grandmother advised me twice, but I didn't listen!"

Wei Xiaoniang said: "It seems that Ming'er has great confidence in him!"

Minglan thought that she and Bai Ziyang had known each other since childhood. Although Bai Ziyang was often playful and frivolous, she did not see any signs of being heartless and treacherous. On the contrary, he had saved her from danger many times and was so reliable and gave her a sense of security.

Minglan said, "I know what grandma is worried about, but I have confidence in him."

Wei Xiaoniang said, "That's good, that's good! Although I have never met Prince Jing, I believe in Ming'er's judgment of people, and after listening to your description, I also believe in Prince Jing's character."

Sure enough, within a few days, the imperial edict was issued from the palace: "The Emperor of Tian Chengyun decrees that Minglan, the daughter of the Sheng family, is from a family of scholars, has a kind heart, is beautiful and dignified, gentle and virtuous. The Queen and I are very pleased to hear about her. After Prince Jing has requested an imperial decree many times, we now grant her marriage to Prince Jing Zhao Ziyang. This is decreed!"

Now it was all settled, the people in Sheng Mansion were relieved, and the gossips from others were much less, instead they were all sour words. Fortunately, it was during the national mourning period, and there were fewer banquets and activities, so no one mentioned it to Minglan.