There is a god in the sky

Chapter 395 Hijacking

Although Lu Changzhi held the official title of a military officer, he was not actually a military officer.

He was arrogant and pointed his long sword, commanding: "You all live off the emperor's salary, and you know best that treason is a capital offense punishable by the extermination of nine generations of your family. Why risk the lives of your clansmen for the sake of unrelated people?"

"I assure you, as long as you surrender, I will make sure the Emperor forgives all your past transgressions and secures a bright future for you."

Li Ge asked with amusement, "Young Master Lu, does the Princess have no one else to rely on? Why does she need you to take action personally?"

Lu Changzhi snorted coldly and did not answer.

In fact, the general originally chosen was the head of the guards in the mansion.

But his servant said this was a great opportunity for him to make a name for himself.

If he saves his uncle, the emperor, what wouldn't he want in the future?

After his mother went to the imperial mausoleum, he was the one who made the decisions in the mansion. Even the head of the guards couldn't go against him and could only obey his orders.

The eldest princess left behind 500 guards and borrowed 1,000 soldiers from the residences of her close relatives in the royal family, for a total of 1,500 men.

When Lu Changzhi led his men into the palace, he felt there were too many people. He also remembered that when his uncle came to the capital before, he had sent a team to guard the city gate. So he also split his forces into two groups, taking only a few hundred men into the palace to rescue the emperor.

He anticipated that some members of the Imperial Guards had betrayed the Emperor, creating a situation of evenly matched forces.

The number of Imperial Guards in front of them was indeed small, and Li Ge's face was injured, so he didn't look like he had the upper hand.

"The imperial mausoleum only involves a few princes, why would the Eldest Princess need to personally intervene? Or is the Eldest Princess holding back a backup plan? Does she intend to reap the benefits like Prince Zheng did?"

"I don't know what you're talking about! It's utterly ridiculous!" Lu Changzhi thought he had gone mad.

Some of the guards he brought into the palace were from other families, and they all became uneasy after hearing Li Ge's words.

If what he said is true, are they right or wrong in aiding and abetting evil today?

Lu Changzhi squeezed his legs tightly around the horse's belly and charged out of the camp.

His target was Li Ge; he wanted to personally cut off Li Ge's head.

He raised his longsword high and slashed at Li Ge, but saw that the other party neither dodged nor avoided, but calmly looked at him.

Lu Changzhi panicked.

This was his first time charging into battle, and when he saw that the Imperial Guards had cut off his path, panic spread.

A figure leaped high into the air and landed behind him.

A cold dagger was pressed against his neck, followed by a faint breathing sound.

Shen Lan couldn't bear to kill Lu Changzhi.

She had more and more contact with Lu Changzhi, and she didn't dislike him.

He was just an ignorant and good-for-nothing playboy who liked to look at erotic pictures.

"Young Master Lu, don't move!"

Shen Lan spoke in a male voice.

She snatched the reins from Lu Changzhi's hand, turned around and took a few steps back, saying to the opposing camp, "If you don't want Young Master Lu to lose his head, please leave immediately."

In the eyes of these guards, Lu Changzhi's life was definitely more important than that of outsiders.

The eldest princess only has one son. If he dies, does it really matter who becomes emperor?

Shen Lan led Lu Changzhi forward slowly.

With each step she took, the guards took a step back.

“If you leave the palace now, I will return Young Master Lu to you. But if you disregard his life and continue on your way, then we will have no choice but to fight to the death.”

Lu Changzhi asked nervously, "You...you should move the dagger away a bit..."

Riding a horse is not like walking; it's impossible to control the distance properly. The dagger slashed several cuts on Lu Changzhi's neck.

Shen Lan asked with amusement, "Young Master Lu, if you're so afraid of death, how did you dare to bring people into the palace to rescue the emperor?"

"That's my uncle."

Shen Lan fell silent.

Even among relatives, there are degrees of closeness and distance, which doesn't seem to require much reason.

"Leave the palace; you're not suited to be involved in this kind of thing."

Lu Changzhi also regretted it.

Little did he know that he would be kidnapped before he even got to see the emperor.

Fortunately, the person behind him didn't seem to want to kill him, otherwise he would have been beheaded by now.

"Fine, I'll go! Release me, and I'll take my men out of the palace right away."

Shen Lan shook her head, "Young Master Lu is of noble status, and I am worried about your safety. It would be better if I escorted you myself."

She lifted Lu Changzhi's head, revealing the red line on his neck, and scolded, "If you don't want him to die, leave the palace immediately! I'll count to three... one... two..."

The guards turned and ran, shouting as they went, "Release our young master at once!"

Shen Lan ran all the way to the palace gate and said to Lu Changzhi, "I'm sorry!"

Then she grabbed Lu Changzhi's arm and threw him away forcefully.

"Catch it!"

After throwing Lu Changzhi out, Shen Lan immediately turned around and galloped across the wide square.

Arrows rained down from behind.

Imperial guards were waiting to meet him.

Feeling a strong gust of wind coming from behind, she immediately lay down on the horse's back and shrank her body to its smallest size.

An arrow grazed her scalp, and she gripped the reins even tighter.

Once they were out of range, the Imperial Guards began to counterattack.

Lu Changzhi's head was still spinning as soon as his feet touched the ground.

He shouted, "Get out of here!"

As soon as he ran, everyone else ran after him.

The imperial guards closed the palace gates and began to deploy defenses around the area.

When Shen Lan and Li Ge stood atop the palace wall, they saw a procession escorting a carriage toward them.

“They are men of the Marquis of Pingyang,” Li Ge said.

Shen Lan noticed it too.

Throughout the entire capital, only the residence of the Marquis of Pingyang had a considerable number of disabled veterans.

I heard that they had all survived life-and-death situations with the Marquis. The Marquis brought them back to the capital, helped them settle down and build their careers, and never thought of them as a burden.

The carriage stopped in front of the palace gate.

The soldiers escorting them were quite far away.

Li Ge ordered his men to wave a flag with the character "付" (meaning "pay") written on it, and only then did the group approach.

Shen Lan had assumed the carriage contained the princes who had been rescued, but to her surprise, the first person carried off was not a living person, but the deceased eldest princess.

Shen Lan descended the city wall and walked to the body of the eldest princess. It was easy for her to identify her fatal wound and the method of the murderer.

They were very inexperienced and not very strong.

The murder weapon was a long, thin, and sharp object, and the perpetrator was either a woman or a child.

The fact that the weapon was able to strike the victim's neck with a single blow, penetrating from front to back, indicates that the murderer was fully determined when committing the crime.

The princes alighted from the carriage one after another.

Shen Lan recognized the murderer at a glance.

His clothes hadn't been changed, and there was splattered blood on his chest.

A person who kills for the first time is likely to experience severe physical discomfort, and this young prince also suffered from such aftereffects.

But Shen Lan was still shocked.

But she did not sympathize with the eldest princess.

From the moment she decided to kill these young nephews, she had already severed the ties between them with her own hands.

“Bring the princess’s body into the palace, and let the princes go in as well. Tell the civil and military officials what you have all experienced.”

Li Ge's words ignited the anger in the princes' hearts.

They all simultaneously adopted angry expressions and strode into the palace with the imperial guards.