"What's going on?!" ranted the King Yu.

When their clothes caught fire, people within the ring of encirclement, regardless of which side they were on, were all seized by panic and tried madly to put out the fire on them, unable to defend themselves against the enemies' sabers. The situation was one of utmost disarray, clashes of weapons and burning soldiers' cries for help resounding around the whole battlefield. Roaring flames surrounded the two armies, pressing on towards them from all sides continuously.

The besiegers were waiting outside the inferno, killing everyone on sight who made it out of the fire.

Standing in the distance, Ling Zhang watched this scene, deeply astounded, wondering where this third army was from.

At this moment, Yuwen Tong returned, carrying the comatose emperor with him. He flicked a gauging look at the battleground and said, "They're the other half of the Palace Guards."

Ling Zhang's eyes dilated. "Aren't these people under the command of the Gu family? They have orders from the King Yu to defend the imperial palace. Why are them–"

"Clearly the Gu family have turned their coats," observed Yuwen Tong.

Ling Zhang was amazed.

"Actually this is a good thing for us. It'll spare us a lot of trouble," remarked Yuwen Tong flintily, watching the ongoing fight.

'The mantis stalking the cicada might fall prey to the siskin following in its wake', as the saying goes. "People of the Gu family are going to be the biggest winner in the end?" asked Ling Zhang.

"They won't. The emperor is still breathing. I've already instructed Yue Qi to inform the Northern City Garrison Battalion and have them enter the city to defend the imperial palace. Now we need to send the emperor back to the palace," said Yuwen Tong.

Ling Zhang tossed the unconscious emperor a glance, his face taking on a disgusted expression. "Didn't you say that we couldn't let him go back unharmed?"

Yuwen Tong lifted his eyebrows. "How do you know he's unharmed?"

Ling Zhang looked at Yuwen Tong, who leaned over and gave him a kiss. "I'm going back. You stay here and keep watch. Yao Yi will be back in a little while. Keep yourself hidden."

Ling Zhang inclined his head. "I'll be careful."

Yuwen Tong gave a nod and then left with the emperor on his shoulder. Predictably, before long Yao Yi showed up. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and glanced at the mounting sea of flames. "It seems that we've got them all in one fell swoop."

After a few moments, Xie Shi and Miao Shiba also arrived. The three of them crouched on boughs of trees around Ling Zhang, observing the situation on the battlefield.

This battle caused extremely heavy casualties. Hardly any soldiers of the King Duan's or the King Yu's army survived. They were either killed by weapons of the opposing side or burned to death or slaughtered after breaking through the ring of encirclement.

The King Yu also managed to make it out of the inferno and came to realize what was going on at the sight of the other half of the Palace Guards. When his eyes fell on the member of the Gu family in command, he was almost reduced to vomiting blood from fury. "The Gu family actually stooped to back-stabbing?!"

"Winner takes all. You should know this better than anyone, shouldn't you, Your Highness?" clucked that member of the Gu family, and then at a single motion of his hand, the King Yu and the couple of others who had just struggled out of the sea of fire were ringed. "Kill them."

...

Before dawn, the fire slowly went out. The air was heavy with fetor, corpses lying higgledy-piggledy right and left.

That member of the Gu family in command had a small group of palace guards stay and clean the battlefield, and then led the others back to the capital city.

He thought that this was a triumphant return, that he would be welcomed as a victorious leader. However, when the city gates came into sight in the distance, he found that they were tightly shut and heavily guarded by soldiers – soldiers of the Northern City Garrison Battalion...

His eyes widened with incredulity. "This can't be happening!"

"Restrain them!"

At the command of the vice commander of the Northern City Garrison Battalion standing behind the parapet on the city gates, the palace guards led by the member of the Gu family were surrounded.

...

On this day, though it was already late in the morning, residents of the capital city still didn't dare open their doors to go outside.

The sound of fighting had lasted a whole night, and the entire city was pervaded by the lingering, horrifying smell of blood mixed with stench of charred corpses which was being carried over by the wind.

In the imperial palace, the emperor was lying in bed, breathing feebly. The medication given by court physicians was the sole reason why he hadn't kicked the bucket yet.

"I hereby stri–strip Zhou Mingyuan of his title of nobility... relegate him to a commoner. He is to be executed, and his body is to be thrown to the mass grave..."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"The Gu family are rebels... All of them are to be beheaded... The sentence is to be carried out tomorrow..."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

All was chaos and confusion in the capital city. All those that had joined the King Duan or the Gu family in the rebellion were without exception condemned to death and confiscation of all their property. They were all beheaded the next day, blood flowing the execution ground like water. Dark clouds gathered in the sky above the capital city and didn't dissipate for several days, residents in the city consumed with horror and as silent as cicadas in late autumn.

Thus, all adult princes of the Great Yue were dead – even Zhou Mingshen the Sixth Prince under house arrest had quietly died the night the rebellion had broken out, and nobody knew how.

The emperor was at his last gasp, medication keeping him from walking through the gates of death; half of the courtiers had been executed for their involvement in the insurrection mounted by the Gu family; the uprising in Cangzhou still hadn't been suppressed. What with civil strife, the Great Yue was in great peril.

All the other princes were not yet of age, and Yuwen Tong suddenly appeared in the imperial court.

Surprisingly, in this moment of nationwide panic, officials who were at a loss what to do regained their composure at the sight of Yuwen Tong in the imperial court.

In a quick and effective fashion, Yuwen Tong took temporary command of the Northern City Garrison Battalion, and at his command, the garrison eliminated all remaining threats in and outside the capital city, stabilizing the disordered situation.

He didn't have the authority to detach the Northern City Garrison Battalion, so a lot of courtiers raised objections to it, including Yuwen Zhi.

However, to these courtiers' surprise, the ones in favor of it outnumbered them. Previously, all these people had been neutralists, but at this crucial juncture, they actually played a very important role. Among them were the Right Prime Minister, the Minister of War and Yuwen Feng of the Ministry of Rites, to name but three.

Those courtiers looked at Yuwen Tong, stupefied. It hadn't occurred to any of them that this seemingly isolated marshal actually had so many people at his back!

This came as a shock to all the forces behind the underage princes, who had rejoiced to see the succession of deaths of adult princes and the series of downfall of high-ranking officials and aristocratic families.

The emperor had three underage princes in total, including the one in the cold palace. Even the eldest of them was only ten years old, and the youngest of them two.

...

"Although you're a marshal, you cannot detach the Northern City Garrison Battalion without His Majesty's authorization," huffed Yuwen Zhi, glowering at Yuwen Tong.

"Father." Yuwen Feng stepped up, intending to stop his father.

But Yuwen Tong raised his hand to signal Yuwen Feng to quiet, walked up to Yuwen Zhi and said, "Then who do you think has the authority to do that? The deceased King Duan? Or..."

His eyes performed a flick in the direction of the imperial harem and then moved back onto Yuwen Zhi, boring into him.

Yuwen Zhi gave a start of terror. "You–!"

"Pull back, Uncle, before it is too late."

Yuwen Zhi clenched his teeth, glaring at Yuwen Tong fixedly.

A serious incident happened on that very night. There was a fire in the cold palace. What with the high temperature and a several-day dry spell, the fire actually raged out of the cold palace and burnt some nearby palaces to the ground, taking a couple of lives overnight.

Yuwen Zhi, after being informed of this, sat motionlessly in his chair for a long time, tightening his grip on the armrests until his knuckles were white. "Yuwen Tong!"

In the imperial bedchamber.

"Someone come here... Someone come here..."

It was after the emperor called for quite a while that an eunuch walked inside. "How can I help you, Your Majesty?"

"Where's Wang Lubao?"

"Gonggong Wang (Gonggong is a respectful form of address for an old, high-ranking eunuch) fell over and broke his leg last night. He's lying in bed nursing his wound."

"What about Zhang Xi? Te–Tell Zhang Xi to come in," said the emperor haltingly, having a hard job finishing his sentence.

Zhang Xi walked inside. "You want to see me, Your Majesty?"

"How... is everything going... out there?"

Zhang Xi filled the emperor in on what had happened outside. The latter's eyes dilated with shock at his words, a muffled sound emanating from his throat. After quite a while, seeing that his eyes were involuntarily rolling upwards, Zhang Xi swiftly walked up, heavily pressed a finger onto the emperor's philtrum and then stuck a couple of needles into several of the emperor's acupoints, and with that the emperor caught his breath and slowly relaxed. Then he stared at Zhang Xi watchfully and asked, "Ho–How come you have medical skills?"

Zhang Xi smiled, "I always do. You just didn't know about it, Your Majesty."

The emperor sensed that something was not right. "Ge–Get out. Tell Dou He to come in!"

"Dou He was not cautious enough when battling the fire with his men last night and died there."

The emperor began to panic. "Then ge–get me Zhu Xiang!"

"Zhu Xiang is dead as well, Your Majesty. Don't you remember? A few days ago, he made a careless mistake and you personally gave the order to drag him out and flog him to death. He was beaten to death right outside this palace, and his blood was all over the ground."

The emperor eyed Zhang Xi menacingly. "Then bring me someone else!"

"It won't make any difference, Your Majesty. I've been serving you so many years. If you need anything, all you have to do is ask. I'll handle everything properly for you."

The emperor raised his tremulous hand to point at him. "Who pla–planted you here exactly?!"

Zhang Xi beamed, "I'm afraid I don't quite understand you, Your Majesty. I've been your servant for so many years. How could you not know this?"

"Yo–You!" The emperor rolled his eyes upwards in spite of himself and fainted.

Zhang Xi stepped up to check. After feeling the emperor's pulse, he felt slightly relieved and muttered, "I was nearly scared to death. I thought he died just like that."

...

It was several days before the foul odor of blood in the air in the capital city gradually dissipated. As almost all members of the City Patrol and the Palace Guards had ended up dead during the fighting between the King Duan and the King Yu that night, soldiers of the Northern City Garrison Battalion stepped into the breach, patrolling streets in the city, and public order was slowly restored, the panic among citizens alleviated.

The Western City Garrison Battalion and the Eastern City Garrison Battalion, which used to do the King Duan's and the King Yu's bidding respectively, had also perished during that battle, while almost all troops of the Southern Gate Garrison Battalion had gone to Cangzhou with Dai Cheng. As a result, currently, Yuwen Tong virtually had the whole city under his control.

People who perceived this slowly came to realize what it meant, all of them breaking out in a cold sweat. However, for several days running, Yuwen Tong was merely in charge of the city security and the palace security and never interfered in any other state affairs, and neither did he take any other action. Many people were baffled, wondering what Yuwen Tong was thinking exactly.

Right at this time, a dispatch from Cangzhou was delivered to the capital city, which said that the rebel army had taken a couple of cities in the south of Cangzhou, that the insurrection was gaining momentum, and Dai Cheng had been wounded during a battle, so the suppression of the Cangzhou rebellion was almost in the sole charge of his deputy who was standing in for him.

"How did it come to this?!" Courtiers began to get flustered. Cangzhou was very close to the capital city, and the garrison in the latter was evidently short-handed and wouldn't be able to stop the insurrectionary army from breaking into the city if they came up to attack. The capital city was in danger!

"Send reinforcements there immediately!"

"That's easy for you to say. Yanzhou is the closest to Cangzhou, but the garrison there is also the army closest to the capital city. If the Yanzhou garrison is detached there and something happens in this city, they would never be able to make it back here in time."

"Then who do you suggest we send? Yanzhou and the capital city are the only two cities near Cangzhou. Currently there are not enough troops in the latter, which means we either have Yanzhou send backup or watch the Cangzhou uprising get out of control!"

These people directly started quarreling with each other at the court meeting. Half of them advocated detaching Yanzhou garrison to Cangzhou, while the other half believed Yanzhou garrison should stay put.

"His Majesty is still in a coma. If we don't figure out a way to tackle the issue of Cangzhou right away, I'm afraid before long we are going to have some serious problems," Zhao Zheng the Minister of War observed and then looked at Yuwen Tong. "What do you think, Marshal?"

On hearing his remarks, all the others at the meeting fell silent and shifted their gaze to Yuwen Tong.

Previously, Yuwen Tong had never expressed his opinions on this kind of matters, and most courtiers were uncertain of his position. Now that Zhao Zheng was asking Yuwen Tong about it, they immediately quieted down, intending to hear what Yuwen Tong would answer.

"Right now the Northern City Garrison Battalion is the only security force stationed in the capital city. They are not only guarding the imperial palace and city gates but also patrolling streets, despite the fact that they're badly short-handed. If any foreign enemies launch an attack on this city, we might not be able to defend against it, so the garrison in this city must not be drafted elsewhere.

Sending the military presence in Yanzhou is feasible. Yanzhou is the closest to Cangzhou. If we don't quash the rebellion in Cangzhou, sooner or later it will spill over to Yanzhou, so we must dispatch Yanzhou garrison there. It's just that there are two problems facing us."

Those against detaching the garrison in Yanzhou were just about to speak when the Right Prime Minister and Zhao Zheng started talking.

"You've got a point, Marshal. The issue of Cangzhou is of utmost urgency. Once General Dai fails to hold back those rioters, it would be the capital city rather than Yanzhou that'd be in the gravest peril. Given the severity of the incident that happened here a few days ago, we can't say for sure that it hasn't come to the knowledge of leaders of the rebel army. If by any chance they decide to attack this city, it'd be very difficult for us to defend against them with the men we have at our disposal, and we'd be forced to draft the garrisons in other cities here. Since drafting security forces in other cities is inevitable, we might as well launch a pre-emptive strike instead of deploying defense. Finishing the insurrectionary army once and for all is the only way to ensure long-time security."

These words rendered those courtiers speechless. After all, the capital city was now indeed quite vulnerable and in dire danger.

"May I ask what the two problems are, Marshal?"

After they quieted down, Yuwen Tong continued, "The first one is that we need His Majesty's authorization to detach the army in Yanzhou. As you all know, His Majesty passed out this morning and still hasn't come to yet. According to the director of the imperial hospital, his prognosis is rather gloomy, which means how to get his authorization is going to be a problem. The second one is that the commander of the garrison in Yanzhou is no less incompetent than Dai Cheng. If he leads the garrison to Cangzhou to back up Dai Cheng, I'm afraid the only thing he would be doing there is get his men killed by the rebel force for nothing."

"Uh..."

"Aside from that, we don't really know how the situation in Cangzhou is specifically, and neither do any of us know the real reason why Dai Chen got hurt, or any details about the insurrectionary army. The intelligence reports from Cangzhou are somewhat vague and ambiguous. I worry that the rebel army is not the only problem in Cangzhou – there might have been some changes in the garrison of Cangzhou, so the leader of the reinforcements must be someone having enough authority to have the officers toe the line."

After hearing Yuwen Tong's words, many courtiers at the meeting broke out in a cold sweat. There'd been some changes in the garrison of Cangzhou?

Then the capital city... Was the capital city still safe?

What with the spate of unforeseen events that had happened in the capital city recently, these courtiers were all like frightened birds and had no sense of security whatsoever.

"I volunteer for the mission." Someone suddenly stepped up. It was the General Zhongwu (AKA the General of Loyalty and Valor) who was already in his fifties.

All courtiers' eyes flashed in his direction. Yuwen Tong also looked at the General Zhongwu and gave a smile. "I was just about to suggest you."

On hearing this remark of Yuwen Tong's, the courtiers came to know that the General Zhongwu being the commander of the reinforcements sent to Cangzhou was now a sure thing.

Someone proposed Yuwen Tong be the leader, but the Right Prime Minister and Zhao Zheng objected to it and the proposer had to give up.

"Now that we've got a commander, the only thing we need is His Majesty's authorization. Which one of Your Lordships is willing to talk to His Majesty about it?" said Yuwen Tong after his eyes swept across everybody present.

"I'll go. Lord Zhao, Lord Liu, how about you two go with me?"

"It'd be a pleasure, Right Prime Minister."

Currently, all civil officials were looking to the Right Prime Minister for leadership. Owing to the attempted usurpation, half of the courtiers had been executed, and the emperor was unconscious. None of the vacancies in the imperial court had been filled, so the court seemed rather empty and bleak, and not many of the courtiers were competent enough to help improve the situation.