Chapter 26: Demanding a Person
Outside Huai Prefecture City, Jinsui discovered that Jiang Nansheng was still not letting them go, but he also made no further move.
She immediately understood that this old fox was stalling for time. He dared not kill Li King, as he was waiting for the person who would kill Li King to arrive.
Jinsui made a decisive choice, deciding to take a risk and use action to counter stillness.
She immediately dismounted, held up the bronze token, and walked step by step towards the city gate:
“Open the city gate, this King wants to enter the city!”
Han Xing was greatly alarmed and quickly chased after her, “You mustn’t, Your Highness!”
Jinsui let out a cold laugh:
“This King wants to see if the officials of Huai Prefecture have the guts to harm and kill a Great Xia Imperial Prince!”
The officials of Huai Prefecture certainly did not have the guts!
Although Li King was an abandoned Crown Prince, even the Emperor had not killed him, only letting him return to his fiefdom. Thus, his status was that of a Great Xia Imperial Prince.
Secretly killing him was one thing, but killing him in front of the entire city was rebellion!
When Jinsui saw Jiang Nansheng and found that he dared not make a move despite repeated provocations, she knew he was a coward who wouldn’t dare to kill Li King.
Of course, as long as her identity was not exposed, she was safe.
Therefore, the more critical the situation, the more she had to act like Li King.
Li King had been the Crown Prince for over a decade; would he fear a mere city guard?
“Follow this King into the city, and let’s see who dares to make a move!”
When they reached the city gate, two guards trembled as they extended their spears.
Jinsui drew the long saber from Hei Hu’s waist and angrily pointed it at the guards:
“Before Li King’s seal, how dare you not kneel?”
Her shout was very similar to Gu Changxiao’s, carrying the authority and anger of a person in power.
Those two young guards had never seen an official higher than the fifth rank in their lives. Seeing the former Crown Prince’s fury, they were immediately so scared that they dropped their spears and knelt on the ground.
The bandwagon effect, or the psychology of a mob, if someone took the lead in kneeling, others standing would start to feel they were wrong.
Jinsui shouted again, “Seeing this King, you all dare not kneel?”
Han Xing was very quick-witted and immediately roared, “Citizens of Huai Prefecture City, welcome Lord Li!”
Those dozen or so Black Feather Camp soldiers roared in unison at the same time.
The sound carried far, and the three hundred imprisoned soldiers faintly heard it and were overjoyed, saying in unison:
“Brother Han has really brought Li King to save us!”
They echoed the roar in unison: “Citizens of Huai Prefecture City, welcome Lord Li!”
The citizens in the city who didn’t understand what was happening, upon hearing this, didn’t care about anything else; kneeling first was always the right thing to do.
For a time, the citizens of the city were all kneeling by the roadside, and those timid clerks and minor officials, and soldiers who were farther from Jiang Nansheng, also paid their respects.
These officials and clerks understood clearly: Jiang Nansheng siding with Prince Yu and making things difficult for Li King was acting on behalf of his master, and he would be rewarded if he did well.
What did they have? Prince Yu’s rewards would not reach them, but Li King’s punishment was right before their eyes!
If Li King, in a fit of rage, truly killed those who disobeyed an Imperial Prince, they would have died in vain.
Jiang Nansheng was about to say something to stop her from entering the city.
But when he turned around, he saw a large group kneeling behind him.
This was also his own doing; he was too arrogant in the past, bullying the local officials too harshly, so all the local civil officials were at odds with him.
When Li King entered the city with over a dozen personal guards, the only one standing on the city wall like a stunned goose was Jiang Nansheng.
Everyone else was either kneeling and kowtowing or cupping their fists in greeting.
Jinsui ascended the city tower step by step, staring at Jiang Nansheng with a half-smile.
At this moment, she truly felt possessed by the role, believing she had Li King’s character completely in hand, acting without a single flaw.
Of course, she had only briefly interacted with Gu Changxiao and didn’t know how the real Li King would act in this situation.
With no time to think further, Jinsui continued her performance: “What? General Jiang, do you think this King is not worthy of your greeting?”
As she spoke, she walked towards Jiang Nansheng, and then she saw Jiang Nansheng repeatedly retreat. She laughed and threw away the saber in her hand, hanging the bronze token on her waist.
She laughed loudly, “Does General Jiang fear this King?”
She spread her hands and turned in a circle:
“This King is now unarmed. I have long heard of the bravery of General Jiang of Huai Prefecture. Is the rumor false? You don’t even dare to have a close encounter with this King?”
With these words, if Jiang Nansheng retreated another half step, he would be confirmed as a coward.
The Prefect of Huai Prefecture was also an interesting person. He actively stepped forward to greet Jinsui and provocatively looked at Jiang Nansheng.
A dignified military general was inferior to him, a civil official.
Jinsui smiled and patted the Prefect’s shoulder to show her praise, but her heart was pounding. If Grandpa Ling saw this, he would surely break out in a cold sweat.
She smiled and moved forward again. Jiang Nansheng indeed stopped retreating and cupped his fists, smiling: “Your Highness misunderstood. This official truly did not know those people were your guard… Ah!”
Before he could finish speaking, the Li King, who was standing with his hands spread open and empty-handed, suddenly lunged forward. With a twist of his wrist, it was as if he had drawn a short blade from thin air.
He grabbed his wrist and placed it on the city bricks. With a swift movement, he drove a blade through his palm.
Jiang Nansheng was naturally skilled in martial arts, but upon seeing the ‘Lord’ character on the short blade, despite the excruciating pain, he dared not strike Li King!
Han Xing and Hei Hu, fearing he might retaliate, immediately shielded Li King.
However, they discovered that this man was so subservient to the royal family that he had lost all the spirit of a military general.
Jinsui, playing with Gu Changxiao’s short blade, sneered:
“You say this King killed you here, would your master avenge you?”
Jiang Nansheng tightly gripped his wrist, his eyes filled with anger.
Jinsui continued, “Of course not! If a dog dies in the wilderness, its master will only blame the dog for being useless!”
“So, be smart. Immediately release my people, and this King will rush to Yandi. Your master will at most blame you for poor execution, which is better than losing your life.”
Jiang Nansheng remained silent. However, his deputy and the civil officials behind him could not bear it, fearing that he would truly fight Li King, which would lead to a river of blood in Huai Prefecture!
They quickly stepped forward to persuade him, “General, let Li King go!”
Jiang Nansheng glanced outside the city. Commander Huo still had no news. This Li King was a persistent nuisance. If he dragged this out any longer, he would be the one to suffer.
It was better to let him go and have Commander Huo assassinate him in Yandi.
He gritted his teeth and said, “This general will let you go.”
Jinsui clasped her hands and raised an eyebrow:
“You say it so reluctantly. And my people have been imprisoned by you in Huai Prefecture for so many days for no reason. Are we just going to let it go?”
“What do you take this King for?”
The Prefect of Huai Prefecture was a wise man. Upon hearing this, he understood that Li King’s anger towards Jiang Nansheng had already been largely vented with that stab. This was about holding the entire Huai Prefecture officialdom accountable!
He quickly stepped forward to bow and said, “Indeed, it was our Huai Prefecture’s poor execution that mistakenly arrested Your Highness’s personal guards. How does Your Highness wish Huai Prefecture to atone?”
At this moment, all the officials had only one thought: to quickly send this Li King away!
The rumors from Chang’an were indeed unreliable. What about a benevolent Crown Prince? This was clearly a reckless rogue!
Jinsui wanted to maintain control. Before, they tried to stop her outside the city, and she insisted on entering.
Now that they wanted her to leave quickly, she would refuse to leave.
She waved her hand and said, “First, release my people.”
The Prefect looked pleadingly at Jiang Nansheng. No matter how much we disagree or fight amongst ourselves, at this moment we must unite against Li King and not let Huai Prefecture fall into trouble!
Jiang Nansheng gritted his teeth and ordered, “Release them!”
Soon, three hundred Black Feather Army soldiers from Yandi appeared on the city streets, all bowing to the handsome man beside Captain Han:
“Greetings, Li King!”
