Night fell, and the breeze on the grassland brought with it a bone-chilling temperature, like fine knives scratching people's faces.
Tonight's atmosphere was particularly heavy, and almost every patrolling guard's face was tense.
In the middle of the night, the imperial guards changed shifts again. This time, they were all new faces.
The fourth prince wore a full suit of armor, with a big knife hanging at his waist.
He looked like the King of the Northern Borderline. Dressed like this, he looked majestic, like a lion patrolling its territory.
"Has everything been arranged?" He asked his confidant patiently again, "What time is it now?"
The confidant said, "It's just midnight, and there's still a quarter of an hour before the ninth prince's appointed time."
"A quarter of an hour?"
The fourth prince felt that every second was like a year. Seeing that his long-cherished wish was about to be fulfilled, he couldn't even wait for a quarter of an hour.
"Check everywhere again. We must make sure that nothing goes wrong."
He paced back and forth, and seemed to think of something. He called his subordinate back, "Where's Mr. Sun?"
At such an important moment, he hoped that someone would witness it with him. If Sun Wen was there, he would feel more at ease.
In the fourth prince's mind, this strategist who played with the political situation of the Northern Borderline was miles ahead of the wise men of the Northern Borderline.
The confidant said, "Mr. Sun said that he was old and couldn't bear to see blood, so he went back."
After hearing this, the fourth prince's mouth twitched. He didn't know what to do with Sun Wen.
He forgot that Sun Wen was a weak scholar who couldn't carry anything with his hands or shoulders.
If a bloody battle broke out later, no one could guarantee his safety if he stayed here as a scholar, so it was better that he didn't come.
"Let him be."
Anyway, the general situation had been decided. It didn't matter whether Sun Wen was there or not.
The fourth prince was a suspicious person, so he couldn't help but go to the king's tent to see that the King of the Northern Borderline was still in bed.
Time passed, and it was finally the appointed time. The fourth prince's heart beat like a drum, and he became more and more nervous.
However —
Why was there no one?
Several confidants came to report that all the checkpoints were guarded by their own people, but they didn't see the ninth prince's people at all. What was going on?
"… This ninth prince, did he have too much fun with his wife, so he was late?"
The Fourth Prince murmured to himself. He didn't dare to slack off. He ordered his men to guard the various checkpoints. He couldn't let his guard down.
After the appointed time, the people who had been highly nervous gradually felt tired.
The Fourth Prince clenched and unclenched his fists. Finally, he could not help but want to get up.
He hadn't even taken two steps when he faintly heard the sounds of killing. His eyes widened in joy.
However, before the smile on his face faded, dozens of his subordinates rushed in, covered in blood. The one leading them was his trusted aide.
"Your Highness – we've been tricked – let's go!"
His confidant's words made the fourth prince's heart skip a beat, and an ominous premonition filled the air.
"Wait — what do you mean?" The fourth prince supported his trusted subordinate subconsciously. The special rattan armor on the man's body had been cut by the sharp blade. His flesh was exposed, and blood was flowing out. He said emotionally, "What do you mean by 'we've been tricked' —"
The confidant raised his hand and tied a piece of cloth around his waist to stop the wound. The guards who rushed in from the outside firmly protected the fourth prince.
Just as his subordinate was about to explain, the shouts were getting closer and closer. The Fourth Prince saw that his private army, which he had carefully trained, was losing ground.
As they retreated, they left behind several corpses.
The enemies outside were menacing, and the Fourth Prince could only lead his men to fight and retreat, until they were near the king's tent.
The Fourth Prince's confidant was a man from the Northern Frontier. His face was stained with blood, and his eyes were slightly red, almost crying.
"Your Highness, there's no coercion at all – we've been tricked —"
Even a fool could see that something was wrong, not to mention that the Fourth Prince was not a fool at all.
"There's no coercion – if there's no coercion –"
If the Ninth Prince had not coerced him, then he would have used his power to transfer the guards of the king's tent and replaced them with his own people, wouldn't that be —
After a fierce battle, the Fourth Prince's thousands of elites were killed by 80%, and the rest were also defeated soldiers.
Seeing that they were about to be forced into the king's tent, suddenly hundreds of executioners rushed out of the king's tent and cooperated with the pursuers to stop them.
The Fourth Prince's thoughts turned quickly, and he vaguely guessed something. He was so angry that his molars creaked.
He had fallen into the Ninth Prince's trap!
Watching the people around him die one after another, but the enemies were increasing in number and getting closer and closer, the Fourth Prince was powerless to reverse the situation.
"Fourth Brother, I really didn't expect you to do such a crazy thing, forcing the Emperor to abdicate and commit patricide!"
The shouts gradually subsided. There were corpses and broken limbs all around, and the ground was muddy with blood. The air was filled with the smell of blood. The Fourth Prince stared in a certain direction, and the crowd that surrounded them parted to reveal a familiar figure.
"The person who forced the Emperor to abdicate and commit patricide is obviously you!"
The Fourth Prince clenched his molars in anger, and he was so angry that his eyes were about to crack.
"Fourth Brother, it's already like this, and you still want to lie with your eyes open?"
The Ninth Prince laughed contemptuously. One by one, the ministers of the imperial court stood behind him and looked at the Fourth Prince with complicated gazes.
Some were disappointed, some were angry, some were indifferent, some were shocked … but no one trusted him.
"You changed the guards near the king's tent and secretly replaced them with your own people. You even wore armor and carried a sword, and you dare say that you didn't rebel?" The Ninth Prince sneered, "I received the news early in the morning. I didn't believe it at first, but I didn't expect that Fourth Brother would really do it. With so many people seeing it with their own eyes, what else does Fourth Brother have to say? If you hadn't come early, Fourth Brother would have forced Father to make you the Crown Prince, right? "
The Fourth Prince felt a chill.
The Ninth Prince said again, "If Fourth Brother didn't have any rebellious intentions, why did you kill my people when you saw them?"
The Fourth Prince retorted, "I received the news that you wanted to abdicate and commit patricide, so I specially arranged for people to stop you in advance …"
The Ninth Prince looked up to the sky and laughed, tears almost coming out of his eyes. The other ministers of the Northern Borderline could not bear to look at him and turned their faces away.
They didn't know whether the Ninth Prince had any rebellious intentions, but they saw the irrefutable evidence that the Fourth Prince wanted to abdicate and commit patricide.
Now that he was caught, he didn't repent and instead found such a lame excuse to quibble.
The Ninth Prince sneered, "Fourth Brother, you can't do this even if you slander your younger brother. You'd better say this in front of Father!"
The Fourth Prince felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar. He looked at the Ninth Prince with some horror in his eyes, as if he didn't know his younger brother.
"Fourth Brother —"
The Ninth Prince walked up to the Fourth Prince. The others had already been subdued, and the Fourth Prince was also tied up like a dumpling.
"Bah!" The Fourth Prince spat at his face.
"Fourth Brother — don't be angry." The Ninth Prince raised his hand to wipe away the spit in a good mood, and stuck it on the Fourth Prince's face, distorting his facial features. He pinched the Fourth Prince's chin with his other hand and sneered, "Do you know how you lost?"
The Fourth Prince suddenly opened his eyes wide.
"That's because Fourth Elder Brother treated my trusted aide as his own aide."
Sun Wen?
"Sun Wen is your man?"
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