Chapter 346: Rebellion at the Palace

It was already noon and everything was quiet in the Council Chamber. Everyone was holding their breath and looking at the gate in the corner; the Princess should be walking out from it.

Soon, a lady came out and she looked exactly like a goddess; however…her age did not seem quite right, as she did not look like a 16-year-old girl.

“Oh, it’s you!” Shangguan Fei cried out. He then closed his mouth and looked nervously at Dragon King.

Xu Yanwei lowered her head, appearing to be shy with so many men in front of her, resulting in her bashful actions for a while before she said, “Her Highness has caught a cold and has to remain in bed. She can’t…”

There was a great stir in the chamber; everyone had come to see the Princess, and they did not expect to meet a maid.

Yang Dou was even more perplexed as he rushed to the unknown maid and looked at her coldly, asking, “What’s going on?”

Madam Yang had always kept the King and Princess of Stone Kingdom under her control without encountering any fierce resistance. As such, in the past two years, she had become less watchful but had never expected to make such a careless mistake at the most critical moment.

“Her Highness is really ill, so she asked me to come out to announce the results.” Xu Yanwei whispered in reply.

Yan Dou’s face recovered a bit of its color. There were too many people behind him, therefore he could not be too blatant and could only stare at the maid with a stern look as he told her, “Then let’s hear what the princess truly wishes for. Who did she choose to be her consort – the Ninth Young Master of Golden Roc Fort or Dragon King?”

The crowd quieted down again. They could not see the Princess, but at least they had to know who the Emperor’s son-in-law was going to be. More than half of them had cast their gazes on Shangguan Fei.

Shangguan Fei did not look like he wanted to be the Emperor’s son-in-law. He was cowering and had lowered his head, acting like a young man who had never seen the world. Even the Special Envoy of Norland could not help but frown, thinking that the Ninth Young Master’s behavior was ruining the reputation of the Shangguan family.

“Her Highness has already made a decision.” Xu Yanwei raised his voice slightly as she continued, “Both the Ninth Young Master and the Dragon King are both extraordinary men. Her Highness is honored to receive their favor and said that it was really difficult to choose…”

The Prince of Kang Kingdom was impatient and cried out loudly, “First tell us her decision before you carry on with that crap.”

“Ehm… Her Highness has thought about it for a long time and in the end, she decided that… the Dragon King is going to be the Emperor’s son-in-law.”

Silence reigned in the Council Chamber. This result was completely contrary to what they had heard beforehand. Everyone immediately started to think about the causes and the consequences of this result.

“This is impossible!”

Prime Minister Yang Dou blurted out- his words were heard by the whole crowd, causing many people to look at him pitifully.

Yang Dou’s face turned white and he hastily tried to explain his gaffe, “Dragon King, don’t get me wrong, I mean… How is it possible that the Princess is ill? And… who the hell are you? How is that I’ve never seen you before?”

“I am the maid of Her Highness. If Your Excellency does not believe me then you can go and ask the Princess directly.”

There must have been an accident. Yang Dou’s mind was a complete mess; he could always behave in the most appropriate way, but now, he could not come up with anything to salvage the situation. He hurriedly ran out of the corner gate without bothering about how disrespectful leaving his guests alone would be.

However, when he was at the entrance, he remembered he had to provide an explanation to Shangguan Fei. Therefore, he turned around and started to look for the Ninth Young Master of Golden Roc Fort – who must have been furious by this time – amongst the crowd.

Shangguan Fei had disappeared as immediately after the announcement, he squeezed his way out of the crowd and left from the front gate.

“This, this…” The Special Envoy of Norland remained speechless for a while before shouting, “Someone is cheating, let the Princess come out. Norland will never accept this result.”

Gu Shenwei remained indifferent to the news and was keeping a close eye on seven of Golden Roc’s killers in the crowd.

The killers obviously did not expect this kind of situation to occur. Four of them left with Shangguan Fei while the other three did not know what to do. They waited for a while before leaving as well. No one tried to approach the Dragon King.

The first four killers were Shangguan Fei’s guards. The other three were those who wanted to assassinate Shangguan Fei.

The original plan was for the Dragon King to kill the Ninth Young Master in a rage after losing the race to become the Emperor’s son-in-law. It would be the perfect opportunity to frame him, yet unexpectedly, the Dragon King won over the Princess’s heart and there was no longer any excuse for bloodshed. As such, the three killers did not attack.

The crowd was staring at the Dragon King, when suddenly everyone seemed to have simultaneously recalled that they had some important matters to attend to at home and rushed out like a swarm of bees, striving to be the first to leave as if their lives depended upon it.

When there were only two people left, Gu Shenwei asked, “How come it was you that came out?”

“The princess really had to remain in bed, but not because of a cold. Last night, some assassins appeared. Luckily, she is fine and just scared.”

“Assassins!” Gu Shenwei cried out in surprise.

“Shhh, you’ll know everything about the incident soon, Dragon King. I have to go now.”

Gu Shenwei left the Council Chamber too as he still had many things to do. Finding out the identity of the assassins who attempted to assassinate the princess was not paramount at the moment.

At quarter-past noon, dozens of imperial guards appeared at the entrance of the royal palace, all armed with sabers. Interestingly, the guards at the door did not recognize them.

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The crowd who had come to see the princess poured out of the palace, scattering in every direction. Many of them noticed the frightening imperial guards and believed that something bad was going to happen, thus they began running even faster.

One of the King’s personal guards appeared at the entrance of the palace and announced the imperial decree loudly, “His Majesty has decreed for his son-in-law to enter the palace to have an audience with him. He also summons the newly appointed imperial guards to enter the palace and report to His Majesty.”

The ten guards at the gate were shocked. Since the current king was coronated, it was the first time they heard him issue a decree; previously, it was always the Prime Minister who was in charge of matters both within and outside of the royal palace.

One of the guards boldly asked, “Where is the imperial edict? Where is the seal?”

The imperial guard replied sternly, “It’s His Majesty’s order, do you dare to not respect it? ”

Dozens of unidentified guards drew their sabers at the same time and the matter was settled.

Gu Shenwei had just come out of the palace and nodded to the imperial guard. He was then led by the guard and escorted by He Sancai and the others who were pretending to be imperial guards into the palace.

Along the way, they only encountered some small resistance. After the death of two guards, the other guards discarded their weapons and no one else came to stop them. The eunuchs and court maids bowed their heads to make way for the Dragon King and his entourage, daring not to make a sound.

They knew that another coup was about to occur. As usual, no one wanted to declare their position before knowing who the final victor would be.

The king was anxiously waiting for the arrival of Gu Shenwei. There was only a court maid assigned by the Dragon King to protect him and he was feeling very uneasy around this female guard named Guan Shang.

Upon seeing Dragon King lead a group of fearsome guards in, the king finally managed to allay his worries.

“Is everything alright?”

“His Majesty will see the results very quickly.”

Soon, Dragon King’s words were proven to be true.

Prime Minister Yang Dou was the first person to be brought in by Maid Lotus. He was powerless like a baby and could not put up any resistance. Seeing the King, he began to regain some confidence. “Your Majesty, everything is messed up. This, this…what is all this? Princess…Dragon King…”, he said.

“Yang Dou, do you know your crime?” the King had spoken these words thousands of times in his dreams, but he still felt very emotional now that he had the opportunity to say them in real life; he had been waiting for this moment for too long.

“No, I don’t know what I am guilty of,” Yang Dou replied, his face turning red. He felt that was the real master of Stone Kingdom and that this king who was already on the decline was just his puppet.

“Collaborating with the enemy and forcing the king to abdicate – Yang Dou, what you have committed is a disgraceful crime worthy of having all your descendants slain,” the King replied as he stood on the steps. After every word he uttered, he felt increasingly refreshed. His perennial problem was apparently solved completely.

Yang Dou was speechless and suddenly turned to Dragon King, “It’s all your fault, it’s your plot! Your Majesty, don’t believe him. He…he wants to kill the Ju royal family!”

Dragon King snorted softly and a dozen bandits disguised as imperial guards pulled out their shining short swords again. The courtyard was immediately filled with a cold and austere air.

The King’s heart trembled slightly, but he soon regained his calm, “Save your effort in trying to sow discord, Yang Dou, blame yourself for pushing me to a dead end and leaving me without any choice.”

Facing the threat of the weapons, Yang Dou knelt down slowly. He did not understand how Dragon King contacted the king.

More and more people admitted that Dragon King would be the winner of the coup at the palace and began pledging their loyalty to the king and a few eunuchs brought the imperial seal over. It was a symbol of power that even the king had not touched personally since he began his reign.

Most of the imperial guards pleaded guilty and surrendered to the king, while a dozen others fled away. They were all machetemen sent by Golden Roc Fort, who, when they heard of Dragon King, stood on the king’s side and immediately left the city as fast as possible to look for the Ninth Young Master for protection.

Aside from Madam Yang, many important officials also arrived. Many wept bitterly, as it was the first time they had seen the king of their own nation.

Gu Shenwei and the bandits placed by Maid Lotus inside and outside the city attacked simultaneously, capturing almost all of the Yang family in one go and escorting them to the royal palace.

When Yang Dou saw that even the youngest of his grandson had been arrested, he completely collapsed and implored the King for mercy.   ( Updated by NovelFull.Com)

Seeing that the more or less everything was under control, the king was now able to manage the situation himself. Gu Shenwei released half of the people and took the other half with him. He gave the people from Golden Roc Fort an opportunity to leave Stone Kingdom, but he would be unafraid to fight if they chose not to surrender.

Residents in the city remained calm and every family kept its door shut. The king’s herald held the king’s flag up high as he publicly declared the crimes of Madam Yang and that martial law was in effect.

The courier station outside the city was another story. The special envoy from Norland and Shangguan Fei hid in a nearby camp belonging to Golden Roc Fort, while all the princes and their attendants retreated to another camp, signifying their neutral stance. There were only more than twenty swordsmen from the Great Snowmountain who remained in the courier station, with Lin Xiaoshan as their leader. They were prepared for any possible incident.

The group from Golden Roc Fort did not flee nor launch any attack. Everything seemed to be happening as per normal for them.

Gu Shenwei observed Golden Roc Fort camp for a while before ordering Li Xiaoshan to enter the city. At the same time, he arranged for some people to send an invitation to the other neutral nations.

Most of the princes and tribal chief’s sons wanted to enter the city as they were concerned about their gold which was currently kept in the imperial palace. As long as it was possible, they were hoping to retrieve the gold they had presented during the competition of wealth a few days ago.

It was not until evening when Gu Shenwei recalled the attack on the princess. It was exactly during this time when Guan Shang sent the assassin over to him.

“If it was not for Sister Xu, I would have killed her,” said Tie Linglong indignantly; she had lost her weapons. Xu Yanwei prevented her from killing the Princess and Guan Shang captured her alive. It was that the assassination, which had been planned for many days, failed.