After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

After years of living in the south, there were those who were tough on the north, those who were weak, those who were desperate, and those who were moderate. Some wanted to launch a northern expedition immediately, while others wanted to proceed slowly and not be in a hurry.

Even the most valiant and powerful ministers who were most hawkish towards the North never considered killing Northern nobles in the street. Faced with the North's rudeness, the most common and reasonable thought was to endure it and not rush into anything. Patience was essential to prevent the North from using it as an excuse to provoke border conflicts.

Even the most resolute and fierce Princess Tang ordered her subordinates to slash at the centurion with their sabers. Although her words were harsh, she would never order anyone to directly swing a saber at the four princes of the Northern Dynasty. Moreover, it was not certain that her subordinates could subdue the centurion.

Right now, under the watchful eyes of everyone, the young man holding the musket didn't say a word to the captain. He just smiled, revealing a set of white teeth, then raised his gun, aimed, and fired. In less than three breaths, he killed the man with one shot. Then he pointed the gun directly at the fourth son of Prince Yi, who was coming from the north.

Then, he flashed the same smile and uttered the same words. A common man's rage can spill blood! An ordinary person might fear offending a powerful, second-in-command prince, but this madman… who could he possibly fear offending?

"The first option is to get out of the carriage and kowtow to Princess Jiamu to apologize."

The young man was tall and straight, and his voice was slow and gentle, like a lake flowing over a volcano, with hot white steam rising as he spoke.

After ruthlessly killing the fierce-looking Northern Dynasty commander, he repeated the same words twice.

But everyone could naturally tell that the first remark was a response to Mu Lang's earlier statement, "Either give me the head of my coachman, or make your master get out of the carriage and kowtow to apologize." Similarly, since the other party's master refused to kowtow and apologize, he directly took the captain's head. The second remark was what he really wanted to say... You also have to apologize, kowtow and apologize.

The situation changed too quickly.

After the young man finished stating the first option, he fell silent and did not mention the second.

The meaning couldn't be clearer.

There is no second one.

The second is death.

Why don't you try choosing another one?

The autumn wind rises.

On the long street, the wind whistled and rustled the leaves of a locust tree.

Phoenix Tail Street fell silent in that instant.

Sweat dripped from Zhou Jili's forehead, his face deathly pale. Princess Tang's lips parted slightly, her eyes gleaming with a strange light. Blood slid from Zheng Ming's arm into his palm, and the hilt of his knife quietly became slippery.

The street vendors who were already packing up their stalls dared not move at this moment, and the heads of people peeking out from the restaurants on both sides stared in disbelief. A woman holding a child squatted down on the ground, trying to squeeze into the alley. The child was so frightened that his mouth opened wide, and his little hand trembled, causing the sugar figurine he was holding to fall to the ground and shatter into eight pieces.

The carriage swayed as the horses were startled.

With a neighing sound, the horse's hooves pounded wildly, and the carriage rattled and clattered. Hong Jiao's body swayed, and only after he steadied himself against the carriage did his pupils contract as he realized what had happened.

"You killed Mu Lang?" He glanced at the corpse of the burly man with thick eyebrows, then shifted his gaze to the dark muzzle of the gun, his voice turning cold.

"Hey," Ning Nan squinted one eye at the other person, "Didn't you hear me?"

He moved the gun barrel slightly.

"You dare!" Hong Jiao's face twisted, and her voice suddenly became shrill.

"Don't shoot, don't shoot..." Zhou Jili said, his throat trembling. He raised his hand, but his legs trembled and went weak, and he fell forward.

"grown ups!"

Two minor officials quickly helped him up.

Zhou Jili stared blankly, shouting "Quickly, quickly!" urging the clerks to stop the madman who was killing people in the street.

"Tsk,"

Ning Nan looked at the man in the melon-shaped hat in the carriage with a shrill voice but a deathly pale face, and smiled. "Very good. You chose the second one."

click!

He pulled the trigger.

The serpentine pole was used to press down the fire rope.

The man in the melon-hat on the carriage suddenly contracted his pupils and gripped the carriage tightly with both hands. In an instant, his whole body went ice cold!

"He dared to kill me, he dared to kill me... He actually dared to kill me... He really dared to kill me..."

Such absurd, incomprehensible, and impossible thoughts howled through his mind like a whirlwind.

How could this be? How could anyone dare to kill me?! How could this be?!

The stench of blood from the ground mingled with the smell of gunpowder in the air, filling Hongjiao's nostrils. His chest heaved as he breathed deeply into the polluted air.

next moment.

A flash of fire appeared in the dark muzzle of a gun three zhang away.

immediately……

"Bang!"

Gunshots rang out like thunder!

Flames shot out from the gun barrel!

"They fired!"

Hong Jiao's eyes widened instantly, filled with disbelief, and his limbs went completely limp!

"grown ups!"

"Young Master!"

The shouts came almost simultaneously with the gunshots.

A dark figure pounced quickly from his left and knocked his cold body to the ground.

After being tackled by the nearest guard, Hong Jiao barely managed to dodge the bullet.

"Bang!"

The bullet struck the carriage frame and passed through the wood.

The air was thick with the smell of gunpowder.

Hong Jiao's eyes were glazed over, and he was covered in cold sweat.

He actually dared to kill me... He actually dared to kill me...

Such thoughts poured into his mind like a landslide, and the next moment, an immense sense of humiliation welled up from his heart! This humiliation, which was enough to make him wish he could kill himself, instantly transformed into a raging inferno of ferocity and anger, surging to his limbs and spewing from his eyes!

"You scoundrel!" He gritted his teeth and roared like a beast. His limbs, which were originally cold, seemed to be tempered by fire, and seemed to have surged with infinite power. The fierce courage that his ancestors had fought their way out of the Changbai Mountains and the Heilongjiang River was engraved in his bones and descended on him like a divine soldier. Hong Jiao suddenly pushed away the guards and military officers who wanted to protect him.

He was going to take a knife and kill the thief right there in the street!

But as soon as he sat up, everything went dark before his eyes. A dark shadow blocked the golden sun in the sky and had already walked up to him.

Hong Jiao's pupils contracted, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw several minor officials from the Southern Dynasty trying to stop the dark figure, but they were kicked to the ground and cried out in pain while clutching their stomachs.

His group of black-clad military officers raised their goose-feather sabers and slashed at the dark figure.

But several of Princess Tang's guards rushed forward, deflecting several knives with a clang.

A guard leaped through the crowd, roaring as he slashed at the dark figure. The dark figure, who was right in front of him, raised his spear, parried the slash, then flipped the spear over and threw it, holding the barrel upside down, before smashing it down hard on the head of the black-clad military officer!

Blood gushed out!

With a thud, the black-clad military officer landed on the ground.

Hong Jiao's face flushed as the officer's blood splattered onto his face.

next moment.

The dark figure had already walked up to him, gripping the gun barrel and swinging the butt in the same manner!

hiss!

The wind howled sharply, like the howl of a ghost!

In a split second, the heavy gun butt swung in a semi-circular arc through the air from afar and slammed into Hong Jiao's cheek!