Lan Yanqing froze before dashing to the top of the city walls. If the person in the middle of the army heading towards them was not Ding Wei then who was it?

It was at this time that he suddenly realised…they had been tricked!

The entire city had been fooled by Rong Yuan!

Realising this, his vision went black and he felt like he was about to faint. However, this was not the time for him to faint, their prince was still outside the city, he had to quickly open the city gates and let the prince in.

As he was about to give the order to reopen the gates, Rong Yuan’s voice sounded first, “I wonder what your prince would think if he knew you opened the gates and let the enemy in?”

The light-hearted tone caused Lan Yanqing to freeze. That’s right…no matter whether Rong Yuan had lied or not, the fact now was that he had opened the city gates on his own accord and let Rong Yuan in. The traitorous behaviour would definitely not sit well.

Seeing Lan Yanqing rooted to the spot, Rong Yuan chuckled and turned to Shi Yang, “Lord, I remember that you were the one that gave the order to open the gates. I wonder if His Highness would sympathise with your affection for your city members when he comes back? Or will he imprison you based on your traitorous actions? What do you think his decision will be?”

“This…” Two beads of sweat rolled down Shi Yang’s plump face. According to the law of their kingdom, traitors would be given the death sentence. When the time comes and Ding Wei enters the County to chase Rong Yuan away, he would not go easy on Shi Yang to make an example out of him. Shi Yang would no longer be able to enjoy the riches and wealth that he had accumulated.

At this time, Rong Yuan purposely lowered his voice and said as he looked at his plump body, “Lord, with that body, I am sure you can starve for three entire days and be on the brink of death without dying right?”

Brink of death? Three entire days?

In a flash, the horrifying scene played in Shi Yang’s mind as his mind whirled crazily. In the next second, the horror on his face turned to flattery, “Your Highness, since I have already chosen to let you in, why would I still remain loyal to the prince? Rest assured, with me around, Ding Wei can forget about stepping into the city.”

Under Lan Yanqing’s furious gaze, Shi Yang then pointed somewhere below the city gates, “Ding Wei is approaching quickly, Your Highness’ Silver-Armored Troops must be tired. Let us help you defend the city gates for a while, the way we will defend will be to…”

Following Shi Yang’s words, the Silver-Armored Troops standing beside the trigger mechanism glanced at Rong Yuan. Upon receiving Rong Yuan’s nod of approval, he moved certain things around according to Shi Yang’s instructions. All of a sudden, a light blue screen rose, covering the entire Shixi County – the city defence had been successfully activated.

“Shi Yang, you traitor!” Lan Yanqing could not do anything to stop him and could only scold angrily. Closing his eyes, he did not dare to look at the Dayin’s soldiers who had just reached the bottom of the city gates. It was because he did not have complete faith which was why he was tricked by Rong Yuan…

“If I’m a traitor, then what are you?” Seeing the defensive shield go up, blocking Ding Wei outside, Shi Yang’s expression relaxed and rebutted Lan Yanqing. Glaring at him, he said, “I am just following favourable circumstances. The Dayin Kingdom is short-sighted and actually dared to collude with the North Qiu kingdom. I have never approved of their decision and not that the Third Prince has shown us the right way, are you stupid to not be willing to follow him?”

Hearing what Shi Yang said, Rong Yuan gave an astonished glance. He never thought that under all that fat, Shi Yang was actually wise.

In his arms, Gu Lingzhi thought the same. She let her gaze brush over Lan Yanqing as she coughed lightly, causing everyone to focus her attention on her, “Everyone, please don’t worry, since you have opened the city gates for us, we will take on the responsibility of protecting you. Our Xia Kingdom has never neglected anyone. With the North Qiu Kingdom’s ambition, they were already intending to forsake all those that helped them. You will not regret the decision you made today!”

Gu Lingzhi’s voice was low and comforting. Now that she intentionally said this to console them, she successfully calmed everyone’s anxiety. Rong Yuan added on, “That’s right, I agree with whatever she said.”

With the two of them singing each other’s tunes, they successfully managed to temporarily calm everyone down. Their expressions were complicated as they looked at these people who had tricked them to open the city gates.

On the city wall, Lan Yanqing was being threatened by Yuan Zheng. Yuan Zheng had pressed a dagger, glowing with green light into his back, while wearing a sincere smile, “Our prince appreciates talented people the most, I hope you will not do anything stupid. The stupid Royal Family of the Dayin Kingdom is not worthy of your loyalty.”

Under his threat, even if Lan Yanqing wanted to object, he did not dare to take the risk. In addition, Ding Wei had taken Shixi County’s entire military force when he left and those that remained were not strong enough to take on Rong Yuan and his army. Shi Yang’s words had also touched on something that was bothering him and after what Yuan Zheng said, he could only smile bitterly, “That’s right, they are a bunch of idiots.”

When they knew that the Dayin Kingdom was colluding with North Qiu, he knew that the Dayin Kingdom had come to the end of their glory days. Even before the North Qiu Kingdom had completely gained control of the Tianyuan Continent, they were already unreasonable. In the future, when they really were in control, no one knew how they would treat all the countries that had sided with them.

But this was still his country after all and no matter how unwilling he was, he could only grit his teeth and do his job. All he could wish for was that the North Qiu Kingdom would not be as evil as he had imagined. He did not want to think of all these dramas before the war even started. To think that the city that he had been protecting for half his life could so easily change its master.

Looking down, he saw Ding Wei glare at him furiously upon reaching the city gates. It was as if he was using his entire energy to bellow, “You only have a few hundred people. Even if you rely on the defence mechanism, you will only be able to last a few hours.”

Yuan Zheng displayed a confident smile, “Relax, my Highness will not disappoint you.”

Lan Yanqing remained quiet.

I really hope your Highness will not disappoint me!

Although it seemed like a lot of things had happened within the city walls, only a few minutes had passed. It was only now that the huge army that Ding Wei brought finally reached the city gates. Seeing Rong Yuan stand on the city gates and the defensive shield in place, he was confused.

What happened? Didn’t Shixi County belong to the Dayin Kingdom? Why did it seem like it belonged to Rong Yuan now? What happened in the short time that it took for him to rush over?

Numerous questions floated into Ding Wei’s mind. Eventually, he just resorted to glaring angrily at Lan Yanqing on the city walls.

“Open the gates now!”

“Brother Ding, I am afraid things cannot go your way. This city now belongs to the Xia Kingdom,” Rong Yuan drawled lazily before Lan Yanqing could reply. His tone made Ding Wen feel like biting someone.

“Rong Yuan, you bastard! Quickly open the gates! If you are a man, you will come out and face me!”

Rong Yuan looked at him as if he was looking at an idiot, “You have an army that has about ten thousand people. If I go out with a few hundred of us, won’t we just be digging our own graves?”

No matter how brave the Silver-Armored Troops were, they were still human. If a few hundred of them were to face a few thousand of them, it would not be fun.

A ball of anger built up in Ding Wei as he grinded his teeth and glared at Rong Yuan. He hated the guards that were guarding the city even more for not having any principles. They had given up the city so easily

. Could it be…that this city had sided with the Xia Kingdom all along?

The seed of suspicion embedded itself in Ding Wen’s mind.

If Shixi County could collaborate with the Xia Kingdom beforehand, what about the other cities?

He knew that not every Dayin citizen approved of them colluding with the North Qiu Kingdom and they only maintained their loyalty due to old relationships. But what if these people no longer wanted to be loyal?

This point was a pleasant surprise that Rong Yuan had not expected.

At this moment, he did not know the effect his actions had on Ding Wei. Feeling extremely good about himself, Rong Yuan looked at Ding Wei’s unhappy face as he whispered into Gu Lingzhi’s ear, “Has your anger melted seeing him like this?

Gu Lingzhi froze before realising that he was referring to the earlier situation where she was set up by Ding Wei and nodded sharply, “Yes.”

There was nothing better than seeing your enemy frustrated.

Seeing the intimate behaviour of the two of them on the city wall, the fire burned even stronger in Ding Wei.

If he had known that Rong Yuan was heartless, he would never have agreed to his sister’s idea of seducing him! If not for Ding Rou’s infatuation with Rong Yuan, they would never have been in this dangerous situation. They would also never have exposed the secret unknowingly, causing the entire plan to fail and the North Qiu Kingdom’s plot to be exposed beforehand. It was the reason why the Dayin Kingdom was in the awkward position that they are in now and had no choice but to start the war.

What did Ding Rou get in return? A heartless scheme and being left in the dark!

Filled with anger, Ding Wei had forgotten about the fact that when they decided to collude with the North Qiu Kingdom, they had already treated the Xia Kingdom as an enemy. Additionally, Ding Rou’s wish to marry Rong Yuan was not all for herself but she wanted to use her position to control her own Royal Family. The situation they were in now was the consequence of their own decisions.

“Do you think that this mere defense shield can stop me?” With his call to open the gates falling on death ears, a cruel smile lit up Ding Wei’s face. Since this city had already betrayed him, he no longer had to spare a thought for the citizens in the city. Turning his head, he called for his soldiers to prepare to attack, in a cold voice he shouted, “Attack!”

Following his command, numerous brilliant coloured spiritual energy shot towards the city gates. The light blue coloured shield flashed as everyone in the city suddenly felt as if something heavy was weighing on them.

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