Chapter 560: The Battle Begins

Previously, there had been attempts by the royal family to move against them, but none had managed to shake their foundations—only causing minor impacts, losses of wealth and personnel.

To the Five Great Families, which were as deeply rooted as towering ancient trees, these were mere scratches, causing no substantial harm.

For a long time, the Five Great Families had been a presence that made the imperial court wary.

There had never been major conflicts or friction among them.

But now, things were different—Empress Dowager Yuan was actually serious this time.

She truly wanted to eliminate the other four of the Five Great Families, aside from the Yuan family.

This sudden turn of events threw the court into turmoil, with ministers fearing that after the Empress Dowager finished off the rebellious families, they might be next.

Therefore, when Zhu Wei led his men charging in, the ministers in the hall began scattering in panic.

The scene was so bloody, and so many were engaged in combat, that many innocent ministers attempting to escape were tragically cut down by swords from both sides.

Seeing this, Empress Dowager Yuan felt a thrill of satisfaction.

See? This is the fate of those who oppose me. She wondered if the four family heads were regretting their decisions now.

But regret or not, Empress Dowager Yuan had no intention of letting them go.

In her mind, anyone who defied her deserved death!

Even the great families weren't exempt!

Although the four family heads' men wore armor that made them hard for ordinary soldiers to wound, how could their two thousand-plus men stand against the imperial guard's fifty thousand troops?

She would not only kill the four family heads but also exterminate their entire clans—nine generations—so they could all reunite in the underworld.

If anyone wanted to harbor resentment, they should resent those four fools. She couldn't stop people who were hell-bent on dying.

The bloody slaughter did not frighten Empress Dowager Yuan; instead, it awakened the cruelty hidden inside her, and she felt an unprecedented thrill.

Nanny An stood nearby, pleading with her urgently.

"Your Majesty, it's too dangerous in here. Swords are blind—if you were to be injured, it would be disastrous. Please, retreat to a safer place!"

But Empress Dowager Yuan refused to leave, letting out a cold, disdainful snort.

"Retreat? You think these worthless scum could harm me?"

"I want to see with my own eyes those four old fools' heads roll."

She was protected in the center by dozens of shadow guards, and the family heads' men couldn't get anywhere near her.

Anyone who got close would have their throat slit by her shadow guards—one strike, and they were done.

Suddenly, Empress Dowager Yuan thought of something. She scanned the area and realized she didn't see the Jiang family anywhere.

At some point, they'd already slipped away, and even Yuan Jiuan was nowhere to be found.

Empress Dowager Yuan flew into a rage. How maddening—she'd actually forgotten about these major threats!

She motioned to four of her shadow guards and ordered, "You four, go kill the four Jiang family members. And if you find Yuan Jiuan, deal with him too. Make it quick."

"Yes, Your Majesty. As you command." The shadow guards nodded and quickly disappeared from the hall.

This time, Empress Dowager Yuan did not consult the National Preceptor.

She knew he would not want Cao Shi and her three children killed, but she couldn't stand for it.

In the past, when these people hadn't discovered the National Preceptor's true identity and hadn't come to the palace to cause trouble, they'd all gotten along fine, and she could look the other way.

But now it was different—they had confirmed the fact that the National Preceptor was Jiang Yanfan, letting all the ministers present know that she, the esteemed Empress Dowager Yuan, had secretly had an affair with her own cousin and had a child with him.

Such a court scandal, once spread, would have huge fallout for her, Jiang Yanfan, and Yuanchao alike.

Most importantly, it brought shame upon the Xishu Kingdom's royal family, and the common people would be humiliated too.

Such a matter would likely be recorded by court historians in the annals, and she'd be ashamed of it for the rest of her life.

At the thought of this, Empress Dowager Yuan was burning with a fierce desire to kill these troublemakers and vent her anger.

What she didn't know was that the four members of the Jiang family had already been escorted out of the palace by Shen Xiangming while she was in the middle of arguing with the four family heads.

He hadn't sent them directly back to the Jiang residence, fearing that Empress Dowager Yuan would send killers after them.

Instead, Shen Xiangming brought the four to the Grand General Zhenguo's residence.

The general's residence was heavily guarded, so they'd be safe there.

As for Yuan Jiuan, he had already been escorted to a safe location by Ying Jue as soon as the fighting broke out.

So the shadow guards sent by Empress Dowager Yuan to kill them found nothing—not a single trace of anyone.

Empress Dowager Yuan flew into a rage, hurling the writing brushes, inkstones, and paper in the Chengqian Hall to the floor.

"Fine! Just fine! Do they really think they can come and go from this palace as they please?!"

She knew damn well—with the palace's tight security, unless someone had helped the four Jiang family members leave, they could never have gotten away.

So someone must have helped them get out.

Shen Xiangming was the first name that popped into her head.

She gritted her teeth and forced the words out.

"Shen Xiangming, you actually dared to betray me!"

Another high-ranking minister had turned against her, and Empress Dowager Yuan was so furious she almost coughed up blood.

Most importantly, whether it was the four great families or Shen Xiangming, all of them held military tallies she had given them.

Now that all these people had betrayed her, she couldn't be sure they wouldn't use the troops she'd given them to attack her.

The fighting in Chengqian Hall continued, the whole hall a sea of corpses and blood, chaos and smoke everywhere.

The head of the Liu family, having failed to dodge in time, was stabbed in the chest—right through the heart—and died on the spot.

The other three family heads were in a panic. They immediately dispatched a highly skilled guard to fight his way out of the encirclement, sending him out with a military tally to summon reinforcements.

The imperial guards had the upper hand in the battle, and if things kept going like this, they'd all die here.

The guard charged out with the tally, and Empress Dowager Yuan sent over a hundred men to intercept and seize it, but none of them managed to stop him.

Because they found that from time to time, they'd get kicked flying by someone, or slapped across the face, or even worse, get their nuts kicked in.

But the absurd part was that they only suffered physical harm, yet couldn't see a single person, let alone figure out who was hitting them.

The guards' skin crawled, like they were being watched by ghosts—a cold dread creeping up their backs, making their hair stand on end.

Xie Liuzheng was cracking up inside Ji Yuntang's space.

He turned on the air conditioner, set the temperature to the lowest, and aimed the vents at Empress Dowager Yuan's guards, kicking them left and right, slapping faces, and if he didn't like the look of someone, he'd just kick 'em in the balls and be done with it.

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