Chapter 197 Chaos
The noise outside continued, and there were hurried footsteps of people, probably coming out of the houses. The noise was sometimes far away and sometimes near. Children started crying, and dogs were barking. It was very lively.

In this extremely panicked scene, Jiang Li sat at the door, her eyes bright, reflecting the glowing sky, but she didn't look panicked at all. Wen Renyao looked at her and suddenly laughed. When he wasn't talking nonsense, he was very serious. He said, "Miss Jiang Er is not afraid at all."

"Compared to the unarmed civilians and the soldiers confronting each other at the city gate, there is really nothing to be afraid of." Jiang Li replied.

"You are so bold, you are quite similar to Ah Heng." Wen Renyao seemed to have thought of something, "When he had nothing and no one to rely on, he was also so bold."

Jiang Li smiled and didn't comment. She didn't know what Ji Heng's past was like, and now she didn't have time to listen to Ren Yao talking about these past events. It was just because a signal fire suddenly rose in the sky, which was different from the previous drums and trumpets, and it disappeared in an instant.

Then, the voices outside suddenly became noisy, and the crying of women and children became louder.

At the same time, several torches were suddenly thrown in from outside the house. The courtyards in Huangzhou were not big, and the houses were all made of wood. Once they touched the sparks, they caught fire. Zhao Ke jumped up and knocked away several torches, but one torch still caught fire. The house caught fire almost immediately. Zhao Ke cursed and said, "They poured oil, hurry up!"

Wen Ji immediately protected Jiang Li and ran out of the house. As soon as he walked out of the house, he was stunned by the scene outside. The whole Huangzhou City was on fire, and the neatly arranged houses on the street were burning fiercely at this moment. It was like a winding fire snake chasing the running people.

That would have been fine, the people who heard the noise immediately wanted to use water to put out the flames. But the fire was getting more and more intense, and those people had actually poured oil beforehand to make the house burn.

Before Jiang Li had time to ask Wen Ji, she heard screams and cries from afar. Many people ran out from the other side of the street. Their clothes were splattered with blood, and someone was chasing them from behind.

He was someone that King Cheng had arranged in Huangzhou in advance.

Jiang Li frowned. King Cheng wanted to start from Huangzhou and head north to Yanjing. Tonight's night attack, he has his people in Huangzhou and his troops outside the city. With the help of his people inside and outside, the Huangzhou defenders are no match for King Cheng in such a sudden situation. But King Cheng probably didn't expect one thing, that Ji Heng would actually come.

Those people ran very fast. Jiang Li was surrounded by panicked people. Wen Ji protected Jiang Li and said, "Second Miss, go first!"

Jiang Li said: "Can't we save them?"

"The city defense troops will be here soon." Wen Ji's tone was very cold, "Our responsibility is to protect the second young lady."

As he spoke, Jiang Li watched helplessly as a child was pushed by the crowd a few steps away from her and fell behind. A man in black with a sword in hand chased after him with a grim smile and was about to catch up.

Jiang Li didn't have time to think about anything else, she pushed Wen Ji away and ran to the child. The child was already frightened, fell to the ground again, and cried desperately, but at this moment, she felt someone running over, picked her up, and turned around and ran away.

The man in black didn't expect someone to come and save the child, but he didn't do anything and immediately caught up with Jiang Li. Jiang Li couldn't run for long with a child, and just when she was about to be caught up, Wen Ji caught up and fought with the man in black.

Jiang Li took the opportunity to run to the side. Zhao Ke caught up and couldn't help but said, "Second Miss, you are really messing around!"

"I..." Jiang Li also knew that it was too dangerous just now, so she said, "I'm sorry, but... I can't bear to see him die like this."

The child looked only about five or six years old. He stared at Jiang Li blankly. It seemed that he had just realized something. He burst into tears and hiccuped in grievance. His hands tightly grasped Jiang Li's sleeves. Jiang Li was also very sad. The child was covered in blood. She was afraid that his parents had met with an accident. His round eyes reminded Jiang Li of Xue Zhao. How could she bear to leave this child here?
Wen Ji fought with the man in black for a while, but the man in black was very cunning. Seeing that he was no match for Wen Ji, he turned around and ran away. Wen Ji did not chase him either. What if he fell into someone else's trap? When Ji Heng left, he asked him to protect Jiang Li, so he naturally did.

Wen Renyao murmured, "This King Cheng has committed countless sins by killing people... He doesn't even care about the lives of the people."

Zhao Ke was very open-minded about this, totally unlike his harmless baby face. He said: "One general's success is based on the sacrifices of thousands of soldiers. This has been the case since ancient times. What about the common people? The world has no shortage of common people."

As he spoke, the drums and trumpets at the city gate became more intense. Jiang Li didn't know if it was an illusion, but she felt the ground beneath her feet also shook a few times. Wen Renyao's face turned ugly: "The war has changed. I'm afraid that King Cheng's troops are stronger than we imagined."

"What should we do now?" Jiang Li asked, "The whole city is on fire, and there is no safe place."

"After the city guards arrive, those men in black will not run around. What's important now is the city gate." Wen Renyao said seriously, "They caused the chaos before just to take advantage of the chaos to open the city gate and let those people in. Once King Cheng's troops enter the city, even with Ah Heng, the city guards will not be their match."

Jiang Li hesitated for a moment and said, "They shouldn't have succeeded, right? At least not right now. If they had succeeded, it wouldn't be like this."

"Indeed, that's why they will become even more aggressive." Wen Renyao said, "I hope Ah Heng can handle it."

Jiang Li did not suggest going to the city gate this time. They couldn't do anything right now. If they went, if they were caught by those people and used as a handle to threaten Ji Heng, it would be a loss.

The defenders came quickly. They seemed to know Zhao Ke and Wen Ji. One of them asked Zhao Ke and Wen Ji to take Jiang Li to one side. There were flames everywhere in Huangzhou City, which were put out a little at this time. The people gathered together and came to their senses at this time, feeling a little better.

The men were a little uneasy, while the women hugged their children tightly, all looking towards the city gate. As time passed, everyone felt that this night was particularly long.

The child who was saved by Jiang Li stared blankly at the horizon, and his family did not come to find him. Jiang Li cried when he asked about him, and finally stopped crying. Jiang Li learned from him that the black-clothed men started from the south of the city, and the first family was his family. At that time, his family was sleeping soundly, but they were all brutally killed by those people. Only his brother rushed out holding him, but in the end his brother also died. Just when he was about to die, Jiang Li saved him.

Jiang Li asked him: "What's your name?"

"Lin Yao." He sobbed, feeling very aggrieved. Such a young child probably didn't understand what it meant to have his entire family wiped out overnight. If he were older and more sensible, and had experienced such a big blow, who knows what he would become.

Jiang Li had no choice but to coax him, just like she did when she coaxed Xue Zhao when they were little. After finally coaxing him to sleep, she handed the child to Wen Renyao. Fortunately, Wen Renyao did not show any reluctance, but seemed very curious, looking at the child and wondering what he was thinking. Jiang Li looked around and saw many wounded people lying on the ground. The doctors who were still alive in Huangzhou were also here, busy treating these people. Some soldiers guarding the city helped find the herbs from the pharmacy, and after getting the herbs, they boiled the medicine on the spot.

After all, many people were killed or injured.

Jiang Li sighed and looked outside. It was still some distance from the city gate, but she could vaguely hear the sound of swords and spears clashing at the city gate, as well as the sound of horse hooves. When these sounds reached here, the women trembled even more. A look of fear appeared on everyone's face.

Jiang Li was a little worried.

King Cheng had been planning for this moment for many years. From that time on, Ji Heng was just a young son. By the time Ji Heng knew how to start planning for this moment, many years had passed. People like her, Wen Ji, Zhao Ke, Wen Ren Yao, Lu Ji, Kong Liu, etc. always believed in Ji Heng blindly and thought that Ji Heng could do anything. But Ji Heng was just an ordinary person after all, with a mortal body, and he would also be in danger.

But she couldn't do anything.

Jiang Li sighed. It was better to do nothing than to cause trouble. As long as they could survive this night, as long as they could survive this night, the morale of King Cheng's troops would be damaged and would not be as good as before. If they waited any longer, the reinforcements would come back. It was not appropriate to put all the chips on the table for Huangzhou. King Cheng would definitely reorganize his troops and march north to Yanjing before the reinforcements arrived, and break into the palace in one fell swoop.

But that’s not right. If that’s the case, then why is Ji Heng doing this here?
Jiang Li always felt that something was wrong. There were imperial guards in Yanjing City, but there were too many people in Yanjing City. Once King Cheng broke in, the consequences would be disastrous, so reinforcements would be necessary. General Zhaode, the Prince of Xia in the northwest... General Zhaode?
Just like a ray of light, it finally illuminated the reality, and Jiang Li suddenly understood.

Ji Heng was not in Yanjing, but came to Huangzhou. What was the reason for the stalemate with King Cheng? Probably to make the emperor of Yanjing transfer General Zhaode Yin Zhan back to the capital. When King Cheng got over the entanglement, he would meet Yin Zhan when he went to Yanjing again.

But why did Ji Heng do this? To better eliminate King Cheng? This was too much trouble. Or maybe... just for Yin Zhan?
Jiang Li didn't understand. She wanted to think about this problem. Unconsciously, the sky in the east turned white. After a night, it was dawn.

(End of this chapter)