Cui Qizhou and Qin Feng immediately followed. With such a big commotion from those two tonight, they couldn't afford to stay out of it.
When the three of them reached the city gate, they discovered an even more serious problem.
They had already given orders that the city gate must be strictly guarded, but all the soldiers on duty tonight had vanished into thin air.
The three of them exchanged glances, and each had a guess in mind.
As if to confirm their speculation, one shadow after another suddenly appeared on the bridge over the moat.
The bows and arrows in their hands glinted coldly in the moonlight. Even from a distance, the three of them could sense that the people below meant no good.
"What should we do now? There are no gate - guarding soldiers. This city wall will only hold them off for a while."
Shi An's face darkened slightly. They were already here, but not a single soldier was in sight. Only they three had noticed something was wrong, and they could only fight head - on.
"National Master, go find some people. Qin Feng and I will hold them off first."
He picked up his sword and was about to charge forward, but just as he got up, he was pulled back.
"Charging in like this won't do any good. There are so many people down there. Even if you're extremely skilled in martial arts, you can't fight them all."
In other words, his actions were nothing but those of a reckless man.
Qin Feng laughed unkindly. In all his years, this was the first time he had seen his bosom friend being openly looked down upon.
Noticing the laughter beside him, Shi An glared at him directly.
"Are we just going to wait here? Wait for them to break through the city gate, wait for all the people in Jiangnan to die at their hands, wait for the city to be awash with blood? Do you want to be the eternal sinner of the Liang Dynasty?"
Seeing his excited expression, Cui Qizhou felt a bit helpless.
"Brother Shi, why are you in such a hurry? General Qin is so calm, which means he must have a way to deal with this. Otherwise, he wouldn't be laughing."
Having his thoughts seen through, Qin Feng twitched his mouth helplessly, facing the gaze from somewhere.
"I knew it. Compared with him, you're the most scheming one."
"General Qin, you flatter me. Now, can you tell us your plan?"
It turned out that his bosom friend had already made arrangements. Shi An felt silly for acting like he was going to die heroically. No wonder he was laughing on the side.
Shi An gradually calmed down: "So what's your plan? Hurry up and say it. The people down there are almost at the city gate."
Qin Feng slowly put away his joking expression. He knew this wasn't the time for jokes.
He took out a signal arrow from his body: "Once this signal arrow is fired, the people I've arranged around will act together. By then, all the people down there will be captured."
Hearing this, Shi An and Cui Qizhou both looked into the darkness.
Just as the three of them breathed a sigh of relief, a familiar voice suddenly came from below.
"Brother Shi, it would be better if you just hand over Jiangnan City to me obediently. As long as you spare the people in this city, I won't hold you accountable and will let you leave safely."
Hearing this, Shi An leaped down from the city wall disdainfully and landed steadily in front of Wu Lin.
"I was wondering who had the guts to make such a racket at the city gate in the middle of the night. It turns out to be a barking dog."
Wu Lin's face darkened. He thought Shi An was too arrogant: "Brother Shi, don't you know the situation? Your life is in my hands now. As long as I want, the people behind me can shoot you full of holes at any time. Oh, by the way, your sister is extremely beautiful. I've never seen such a beauty. How about letting your sister accompany us after I capture the city?"
Shi An's sore spot was touched. He couldn't hold back any longer. Before anyone could react, he was already in front of Wu Lin, and his sword was at Wu Lin's throat.
"Who gave you the guts to covet my sister?"
Cold sweat gradually broke out on Wu Lin's back. He didn't even see how the man in front of him had made his move.
Seeming to notice his fear, Xu Qun cursed in a low voice "useless" and walked out from the city gate.
"Even if you capture him, so what? I think you already know that we have an inside - outside cooperation this time. So, I advise you to let General Wu go."
Shi An looked back and saw Xu Qun holding a person. When he saw the delicate face clearly, his eyes darkened: "You're really bold. You managed to sneak in and kidnap the Empress Dowager when we weren't paying attention."
"I had no choice. Brother Shi, have you made up your mind? As long as you hand over Jiangnan City to us, we definitely won't make things difficult for you."
Shi Muyuan lowered her head and said nothing. The two people on the city wall leaped down.
They had calculated everything but missed the most important link. But how did the person who should have been well - protected in the city suddenly appear here?
But this wasn't the time to ask.
Cui Qizhou's face darkened. Everyone present knew the importance of Shi Muyuan. He stepped forward, ready to compromise.
"If you had asked for other conditions, I might have agreed."
Hearing this, Shi An quickly stepped forward to deny it.
"No. We won't agree to any conditions."
His reaction surprised everyone, especially Cui Qizhou.
A sister - loving man like him suddenly didn't seem to care about his sister's safety. He squinted his eyes and walked beside Shi An.
"What on earth is going on? Brother Shi, don't forget that the one being held captive is your own sister."
Shi An curled his lips and suddenly became less tense.
"I'm not worried. Why are you so anxious? Anyway, we mustn't agree to any of their conditions. If they really want to start a war, then so be it."
Hearing this, Xu Qun flew into a rage. He gritted his teeth.
"Don't you know who the person in my hand is? This is your beloved sister. Are you really not worried about her? In the past, even if she got a small scratch, you would make a big fuss."
Xu Qun wasn't exaggerating. Almost everyone in Changjing City knew about this.
Shi An doted on his sister so much that even if she got a tiny cut, he would call all the doctors in Changjing City, including the imperial physicians in the palace.
Once, Shi Muyuan just accidentally fell, but it caused a stir in the whole of Changjing City. All the people who knew medicine were called by him at that time. The late emperor even sent imperial physicians, thinking something serious had happened. By the time they arrived, Shi Muyuan's wound had already scabbed over.
Because of this, he was given the title of "sister - loving man" by the people in Changjing City. Some people even dared to provoke Shi An but didn't dare to touch Shi Muyuan.