Very well, very well, you have successfully provoked this Marquis

Ren Tianye didn't have to wonder for long before he got his answer.

The person sent to monitor the Little Duke, Lu Jun, was in such a hurry that he didn't even take off his disguise. He rode back swiftly to report: "Great General, Little Duke Lu Jun has set off the signal flare."

"It really was him?"

"The Little Duke also said: 'Defy the heavens, and there might still be exceptions; defy him, and there is absolutely no chance of survival.' That is why he set off the flare."

Defy the heavens, there might be exceptions?

Defy him, no chance of survival?

The more Ren Tianye listened, the more he felt a strong "domineering CEO" vibe. Thinking back to the continuous reports from the scouts earlier, the Little Duke's words and actions automatically arranged themselves in his mind.

Quickly, he formed a clear understanding of this Little Duke.

Then, beneath his anger, there was nothing but helplessness.

Female-oriented romance tropes! Truly, female-oriented romance tropes!

Any kind of person could show up.

Has this "domineering CEO" trend blown over here too?

"Let's go. Follow me to meet this Little Duke."

Ren Tianye immediately mounted his horse, leading more than twenty personal guards, plus a hundred guards from the General's Manor—over a hundred and twenty men in total, marching grandly toward the Su residence.

As they exited the manor gates, they happened to run into Deputy General Wang Ming, who was just returning, so they brought him along.

The group rode as swiftly as flying swallows, moving at a breakneck pace.

Before long, they spotted the arrogant-looking Little Duke.

"Hmph, refuse to walk when led, only moving when beaten."

"What a cheap wretch."

"No wonder he was kicked out by the Ren National Duke's Manor."

"If I, the Marquis, don't show you some true power, you'll really think you're a big shot!"

As these cold, mocking words were uttered, the Little Duke immediately turned around, adopting a posture that showed he had no intention of letting Ren Tianye beg for mercy or curry favor.

The guards around the Little Duke, including the butler, wore the same expressions as Little Duke Lu Jun—cold faces full of arrogance.

They were all waiting for Ren Tianye to kowtow and admit his mistakes, though they had no intention of forgiving him.

"Tie them up!"

Ren Tianye's men had barely come to a halt when he waved his large hand. His subordinates, who always followed his orders to the letter and were considered elites, moved with extreme swiftness.

In an instant, they surrounded the Little Duke's group of twenty or so men.

They immediately divided the work and cooperated.

Four or five men tackled each of the Little Duke's subordinates.

This scene made Ren Tianye nod inwardly.

These one hundred guards were specially selected from the seven thousand defenders of Yunji City to show his trust in them.

Their level of military training was mostly brought over from the previous defending general, Zhan Shubai. He hadn't expected the results to be this good.

Zhan Shubai had truly cultivated many talents for him.

Thus, under the siege of this group of tiger-and-wolf-like personal guards and soldiers, the expressions of the Little Duke's side instantly changed drastically.

"Ren Tianye, how dare you! I am the legitimate son of the Auxiliary Duke's Manor. Who gave you the nerve?"

But such shouts had no effect whatsoever. Instead, they made Ren Tianye's men work even harder. In a short while, they had either killed or tied up the Little Duke's entire entourage, bringing them all under control.

Even Little Duke Lu Jun was tied up tightly by Deputy General Wang Ming and his men, and brought personally before Ren Tianye by Wang Ming.

"Ren Tianye..."

The Little Duke's eyes looked like they were about to split open in rage. "You are nothing but an abandoned son of the insignificant Ren Duke's Manor. How dare you disrespect me, the Marquis?"

"I..."

Slap!

Before he could finish his sentence, a heavy slap landed on his left cheek.

"You..."

Slap!

Again, before he could finish, a heavy slap landed on his right cheek.

Growing up, when had Little Duke Lu Jun ever suffered such humiliation? The stinging handprints on his cheeks felt like a monumental disgrace.

Yet, he showed no fear.

He said coldly: "Good, good, very good!"

"Ren Tianye, you have successfully enraged me!"

"I will definitely make you pay with the lives of everyone in Yunji City."

"I know that you dare to do this because you have someone backing you. But let me tell you, let alone having someone behind you, even if your backer is a prince or a noble, I will kill them all the same!"

Little Duke Lu Jun shouted with awe-inspiring momentum, which also gave great confidence to the twenty or so men he brought. One by one, they struggled and roared.

"A mere defending general of Yunji City dares to disrespect our Marquis? When my grand army breaches the city, I'll make sure you die without a complete corpse!"

"Pure insolence! Our Little Duke is the legitimate son of the Auxiliary Duke's Manor. How can we tolerate your arrogance? Release us immediately, kneel, and beg for mercy! Perhaps the Little Duke will be kind enough to leave your corpse intact!"

"Hmph, you have already committed a crime worthy of exterminating nine generations of your family, and you still dare to be arrogant? Do you really think our Little Duke is made of mud?"

"Can't you hear the drums of the Imperial Guards attacking the city? With your behavior, when the twenty thousand Imperial Guards enter the city, they will slaughter Yunji City until not a piece of armor remains and rivers of blood flow!"

...

Ren Tianye suddenly wanted to laugh.

He was so angry he wanted to laugh.

Call these people brain-dead? In such a perilous situation, they didn't show the slightest cowardice, actually showing a bit of a heroic spirit.

Call them heroes? Damn it, they didn't look at the situation at all! They were already meat on the chopping block, yet they still dared to arrogantly utter threats!

And bringing up the twenty thousand Imperial Guards.

Setting aside whether the twenty thousand Imperial Guards could even breach Yunji City, which had just been repaired by Zhan Shubai.

Even if the twenty thousand Imperial Guards did break in, so what?

I would definitely chop you down first!

Ren Tianye grumbled inwardly, constantly comforting himself that there was no need to get angry over such ridiculous characters from a female-oriented romance novel. It took him a few breaths to suppress his emotions.

He commanded coldly: "Wang Ming!"

"Present!"

"They don't look very convinced. Beat them until they are!"

"Yes, sir!"

Slap! Slap! Slap!...

The sounds echoed.

Ren Tianye didn't dare to delay.

From here, he could vaguely hear the dense drumbeats outside the city. The thumping sounds were getting more and more rapid, indicating that the Imperial Guards had begun their assault.

With twenty thousand Imperial Guards attacking, no matter how confident he was in Yunji City, he couldn't afford to be careless.

Immediately, after leaving a portion of the men for Deputy General Wang Ming, he mounted his horse and charged straight toward the city wall.

As soon as he arrived, Sun Xiang came up to meet him.

With a rushed expression, he said, "Great General, the Imperial Guards have reached the base of the city wall. They are very fast; it looks like they are about to attack."

"Let's go take a look."

Upon ascending the city wall, one could see the densely packed Imperial Guards completely blocking the main road outside Yunji City. Only a small path was left in the middle, which was being used to transport several pontoon bridges.

Behind the team transporting the pontoon bridges, there were over a dozen simple siege ladders and a somewhat damaged battering ram.

This formation made it clear that they were determined to take Yunji City.

The speed of their actions and the resoluteness in executing orders made Ren Tianye secretly alarmed, but that was immediately followed by deep speechlessness.

These Imperial Guards, including Little Duke Lu Jun, obviously didn't know the fact that they had already rebelled. Otherwise, the Little Duke wouldn't have dared to enter the city with only twenty men.

Which meant that, whether in the eyes of the Little Duke or the Imperial Guards, Yunji City still belonged to Great Yu.

So...

They knew very well that they were attacking a city of Great Yu!

Just because the Little Duke was displeased, he dared to brazenly issue an order to attack their own city walls.

And these Imperial Guards dared to obey, and dared to launch an attack immediately.

"Damn it, do you lot think you're Lan Yu? Fuck!"

...