"Call the guards! Follow me to Xuanwu Gate to fight the enemy!"
Li Yuan decided to take action personally, and the guards were invigorated at the sight.
A team of about a hundred men detached themselves and followed Li Yuan towards Xuanwu Gate.
The one who broke through the gate here was the young master of the Lu family, Lu Xuanyi.
Li Yuan recognized him the moment he saw him.
Not only did he recognize him, he had even held the young Lu Xuanyi as a child and flicked his ear.
"Lu Xuanyi! It's you! How dare you come before me and act so presumptuously!"
Lu Xuanyi flicked the blood off his saber.
"Hahahaha! You useless wretch, your son stole your throne and you don't even dare to fart. You only know how to hide in your harem and cause trouble!"
"Today, this Lu will send you down to see your Crown Prince!"
"Attack! Whoever takes down Li Yuan will be rewarded with ten thousand gold!"
As the bounty was announced, the skilled fighters around him, weapons in hand, charged at Li Yuan.
Li Yuan was not intimidated; after all, he had conquered the empire from horseback.
However, after a few exchanges, he began to feel the strain.
His waist and knees felt weak, and his spear in his hand felt somewhat unresponsive.
How could he, who considered himself a lifelong hero, accept this?
He raised his left arm and took a saber blow head-on.
The blood gushing from the wound jolted him.
The bright red blood seemed to transport him back to his days of fighting across the land.
Along with it, his strength seemed to recover somewhat.
His long spear thrust out fiercely.
"Kill!"
Wu Yong's heart surged with excitement the moment he saw Tonghua Gate.
"I'm back!"
This time, he was back with over a thousand brothers!
When he was first transferred from the palace by the Emperor to Fangjiazhuang, he never imagined he would see a day like this!
He wondered how his old brothers were doing, if they were safe and sound.
"Wait for me, I'm coming to save you!"
"Brothers, pick up the pace! The palace is just ahead!"
The men behind him, who came from farming families, also never thought they would get a chance to save the Emperor.
Although serving under the Marquis was more enjoyable than serving the Emperor directly, this was still something they could boast about for the rest of their lives.
If they saved the Crown Prince, they could brag to their descendants in the future.
"Years from now, pointing at the palace, I'll tell my descendants, 'You know what? The one on the dragon throne now is the one I saved from the rebels back then!'"
"That feeling, it's awesome!"
"Hmm, this is a little song the Marquis often sings."
"Even though the lyrics are terrible, the tune is truly awesome!"
The thousand men of the Fourth Battalion followed Wu Yong, exerting all their strength, desperately rushing towards the imperial city.
*Swish swish swish swish*
Chengtian Gate had already been breached, and the imperial guards were retreating step by step to Ganlu Hall.
Here were Empress Changsun, Princess Changle,
and other concubines, including the current Crown Prince and numerous princes and princesses, all gathered here.
Therefore, this place absolutely could not fall!
Empress Changsun, wearing her court attire, held Li Chengqian's left hand and Li Ke's right hand.
She stood before the entrance of Ganlu Hall, watching the battle outside.
"Empress, please permit your son to fight!"
Li Ke, who was a full eight years old, actually nine by a special calculation, looked up at Empress Changsun's eyes and said earnestly.
"The Crown Prince cannot be in danger, so let your son go and resist the enemy along with these brave warriors!"
Empress Changsun shook her head.
"The Great Tang has not yet reached the point where a child needs to be sent to the battlefield!"
After speaking, she turned to look at the other concubines.
"Sisters! If we cannot wait for reinforcements, you know what you must do!"
Consort Yang, Consort Yin, and the other concubines had red-rimmed eyes. Consort Yang, in particular, thought of her son's words just now, and tears streamed down her face.
"Please rest assured, Empress Sister! We will surely die for our country! We will surely not leave any worries for the Emperor!!"
Empress Changsun nodded. This was also her thought.
If they truly could not resist, and the many concubines, princes, and princesses fell into the hands of these rebels, then even if Erlang wanted to restore the empire in the future, he would be hesitant to act, right?
The Fourth Battalion had reached the outer wall of the palace. Wu Yong looked at Lai Yifa, who was almost out of breath, "Where are the honored individuals in the palace now?"
Lai Yifa pointed in the direction of the dog hole. "Please follow me, Battalion Commander Wu."
After speaking, he led the way. Before long, they arrived at the location of the dog hole.
Looking at the hole that had been broken open on the wall, Wu Yong frowned.
"How can a grown man crawl through here?"
"Call the guards! Breach the wall!"
"Yes!"
Two men emerged from the ranks, took the hand grenades from their waists, placed them on the rubble at the hole's entrance, opened the safety covers, pulled the pins, and quickly moved to the sides.
*Boom!*
With a loud explosion, the opening in the palace wall, which was only large enough to crawl through, was blasted into a gap two meters wide.
Wu Yong took the lead, stepping on the broken bricks and entering.
"This is the Imperial Garden!"
With just a glance, he knew where he was.
Without waiting for Lai Yifa to catch up, he led his men towards Ganlu Hall.
The scene shifted to the workshop in Fangjiazhuang.
Just as Wu Yong led the Fourth Battalion away, in the woods on the opposite bank of Longshou Canal, four thousand troops were hidden quietly!
Among them, sixteen hundred were sent by the Eight Factions Alliance, and the remaining two thousand four hundred were loyal followers who had accompanied Hou Junji on his campaigns over the years.
Thinking of Fang Er, Hou Junji's teeth itched with hatred!
After all, he was from a general's background and had fought countless battles, big and small.
He was patient. Indeed, when the palace sent for reinforcements, the Tianhuo Army's Fourth Battalion was dispatched.
Now, only the five hundred disabled men remained in this workshop!
"Even if they have firearms, so what!"
"Ashina Shabi, aren't you always boasting about how great your mounted archers are?"
"Come, let Marquis see!"
This fellow no longer even referred to himself as Duke, which clearly showed that the official title given by Li Shimin no longer interested him!
Ashina Shabi turned his head and said a few words to the men he brought.
Twenty men with longbows emerged from the crowd.
The bows were taller than the men!
They walked to the front of the ranks, drew arrows from their quivers without a word, nocked them onto the bows, and searched for their targets towards the workshop.
The moonlight tonight was bright.
Under the moonlight and the torches from the workshop, the twenty mounted archers quickly found their targets.
*Swish swish swish swish!*
The moment the bowstrings were released, twenty arrows flew straight towards their respective targets.
The soldiers on guard duty felt a heavy blow to their foreheads, instantly losing consciousness without making a sound!
Ashina Shabi smiled smugly at Hou Junji.
"General Hou, how do the mounted archers of the grasslands compare to your archers?"
Hou Junji was stunned.
"Damn it!"
"From here to the workshop is nearly two hundred paces!"
"These mounted archers are almost comparable to the snipers of Fangjiazhuang!"
Thinking this, he became even more wary of Ashina Shabi.
However, with a look of admiration, he said to Ashina Shabi:
"The mounted archers of the grasslands truly live up to their reputation. Then, let them have their fill of killing for now!"
Ashina Shabi spoke a few more words to the mounted archers.
These mounted archers then began their ruthless targeted attacks.