After explaining to Yuan Tiangang, Yuan Tiangang looked hatefully at the Turks before him and spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Once this old daoist has recovered from his injuries, I will definitely visit your grasslands!"
"Everyone follow this old daoist!"
He shouted to his disciples and grandchildren, then retreated to the Taoist temple with Lan Yue and the others.
Seeing that everyone had evacuated, Lan Yue stood at the entrance of the Taoist temple and fired a signal flare.
At the workshop, watching Hou Junji's men constantly moving machinery out, Wu Yong and Qi Sui were extremely anxious.
The suddenly rising signal flare made their hearts tremble.
"They've all retreated!"
"Fire!"
With Wu Yong's order, ten mortars from the four battalions opened fire simultaneously.
*Boom, boom, boom, boom!*
Ten shells landed directly towards the gunpowder workshop!
*Boom!* kan shu wu. xi a
The gunpowder workshop collapsed, igniting the gunpowder within, and a massive fireball instantly rose into the sky.
At the same time, a deafening explosion rocked the area.
Wu He and Qi Sui, separated from the workshop by a Dragon Head Canal, felt a gust of wind blow past them, laying hundreds of people down in disarray.
"Ptooey!"
"Damn, that was potent!"
Wu Yong got up from the ground, spitting out dirt from his mouth.
He looked towards the workshop, and his entire being was stunned.
Qi Sui was equally shocked.
They knew the explosion would be massive!
But they never expected it to be so incredibly large!
Inside the gunpowder workshop, over a thousand catties of gunpowder exploded simultaneously, leveling the gunpowder workshop, the ammunition workshop, the adjacent printing workshop, the papermaking workshop, and two rows of barracks.
Everything was reduced to rubble!
Especially the area where the gunpowder workshop once stood, which was now a massive crater over twenty meters in diameter.
All four rows of forging workshops had completely collapsed.
Sniffing the smell of gunpowder filling the air, Wu Yong and Qi Sui, with the men behind them, crossed the Dragon Head Canal and stepped back onto the workshop grounds.
Here, not even a complete skeleton could be found!
Within a hundred-meter radius of the entire workshop, not a single enemy remained standing!
*Vroom, vroom, vroom!*
Suddenly, the sound of an engine reached Wu Yong's ears.
He quickly followed the sound.
In the Dragon Head Canal, over a dozen boats had appeared at some point.
They were all landing craft, larger versions developed by Li Shun and Zhao Gang!
Each boat was ten meters long and three meters wide, capable of landing fifty people at once.
However, the people on the boats were not their own, and the boats were all carrying the machines from the workshop!
"No good! The shipyard must have encountered enemies too!"
"Chase them, you sons of bitches!"
With that, he led the four battalions towards the small boats.
The small boats had already started, sailing along the Dragon Head Canal towards the Ba River.
Wu Yong chased after them for a while, but finally had to admit defeat, unable to catch up.
He slumped to the ground, defeated.
Craftsmen and equipment, aside from those destroyed, had still been stolen.
Silence surrounded them; the Turkic forces had vanished at some unknown time.
The blood from countless corpses converged, flowing from the workshop into the Dragon Head Canal, staining the water red.
The scene before him filled Wu Yong with grief and hatred.
He hated himself for taking all four battalions away.
If he had left some behind, he could have saved Empress Changsun and the others with just three to five hundred men.
But now.
Tears streamed from his eyes, and he choked back sobs.
He pounded his fists against his head.
Seeing Wu Yong blaming himself, Qi Sui grabbed his fists as they were about to strike his head again.
"Commander Wu, it's happened. Blaming yourself won't help.
The workshop is gone anyway. The most important thing now is to settle our injured brothers and inform the Marquis of the events at home as quickly as possible!"
Wu Yong stood up and nodded.
"I was short-sighted! Let's go back!"
The two of them, with their subordinates, returned to the workshop.
By then, the sky in the east was beginning to show a faint white glow.
This battle, unknowingly, had lasted the entire night!
The Fang family manor was finished.
But the palace was still in chaos!
Changsun Wuji, Master Yuanji, Cui Zhengyu, Li Shichang, and others were unaware that Empress Changsun and Li Chengqian had been rescued by the four battalions.
Therefore, fierce fighting continued in the palace.
The Jinwu Guards brought by Changsun Wuji had lost more than half their men.
Cui Zhengyu and Li Shichang were left with no men, their subordinates all having been killed by the Jinwu Guards.
Even Master Yuanji fared no better; his thousand martial monks were reduced to less than half, and Changsun Wuji had severed his left hand.
The palace now had some additional forces.
Li Xiaogong, Zhang Gongjin, Li Ji, Xiao Yu, Yu Shinan, and others had also arrived with their household experts.
At the same time, all the guards responsible for defending the capital had also arrived.
After apprehending Yuanji, Li Shichang, and Cui Yuzheng's forces, they searched the palace and only found Li Yuan's body!
Apart from that, not a single concubine, prince, or princess from the inner palace was found!
This greatly worried Changsun Wuji.
His own sister had gone missing.
Not only him, but everyone else as well; all the princes were missing. This was an even greater crisis than Li Yuan's death!
The Great Tang could not be without an heir!
This caused them to set aside Li Yuan's funeral matters. After collecting the body, they ordered:
"Search!"
The soldiers and their men began a thorough search of Chang'an. The commotion last night was so great that no one dared to go out until dawn.
Everyone hid in their homes, fearing they would be caught in the crossfire.
After searching for half a day with no success, Li Xiaogong finally suggested, "Could it be that people from Fang family manor rescued them?"
Changsun Wuji slapped his forehead: "Accompany me!"
A massive contingent set out from Chang'an towards Fang family manor.
After traveling for less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn past Tonghua Gate, they arrived at the Dragon Head Canal and witnessed the scene at the workshop.
Even those seasoned in battle shivered!
The fighting here had been so brutal!
Blood had flowed all night, and now the ground of the workshop was covered in thick, red mud.
Wu Yong, with the four battalions and the people from the manor, was collecting the remains.
He was angry that the manor's farmers had hidden in their homes yesterday, afraid to come out.
However, Qin Qiong had scolded him into reason.
"We are soldiers! They are just commoners!
It is the commoners who support the soldiers, not the soldiers who support the commoners!
On what grounds do you expect their sustenance and then demand they do the work you should be doing yourself!"
Piles of bodies were gathered together; after the explosion at the gunpowder workshop, it was impossible to distinguish friend from foe.
Changsun Wuji strode forward and grabbed Wu Yong.
"Was the Empress and the Crown Prince here!"
Wu Yong pulled away the hand that was grabbing his clothes.
He pointed towards the granary: "They are at the granary, protected by the Imperial Guards!"
ps: Three chapters