A flurry of hurried footsteps echoed above the imperial city. Several Imperial Guard soldiers in full armor rushed to a halt before the two figures, kneeling on one knee and uttering a few hurried words. Fan Xian stood calmly behind the First Prince, showing no signs of surprise. The search throughout the night had yielded the Empress, but not the Crown Prince, and the soldiers dispatched to the Ye and Qin families' residences had also come up empty-handed.

Much like when the Eldest Princess had sent men to surround the Fan residence, only to find it barren, these older figures, even lacking their former ferocity, still possessed a keen understanding of the shifting winds. Especially the Ye and Qin families; having wholeheartedly chosen to rebel alongside the Eldest Princess, they would hardly allow Fan Xian and his men to seize any useful hostages.

Meanwhile, several other personal guards were separately reporting on the capital's current defensive situation to the First Prince. He listened with a slight frown, then waved them away, turning to Fan Xian. "The situation now is that, if we retreat into the palace according to the established plan… we'll effectively surrender all the terrain outside the palace. The rebels will set up their positions, surround the city, and we'll have no power to turn the tables."

Fan Xian regarded him.

"But the problem is, if we start harassing them from the moment they enter the city, we'll only be able to create a nuisance. It won't have much of an impact at all," the First Prince said. "My forces are too few."

At that moment, the morning sun had risen, its crimson rays bathing the vermilion palace walls, reflecting outwards and shrouding the entire palace and the vast plaza before it in a warm hue. Even the serene moat behind the palace was permeated with a chilling red, like blood.

"If we want to buy time, we must launch an attack the moment they enter the gates of the capital," the First Prince said, squinting slightly at the rising sun. "The problem now is that your Surveillance Bureau's spies are cut off by the city walls, unable to deliver intelligence. We have to guess which gate the main force will use to enter the city."

"There's a distance from the city gate to the palace, enough for us to blunt their momentum," Fan Xian said, lowering his head. "If I had to guess which gate the main force would enter through, I'd bet… Zhengyang Gate."

"That's what I think too." The First Prince nodded. The rebel forces were striking directly at the capital from the Yuantai camp, making Zhengyang Gate the nearest. Moreover, the Thirteenth City Gate Department was also located there. Although Zhang Deqing had betrayed them, that gate was the only one he personally controlled. It would be safest and easiest for the Eldest Princess' forces to enter the capital through that gate.

The First Prince frowned. "I've left a cavalry squadron there."

Fan Xian glanced at him, a flicker of emotion in his eyes. The disparity in strength between the two sides was too great. It was impossible to defend against the enemy outside the city gates, but he and the First Prince had to inflict a painful, unforgettable blow on the rebels the moment they entered the city to slightly diminish their momentum.

However, the troops deployed would surely be swallowed by the overwhelming force, with likely no survivors.

Seemingly sensing Fan Xian's thoughts, the First Prince frowned slightly, saying in a low voice, "As soldiers of Qing, it is their duty to sacrifice themselves without hesitation."

Fan Xian thought with a bitter taste in his mouth that it was merely the imperial family's power struggle, yet these ordinary soldiers had to shed their blood and risk their lives. At that moment, a morning breeze swept through, carrying with it the sounds of fervor and bloodlust from the Imperial Guard above and below the palace, as the officers began their final pre-battle mobilization. A tense, somber atmosphere permeated the air both inside and outside the palace.

"One last time, I'll ask you, do you want to leave?" The First Prince narrowed his eyes, staring at the eastern city gate, without glancing at Fan Xian. "Once the army surrounds the palace, it will be impossible to break out."

He and Fan Xian had discussed this question several times. The First Prince had originally intended to lead the Imperial Guard to draw the rebels into a bloody battle in the capital, while Fan Xian, with the aid of the Surveillance Bureau's thousand-plus spies, would lead those in the palace to find a way out, break through the city gates, and head south to Weizhou at top speed.

Fan Xian shook his head slightly, as he had done in their previous discussions. Regardless of the chances of breaking out, he would not let the First Prince be torn to shreds by the Eldest Princess' army alone. Moreover, he held a great expectation in his heart, anchoring him firmly to the city walls.

He followed the First Prince's gaze, staring silently at Zhengyang Gate, which looked all the more solemn under the morning sun.

The entire capital did not awaken with the sunrise. Hundreds of thousands of people stayed fearfully in their homes, straining their ears to hear the sounds outside. The lanes between houses, the Tianhe Avenue, and the various government offices were deserted and silent.

The quiet and desolation were so profound that it felt as if the newly arrived day was still the endless night. The entire capital had become a desolate, dead city.

At that moment, an ominous sound suddenly came from the morning breeze; it seemed that the heavy city gates of the capital were being opened.

There was no sound of galloping hooves, no neighing of horses, no clashing of armor and swords, no fluttering of military banners. From such a distance, one shouldn't be able to hear the opening and closing of the city gates.

But in this deathly silent capital, any slight movement from the city gates would touch the sensitive nerves of the people in the palace.

Fan Xian suddenly turned his head, looking towards the west and south, focusing on the plumes of smoke sent up by the Surveillance Bureau's spies at the risk of their lives, his eyes narrowing slightly. After a moment, he exchanged a glance with the First Prince and said, "We were both wrong."

The First Prince's expression was extremely grave as he nodded.

Plumes of smoke rose everywhere, and bugle calls gradually sounded. Looking down from the heights of the imperial city, one could see that dozens of plumes of dust were appearing around the outer walls of the capital. The sound of hooves was like thunder, rumbling from the city gates and along the network of thoroughfares in the capital, heading straight for the palace!

Fan Xian and the First Prince had guessed that the rebel forces would enter the capital through Zhengyang Gate, but they had not anticipated that the rebels would be so blatant, so aggressive, entering the capital simultaneously through… all nine gates!

The two princes above the imperial city gasped, wondering how many rebel troops the Eldest Princess had under her command? To dare to split their forces and enter through nine gates at once, using an overwhelming force to pressure the city, creating such a terrifying display of power!

In an instant, beacon fires raged on all sides of the capital.

————————————————————

Outside the Zhengyang Gate of the capital, the yellow earth was crushed and pulverized by the galloping hooves, then kicked up, turning into a cloud of dust. It gradually rose, forming a yellow haze that obscured the light projected by the rising sun, casting the area inside and outside the gate into a dim gloom.

A cavalry army of five thousand men, arranged in rows of five, was riding at a steady pace into the wide-open Zhengyang Gate. Everything seemed silent and swift. The dust kicked up by the horses was swept towards the inside of the city by the momentum, looking like a headless, tailless yellow dragon, struggling to enter the capital and devour the pitiful mortals within.

In the swirling dust, a large military banner was waving in the wind. On the black banner was painted a large character: Qin. The final stroke of the Qin character was thrust out forcefully, giving a sense of impregnable strength, still exuding an air of killing despite the surrounding dust.

Qin Heng, the former Deputy Administrator of the Military Council and current Commander of the Capital Garrison, the leading figure of the second generation of the Qin family, was right beneath this banner, calmly watching his army enter the capital with an irresistible momentum.

He squinted, but didn't cover his mouth and nose to avoid inhaling the dust. He merely watched everything calmly, a complex mixture of emotions welling up in his chest. As the Commander of the Capital Garrison, he was intimately familiar with this Zhengyang Gate and knew that if the city gates were closed, his three thousand cavalrymen would struggle for three years to break into the capital.

The capital of Qing had been besieged by foreign enemies in the past, but it had never been breached. This relatively young capital fully demonstrated its powerful defensive capabilities.

But today, the gates of the capital had finally been breached—as the grand scholar Zhuang Mo Han had written in his book, the most powerful capitals in history were often captured from within.

This rebellion in Qing was no exception.

Qin Heng watched all of this. As a Qing soldier, he felt deeply conflicted, filled with respect and fear for the Eldest Princess, who had so easily taken control of the Thirteenth City Gate Department.

However, the current situation did not allow him much time to think. Today, the army was splitting up and entering the capital through nine gates. The cavalry brigade under his command was using Zhengyang Gate, and he had to reach the palace before anyone else.

This time, the combined forces of the Qin and Ye families, along with the Capital Garrison, totaled over 30,000 men. The palace's defensive strength, in contrast, was less than 6,000. The army's aim in entering the capital was to do so openly and aggressively, using overwhelming force to intimidate the people in the palace, breaking their spirit and forcing them to surrender!

For Qin Heng, fighting this battle with a six-to-one advantage in manpower was hardly a challenge. He had never imagined that the acquaintances in the palace could withstand such a powerful force.

His eyes flashed as he looked at the horses and soldiers rushing past him… then a name flashed through his mind. Qin Heng was currently not worried about the palace as much as he was worried that Ye Zhong would reach the palace before him.

Thinking of Ye Zhong's name, Qin Heng exhaled a breath of turbid air. This Permanent Commander of the Capital Garrison had received an order from the Empress Dowager, but he had not returned to Dingzhou! Although it seemed that the Ye family's failure to retreat was part of the Eldest Princess' secret arrangement, with significant implications for today's battle in the capital, for the Qin family, the presence of the Ye family's forces had other implications.

Ye Zhong was the Second Prince's father-in-law, while the Qin family naturally supported the Crown Prince. Therefore, the Qin family patriarch had issued a strict order: for the sake of the Crown Prince's future stability on the throne, the Qin family's forces had to show sufficient strength in this battle and had to arrive before the Ye family!

Qin Heng squeezed his horse's flanks, leading his personal guard into the ranks of the entering troops, becoming the brightest scale on the yellow dragon.

…

…

The rebel forces entered Kyoto from nine directions. The Qin family occupied six routes and the Ye family occupied three routes. Because the rebel forces were powerful and knew that the Kyoto defense was weak, they didn't care about dividing their forces. On the contrary, entering with such a large force would weaken the courage of those in the palace to break through.

The thousands of soldiers in the Thirteenth City Gate Department didn't join the rebel army. Ordinary soldiers watched this scene with tongue-tied, wondering what was happening. Some smart officers had guessed that probably a prince was rebelling, but they didn't dare to move under the suppression of their superiors. Commander Zhang Deqing was a smart man, knowing that he wouldn't get much credit for getting involved in this kind of rebellion. Holding onto his own City Gate Department was the smartest choice.

The sound of horses' hooves was as loud as thunder on the avenue from Zhengyang Gate straight to the Imperial Palace. The cavalry of the Qin family took out their weapons and became vigilant, but their speed didn't decrease at all, and they passed by like a whirlwind.

The world now worships black. The light armor of the Qin family cavalry was also very dark in color, very close to the black cavalry of the Supervision Department, but it lacked a touch of the most intense black. There were some bright colors on the breastplate.

More than a dozen running cavalrymen suddenly broke away from the large force, accelerated forward, pierced into the quiet street like lightning, wiped the low eaves of the houses, and began to scout for the advance of the army.

Everything was as usual. These more than a dozen cavalrymen rushed into the streets, and then turned around and scattered like arrows, and began to advance into the depths. All this happened extremely quickly and naturally, fully demonstrating the training level of the Qing army and the strength of the Qin family's army.

The cavalry didn't slow down and continued to advance in the direction that the dozen or so cavalrymen had stepped on. Qin Heng was riding his horse, leading his personal guards, watching indifferently at the front, more than a hundred feet away. He knew that Fan Xian and the First Prince would definitely not sit still. There must be snipers and difficult fights on this quiet long street.

But he didn't care. He knew how many people Fan Xian and the First Prince had in their hands. What he wanted was the speed of the march and the powerful momentum. No matter what kind of obstacles he encountered, he had to ruthlessly crush them with the army!

…

…

The rebel army advanced so fast that the dozen or so leading cavalrymen couldn't act as scouts at all. To be precise, they were just brave bait, and they were also somewhat like the brave martyrs in Fan Xian's world, who rolled through the minefield, using their lives to touch what kind of danger existed in the Kyoto, which was as silent as death.

However, the rebel army had broken through five hundred feet straight from Zhengyang Gate, and the more than a dozen brave cavalrymen still hadn't encountered any snipers. Even when they could vaguely see the palace eaves under the sunshine, the streets were still quiet.

…

…

"Neigh!"

About a hundred feet away from these more than a dozen cavalrymen, the warhorses at the front of the rebel army were breathing vigorously the air of Kyoto, maintaining a stable speed, but at the same time, they were neighing painfully!

The neighing suddenly stopped, and several warhorses fell to the ground at the same time!

The heavy bodies of the warhorses slammed heavily on the bluestone floor of the street, raising a few wisps of dust, but the street seemed to tremble. The horse's head hit the ground heavily, and blood spurted out!

And the cavalrymen on the warhorses had the best riding skills, but they were caught off guard by this sudden change, and they fell to the ground. Before they could wake up from the pain of their broken legs, several black, poisoned crossbow arrows shot out from the houses on the street and stabbed into their bodies.

At the same time as the leading warhorses fell to the ground and the cavalrymen were killed by crossbow arrows, countless hissing sounds suddenly came from the quiet street.

These sounds weren't coming from the mouths and noses of the galloping warhorses, but from the ground. The streets of Kyoto were paved with square bluestone, and the gaps between the bluestone were filled with yellow earth.

Those hissing sounds came from the thin yellow earth between these bluestone slabs.

At the same instant, the yellow earth between the bluestone slabs on the long street suddenly cracked! It seemed that some magical power on both sides of the street actually popped up a thin black leather cord from the cracked yellow earth. The leather cord was too thin to tie a hook on it, but it could be vaguely seen shining with a faint light, it should be a poisoned thin needle.

Dozens of black, specially made tripping cords appeared so abruptly and magically on the street that had been a smooth road just a moment ago!

Countless muffled sounds rang out at the same time. The cavalry force of the Qin family suffered a merciless blow at this moment. A total of about a hundred riders fell from the clouds in front of these dozens of tripping cords and smashed into the deep earth.

For a time, the street was filled with people and horses falling on their backs, with screams. I don't know how many people or horses had broken tendons and broken bones, and they were heavily smashed together, rolling around and bleeding.

Immediately afterwards, the sound of arrows breaking through the air rang out. These sounds were like the orders from the Netherworld to reap lives, making people feel frightened. Countless black crossbow arrows shot out from the houses on the street and hit the rebels who fell on the ground, stopping their screams in an instant.

In just an instant, there were more than a hundred dead people on this half of the street. These dead people had crossbow arrows stuck in their bodies. The ambushers didn't shoot the horses. The warhorses with broken limbs and poisoned bodies were lying powerlessly on the ground, next to the bodies of their masters, neighing painfully while kicking their legs.

The scene looked extremely tragic.

…

…

(So hard, so hard.)