“Fifth Sister, wait!” Bai Jinhua called out to stop her. She stared at the soldiers surging forward like a black giant wave in the distance and said, “Eldest Sister is far away in Great Liang. Calculating the time, Eldest Sister can’t return so quickly! Now we don’t know if they’re friend or foe – it might very well be that Li Mingrui’s trick to lure us into opening the city gates! So Fifth Sister… It’s safer to defend Shouyang City to the death!”

Bai Jinzhao, breathing heavily, felt that Bai Jinhua made perfect sense. Her passionate blood cooled down, and she nodded.

When Bai Qingping saw the black sails with white python flags, she was also so excited that she nearly lost her head. After Bai Jinhua’s words, she quickly shouted: “Sound the drums! Be on guard!”

Soon, the first row of archers returned to position on the city walls, aiming at a distance. The second and third rows of archers also crouched below the city walls, ready to replace them at any time.

The soldiers and civilians of Shouyang took advantage of this breathing space to transport more supplies to the city walls, preparing for the next fierce battle.

Li Mingrui led his troops fleeing north, while the soldiers charging toward Shouyang City, led by the one-armed Ji Tingyu, turned direction like a broad river slowly changing course, surging north to intercept and kill the Imperial Guards led by Li Mingrui.

Bai Jinzhao gripped her bow tightly, watching the army that had appeared from nowhere outside Shouyang City pursuing, blocking, and intercepting Li Mingrui’s Imperial Guards, annihilating them with extremely swift and fierce momentum. The scene was tremendously shocking, and her heart was greatly shaken – so this was the battlefield!

The war outside the city continued. The archers crouched on the city walls had beads of sweat dropping from their foreheads, yet not one dared to slack off.

The army that had suddenly appeared earlier had such formidable combat power – if they came to attack the city after destroying the enemy, they couldn’t be unprepared.

Until the sun set in the west, Bai Jinzhao, Bai Jinhua, and others saw someone leading a small cavalry unit galloping toward Shouyang City. Bai Qingping raised his hand and shouted: “Archers prepare!”

They saw that the leader was a one-armed general. He rode his horse to below the city walls, looked at the arrows and Imperial Guard corpses covering the ground, reined in his horse, removed his helmet, and shouted: “This subordinate Ji Tingyu led troops to reinforce Shouyang, has annihilated the enemy forces, and captured the enemy commander Li Mingrui alive. Please open the city gates!”

Bai Jinzhao’s eyes widened as she looked at Ji Tingyu below the city walls – dark, thin, with only one arm remaining. Her eyes immediately moistened: “Ji Tingyu! It’s Ji Tingyu! Open the city gates!”

Bai Qingping didn’t know who Ji Tingyu was, but seeing Bai Jinzhao so excited, she looked at Bai Jinhua as if seeking confirmation. She saw that Bai Jinhua’s eyes were also red as she said to Bai Qingping, “Quickly open the city gates! It’s the Bai family army! It’s the Bai family army!”

Ji Tingyu had been training troops under Bai Qingyan’s orders. When he heard about Prince Liang’s rebellion in the capital, he had originally planned to lead troops to hide near the capital. If the eldest and fourth misses couldn’t make it back in time… he would attack the city first after the capital fell into chaos and take control of the capital.

He hadn’t expected Prince Liang to send Li Mingrui to lead troops to attack Shouyang. The second miss had the Yuanping army at her disposal and had already begun attacking the capital.

Ji Tingyu made a decisive decision to lead troops to reinforce Shouyang first.

Upon entering Shouyang City, Ji Tingyu didn’t dare delay and headed straight for the Bai residence.

When Dong Shi heard that Ji Tingyu had led troops to resolve Shouyang’s crisis, her eyes immediately moistened. So… her daughter had already made arrangements for Shouyang before leaving.

She never expected that the one who led troops to resolve Shouyang’s crisis would be Ji Tingyu… the one who had once risked his life for the Bai family’s innocence, who had nearly been silently killed by his mother-in-law, the Grand Princess.

Dong Shi calmed the bitter emotions in her heart, stood up, and together with the Third Madam Li Shi, Fourth Madam Wang Shi, and Fifth Madam Qi Shi of the Bai family, went to greet Ji Tingyu at the Bai residence entrance.

Ji Tingyu came with Bai Jinzhao and Bai Jinhua on horseback under the gaze of civilians along the street.

Seeing the four Bai family madams standing at the Bai residence entrance, Ji Tingyu reined in his horse. Before his horse stopped, he leaped down, knelt on one knee, supporting his knee with his remaining hand, and declared loudly: “Ji Tingyu greets the four madams!”

“Get up quickly!” Dong Shi hurried down the steps and helped Ji Tingyu up, her eyes reddening. “These past two years, when you weren’t home, I thought the Bai family had hurt your heart, and you didn’t want to return to the Bai family anymore!”

Ji Tingyu pressed his lips together and said: “Ji Tingyu is a Bai family army soldier and Bai family servant for one day, and will be a Bai family army soldier and Bai family servant for all lifetimes!”

Fifth Madam Qi Shi, hearing these words, wiped her tears with her handkerchief.

Third Madam also quickly said, “Let Ji Tingyu come in and rest first!”

“No need, four madams!” Ji Tingyu said with a composed expression. “Second Miss is now leading the Yuanping army to besiege the capital. Ji Tingyu must hurry there to help Second Miss! This time, besides the eight thousand Shouyang troops that Eldest Miss left at Niujiao Mountain, another two thousand Niujiao Mountain soldiers will all remain in Shouyang. The four madams can rest assured!”

Dong Shi nodded: “Thank you for your hard work! Go!”

“Great Aunt!” Bai Jinzhao stepped forward, knelt on one knee, and clasped her fists: “Bai Jinzhao requests permission to accompany Ji Tingyu to Shouyang to assist Second Sister!”

“Fifth Miss should stay in Shouyang as a precaution!” Ji Tingyu said to Bai Jinzhao. “Shouyang is of utmost importance. All the Bai family madams and Bai clan members are in Shouyang. If we’re not careful, they could be seized and used as leverage to threaten Eldest Miss! Fifth Miss guarding Shouyang… would be the greatest help to Eldest Miss and Second Miss!”

Bai Jinzhao frowned tightly. After a long while, she still stood up and nodded to Ji Tingyu: “Please tell Second Sister that we will guard Shouyang and let Second Sister not worry!”

In the eighteenth year of Xuanjia, on the seventh day of the fifth month, the Yuanping army led by Bai Jinxiu and the Bai family army led by Ji Tingyu broke through the capital’s city gates. Prince Liang sent people to retrieve the crown prince, crown princess, and little imperial grandson from the imperial prison, took the crown prince hostage, and led the Imperial Guards to retreat and defend the imperial palace.

In just one month, the power dynamic between Prince Liang and Bai Jinxiu had completely reversed. Now, Prince Liang defended the imperial city while Bai Jinxiu’s troops were at the gates.

After Prince Liang was invited into the imperial palace by Xie Yuchang and Fu Ruoxi on the twenty-third day of the fourth month, he followed Li Mingrui’s suggestion to guard against Princess Zhenguo, who was loyal to the crown prince, leading troops back to the capital and discovering that Prince Liang’s ascension was a foregone conclusion, yet still insisting on supporting the crown prince’s ascension and causing rebellion.

Therefore, after Prince Liang took control of the imperial palace, he ordered the palace to stockpile grain to guard against unexpected events. He also accepted Li Mao’s suggestion to send people with the emperor’s golden tokens and command arrows to Pingyang City, ordering the Pingyang army to quickly return to defend the capital.

Bai Jinxiu followed Prince Liang’s example, using the safety of the emperor, crown prince, and little imperial grandson as an excuse to besiege the city without attacking. She ordered the evacuation of civilians from the capital to avoid innocent suffering.

Bai Jinxiu wanted to plan for her eldest sister’s future replacement of the Lin imperial power, so she had to wait… wait until Prince Liang made a move against the crown prince and emperor, and wait until her eldest sister returned.

Prince Liang also held his troops without moving. His purpose was also to delay time, waiting for the Pingyang army to reach the capital and become his surprise troops.