“You want me to abandon the city?” Facing Li Jiancheng’s words, Xue Wanche lowered his eyes and said, “The current city has become a burden to Your Highness. Forcing ourselves to defend here will only continue to lose troops and generals. It would be better to retreat to Chang’an first, and after reorganizing, then deal with Xue Ju.”

“No!” Li Jiancheng rejected his suggestion without thinking. Pacifying Xue Ju was his best opportunity to prove himself. Now asking him to flee back to Chang’an with his tail between his legs was absolutely impossible!

“Your Highness…” Xue Wanche was about to persuade further when Li Jiancheng said, “You need not say more. I will absolutely not retreat to Chang’an like this.”

Seeing he still wouldn’t accept his suggestion, Xue Wanche had to fall silent and withdraw. At this time, another soldier came to report, “Report to Crown Prince! Xue Ju is leading his great army toward us!”

“He comes quickly!” Li Jiancheng gritted his teeth and slammed the table, saying, “To the city wall!”

When they reached the city wall, some Tang troops who had fled back from the battlefield had also gathered below the city. A defending general came to request permission to open the city gates to accept the defeated Tang troops returning.

Li Jiancheng was about to agree when suddenly the deafening sound of iron cavalry reached his ears. Looking up, he saw Xue Ju leading several hundred thousand troops charging toward the city. Once the drawbridge was lowered and the city gates opened, before they could close them, Xue Ju would take the opportunity to enter the city. The consequences were unimaginable!

“Do not open!” These three words were equivalent to sentencing the Tang troops below the city to death. Though Xue Wanche and the defending general felt reluctant, they understood this was the correct choice – they could not sacrifice the greater for the lesser!

“Shoot arrows! Don’t let the enemy army approach the moat!” Following Li Jiancheng’s words, countless arrows shot densely toward Xue Ju’s army, successfully withstanding their attack.

However, like Liu Wenjing’s three thousand cavalry, no matter how many arrows there were, they would eventually be exhausted. When the bright moon rose to mid-sky, the arrows stopped – not because they were used up, but because they dared not use more. After all, their standoff with Xue Ju would not end this night.

Without the threat of arrows, Xue Ju’s first action was to capture those several thousand Tang soldiers and threaten Li Jiancheng to lower the drawbridge and open the city gates, or else he would kill these Tang troops.

Li Jiancheng stared at Xue Ju outside the city and said through gritted teeth, “This Xue Ju is truly despicable!”

Before his words finished, Xue Ju’s rough voice had already carried over: “Li Jiancheng, think it over well – I don’t have much patience.” He called himself the Qin Emperor, hence used the imperial “I.”

Xue Wanche said urgently, “Your Highness, these city gates absolutely cannot be opened!”

“I know.” Li Jiancheng stared fixedly at Xue Ju who had forced him into this dilemma. Not opening the city gates would burden him with the reputation of refusing to save lives and being cold-blooded and heartless. But if he saved them, the city couldn’t be defended, making the consequences even more severe. It was truly hateful!

“Not opening them? Good!” Xue Ju’s face, full of fierce flesh, bore a chilling sinister smile.

Xue Ju kept his word, but his killing was not simply beheading – it was even more cruel torture. He set up several simple high platforms and lit countless torches, all so the Tang troops in the city could see clearly. He bound those Tang soldiers on the platforms, then cut out tongues, sliced off noses, gouged out eyes, and so on.

Even more terrifying, he found a mortar for pounding rice from somewhere, put people inside, then used iron hammers to pound them like rice, one strike at a time, pounding people to death alive. Blood flowed everywhere, and when one died, another was replaced. Later, the entire platform overflowed with fresh blood. Even from such a distance, one could almost smell the heavy stench of blood.

Watching familiar compatriots die before their eyes one by one, all after suffering extreme torture and dying miserably, the defending troops all watched with red eyes, gripping their weapons tightly, wishing they could rush out to kill Xue Ju and rescue their compatriots.

Xue Wanche shouted from the city wall, “Xue Ju! When you were in Fufeng Prefecture, you killed many of our Great Tang’s surrendered troops. Today you still haven’t changed your evil habits, killing like hemp. Aren’t you afraid of heavenly retribution?”

“Heavenly way? Retribution?” Xue Ju looked up and laughed loudly. After laughing, he spat fiercely on the ground and said, “That’s all dog shit! Since they’ve fallen into my hands, their lives belong to me. If I want them to live, they live; if I want them to die, they die. It’s not anyone’s place to point fingers!” After a pause, he added, “If you don’t want them to die, immediately lower the drawbridge and open the city gates. Then I’ll release them immediately. Otherwise… every Tang soldier here must die!”

While he spoke, another soldier was pounded to death alive, blood overflowing from the mortar, continuously seeping into the platform already stained red with blood.

“You!” Xue Wanche was so angry he didn’t know what to say. Such a barbaric and cruel person was completely unreasonable.

To Xue Ju, Xue Wanche was just an insignificant minor figure. Speaking these few words with him was already giving great face. As for whether the other party was angry or not – ha, he couldn’t even be bothered to look.

“Li Jiancheng, these soldiers are all dying because of you. If you don’t open the city gates soon, more will die, and you… will be the culprit behind all this, the chief criminal!”

Li Jiancheng said with a grim expression, “Xue Ju, don’t think that doing this will force me to open the city gates. If you want this city, come and take it with real weapons. What kind of hero does this make you?”

“Whether I’m a hero or not isn’t for you, Li Jiancheng, to decide.” Saying this, Xue Ju said impatiently, “In any case, either you open the city gates or continue watching them die.”

Xue Rengao said from the side, “Don’t worry, we will definitely proclaim to the world how this Crown Prince watched his soldiers die miserably while standing by with folded arms. I wonder what the world will say about you then.” He was Xue Ju’s son, with exactly the same temperament – both were killers who didn’t blink an eye.

Though Li Jiancheng was extremely angry at the father and son, he was helpless. He couldn’t help but regret not listening to Xue Wanche’s earlier advice to immediately withdraw troops back to Chang’an. But… Xue Ju had come so quickly that even if he wanted to retreat, there wouldn’t be enough time.

Seeing Xue Ju start killing again, Xue Wanche said, “Your Highness standing here serves no purpose. Why not return first and slowly discuss methods to deal with Xue Ju?”

Li Jiancheng also didn’t want to stay longer on the city wall, so he followed his words and came down from the wall. Once he left, Xue Ju found the killing somewhat boring. Moreover, after a day of campaigning, they were already exhausted both men and horses, so he stopped this killing activity and ordered soldiers to camp on the spot, waiting until tomorrow to force Li Jiancheng to open the city gates.

After Li Jiancheng returned, he paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back. Now Li Yuanji and others had fled in defeat to Chang’an, none of the eight generals had returned, leaving only Xue Wanche and a few others beside him. Meanwhile, Xue Ju’s great army besieged the city – the situation was truly very dire.