Li Jiancheng nodded forcefully and quickly strode down from the city tower. The soldiers didn’t know that Li Jiancheng was preparing to leave the city, thinking he was going to deploy troops.

This siege battle was extraordinarily brutal. Tang soldiers continuously fell from the city walls, and Luoyang defenders were constantly killed. Corpses piled up like mountains beneath the city. At this moment, human life became extremely worthless, like that of a dog or cat.

After a full day of fierce battle, both sides were exhausted to the extreme, relying only on the breath in their chests to hold on. Whichever side collapsed first would lose!

Li Yuanji’s current appearance was truly pitiful. Besides his arm, several more wounds had been added to his body. Fortunately, none were deep, so he could still hold on for now. However, as more and more soldiers fell, the defenders began to lose heart, no longer fighting desperately as before. Some even wanted to flee. When Li Yuanji discovered this, he chopped off one man’s head with a single blow, shouting sternly: “Anyone who dares to flee will be executed without mercy! If you want to live, repel the Tang army for me!”

Under his harsh words, the defending soldiers dared not flee again. But no matter how desperately they fought, they still couldn’t reverse the situation. Especially after the stones and crossbow bolts were exhausted, they lost even their last advantage, and more and more Tang soldiers climbed onto the city walls.

“Bang!” With this tremendous crash, huge cheers came from below. But this sound fell on Li Yuanji’s side like a death knell, because they knew clearly that it must be the Tang army cheering, and there was only one reason… they had broken through Luoyang’s city gate!

Once the city gate was breached, Luoyang had truly fallen. With their few tens of thousands of men, they simply couldn’t resist the Tang army. Even if they barely held out now, once Tang reinforcements arrived, they would surely lose!

With the city gate breached, the defenders’ morale plummeted. No matter how Li Yuanji shouted and roared, it had no effect. By midnight, the Tang army had almost completely controlled all of Luoyang, and even Li Yuanji had been captured.

The moment they stepped through the city gate, Liu Hongji and Du Ruhui both unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief. From the Qi River until now, nearly a month had passed, and thousands upon thousands of soldiers had paid with their lives. Fortunately, they had finally entered Luoyang, which could be considered an answer to the departed.

Liu Hongji said with emotion: “This time we really owe it all to Noble Consort, otherwise we’d still be wandering outside Luoyang’s walls right now, unable to find a way in!”

Du Ruhui nodded: “I hope Heaven will bless His Majesty to survive this ordeal!”

“Sir!” A soldier escorted someone over. “Li Yuanji has been brought!”

“Good, you may go.” When the two soldiers left after receiving Liu Hongji’s words, they deliberately pushed Li Yuanji, causing him to fall to the ground with his hands bound. The pull on his wounds made him grimace in pain.

Liu Hongji naturally saw that the soldiers acted deliberately, but said nothing. After all, Li Yuanji and his brother had killed so many Tang soldiers – no wonder they harbored resentment. In fact, if he hadn’t ordered that Li Yuanji’s life be spared, he would already be a corpse by now.

After struggling to stand up, Li Yuanji gritted his teeth: “Liu Hongji, you’re quite capable to have actually entered Luoyang!”

Liu Hongji said indifferently: “Luoyang is Tang territory. Even if temporarily seized by you, it will ultimately return to Tang. Long-term occupation of Luoyang is nothing but your wishful thinking!”

Li Yuanji snorted coldly: “If you hadn’t despicably used kites to carry explosives to the city tower and destroy our catapults and ballistas, you never could have entered the city.”

Du Ruhui, listening from the side, couldn’t stand it and scolded: “Speaking of despicable, who can match you? First poisoning the Qi River, then coating stones and arrows with plague poison, killing countless people!”

Li Yuanji sneered: “That’s what you brought upon yourselves. Who told you to insist on attacking Luoyang? You deserved it!”

Though they had expected Li Yuanji to show no remorse, they hadn’t expected him to be so arrogant and reckless even facing death – truly infuriating!

Du Ruhui barely suppressed his anger and stared at him: “You should know that having reached this point, you no longer have the resources to contend with us. Tell me, where did Li Jiancheng go?”

As soon as they controlled Luoyang, they immediately sent people to search the Ziwei Palace, but Li Jiancheng wasn’t there. In this situation, there were only two possibilities: either Li Jiancheng was hiding in some inconspicuous corner of Luoyang, or he had escaped through another city gate before Luoyang fell.

Li Yuanji stared at him for a moment, then sneered: “Why should I tell you?”

“For your own sake!” Liu Hongji took over: “As long as you tell me Li Jiancheng’s whereabouts, in return, we’ll plead for you before His Majesty and spare your life.”

“In that case, I should thank you.” Before Liu and Du could speak, he suddenly laughed. After a good while, he stopped laughing and said mockingly: “Are you sure your so-called Majesty will still be alive to hear these words?”

Hearing this, Du Ruhui’s face immediately turned iron-blue. He grabbed Li Yuanji’s collar and said coldly: “Speak nonsense again and I’ll kill you right now!” Though Luoyang had fallen, Li Shimin’s life or death remained unknown – this had become their greatest worry.

Facing his stern words, Li Yuanji sneered: “Kill me if you have the guts. If I so much as furrow my brow, I’m no hero!”

“You!” Du Ruhui was so angry he couldn’t speak, yet he couldn’t actually kill him. After all, he was Li Shimin’s own brother, and only Li Shimin had the right to decide his fate. Moreover, Li Jiancheng’s whereabouts were still unknown!

After persuading Du Ruhui to let go, Liu Hongji said calmly: “Don’t worry, His Majesty is blessed by Heaven. Your petty tricks can’t harm him at all.”

“Is that so?” Li Yuanji scoffed: “If that were true, why would Du here react so strongly? Big brother’s plague poison has no cure. By now… Li Shimin probably has only one breath left before death. Otherwise, why hasn’t he shown himself all this time?” Speaking thus, he sneered again: “That’s fine. Though we failed this time, having Li Shimin as company in death isn’t a loss!”

Du Ruhui clenched his fists tightly. If not for his remaining rationality, Li Yuanji would have died countless times already.

Liu Hongji stared at Li Yuanji for a moment, his eyes dark as still pond water: “You really think Li Jiancheng escaped?”

This sentence made Li Yuanji’s heart skip a beat, giving rise to an ominous premonition. Could it be that big brother had been captured?

As soon as this thought surfaced, he forcefully suppressed it. No, big brother had left Luoyang long ago, and with ten thousand soldiers as escort, there was absolutely no way Liu Hongji could have caught him. He was saying this just to bluff him. Yes, it must be so!

Thinking thus, his heart relaxed, and he said: “If you have the ability, go capture big brother. But if you want to pry anything from my mouth, I advise you to save your energy.”