Yun Tianao was anxious to attack the city and hurriedly said, “They concentrated their forces at the south gate to guard against the elephant army coming, which is one of the reasons grandfather chose to attack the east gate!”

Yun Poxing still shook his head, his heart filled with unease: “But… It’s still too fast! The city gates opened without even any fighting… this is probably!”

Yun Tianao stared at the already open city gates, burning with anxiety, feeling that his grandfather had truly been frightened by Bai Qingyan.

He said: “If grandfather is afraid! I’ll lead men to charge in first! If there’s no danger, Grandfather can come in later! We can’t hesitate any longer!”

Hearing these words, Yun Lingzhi was about to scold Yun Tianao when he saw a Xiliang general galloping forward on horseback.

“General! Something has happened to Her Majesty!” The Xiliang general rode up quickly and, after saluting Yun Poxing, said: “General, the treacherous Great Zhou people went to Lai’an Mountain and are attacking our encampment, saying they want to capture Her Majesty alive!”

“Where is she?” Yun Poxing gripped the reins tightly and asked.

“The messenger was covered in blood and breathed his last right after delivering the news!” the Xiliang general said.

“Father!” Yun Lingzhi’s heart leaped. He glanced at the Pingyang City gates that could be considered within arm’s reach, afraid that Yun Poxing would turn around and abandon the city assault to go back and rescue the empress. “The city gates are already open. If we leave now, what about the Fire Cloud Army elite squads that entered the city?”

“But if we don’t go back, what about Her Majesty?!” Yun Tianao’s face went pale upon hearing that Li Tianjiao was in danger. “Grandfather!”

“At this moment, we can only burn our bridges and charge into the city. As long as we capture Bai Qingyan alive, why would we fear we couldn’t exchange her for our sovereign?” Yun Lingzhi said loudly.

“How can you say such a thing! That is our Xiliang’s sovereign, our empress! If our empress is captured! Xiliang is finished!” Yun Tianao clasped his hands and requested orders from Yun Poxing: “Grandfather, let me lead men back to rescue Her Majesty!”

Yun Poxing paid no attention to his son and grandson arguing noisily beside him. His mind was rapidly calculating, and after a long while, he raised his head, his gaze resolute: “Yun Lingzhi and Yun Tianao stay behind with half the forces to attack the city! I’ll take half the forces back to rescue Her Majesty!”

Yun Poxing looked at his son and grandson: “Just now our men entered the city so quickly and opened the gates, I felt something was suspicious. Bai Qingyan must be so arrogant as to think we, Xiliang, truly fear the Great Zhou and obediently went north of the Danshui River to face the elephant army. She wants to take this opportunity to capture Her Majesty to further control Xiliang! The city’s defenses must be empty!”

“The city gates are already open. I command you two, no matter what, you must capture Bai Qingyan alive! This concerns Xiliang’s future!” Yun Poxing declared loudly.

“Father, rest assured. If your son cannot capture Bai Qingyan alive, I will commit suicide in apology!” Yun Lingzhi’s eyes reddened, feeling that washing away Xiliang’s shame would happen today.

“Go! Avenge your elder brother!” Even now, Yun Poxing had not forgotten about his son’s head being severed by the Bai family army. He pulled on the reins and moved forward, raising his hand to grasp Yun Lingzhi’s shoulder: “But remember… on the battlefield, killing is killing, but you must maintain respect for our opponents. Don’t do things that humiliate opponents to vent anger! Though that boosted our morale, it equally made the other side burn bridges and fight to the death! Do you understand?!”

Yun Lingzhi buried his unwillingness and anger in his heart and responded: “I understand, Father! Father, rest assured and go rescue Her Majesty! Leave this place to me!”

After instructing his son, Yun Poxing was truly anxious about Li Tianjiao’s situation. He turned his horse around and led half the Fire Cloud Army toward Lai’an Mountain to rescue the sovereign.

Atop the city wall, Bai Qingyan, whose figure was completely hidden in the darkness, saw the Fire Cloud Army split in two—one route heading east toward Lai’an Mountain, the other charging toward the city. They moved quietly without making any war cries, appearing to want to catch Great Zhou off guard.

Shen Liangyu, standing beside Bai Qingyan, gripped the sword at his waist tightly. Perfect—once they entered, it would be like closing the door to beat the dog! He hoped everything was going smoothly on Cheng Yuanzhi’s side.

Yun Lingzhi had already planned to charge silently into the city, then have the main army press directly toward the prefect’s mansion to support the Fire Cloud Army that had entered the city first in capturing Bai Qingyan alive.

As the Fire Cloud Army followed Yun Lingzhi’s steps into the city, several small squads immediately separated from the formation and climbed the city walls from left and right to stand guard.

In the darkness, the Tiger Eagle Army held their breath in ambush, ready to strike, watching those Fire Cloud Army soldiers carrying bows and crossbows like staring at their prey.

After Yun Lingzhi entered the city, he slowed his pace, pulling the reins and moving slowly forward. He smelled the bloody scent in the cold air but didn’t see any corpses, already sensing something unusual.

But before he could figure out exactly what was unusual…

Pingyang City’s east gate suddenly closed.

Yun Lingzhi was about to have someone relay orders not to close the city gate when he heard an extremely brief scream from atop the city wall.

Immediately after, a Fire Cloud Army soldier on the city tower suddenly screamed: “General!”

Yun Lingzhi looked up to see that the Fire Cloud Army squad standing guard on the city wall had vanished completely.

Archers suddenly appeared on top of the city walls on both sides of the road and the multi-eaved, blue-tiled buildings. Without any warning and giving the Fire Cloud Army no time to react, they all released their arrows simultaneously.

“Protect the general!” Yun Tianao reacted extremely quickly, pulling Yun Lingzhi down from his horse. Shield bearers immediately stepped forward, their shields interlocking and combining to protect Yun Lingzhi and Yun Tianao completely.

The cavalry horses that had entered the city were struck by arrows and reared up neighing. Some went mad and galloped wildly toward the city gates. Seeing the gates were tightly closed, they galloped frantically in whatever direction might shelter them from the arrow rain, trampling to death countless unprepared Fire Cloud Army soldiers.

Countless sharp arrows struck the shields with a crackling sound like heavy rain, creating a bone-chilling atmosphere.

At this moment, Yun Lingzhi finally understood… they had fallen into a trap!

His father, Yun Poxing, ‘s initial instincts had been correct—the Fire Cloud Army had entered too easily, and the city gates had opened too quickly!

At this time, the Tiger Eagle Army occupied the high ground and used bows and crossbows to shoot down the Fire Cloud Army—it was the perfect choice.

Screams rose and fell throughout Pingyang City’s sky.

Wave after wave of arrows gave the Fire Cloud Army no chance to catch their breath.

“Charge up the city walls! Seize the high ground! Quickly!” Yun Lingzhi commanded loudly.

Bai Qingyan held her Sun-Shooting Bow and stood on the city wall with Shen Liangyu, her expression cold as she watched Yun Lingzhi hiding under the shield formation, ordering the Fire Cloud Army to forcibly seize the city walls and buildings.

She tilted her head slightly, her calm, deep gaze locked tightly on the shields protecting Yun Lingzhi and Yun Tianao, which had been shot full of arrows like hedgehogs, searching for an opening…

This was truly the Yun family’s style—hiding behind heavy shields, unwilling to show their heads.

However, the Fire Cloud Army, trained according to Tiger Eagle Battalion methods, could indeed be considered well-disciplined. They quickly organized heavy shields to protect their surroundings and used crossbow bolts to attack the Tiger Eagle Army standing on the high walls.