“Your Majesty, be careful!” Pang Xiao’s long arm shot out, and before Li Qitian could react, he grabbed hold of that arrow.

The spinning arrow came with tremendous force. Pang Xiao’s palm was torn and bleeding, but he didn’t relax in the slightest. His powerful arm strength caused that arrow to stop steadily three inches from Li Qitian’s nose, unable to advance another inch.

Li Qitian let out a long breath in fright.

Guards holding cowhide shields rushed forward urgently, quickly forming a human wall in front of Li Qitian to block the second wave of arrows.

Pang Xiao had already thrown away the arrow and turned to protect Qin Yining behind himself.

Though the scene here was chaotic, as long as it was before his eyes, Pang Xiao was confident he could protect Qin Yining.

Looking at the soldiers steadfastly defending the city wall and the Five Cities’ Military Commission forces boldly attacking below the wall, Pang Xiao’s heart was bleeding.

Having campaigned on battlefields for many years, Pang Xiao had always loved his soldiers like sons. This struggle for power – while Li Qitian felt retaking the imperial palace would be effortless, Pang Xiao’s heart ached for these innocent soldiers dying in vain.

They were all subjects of Great Zhou. All were fine young men. Yet because of the power struggle among those above, they lost their lives without understanding why.

If they were fighting the Tatars to defend their mountains and rivers, then they could be said to have died for a worthy cause.

But what was this now?

Losing their lives for nothing – they couldn’t be called heroes, and might even be branded as rebels. How wronged, how innocent!

Like Pang Xiao, Ji Zeyu’s expression was also extremely ugly.

Seeing Li Qitian’s face, which appeared increasingly spirited in his fury, he felt a wave of disgust in his heart.

Li Qitian had been saved by Pang Xiao. Though it was without real danger, when he calmed down and thought about it, he realized something. They had once campaigned and conquered the world together with Pang Xiao and Ji Zeyu. This emperor of his wasn’t the usual scholarly type – he was the founding emperor of Great Zhou Dynasty!

An emperor from horseback actually needed someone to save him?

In front of so many people, if he appeared any more cowardly, wouldn’t he lose all his dignity?

Thinking of this, Li Qitian strode forward, pushing aside the guards with shields blocking in front of him, exposing himself to everyone below the palace wall.

Seeing Li Qitian emerge, more arrows flew from Prince Li’s banner position.

Li Qitian mustered all his strength, dodging two by sidestepping left and right, then reaching out to catch one. His palm was torn, the pain making his face extremely ugly.

But the performance couldn’t stop – even if it hurt, he had to endure it!

Li Qitian angrily threw the arrow down below the palace wall, took a deep breath, and roared loudly, “My soldiers! What are you doing? Do you want to rebel!”

Li Qitian was dressed in bright yellow, his figure extremely conspicuous standing on the palace wall tower. Combined with his furious, full-throated roar, it stunned all the Five Cities’ Military Commission soldiers below.

Isn’t this the Emperor?

Has the Emperor been rescued?

Then why is Prince Li still attacking the city?

They were fighting to capture Tatar spies and protect the imperial family by retaking the imperial palace. But now the person they wanted to protect was standing right before them. The sovereign they were loyal to was on the palace wall!

The soldiers were all at a loss for the moment.

Everyone lost their fighting spirit, and some even threw their weapons to the ground.

Prince Li watched with fury that seemed to split his eyes. Having come this far, there was no turning back for him. If he couldn’t kill Li Qitian and retake the imperial city this time, what awaited him would probably be Li Qitian’s mad revenge!

Prince Li roared, “What are you all standing there for! That’s an imposter – he’s a Tatar spy! Kill him, retake the imperial palace, save the Empress Dowager, Empress, and the unborn dragon son – that’s the right thing to do! Everyone don’t be fooled by this fake!”

Prince Li was far from Li Qitian, so Li Qitian couldn’t hear his words completely, but he caught the general meaning. With a little guessing, he knew what Prince Li had shouted.

Li Qitian was so angry his chest hurt.

But he was the emperor, and in front of others he had to act as an emperor should, especially before so many soldiers! At this moment, he simply couldn’t engage in shrew-like street arguments, and could only say loudly, “Look carefully at who I am! If you persist in your delusion, you can only be judged as rebels!”

The Five Cities’ Military Commission forces looked left and right, no longer knowing whom they should believe.

Seeing the people below stop their attack, the defenders on the wall all breathed a sigh of relief.

Li Qitian felt more confident and was just about to speak to rally them when he suddenly saw a black ocean in the distance advancing orderly along the wide street. Those footsteps were uniform, approaching from far to near with thunderous sound. The dark armor on those people and the red tassels flying in the wind on their helmets all indicated their identity.

It was the Huben Army!

And judging by the footsteps, even the ground seemed to tremble along. The people standing high could see the Huben Army coming in endless waves – clearly the Huben Army entering the city numbered more than ten thousand.

“It’s the Marquis of Qingyang,” Pang Xiao said through gritted teeth, his eyes red with fury.

The Huben Army was trained by his own hands – it could be said that all the soldiers in it were his brothers. And the Marquis of Qingyang actually dared to drag all these people into this!

Seeing the Huben Army arrive, Prince Li immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

The Huben Army’s combat effectiveness was extremely fierce. Originally, the individual combat ability of frontier troops was not something these hothouse flowers of the Five Cities’ Military Commission could match. Now with these Huben Army soldiers of frontier origin arriving outside the palace gates, each one looked like a wild beast about to be released from its cage, ready to devour people in the blink of an eye.

The Marquis of Qingyang shouted loudly, “Everyone, retaking the imperial palace today and protecting the Empress Dowager, Empress, and dragon son will be a great achievement! Don’t listen to those Tatar spies’ smooth talk! Follow my orders – charge!”

“Yes!”

The uniform roar that shook even the palace walls came from nearly ten thousand mouths, extremely shocking to people’s hearts.

And looking down from above, one could see even more clearly that the Huben Army’s formations were orderly and rigorous. The soldiers’ spirit and energy compared to ordinary soldiers and Five Cities’ Military Commission forces was like the difference between heavenly soldiers and weak, disabled chickens.

A soldier’s duty is to follow orders.

With the Marquis of Qingyang’s military command, various units within the Huben Army methodically and orderly stepped forward to join the Five Cities’ Military Commission’s siege.

Now Li Qitian was somewhat panicked. He knew how strong the Huben Army that Pang Xiao had trained was – if those soldiers, each like little tigers, charged up, where would they have any chance of survival!

Li Qitian couldn’t care about anything else and leaned half his body out, shouting loudly, “All of you stop for me! If you advance further, it will be rebellion!”

Hearing this, the Marquis of Qingyang also shouted loudly, “Don’t listen to him! The people above are Tatar spies – follow this marshal’s military orders!”

With the Huben Army joining and about to begin attacking through the city gates, Pang Xiao and Ji Zeyu stepped forward shoulder to shoulder in perfect coordination, standing at the outermost edge of the palace wall.

Pang Xiao surveyed below and with sharp eyes spotted a familiar man, scolding loudly, “Sun Tieniu! What are you doing!”

On the ground, a tall young man with an honest face suddenly looked up upon hearing this, meeting Pang Xiao’s gaze directly.