“Naturally not.” Yuwen Zhiji replied with composed confidence: “Long before coming here, I had already dispatched people to guard all the palace gates. Those people are like birds in a cage, they simply cannot escape!”

Upon hearing these words, Pei Qiantong’s expression changed as he said: “Yuwen Zhiji, immediately have your people withdraw!”

Yuwen Zhiji sneered coldly: “Pei Qiantong, you’ve gone mad and lost your senses, but I haven’t. Not one of them can even think of leaving. As for you… immediately come with me to see the Chancellor.” With that, he gave a signal to his left and right, and the guards immediately understood as they walked to Pei Qiantong’s front, “General Pei, please.”

Pei Qiantong paid them no heed, staring at Yuwen Zhiji as he said: “Do you know who just departed?”

“Naturally I know, it was Du Ruhui and Princess Jinyang among others.” Speaking thus, Yuwen Zhiji shook his head: “I truly don’t understand what benefits they gave you to make you help them like this.”

“Besides them, there was another person—Li Shimin.” The originally casual Yuwen Zhiji’s expression suddenly changed upon hearing those final three words, as he said incredulously: “What did you say?”

“Li Shimin.” When Pei Qiantong spoke this name again, Yuwen Zhiji finally confirmed he hadn’t misheard, “He should be attacking Chang’an with Li Yuan at this moment, how could he appear in Jiangdu, and be with you?”

“The one who appeared in Jiangdu, besides Li Shimin, also brought his fifty thousand troops.” With these words, Pei Qiantong recounted the entire sequence of events, then said: “I helped them rescue Princess Jinyang because I didn’t want to clash directly with Li Shimin. Doing so would surely cause us to lose troops and suffer great damage; even if we returned then, we would probably struggle to defend Luoyang City.”

Yuwen Zhiji said with a grave expression: “Is this truly so?”

“Would I joke about such matters? It’s absolutely true. I saw Li Shimin’s troops with my own eyes, covering the mountains and plains, their mighty presence shaking the heavens.” Speaking thus, he said earnestly: “Does Brother Yuwen think it’s worth crossing swords with those fifty thousand troops over merely Princess Jinyang?”

Cui Yongzhong said coldly: “We have over one hundred thousand troops, would we really fear his fifty thousand?”

Pei Qiantong snorted heavily: “Li Shimin possesses astonishing talent in commanding troops, Yanmen Pass and Mayi are excellent proof of this, and the fifty thousand he brought are all elite soldiers and strong generals. Fighting against them, we would be the ones at a disadvantage.” Speaking thus, he continued: “I know what you’re thinking; in fact, if it weren’t for Cui Ji’s personal grievance, imprisoning Princess Jinyang in the palace and relentlessly pressing Du Ruhui, determined to kill him, how would today’s disaster have been provoked? If the conflict ends here, then so be it, otherwise your Cui family will bear the greatest guilt!”

Cui Yongzhong said unwillingly: “Then what about the young master? Should we just let him die in vain?”

“In the twelfth year of the Daye era, Cui Ji murdered Young Master Zheng to scheme for the position of imperial son-in-law. Even back then, Cui Ji should have died. Allowing him to live until today was already Heaven’s extraordinary mercy, yet you still aren’t satisfied—truly insatiable greed.” These words weren’t spoken by Pei Qiantong, but by Yuwen Zhiji, and this statement was sufficient to clarify his position.

Pei Qiantong’s heart relaxed, and a smile appeared between his brows: “Brother Yuwen truly is someone who considers the bigger picture.”

Yuwen Zhiji cupped his hands: “I misunderstood Brother Pei earlier and spoke too harshly. Please don’t take offense, Brother Pei!”

Pei Qiantong laughed: “One cannot blame the ignorant, and it’s also my fault for not explaining clearly to Brother Yuwen beforehand.” After a pause, he said: “Since the misunderstanding has been resolved, please allow them to pass, Brother Yuwen.”

Yuwen Zhiji was startled, then slapped his forehead: “Right, right, right, look at my memory, I actually forgot the most important matter.” Speaking thus, he said to the guards beside him: “Pass this general’s order, immediately lift the restrictions, no one is to obstruct their departure.”

After the guards went to relay the order, Yuwen Zhiji remembered something: “By the way, the city gates are now closed, how will they leave the city?”

“Brother Yuwen needn’t worry, when entering the city, I already spoke with the gatekeeper of Longchong Gate, telling him to open the city gates through the night to let them out. The sooner we send away these honored guests, the sooner we can return to Guanzhong with peace of mind.”

Hearing this, Yuwen Zhiji nodded repeatedly: “Right, right, right, send them away early to settle matters early.”

Pei Qiantong said: “If Brother Yuwen has no objections, I’ll go to Longchong Gate now to have the gatekeeper open the gates.”

“Good.” Yuwen Zhiji agreed, then said: “In any case, I have nothing particular to do right now, so I’ll simply go with Brother Pei.” Speaking thus, he walked toward the palace gate together with Pei Qiantong. After walking for a while, he suddenly stopped and looked left and right: “Where did that Cui Yongzhong go?”

With his reminder, they indeed discovered that Cui Yongzhong, who had been there earlier, was nowhere to be seen. Just as they were puzzled, Pei Qiantong’s expression changed as he exclaimed: “This is bad, he must have returned to the Cui residence. If Master Cui learns his only son was killed, he definitely won’t let this matter rest!”

Yuwen Zhiji cursed angrily: “That damned fool, does he want us to go to war with Li Shimin to be happy?” Anger aside, the most urgent matter now was to send Yunyi and her party away before the Cui family could take action.

The two hurried to the palace gate, where under the cold moonlight, guards were confronting Li Shimin’s party in a standoff. Yuwen Zhiji strode over while shouting: “All of you stop! Stop!”

“General, these people want to leave the palace. Following your instructions, this subordinate blocked them. Among these people, besides Princess Jinyang, one person looks very much like Du Ruhui, whom we’re pursuing.” Before the guard finished speaking, Yuwen Zhiji waved his hand: “All of you withdraw, and go bring ten horses.”

The guard said in amazement: “General, you’re…”

Yuwen Zhiji glared at him: “Don’t ask questions, just do as this general commands.”

Seeing him speak thus, the guards dared not say more, sheathing their swords and going to the stables to bring horses. Their movements were swift, and in less than the time it takes to burn an incense stick, they had brought over ten horses.

“Come, we mount up.” With Li Shimin’s words, everyone found a horse to mount, including Ruyi and Jixiang, who knew this escape carried risks, but asking them to abandon Yunyi was absolutely impossible.

As for Pei Qiancheng, who had been waiting outside the palace, he had rushed over to help when he noticed commotion at the palace gate, and now also mounted a horse to gallop toward Longchong Gate with everyone.

As they prepared to leave, Yuwen Zhiji’s eyes moved as he called over a trusted subordinate to whisper a few words. After the subordinate nodded and left, he then spurred his horse to catch up with the group.

Pei Qiantong knew this was a race against the Cui family—whoever reached Longchong Gate first would be the winner. So he repeatedly urged his horse to go faster and faster, determined to send Yunyi and the others out of the city before the Cui family arrived. Once they left, no matter how unwilling the Cui family might be, they would be helpless. However, this would mean the previously arranged cooperation with the Cui family would fall through, and the latter would surely stir up trouble later. But no matter what, it was better than facing Li Shimin’s fifty thousand elite troops.