Yin Shishi stared darkly at the shields blocking Li Shimin and his companions – shields that were more than half a man’s height. At this distance, it would be impossible to shoot through these shields forged from refined iron.

After a long moment, he swallowed the mouthful of blood and said through gritted teeth, “Li Shimin, don’t be so smug. Your time to regret will come!” After saying this, he turned and left with a flourish of his sleeves, and the archers also withdrew after his departure.

Yunyi breathed a long sigh of relief. That had been truly dangerous. This Yin Shishi was not only selfish and self-serving, but also cunning and sinister, completely without principles.

“Are you alright? Were you frightened?” Li Shimin’s voice drew Yunyi’s thoughts back. She shook her head, “I’m fine. I just regret that I couldn’t persuade them to open the city gates, making you waste so much effort.”

“I know you did your best.” He glanced at the tightly closed city gates, his brow furrowing into a river character. “With that Yin Shishi there, it’s impossible to persuade them to open the gates. It seems this battle is unavoidable.”

Yunyi nodded heavily. After returning to the main camp, she went with Li Shimin to see Li Yuan and recounted the events in detail. Li Yuan struck the table heavily and said in a cold voice, “That Yin Shishi again!”

“If not for Yin Shishi’s constant obstruction, the gates of Chang’an City would have been opened long ago.” Chai Shao was both angry and said, “General, continuing to wait is meaningless. We should attack quickly, otherwise if Yin Shishi and his men find reinforcements, it will be greatly disadvantageous to us.” Though he and Li Yuan were father and son-in-law, in public they addressed each other as general.

Yun Dingxing, who had once led troops to lift the siege of Yanmen, was also present. He shared Chai Shao’s thinking, “General, we’ve already waited more than ten days and given them every courtesy, but Yin Shishi not only doesn’t appreciate it, he even wanted to harm Second Young Master. We absolutely cannot tolerate this any longer.”

Besides him, several other generals in the tent also spoke up, wanting to lead troops to attack Chang’an. Li Jiancheng said, “Father, your son understands your concerns, but continuing like this will likely be detrimental to our morale.”

After he spoke, Li Yuan finally opened his mouth, “I said before that we would wait seven more days. Today is the third day. If after seven days they still refuse to open the city gates, we will attack by force!”

Li Yuanji said unhappily, “Father, looking at Yin Shishi’s manner, he’s clearly determined to resist desperately. Never mind seven days – even seventy days or seven hundred days, he won’t open the gates. In your son’s opinion, we should follow elder brother’s suggestion and attack immediately. If we lose the initiative, it would be a great loss.”

Li Yuan naturally wanted to attack Chang’an as soon as possible, but his concerns were far more numerous than Li Yuanji’s and the others’. After weighing everything repeatedly, he still said, “My mind is made up. You need not say more!”

“Father…” Li Yuanji was about to speak again when Li Jiancheng said, “Since father has decided, we’ll do as father says.”

Li Yuanji respected no one except Li Jiancheng alone. Being spoken to this way by him, he could only glumly close his mouth and leave the commander’s tent with the others.

After separating from the others, he said to Li Jiancheng walking beside him, “Elder brother, why did you stop me just now? Don’t you want to capture Chang’an quickly?”

“Of course I do, but since father has spoken, we should follow his instructions.” After walking a few steps and seeing that Li Yuanji hadn’t followed, Li Jiancheng stopped and turned back in confusion, only to see Li Yuanji standing in place, looking at him with shock. He asked puzzledly, “What’s wrong?”

Li Yuanji came to his senses and walked to Li Jiancheng’s side, examining him carefully before saying, “Elder brother, I feel like you’ve been different since we came to Chang’an. Usually you would definitely try hard to persuade father to attack Chang’an, but now you… you…” He couldn’t think of the right words for a moment, then after a while clapped his hands, “Right! Like second brother!”

Li Jiancheng’s eyes flickered slightly as he walked and said, “What’s wrong with being like Shimin?”

“Heaven forbid!” Li Yuanji said urgently, “You know my personality has never meshed well with second brother’s. If elder brother becomes like second brother too, I’ll have no one to talk to in the future and will be suffocated to death.”

Li Jiancheng smiled slightly, “Alright, how could elder brother bear to let you suffocate to death? But…” He lowered his voice, “Sometimes we still need to accommodate father more and listen to father’s words, just like Shimin does.”

“Elder brother, you just said…” Li Yuanji was halfway through his sentence when Li Jiancheng raised his hand to interrupt him, “I know what you want to say, but doing this is best. If you trust me, do as I say, otherwise… just pretend I never said anything.”

“I certainly trust elder brother.” Saying this, Li Yuanji probed, “Elder brother, did something happen to you? Is it related to that time when second brother returned and you specifically went to see him?”

Li Jiancheng smiled, “When the time is right, I’ll tell you.”

Seeing he wouldn’t speak, Li Yuanji had to let the matter drop. Meanwhile, Yunyi was also walking slowly toward her tent accompanied by Li Shimin. When they were halfway there, she suddenly said, “How about… I try going to the city again tomorrow?”

“It’s useless. Yin Shishi won’t let Prince Dai open the city gates.” Seeing Yunyi’s delicate brows slightly furrow, he said, “Don’t worry. No matter what happens in the end, father won’t harm Prince Dai.”

Yunyi sighed lightly, “I know, but thinking about how countless soldiers will die once war begins makes me feel uncomfortable. These past two years, I’ve really seen too much death, and it frightens me just to think about it.”

Li Shimin was silent for a moment before saying, “Did people really resort to cannibalism in Jiangdu?”

Yunyi smiled bitterly, “Though I never saw it with my own eyes, I can tell you with certainty that it’s true. I remember the last time I left the palace, I saw those people boiling tree leaves and bark to fill their stomachs. Though I detest the Yuwen clan, at least they did one thing right – opening the granaries to relieve the people’s suffering.”

Li Shimin nodded, “Yang Guang is dead. Everything will get better.”

Yunyi gazed at the heavy evening sky, her eyes and brows heavy as she said, “I hope warfare will end soon throughout the realm, and I hope… I can reunite with mother soon.”

Li Shimin smoothed her unconsciously furrowed brow, “I’ve always had people watching Jiangdu. As soon as there’s any movement, they’ll report immediately. Don’t worry too much.”

“Mm.” After responding thus, Yunyi changed the subject, “You’ve also had a tiring day. Go back and rest quickly. Having Jixiang accompany me is enough.”

Li Shimin also remembered he had some matters to handle, so he nodded and departed. After watching him walk away, Yunyi was about to step forward when suddenly she felt a cramping pain in her right calf.