“Everyone scatter!” Almost at the same moment, Liu Hongji and Du Ruhui shouted together, both pulling Li Shimin as they frantically ran down from the city tower. This incident took long to describe but actually happened in just a few blinks of an eye. They hadn’t run far when a huge explosion sounded behind them, followed by a blast wave that rushed from behind, throwing them into the air before they crashed heavily to the ground. Looking back, the area behind had become a sea of fire. Not only those few Turkic soldiers, but even the Tang soldiers had been engulfed in the flames, and they could still hear their screams and wails from within.

The nearby soldiers were all stunned, staring blankly at that sea of fire, never expecting it would suddenly become like this. By the time they came to their senses and searched everywhere for water to fight the fire, it was already too late. That entire area was nothing but fire, and they could no longer hear any screams. When they finally managed to extinguish the fire, the soldiers who had been alive moments before had all become charred corpses—impossible to tell which were Tang soldiers and which were Turkic.

From the moment the explosion began, Du Ruhui’s ears had been ringing continuously, unable to hear other sounds. Only now did he recover and urgently said to Li Shimin beside him, “Your Majesty, how are you? Are you hurt?”

Li Shimin brushed away the dirt on his face and shook his head, “I’m fine. How are you all?”

“I’m fine.” Liu Hongji looked at those charred corpses with lingering fear, “These men must be Turkic death warriors. When they realized they couldn’t reach the city gates, they ignited the gunpowder on their bodies. I’m afraid that Turkic soldier wasn’t the only one carrying gunpowder. Fortunately, the situation was chaotic at the time, so they probably didn’t recognize Your Majesty immediately, otherwise the consequences would have been unthinkable.”

Du Ruhui had the same thought and nodded, “That was truly dangerous just now. One step later and it would have been perilous. I really didn’t expect the Turkics to use such self-destructive tactics. It’s truly impossible to guard against.”

“For the Turkics, this is their last chance. If they don’t capture Chang’an now, they’ll face attack from both sides and certain defeat. So no matter how despicable the tactics, they’ll use them. What I’m most worried about now is…” Liu Hongji didn’t continue, only looked worriedly at those soldiers who hadn’t yet recovered.

Both Li Shimin and Du Ruhui understood his meaning. Yes, the carved hail plus this unexpected explosion had indeed severely damaged morale. If this continued, the Turkics might truly break into Chang’an.

The battle on the city tower continued, but this time the situation was even more unfavorable for the Tang side. The soldiers not only had low morale but were also frightened by the explosion. They were filled with fear toward those Turkic soldiers who kept rushing up one after another. Before long, another wave of Turkic soldiers had rushed down below. Although they were killed before reaching the city gates and weren’t carrying gunpowder, Li Shimin understood that the situation was worse than imagined. Chang’an… was in grave danger!

In contrast to Li Shimin, Jieli Khan was overjoyed. Although the Turkic side had already suffered over a thousand casualties this morning, the results achieved were equally gratifying. Especially after that explosion, he imagined all the Chang’an soldiers were worrying about when the explosion would sound again, or even… happen to themselves.

In fact, the remaining gunpowder in his possession was only enough to support two more similar explosions, no more. And these were what he had sent people to snatch overnight from civilian residences dozens of li away. It had been just a random thought, but unexpectedly there really was a fireworks workshop there. However, there wasn’t much gunpowder there—even taking it all only yielded this amount. Otherwise, if the quantity had been sufficient, he could have blasted a hole in the city wall with gunpowder alone, without needing such trouble.

However, this incident also made Jieli Khan realize the enormous utility of gunpowder. It seemed he would really need to stockpile gunpowder properly in the future. But transporting this stuff was a major problem—one careless moment and it could explode during transport, instead injuring his own people. He’d need to think of a good solution when the time came.

Jieli Khan glanced at the sky. It was just reaching the hour of Mao now. At this rate, he was confident he could break into Chang’an before the Tang reinforcements arrived.

The grand undertaking that his two elder brothers had never achieved until their deaths would be realized in his hands. The Turkics would also become the rulers of this land. Excellent! Truly excellent!

The attacks came wave after wave. Although soldiers were constantly being transferred up to the city tower to resist, the situation was getting worse and worse. As for Liu Hongji, he had already gone to investigate the hail matter.

After killing another wave of Turkic soldiers who had broken into the city, Du Ruhui could no longer contain himself and said to Zhangsun Wuji, who was covered in blood, “How much longer until reinforcements arrive?”

Zhangsun Wuji wiped the blood splattered on his face and said gravely, “At the earliest, after noon, maybe even later.”

“Noon…” Du Ruhui gritted his teeth, “Still three hours. We must hold on no matter what.” Saying this, he turned to Li Shimin, “Your Majesty, I would like to personally go to the city wall to command.”

Li Shimin also knew this was a critical moment. Chunming Gate absolutely could not fall. He nodded, “Go, be careful.”

The battle at Chunming Gate had entered a white-hot stage. One side desperately wanted to break in, while the other side kept blocking them, but their morale was much lower than yesterday.

After once again repelling the Turkic assault, Du Ruhui forcefully swung his steel blade and shouted sternly, “What’s wrong with all of you being so listless? Have you forgotten your identities? Do you want to hand over Chang’an to these Turkic foreigners?”

The soldiers were scolded into silence. After killing a Turkic soldier who had just climbed up with one stroke, Du Ruhui shouted again, “You are all battle-hardened warriors, yet now you’re frightened into this state by mere gunpowder. What kind of behavior is this?!”

Those soldiers who weren’t guarding the city wall looked at each other, and one of the bolder ones stepped forward, “It’s not that we’re not brave, but even Heaven refuses to bless the Great Tang.”

Du Ruhui said coldly, “What ‘Heaven refuses to bless’? That’s complete nonsense. Just because of those hailstones?”

That person said quietly, “If not for that, why would hail fall in October, and with… those words?” After a pause, he said in an even quieter voice, “Perhaps… Your Majesty should return the throne to… to the Great Emperor.”

Before he finished speaking, a blood-stained steel blade was already at his throat, and he heard Du Ruhui’s ice-cold voice beside his ear, “If I hear this again, you can go queue up at the King of Hell’s place!” At this point, he glanced at the others and said coldly, “That goes for all of you!”

Although those soldiers didn’t dare speak, Du Ruhui understood they hadn’t given up these thoughts. But in the current situation, he couldn’t really kill them, otherwise the other soldiers would certainly become even more resistant.

He hoped Sir Liu could quickly find the spies. With this thought, Du Ruhui barely held on at the city tower, hoping the reinforcements would arrive quickly.