Hearing these words, the soldiers erupted in an uproar. After the initial shock subsided, their eyes filled with doubt, clearly not believing Liu Hongji’s words. After a moment of silence, someone stepped forward: “These hailstones fell from the sky – what connection do they have with the Turks? Can they really summon wind and rain?”

“Summoning wind and rain is naturally impossible, but sending some carved hailstones into the city is hardly a difficult task.” While Liu Hongji spoke, the Turkic siege had not stopped, and they charged even more frantically, surging upward as if they didn’t value their lives. In contrast, the city’s defenders had wavered in their resolve due to Liu Hongji’s words, momentarily allowing many enemies to charge up, leaving Du Ruhui and the others struggling to cope. Fortunately, another wave of soldiers rushed up, barely managing to handle the situation, but Liu Hongji’s side could no longer be protected as comprehensively as before, with gaps appearing from time to time. Fortunately, Liu Hongji was not a weak scholar who couldn’t lift a finger – he picked up a blade from the ground and engaged several Turkic soldiers in combat.

At this moment, one of the Turkic soldiers suddenly revealed a sinister smile and pulled out a fire starter. Ever since the explosion incident, Liu Hongji was most sensitive to fire starters. Upon seeing this, he immediately sensed trouble. Sure enough, the man tore open his clothes, revealing a black sphere tied inside, identical to the one seen before.

He absolutely could not let him detonate it!

This was the only thought in Liu Hongji’s mind. With morale already so low, if another explosion occurred, Chang’an might truly be impossible to defend!

In the blink of an eye, Liu Hongji exerted all his strength to force back the several Turkic soldiers who were clinging to him relentlessly, and rushed desperately toward that Turkic soldier, trying to seize the fire starter from his hands. Unfortunately, even so, and despite paying the price of several wounds, he was still a step too late. He could only watch helplessly as the fuse was lit, then shortened bit by bit, while the mad dog-like laughter of the Turkic soldier filled his ears.

Liu Hongji’s eyes turned fierce. While others fled frantically outward, he did the opposite, charging toward that soldier with lightning speed and embracing him tightly. To others, this seemed like seeking death!

But… Liu Hongji had no choice!

“Ah!” He roared fiercely, forcibly lifting the Turkic soldier who was more robust than himself, and leaped down from the city wall. He intended to throw that soldier off the wall before the explosion, which would indeed prevent casualties and damage to morale, but he himself would pay with his life.

Tragic! But he had no alternative!

Unfortunately, he had no chance to reveal the secret of the hailstones, though he had previously mentioned it to Li Shimin, who should continue to tell all soldiers the truth about the hailstones.

But… they must be extremely careful of gunpowder – this thing was truly too dangerous. He wondered how much more the Turks possessed. Hopefully… not too much!

Just when Liu Hongji thought he was doomed, his ankle was grasped by a strong, powerful hand, stopping his fall. But that Turkic soldier was not so fortunate – he fell like a stone. Before he hit the ground, there was a tremendous “boom!” He didn’t even have time to cry out before becoming a ball of fire. However, because of the distance, it only blasted a shallow crater in the city wall.

The one who caught Liu Hongji was none other than Du Ruhui, who gritted his teeth tightly, veins bulging on his forehead. Though he had caught Liu Hongji in time, he himself had nearly leaned out half his body – it was extremely dangerous.

The soldiers snapped back to their senses and quickly helped Du Ruhui pull Liu Hongji up. When his feet touched the tower again, Liu Hongji’s legs went weak and he nearly collapsed – this was truly an escape from death!

Over there, Jieli Khan saw this scene and heavily slapped his horse’s head. The horse, startled, suddenly reared up, nearly throwing Jieli Khan off.

“Great Khan, be careful!” Zhishisili, standing nearby, reacted fastest, grabbing the reins and steadying the horse.

Jieli Khan’s face was iron-blue as he said: “I didn’t expect him to escape even that – what incredible luck!” Without waiting for Zhishisili to speak, he continued: “Go, send out the last man as well!”

Zhishisili hesitated: “They’re already on guard now. Even if we send him out, it will be difficult to succeed. Perhaps… we should wait until later?”

Jieli Khan was currently in a rage, wishing he could kill Liu Hongji immediately. How could he listen to such advice? He said coldly: “Didn’t you hear this Khan’s words?”

Seeing his mind was made up, Zhishisili had no choice but to relay the order. The result was as he predicted – the man hadn’t even climbed onto the wall before falling down. Although other soldiers took fire balls and tried to climb up, the city’s soldiers had already been fooled twice and wouldn’t be fooled again. Even without Du Ruhui and the others’ commands, they fought desperately to attack downward, not letting them charge up. Later, Du Ruhui even thought to wrap cloth around arrowheads, light them, and shoot downward. After several attempts, they successfully detonated the last gunpowder, causing Jieli Khan’s plan to fail completely!

After controlling the gate’s offensive, Liu Hongji once again said: “Fellow soldiers, you saw how the Turks attacked frantically like madmen. Why? Because they fear I will reveal the truth, fear their plan will be exposed!”

“The hailstones you saw did not fall from heaven at all, but were shot in by Turkic soldiers using strong crossbows and other weapons from outside the city walls. This explains why most of the carved hailstones were in the area near the city wall, and why there were so many carved hailstones on the wall itself.”

The Turks had suddenly intensified their attacks, with each assault concentrated on Liu Hongji, already making the soldiers feel something was wrong. Now hearing him speak thus, they were even more shocked. Except for those responsible for defense, the remaining soldiers all whispered among themselves, speculating whether Liu Hongji’s words were true or false.

“Soldiers who don’t believe can go ask those who first discovered these hailstones – their answers will be identical to mine.” After a brief pause, he continued: “Many of you have followed His Majesty through life and death on battlefields. Search your hearts and ask – has His Majesty ever done anything immoral or wronged you in any way?”

Those soldiers carefully recalled, and their trust in Liu Hongji’s words increased somewhat, but someone still said: “What if it truly is Heaven’s punishment? What then?”

Another echoed: “The Great Emperor previously said he didn’t want to pass the throne to His Majesty, meaning His Majesty’s imperial position was indeed obtained improperly!”

Liu Hongji had anticipated someone would ask this, and said solemnly: “Li Jiancheng colluded with the Turks for personal gain, endangering the Great Tang; the Great Emperor, for personal feelings, ignored right and wrong in favoring Li Jiancheng’s lies, disregarding the Great Tang’s safety. Do you truly believe that having either of them as emperor would be better for the Great Tang and for you?”