Chapter 743

Suddenly, "Whoosh—"

"Whoosh whoosh—"

Suddenly, several sharp cries rang out from the distant sky.

Everyone looked up.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh—"

I saw several smoke trails rising from all around Jingcheng, bursting into puffs of colorful smoke.

Red, green, yellow… a riot of color, as if someone had flung a huge bowl of dyed ink across the sky.

"Wow!" Tuan Tuan's eyes went wide, "How beautiful! What is that?"

Zhang Wu'an gazed at the colored smoke and laughed loudly, "It's a signal arrow!"

"This was agreed upon long ago with the Second Young Master—whichever city gate is taken, we fire one, each color corresponding to a gate!"

"One, two, three, four, five…" Tuan Tuan counted on her fingers, her little face full of delight, "Uncle Zhang! So many! Does that mean all the gates are open?"

"Exactly!" Zhang Wu'an felt his blood surge to his head, "All nine gates are open! Our great army must have already entered the city!"

"Otherwise, relying on just one gate, you couldn't finish entering even in an hour!"

No one knows who first shouted, "All nine gates are open!"

Immediately after, the roar erupted like a flood, and everyone bellowed in unison, "All nine gates are open! The army enters the city!"

The sound waves rolled on, shaking the surrounding branches into a tremble.

But this shout was like a bucket of ice water dumped over Chen Wang's head.

He froze on his horse, head raised, staring fixedly at the distant smoke slowly dissipating, the bowstring in his hand having loosened at some point.

All nine gates open?

Xiao Yuanhang actually took all nine city gates—this fast?

Right, it's all because of those secret passages! They let the insiders get into Jingcheng!

The King of Qiuci himself said on the city wall that those secret passages were all the work of Princess Jiayou!

I will surely kill her!

He came to his senses, violently drew his bow to full, aiming at Zhang Wu'an's back, waiting for the moment Tuan Tuan would appear.

At that moment, Li Shen suddenly rose from sitting among the surrendered troops on the ground.

He brushed off the dust on his knees, adjusted his attire, walked up to Deputy Commander Zhang's horse, and cupped his fists, saying, "Deputy Commander Zhang, although the nine gates have been breached, you don't know that there are more than just this one military camp in Jingcheng."

Zhang Wu'an, however, laughed loudly, "You're mistaken—we already know."

Li Shen startled and turned pale, "You know?"

Zhang Wu'an rubbed Tuan Tuan's little head, "This is also thanks to the Princess (Commandery)!"

"She had already found your Jingcheng defense map and sent someone to deliver it to the Prince; otherwise I wouldn't have headed straight here upon entering the city."

Li Shen stared straight at Tuan Tuan, "Now I understand—no wonder we were utterly defeated. Princess (Commandery), you are truly omnipotent; I, the subordinate, admire you."

Tuan Tuan gleefully swayed her small body in Zhang Wu'an's embrace.

Upon hearing this, Chen Wang was nearly exploding with rage, his bow-drawing hand trembling slightly.

As it turns out, Xiao Yuanhang had long known about Jingcheng's defenses!

It's that Princess Jiayou again!

Li Shen's gaze was sincere: "If so, I am willing to follow the General to other camps to persuade the brothers there to surrender."

"We are both people of Lie State—why must we slaughter each other?"

"I still have some influence in the army; I can certainly lend Deputy Commander Zhang a hand!"

He paused, then said, "They, like me, are not truly hostile to the Imperial Court; they were merely deceived by Chen Wang and Prince Qing, following orders blindly."

Tuan Tuan blinked her big eyes at him, "Uncle Li, you're really nice!"

Li Shen was taken aback—Princess Jiayou actually called him "uncle"? How pleasant!

He hastily bowed respectfully, "Princess (Commandery), you overpraise me; I merely went with the flow, hoping to do what I can to lessen casualties among the troops."

Chen Wang's chest surged with turmoil—Li Shen! He's good? He's good for nothing!

He's served under me for years, knows everything! Yet he has the nerve to claim I deceived him?

Now he not only surrendered himself, but wants to go persuade others to surrender as well?

I am still alive!

Zhang Wu'an returned the salute with clasped fists, "Then thank you, General Li! No delay—let's go now! Which one first?"

Li Shen pondered, "This place is nearest to the Northern Main Camp, and that camp has the most troops stationed; I think going there first would be safest."

"Good!"

Northern Main Camp?

Chen Wang forcibly suppressed his fury, gritted his teeth, put away his bow and arrow, turned his horse's head: "Go! Rush swiftly to the Northern Main Camp!"

"We must get there before them! Absolutely cannot let Li Shen disturb the army's morale!"

"Yes!"

Everyone followed Chen Wang, turning and racing toward the Northern Main Camp.

Lu Qi jumped down from the roof, walked up to the horse, and looked at Tuan Tuan, "Miss, Deputy Commander Zhang still has to go elsewhere—do you still want to follow him to another camp?"

Tuan Tuan shook her head, "Uncle Lu, I want to go onto the city wall to find Third Brother, Third Elder Brother, and little Eleven! Can I go see them now?"

Lu Qi hesitated a moment, "Better not go. Miss, didn't Deputy Commander Zhang just say the fighting on the wall is fiercest, and we still don't know what the situation is like now."

"Let's wait until we're sure it's safe, then we can go, okay?"

"Or rather," Lu Qi paused, "let's go to Xuanwu Gate—Xiao Er isn't stationed there? Maybe we'll run into the Second Young Master."

Zhang Wu hastily chimed in, "Exactly! Princess (Commandery), you'd better not go onto the city wall yet."

When I came in, they were still fighting there!

Tuan Tuan tilted her little head: "All right, then let's go to Xuanwu Gate to find Second Uncle."

She spread her little arms, and Lu Qi lifted her out of Zhang Wu'an's embrace, habitually heaved her up, and with a tap of her toes she leapt onto the roof.

"Ay ay ay—" Zhang Wu'an shouted loudly, "Lu Brother! What are you doing?"

Lu Qi turned to look at him, bewildered: "Accompany the young lady to find Xiao Er!"

Zhang Wu'an laughed and cried: "Brother, the army has already entered the city, the streets are full of our people—why are you still getting on the roof? Can't you ride a horse?"

Lu Qi stared for a moment, then lowered his head to look at Tuan Tuan in his arms.

Tuan Tuan also lifted her little face to look at him.

The two locked eyes and burst out laughing together.

Yeah, no need to run on the roof anymore for fear of being seen.

"Ride a horse! Seventh Uncle!" Tuan Tuan clapped her little hands excitedly, "Let's run in the streets! Just like before!"

Lu Qi's heart warmed up. Yeah, Jingcheng has been retaken, and the young lady can finally run through the streets as before, no longer needing to hide.

He held Tuan Tuan tight, jumped to the ground, his voice a little hoarse: "All right! Seventh Uncle will take you horseback riding on the main street!"

Zhang Wu'an dismounted, shoved his reins into Lu Qi's hand, and patted the horse's neck: "Ride my horse! This horse is very steady, it won't startle the Princess."

Lu Qi didn't stand on ceremony, leapt onto the horse's back, and held Tuan Tuan steady in front of him.

Tuan Tuan waved at Zhang Wu'an: "Uncle Zhang, I'm off!"

Zhang Wu'an smiled and said, "Hold on tight, Princess!"

Tuan Tuan happily shouted, "Let's go, let's go! Giddyap!"