Chapter 55: Coming Full Circle, the Xuanwu Gate!

Back then, when he knew the Emperor was going to use him as a blade, this scoundrel wasn't afraid of getting blood on his hands; what he feared was the Emperor letting go of him. Therefore... he simply killed Hao Chujun and Xue Zhen, creating a tremendous uproar across the court and the entire country, yet everyone would only assume it was the Emperor's command.

In the end, had the Emperor killed him, it would have seemed too base, easily becoming a laughingstock to others. Thus, for the sake of reputation, the Emperor could only drop the matter for the time being.

Yet who would have thought... through a chain of events that grew increasingly out of hand, it actually led him step by step to where he is today. He is a capable child.

The Empress turned around, sizing up Shangguan Wan'er, and muttered to herself:

"Yet you always told me this scoundrel has the temperament of a wolf, and indeed, you were right."

Dozens of large candles were lit within the bedchamber. Even in the dead of night, every corner of the palace remained brightly illuminated, yet the brighter the candlelight, the darker and more shadowed the corners appeared.

"I have heard that, many, many years ago, even wolves could be tamed into dogs."

Shangguan Wan'er kept her head lowered, not knowing how to reply, before feeling a chill on her chin as she was uncontrollably forced to lift her head, compelled to look into the Empress's face.

"Wan'er..."

Shangguan Wan'er seemed frightened, her bright eyes veiled with a layer of mist, and she responded timidly:

"This maid is here."

"Are you very ugly?"

"Ah... ah?"

Shangguan Wan'er was momentarily stunned. The Empress's hand supporting her chin slowly tightened, pinching Shangguan Wan'er's delicate, pointed chin, causing the latter to involuntarily gasp in pain.

"Did I ask the wrong question?"

The Empress leaned in closer, asking softly: "Then... is he very ugly?"

"This maid... this maid only had dealings with him because of Her Majesty's commands. Whenever I see that face of his, I feel... intense revulsion."

The Empress released her grip. Shangguan Wan'er's chin throbbed with pain, but she dared not rub it, immediately dropping to her knees before her.

Looking down at her from above, the Empress suddenly smiled faintly:

"In this world, there are actually no matters difficult to see through. A beautiful woman and a handsome man, gathered together at night—it would be strange if nothing happened between them. You relay news from within the palace for him, but how can you know that the news you hear from him is entirely true?"

Shangguan Wan'er struck her head heavily against the floor, murmuring: "This maid has not... Her Majesty bestowed the grace of survival upon this maid and her mother long ago, and this maid keeps it engraved in her heart, never daring to betray Her Majesty..."

The Empress gave a light scoff and gently nudged her with her foot.

"Get up. You have served me for so long; how could I possibly bear to lay a hand on you?"

Shangguan Wan'er dared not stand, remaining prostrated, her frail body trembling slightly beneath layers of clothing.

"When dawn breaks, take some people to the Eastern Palace and demand Li Jingxuan, seize him, and deliver him to him. Beating Li Jingxuan once right before his eyes will be quite enough."

Shangguan Wan'er raised her head in a daze, looking at the Empress, who smiled lightly:

"He is merely a child throwing a tantrum; how great of a disaster could he possibly cause? Stroke his fur the right way, and fame and fortune are right before his eyes. There is no hurdle that cannot be overcome. When the time comes, convey my intentions to him."

Is she still trying to persuade them to reconcile...? Shangguan Wan'er's heart was a tangle of complex emotions as she lowered her head and acknowledged the command:

"Wan'er will remember."

"After tonight, my title might well need to be changed."

From Empress, what title would be good to change to?

...

Wu An carried two tallies, respectively bestowed by the Emperor and the Empress. Furthermore, the Empress had made extensive arrangements for this night, including ensuring that Wu An's army reached its designated location to facilitate her completion of the final sweep.

Therefore, when Wu An displayed his tallies along the way, even if the Embroidered Uniform Guards and Imperial Guards guarding the palace gates did not immediately grant passage, inside and outside the city gates, internal agents would swiftly appear to provide assistance.

The Xing'an Gate, connecting the Eastern Palace and the Western Inner Park, swung wide open before Wu An.

"Something is amiss."

Heichi Changzhi slowly remarked: "Even if I am not of Tang descent, I know that the Empress's influence is not truly that vast."

If she had already infiltrated every unit of the Imperial Guards within the palace, it meant her power was far too great to necessitate cultivating a little ingrate like Wu An who could easily slip out of her control.

"Behind the Empress is the Emperor."

Wu An reached out to stroke his warhorse's mane and replied: "I have always suspected that behind every single one of these events lies the Emperor's tacit consent."

"Yet why would he move against the Crown Prince?"

Heichi Changzhi asked thoughtfully.

Since they had reached this point, there was no longer any need for concealment; they could discuss the matter openly and frankly.

The Crown Prince had served as regent three times, and the power dynamics between father and son had waxed and waned. If one were to say the Emperor was unwilling to witness this scene, it would actually make a certain kind of sense.

Wu An pondered for a moment, then shook his head.

"However, it is also possible the Emperor simply relinquished some power merely to slightly suppress the Crown Prince, while the Empress seized the opportunity to strike the Crown Prince down entirely."

"In that case, unless we force the palace tonight... compel the Emperor to abdicate in favor of the Crown Prince, making him the sovereign so that we can leverage the merit of supporting the new ruler to escape the Empress's control—if we are lucky, and the Crown Prince keeps a clear head, upon ascending the throne he will reclaim all authority from his mother's hands."

Saying this, Heichi Changzhi could not help revealing a self-deprecating smile, knowing full well he was indulging in idle daydreams.

The palace corridors wound back and forth like ribbons; anyone unfamiliar with the terrain here would easily lose their way. Thus, before departing, the Crown Prince had repeatedly reminded Wu An of the objective of this trip.

Since Li Jingxuan was in the palace, finding him was only a matter of time, and others would not fight to the death to protect him, but the Emperor was another matter entirely.

"Before coming here, Shangguan Wan'er already told me where the Emperor would sleep tonight. We can simply go straight there when the time comes, and Li Jingxuan might well be there too."

"Hah, forget it... In truth, whatever we do tonight leads to a dead end."

Heichi Changzhi sighed. The condition he had just mentioned could indeed allow them to survive and subsequently rise to great prominence, but relying on just the two of them, how could such a feat ever be accomplished?

"Commander!"

Liang Xin galloped back from the vanguard and shouted loudly: "There are Right Yu林 Guard deployments ahead!"

During the period when Wu An first entered Chang'an, the soldiers of the Hundred Riders Division had been meticulously selected from the Left and Right Yu林 Guards. Though numbering little more than a hundred, every single one of them was an impeccable elite.

As for the hundred-odd Hexi soldiers Li Jingxuan had brought back from Hexi, they were likewise ferocious warriors of the military, filled with stalwart veterans who excelled at breaching enemy formations.

By comparison, the more than three hundred men hailing from the Eastern Palace, though considered well-trained, were far inferior in standard.

In ancient romanticized tales, people loved to describe grand decisive battles involving hundreds of thousands of troops, yet on a real battlefield, many instances amounted to no more than the charge and slaughter of a thousand or several hundred men.

The Tang military valued quality over quantity. Five hundred armored troops of equivalent caliber dispatched to the Hexi border would be sufficient to coerce a massive tribe numbering in the tens of thousands into surrender.

Decades had passed, and Zhenguan had long since become two words murmured by old men, yet the frontier armies of the Great Tang had never truly stepped down from their peak; it was merely that the Tang generals and commanders holding aloft the banners had slowly... suffered a generational fracture.

At least, they were no longer as numerous as a galaxy of stars like at the founding of the dynasty. Their numbers were pitifully scarce, and the truly capable generals would not be left behind to keep watch at the palace gates.

Western Inner Park.

Within the Yu林 Guard encampment.

What was originally a royal garden now brazenly housed a military encampment, appearing as though a city wall had risen out of nowhere, blocking the path of the Thousand Riders.

Right now, both Wu An and Heichi Changzhi could see that the brightly lit camp gates were in utter chaos. People kept dismounting or galloping away, while inside, soldiers could be vaguely seen forming ranks.

"It's fallen into chaos inside; Li Jingxuan must be in there!"

Heichi Changzhi immediately shouted: "If the Empress has ascertained that the Eastern Palace is completely under her control, then the garrison troops in the Western Inner Park would not lower their guard. The only explanation now is that after fleeing the Eastern Palace, Li Jingxuan ran straight here!"

If Li Jingxuan explained the situation to the garrison commander inside that camp, it meant the element of surprise for Wu An's vanguard force would be severely blunted. From then on, every step forward would be met with interception by massive numbers of palace guards.

"A surprise raid on the camp with five hundred men—we still have a direct chance to breach it!" Heichi Changzhi reined in his mount. Behind him, squads of soldiers halted their advance, catching sight of the distant camp standing tall in the distance.

Wu An drew his sabre and looked at Heichi Changzhi.

"Then let's breach the camp first and capture the traitor!"

He whirled his horse around and roared toward the troops behind him:

"After tonight, I, on behalf of the Empress, guarantee a reward of one string of cash for every rebel killed! Whoever captures Li Jingxuan shall be heavily rewarded, and regardless of merit or fault afterwards, everyone shall be promoted by one rank!"

...

"Dispatch troops! Send out the troops!"

Li Jingxuan hammered heavily on the table, showing a rare loss of composure as he roared at the military commander of the Imperial Guards before him, who was already wearing a look of displeasure: "The Empress has ordered that not a single soldier or horse shall cross the palace gates tonight! If you refuse to obey—"

"Is Lord Li teaching this general how to do his job?"

The Imperial Guard commander sneered and slowly said: "Rest assured, the banner of the Yu林 Guards is planted right here. In this world, no one dares to charge the camp of the Yu林 Guards!"

Li Jingxuan took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his emotions, and began: "I pledge on behalf of the Empress—if you dispatch troops immediately, your rank will be raised by one tomorrow, and you shall be rewarded..."

Before he could finish his sentence, a chorus of screams and the clamor of slaughter erupted outside.

"Whoosh!"

An arrow tore through the air, piercing the felt tent and driving into the table with a dull thud, its feathers still vibrating slightly.

Before the Imperial Guard commander could react, Li Jingxuan let out a cry, lifted a corner of the felt tent, and scrambled out on all fours like a dog.

They're here...

They've come...

And they're catching up again!

Li Jingxuan stumbled through the darkness, relying on the distant firelight to barely make out the path beneath his feet.

"Hmph... I'll head straight to the Xuanwu Gate now; I refuse to believe you can catch up."

Li Jingxuan had no time to ponder what tomorrow would bring; he figured that even if the garrison in the Western Inner Park collapsed, there were still the Imperial Bridge, the Eastern Inner Park, and garrisons elsewhere that would rapidly converge to encircle the enemy.

The palace guards were endless, and every rebel killed was one less.

That reckless brute's isolated force would soon be surrounded and annihilated.

At this thought, Li Jingxuan continued running forward, panting heavily.

Inside the tent, just as the Imperial Guard commander stood up, a blade tip lifted the tent curtain, revealing the figure of a youth in black armor.

"You... what kind of people are you?"

"Where is the Emperor? We were ordered to escort the Emperor, but were attacked by rebels along the way..." Wu An placed his blade against the man's neck and asked: "Where is the Emperor?"

"You... I... This humble subordinate doesn't know."

"Then, where is Li Jingxuan?"

"He just ran out; I don't know where he went either."

The blade resting against his neck withdrew slightly. Holding his sabre in one hand, Wu An gestured with his eyes:

"Draw your blade."

"Ah?"

"Hurry up."

The Imperial Guard commander was already terrified out of his wits. His hand instinctively reached for his waist, and the blade spanning his throat instantly sliced open his windpipe.

"Ambushed by rebels... executed."

The tent curtain lifted, and Liang Xin and Zhang Wu, clad in Eastern Palace armor, rushed in one after the other. Wu An glanced back at them and instructed: "Take all the horses from the Yu林 Guard camp."

Standing outside the tent was Heichi Changzhi. Upon seeing Wu An, he immediately reported: "Someone confessed under interrogation, saying that before curfew, they saw the Emperor's carriage heading toward the direction of Taiye Pool."

Why would the Emperor go swimming in the middle of the night?

"Even if it's not Taiye Pool, it should be somewhere around that area, and now we have horses..."

Heichi Changzhi urged urgently: "Our forces are too few. Entering the palace now has already alerted everywhere. If we push forward by force, we will be intercepted by increasing numbers of Imperial Guards. Therefore, our movements must not only be fast, but we must also find a way to increase our troop strength."

"Fall back and join forces with the Crown Prince?"

"No, we continue heading north!"

Heichi Changzhi slammed both palms onto Wu An's shoulders, his palms staining with the blood on the latter's armor.

He said loudly:

"There are also assets of yours at the northernmost Xuanwu Gate. As long as we fake a suppression of the rebellion and borrow the Crown Prince's name to mobilize troops, we can pull together at least one contingent of Imperial Guards. Once everywhere falls into chaos, orders within the palace won't be transmitted effectively, and by drumming up even more troops to assault the palace gates, our chances of success will be much greater."

Stir this muddy water completely to a froth!

"Heh..."

Wu An suddenly felt like laughing. According to the original plan, he should have moved south from the north of the Xuanwu Gate to attempt an assault on the gate, but now, after twists and turns, it had become assaulting the Xuanwu Gate from within the palace.

The number of horses in the Yu林 Guard camp was considerable, and coupled with the cavalry already present in the army, they managed to piece together over two hundred riders. Wu An ordered the soldiers originally belonging to the Eastern Palace to remain behind to guard the camp and prisoners while awaiting the Crown Prince's reinforcements, and he leaped onto his horse.

"Pass down the order: abandon all heavy baggage and prisoners, and head north immediately for the Xuanwu Gate!"

Heichi Changzhi was about to spur his horse forward when Wu An suddenly called out to him.

"Brother, actually... I think there is one more method that can achieve all our objectives."

Heichi Changzhi instinctively asked: "What method?"

Wu An stared into his face, speaking in a voice audible only to the two of them, uttering two quiet words:

"Regicide."