"Big brother!" Xie Xun pushed past Feiying, Cui Lansong, and Xu Zhou, staggering to kneel beside Xie Zhang. His longsword fell to the ground, his face streaked with tears. It was a despair he’d never known before. "Don’t... big brother..."
He was the most skilled general in Yanyang at archery and horseback combat, yet he died pierced by countless arrows.
He dared not touch Xie Zhang. His body was riddled with arrows, and there was no chance of saving him. His brother had drawn enemy fire, only to be betrayed by the Crown Prince at Three Cross Street.
The Crown Prince narrowed his eyes, glancing towards Chen Mo and Lin Cheng. He said coldly, "Bring Feng Shu back!"
"Yes!" Chen Mo and Lin Cheng received the order and descended the stairs, leaving the Shadow Guards to protect the Crown Prince from the high tower.
The Iron Cavalry and the Forbidden Army clashed in a chaotic melee. Xie Zhang’s death had ignited the fury of the Northern Iron Cavalry, unleashing a terrifying force. Every man roared for vengeance for the Marquis and the Eldest Young Master. They fought recklessly, their bodies and iron armor forming a desperate shield against the oncoming Forbidden Army and Jinyi Guard. It had become a slaughterhouse. The Iron Cavalry, now fewer than two thousand strong, had already lost over half their number, yet they fought to the death to protect Xie Xun.
Feng Shu’s face was pallid, hollow, and dazed. She clutched Xie Zhang’s head tightly. Her bloodless lips trembled, but she could not utter a single word, and her eyes seemed drained of tears.
Blank, unresponsive, her body shuddered uncontrollably from the physiological agony. To her, the slaughter and death around her no longer held meaning. Her mind was empty. When Lin Cheng and Chen Mo dragged her back, her body seemed to react in an almost primal way, struggling violently, clutching Xie Zhang’s corpse with a death grip. No one could separate them.
"To share a quilt in life, to share a grave in death!"
Two second-rank generals were hacked to death in the chaos. Cui Lansong and Xu Zhou were also injured and battered. Xu Zhou turned back and roared, "Young Marquis, pull yourself together! Are you going to let the Eldest Young Master die unavenged? Stand up!"
The Iron Cavalry, as if ignited by something within, shouted in unison, "Stand up!"
Their tragic cry drowned out the thunder, tore through the clouds, pierced the rain and mist. Deafening, despairing, and filled with sorrowful rage, their voices called out: "Young Marquis, stand up, move forward, survive!"
"Don’t touch me, get away..." Feng Shu’s voice was fractured and hoarse as she struggled desperately, refusing to take even a step away from Xie Zhang. Lin Cheng, afraid of hurting her, did not dare use brute force.
He could see it clearly now. This future first daughter-in-law of the Marquis Mansion would surely hold an exalted position one day. The Crown Prince would not let her go.
Suddenly, Xie Xun swept up the fallen longsword from the ground and swung it at Lin Cheng, who was holding Feng Shu. Lin Cheng couldn’t dodge in time and was slashed on his arm by the blade, fresh blood pouring out. Xie Xun grabbed Feng Shu’s wrist. "Sister-in-law, come with me!"
Feng Shu lowered her head to look at Xie Zhang’s rain-drenched, disheveled face, and her grief tore her apart from within. "Zhixu, take him away!"
Even if it was only his lifeless body, she could not leave him in the Capital City. The Yuwen Family were madmen—they would go so far as to desecrate his corpse out of spite. "Don’t let him remain here."
"Understood!" How could Xie Xun bear to let his brother’s body lie cold in the rain, to be trampled upon and humiliated? Yet, the Jinyi Guard and Forbidden Army surged towards them like a tidal wave. Even with their blood and flesh, the Northern Iron Cavalry couldn’t pierce through the wall of death to open a path.
High above, the Crown Prince watched coldly as the Forbidden Army and Jinyi Guard surrounded and slaughtered the Northern Iron Cavalry. If Xie Xun were also killed, the bloodline of the Marquis Mansion would be severed. Even if Xie Jue, with his unrivaled strategies, remained, it wouldn’t matter. He bore the blood of Sannan—this alone disqualified him from inheriting the Iron Cavalry. The tens of thousands of troops in Ningzhou would have no choice but to submit.
The Iron Cavalry, gradually devoured by the Forbidden Army and Jinyi Guard, became little more than blood and bone, standing as a shield before their comrades.
Horses screamed. Blades and spears met foes. They broke out, only to be killed, stood again, and then tried to break out once more. The corpses and blood of their comrades strewed the ground, as if attempting to pave a futile path to Ningzhou.
Feiying, Xu Zhou, and Cui Lansong, all heavily wounded, gazed in despair at the pitch-black wave of enemies crashing towards them.
Were the five thousand Iron Cavalry and their master really destined to be annihilated in the Capital City, the heart of the empire’s prosperity?
"Young Marquis, we have arrived!"
Several thousand members of the Kyoto Capital Guard, under the leadership of Lin Xiao and Zhang Boxin, charged through the rain. Their maple-red uniforms burned like wildfire against the pitch-black night, breaking through the blockade of the Forbidden Army and Jinyi Guard.
Lin Xiao had recently been imprisoned in his family’s underground dungeon. Only today, when his household guards were stretched thin, had he managed to escape. Avoiding the battlefield between the Forbidden Army and Iron Cavalry, he headed straight for the Kyoto Guard, bringing with him the explosive revelation of the Crown Prince’s regicide and usurpation. The Kyoto Guard, furious to begin with over the injustice done to Marquis Zhenbei Mansion, was pushed to the edge by Lin Xiao’s news, igniting their rage. Zhang Boxi, who had been struggling to keep the elites of the noble families in check, could no longer hold them back as they rose up in resistance.
Of the ten thousand Kyoto Guard, six thousand were willing to follow Lin Xiao and Zhang Boxin to the rescue. Zhou Liyu led three thousand soldiers to the North City Gate, while Lin Xiao and Zhang Boxin marched three thousand towards Three Cross Street.
Xie Xun had never expected the Kyoto Guard to involve themselves, nor had he anticipated so many noble families’ sons risking their lives to save them. Were they not afraid their entire clans would be executed for treason?