Chapter 87

Victory was secured, and Li Er's face finally relaxed. Not a single person in the tunnel below the city wall was still standing; they had all fallen. The Xuanjia Guard, after much effort, finally broke through the city gates. The main reason was that the six princes who had been blocking the gate were now lying on the ground, so they only needed to break the door bolts, without having to counter the push from the soldiers of the six princes.

Like a tide, the Xuanjia Guard surged in after breaking the city gates, only to see countless bodies and warhorses lying on the ground.

"What happened?" Gao Shilian, who had been assigned to the outer perimeter and had not participated in the entire battle, was shocked at the sight of the bodies on the ground: "All dead?" He was extremely shocked, thinking how fierce this battle must have been: "Prince Qin! Wuji!" Gao Shilian called out. He was the uncle of the Changsun siblings. Although his own children had some friction with these two siblings during the years of warfare, he still deeply cared for his niece and nephew. Therefore, the Changsun siblings, while not fond of their cousins, still respected their uncle very much.

"Uncle!" Changsun stood beside Li Er and did not go down, so he did not fall like his brother. He said, "Cover your nose and mouth, quickly extinguish the smoking hay, don't leave any sparks, and don't let it continue to smoke!" Changsun reminded.

"Quick, do as the princess commands!" Gao Shilian followed the advice, ordered his men, tore off a corner of his clothes, covered his mouth, and headed towards the stairs leading to the city tower. The Xuanjia Guard quickly got to work, fetching water from a nearby ditch to douse the smoking hay and quickly remove it.

Gao Shilian came to the stairs and saw that no one, including Wei Chi Gong, Cheng Yaojin, Qin Qiong, and his own nephew, had escaped. He hurriedly went to check.

"Fortunately, no injuries! But what exactly happened?" Gao Shilian asked in a muffled voice.

"Ugh..." Changsun Wuji cursed inwardly, not knowing what had been thrown from the city wall. How could it be so powerful? They had only smelled a burnt odor and a medicinal scent before becoming completely paralyzed. Now, he couldn't even speak.

"What is this medicine? I feel a bit weak!" Gao Shilian also began to show signs of being affected and quickly climbed the stairs to the city wall, where he breathed in some fresh air to recover.

In the tunnel below the city tower, the Xuanjia Guard used wet hemp cloth to cover their noses and mouths and began to clean up the battlefield. Bodies were carried away, and the living were found and either carried away or tied up and thrown to the side.

"That's the Crown Prince!" A Xuanjia Guard shouted, having caught a big fish. The surrounding crowd looked at him with envy, admiring his good luck.

On the city tower, the Tiance Mansion generals who had collapsed at the stairs were carried up. Several military doctors were examining them. They lay on the ground, their bodies covered in blood, feeling no pain from the alcohol cleaning their wounds, as the doctors treated them like dead fish. The civil officials who had been affected by the drug were much cleaner, including Chang He, who lay among them.

"Kuan, what was the hay that General Chang He lit?" Li Er asked Li Kuan, who had given a signal to Chang He before the action. Li Er had seen it clearly, and he knew that Chang He was not fully aware of what they had done. Now, Li Kuan was the one who knew the most about the situation.

"Father, this thing has been around for a long time. I just used what others had already created!" Li Kuan replied, "This is actually a medicine used by the divine doctor Hua Tuo during the Three Kingdoms period. However, I found that when it is burned, the smoke has the same effect."

"Is it Ma Fei San?" Li Er, with his extensive knowledge, recognized the famous anesthetic used by Hua Tuo.

"Exactly, that's it!" Li Kuan nodded, "Hua Tuo was the head of the medical family during the Three Kingdoms period, so he passed down the *Qing Nang Jing*. However, after that, no one inherited the medical tradition, so no one used these magical medical techniques and medicines again. This time, it was Mr. Sun Simiao who studied and restored the formula for Ma Fei San, so I was able to gather the necessary herbs!" Li Kuan could have said that the *Qing Nang Jing* was something he had obtained, but he didn't want to reveal that to Li Er. He also needed an excuse for the origin of this legendary lost medical book, so he fabricated a story about the medical family.

"Is that so?" Li Er was skeptical. According to logic, a special drug like Ma Fei San should have been specifically recorded, not scattered and forgotten. Moreover, how could it be that the family didn't study it and had to rely on others? It didn't make sense. However, he himself had kept the *Qing Nang Jing* for a few days without looking at it, even though he was busy with other matters. This explanation, though weak, was plausible because when someone is fully focused on one area, they wouldn't care about other things. The scientists must have stored the medical book and then focused on their own work.

Time passed, and the effects of Ma Fei San, though powerful, did not last long, about half an hour.

Cheng Yaojin and the others gradually recovered from the effects, struggling to get up from the ground. The old generals sat shoulder to shoulder, watching the Xuanjia Guard below the city wall busily cleaning up the bodies and flesh, their eyes red.

This battle had cost the lives of four to five hundred Xuanjia Guard, the largest reduction in their ranks since their establishment in Wude 5. The generals, who led these troops, felt deep pain every time they saw such a scene. These were brave men, born and raised by their parents, with families and children waiting for them to return victorious, riding high on their horses, proudly accepting the cheers of the people, and pointing to their sons: "That's my boy!"

As generals, they inevitably faced such life and death, and were repeatedly struck by the pain of losing their brothers-in-arms. But as soldiers, such a fate was their destiny, a mix of the greatest helplessness and honor in every general's heart.

"Brothers, your spirits are not far away. Old Cheng will send those dogs down to join you, so you can have your revenge!" Cheng Yaojin suddenly jumped up, grabbed his spear, and headed towards the city wall.

"Zhijie, what are you doing?" Qin Qiong quickly stopped him, knowing that if Cheng Yaojin's temper flared, he might do something rash, like killing all the captives to honor the fallen brothers.

"Second Brother! I'm going to kill those dogs. Since the Xuanjia Guard was formed, we've never lost so many brothers at once! I can't swallow this!" Cheng Yaojin turned his back, not daring to look back. The tough general had tears on his face, realizing that the brothers he had fought with were now gone. Even the battle-hardened general could not hold back his tears.

"Zhijie, don't talk nonsense!" Qin Qiong understood Cheng Yaojin's feelings, but he was also in pain.

"Second Brother! This isn't a war to conquer the world. Now that the world is at peace, these brothers didn't have to die! It's those dogs below who caused their deaths, it's them... ah!" Cheng Yaojin shouted, not crying for the deaths of these men. If they had died in a real battle, he would have sent them off with a smile, for it was the honor of a soldier. But this was not a war against external enemies; it was a fratricidal struggle. Dying here was not worth it. Each Xuanjia Guard was a top-notch man, carefully selected. Li Er had led hundreds of thousands of soldiers over the years, and he had selected three thousand Xuanjia Guard.

"I know all of this, but do we have the right to execute these captives? We should let Prince Qin decide!" Qin Qiong said.

"Right, Prince Qin, let Prince Qin execute them all!" Cheng Yaojin turned around, wiped the tears from his face, and walked towards Li Er.

But just as he reached Li Er, he heard Li Er asking Li Kuan, "Since Kuan has such a drug that can resolve this matter without bloodshed, why did you use it only at the end? If you had used it at the beginning, the Xuanjia Guard wouldn't have died!"

This question hit Cheng Yaojin's pain point. He hadn't thought about it before, but now he realized that the victory was due to the strange substance that had been dropped from the city wall, which had paralyzed everyone and allowed them to wait for reinforcements.

So Cheng Yaojin's temper flared, "Exactly, why did Second Son let us fight to the death? Is it fun to see people die? Why didn't you use it earlier? Why?"

Cheng Yaojin lost control, no longer caring about rank or status. He only knew that his brothers had died. As the commander of the cavalry in the Tiance Mansion, he was the direct superior of the Xuanjia Guard, the most important part of the cavalry. He had the deepest bond with them, so he was the most grief-stricken and the most likely to lose control.

"About this..." Li Kuan was speechless, not knowing how to answer. Could he tell Li Er that he wanted Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji to die directly? That was impossible. It was better to be known than to be seen!

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