The young girl tilted her head slightly, her eyes glinting with cunning.
"We can use this guy to get some intelligence in return."
"How?"
The mother and son discussed for a long time before they dispersed.
As the sun rose, the head of the He family wondered why there was no more sound in the city.
"What's going on? Why haven't the spies we sent come back with any news?"
"Don't be impatient, Master. Maybe they were delayed on the way."
"I hope so."
Just then, they heard an urgent call not far away.
Then, two people appeared, supporting each other.
"Master! Come and take a look quickly. The spy is seriously injured and is almost dying."
The head of the He family stepped forward grimly.
"What on earth happened? He left in good condition. It was just a small task. Why did he come back so badly injured?"
The other shadow guard had no choice but to tell the head of the He family that the spy had been captured.
After hearing this, he was furious.
"Ji Huang! Shi Muyuan! I'll never rest until I get my revenge on you!"
He had only brought a few spies with him this time, and now one of them was lost. His eyes turned red with anger as he stared helplessly at the city gate not far away.
The shadow guard was used to such situations. Just as he was about to take the spy away, the head of the He family stopped him.
"Wait! Did he bring anything back?"
The head of the He family looked seriously at the shadow guard, making the shadow guard feel at a loss.
"I don't know, sir."
Seeing this, the head of the He family knew he couldn't count on them. So he searched the spy's body himself.
Soon, he felt something round and long and took it out with a look of surprise on his face.
Just as he thought it was the intelligence he wanted, what he took out shocked him.
Before he could react, a sharp sound cut through the sky and shot up into the air. Even fireworks exploded in mid - air.
Looking at the fireworks, the head of the He family immediately understood what was going on.
His face changed. He quickly ordered the people behind him.
"Quick! Let's go! Our position has been exposed. If we stay here any longer, we'll be caught."
But just as he turned around, the thing he feared most happened.
Suddenly, a large number of fireworks and howls came from all around. Before he could come up with a countermeasure, the people around him fell one by one. Finally, his guards fought desperately to protect him.
"Something's wrong, Master! Our first position has been exposed. We need to find another place to take root for the time being. We can't stay here any longer."
"Stop talking nonsense! Do you think I don't know? I'm not blind. Hurry up and get me out of here."
Hearing the sounds of fighting from all around, he was scared and stepped back. But due to the noisy fireworks and the rising fog, he and his men couldn't tell the direction. They could only grope their way out of the encirclement.
Finally, when his legs were about to give out, he managed to break through the encirclement.
The first thing he did after breaking out was to check how many people were left behind.
When he saw the scattered soldiers behind him, he almost fainted.
He had brought 200,000 soldiers, but unexpectedly, just a small encirclement had cost the lives of tens of thousands of them.
Moreover, he still didn't know what was going on.
At this point, the head of the He family could only take the remaining people to find another place to rest temporarily and count the exact number of people.
When he learned the exact number from the soldiers, he spat out a mouthful of blood.
The shadow guard panicked and quickly protected him. He rushed to call the military doctor.
"Master, are you okay?"
The head of the He family's face was visibly pale. He opened his mouth and gritted his teeth.
"It must be that woman Shi Muyuan who is behind all this. Otherwise, none of this would have happened."
"Don't worry, Master. Even though we've lost a lot of people, we can still fight against the soldiers in the city. There are at most a few thousand of them. Even if we have to break in by force, we can take this city gate. Then, once you capture the Empress Dowager, you can do whatever you want with her."
With the shadow guard's consolation, the head of the He family finally calmed down.
Yes, he still had so many people under his command. He didn't believe he couldn't take Yijin City.
He couldn't wait. He must make that woman beg for mercy in front of him. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to vent his anger.
"Immediately! Lead the troops to attack the city gate! Make sure they all die!"
The shadow guard was still worried about his health.
"Master, why don't you wait until you're better? Your health is the most important thing now."
However, the head of the He family was only focused on attacking the city and his hatred. He wouldn't listen to anyone now. He just quickly asked the military doctor to prescribe some medicine and then personally led the army towards the city gate.
The people behind had no choice but to follow.
The group marched forward in great numbers and soon arrived at the city gate.
Shi Muyuan had already received the news. She knew that the head of the He family wouldn't swallow this humiliation. So she and Ji Huang led the troops to wait on the city wall.
When she saw the vast number of people below, her eyes narrowed slightly.
She had been too soft - hearted. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many people left. She should have disabled them all earlier, although she wasn't sure if it would have worked.
When their eyes met, the head of the He family sat on his horse and said arrogantly, "The Empress Dowager and the Crown Prince probably knew you would lose today, so you've been waiting here early. That's good. It saves me a lot of trouble."
Shi Muyuan curled her lips. She wasn't affected by his words at all.
"What? The head of the He family may not be good at leading troops, but his mouth is quite sharp. I'm impressed."
"You! Fine, I won't argue with you. But listen, all the people in the city. This Empress Dowager on the city wall is actually a cruel woman. She killed my two daughters. I'm acting on behalf of Heaven to avenge my daughters today. Do you still want to stop the will of Heaven? But if you hand over the Empress Dowager, I can forgive you. After all, I never intended to make things difficult for you common people."
Humph, the head of the He family really knew how to play on people's minds. Since he had no other reasons, he kept bringing up his dead daughters.
The siege itself had already troubled the people. Now that there was a seemingly good option, some people were bound to waver.
Fortunately, Shi Muyuan had already thought of a way to deal with this.
"The head of the He family has killed so many lives. If you hadn't used your daughters as bargaining chips for usurpation, they wouldn't have died so miserably. As the Empress Dowager, I must get rid of the traitors around the king. The people won't be deceived by your words."