More than ten thousand broken, beaten soldiers followed Si Xiuyong into the city.

The baggage train came behind. As it passed through the gate tunnel, soldiers lifted satchel charges off the carts and quietly dropped them at the foot of the wall.

Once the army was inside, Sun Qu came down from the gate tower.

He waited until the gate had slowly swung shut, then came over with a smile. "Send the men back to camp. General Si, come with me to see King Wen."

Si Xiuyong nodded and looked at Yuan Long.

Meanwhile, the soldiers coming back from shutting the gate stared curiously at the satchel charges at the foot of the wall.

One of them asked, "What are these?"

Another shook his head. "No idea where they came from."

"Could General Si's men have dropped them?"

"Could be. Take one and ask General Sun what it is."

A soldier picked up a satchel charge and set off to ask Sun Qu.

At that moment, Sun Qu was about to take Si Xiuyong to see Leng Wenyan.

Then Yuan Long spoke up. "No rush. The Prince Regent's army should be here any minute."

Sun Qu's face darkened. He glanced at Yuan Long, then said to Si Xiuyong, "Are all your men this ignorant of their place, General Si? Who said he could speak here?"

Si Xiuyong looked at Yuan Long. "Well..."

Yuan Long laughed. "Easy, easy. We'll just wait here to welcome the Prince Regent... No need to go see Leng Wenyan."

Sun Qu flew into a rage. "Insolence! What gall! You dare speak King Wen's name outright?"

Yuan Long gave a cold laugh. "King Wen? The Great Xuan has plenty of princes. The Prince Regent, Prince Wu, Prince Xiang... As for any King Wen, never heard of him.

General Sun, is it? Don't be in such a hurry... Let me show you something nice."

Sun Qu snapped, "Show me what?"

Yuan Long pointed toward the gate tower, then quietly covered his ears.

Seeing him do it, the Ning'an Army soldiers covered their ears too.

Back in the baggage…