Nine dragons fight for the throne, I don't want to sit on this throne

"Shen Congwen is such a loser! Three thousand elite soldiers, occupying the advantageous position, waiting for the enemy to tire out, yet... he didn't even hurt a hair on Chu Ning's head?"

"What use is he? Why doesn't he just die!!"

She was so angry that her chest heaved violently, her eyes were wide open, burning with raging rage and a kind of madness that her plan had completely failed.

All her calculations and hopes were shattered at this moment with the captain's report!

Chu Ning is not dead, and the Chu army has entered the city. She knows better than anyone what this means!

Chang'an City...is really finished!

At this moment, Liu Xiang, who had been huddled in the corner like a frightened bird, was frightened by his mother's sudden rage and the bad news and trembled all over.

His face was as pale as paper, completely devoid of blood. Looking at his furious mother, he mustered up the greatest courage of his life and timidly asked in a voice as thin as a mosquito and with a tearful tone:

"Mother... Queen Mother... Now... Now the Chu army has entered the city, Commander Shen... Commander Shen can no longer stop them."

"Should we...should we...find a way...to break out?"

He almost whispered the word "breakout," filled with endless fear and a desire to survive.

However, these two words sounded like the most vicious mockery to Dugu Jia, who was in rage and despair!

She turned her head suddenly, and her eyes, bloodshot with anger, stared at Liu Xiang with such ferocity that it seemed as if she wanted to eat him alive!

"Breakout?"

Dugu Jia's voice was so sharp that it almost pierced the dome of the palace, carrying a kind of hysterical despair and ridicule.

"Where can we break out?! Is there any place for my mother and I to stay in this world?"

"Will Chu Ning let us go? Will those princes who are taking advantage of our misfortunes take us in?"

She pointed at the increasingly clear shouts and cries of killing coming from outside the palace and said sternly:

"If you leave now, you will be walking into a trap and will die!"

Liu Xiang was frightened out of his wits by his mother's crazy eyes and words. He dared not say another word. He shrank his neck, trembled, and tears flowed silently.

The Weiyang Palace fell into deathly silence and despair.

Only Dugu Jia's heavy breathing and the faint sounds of fighting outside the palace, symbolizing the approach of death, echoed in the air.

The end of the empire, its heavy footsteps seem to be clearly audible.

Inside the Weiyang Palace, the dead silence and despair were as heavy as substance.

The shouts and sounds of weapons clashing coming from outside the palace became clearer and closer, like the knell of death, striking in the hearts of Dugu Jia and Liu Xiang.

Liu Xiang's timid word "breakout" was like the last straw that broke the camel's back. Instead of bringing hope, it completely ignited the crazy fire in Dugu Jia's heart that was a mixture of rage, unwillingness and desperation!

She was like a female beast trapped in a desperate situation, with a terrifying light flashing in her eyes.

"Break out? Hehe...hahahaha!"

Dugu Jia let out a shrill and crazy laugh, which echoed in the empty palace, making people shudder.

"Xiang'er, my dear prince, at this moment, you are still so naive?"

She suddenly stopped laughing, stepped in front of Liu Xiang, stared at his frightened face, and said in a voice that seemed to be squeezed out from between her teeth:

"Do you think Chu Ning will give us a chance to break out? Do you think we can survive by escaping Chang'an? Don't dream!"

Liu Xiang was so frightened by his mother's crazy eyes and words that he collapsed all over, tears streaming down his face, and begged incoherently:

"Then... what should we do? Mother... we... we can't just wait here to die..."

"Waiting to die? No!"

Dugu Jia suddenly stood up straight, with an almost paranoid and desperate look on his face.

"We haven't lost yet!"

"As long as Chu Ning dies! As long as he dies! The hundreds of thousands of Chu troops outside the city will be like a bunch of headless flies. The siege of Chang'an will be lifted, and this world will still belong to our Han Dynasty!"

Her gaze turned towards the palace gate, as if she could penetrate the palace walls and see the Qinglong Street where a bloody battle was taking place.

"That idiot Shen Congwen has failed, but I still have the last bit of strength! I still have the five thousand most loyal and elite imperial guards in this palace!"

She turned around abruptly and roared towards the outside of the palace. Her voice penetrated the palace with a determination to do whatever it took:

"Propagate this imperial decree! All imperial guards within the palace, except for those who are required to guard the palace gates, must assemble immediately!"

"Under the command of... Deputy Commander Zhou Yong, everyone, hurry to Qinglong Street at the East Gate!"

This order shocked Liu Xiang and the eunuchs and palace maids standing in the hall!

Draw all the imperial guards to the front line?

What about this palace?

Isn't the door wide open?!

"Mother! No!"

Liu Xiang didn't know where he got the courage from, but he suddenly rushed over and hugged Dugu Jia's legs, crying:

"The Imperial Guards have all been transferred away, and the Palace... The Palace is now empty!"

"What if...what if there are rebels or a small group of Chu troops coming over, we...we won't even have our last barrier! This is suicidal, mother!"

"Go away!"

Dugu Jia kicked Liu Xiang away with such force that Liu Xiang rolled on the ground several times and his forehead was bleeding.

She didn't even look at her son, her eyes only held the fiery intensity of a mad gambler.

"What do you know?! You're too soft-hearted! Hesitating will only lead to your own death!"

Dugu Jia said sternly, "Now the only way to turn the tables is to concentrate all our strength and launch a thunderous attack at one point!"

"As long as Chu Ning is killed, all crises will be resolved!"

"If we can't kill Chu Ning, can we keep these 5,000 imperial guards in the palace to stop the main force of the Chu army? It will only delay our death for a moment!"

She pointed at Liu Xiang, her tone icy and piercing: "Rather than dying in this deep palace in humiliation, it is better to fight to the death!"

"It's done, you and I will be the masters of the revival!"

"Even if I lose, I'll just die in battle! It's better than being a prisoner and being humiliated!"

Liu Xiang lay on the ground, looking at his mother who looked like a madman, feeling the stinging pain on his forehead and the boundless fear in his heart. He knew that he could no longer change his mother's decision.

Under the mother's extreme and crazy strategy, any rational dissuasion is futile.

"What are you still standing there for? Go and pass the message!"

Dugu Jia roared at the eunuchs who were stunned.

"Yes... yes! I obey your command!"

The eunuchs were so frightened that they crawled out of the hall to deliver the order.

Soon, the rapid assembly bugles and the officers' desperate shouts were heard in the palace.

Teams of imperial guards wearing fine armor and holding sharp blades poured out from every corner of the palace.

Under the leadership of Deputy Commander Zhou Yong, like a black iron stream, with a tragic and desperate atmosphere, they rushed out of the palace gate in a mighty manner and headed for Qinglong Street, which had become a grinding wheel of blood and flesh, without hesitation!

The palace suddenly became empty and deserted.

Only a few pale-faced guards and trembling eunuchs and palace maids were left.

The defensive power was drained away, like an undefended magnificent mausoleum.

Liu Xiang slumped on the cold ground, looking at the dust raised by the imperial guards outside the palace gate, listening to the shouts and cries that were getting closer and closer, as if they were right next to his ears, and closed his eyes in despair.

He knew that his mother had already gambled away her last bit of money.

The stakes are the lives of mother and son, as well as the crumbling Han empire.

This time, there is really no turning back.