Yu Wantang glanced at her convenient brother.

"Second Brother, Third Brother, the two of you join up with Eldest Brother later. I will go ahead first."

She turned and walked outward. In the front courtyard, hundreds of estate guards had already formed an array. These people were not ordinary gate guards; they were all elites from the military.

Several hundred people stood solemnly in the night. The lamplight shone from both sides, reflecting off their armor plates and scabbards with flashes of cold light.

Yu Wantang walked to the stone steps. The night wind blew up the hem of her robes, and the ends of her hair gently swept across her shoulders. Clearly, her figure was slender, but standing there at this moment, she looked like an unsheathed blade with its sharpness fully exposed.

All the estate guards raised their heads in unison.

"Today during the day, two imperial edicts came from the palace."

Yu Wantang's voice was not loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears.

"The first one ordered me to enter the palace as a slave to humiliate the Generals Mansion."

"The second one claimed that the Yu Family harbors heavy troops and colludes with external enemies, demanding the seizure of the military tally, the confiscation of family property, and the execution of the entire family."

As the last four words fell, the front courtyard instantly grew cold.

Rage had already surfaced in the eyes of many estate guards.

Having followed the Yu Family for many years, who among them did not know how many years the Yu Family had guarded the borderlands for Dajing?

How many corpses of the Yu Family Army were buried in the wind and snow of the northern frontier, and how much hot blood flowed beneath Yanmen Pass? In the end, what they received in return was neither rewards nor trust, but an edict for the execution of their entire family.

How utterly ridiculous.

Yu Wantang continued, "The dog emperor fears the Yu Family and fears the five hundred thousand troops of the Yu Family Army. Put bluntly, what he wants is military power."

"For the sake of military power, he can slander my father for treason, force the Yu Family to surrender their lives, and trample everyone who has followed the Yu Family through life and death into the mud together."

She raised her gaze, sweeping her eyes over everyone's faces one by one.

Among the estate guards, someone's breathing abruptly grew heavy.

Yu Wantang's voice grew even colder. "But once you step out of the mansion today, there will be no turning back."

"All of you have followed the Yu Family for many years. Some of you once fought under my father's command, and some once guarded the borderlands alongside my older brothers. You have shed blood for the Yu Family, and the Yu Family will not force you to throw away your lives."

She glanced sideways at the housekeeper, and the old housekeeper immediately stepped forward by half a step.

Yu Wantang said, "Now, those who want to leave, step forward."

"I will have the housekeeper give you sufficient silver and let you leave the mansion. After tonight, regardless of whether the Yu Family succeeds or fails, you will not be implicated."

The front courtyard was terribly quiet. The sound of the wind passing through the scabbards produced a very faint noise.

No one moved.

Yu Wantang waited for a moment.

Still, no one moved.

She raised an eyebrow. "Think carefully. To stay is to gamble with your lives."

At the very front of the crowd, an estate guard with a scar all over his face suddenly stepped forward and dropped to one knee.

"This subordinate entered the Yu Family Army at the age of eighteen. Over these twenty years, my life was saved by the General, my meals were given by the General, and my saber skills were taught by the General."

His voice was hoarse and rough, yet every word was heavy.

"The dog emperor wanting to kill the General means wanting to kill the likes of us."

"This subordinate will not leave."

A second person knelt down as well, shouting, "This subordinate will not leave either!"

The third, the fourth, the fifth...

The sound of armor rubbing against armor rang out one after another. In just a few breaths, hundreds of estate guards in the front courtyard knelt down in unison, their saber hilts striking the ground to produce a neat and muffled sound.

"We swear to follow the General to the death!"

"We swear to follow the General to the death!"

"..."

The shouts surged higher and higher, shaking the lanterns beneath the eaves violently.

Yu Huaiyuan stood with his hands behind his back beneath the steps, watching this scene with a heavy gaze. In those eyes that had seen countless life-and-death battles on the battlefield, a trace of hard-to-conceal gratification finally emerged.

Yu Zeyue chuckled softly and raised a hand to wipe his face.

Yu Zeyun's eye sockets grew hot, but his mouth remained tough. "Good, truly worthy of being the sons of the Yu Family Army, you have guts!"

Yu Wantang looked at the estate guards kneeling all over the ground, and the coldness in the depths of her eyes eased slightly.

"Everyone, please rise."

The estate guards stood up in unison with uniform movements. Yu Wantang stood on the stone steps and slowly spoke, "Since you have all stayed, then we share honor and disgrace together."

"After tonight, if we win, the Yu Family will not fail any of you."

This single sentence made the blood in the chests of all the estate guards burn.

Yu Zeyue flipped onto his horse, followed closely by Yu Zeyun. A personal guard led over a horse that was pitch-black all over. Its hooves restlessly scraped the bluestone ground, and white mist spewed from its nostrils.

Yu Wantang walked over and raised a hand to stroke the horse's neck.

The horse, which had originally been restless, unexpectedly grew quiet for no apparent reason when she touched it.

She stepped on the stirrup and mounted the horse with crisp and neat movements. The hem of her robes carved out a sharp arc in the night wind.

In the distance, the firelight of the imperial guards was already faintly visible, closing in bit by bit.

Zhao Heng thought that what he had sent was a net.

But he did not know that before this net could even fall, it had already collided with a blade.

Yu Wantang raised her hand, and the mansion gates slowly opened.

The heavy sound of the door pivots dragged out in the night like the beating of a war drum. The long street outside was empty, and the cold wind poured in.

Hundreds of estate guards lined up solemnly as torches were lit one after another. The light spread along the crowd, illuminating every resolute face brightly.

Yu Wantang took the lead and stepped out of the mansion gates, her voice calm and clear. "Leave the mansion."

...

The gates of the Generals Mansion were pulled open from the inside.

The sound of the door pivots grinding across the bluestone ground dragged out heavy and long in the night, as the two vermilion-lacquered gates receded to both sides.

Yu Wantang was the first to step out of the mansion gates.

She had changed into a dark martial outfit, her cuffs tucked into bracers, and her hair tied up high behind her head. The black horse snorted, its horseshoes striking the bluestone slabs with a crisp sound, and hundreds of estate guards filed out behind her.

Yu Zeyue and Yu Zeyun followed closely behind her side by side. Yu Zeyue rested his hand on his saber hilt, leaning his body sideways as if he had just crawled out of bed to walk a horse. Yu Zeyun straightened his waist, staring straight ahead with his lips pursed tightly.

Just at this moment, a team of people turned out from the alley on the right side of the long street.

Although the newcomers were not wearing armor, they wore uniform imperial guard attire and had standard sabers hanging at their waists. The leader was around thirty years old with a square face and short beard, walking at the very front. Dozens of people followed behind him.

Deputy Commander of the Imperial Guards Pang Yong stopped in his tracks, his gaze sweeping from Yu Wantang to Yu Zeyue, then to Yu Zeyun, and finally landing back on Yu Wantang's face. The one hundred people behind him simultaneously halted their steps; someone instinctively reached for their saber hilt, only to abruptly stop themselves.

Yu Wantang's gaze passed over him, glanced at those imperial guards behind him, and then pulled back to look at him.

Neither side spoke first.

Yu Zeyue stepped forward by half a step. Tilting his head, he sized up that group of people across from them from top to bottom before suddenly grinning happily.

"Commander Pang, in the middle of the night like this, you must have walked through the wrong door, right?"

Pang Yong did not reply.

"With this attire of yours," Yu Zeyue pointed toward their waists, "you don't look like you're here for a social visit either. Carrying sabers?"

"Commandant Yu, this general is also just following orders." Pang Yong cupped his hands, trying his best not to make his tone sound like an explanation, but once the words were out, even he could hear the lack of confidence underneath. "We have been ordered to come and guard the Generals Mansion to prevent petty villains from stirring up trouble in the middle of the night."