A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

"Impossible. The resources needed to build Luoyang are astronomical."

"Even a scaled-down version would be beyond Li Yuanxiang's ability to build."

When Su Dingfang was in the capital, he once again learned about the prices of those top-notch mechanical creations of the Mohist school. He felt that even if he sold himself, he wouldn't be worth as much as a few of their parts.

He absolutely did not believe that Li Yuanxiang could simply copy Luoyang City.

"Even if it's a damaged, miniature version, the city's defensive capabilities are still off the charts."

Liu Rengui said with a wry smile, "In the past few months, I've tried everything, but the garrison just stubbornly holds their ground and won't listen to any of my schemes."

Thanks to the city's inherent defensive capabilities, it withstood him for several months.

"There must be a flaw!"

Su Dingfang spoke slowly, carefully recalling the construction of Luoyang City and comparing it with the city in front of him.

water!

The biggest difference between the two structures lies in the water.

Luoyang is surrounded by four rivers, among which the Luo River and the Yi River have extremely large volumes of water. There are also two other rivers, the Jian River and the Chan River, which are used by the people of Luoyang.

However, Xinluo City only has one river, the Xiongjin River, which provides the city's moat for defense and water supply for its residents.

If he could block the river, Su Dingfang glanced at the wide Xiongjin River and abandoned this far-fetched idea.

Over the next few days, Su Dingfang attacked from different directions, constantly launching targeted attacks on Xinluo City based on the situation in Luoyang City, in order to assess the defenses of Xinluo City.

During the attack, Su Dingfang also discovered that the defenses of Luoyang were not as they appeared, and that many things were hidden in secret.

The sheer number of hidden defensive measures in the newly built city of Xinluo alone was enough to make his scalp tingle, let alone Luoyang City.

However, his probing efforts over the past few days have not been in vain; he discovered a weakness in Xiluo City.

The flaw lies in the Prince Zhongwu's Mansion in Luoyang City and the Imperial Uncle's Mansion in Xinluo City.

In Luoyang, to show respect for the Wei family, facilitate their entry into the palace, and prepare for their future service to the emperor, a gate was built directly connecting to the Prince Zhongwu's residence.

In the new Luoyang city, Li Yuanxiang, unaware of the deeper meaning, directly copied the construction plan. In addition, Luoyang city had the Luo River that flowed directly through it, while the new Luoyang city only had the Xiongjin River, which created a flaw in the plan.

Su Dingfang made a decisive move, leading his soldiers to launch a fierce attack on the gate. He personally led his troops to storm the city wall. After storming the city wall, he did not rush to occupy it. Instead, he led his personal guards down from the other side of the city wall and deliberately entered Li Yuanxiang's encirclement.

Li Yuanxiang had never imagined such a good thing could happen, so naturally he was unprepared.

As a result, Su Dingfang himself stepped into Li Yuanxiang's territory, but Li Yuanxiang failed to take the initiative to surround and kill him.

Su Dingfang's actions caught the rebels off guard. By the time they reacted, Su Dingfang had already used the flaw he had identified to get around to the city gate.

He led his personal guards to withstand the rebels' counterattack and opened the city gate. Liu Rengui led his army down the Xiongjin River and rushed through the city gate.

At this time, Su Dingfang's personal guards, numbering less than 100, were left. Su Dingfang himself was covered in blood, some of which belonged to him, but most of it came from the rebels.

Liu Rengui stared in shock at Su Dingfang, whose body was covered in wounds and had several arrows stuck in it. Su Dingfang only breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Liu Rengui enter.

After the tension in his heart eased, Su Dingfang felt a little dizzy. He shook his head, and the intense pain from his wounds quickly brought him back to his senses.

"Come here, if I remember correctly, there is a road here that should lead directly to the palace."

Some men were left to guard the city gates, while the rest, led by Su Dingfang, rushed straight to the palace.

Although the palace's defenses were inferior to those of the city walls, and although Li Yuanxiang had received the signal flare from the city early on, his troops were all defending the city walls, leaving less than 10,000 guards in the palace, making them no match for Su Dingfang.

Before reinforcements from other city walls could arrive, Li Yuanxiang had already been captured alive by Su Dingfang.

"stop!"

"I am a member of the royal family; how can I allow swords and spears to be drawn against me?"

Li Yuanxiang looked at the long sword held to his neck and turned pale with fright, fearing that if Su Dingfang's hand trembled, he would lose his life here.

"Royalty?!"

"Pah!"

"You traitor, you dare to say that!"

Su Dingfang spat and said disdainfully.

"Order your men to surrender, or else..."

Su Dingfang's sword moved even closer to Li Yuanxiang, and Li Yuanxiang could already feel the cold chill of the blade on his neck.

"Let's talk this out, let's talk this out!"

"General, you are so brave, yet you have never been promoted. This shows how incompetent the emperor is, appointing people based on nepotism. General, would you be willing to surrender to me? I will appoint you as the Grand Marshal of the Army."

"With a general as my marshal, commanding my troops, what great things cannot be accomplished?"

Seeing the coldness in Su Dingfang's eyes, Li Yuanxiang continued to increase the stakes.

"Once you help me overthrow Li Zhi, I will appoint you as a king of a different surname and grant you the entire Tuzhou as your fief. You may establish your ancestral temple in Tuzhou."

"Grand Marshal of the Army and Cavalry? Granted a fiefdom and the title of King?"

"You're quite generous?"

Su Dingfang scoffed.

Li Yuanxiang thought Su Dingfang was tempted, so he quickly said, "General, rest assured, I keep my word and will never go back on my word."

"I swear to Heaven that if I go back on my word, may my ancestral temples be destroyed, my descendants die without a trace, and I die a horrible death!"

"This general has a poor appetite. I can't stomach the empty promises you've made."

Su Dingfang said dismissively.

This guy dares to rebel? He's utterly absurd.

I don't know what they were thinking.

"take away!"

After settling everything in Xinluo City, Su Dingfang and Liu Rengui took Li Yuanxiang back to the capital.

Meanwhile, Su Dingfang ordered someone to send the message back to Luoyang City in advance to inform Wu Zetian.

On the way, Su Dingfang was stopped by people sent by Wu Zetian.

"May I ask if Your Majesty has any decree?"

Su Dingfang asked respectfully.

"Her Majesty has instructed me to ask the General a question: Now that this traitor has been sent to the capital, how should His Majesty deal with him?"

"To kill or not to kill?"

"Killing him would make His Majesty seem heartless, after all, he is His Majesty's own uncle."

"If we don't kill them, they've already rebelled, which is an unforgivable crime. How can we warn the world if we don't kill them?"

The eunuch sent by Wu Zetian bowed to Su Dingfang.

"The message has been delivered; this servant will now take her leave."

After saying this, the young eunuch left without waiting for Su Dingfang's reply.

Su Dingfang's eyes flickered; he understood Wu Zetian's meaning and felt even more grateful to her.

If he were to bring the man to Luoyang and present this dilemma to the emperor, the emperor would outwardly praise him lavishly, but inwardly he would certainly distance himself from and resent him.

However, if he resolves the problem beforehand, shifts the blame to an unexpected event, and takes the responsibility himself, his official rewards may be reduced, but he will be favored by the emperor and may even gain more real power, with endless benefits to enjoy in the future.