Meng Zhong, you take your men and keep an eye on him! If he does anything suspicious, kill him on sight!
Fang Er stared into the old man's eyes and said.
The old man shook his head repeatedly, murmuring his unwillingness.
Fang Er, with the others, followed the direction the old man indicated and indeed, they found a large courtyard.
Furthermore, it was already deep into the night, yet there was still light emanating from within the courtyard.
Lu Huo crept forward stealthily, climbed onto the wall, and just took one glance inside before becoming incredibly excited.
He then returned to report.
"Captain Fang, the cannon is inside!"
"Are there any guards in the courtyard?"
"No. There's no one in the courtyard! Only two rooms have lights on."
Lu Huo said with certainty.
Fang Er felt greatly relieved upon hearing this.
He directly ordered his men to break down the courtyard gate.
The people inside were startled and rushed out of the rooms to investigate.
"Who are you people!"
A butler-like figure asked Fang Er.
"Your executioners! Attack!"
Fang Er gave the order, and the Po Lu Army behind him promptly pulled their triggers at the people in the courtyard.
The distance from Shenyang was too great, so there was no need to worry about the sound of gunfire.
Over a dozen people, who were running out of the rooms one after another, were all shot down.
Fang Er walked slowly into the courtyard.
The cannon stood silently there.
As the people in the courtyard were killed one by one, no one else emerged.
Li Da Niu led his men to search the rooms one by one.
In one room, they found several opened bags of explosives.
He quickly brought them over for Fang Er to examine.
"Captain Fang, look at this."
Following that, Liu Xuan brought over another bag of gunpowder.
It seemed that Yeon Gaesomun had kept a portion of everything to have the craftsmen replicate!
Similarly, they found several cannonballs!
Fang Er pondered for a moment and decided not to destroy the cannon on the spot.
Instead, he found a sturdy horse in the courtyard and used it to pull the cannon.
He then rejoined Meng Zhong and the others.
An hour later.
It was almost the fifth watch.
The group returned outside Shenyang City.
"Chumo, I heard you're accurate with cannons?"
Fang Er asked Cheng Chumo.
"That's right! When this brother fires cannons, it's a shot straight to the soul!"
Cheng Chumo became very proud when this was mentioned.
"Good, here are five cannonballs. Blast open the gate of Shenyang City for me!"
Upon hearing Fang Er's words, Cheng Chumo was stunned.
This was too thrilling!
A thousand men, one cannon, and they dared to attack Shenyang?
"What? Can't do it?"
Fang Er provoked him.
"Young man, who can stand that!"
"Charge! Who says I can't!"
Cheng Chumo dismounted and pulled Wei Chi Baolin to assist him.
The two of them positioned the cannon.
Without any apparent aiming or adjustments from Cheng Chumo, the first shot landed on the city wall just above the city gate.
The defending troops inside the city heard the cannon fire and quickly scrambled out of their sleep.
Before they could even ascend the city walls to investigate, Cheng Chumo's second shot was already fired.
This shot.
It missed the city gate by less than a meter!
By the time the defenders reached the city walls and saw Fang Er and the others outside, their rage was immense!
"Damn it! These mere thousand men dare to attack the city?"
Just as they were about to shout something.
They heard another cannon blast.
Then.
A large hole was blasted directly into the city gate.
The next two cannonballs also created holes in the gate.
After firing all five cannonballs, Cheng Chumo ignored the defending troops on the city walls.
He smiled and looked at Fang Er.
"Big brother, how was my cannon firing?"
"Good! Absolutely good! In terms of cannon firing, you're number one!"
"Alright, use the remaining gunpowder to blow up this cannon. It's too heavy, and carrying it might prevent us from returning."
Fang Er gave him a thumbs-up, then pointed at the cannon.
Cheng Chumo poured all the remaining gunpowder into the barrel of the cannon.
He connected the fuses taken from the ironworks of Goguryeo.
A two-meter-long fuse was inserted into the fuse hole on the cannon barrel.
"Ignite, and retreat!"
Fang Er gave the order.
Cheng Chumo ignited the fuse, and then he and Wei Chi Baolin mounted their horses.
They galloped away in the direction they came from.
Just a few hundred meters after the cavalry had ridden off, they heard a deafening explosion behind them.
Turning their heads, they saw a column of flames soaring into the sky.
Faintly, some black fragments could be seen scattering everywhere.
"Brothers! Let's go home!"
Fang Er shouted happily.
"Oh oh oh! Let's go home!"
The thousand men behind him shouted in unison.
The defenders of Shenyang City watched with burning anger.
Lu Huo, the general Lu Huo had seen at Director Sun's place.
He looked at the cannon being blown to pieces outside the city, paying no mind to Fang Er and the others.
He frantically searched for ways to shift the blame in his mind.
"Damn it!"
"Who would have thought."
"The Tang army is so insane!"
"A thousand men and a thousand horses, venturing deep into Goguryeo, solely to destroy this one cannon!"
"How much courage does it take to do something like this!"
It was precisely because they never expected the Tang army to dare to do this that they allowed the Tang army to exploit the loophole so openly!
Now, when Yeon Gaesomun returned, he would likely be in big trouble.
Fang Er and his men did not stop. After resting for a day at the bandit's lair, they bypassed Liaodong Commandery and stepped onto the soil of the Great Tang once more.
They also made a detour to visit Beiping City.
Chai Shao had already led the large army back to Chang'an.
Calculating the time, they were probably almost at Taiyuan Prefecture.
It was only after passing Zhuo Commandery that Fang Er finally relaxed.
He led his men at a leisurely pace.
By the time they returned to Chang'an, it was already the twelfth lunar month.
Upon receiving the news, Li Er sent Eunuch Deng to personally welcome them ten li outside the city.
He directly took Fang Er to the Eastern Palace.
"An Zhi, you must have suffered a lot during this period, haven't you?"
Li Shimin saw Fang Er's appearance and suppressed his own expectations.
From departure to return, in over a month, Fang Er seemed like a different person.
Although the tiger skin cloak he wore was very imposing, it couldn't hide the fatigue in his eyes.
His hair was matted together, and his lips were chapped.
His young hands were also frozen and cracked, suffering from frostbite.
Behind Fang Er, Cheng Chumo and Wei Chi Baolin looked similarly worn.
"Your Majesty, there's nothing major. Youth can withstand hardship. The cannon has been destroyed, and the blacksmiths who were with the cannon have also been eliminated."
Fang Er replied casually.
"Good! Good! Good! Well done! Chumo and Baolin are also well done! You haven't disgraced your fathers!"
Li Er was extremely excited.
The anxiety that had been hanging over him was finally released.
"You three go back and rest first, spend time with your families. Chumo and Baolin, you are excused from duty for the next few days."
"Go back and wait patiently, this time, I will reward you handsomely!"
"Little Dengzi, prepare the carriage. You personally escort Commander Fang back!"
Seeing the condition of the three, Li Er did not keep them any longer. Although he was eager to know the details, he couldn't bear to ask further.