In a chaotic and famine-stricken era, I picked up an empress to be my wife.

Although Yuwen Bingyu ignored advice in the first battle, causing her 30,000 troops to perish in the explosive trap.

But she still has more than 100,000 men.

But now, looking at the situation, Yuwen Bingyu's forces have drastically decreased, leaving only about 30,000 men.

Even with all that, Yuwen Bingyu did not back down. With a frenzied expression, she ordered everyone to continue the attack and take it today.

This scene made Yuwen Qin and Li Huaiyi understand.

Shen An's crossbow bolts were not actually running low; for the past ten days or so, Shen An had been deliberately putting on an act.

His goal was to create a false sense of victory and sow discord among the three of them.

As it turns out, Shen An did it!

That stupid woman, Yuwen Bingyu, not only fell for it, but she also performed exceptionally well.

In a single day, tens of thousands were killed or wounded, yet the attack continued.

He's clearly lost his mind, completely disregarding the consequences, only wanting to breach the city gates before they wake up.

They believed that once the city gates were breached, everything would be fine.

However, a normal person should have stopped attacking when they realized that Shen An's crossbow bolts were not running low at all, to reduce unnecessary losses, and then looked for another way.

But she did just that, she kept letting people attack, and almost everyone was dying!

The two, who had seen through everything, stopped in their tracks.

"Brother Huaiyi, let's run!" Yuwen Qin made a quick decision.

"Working with this woman will only lead to my demise, let's go!" Li Huaiyi didn't want to stay a moment longer.

Before they arrived, they had a mighty army of 200,000, but now they haven't even entered the city walls yet, and only tens of thousands of them remain!

All of this could have been avoided; it was all due to the selfishness of that foolish woman, Yuwen Bingyu.

Continuing to cooperate might backfire on them, so it's better to leave sooner rather than later!

They can at least preserve their own men.

Yuwen Bingyu now saw Yuwen Qin and Li Huaiyi's troops.

Instead of realizing she had done anything wrong, she felt her forces were insufficient and abandoned any thought of monopolizing all the benefits. Instead, she shouted at them, "Come on, let's attack the city together! Let's attack the city together!"

Siege the city? Are you kidding me!

Yuwen Qin and Li Huaiyi have now truly experienced what it means to have a terrible teammate. Do they know how to call them that now?

Who the hell cares about you!

They should run away before this woman completely swindles their family fortune!

They did not turn back and withdrew their troops immediately.

"Brother Yuwen, where are we going? Why don't you come with me to Yangnan Prefecture? We can still fight together," Li Huaiyi invited.

Yuwen Qin didn't trust Li Huaiyi; if he went there, he would be like a lamb entering a tiger's den.

"I have better options. The world is vast and the journey is long; if fate allows, we will meet again!"

"Alright, alright!"

Li Huaiyi just wants to get back to his stronghold as soon as possible and figure out how to deal with the situation.

Li Huaiyi led his troops away.

Zhang Chi and Yuwen Qin both smiled. Zhang Chi waved his hand and said, "Let's change our route to Nanling Prefecture and take this opportunity to seize it for ourselves!"

Yuwen Bingyu was completely unaware that her stronghold was about to be occupied.

When she saw that they weren't coming over, she became hysterical: "Damn stinking men, I knew you wouldn't keep your word! All I did was drug you, didn't I? Putting aside the facts, aren't you all at fault? Now you're all running away, it's disgusting!"

You think I can't take this city, right?

You really underestimate us women!

"I will definitely take this city today! Continue the attack!"

"My lord, we can't attack anymore! There are supposedly still many soldiers in Shen'an City. We only have 30,000 men; even if we break through the city, we won't be able to defeat them! We should retreat!"

"Retreat my ass! We're about to succeed! Anyone who stands in my way will die!"

Yuwen Bingyu completely ignored all advice. She was like a modern mother who knew she had been scammed but refused to face reality and continued to invest in her dream she didn't want to wake up from.

To silence the voices that were trying to stop her, she killed the soldiers who were trying to persuade her on the spot.

Keep ordering your men to attack, attack, and attack again!

Those soldiers weren't fools either; the crossbow bolts from Shen'an City Wall seemed endless.

Continuing to fight means death.

The reason they've survived until now isn't because they're particularly strong, but because they're not as stupid as the original group.

Now that they were in a situation where they were certain to die, they really didn't want to throw their lives away in vain!

They collectively disobeyed orders and retreated.

"Damn it, damn it, you stinking men, you stinking men, can't stand that I'm better than you? Now you won't even listen to orders? Do you want your whole family to be executed?!" Yuwen Bingyu roared.

But no matter how loudly they roared, it was useless; they were already terrified.

As the army began its retreat!

As the instigator, Shen An found everything before him unbelievable.

That Yuwen Bingyu is such a spendthrift woman.

He didn't want to miss this opportunity to clean up the mess.

Where is Wang Junfeng?!

"Your subordinate is here!"

"Leave the city, capture Yuwen Bingyu, and seize the spoils of war."

"What about the 30,000 soldiers?"

"We currently only have a little over 10,000 men. To prevent Li Huaiyi and Yuwen Qin from returning, as long as those 30,000 men choose to escape, there's no need to pursue them! You'd better try to win them over as well. If they're willing to surrender, you can incorporate them into your army."

"yes!"

Wang Junfeng immediately led 10,000 men out of the city.

The soldiers, who were already preparing to retreat, saw Shen An send men out. They had no intention of continuing to fight for that foolish woman, Yuwen Bingyu, and were about to flee when Wang Meng's voice rang out: "Surrender and you won't be killed; you can be incorporated into our ranks!"

His voice was clearly audible to tens of thousands of people.

But very few people were willing to surrender; most chose to run away.

Yuwen Bingyu was surrounded by only a few hundred guards, who were still risking their lives to protect her.

But what difference is there between these people and cutting melons and vegetables in front of Wang Junfeng?

Soon, only seven or eight people remained around Yuwen Bingyu.

Wang Junfeng spurred his horse and arrived in front of Yuwen Bingyu.

He looked down at Yuwen Bingyu: "Governor, it's been a long time!"

"Ah? It's General Wang! You, you must release me right now!"

"Hahaha!"

Wang Junfeng threw his head back and burst into wild laughter.

What are you laughing at?

"I'm laughing at you for being an idiot!"

Wang Junfeng spat in Yuwen Bingyu's face: "Have you forgotten? How did you frame me? Have you forgotten that you tried to kill me before? And now you want me to release you? Is your brain full of shit?"

At this moment, Shen An rode over on horseback and listened to Wang Junfeng's words.

He shook his head and said, "Yuwen Bingyu, look at you, what have you done to Junfeng? He used to be an honest kid, but you forced him to vent his emotions by swearing."

"How dare you ask him to let you go?"

"Ah! Ah! Ah! I only framed him once?"

Does falsely accusing him once negate the kindness I showed him before?

Without my promotion, would he be where he is today?

"You have to have a conscience!" Yuwen Bingyu roared madly, her eyes bloodshot. "Wang Junfeng, I order you now to kill Shen An. After that, this city will be mine, and I'll still make you my general, how about that?"

Shen An had thought that Yuwen Bingyu was probably a lunatic, but he never expected her to be this lunatic. This was unbelievable.

How could she dare to think that?

Wang Junfeng was so angry he laughed. He really didn't want to waste any more words with her. He asked Shen An, "My lord, what should we do with this woman?"

"Take it back first!"

"No, don't touch me! I know I was wrong, I know I was wrong! Shen An, everything before was my fault, it was all my fault!"

"You don't know you're wrong, you're just scared! Take him away!"

Shen An would not give Yuwen Bingyu any chance. The only reason she was spared was because she had other uses for this woman.

Otherwise, he would have killed her with a single sword strike.

Wang Junfeng immediately killed all the remaining guards around her and forcibly tied Yuwen Bingyu up.

"Send three more squads to investigate the movements of Li Huaiyi, Yuwen Qin, and the soldiers who just fled."

Half an hour later.

Shen An led his army back to the city.

Yang Chuwei was also brought over by Wang Junfeng.

He finally saw through Yuwen Bingyu's true colors and completely lost any desire to serve the Yuwen family.

He knelt before Shen An, begging Shen An to give him a chance.

Shen An urgently needs talented people, but he lacks officials who love the people like their own children and can help him stabilize the county.

He immediately appointed Yang Chuwei as the magistrate of Jiangshui County, the largest county under the jurisdiction of Julu Prefecture.

Yang Chuwei never expected that Shen An would actually give him a chance. After expressing his gratitude, Shen An gave him ten people and told him to take up his post immediately!

"I hope you can achieve something to prove that my judgment was correct." Shen An didn't say anything threatening.

But Yang Chuwei also understood that the reason he survived and was given an official position was because Shen An valued his abilities.

If one's abilities are not realized, then one has little value.

"My lord, rest assured, your judgment is absolutely correct!"

With Yang Chuwei taking office, Shen An instructed Wang Junfeng to take stock of the spoils of war and the number of people who surrendered.

He then arrived at the place where Yuwen Bingyu was imprisoned.

Only now, deep within the dark prison, did Yuwen Bingyu truly realize that everything she had done before was wrong.

She kept crying, begging God to give her another chance.

But her pleas went unanswered; instead, Shen An appeared.

When Shen An appeared, Yuwen Bingyu cried and tried to act pitiful, but Shen An slapped her several times.

"If you dare to whine and cry in front of me again, I'll kill you right now!"

Yuwen Bingyu has become mute.

"Do you know why I spared your life?"

"Do you want my body? If you do, I'll serve you well. I'm exceptionally good in bed, I guarantee you'll be satisfied!"

"Get lost!"

Shen An kicked him away: "You slut, where do you get the confidence to think I want your body?"

The kick was so powerful that Yuwen Bingyu felt as if Shen An was about to break her waist.

But to save her life, she forced a smile and said, "I was wrong, I was wrong, I apologize!"

As she spoke, she kept slapping herself in the face.

Once her face was swollen from the beating, Shen An stopped her, saying, "Next, I have two things I need you to do. Listen carefully!"