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

"Deputy General Liao, you just keep an eye on things. I'll handle those Western barbarians!" Shen An said.

Liao Bing frowned: "Officer Shen, it's not that I look down on you, but everyone has their own expertise. You haven't undergone military training, nor have you ever led troops in battle. Now, for us, it's a matter of life and death, and we really can't afford to take any risks. Let me do it!"

"Deputy General Liao, if I didn't have the ability in this area, why would I be building a stronghold here?" Shen An patted Liao Bing on the shoulder and continued, "You just watch this matter!"

"Yes, Deputy General Liao, just leave everything to Officer Shen! All we need to do is support his work!" Black Six chimed in.

"Sigh... Fine then!"

Liao Bing didn't trust Shen An and Hei Laoliu, but this place was, after all, Shen An and Hei Laoliu's territory, and he couldn't forcibly take control.

He'll make his move after Shen An suffers a loss and realizes the situation is unfavorable.

"Let's go, let's meet those barbarians!"

Shen An waved his hand, and everyone followed him out. Standing at the highest point of the village, they could see the Western Barbarian army had stopped at the foot of the mountain.

"Officer Shen, these Western barbarians are quite cautious. It seems they're afraid of an ambush!" said Black Six.

"The information from the authorities is all controlled by us. Even if they send someone to check first, they won't be able to find anything wrong," Shen An said calmly.

"Look, they have a person hanging on their flag!" Shen Xiaoqi shouted, pointing ahead.

Everyone looked up and could see Liu Wenyuan hanging on the flag.

The person is still alive, but now their eyes are empty and lifeless.

When he looked up, he saw Shen An and the others.

Seeing that Liao Bing had indeed come to join Shen An, Liu Wenyuan panicked. He shouted, "Liao Bing, Liao Bing, are you stupid? You actually came here? The Western Barbarian army is pressing in! Why aren't you running away? Do you want to fight a losing battle?!"

"County Magistrate Liu, things have come to this point, there's no point in saying more!" Liao Bing replied. At first, he thought there was no problem in coming to see Shen An.

However, Shen An is too stubborn, and facts will prove that his failure to listen to Liu Wenyuan was a mistake.

Fortunately, after surveying the terrain, he realized that if they couldn't defend themselves, they would still have a chance to escape from the other side of the mountain, thus avoiding total annihilation.

"You fools! Now that you've seen the Western Barbarians coming, why don't you all surrender! If you surrender immediately, you can all become slaves of the Western Barbarians and be spared from being killed!" Chen Jing shouted at Shen An and the others.

"Damn it, Chen Jing, you surrendered to the Western Barbarians, and now you want us to surrender and become your slaves? You deserve to die a horrible death!" Liao Bing cursed angrily. "We're not that spineless! We will never submit to the Western Barbarians!"

"Haha, never? That's because you haven't seen how powerful the Western Barbarians are. Once you have, you'll regret it!" Chen Jing laughed wildly.

Watching the people of Daliang fighting like dogs, Abudu's lips curled up slightly. He now understood why Daliang, with its vast lands and resources dozens of times greater than theirs, had fallen from a colossal empire to a dilapidated nation about to be crushed by the Western Barbarians.

The reason is that there is too much infighting and selfishness among the people here!

"Chief, we have already checked, and there is no sign of any traps or mechanisms along the way up the mountain!" Abudu reported, leading his scouts.

"Since there's no information from any agencies, let's attack! We must take this place today!" Abudu ordered.

"yes!"

At Abudu's command, three thousand men charged forward.

Leading the charge were the people of Daliang who had already submitted to the Western Barbarians.

These people dared not fight against the Western barbarians, but they had the audacity to attack their own people.

They seem to be forced into it, but in reality, they are bullies who prey on the weak and fear the strong.

Shen An showed them no courtesy, first using traps and mechanisms to wear them down.

As for the Western Barbarians, the repeated crossbow fire will make them the first army of this era to be defeated by repeated crossbows!

"Officer Shen, they're all rushing up! No, no, don't just stand there! Quickly direct your men to fight back! If all else fails, throw stones down the mountain!" Liao Bing urged anxiously.

"There's no need to panic. Once their army goes up the mountain, they'll fall into a pre-designed trap!" Shen An said.

"But their men clearly scouted the area just now and there were no traps or mechanisms there!" Liao Bing's brows furrowed even more deeply.

"My traps are controlled by humans."

"Huh? Manually controlled?"

In Liao Bing's knowledge, he had never seen anything controlled by human intervention. Just as he was about to question it, he heard a series of screams.

"Ahhhhh!"

He looked up and saw a large number of rocks sliding down the mountain, the ground collapsing, and even, he didn't know what was used, huge pieces of wood burning like fire dragons.

In Liao Bing's understanding, a giant tree shouldn't burn so quickly, nor should it have such a large open flame.

But it actually happened.

Shocked, Liao Bing couldn't help but ask, "Officer Shen, how... how did you do that?"

"Now is not the time to explain!"

After Shen An finished speaking, he observed the situation on the battlefield. There were at least five or six hundred people killed by the traps.

The remaining people were so frightened that they immediately hid.

Chen Jing and Liu Wenyuan were both taken aback. Neither of them had expected that the place occupied by Shen An would have such powerful traps and mechanisms.

But soon, Liu Wenyuan shouted again, "You, you've completely enraged the Western Barbarians by doing this! Run!"

"County Magistrate Liu, how can you be so encouraging of others? Didn't you see that Constable Shen has already killed five or six hundred of them?!" Liao Bing began to side with Shen An.

"You're utterly foolish! These traps might have been there before, what does it have to do with him? Now that the traps have been triggered, what are they going to use to fight the Western Barbarians?!" Liu Wenyuan grew increasingly anxious as he spoke. "Don't you see that your actions have completely enraged them? You're about to face their wrath; can you withstand it?!"

These words were spoken.

Liao Bing's expression changed again. The little hope that had been given by killing Ao Sheng earlier was now completely gone.

He agreed with Liu Wenyuan's reasoning and immediately advised Shen Nian, "Captain Shen, let's call it a day. Right now, they're wary of the traps and mechanisms on the mountain and won't dare to go up for a while. We still have a chance to escape! Otherwise, once they surround the entire mountain, we won't even have a chance to run!"

"Are you out of your mind? If we felt it was dangerous here, wouldn't we know to leave? Did we need you to remind us?" Shen Xiaoqi couldn't help but complain. "Since we chose to stay here, we naturally have ways to deal with them. Just shut up!"

"this...."

Liao Bing was somewhat embarrassed; it seemed to make sense.

He swallowed hard and asked, "Officer Shen, what are your plans for the next step?"

"You'll see soon!" Shen An clapped his hands and shouted, "Archers, begin attack!"

"Bow and crossbow? What is that?" Liao Bing was hearing this word for the first time.

Liu Wenyuan, who was down the mountain, also heard this. He remembered Shen An's weapon that he had used to scare him, and he shouted again, "Shen An, you are utterly foolish! I told you long ago, your crossbow can kill ordinary people, but it can't penetrate armor. Now you still want to use these weapons to deal with the Western Barbarians? You are utterly foolish, utterly foolish!"

"You're the most foolish one! You idiot!" Even though Shen An usually disliked arguing with people, he couldn't help but curse at this moment.

"Utterly foolish, utterly foolish!" Liu Wenyuan couldn't help but retort with a few bites.

"Hahaha, this is fun, this is fun!" Abudu burst into laughter, and Chen Jing also clutched his stomach and laughed.

"Whoosh whoosh!"

But the next moment, a series of whooshing sounds rang out.

Everyone looked up and saw that the sky had appeared out of nowhere, filled with countless bone arrows.

Each of these bone arrows was half a meter long, and their speed was beyond their imagination!

In the blink of an eye, he was in front of them.

Since the first group of Daliang people who had gone there had already hidden on both sides, the Western Barbarians were the first to be affected this time.

"Aaaaaah!"

Struck by the bone arrow, it pierced through his armor instantly, penetrating his entire body.

Rows of Western barbarians began to fall!

In this situation, everyone who didn't believe Shen An stared wide-eyed.

Those bone arrows were not only densely packed, but also fast, coming in waves as if they were being fired in rapid succession.

Before the Western barbarians could even dodge, three hundred of them had already been shot dead!

Abudu, after all, was a seasoned commander, and even faced with a scene he had never witnessed before, he was the first to react: "Quick, get out of the way!"

However, Shen An had already anticipated that they would hide.

Just now, it was only fifty repeating ballistae that fired at once. He had already arranged all the repeating ballistae to be able to attack the entire area below the mountain without any blind spots.

No matter where they hid, they could not escape the ballista's attack.

"Ahhhhh!"

After another scream, Abudu realized that the owner of this place had made thorough preparations.

The only option now is to use other people as shields to escape!

Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately ordered others to escort him away.

With the help of his men who risked their lives, Abudu escaped from Black Mountain Village. But when he looked at his men again, he found that only five or six hundred of his Western Barbarians had been killed. The rest of them had died at the foot of the mountain. As for the Liang people who had submitted to them, apart from the first batch who died, all the rest were still alive.

Abudu felt a sense of fear. Where did Shen An come from? How could he possess such a powerful weapon?

If the Great Liang had such powerful weapons, they wouldn't have been forced to retreat in defeat!

He must report this matter, he must report it!

"Quickly, escape! Return to Qingyang County and guard the city gates!" Abudu dared not linger for a moment and fled on horseback.

Seeing this, Liao Bing was overjoyed. He looked at Shen An again and knelt down before him, saying, "Officer Shen, I'm convinced! I'm truly convinced! You're amazing! From now on, I, Liao Bing, will obey your orders!"

Shen An naturally wanted to recruit Liao Bing. Although Liao Bing didn't trust him at first, he was a loyal and righteous man, and keeping him by his side would be a great help.

"Alright, from now on you will be my left deputy general, Shen An!" Shen An nodded.

Liao Bing was overjoyed and quickly asked, "Should we pursue these Western barbarians now?!"