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

next moment!

More than 300 repeating crossbows fired in unison.

White bone arrows rained down from the sky, like a torrential downpour.

The Black Spirit Army soldiers at the forefront felt a sense of unease upon seeing this.

The bone arrow was much faster than a regular arrow.

How could the bone arrows fail to fire in a row?

Before they could even figure it out, bone arrows pierced their bodies.

"Ahhhhh!"

Screams of agony rose and fell.

In the blink of an eye, the thousands of people at the forefront had all fallen to the ground.

Yang Ke, who had been full of confidence just moments before, suddenly had his pupils shrink.

"What kind of weapon is that? How can it be so powerful?"

"Why didn't we receive any prior notice?"

The moment the thought crossed his mind, he spotted the weapon. After firing a round, he loaded a bone arrow and began a new round of firing.

And the bone arrow could even reach his position.

Such power, such range, and it can fire in rapid succession!

All of this was beyond Yang Ke's imagination.

An unprecedented sense of crisis washed over him, making him realize that staying here meant certain death!

Desperate!

He shouted, "Retreat! Retreat!"

"Too late!"

Shen An did not allow the attack to stop.

This battle is his chance to establish his authority; he must intimidate Li Huaiyi in order to gain more time for development.

"Kill! Leave no one alive!"

The bone arrows continued to rain down relentlessly.

Yang Ke, relying on his trusted men to hold off the attack and his own strength, managed to escape the range of the repeated ballistae.

Looking back, of the ten thousand people who came, only three thousand remain.

Upon closer inspection, the distance to the city was more than five hundred paces.

His heart pounded, and a fear he had never felt before appeared on his face.

At this moment, he finally understood why Shen An dared to be an enemy of Li Huaiyi and why he was not afraid of their 10,000 men!

It turns out he possessed a divine weapon!

Damn it, how did he get it?

"Quickly, hurry! This message must be delivered to the military governor!"

Yang Ke mounted his horse, intending to escape.

But then horns sounded from the surrounding area, and more than two thousand people ran out from nearby and blocked them.

"Zhao Ji, didn't your men scout the area? Didn't they say there were no ambushes nearby? Where did these people come from?!" Yang Ke grabbed Zhao Ji's collar.

Zhao Ji was even more confused than Yang Ke. He had clearly gone to investigate in person, so how could there be someone else there?

"Commander, now is not the time to dwell on these things. We need to break out as soon as possible, otherwise, if their soldiers in the city pursue us, with our current force of more than three thousand, we may not be able to leave."

"There are only two thousand of them. We outnumber them. They are no match for us!" Zhao Ji said.

"Alright, kill the enemy first and break through the encirclement!" Yang Ke decisively ordered, "Kill them!"

however!

As soon as the two sides clashed, Yang Ke and Zhao Ji felt their hearts sink.

The steel swords they used, specially made by the imperial court, were easily cut in half by Shen An and his seemingly ragtag army.

Their soldiers, every single one of them, had fear written all over their faces.

and!

These ragtag troops killed people in a simple and direct way, without any fancy tricks.

Their soldiers treated them like untrained children.

Despite their superior numbers, they were forced into a series of defeats.

Now, let alone defeating the enemy, it's questionable whether they can even leave alive.

What alarmed them even more was that Liao Bing had already opened the city gates and led his men in pursuit.

Faced with attacks from both sides, their number of soldiers dwindled rapidly.

Within a few breaths, the number of people had dwindled by more than half.

Yang Ke and Zhao Ji were so scared by the downhill slope that they dared not continue the fight.

"Quickly provide cover for me and help me break through!"

Yang Ke and Zhao Ji are now only thinking about escaping, even if it means sacrificing the last of these people.

Given their numbers, if they were to break through and escape at any cost, they might actually be able to!

How could Shen An possibly do as they wished?

Those who surrender will not be killed!

Shen An shouted in time.

Like Yang Ke and Zhao Ji, this group of Black Spirit soldiers had long been terrified.

Shen An's order immediately relieved their tension, and they completely lost their will to fight.

They all knelt down with their hands raised high.

"You bunch of trash, you actually surrendered!" Yang Ke roared in anger.

But they could hardly control themselves; the will to survive couldn't tell them that they wanted to live.

Although they had fought against others in the past, they might continue to fight even if they were outnumbered when facing a powerful enemy, desperately protecting Yang Ke and Zhao Ji.

But they had never seen the divine weapons used by Shen An's side.

The psychological impact on them was too great, and they lost the ability to resist. As long as the other party gives them a way out, they will hold on tightly.

Yang Ke and Zhao Ji saw that they had both surrendered.

Knowing that he had no way to escape, he followed the example of the others, threw away his weapons, knelt on the ground, and raised his hands in surrender.

See this!

On the city walls, cheers and jubilation erupted, and a strong sense of self-confidence surged in everyone's hearts.

But after the initial excitement, she looked at Shen An!

All of this comes from Shen An!

It was he who led them to accomplish this remarkable feat.

At that moment, in many people's eyes, Shen An seemed to be glowing, and all hearts followed that glow and gathered around him.

But to those who surrendered to the Black Spirit Army, it was a completely different story.

They thought this man was terrifying, and that the world in Yangnan Prefecture was about to change!

Although Shen An couldn't hide his excitement, he remained outwardly calm.

If you become a lord, then you must act like one.

With a calm gaze, he ordered, "Push Yang Ke and the others over here. The rest of you, clean up the battlefield!"

"yes!"

Inside the county government office.

Shen An sat in a chair, while Yang Ke and Zhao Ji knelt in the hall.

Upon seeing Shen An in person and looking at his young face, Yang Ke and Zhao Ji, even though they already had some information about Shen An, could not hide their shock.

"Tell me, what should I do with you all?"

Shen An's words startled the two of them, causing them to tremble and quickly pull themselves back to their senses.

"Master Shen, I am willing to pledge my allegiance to you. Please grant me a way out!" Zhao Ji immediately declared.

"Kill them!" Shen An slammed the gavel.

"Huh? Master Shen, didn't you just surrender and say you wouldn't kill me? Why are you still trying to kill me?"

"We were on the battlefield just now, is this a battlefield now? What I hate most is a coward like you who's afraid of death. Die!" Shen An snapped his fingers, and Liao Bing dragged Zhao Ji to the entrance of the county government office and chopped off his head in front of everyone.

Yang Ke, however, had some backbone: "Shen An, kill me or torture me, it's up to you! You'll get your retribution sooner or later for killing people so casually!"

"You do have some backbone! But people with too much backbone are only a nuisance. Kill him too!" Shen An snapped his fingers again.

Liao Bing then dragged Yang Ke out.

Liu Wenyuan had a bad feeling and whispered, "My lord, these two are both Li Huaiyi's confidants. If we kill them, we will lose a lot of information."

"Zhao Ji isn't a true confidant, this guy is! I refuse to believe he's truly fearless!"

Shen An remembered that Yang Ke had sacrificed other soldiers to save his own life.

Someone like that is definitely not fearless!

He's faking it!

If you don't teach him a lesson, he'll keep pretending!

Only by letting him experience life and death, and making him utterly terrified, will he truly surrender!

"No, don't kill me! I can help you deal with Li Huaiyi. I'm his confidant, and I know many of his secrets!"

When Liao Bing brought down the chop, Yang Ke couldn't continue acting and immediately begged for mercy.

Liu Wenyuan then understood Shen An's intention and was immediately embarrassed.

In terms of human nature, he is still inferior to Shen An.

"Push him down!"

"yes!"

Yang Ke had already wet his pants and was dragged over like a dead dog.

Shen An commanded with an extremely oppressive tone, "I'll give you only thirty breaths to state your worth. If you can't, you'll die like Zhao Ji!"