Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

In early June, while Shengjing City was still in the midst of the "Winning Studies" craze, Shen Lang's fleet had already slowly sailed into the Gukou Fortress.

"fire!"

Inside the command center, Shen Lang gave an order, immediately commanding the main guns to fire simultaneously.

Boom boom boom——

In just a moment, the barrage of artillery fire turned the Gukou Fortress into a sea of ​​fire.

The defending soldiers had no time to react and were driven to flee in panic by the raging artillery fire.

"What happened? What's going on?!"

Faced with the sudden attack, Xue Dutu, the commander defending the city, was completely unprepared. As soon as the cannons roared, he immediately lay down under the table in the fortress, trembling with fear.

"My lord, many ships have appeared at sea, several times larger than our naval vessels, and those thunderous sounds are coming from the ships."

The deputy general, Lian Renxin, looked dejected and disheveled. He lay on the ground, occasionally tapping his official hat and peacock feather, and stammered as he replied to Xue Dutu.

Upon hearing this, Xue Dutu flew into a rage: "It must be those foreign barbarians attacking! Tell the men to prepare for battle!"

Lian Renxin looked troubled: "My lord, there's no way to fight."

What do you mean by "can't fight"?

"The enemy is several miles away from the port, and the defensive weapons on my coastal fortress can't reach them at all."

Xue Dutu's pupils shrank: "Such a thing is true. No, I must see it with my own eyes."

As he spoke, Xue Dutu carefully climbed to the gate of the city tower, pushed open the half-closed door, and peeked out.

"Sir, save me..."

The next moment, a bloody arm suddenly wrapped around Xue Dutu's neck.

Xue Dutu glanced at the man and was immediately terrified.

The soldier in front of me was covered in blood and mud, his face was covered in bloodstains, and most importantly, his lower body was nowhere to be seen.

"Let go! Let go of me!"

Xue Dutu hurriedly tried to push away the soldier who had begged him for help.

But the soldier, with a strength he didn't know he possessed, clung tightly to his neck and wouldn't let go.

And he kept muttering, "Sir, it hurts so much! I feel like my butt is gone. Can you help me find it?"

Xue Dutu forcefully pried at the arm hanging around his neck, repeatedly exclaiming, "Get away! I don't see your butt. It's not here. Go look for it somewhere else."

"No, sir, don't leave me. It really hurts so much. Please help me. I can't live without a butt. If I lose my butt, I'll never be able to be reborn."

"Let go of me, you fucking hear me! Aaaaaah—"

Xue Dutu was almost going crazy. He pushed open the door and stood up, trying to shake off the stubborn soldier.

However, the moment he stood up, the soldiers, who were only half-bodied, also clung to him.

Xue Dutu completely broke down and kept running around aimlessly on the city wall.

Amidst the roar of artillery fire, soldiers who had lost all restraint and resistance were everywhere.

These soldiers were all Di people, but due to a long period of lack of training, they relied on the government's aid to exploit the common people every day, and had become even worse than the garrison soldiers.

After the cannon fire, they scattered and fled, and no amount of suppression by the governor's officers and soldiers could quell them.

Seeing that he couldn't shake off the body clinging to him, Xue Dutu, panting heavily, leaned against the wall and glanced into the distance.

With just one glance, Xue Dutu felt utterly devastated.

Several massive ships on the sea surface continuously fired shells toward the fortress.

Even more frightening is that countless kayaks that have landed are rapidly approaching the port of Guzhou.

"Enemy attack, enemy attack!"

Finally, after twenty minutes of bombardment, Xue Dutu realized that the Chu army had really attacked.

But wasn't the Chu army already wiped out by the Wu camp's officers and soldiers? How did they suddenly reappear here!

However, Xue Dutu no longer had time to investigate the reasons behind this.

What he needs to do now is go with the flow—run away.

"Die!"

Unable to bear it any longer, Xue Dutu finally remembered that he was a martial artist at the half-step innate realm. He directly threw the soldier who had been "cut in half" at his feet with an over-the-shoulder throw.

"Damn it, what bad luck!"

Xue Dutu immediately kicked him twice and spat twice before running away.

Just as he was about to run away, his deputy, Lian Renxin, grabbed him and said, "Sir, we have a duty to defend our territory. Now that foreign barbarians are attacking, you can't abandon your soldiers and run away alone."

Xue Dutu flung his hand away: "Defend? How am I supposed to defend? Look at those huge ships, and those smaller boats getting closer. Tell me, what am I supposed to defend with?"

Lian Renxin: "But if we leave like this, His Majesty will surely punish us."

Xue Dutu: "Whether His Majesty punishes us or not is a matter for the future. Right now, all I know is that if we don't run away soon, we won't even need His Majesty to punish us; we'll all be serving the late Emperor in the underworld!"

Lian Renxin was taken aback upon hearing this, then nodded and said, "What you say is very true, sir. This is beyond human power to resist. We should retreat immediately..."

Boom~

Before he could finish speaking, a grenade exploded ten meters behind him.

Lian Renxin was blown to pieces on the spot, turning into a pool of blood and flesh.

Xue Dutu was knocked to the ground by the aftershock of the cannonball.

"puff."

The moment he stood up, he felt a sweet taste in his throat and immediately spat out a mouthful of blood.

Looking up again, my gaze fell upon a charred buttock, wisps of steam rising from it.

"My goodness!"

After a brief silence, Xue Dutu scrambled about in all directions, disregarding everything else...

Meanwhile, thousands of marines had landed at the Guzhou Fortress and begun a final sweep of the remaining forces on the city walls.

After an hour of sweeping operations, a total of 473 Wu Zhao garrison soldiers were killed and 1,227 were captured.

According to the prisoners, the remaining garrison officers and soldiers, along with Xue Dutu, had already retreated towards Zhongdu.

"Set up defenses here and rest. We will assemble at 5 a.m. tomorrow and launch an attack on Zhongdu City!"

After Shen Lang issued the military order, the entire army immediately began to get busy...

Meanwhile, an extremely strange scene unfolded within the city of Zhongdu.

"Oh no! Foreign invaders have attacked! Everyone run! If we don't run now, we'll never escape again!"

The officers and soldiers who had withdrawn from the Gukou Fortress hurriedly shouted the news of the foreign invaders' capture of the fortress throughout the city.

However, to their surprise, their words were immediately met with attacks from the people who had been brainwashed by "Winning Theory".

"What nonsense are you spouting? The foreign barbarians have clearly been annihilated by my Wu Zhao army, how could they possibly still be here? Can you at least be a little more credible when you're telling lies?"

"Look at him, he looks so dejected. He must have run into some bandits, been beaten up, and then came to say that foreigners have come."

"Exactly! You can't even make up a decent lie. His Majesty has already decreed that we've won, and you still dare to sow discord here? It's utterly shameful!"

For a time, the people pointed and cursed at the soldiers, and no matter how the Di people explained, it was no use.

"How dare you deceive the emperor! Even if you are a Di person, it's unacceptable! Beat him!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the angry people immediately began to punch and kick the soldiers.

In an instant, the city of Zhongdu became extremely lively and bustling...