Reincarnation and Rebirth

As the two talked, they fought back to back. Su Wan'er saw more and more Thunder Army soldiers falling and became anxious. "Xiao Yun Shen, do you understand? If you don't want more casualties, quickly order your men back into the city."

Xiao Yun Shen had no time to think deeply. He ordered his men to retreat back into the city. Su Wan'er, Xiao Yun Shen, and the guards provided cover for them until the last of the Thunder Army entered the city and the city gates were closed. Only then did the group leap onto the city wall.

Weng Bingchang laughed wildly, "Hahaha, even the God of War, General Xiao, is nothing special. You think closing the city gates and becoming a coward will solve everything?"

Ignoring his clamor, Xiao Yunshen looked at Su Wan'er and said, "What's the next step?"

"Can we hold them off for half an hour?"

Xiao Yunshen's face darkened. Could this girl be lying to him? But there was no better way at the moment, so he could only choose to believe her.

Seeing Su Wan'er leave, Shunqing walked to Xiao Yunshen's side and asked, "General, is this person reliable?"

Xiao Yun Shen looked up at the sky. "Do you think there's a better way? Let's stall for as long as we can, at least give the people a little more time."

Shunqing clenched his fists, veins bulging on his temples. "General, if it weren't for that person's reluctance to send reinforcements or provide supplies, our Thunder Army wouldn't be in such a passive position."

Xiao Yun Shen remained silent for a long while, then suddenly seemed to remember something. "Shun Qing, do you remember how many soldiers the Purple Flame Army had when they first captured Qingzhou?"

Shunqing thought for a moment and said, "As many as six hundred thousand."

Xiao Yun Shen murmured the number, saying, "Even if there were losses during the attack on Qingzhou, we shouldn't be left with only a few hundred thousand."

Shunqing pondered Xiao Yunshen's words, and suddenly, both of their expressions changed drastically as they searched the Purple Flame Army.

"General, Zhao Yongkun is not here."

"As expected." Xiao Yun Shen frowned, glanced at the people of Black Tiger Stronghold, then looked towards Bayi Mountain, his eyes filled with sorrow. "Could it be that the Purple Cloud Kingdom is truly going to be overthrown?"

"General, no, there are still guards in the city, and the Second Young Master is still here, he will definitely be fine."

"Yun Ting? Ha, he is wary of our Xiao family. Yun Ting has no troops at all, so how can we resist him? Right now, we can only hope that the guards can hold out for a while until the Northern Cavalry General returns."

The Northern Cavalry General has always been stationed in the northern border region, and he and the Xiao family are located in the north and south respectively.

"General, rest assured, the Northern Cavalry General is brave and skilled in battle, and will surely protect the capital."

"I hope so."

At the city gate, the Purple Flame Army was launching a fierce offensive, while the Thunder Army on the city wall was fighting to the death.

"General, this is terrible! We have less than a thousand arrows left."

"General, something terrible has happened! The Purple Flame Army has switched to fire attack, and the brothers below are about to be overwhelmed."

Xiao Yun Shen practically spat out the words through gritted teeth, “Hold the city gates for me. Even if it means death, don’t let a single member of the Purple Flame Army in.”

"Yes."

Meanwhile, Su Wan'er was busy assembling a simplified version of the cannon in the space.

This was something she remembered when the medicine furnace suddenly exploded a few days ago while she was concentrating on refining medicine. With this cannon, she thought it should be able to stop the Purple Flame Army's attack.

Just when Xiao Yun Shen's men were about to lose control of the city gate, Su Wan'er returned. Everyone looked puzzled as they saw the enormous creature beside her.

"What is this?"

"This is called artillery. It has strong attack power and long range. I will teach you how to use it."

Before anyone could react, Su Wan'er had already quickly installed and launched the device. A hundred meters away, a loud bang was heard, thick smoke billowed, and the huge explosion was mixed with the screams of the Purple Flame Army, which shocked everyone present.

Weng Bingchang couldn't believe his eyes. "What... what is that?"

"General, we don't know what kind of weapons they used, but our men have suffered heavy losses."

"Damn it, speed things up, break through the city gates!"

Artillery has an advantage at long range, and those below the city walls were unaffected.

However, after witnessing the power of this weapon, the Purple Flame Army became wary, while the Thunder Army was overjoyed.

"My God, what kind of weapon is this? It's amazing!"

Xiao Yunshen stared intently at Su Wan'er with his dark eyes. Was this woman really just an ordinary peasant girl?

Su Wan'er looked at Xiao Yun Shen, "Why don't you shoot the arrows?"

Xiao Yun Shen snapped out of his reverie, “There are less than a thousand arrows left in the army.”

Su Wan'er was speechless. "Then use fire! Are we just going to watch them climb up here?"

"Fire attack?"

Su Wan'er rolled her eyes and pointed at Shunqing Shunyi, saying, "Come here, I'll teach you how to use this."

Everyone else looked at the two with envy.

"Do you understand?"

"Understood, Auntie, young master, please rest assured."

Su Wan'er nodded, then walked over, took the arrow from the soldier's hand, glanced around, and finally sighed, "Hold on, wait for me."

He quickly took out two large barrels of kerosene and cotton cloth from his spatial storage before returning to his original spot.

The person on the city wall gaped in disbelief again. This person was amazing. She was carrying two large buckets of kerosene in each hand, and on her back, she was carrying a huge bundle of cotton cloth that was even bigger than her.

Upon seeing this, Xiao Yunshen quickly took the arrow and, following Su Wan'er's instructions, soaked cotton cloth in kerosene, tied it to the arrow, lit it, and launched it.

Instantly, flames erupted beneath the city walls.

Weng Bingchang's eyes were bloodshot with rage. Damn it, Xiao Yunshen actually used such despicable means.

Because it was winter and the weather was dry, the sky outside the city was soon lit up by the fire. Su Wan'er also ordered people to pour oil down the city wall and throw burning cotton cloth down. Now, the Ziyan Army dared not approach the city gate.

If they were further away, they would be attacked by artillery, and in just a quarter of an hour, the Purple Flame Army suffered heavy losses.

"General, if this continues, our Purple Flame Army will suffer heavy losses."

Weng Bingchang was furious. "Let Black Tiger Stronghold lead the charge. Make sure the city gates are opened for me."

The leader, who was hiding behind the Purple Flame Army with his men, gritted his teeth in anger upon hearing this, "Weng Bingchang, you actually sent my men to their deaths!"

"Hmph, they're nothing but a bunch of Ziyun's rabble. It's your good fortune that they can work for us, Ziyan."

"Bah, I will not agree to let my brothers go to their deaths for you."

Weng Bingchang raised his bow and arrow and shot the chief directly between the eyebrows. "Those who are not convinced, this is their fate."

Most of the people in Black Tiger Stronghold were farmers who made their living by farming. Even though they followed their leader in burning, killing, and robbing, they were still quite naive and terrified. The third leader stepped forward, glanced at Weng Bingchang, and shouted to his men, "Brothers, what are we risking our lives for? Isn't it so that one day we can rise to prominence and enjoy wealth and glory? But if you want to get something, you have to try it out. We can't go back to Ziyun Kingdom anyway, so we might as well follow General Weng and try our luck. Maybe we'll get promoted and live a good life in the future."

Immediately, a lackey responded, "Damn it, let's go all out! We're going to die anyway, but if we survive, we can get married and live a good life. Let's risk it all!"

"Okay, I'll give it my all."

When the third leader, Chao Weng Bingchang, smiled, everyone in Black Tiger Stronghold immediately charged forward as if they had taken drugs, regardless of their own safety.

Since they were all from the same country, the soldiers on the city wall hesitated. "General, what should we do?"

Xiao Yun Shen glanced at the people below and said coldly, "Traitors should be executed."

Su Wan'er nodded. Very good, hard-hearted enough.

Seeing the Black Tiger Stronghold soldiers fall one after another, Weng Bingchang finally became anxious and led the remaining half of his troops to retreat to a place ten miles away from the city gate.

A trusted aide approached General Weng and whispered, “General, don’t worry. We’ve already looted Sunset City. As long as we hold this position, they won’t have anything to eat or drink and won’t last more than a few days. Besides, once General Zhao succeeds, these people will be like stray dogs.”

Weng Bingchang raised a sinister smile, "Indeed, as long as we trap Xiao Yunshen, Ziyun Kingdom will sooner or later belong to our Ziyan."