He was capable of protecting the six children and Feiyan, but he wasn't confident he could protect the nearly ten thousand soldiers of Fengliang Kingdom.

After all, war means casualties!

At this moment, General Ye Yinghan of Yunwu Kingdom, who had been poisoned by his own needle, was being escorted back to the camp by several generals. After regaining some consciousness, he looked around and saw several hundred soldiers following him in a disheveled state.

"Why are there so few people? Where are my troops? Huh?" Ye Yinghan grabbed the nearest adjutant and asked breathlessly.

He had 10,000 troops, and because he was planning to take Huazhou in one fell swoop, he mobilized nearly 8,000 troops. But now, looking around, there are only a few hundred people left.

"Reporting to the General, these are all those who have returned," the lieutenant said, shifting his gaze with considerable trepidation.

Upon hearing this, Ye Yinghan became extremely agitated: "How is this possible? My eight thousand soldiers, um..." With a "pfft" sound, a mouthful of scarlet blood spurted from his mouth, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted.

The soldiers nearby hurriedly called for the general, and the deputy general sighed, signaling to speed up and return to the camp as soon as possible.

I don't know why, even though I managed to escape and can now vaguely see the main camp, the unease in my heart is growing stronger.

Isn't this defeat the worst possible outcome?

Even if the imperial court blames me, I'm not the commander-in-chief!

At this moment, they faintly heard a strange noise coming from behind them. They could naturally tell what it was, and slowly turned around to look. In the flying dust, the banners of the Fengliang Kingdom's army were faintly visible.

"Deputy General Zhang, look! The enemy! The troops from Fengliang Kingdom are attacking!" At this moment, a soldier shouted in panic.

Deputy General Zhang lashed out with his whip: "This deputy general is not blind."

After shouting, he urged the soldiers protecting General Ye to speed up.

Right now, we can only return to the main camp as soon as possible and let General Tang make a decision.

What else could they do? With only a few hundred men left, how could they possibly withstand the army of Fengliang Kingdom?

As Zhang Li spurred his horse toward the military camp, he wondered why the army of Fengliang Kingdom had come to attack.

Why is this different this time, something that has never happened in so many years?

Over the years, every two or three years, His Majesty would order the Grand General to send troops to invade the other side, but he never issued a strong decree that the other side's territory must be conquered.

His Majesty's meaning is that if we can take it, we should; if we can't, it's okay, we can just treat it as a drill.

If you try a few more times, you'll eventually have a chance to succeed.

Indeed, this was the case. Every time they attacked the other side, although they did not gain an inch of territory due to the bravery of Gong's army, they were still defeated, only losing some food and supplies and some soldiers.

Aside from making accusations, the Fengliang Kingdom on the other side did not take any other action. His Majesty was thus convinced that the ruler of the Fengliang Kingdom was cowardly, weak, and incompetent, which further strengthened his determination to plunder and annex their territory little by little.

The only difference this time is that General Ye hired a skilled martial artist to make these three deadly weapons.

Originally, I was thinking that with the power of this weapon, I could take down Huazhou City on the other side in one fell swoop.

But who could have imagined that the other side would also have the help of a martial arts expert? A young woman, riding a donkey and commanding three wolves, not only destroyed the three powerful weapons, but also the catapults prepared for attacking Huazhou.

The poison needles and boulders from the catapults that were meant for the enemy were used on their own soldiers.

When Deputy General Zhang and his men finally returned to the camp, they found it empty. They grabbed a lame laborer and learned that General Tang had led the remaining two thousand soldiers back to Hongliu City.

They learned of General Ye's crushing defeat from the scouts, so they fled!

Deputy General Zhang didn't even have a chance to curse before he quickly retreated towards Red Willow City.

On the other hand, the soldiers of Fengliang Kingdom had no trouble passing through the country, let alone resisting ambushes.

The smooth sailing made one wonder if the enemy was doing this on purpose, setting a trap to lure them in before annihilating them.

Before sunset, Gong Wei led his army to the city walls, ordered them to set up camp, rest, and wait for an opportunity to attack.

Gong Wei looked at the Red Willow City that was right in front of him, thinking only about how to capture the city as quickly as possible, while also trying his best not to harm innocent civilians.

"Gong Wei, are all the men of your Fengliang Kingdom dead? How come you've brought a few maids and a few brats to fight?" Someone on the city wall put their hands to their mouth and shouted in this direction.

The distance was at least 900 meters, if not a thousand meters. Hong Xiaoduo and the others standing at the forefront not only heard it, but heard it very clearly.

Gong Wei and his generals were furious when they heard this. They secretly thought that once they stormed in, they would capture this guy and cut his tongue off piece by piece.

They glanced at Hong Xiaoduo and the others, only to find that these nine people, big and small, were neither angry nor upset, and didn't take the enemy's harsh words seriously at all.

"Sir, may I borrow your bow and arrows?" Hong Xiaoduo said to the soldier closest to her.

Seeing that she didn't speak to him, Quan Jinghuai didn't take the bow and arrows from the horse behind him.

"Heroine, it's too far. At this distance, unless we use a triple-bow ballista or a thousand-step crossbow, my ordinary ones are useless," the general said with some difficulty.

Both of these crossbows require multiple operators.

Hong Xiaoduo understood what he meant. In ancient times, those who praised archery skills would say things like hitting a willow leaf from a hundred paces away. Brother Quan had also said that the best archers could only shoot at a distance of about three hundred meters.

Even so, if the external environment is unfavorable, such as rain or strong winds, this distance will still affect accuracy.

Trying to shoot those foul-mouthed people on the city wall with ordinary bows and arrows is definitely not going to work.

Even if someone is skilled in martial arts and has good internal strength, it would be impressive if they could shoot more than 400 meters, but they still couldn't reach the person on the city wall!

Missing your shot will only make the opponent more smug and laugh at you.

"I'll give it a try, just in case," Hong Xiaoduo said with a smile.

Seeing that she insisted, the soldier quickly took out his bow and handed her the arrows.

Hong Xiaoduo accepted it casually, then casually took out an arrow and aimed it at the one who had just shouted.

That guy saw Hong Xiaoduo's intentions too. Instead of hiding behind the wall, he stood on it, put his hands on his hips, and thrust his hips back and forth in front of Hong Xiaoduo, making extremely lewd movements.

Dou Suyi looked on, her face even more unpleasant than the other generals. She was about to advise Hong Xiaoduo not to lower herself to the level of such a lowlife, but she saw that Hong Xiaoduo still showed no anger at all. Her son, Tianquan, and the other children were huddled together, whispering to each other.

Everyone around noticed that Hong Xiaoduo had slightly lowered the arrow she had already aimed at...