Zhao Shen stood sword in hand in the middle of the road, still wearing tattered cloth clothing, even his hair disheveled, but with over two thousand troops standing behind him, his figure was considerably elevated.

He casually raised his head to look at Xun Xiu on horseback, the corner of his mouth lifting: “General Xun returned later than I expected. Seems you’re not very clever.”

Xun Xiu gripped his blade tighter. As expected, Zhao Ming’s son was just as annoying as him, especially that mouth.

He commanded in a low voice: “Kill!”

His Xun Family Army behind him prepared to charge. Zhao Shen also raised his sword and shouted: “Kill!”

From the houses on both sides of the street, people uniformly emerged from the opposite side, bows drawn to full extension. At Zhao Shen’s command, they released their arrows in unison. After releasing one volley, they immediately ducked back down, while another row of soldiers rose up behind them to shoot downward…

This was Meng County’s main thoroughfare—very wide, but no matter how wide a street was, as a battlefield it was narrow. The archers on the rooftops didn’t even need to aim carefully. As long as they shot downward, most arrows would hit people.

Naturally, arrows also shot toward Xun Xiu. He swung his blade to deflect the flying arrows. Seeing the heavy casualties among his soldiers, he couldn’t help but rage: “Zhao whelp! You’re despicable and shameless!”

Zhao Shen looked astonished: “You ungrateful rebel general actually have the face to call my normal ambush tactics despicable and shameless? Then what are you?”

“You, you—” Xun Xiu was infuriated, completely forgetting to wait for the soldiers in the rear to supplement the front before charging together. He directly spurred his horse and charged at Zhao Shen with raised blade…

This was exactly what Zhao Shen had been waiting for. His gaze sharpened. As the horse charged and the blade swung down, he bent his body, his feet rapidly moving, his body rising and falling like a swallow, dodging this strike. His heel gripped the ground, his body pivoted with his foot as center, tracing a semicircle, his sword horizontal, slashing fiercely at the horse’s legs…

The warhorse whinnied, rearing its front legs high. Not only did Xun Xiu’s next strike miss, he was thrown from the horse.

Zhao Shen had also dodged the descending hooves at this time, leaping aside to stand, his breath slightly labored as he looked at Xun Xiu with a smile: “Now this is fair.”

Otherwise, with him on the ground, it was too disadvantageous.

Xun Xiu knew he couldn’t give Zhao Shen a chance to speak. This person’s mouth was extremely irritating, so as soon as he stood firm, he charged at Zhao Shen.

Zhao Shen fearlessly met him head-on. The soldiers behind him also shouted loudly and charged forward.

The main street instantly became a chaotic battlefield.

After fighting for who knows how long, the number of people on the street gradually decreased. The Zhao Family Army and the refugee forces Zhao Shen brought had diminished even more—after all, they only numbered less than four thousand, while Xun Xiu had more men. Just as Zhao Shen was barely holding on, battle cries arose. He turned his head to look and saw an “Xun” character banner opposite.

Zhao Shen nearly lost his grip on his sword. He fought desperately to carve a bloody path, looking around and shouting loudly: “Wenda! Wenda…”

Yan Wenda felt exhausted but had no choice but to respond: “What are you shouting?”

Zhao Shen’s voice was grave: “Take the remaining men and withdraw. Scatter into the streets and save yourselves!”

With that, he found Xun Xiu fighting in the crowd, gathered his energy again to leap up, stepped on people to attack and kill Xun Xiu.

His eyes gleamed with cold light, already heedless of life and death.

Besides defeating the Xun Family Army militarily, there was another way to end this battle—kill Xun Xiu.

Zhao Shen jumped in front of Xun Xiu, sword in hand, and attacked. This time, he no longer defended, using only killing moves. Seeing this, Xun Xiu’s guards formed an encirclement and immediately attacked. One person happened to kill a blocking Zhao Family Army soldier, turned to see Zhao Shen’s back completely exposed to him, and immediately swung his great blade down fiercely. Zhao Shen felt the blade wind but stubbornly didn’t move, persistently stabbing his sword through Xun Xiu, then his spine trembled as he waited for the blade to fall…

He felt it took a long time, but it was only an instant. Feeling no pain, he didn’t hesitate—he twisted his body to leap away, then took the opportunity to glance back. He saw the blade-wielding soldier’s eyes wide open, a long arrow piercing through his brow. Surprised, he followed the arrow’s tail to look into the distance.

He saw a young woman with her hair in a high ponytail, wearing a smoky chestnut-colored riding outfit, lowering her bow, her gaze deep as she surveyed this battlefield. Zhao Shen met her eyes and felt only profound calm in them. He vaguely guessed her identity, but before he could speak, he heard earth-shaking calls resound through the sky: “The General has returned to court! The General has returned to court!”

The Xun Family Army reinforcing from outside the city had just joined the battle when they suddenly turned and saw Zhao Hanzhang. Their hearts went cold. Without the Zhao Family Army even needing to shout “surrender and be spared,” they dropped their weapons of their own accord.

People hiding in their houses saw Zhao Hanzhang and instantly became excited. Not caring that there were rebel troops outside, they grabbed a basin and stick from the kitchen and ran out, banging the wooden basin loudly while shouting: “The General has returned to court! The General has returned to court…”

People inside heard this and all rushed out. One called to two, two called to four, and the voices instantly resounded throughout the entire city.

Zhao Shen still gripped his sword, keeping his eyes fixed on the Xun Xiu guards surrounding him, but seeing Zhao Hanzhang, the guards’ hands also trembled and they scattered, no longer attacking Zhao Shen.

When they moved aside, Zhao Hanzhang’s gaze met directly with Xun Xiu, who was supporting himself with his blade and barely standing steady.

Seeing her, Xun Xiu couldn’t help but laugh bitterly, knowing the situation was lost.

He had thought this was Zhao Shen’s feint strategy, but it turned out to be a delaying tactic. Zhao Hanzhang had truly returned to court, and she looked very healthy, not at all like someone who’d been injured.

This strike from Zhao Shen hadn’t injured his vital points, but blood was continuously flowing out. Without stopping the bleeding, he might die from blood loss.

However, now wasn’t the time to think about that. He surveyed the area, seeing that those still at his side were all people familiar to him. He couldn’t help but feel apologetic. Originally they had rebelled because of uncertain prospects and dissatisfaction, but unexpectedly, they’d ended up giving their lives.

Zhao Hanzhang had arrived so swiftly and silently that he hadn’t even been able to use the retreat route he’d deliberately left.

Xun Xiu raised his blade horizontally before his throat. His heart hardened and he was about to commit suicide when an arrow flew over, grazing his wrist and embedding in the ground. His wrist stung with pain, the blade loosened and fell to the ground.

He looked in surprise toward Zhao Hanzhang, who had shot the arrow.

The Xun Family Army laid down their weapons. The surviving Zhao Family Army and the main force behind Zhao Hanzhang together surrounded and herded them aside. Only then did Zhao Hanzhang toss her bow to Zhao Kuan behind her and spur her horse forward.

Zhao Shen watched as the crowd parted to make way for Zhao Hanzhang, his gaze flickering, staring at her intensely with shining eyes.

His gaze was too fervent. Zhao Hanzhang couldn’t help but glance at him, but only one glance before turning to the dejected Xun Xiu.

Zhao Hanzhang sat on horseback, looking down at him from her elevated position: “Where is Wang Han?”

Xun Xiu stared at her with wide eyes. After a moment, he became even more defeated and dejected, saying: “At my residence.”

Zhao Hanzhang turned to look at Zhao Kuan.

Zhao Kuan understood and before pulling his horse away, still greeted the young man on the ground: “Cousin Shen.”

Zhao Shen stared at him intensely, and after a moment finally responded: “Ah, Cousin Kuan. You’ve gotten so dark. You don’t look like an aristocratic fool anymore at all.”

Zhao Kuan’s face remained warmly composed. Without engaging with his words, he simply introduced: “This is the General. Third Sister.”