Cultivation Begins with Caring for Sister-in-law-Chapter 491: Xia Zhining: You Have a New Woman... Again

Chapter 491: Chapter 491: Xia Zhining: You Have a New Woman... Again

The sun had set, yet there was still some faint light. Outside the East City Gate of Bing City, several siege vehicles were parked at the gate, surrounded by the bodies of Chen Army soldiers lying in pools of blood, and several shattered, paralyzed cloud ladders.

On the city walls, the Jin Xia garrison leaned against the battlements, gasping for air.

"Phew, we finally held them back..."

"Why was the Chen Army so fierce today? We lost so many brothers..."

"I don’t know, but I heard the Chen Army has completely surrounded Bing City, seems like they don’t want us to escape."

"Have you heard? They say after the Chen Army took Yao’er City, they killed all our captured brothers without leaving a single survivor, cutting off their heads to build a monument. I also heard the Chen Army’s marquis said he would kill us all, not sparing anyone."

"What? If the Chen Army breaks in, aren’t they going to build another monument here with our heads?"

"Can’t say for sure. That Chen Army’s Strange Thunder is so powerful, I don’t know if we can hold out, I want to go home..."

Although they had just repelled the Chen Army’s offensive, they were not optimistic, and morale was low. The Strange Thunder was too terrifying.

Especially after learning about the Chen Army’s plan to kill them all, they were even more apprehensive.

Gale and Tuoba Zhu patrolled atop the city wall, hearing the discussions of soldiers below. He frowned immediately, wanting to reprimand them to stop spreading rumors and disturbing morale.

But Tuoba Zhu stopped Gale; he had a different thought.

"General, the Chen Army’s attack was fierce today, clearly wanting to take Bing City quickly. But our morale is wavering and low. At this rate, we won’t last until winter.

Instead, why don’t we cut off their retreat, forcing them to resolve to fight desperately, which might help us hold out until winter," Tuoba Zhu suggested.

Gale thought for a moment, agreeing with Tuoba Zhu’s method.

Immediately, he deliberately spread rumors within the city.

He said that the Chen Army’s methods were cruel, taking no prisoners, intending to kill every Jin Xia soldier in the city and to build a monument with our heads.

As the news spread, the Jin Xia soldiers in the city felt fear but also gradually built up a determination to fight the Chen Army to the last breath.

...

Chen Mo was unaware of what was happening inside the city. If he had known, he would have thought it a good thing.

At this moment, he was in his tent discussing the aftermath of the siege with Cui Shuang, Chang En, Sun Meng, Song Shiming, and several other generals.

Just then, Xia Zhining came in, seemingly with something important to report, but hesitated upon seeing the generals.

Chen Mo raised an eyebrow and asked the generals to leave first.

After the generals left, Chen Mo approached Xia Zhining, reaching for her waist and saying, "Zhining, what’s wrong?"

But Xia Zhining dodged away, speaking with jealousy, "You have another new woman to sleep with."

Chen Mo’s face darkened, "What nonsense are you talking about? Where would I find a new woman to sleep with on the frontline, apart from you, there’s no other woman in the army."

"I didn’t say in the army..."

Saying this, Xia Zhining handed Chen Mo an urgent letter, saying, "Look, Zuo Lianglun sent you a woman. What a thoughtful subordinate..."

Her words were dripping with sarcasm.

Chen Mo, looking perplexed, took the urgent letter and read it, then his expression turned serious. He didn’t care about what Zuo Lianglun mentioned about Yue Ruyan; he said in a heavy tone, "I can’t believe Longyou was captured by Jin Xia, no wonder these northerners want to drag it out with me at Bing City."

"Stop changing the subject. Quickly confess, did Zuo Lianglun make Yue Ruyan your woman on your previous instructions? Did you already know what happened in Longyou?" Xia Zhining questioned sharply.

"Where do you get so much jealousy to consume? How could I have known what happened in Longyou? This was clearly Zuo Lianglun acting on his own." Then Chen Mo added, "But he did say this Yue Ruyan is a Divine Power Realm Martial Artist and is now pledging allegiance with her forces and clan, which is quite a substantial aid that we can’t pass up."

Xia Zhining sneered coldly, "I knew it, if you weren’t lustful, he wouldn’t have acted on his own, catering to your preferences."

Chen Mo, with skin as thick as a city wall, replied, "Don’t be troublesome, after all, the other party is at least a Third-Grade Martial Artist. In such circumstances, how could I turn her away? Since we are to take her in, it’s more reassuring to make her one of us."

"You’re just making excuses." Xia Zhining pouted, but said no more.

She understood too, a Divine Power Realm Martial Artist willingly pledging allegiance can’t be refused.

She complained to Chen Mo mostly out of a normal woman’s jealousy.

Chen Mo, not being insensitive, quickly changed the topic, "With Longyou fallen, the flames of war will soon reach Yu State. We need to speed things up."

...

Over the next three days, the Chen Army launched fierce attacks on Bing City, with the battle intensifying.

The Chen Army suffered considerable losses, with casualties exceeding five thousand.

But the Jin Xia garrison within the city fared no better, with the casualties ratio almost one-to-one with the Chen Army.

Since the Chen Army surrounded the city and first used artillery to siege, they inflicted over ten thousand casualties on the Jin Xia garrison.

The garrison had just over thirty thousand soldiers, losing over ten thousand in less than half a month, severely weakened.

Such heavy casualties made many Jin Xia soldiers fearful of battle, especially since over two thousand were defeated soldiers brought back by Tuoba Zhu.

It was only because of the Chen Army’s threat of killing them all that they resisted to the death.

After another day of brutal defense, whispers arose behind the walls at the East City Gate.

"Have you heard? The West City Gate isn’t surrounded and hasn’t been attacked all these days."

"Is that so? Weren’t all four city walls surrounded by the Chen Army before..."

"They were surrounded before, but I heard the Chen Army withdrew their forces later. After all, the West City Gate is at the back of the city. The Chen Army probably couldn’t handle it, or perhaps they want to concentrate their forces to breach one gate."

"Probably, in the past few days, our East City Gate has seen the worst of it."

"No, then doesn’t it mean... if we can’t hold out, we can retreat from the West City Gate? We have more cavalry; if we leave the city, the Chen Army won’t be able to catch up."

"..."

After all these days, news about the West City Gate could be learned even without trying.

Initially determined to fight to the death, knowing there might be an escape route, their thoughts wavered between dying in battle and retreating.

But one thing was certain; their resolve was not as firm as before.

"It’s over..."

The whispers in the city quickly reached Tuoba Zhu’s ears, causing his expression to change.

At this moment, he finally understood the Chen Army’s intention to surround only three city gates.