It appears Li Ming had forgotten her proposal to meet Xu Li with Xu Xiaomeng, as the next three months, the two sides had no interacted outside the field of battle.

Each day the cannons would constantly batter against the walls of Dongan, while soldiers from within the city would occasionally engage the revolutionary army in the field, yet to no avail, aside from the constant stream of ships bring soldiers into the city, the situation remained unchanged.

As the siege progressed, at one point Li Ming had instructed the construction of tunnels under the walls, yet most were discovered by the defenders and thoroughly destroyed. During these times, Liu Three had performed exceptionally, Li Ming had offered to promote him countless times, yet Liu Three strangely rejected all her attempts.

In the end, Li Ming could only resign, and say some words of praise, while slightly awkwardly patted his shoulder.

Some nights later, Liu Three, along with Liu Two discussed their peculiar leader.

“Lady Li seems rather ignorant of the proper equity between men and women,” Liu Two said with a slight hint of yearning as he meticulously picked out the grape seeds he was eating. Li Ming had ordered the distribution of some luxury foods among the soldiers to boost morale, fruits were one of them.

“Second brother, it’s not like we don’t live with female soldiers, I’d say general Li ought to give off an air of authority then to give me these,” Liu Three replied as he pointed toward the plate of grapes next of Liu Two, before forcefully seizing a vine for himself.

Looking at his tyrannical younger brother eating the grapes without even peeling the skin, Liu Two averted his eyes slightly,” Younger brother, Lady Li had offered you promotions countless times, but you reject them, at least give her some face.”

Liu Three’s face twitched, looking rather serious, he replied,” That is because the fourth brother had died, so I will fight for two soldiers, in addition, I cannot control others with the same degree as older brother, there is no point in me sitting back planning,” Liu Three said as he pointed toward his rather thick head.

Liu Two stopped eating grapes, before a sense of sorrow well up within him, ultimately, he could not help but feel his vision blur. Liu Three, feeling that it would be great if he still had his bottle of alcohol with him, silently watched his older brother.

Later, Liu One had arrived in the tent shared by the Liu brothers, seeing that his younger sibling had all fallen asleep, a smile unconsciously crept upon his rather haggard face.

Possessing nothing but admiration for the silver-haired general that have never been seen resting, he couldn’t help but notice the heavy bags under his eyes, after taking off his cape, carefully folding it, he then went into his own bed.

As another imperial boat was sunk by their cannons, Li Ming could not help but sigh, twirling her white hair with her fingers. The empire had been adding more troops ever since the siege had begun, though Li Ming had defeated many, their quantities ensured that the troops surrounding Li Ming had numbered at least one hundred thousand, fifty thousand.

While they had not attacked, their looming presence made the men rather tense.

Li Ming had remained on patrol, similarly observing the movement of ships as she had done for the many previous nights. Relying on nothing but the dim light given off by the ships, her black eyes stared rather intensively at the black river.

Her silhouette in the dark night seems extremely small, sitting on the hill they had encamped upon, she occasionally played with her silver hair, twirling it using her rather slender fingers.

Her distractive actions were suddenly disturbed by the sound of cannon fire, and a large splash within the river followed, after a period of time, the cannon fire once again sounded, this time destroying a ship. As the dim light within the ship disappeared into the river, the silver-haired girl could not help but sigh.

She had ordered for cannons to bombard the city walls and the ship every night, causing countless sleepless nights for the enemy soldiers, causing their attentiveness to be greatly reduced, while their frustration flared as Li Ming had arranged her army lived either outside the reach of the enemy cannons or within the trenches.

As dawn broke, the cannon fires soon stopped, as today was rather special. Li Ming had sent an envoy to the city gates.

“General Xu, our general wishes to invite you for a chat,” The envoy spoke toward the general standing atop the wall as he made a deep bow, before riding away back to the hill.

Looking toward the advisors around him, Xu Jin began to speak while playing with the jem located at the handle of his sword.

“My sister can't last any longer, our army is constantly getting reinforced from the imperial navy, while they had been stuck on that hill for five months, tell the men to stay put, with their weapons loaded but do not fire,” Xu Li said as he looked at a set of tables off in the distance.

“I wish to see what she will speak when their defeat is imminent,” he finished.

“General, you can simply send out the army to crush them at this moment, we have more than one hundred and fifty thousand men, there is no need to negotiate,” one of the advisors said.

Xu Li looked with disdain at the men who spoke,” Our victory will be watched by heaven, where is there a need for such petty tactics.”

Throwing his cape, he rode out the city wall with fifteen other riders.

Li Ming, sitting on a small chair, appeared rather relaxed, upon seeing Xu Li arrive, she did not greet them, only gestured humbly at her brother to sit.

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Xu Li sat, stared intensely toward his silver-haired sister if looks could kill, a hole would certainly appear next to Li Ming’s eyes, while the fifteen riders remained standing.

Li Ming poured her brother a cup of tea, before finally speaking.

“Oldest brother, you seem rather well off these past couples of months,” Li Ming said, her smile appearing even brighter.

“Do not speak of these unnecessary matters, speak directly,” Xu Li urged, his face appearing completely confident.

“Why the rush brother, your army greatly outnumbers mine, with an unknown amount on those ships, time is clearing on your side,” Li Ming said rather fragile and desolate, appearing rather tempting to the soldiers around Xu Li.

Xu Li remained silent, yet ultimately allowed for Li Ming to continue.

“Brother, I remember when I was younger, you use to sneak me out the manor, allowing me to see Xuchang,” Li Ming recalled, giving off a slight sigh.

“Those days were quite joyous, seeing the constant stream of people going on their daily lives, I greatly admire their carefreeness, those days, constantly I would have a smile on my face” Li Ming continued, leaning back on her chair with a smile, her white has was untied, and her actions caused it to fall toward the ground.

“It would be great if we never grew up,” Li Ming continued. The sentence not an only reminiscence of their youths, but also implies the deadline for when she will be sent to the emperor as an offering.

“Speaking of which, father had arrived at Northern regions in an attempt to capture me on my sixteenth birthday, yet I had only remember it today, perhaps due to how busy I had been these past months,” Li Ming said as she rubbed her hands together as if recalling the cold of Bingjiang.

“Sister, you are speaking of such embarrassing subjects in front of my advisors, have you no shame,” Xu Li interrupted, yet he simply continued to play with the gem on his sword, paying no attention to the words she said.

“In our last years together, we rarely saw in other,” Li Ming said as she played with her hair, as if trying to past the time,” it was not until I have overheard father’s boasting that I finally learnt why.

Xu Li seemed to have run out of patience, slamming the table,” if you brought me here to speak of our past, there are no points,” before standing from his chair.

Li Ming appeared rather surprised, quickly standing up herself, she used her arms to contain her brother,” Brother, of course, I have not wasted your time on this manner, I am here to discuss a ceasefire.”

“I will accept nothing but an unconditional surrender,” Xu Li said as he struggled out of Li Ming’s hold.

“Brother, it is not this, I am willing to be captured by you to be sent to the emperor, in exchange, you simply need to promise to not strike at the Northern Regions and my soldiers,” Li Ming placated.

“And what of the land West of Hejiang,” Xu Li asked, returning to his chair, he slouched a little, appearing in contrast with Li Ming’s straight posture.

“Naturally those territories will go toward you, older brother,” Li Ming said, her posture gave one the sense to spoil her.

“The emperor would not allow for the Xu family to gain influence in the central plains, especially with Concubine Hu controlling him,” Xu Li complaint, his hand tightening around the jewel.

Giving off an ambiguous smile, Li Ming informed,” If you can bring me to the emperor, forget a few towns and villages, even if you want an entire province, he would still give it to you.”

“How would I know your sincerity,” Xu Li asked suspiciously, yet his grip around his jewel had loosened.

“Look around you older brother, I have brought no one with me, while you have fifteen horsemen, furthermore, what can I, a frail woman do against you men,” Li Ming said, before turning her head to look toward the hill they encamped on, upon seeing a tiny dot of black, she looked back at Xu Li once again.

“Nevertheless, first, let us enjoy the dishes on the table, all personally cooked by me,” Li Ming said, further inviting the horsemen down from their mounts and toward another table, while personally serving Xu Li.

Xu Li appearing rather confident, placed both hands onto the table, and began enjoying the meal, yet a complicated expression appeared on his face.

“When did you learn how to cook,” he asked his sister, using his chopsticks to point at the dishes.

“Have you forgotten, you used to bring me to the court kitchen to cook,” Li Ming answered, rather surprised. Xu Li did not respond, and once more continued eating, perhaps due to his arrogance, he had never once had he thought Li Ming would poison him. Of course, Li Ming was not the sort of person to do so.

Furthermore, Li Ming's cooking skill had been far better than Xu Xiaomeng's, only due to the limited interaction between the two siblings was Xu Li not suspicious.

Holding a cup of wine toward her brother, Li Ming said,” After you have brought me to the emperor, he will surely shower you with land and titles, perhaps you may even be more prestigious than father,” receiving the praise, Xu Li nodded with a smile.

Once again looking at the hill, she saw many more dark dots, at that point, the sun had covered the vision, making it nearly impossible to notice without proper understanding. So naturally, Xu Li and the cavalry he brought along did not see it either.

Rubbing her eyes, Li Ming relaxed her back against the chair for the first time in their conversation and began to laugh.

Her voice that rang like a silver bell continued to laugh, ultimately, tears came out. Xu Li and the men he had brought looked at the crazy girl, yet did nothing.

“General Xu junior, to meet with me is a great mistake,” Li Ming said before the sound of gunpowder explosion could be heard from the mountains.

Xu Li looked toward the city walls, yet saw no damage, and he once again looked back at Li Ming, before he saw the massive dam that contained the water had been bombarded to enter.

Li Ming had picked herself up from the chair, not bothering to pat herself of dust, she went into a tunnel that was too small for Xu Li and the men he had brought along with him.

“You villainous scoundrel,” Xu Li yelled at the opened hole, which had shut soon afterwards, holding his head, he glared toward the soldiers.

“Quickly, bring me back to the city,” Xu Li yelled at his soldiers, jumping onto his horse, leaving behind the table which the steam from the food could still be seen, he begins to gallop on his horse.

Unfortunately, no matter what, he could not outrun the flow of water, the dam soon broke, toppling the massive navy docked around the city, while the gates had been swung open by the black river.

Li Ming army atop the hill had not been affected at all. After the water had calmed down and the city gates had swung opened, they began to row toward the city on makeshift rafts.

The soldiers stationed on the towers had fallen as the tower collapsed, while the soldiers stationed around the city had either drowned or fled to higher ground. With their fatigued spirit from the constant bombing, even if they could usually swim, many had still drowned.

As the soldiers crossed on their rafts, they rescued flooding civilians and soldiers alike, before approaching the main governmental building, where the remaining troops were located at.

As they see the countless soldiers on the rafts, inflated slightly by the number of those they had rescued from the flood, they had lost their will to fight, ultimately, they had surrendered.

During this conflict, Li Ming had not lost a single soldier.

Xu Li meanwhile had been brought away by his contingent of fifteen cavalries, aside from those, he had lost all his soldiers and advisoring remaining in Dongan.

Xu Li had lost, he had lost humiliatingly, even worse than his father had, as he rode toward the imperial capital, he threw his sword toward the ground, smashing the gem he had been toying with.

Li Ming looked at the flooded city, a sense of remorse overcame her heart, before long, she summoned Liu One and instructed him to dedicate all their efforts at rebuilding the dam and alleviating those affected.

Looking at the former area where the table was, a strange light appeared within Li Ming’s pupils, yet it appeared she did not notice it.