I have been a county magistrate for ten years. My subordinates insist on giving me a yellow robe.

"General, if you took me the wrong way, just say so. I won't laugh at you. Haha, why shouldn't you admit it?"

Chen Xudong said he didn't want to laugh, but he covered his mouth with his hands to prevent himself from making any sound.

Ding Yin rolled his eyes at him angrily: "What do you know? It's impossible for me to lead you astray. The feng shui map says exactly where it is."

"But I'm really confused by the sudden appearance of a city here."

"Let's wait and see what news the scouts can bring back." Ding Yin said, and began to close his eyes to rest.

Half an hour later, two scouts appeared silently in front of Ding Yin, bowed and said, "General, we have investigated everything."

"Well, what is the name of this city?" Ding Yin asked impatiently.

The two scouts immediately showed an expression as if they had seen a ghost in broad daylight: "General, this city has no name. To be precise, it is just a county."

"What? Are you sure?" Ding Yin became more and more confused.

It would be fine if a big city really fell from the sky, but the key point is that you tell me that this city in front of me, which is comparable to Luoyun City, is just a county?

"Yes, General, the name of this city is Taiping County." Another scout said.

The expression on Ding Yin's face froze a little, and a not-so-pleasant memory came to his mind.

"General?"

Seeing that Ding Yin did not respond, the two scouts hurriedly spoke cautiously.

"Okay, I understand." Ding Yin came back to his senses and waved his hand lightly, his eyes once again falling on Taiping County.

"After the battle in Taiping County three years ago, the entire county's population should have been less than a thousand. Even when we left, there were only about one or two thousand people. Even if these people worked themselves to death, how could they possibly build such a large city?"

"Something's wrong. Could it be that Daduan has given this city a lot of support?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Ding Yin shook his head and denied his own guess.

It doesn't make sense. Taiping County is too remote. Not to mention Daduan investing here, even passing merchants are sometimes unwilling to come in to do business.

Under such circumstances, can Taiping County build such a city on its own?

"Impossible, absolutely impossible." Ding Yin shook his head decisively, then waved again to call two scouts.

"You two, take the feng shui map. There are two counties nearby. One is called Tai'an County and the other is called Taizong County."

"You two should be careful. Go check out the situation in these two counties. Come back quickly."

"Yes, General!"

The two scouts responded, turned around, mounted their horses, and galloped away.

Ding Yin frowned and looked at the feng shui map again: "If it is as I expected, it is not unreasonable, but if it is not, then this matter is really difficult to deal with."

After saying that, Ding Yin waved his hand again and called someone over: "Li Man, come here."

"General, what's the matter?" Li Man was a lieutenant general and also a very capable assistant to Ding Yin.

"The situation has changed a bit now. You should go back to Luoyun City and mobilize another 2,000 of the 5,000 soldiers we left behind."

Li Man looked at Ding Yin hesitantly: "This, General, this is not good. Luoyun City is an important city. Leaving only 3,000 soldiers in the city is not very appropriate, right?"

"It's okay. There are only 3,000 soldiers guarding the city. Without more than 15,000 soldiers, don't even think about attacking Luoyun City. Then you can mobilize the troops from several small cities around and let them return to guard Luoyun City. There shouldn't be any big problems." Ding Yin said thoughtfully.

Li Man suddenly smiled bitterly: "General, the most feared thing on the battlefield is gambling."

Ding Yin shook his head seriously. "No, Li Man, I'm not gambling. Luoyun City's geographical location is certainly important, but the Daduan troops are still fighting His Highness in Caiyun City. Who else would dare to go deep into Yunzhou?"

"As long as he dares to come, even if Luoyun City really falls into his hands, we only need to cut off his logistics routes, and he will be at our mercy."

"But this city in front of us is too important. I really can't understand why such a fortified city appeared on the border. I must find out."

After Ding Yin finished speaking, Li Man had no choice but to nod and turn away.

Two hours later, Ding Yin finally saw the two scouts sent out.

"How's it going?"

"General, I went to Taizong County. There's still a city there, but it's deserted. I went in and looked around for a long time, but there was no one there. I looked at the dust in the room and I'm afraid no one has lived there in years."

"General, I, I, vomit!" The second scout couldn't help but dry heave as soon as he said a few words.

"What did you see?" Ding Yin frowned.

"General, I went to Tai'an County. I, I didn't dare to get close to it." The scout looked pale, as if he had seen something terrible.

Ding Yin was now even more confused. "What on earth did you see? You didn't even dare to get close? Could it be possible that you could actually see a ghost in broad daylight?"

"No, General, I'm a very brave man. I'm not afraid of ghosts, but the moat in Tai'an County is even scarier than ghosts!"

"I could smell a foul odor from five miles away, and when I got within three miles, the smell hit me right in the head."

"I braved the stench and walked to the moat, only to discover that the smell was actually coming from the moat."

"Go on." Ding Yin urged.

The scout nodded. "I took a closer look and realized that the moat wasn't filled with water at all. It was filled with garbage, excrement, and even bones..."

Without waiting for the scout to finish, Ding Yin waved his hand and said, "Okay, got it. You go down first. I need to eat later."

After the two scouts left, Ding Yin finally breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at the city in the distance and said thoughtfully, "It's exactly as I thought."

"Three counties have been merged into one. By this calculation, the population of Taiping County can be ignored."

"As for Taizong and Tai'an counties, their combined population should be over 10,000."

"According to the Great Duan Law, where one out of every five men is drafted, there should be around two thousand soldiers in Taiping County right now."

Ding Yin gestured on the ground for a while, and after finishing the calculation, he nodded with satisfaction.

"Yes, there should be 2,000 people. However, in this barren land, the soldiers' combat effectiveness should not be high. It is not certain whether they are wearing armor or not. If so, their combat effectiveness will be discounted..."

"As for combat experience, here, at most, it's just hunting and suppressing bandits, which is almost negligible..."

Finally, after Ding Yin calculated for a while, a smug smile appeared on his face again.

"That's right. Once the soldiers from Luoyun City arrive, we can launch a general attack with 5,000 soldiers. We only need 1,000 to 2,000 soldiers to capture the city!"