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

As soon as Jiang Yuan said this, Long Guangxian and Chen Xudong, who was familiar with the mechanism, shook their heads.

"Sir, the place is three to five hundred steps away from us. Our catapults can only throw a hundred meters at most. Moreover, that wine jar, uh, that hellfire, only weighs a few dozen kilograms at most. A few dozen meters is the maximum we can throw it."

Jiang Yuan touched his chin and could only give up.

After the friendly greetings between the two sides, Xin Wu's face darkened. "He Wu, stop wasting your breath. The main force will directly move forward. Use the ladders to escort me up. I will take Jiang Yuan's head myself!"

He Wu broke into a cold sweat upon seeing this. His immediate superior was really different from the other commanders. He always led the troops in battle, yet he always managed to stay safe and sound.

It can be said that as long as the soldiers in the rear see Xin Wu fighting in the front, they will rush forward without caring about their lives.

But unfortunately, it was precisely because of this that Prince Zhao once said that Xin Wu was only suitable to be a vanguard and could not truly be a commander-in-chief of the three armies.

No marshal would easily put himself in danger, but even so, Xin Wu is definitely the pioneer that many soldiers most want to follow.

With him around, no one will back down.

"He Wu? What are you thinking about?"

When Xin Wu's voice came, He Wu nodded vigorously. However, before he could issue the order, a dense crowd of people appeared visibly on the wall of Taiping County.

"Wait! They have reinforced their troops! Let the scouts get three hundred steps closer to check." Xin Wu gave the order again.

After a while, the scout came back and said, "General, the people on the top of the city are wearing coarse linen clothes and holding hoes. There are about three thousand of them."

"What?" Xin Wu looked at the city wall in surprise. Civilians? Didn't they say these people hated Jiang Yuan and the others? Why were they fighting on the city wall again?

"He Wu, are you sure what you saw yesterday was true?"

He Wu stared at the top of the city wall in confusion. "That doesn't make sense. From what I saw yesterday, these people were eager to see Jiang Yuan and his bunch of bastards dead. How could they have come to the top of the city wall?"

On the other side, Xin Wu was already squatting on the ground. He picked up a small branch and began to deduce.

"Taiping County is located on the border. They don't wear armor, and their weapons are hoes, stones, and rolling logs..."

"These people are farmers, untrained, but the harsh terrain breeds unruly people. The casualty ratio should be around two to one..."

After Xin Wu finished the calculation, he suddenly felt a headache. Because of these three thousand civilians, his side had to suffer at least six thousand casualties.

This is such a huge loss!

They were civilians, and their death was the end of everything. But we were trained soldiers, and we still had to pay compensation and pensions after their death. This was a loss no matter how we looked at it.

"General, I think something is a little strange. Why don't you let me ask?"

Xin Wu frowned and nodded. There was no harm in asking a few questions. If what He Wu said was true, these people must have worn leather pants over cotton pants when they climbed up the city wall. There must be a reason. What if He Wu could find out something?

Under the gaze of both sides, He Wu slowly walked to a position one hundred steps away from Taiping County, took a deep breath, and looked at the people on the city wall.

"Brothers! You are obviously civilians, why are you fighting on the city walls? This is not your duty. Retreat immediately, or else the sword will be merciless!"

On the city wall, Jiang Yuan, who was lying among several masters, looked at He Wu with a sly smile on his face.

Look, this is the result of a day’s acting. This guy really believes it.

"General, there's nothing we can do!" Jiang Yuan cried.

Long Guangxian and the others all looked at Jiang Yuan with complicated eyes. What the hell was he going to do? The fight was about to start, could you really trick them?

He Wu, who was standing under the city, suddenly understood. It turned out that he had something to hide. No wonder.

Thinking of this, He Wu hurriedly opened his voice and shouted: "Brother, if you have any difficulties, please tell me. I have seen the suffering in your city. You don't need to risk your lives for those corrupt officials!"

"General! We really have no choice. Those people threatened to kill us if we didn't come up!" Jiang Yuan shouted again with all his might.

"And this time he gave us a sweet reward after a beating. He paid us the ten taels of silver he owed us last time. That's all we could do!" Jiang Yuan said, and hurriedly tugged at Long Guangxian's clothes.

"No, I'm running low on energy and my throat is sore from shouting. Now you answer, and follow my instructions."

"Don't worry, my lord."

"Brothers, you can't forget how those crooked officials oppressed you just for this little bit of profit." He Wu frowned and said in a deep voice. It is said that poor and remote areas produce unruly people. Now it seems that they are not only unruly, but also stupid!

If they hadn't arrived, there would be no chance of getting ten taels of silver, let alone the other two!

"Sir, we have no other choice. If you really want to do this for our own good, please withdraw your troops immediately!"

Another voice was heard, and the expression on He Wu's face had turned to anger. These unruly people were not only stupid, but also foolish. Don't they know that as soon as I leave, those officials will turn into another face?

Besides, isn’t it just ten taels of silver?

Is it really worth risking your life for such a small profit?

Thinking of this, He Wu immediately spoke: "Brothers on the city wall, it's not worth it for ten taels of silver. I promise you, after the city is captured, I will open the dog official's treasury and guarantee that the silver you get will be much more than ten taels!"

"Fuck! How dare you use my money to do favors?" Jiang Yuan on the city wall immediately cursed, then turned to look at Long Guangxian next to him.

"Tell him that we have already received the ten taels of silver. This is a real benefit. Since the county magistrate deceived us before, we no longer believe anyone's words and only focus on the immediate benefits."

Long Guangxian immediately gave a thumbs up in admiration. In order to reduce the casualties in Taiping County, you really tried your best. It was okay to let tens of thousands of people in the county scold you for a whole day.

Now not only do I get scolded by others, but I even start scolding myself.

As Long Guangxian's voice was heard again, He Wu's expression gradually turned cold, and he turned around and returned to Xin Wu's side.

"Sir, these scoundrels are short-sighted and don't make sense."

"Why not just order a strong attack? I don't think they have much fighting power."

Surprisingly, Xin Wu not only did not issue an order, but instead sneered and shook his head: "Not appropriate. No matter what, this group of people has the advantage of terrain. Even if the casualty ratio is any worse, it will still be two to one."

"Do you want our soldiers to die at the hands of this group of people?"

He Wu shook his head decisively: "So what does the general mean?"

Xin Wu smiled slightly and pointed to several large boxes that had been brought in from behind him.

"There are ten thousand taels of gold in this box. Isn't it more than enough to bribe these people?"