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

Thousands of miles away in Taiping County, in the imperial capital, heavy snow was spreading.

The palace's beautiful buildings were covered in white, including the Qianqing Palace in the harem.

The nearly forty-year-old Queen Mother Ning slowly opened the window in front of her, holding the still young Second Prince in her arms.

Since the death of Duanmu Xiongtu, Duanmu Yuanchen, with the assistance of Chen Liu and others, took over the entire imperial capital with lightning speed.

Even with Jiang Yuan's help, the entire Ning family was brought down to pieces, from the once glorious first family to the now unknown family.

But surprisingly, the Empress Dowager Ning, who had lived in the deep palace for a long time, never came forward to plead for mercy.

Not once, not even an appearance, as if the entire Ning family had nothing to do with her.

Fortunately, Duanmu Yuanchen did not focus on the harem. In addition, the Zhao Dynasty was making a big fuss about restoring the country, so the harem seemed even more deserted.

Queen Mother Ning stood outside the window and watched for a long time before she spoke softly without turning her head: "Ling'er."

"Mother, my servant is here."

A sweet voice sounded, and a maid in her twenties came over with her head lowered.

Queen Mother Ning slowly turned around, her expression still calm as she looked at him: "Please go to the Ning family on my behalf."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Ling'er responded quickly.

Empress Dowager Ning let out a breath and gently patted the back of the baby in her arms.

"Tell them to send a message to Ningchuan, who is guarding the border, saying that the imperial capital is covered in snow and wind."

Ling'er looked at Empress Dowager Ning in confusion, not understanding what she meant. However, she didn't dare to ask any more questions. She turned aside, bowed, and left...

After Ling'er left, Empress Dowager Ning waved her hand to dismiss the maids around her, looked out the window with a cold tone.

"What a bunch of brainless people!"

-

Taiping County.

The weather is still sunny today. Apart from the heavy snow a few days ago, there is no sign of the second snow this year.

But due to its border location, the weather is still very cold.

Jiang Yuan sat lazily at the door basking in the sun. Ever since he subdued all the remaining remnants of Xin Wu's defeated troops yesterday, Taiping County finally had a peaceful life again.

According to Jiang Yuan's estimation, it is unlikely that Prince Zhao will send anyone again.

After all, they had capsized twice, and the total number of soldiers they brought was nearly 30,000.

Even though the Crown Prince of Zhao currently occupies two states, how many troops can he mobilize in the face of the double-pronged attack from Chenliu and Mu Songfeng?

If there is less, it will be used to provide experience to Taiping County. If there is more, Prince Zhao will not be able to provide it.

Jiang Yuan had just sat down for a while when he saw Mu Cangtian and Chen Xudong running towards him excitedly.

"Sir, it's done!"

Jiang Yuan stood up suddenly: "What did you come up with?"

"A war monster?"

Chen Xudong waved his hands repeatedly and said, "No, no, it was me who brought out the truth bomb."

Jiang Yuan looked at Chen Xudong with suspicion. Although this kid was the heir of a family of mechanical engineers, the truth bomb was not a type of mechanical engineer.

"What kind of thing did you come up with?"

"Sir, follow me!" Chen Xudong waved to Jiang Yuan, turned around and ran away quickly.

A moment later, Jiang Yuan looked at the truth bomb that had been improved by Chen Xudong in front of him, still with doubts.

The changes are not big. It can be said that except for the lead, nothing else has changed.

The fuse was changed from ten centimeters long to directly attached to the outer iron armor, and there was a wooden cap on top of the fuse.

"What did you improve on this thing?" Jiang Yuan asked curiously. You have to know why he set the fuse of the truth bomb to ten centimeters. It was completely for his own safety.

If one of them explodes instantly, at least there will be time to react.

But now, their time has been shortened to this point. If something unexpected happens, I'm afraid I'll be the first one to die.

"Sir, I've seen the power of your truth bomb. Although I don't know how you did it, I think it's not a good idea to leave the fuse exposed."

"And it needs a tinderbox to ignite it, which is difficult to use in an emergency, so I shortened the fuse, but not too short, about an inch long."

"At the same time, I changed the way the tinder is lit to just pulling open this wooden cap."

"Wait a minute!" Jiang Yuan stretched out his hand to interrupt Chen Xudong's words, and looked at the ten-year-old child seriously.

"You mean to say you switched from lighting with a cord to lighting with a pin?"

Chen Xudong looked at Jiang Yuan in confusion. "What kindling? I don't know. I just added flint powder inside the wooden hat. The moment I pulled out the wooden hat, the flint powder on the hat rubbed against the inside, and it ignited the fuse directly!"

Jiang Yuan nodded slowly, looked at the improved version of the truth bomb in his hand, and suddenly pulled off the cap. With a crackling sound, Jiang Yuan threw it away with his backhand.

boom!

A loud noise was heard, and Jiang Yuan looked at the wooden hat in his hand. It seemed that this thing could be recycled.

"Yes, well done."

"Of course, I am the successor of mechanical engineering!" Chen Xudong raised his head proudly.

After thinking for a while, Jiang Yuan said, "Wait here for a moment. I'll get you something."

As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Yuan rushed out.

Half a minute later, under Chen Xudong's puzzled gaze, Jiang Yuan quickly filled the bullets and gunpowder, and then lit the fuse.

"boom!"

After the sound, a tree in front of the few people shook violently for a while, and Chen Xudong looked at the bullet that had penetrated the tree trunk with shock.

"Sir, what is this? Is this also a kind of mechanical magic?"

"A mechanism? It should count as one." Jiang Yuan said uncertainly, and then handed the spear in his hand to Chen Xudong.

"You can take this thing apart and look at it, but find a way to improve it. At the very least, make it like a truth bomb that can be ignited directly without an open flame."

After saying this, Jiang Yuan immediately turned around and left, while Chen Xudong was completely attracted by the spear in his hand. Only Mu Cangtian sighed. He finally thought that he could have two days off after completing the task, but he was really impressed!

Jiang Yuan walked slowly back to the county government office and sat down on a chair.

After another busy year, let’s take a look at the current financial situation of Taiping County.

Jiang Yuan opened the account book and scanned them one by one, nodding from time to time.

"You never know until you see it. It's even more awesome than I imagined." Jiang Yuan swallowed.

Today, Taiping County can be described as strong in both military and cavalry.

The population of the entire Taiping County has reached nearly 300,000, especially in the second half of the year, because of Ding Yin's token, the population has almost skyrocketed.

According to records, the number of soldiers who could go to the battlefield to fight, including barbarians, was a terrifying 100,000!

Even Jiang Yuan couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart when he saw this number.

Before he knew it, he had an army of over 100,000.