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

"Oh my god! Hurry up, Wang Gang! The people behind us are coming!"

Jiang Yuan turned around to observe the situation and stuffed two pieces of tea leaves into Wang Gang's mouth.

As long as you don't eat too much, it can be used as a stimulant.

"Sir! Hold on, we are here to rescue you!" Chen Qing, Wang Jue and several other masters killed the horse thieves one by one in the back, and in the blink of an eye, they eliminated more than a dozen horse thieves.

Hatu, one of the horse bandit leaders, stopped decisively. If he continued running like this, he would be killed by the people behind him sooner or later.

"Retreat! Gather at Taizong County!"

Hatu shouted loudly, jumped off his horse and rushed into the dense forest. The other horse thieves followed his example and dived into the dense forest.

Jiang Yuan breathed a sigh of relief and patted Wang Gang on the shoulder to signal him to stop.

"Are you okay, sir?" Chen Qing was the first to rush over.

Jiang Yuan waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, I'm a lucky person. How could I possibly get into trouble so easily? We have to hurry back to Taiping County to avoid being ambushed by those bandits!"

"What about Tai'an County? Shouldn't we go back and accept their thanks?" Zhao Kai said in a low voice.

Jiang Yuan kicked him without hesitation: "It's already this late, and you're still thinking about going back to act silly. Hurry back to Taiping County!"

At this moment, the sky was gradually getting brighter. When Jiang Yuan and others returned to Taiping County, it was already bright. Ma Zhi, who was guarding the city gate, immediately ordered the gate to be opened and ran to Jiang Yuan.

"Since you have successfully returned, I know that these horse thieves have no chance of winning against you. You only need to use a little trick to kill them!"

Jiang Yuan's mouth twitched fiercely. Pissing and running away? He was almost chased to the point of peeing and running away.

"Stop talking, I'm starving. Give us something to eat. By the way, do we have enough food?" Jiang Yuan asked anxiously.

The horse bandits who had suffered heavy losses would certainly plan revenge next. The third leader Hatu and the second leader of the horse bandits did not see it at the time, but they would surely figure it out afterwards.

Taiping County, as the mastermind, will bear the brunt of the horse thieves' wrath.

If there is not enough food in Taiping County, Jiang Yuan and his group will starve to death in the city.

"Don't worry, sir. In order to prevent bandits from coming to rob us, I have asked the people to harvest the rice fields in advance. Now there is enough food in the city for us to eat until the beginning of next spring!" Ma Zhi said confidently, patting his chest.

Jiang Yuan couldn't help but grin. With food, everything would be easy. At worst, I could just hide away. I didn't believe that the bandits could fight a protracted war with me in the cold winter!

Jiang Yuan swaggered into Taiping County and immediately raised his hand and shouted, "Close the city gates!"

After looking around the city wall, Jiang Yuan nodded secretly.

The city wall of Taiping County is not very high, only three or four meters, but Ma Zhi not only smeared feces on the wall to disgust people.

Deep pits have been dug three meters along the city wall, with wooden spikes buried underneath.

Although the city gate of Taiping County is old and dilapidated, and Ning Fei had just broken it open with three thousand dragon guards not long ago, it has almost no protective effect.

But the horse thieves were not good at attacking cities, so the weakness of the city gate was not a big deal.

After climbing up the city gate tower, Wang Gang immediately brought a bowl of millet porridge and a few eggs to Jiang Yuan.

The barrels of Origay used for protection on the city gate tower had long been moved away, otherwise Jiang Yuan would not have been able to eat them anyway.

The winter early morning was very cold. Jiang Yuan held the bowl and drank from it in small sips, mostly to warm his hands.

"Ma Zhi, how many weapons are there in the city?" Jiang Yuan suddenly looked up and asked.

The biggest advantage of defending a city is that it is in a commanding position and occupies a favorable geographical location. If there are no weapons, it is completely useless.

"Sir, this..." Ma Zhi looked embarrassed.

"It doesn't hurt to just say it."

Jiang Yuan had already prepared himself mentally. After all, Taiping County was just starting out, and many industries had not had time to develop, so there must not be many weapons.

"Everyone does have a weapon, which they brought when they came, but they don't have any weapons like bows, spears, or shields." Ma Zhi said in a low voice.

Jiang Yuan's eyes widened. "Where's the silver? I left you 10,000 taels of silver when I left. Did you spend it all on this mud wall?"

"What are you talking about!" Ma Zhi's voice became louder.

Jiang Yuan breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good. Where did the rest of the money go?"

Ma Zhi stroked his mustache, a look of hesitation on his face: "Sir, what I mean is that it's not that all the money was spent on the city wall, it's that even if it was all spent, it's still not enough..."

Jiang Yuan: "..."

"You spent ten thousand taels of silver on such a small thing?" Jiang Yuan had an expression of disbelief on his face.

"Sir, don't be fooled by the mud on the outside of the city wall. There is a lot of secrets inside. It is made of mortar, egg white, glutinous rice, wood ash, etc. It will last for a long time and is extremely strong!" Ma Zhi said proudly.

After hearing this, Jiang Yuan's expression returned to normal.

He still knew the sayings about cement, burying the sky, and diamond wall, which could not be opened.

Just as Jiang Yuan was slowly finishing a bowl of porridge, the sound of a large number of horse hooves finally came from the distance.

The leading horse thief rode a blood-red BMW, leaving the crowd in a cloud of dust. He held an oversized scimitar in his hand and rushed into Taiping County in a blink of an eye.

"Those who surrender will not be killed! Otherwise, everyone will be slaughtered when the city is captured!"

Jiang Yuan stood up suddenly, then sat down quickly, and got up very fast.

"Sir, this is the leader of the horse bandits, Qingmu, the second leader is Geli, and the third leader is Hatu." Ma Zhi quickly introduced Jiang Yuan.

Soon, more than 200 horse thieves riding tall horses were stationed at the gate of Taiping County.

Except for the horse bandits who are still besieging the other two counties, the rest are here.

Jiang Yuan sat on the city gate tower, with several masters guarding him, so he could rest easy.

"So many horses, what good stuff." Jiang Yuan looked greedily at the horses under the crotch of the horse thieves, especially the one under the crotch of the chief Aoki.

It was fat and strong, with slender hooves and fur as red as fire. Even Jiang Yuan, who knew nothing about horses, knew that this was definitely a good thing.

"You dog official upstairs! Do you dare to come down and fight me in a duel?" Qingmu raised his scimitar high and pointed at Jiang Yuan from a distance.

Jiang Yuan looked at Qing Mu downstairs calmly: "Do you have the martial virtues of a martial artist? I'm a civil servant, and you want to challenge me in a one-on-one duel? I even said I wanted to compete with you in writing. Can you do it?"

Aoki stared with his eyes wide open, speechless for a moment.

No, according to the process, isn't it that the people above you turn around and scold me, and then someone comes down to challenge me, and then both sides start shouting and cursing at each other, and take turns using dirty tricks?

"Then, where are the military officers? Anyone who refuses to obey, come down and die!" Aoki raised his knife and shouted again.

On the city wall, Chen Qing, Zhao Kai and the other four with the highest martial arts skills naturally ignored them.

One is a veteran, and the other three are also veterans. A one-on-one duel on the battlefield? Even a dog wouldn't go.

Just as Jiang Yuan was about to make a bowl of tea to watch the fun, a loud shout rang in his ears.

"I don't accept it!" As soon as he finished speaking, Li Hu walked out with a long sword in his arms and stood proudly on the city gate tower.

Everyone in Jiangyuan was dumbfounded. If it was Zhao Kai, Wang Jue and the others, it would be understandable, after all, they were young and energetic.

But Li Hu, this guy who only knows how to run away, is he serious?