Chapter 85 of Volume 1

  Tang Yin gave Le Tian such a big power, and the latter was naturally very excited. He cupped his hands and bowed, saying: "Thank you, sir!"

  "Haha!" Tang Yin laughed and said: "You can propose any conditions to me, as long as they are within my capabilities, I will definitely satisfy you. However, I have only one requirement, you must train an outstanding scout team for me in the shortest time possible, and also let me see your achievements. Any questions?"

  Lai Tian thought for a moment and immediately replied: "No problem, sir!"

  "Great!" Tang Yin looked up and smiled, but after a moment, she suddenly stopped, lost in thought.

  I don't know what he's thinking in his heart, but I see his eyeballs keep rolling around.

  After a while, he raised his head and said in a low voice: "One scouting team may not be enough." He looked at Aika again and said: "Aika, you and Rakuten are also responsible for forming a scouting team. I just want to see the results of your efforts. If it's done well, there will naturally be rewards, even expansion. If it's not done well, there will naturally be punishment, even demotion. I hope that in the end, neither of you will be eliminated!"

  Ai Jia never dreamed that Tang Yin would arrange a position for himself that was exactly the same as Le Tian's. He couldn't react in time, and sat on the chair in a daze for a while before suddenly waking up with a start. He stood up from the chair abruptly, his voice low and uncomfortable: "Subordinate receives orders!"

  Tang Yin's words may not have meant much to others, but Ai Jia felt a pang in her heart. All along, Tang Yin had looked down on her, not because of anything else, but simply because she was a woman. When Tang Yin spoke those words, it didn't take guessing to know that they were mainly directed at her. His disdain only served to stir up Ai Jia's unyielding personality.

  No, when it comes to intelligence, she is not as good as Yue Tian, but she doesn't want to admit defeat and be looked down upon, especially by Tang Yan.

  The arrangement for Tang Yin was unexpected by everyone present, including Le Tian and Ai Jia themselves.

  Actually, one excellent intelligence team is enough, why bother with two? It's a waste of manpower and financial resources.

  Among the crowd, only Qiu Zhen understood Tang Yin's psychology. Having followed Tang Yin for so long, he had gradually become accustomed to his habits. Tang Yin particularly liked competition, and the phrase "Survival of the fittest, elimination of the unfit" was one that he used with great ease. As early as when he was the commander of the Second Battalion, he had let his ten thousand-man commanders compete, compare, and try to outdo each other, with unexpectedly good results. Now he was using this tactic again.

  Qiu Zhenya was only half right, Tang Yin indeed intentionally let Le Tian and Ai Jia compete with each other, but he didn't have too much hope for Ai Jia, the main purpose was to use her to stimulate Le Tian, to make Le Tian do his best.

  But he never expected that this originally unimpressive Aika would do much better than he had anticipated, the two intelligence agencies, which had always been on an equal footing, were later respectively given unique titles by their respective divisions.

  The intelligence organization led by Yue Tian was named "Tianyan", while the one led by Ai Jia was called "Diwang". Along with the later-formed "Anjian" composed of Dark Cultivators, these three organizations were the most important intelligence and investigative agencies under Tang Ye's command. They made great contributions to Tang Ye's cause and continued to exist, but that's a story for another time.

  Tang Yin then inquired about the situation with the new recruits.

  Zhang Zhou and Bai Yong both remained expressionless, the two were not optimistic about the situation of recruiting new soldiers. For several days, after the recruitment order was issued, only a handful of new recruits came to sign up, it seemed that the people would rather starve than join the army.

  Tang Yin couldn't understand it - now that the military's salary and food supply issues have all been resolved, why can't new recruits still be recruited?

  Bai Yong bitterly smiled and said: "Every time we fight against the barbarian army, we suffer heavy casualties, countless soldiers are killed or wounded, this happens every time, how can the civilians still be willing to join the army?"

  It's true! Tang Yin nodded in understanding. It seems that to improve the predicament of recruiting soldiers, they can only win a battle against the barbarian troops, even if it's an insignificant small victory, it can still boost morale.

  "He took a deep breath and said: 'No matter what the recruitment of new soldiers is like, daily training must continue.'"

  He then arranged for Gu Yue to conduct close combat training for the entire army, Li Wei to conduct archery training at a distance, Bai Yong to conduct horse riding training, and Zhang Zhou to conduct battle formation training.

  After the arrangement was made, everyone took their orders, but only Zhang Zhou and Bai Yong were puzzled. The three battalions of Pingyuan County were all infantry battalions, why did they need to do so many skill trainings? The two dared to ask questions on the spot, and after the meeting, they found Qiu Zhen to inquire.

  Qiu Zhen smiled and gave a detailed explanation of Tang Yin's style of leading troops to the two men. After listening to his introduction, Zhang Zhou and Bai Yong finally understood Tang Yin's style. It wasn't bad, it was just that this kind of training would make life difficult for the soldiers under him.

  After the party, everyone left one after another.

  Tang Yin returned to his bedroom and was about to wash up and rest when he heard a knock at the door.

  "Come in!"

  As the door opened, a twenty-year-old servant walked in from outside.

  "Master!" The house servant walked up to Tang Yin and made a deep bow.

  "Anything wrong?" Tang Yin looked at him curiously.

  "This... " Jia Ding hesitated somewhat...

  "Say it quickly!" Tang Yin couldn't stand it when others couldn't utter a complete sentence in front of him for half a day.

  "It's like this." The house servant said cautiously: "Sir, there is no food or grain left in the mansion..."

  "Is this it?" Tang Yin almost burst out laughing.

  "Yes!"

  "Why don't you go buy it?"

  "We... don't have money!" The servant said in a low voice.

  "No money?" Tang Yin raised an eyebrow, he had brought a lot of silver from Yangzhou, and later got more than 100,000 taels from County Governor Yu He, although some were used to pay the soldiers' wages, but there was still a lot left, how could they not have money?

  Jia Ding was very quick-witted and saw that Tang Yin had misunderstood his meaning, so he hastily said: "The master didn't give us any money, so we don't have the money to buy grain. The master's... mansion is currently short of a steward, which makes things inconvenient..."

  Ah! So that's how it is. Tang Yin suddenly realized, he rarely worried about these trivial matters. When he was in Yancheng, he lived in the residence provided by Wu Mei, where there were servants and housekeepers who took care of everything. Now that he had arrived at Pingyuan County, the original county guard's housekeeper had followed the county guard back to Yancheng, leaving only some unloved servants behind.

  "Alright, I understand." Tang Yin nodded and pondered for a moment. Seeing that the servant had not left yet, he patted his own forehead and casually pulled out a silver ingot from his pocket and handed it to the servant, saying: "Take this money first and use it, I will find a good housekeeper as soon as possible."

  "It... doesn't require that much silver to buy grain, just some copper coins will do. The house servant looked at the shiny silver ingots and didn't dare reach out to take them."

  Tang Yin was impatient and forcibly stuffed the silver into his hand, saying: "If there's nothing else, go back first!"

  "Yes...yes! Sir!" The house servant covered his mouth and spat, then turned around and walked out.

  Housekeeper, where can I find a housekeeper? Tang Yin also understood the importance of a housekeeper. If you want to find one, you must find someone trustworthy and capable.

  He thought and thought, but couldn't think of a suitable candidate, so he lay down on his bed and temporarily put the matter aside.

  Night, all things are quiet, exceptionally quiet.

  The county government office was quiet and still, with no lights on, the large mansion, not even patrolling officials and soldiers, a gloomy and eerie atmosphere, like a haunted house.

  In the darkness of night, two figures suddenly jumped over the wall and flashed into the courtyard of the county government office.

  As Tang Yin had expected, Shangguan Yuanwu and Shangguan Yuanbiao indeed came to his door for revenge.

  These two brothers relied on their spiritual martial arts, and wherever they went, they were respected by many. This time, they were captured by Tang Yin's cunning plan, how could they swallow this bitter humiliation? Moreover, Tang Yin had ridiculed them to the extreme, making the two brothers want to flay him alive and shatter his bones.

  The two men made up their minds that this time they would sneak into the county government office to assassinate Tang Yin and vent their hatred. After succeeding, the two could also return smoothly to continue being bandits. At the same time, in order to avoid being implicated, they could also force their elder brother, Shangguan Jingping, to follow them, which was a multi-benefit move.

  The two men seemed to have a thorough understanding of the county government's terrain and situation, and after entering, they didn't take any unnecessary detours, heading straight for Tang Yin's bedroom.

  Before long, the two brothers crept outside the bedroom door.

  Both of them wore a suit of spiritual armor, holding long spears that had been spiritualized. They first crouched outside the door for a while, listening to the movements around them, and after not detecting anything unusual, they smiled at each other.

  Shangguan Yuanbiao said in a low voice: "Third brother, you spread the word outside, I'll go in and take care of that traitor!"

  "Fourth brother, create a diversion, I'll sneak in!"

  "I'll go first!"

  "I'll go first!"

  The two brothers argued back and forth, unable to come to a decision, so in the end they decided to just go in together.

  Shangguan Yuanwu quietly retreated from the door of the house and found that it wasn't even locked inside. The door slowly opened.

  He snorted inwardly, it seemed he was completely unguarded, thinking that no one dared to scrutinize this county guard.

  Shangguan Yuanwu pushed the door open a crack, then bowed his head to his brother and slipped in sideways.

  The two brothers moved nimbly and quietly into the room, with Upper Official Yuanwu and Upper Official Yuanbiao lifting their legs high and stepping lightly, heading straight for the bed.

  The room was dark, and upon closer inspection, it seemed that someone was lying on the bed. The figure's appearance couldn't be made out clearly, only a vague outline could be seen. It was unclear whether or not it was Tang Yin and his brother, but on the clothes rack by the window hung the county guard's official uniform.

  No need to ask, this must be Tang Yin's bedroom, and the person on the bed is definitely Tang Yin.

  Shangguan Yuanwu and Shangguan Yuanbiao both flashed a fierce light in their eyes at the same time, without using any language, the two brothers simultaneously raised the spiritual guns in their hands, walked to the bedside, and didn't delay for a moment. The two took a deep breath, exerted all their strength, and fiercely chopped down with the spiritual guns in their hands.

  Pfft!

  As cold light flashed by, blood splattered and appeared.