Chapter 10

  "...Just arrived at Gua Mao Ridge, a group of people suddenly appeared, with over a hundred people, led by one person carrying a large axe, claiming to be the Toad King..."

  Hei Shi Cheng, the castle of the lord. Huang San Yuan rushed back to Hei Shi Cheng overnight, vividly describing his journey on the way. A man in a magnificent robe sat opposite him, with a round face and a stout figure.

  This was none other than the lord of Hei Shi Cheng, Han Hu, who stood behind him were two maidservants, one wearing green and the other pink, they looked to be around sixteen or seventeen years old, average height, average looks, surprisingly a rare pair of twins.

  Listening to Huang San Yuan's words, Han Hu still didn't lift his head, and his eyelids remained drooping.

  Lao Huang's heart was intimidated, but his face couldn't show fear. With a clatter, he drew out the knife from his waist and charged at the bandits, shouting loudly: "If you want to rob our young mistress, you'll have to step over Lao Huang's dead body..."

  "...I was just about to fight the thief to the death, when a group of people suddenly appeared from behind, led by someone who called himself Jade-Faced Scholar Xu Shenji..."

  "Huh!" Han Hu exclaimed, turning to a pale-faced middle-aged man beside him: "Are there so many mountain bandits on Hamao Ridge?"

  "The military advisor didn't know, there were more than 200 people, and another group of cavalry suddenly appeared from the side, led by a person who called himself Yong Chun Ye Wen..." Along the way, Huang San Yuan was thinking about how to respond, this conversation had been rolling around in his stomach for a long time, finally breaking one person into three, making up a total of 300: "Although Old Huang risked his life to protect Young Madam, there were too many bandits, and Old Huang ended up injured, but still let Young Madam be taken away by the bandits..."

  "Old Huang deserves to die, Old Huang deserves to die..." Huang San Yuan thudded to his knees and knocked his head like pounding garlic: "Old Huang knows he deserves to die, please, City Master, give me a hundred soldiers, let me go kill my way back to Hamao Ridge, rescue Young Mistress, then come back to face the City Master and accept death..."

  Lao Huang's body was covered in blood, his clothes tattered and torn. At this moment, tears poured down like rain, the soldiers who followed him back from Hamao Ridge also knelt on the ground, their faces as pale as death, shivering with fear.

  "Kill." Han Hu raised his head and spat out a single word.

  "Castle owner..."

  The people kneeling on the ground were instantly pressed down, dragged out of the hall, and Huang San's face was suddenly frightened to be extremely pale. He had already spread this heaven-covering lie, and in the end, he could not escape the road of death.

  Slow!

  At this moment, a young man walked in from outside the hall and rushed to Han Hu, saying: "Father, Huang Guan knows the situation of the mountain bandits and cannot kill them for the time being."

  As Huang San Yuan and the others returned, almost all of them had their heads chopped off, their heads rolling on the ground, blood splattered everywhere, Huang San Yuan was so scared that his soul was gone.

  Then, he was dragged back to the hall, where Han Hu sat with a young man by his side. The young man had a pale face and was around twenty years old, wearing white clothes that were spotless, and had an exceptional temperament.

  This man is Han Xuanzi, the young master of Heishi City.

  "What happened on the road, Huang Guanjia? Tell me again?"

  Huang San's eyes widened in shock, wondering if he had inadvertently revealed something in his previous words. Han Xuanzi seemed to be about to expose him on the spot. But what was the point of that? He would still end up dead anyway.

  He stuttered and repeated what he had just said, Han Xuanzhi listened with frequent nods, and there was a hint of excitement in the corner of his eyes.

  "Father, Miss Su has fallen into the hands of mountain bandits. I request that you grant me the Tiger Token, allowing me to lead troops to Toad Hill to quell the bandits and rescue Miss Su." Han Xuan's voice was as firm as gold and stone.

  "Good boy, that woman fell into the hands of mountain bandits, what else can happen to her? Either she was insulted by people or killed. A small girl is dead and dead, Dad will find you a good one again, how about it?" Han Hu asked carefully, leaning forward slightly.

  "Father!" Han Xuanzi knelt down: "If a man cannot protect his wife, how can he stand in the world? Please father, allow me to lead the troops."

  "So... " Han Hu raised his wine cup: "How many troops do you want?"

  Han Xuanzhi stood up and spat out two words: "Two thousand."

  Pfft!

  Han Hu's mouthful of wine sprayed out, and the others in the hall also widened their eyes in astonishment.

  "Young master, do you have any idea what 2,000 people entails?" The pale-faced middle-aged man almost stuttered as he asked: "Young master, have you ever thought about how much fodder and grain 2,000 horses would consume? How many carriages would be needed to transport these provisions? And the personnel arrangements, the route of march... Most importantly, there are only 300 bandits in the mountains, what's the point?"

  "These I have of course all considered." Han Xuanzi said calmly: "I just prefer rolling over."

  A middle-aged man with a pale face is speechless.

  "Heishicheng only has five thousand troops in total, you're taking away half of my father's men? No way, two thousand is absolutely not possible, I can give you at most one thousand people."

  "It's just one thousand, although it's a bit less." Han Xuan regretfully said.

  "I know you have ambitions of leading an army, I wonder how you plan on attacking this time?" the pale middle-aged man asked.

  "I've already thought it through."

  "It's settled so quickly, my son is really great." Han Hu said with satisfaction: "Tell me..."

  "I will request 200 light cavalry, 200 archers, 300 heavy infantry, 100 heavy armor, and 200 spearmen, totaling 1,000 men. The cavalry can make a surprise attack, the archers can shoot from a distance, the heavy armor can withstand the enemy's charge, the spearmen can attack after the heavy armor, and the infantry can slaughter the remaining enemies." Han Xuan said, "The distance to Hama Ridge is 150 miles, it will take about one day. With a long-distance surprise attack, we can catch the enemy off guard and wipe them out in one fell swoop."

  Han Hu's palm struck the case and said: "You are indeed my son, since you have this dream of leading troops, go try your hand this time."

  Huang San Yuan was already intimidated, having always heard that the young master of Shao City had been studying military tactics since childhood and was as brilliant as a famous ancient general who excelled at riding horses and wielding whips. After listening to his words, Huang San Yuan felt that he spoke eloquently and made sense, but somehow couldn't shake off the feeling that something wasn't quite right.

  Moreover... Huang San Yuan suddenly became spirited, the mountain bandits were only two people, if the young master was indeed heroic and killed his way to Hama Ridge... Huang San Yuan's whole body was covered in cold sweat, thinking that maybe being beheaded wasn't a bad way to die either.

  "Huang San Yuan, you followed the young master to suppress the bandits and redeem your crimes."

  "Yes, thank you, Lord of the City, for your great kindness and virtue, thank you, Lord of the City..."

  Han Xuanzhi walked away with the tiger tally in hand, his spirit and energy radiating from him. Looking at the refined and spirited expression on his face, he was probably going to stay up all night arranging this military expedition plan.

  In the hall, Han Hu sat facing a middle-aged man with a pale face: "Xue Junshi, what do you think of Xuan Zhi's plan?"

  This white-faced middle-aged man was named Xue Ban Chuan. He shook his head helplessly: "In the mountains and forests, the cavalry's role is difficult to play out. If you want to make a long-distance raid, why bring heavy armor? Moreover, the mountain bandits often occupy the dangerous terrain and defend it, making raids ineffective against them. Although Young City Master's plan has many loopholes, but... However, these city masters must have also seen this, so why did they still let Young City Master act rashly?"