On the official road outside Pinggu County, a father and son were on their way.

  "Father, this time we've earned an extra two hundred dollars, just enough for mother and Juan to buy some new clothes." The young son said happily, hugging the two pieces of cloth in his arms.

  "It's a good thing that this time the Sun family in town urgently needed fox fur and bought it at a high price, otherwise we would have had to sell it cheaply to Bao Yuan again."

  "No, since the new county magistrate took office, merchants are not allowed to privately collect mountain goods. Only we are allowed to sell them to Bao Yuan Tang, and at a discounted price too. It's really black-hearted." The old father mentioned Bao Yuan Tang and his son got angry all over again.

  As for Bao Yuan Zhai, not only did they buy mountain goods and furs at low prices, but sometimes they also forced people to sell, and the owner of Bao Yuan Zhai was actually the wife's family of Zhao Chuhai, the new magistrate of Pinggu County.

  His legitimate wife, surnamed Shen, was from a branch of the Shen family in Zhouzhuang. Although the Shen family in Zhouzhuang had not been as prosperous as it used to be for the past two years, a dead camel is still bigger than a horse after all. The local wealthy merchants and gentry in Pinggu County also gave face to the Shen family. Therefore, when Magistrate Zhao ordered that no merchant was allowed to privately collect mountain goods and furs, he did not strongly oppose it, nor did he want to offend the magistrate and the Shen family because of this.

  But the wealthy merchants and big households can still buy some for their own use in private, so the father and son have this extra two hundred dollars.

  The sun was setting, and the father and son hastened their pace. Suddenly, the son saw something moving in the woods, and he quickly reminded his father, fearing it might be a wild beast roaming about, as winter was approaching and starving beasts were not uncommon.

  "Clip-clop, clip-clop", a tall horse emerged from the woods, and the father and son duo finally breathed a sigh of relief, as long as it wasn't a wild beast.

  The son, being bold, walked forward to take a closer look and found that the horse had a saddle on it, which meant that the horse had an owner, but he didn't know why it ran here. Just as he was thinking of getting closer, suddenly an object fell off the horse's back, scaring him, and with the dense foliage and dim light, he hesitated for a moment.

  The old father saw his son stop and thought there was some trouble, so he hurried over to help his son. The two of them went up the mountain together and found that the person who had fallen to the ground was a man in a coma, wearing a Ming army uniform with an arrow inserted on his left arm. The old father suddenly felt that things were very serious, and he quickly asked his son to go to Pinggu County to find someone.

  And the soldier who fainted was the only one who escaped on horseback to report the news. He rushed with arrow wounds and finally fainted when he was about to arrive at Pinggu County, and was found by the father and son duo.

  "Hurry! Hurry! Go find a doctor quickly, this is one of the soldiers from my camp who was escorting military rations. The military rations must have gone wrong, we must save him!"

  "Reported to the Governor of a Thousand Households, the Assistant Magistrate had taken Doctor Zhou and two medical workers to the border ten days ago."

  "Why don't you go find another doctor quickly, what are you still lingering here for!"

  "Yes, sir!" The guard hastily replied and ran out.

  This man is none other than the garrison commander of Yingzhou, Wu Cheng. Last month, General Shi Guan's guard discovered that there were Northern Yuan cavalry lurking nearby, and Commander-in-Chief led two thousand households to provide support. Unexpectedly, the enemy army really attacked the pass, so as a precaution, Garrison Commander Tongzhi led another group of people to go and defend against any possible situation.

  Leave the 500 soldiers to Wu Qianhu, he had withdrawn a hundred households three days ago to transport military rations, and this wounded soldier was a member of the hundred households that set out three days ago.

  The door was pushed open with a bang. Wu Cheng thought of getting angry, but then saw that it was the guard who had gone to invite the doctor returning. He hastily asked: "Is the doctor here? Has he arrived?"

  "He's coming, he's coming. We've invited Officer Zhao over, just from behind." The guard said breathlessly, and then two soldiers carried an old man in.

  "Dr. Zhao has been wronged, but the situation is urgent, so please hurry up and treat the wounded." Wu Cheng hastily apologized to Dr. Zhao.

  "It doesn't matter, saving a life is like fighting a fire, I understand." Zhao Daifu had encountered such situations many times in his years of medical practice, so he wasn't very concerned.

  "Hmm, the pulse is weak and floating, indicating a deficiency of both qi and blood. This arrow wound on your arm appears to be a penetrating bone injury, requiring immobilization with splints for 100 days before it can heal." Dr. Zhao first examined the pulse, then looked at the arrow wound on his arm, thought for a moment, and came to a conclusion.

  "I'll prescribe a medicinal formula for you, take three doses a day, and after ten days, the deficiency of qi and blood will be alleviated."

  "Won't you ask the old master when he can wake up?" Wu Qianhu hurriedly asked.

  "It will be either three to five hours at most, or half a day at latest before he wakes up." said Zhao Daifu stroking his beard.

  "All right, let someone take the doctor back and attach the diagnostic fee." Doctor Zhao finished writing the prescription and was taken away by the guard.

  Three hours later, at this time it was already a full moon, the soldier who had been lying on the bed in a coma finally woke up.

  Wu Cheng was overjoyed and hastily went forward to ask what had happened. The soldier took a sip of water and weakly said

  "General Qianhu, the military rations being transported to General Qianhu's location in Miyun were robbed. Zhao Baihu was shot through the throat with an arrow. Our vanguard fought desperately to break through and create a gap for me to rush out and report the news."

  "What!" Wu Cheng was stunned, looting military rations is a serious crime, but losing military rations is also not a small offense. Slowly regaining his composure, Wu Cheng asked the soldier about the specific situation, and the soldier answered him one by one. After learning about what had happened, Wu Cheng let the soldier rest and recover from his injuries, and walked out with a heavy heart.

  "General Qianhu, what should we do now? We only have 400 brothers from the Wei guard, and there are also the city guards of Pinggu County, but these city guards are useless. Those bandits number over 500, or even more."

  "Alas, we have no other choice, we can only report this matter." Wu Cheng let out a sigh and said slowly.

  "Well, I'll send someone to General Shi's pass to inform Commander Zhang." The guard nodded and hurried off to make arrangements for the messenger.

  Five thousand households alone in the courtyard, looking at the bright moon in the sky, secretly sighing in their hearts, it's really a busy autumn!

  Tomorrow morning at the border, General Shi's Pass

  This is a not-so-large pass, located at the mouth of a valley between two mountains, connected to Mochi Gorge in the north and Tieyu Pass in the south. As the easternmost pass of the entire northern border defense, the appearance of Northern Yuan soldiers here was not good news.

  At this time, there were 5,000 soldiers from the Zhongtunwei of Yingzhou and 2,000 local defenders stationed inside the pass. Yang Tingzheng, the commander of the Zhongtunwei, sat in the main hall of the pass's gate, and since he led his troops to reinforce the pass, he had also clashed with the Northern Yuan several times, all of which were won by taking advantage of the defensive position. These Northern Yuan soldiers fought very bravely, and many of Yang's officers and men were injured. According to the usual practice of the Northern Yuan's harassment, they should have retreated at this time, but now they still lingered outside the city. Yang Ting was puzzled as to why they did so, but he could only continue to hold out here.

  At this time, someone outside the door reported that there was an urgent military affair of Wu Qianhu. Yang Ting was suspicious and opened the letter to take a look. His face changed color immediately, and it turned out that someone dared to rob the military grain and kill the soldiers of the Wei Suo, which was really bold and unscrupulous.

  But now he also had no way to split himself to solve this matter, and had to send someone to present the case to Yan Wang Zhu Di, the highest military officer of the Beiping Governor's Office...

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