At this time, on the road up the mountain, Zhao Chuhao's men had almost reached halfway up the mountain.

  "General Chen, we're approaching the secret mountain pass that we scouted last time. Shall we slow down and be cautious?" The scout in front reported back.

  "Alright, you take two more people with you and go investigate carefully. If there's any situation, report back to me immediately!" Old Chen instructed, nodding his head.

  "Hey you, go tell Wu Baozi and the others at the back to hurry up, we've already arrived at our destination and need to do some advance preparation."

  "Yes!" The subordinate obeyed and went to report back.

  "Dad, that exit is the extreme location we surveyed before. It must be a rest stop and orientation point deliberately opened up by those people on the mountain. We've searched around the mountain multiple times, and apart from that exit, there's no other entrance leading to the top of the mountain. If we hadn't been afraid of startling them, we might have already taken the lead in exploring the specific location of the stronghold. The Zhongjunwei wouldn't have had an excuse to say anything about it being impossible to enter the mountain." Little Chen said indignantly.

  "You think the commander of the Yingzhou Zhongtun Wei is stupid, they don't want to exterminate the bandits, they know there's something fishy between us and the people in this mountain, but at that time they still wanted to maintain a good relationship with Pinggu County. Although their commander is a third-grade military officer who outranks our county magistrate by who knows how many levels, many times their troops' rations were supplied from the granary of Pinggu County."

  Lao Chen took a deep breath and continued, "But it's different now. There's a bigger head above our old master, Yan Wang Zhu Di. All military and political matters in the Beiping Xuanbu government office are under his control. Naturally, the Zhongxunwei camp doesn't need to look at our county magistrate's face anymore. That's why last time when our master asked them to eliminate the bandits, they kept making excuses, saying things like 'the soldiers are lazy' and 'the orders are unclear'. If it weren't for one of their hundred-households being completely wiped out, who knows where they'd be now, watching the excitement."

  "Hmph! If I had known earlier, I would have deliberately detained their grain and fodder at the beginning." Little Chen said fiercely.

  "Slap!" A crisp slap landed on Little Chen's occipital bone, and Old Chen said in a tone of frustration: "You little scoundrel only knows how to be tough. Can you afford to embezzle military rations? Even if the commanding officer gives me face, it's just superficial affection. If I really dared to shortchange them by even a single grain of rice, I'm afraid my head would have rolled long ago."

  "Old Chen, whose head is going to be moved? Come on, I want to hear it. It's been a while since we've had some fun." Wu Baozi chimed in with a smile.

  Xiao Chen let out a cold snort and turned his face away, not wanting to look at him. He was afraid that if he couldn't bear it anymore and clashed with this Wu Baozi, it would affect the plan of his own master and end in regret.

  "Wu Pangzi, wait for my people to come and investigate the situation. You and I will each bring our own men to a platform in front and ambush around it. At that time, we must not let anyone who comes down from the mountain escape." Old Chen said seriously as he turned back.

  Wu Pangzi also knew that it was time to bring out the real skills, otherwise, the other half's commission would not be easy to get. However, what needed to be said had to be said: "Old Chen, I don't care how you guys found out about that place up ahead, but can you really guarantee that there are no other exits on the entire North Mountain except for that one downhill path?"

  Lao Chen looked at his son who nodded in agreement and said, "This is natural, I guarantee it!"

  "Alright, we've got a deal then. If we defend this place to the death and others come down from elsewhere, that's not my responsibility. At that time, you can't owe me even one penny of reward, understand?" Wu Pangzi patted the dust off his clothes, looked up at Old Chen and said slowly.

  "Besides, if your beloved Zhao Chuhao, Mr. Zhao, plans to welch on the deal, don't blame me, Wu Baozi, for turning my back on you!" A cold threat came out of Wu Baozi's mouth. If it were anyone else who dared to threaten Old Chen and his men, they would have been thrown into the river to feed the fish long ago. But now that it was Wu Baozi who said it, they had to weigh their options carefully.

  Although Lao Chen looked down on him and even wanted to kill him, he had to admit that Wu Baozi had made a name for himself in the Ji Zhou government office over the years. This Wu Baozi, who dared to kill anyone as long as the price was right, really had some skills.

  It is said that whoever asks him to kill will not fail, and each death is strange and peculiar. They are all deliberately arranged with their legs crossed, feet facing the sky, index fingers stretched out, and the other four fingers curled together in a weird pose. This makes Wu Pangzi's impression on some people's minds eccentric and cruel, but as long as the money is enough, he will never make things difficult for his employer.

  Old Chen let out a slight sigh and thought to himself, "It seems that the county magistrate has come up with a difficult problem this time. For now, I'll try not to argue with him. If he really wants to die, then don't blame the sharp blade in my hand." As he thought, Old Chen's grip on the knife tightened, his eyes narrowing slightly as he stared at Wu Pangzi. Wu Pangzi, of course, was not one to back down, but being a head shorter, he had to crane his neck, which was starting to ache...

  "Sir, we've already investigated ahead and there's no one there." At this moment, the person who went to scout ahead returned with a report, just breaking the stalemate between the two people.

  "Alright," Old Chen let out a barely audible sigh, adjusted his mindset and smiled, saying: "My men have already investigated, Wu Pangzi please lead the way, we'll go together."

  "Haha, okay, let's go take a look and find a better ambush spot." Wu Pangzi also seemed to act as if nothing had happened, laughing and agreeing to go along.

  ……

  On the other side, Zhang Feng and his two companions were led by someone towards this only exit.

  "Three more, after the grass pile between those two big trees in front is the exit down the mountain. Iron Mountain's master still has something for me to take care of, so I'll send you off here. The rest of the way, you can go on your own. Also, remember to put the grass pile back in its original position after you leave, try to make it look natural, after all, we don't want this exit to be exposed yet." The leading man said with a smile.

  Zhang Feng and the other two bid farewell to him with a bow and came to the grass heap. Before long, the three of them moved away the grass heap that blocked the entrance. In front of them was the open platform. Old Liu and Liu Six were about to leave, but Zhang Feng hurriedly stopped them.

  "Wait a minute, you two come over and help restore the grass pile, didn't they say so?"

  Lao Liu and the others looked at Zhang Feng in silence, originally on the mountain we thought you were just pretending to be helpless, but unexpectedly after just a short half day, your relationship with the mountain bandits has become so close...

  Looking at Zhang Feng and the other two busy, they had no choice but to lend a hand together. It's easy to destroy, but hard to restore, after half a day of busy work, the three of them roughly restored it, Zhang Feng shook his head, still somewhat dissatisfied, Lao Liu hastily pulled him to turn around and leave, fearing that if they delayed any longer, even the great army would have to come up the mountain.

  Suddenly! Zhang Feng, who was being dragged away, broke free from Old Liu's hand. For a moment, Old Liu's eyes blurred, and Zhang Feng flashed to his front in an instant.

  Only then did Zhang Feng furrow his brow and gaze sternly ahead, "Who's there? Sneaking around like a ghost!"

  Lao Liu was puzzled as to why Zhang Feng rushed towards a forest and asked questions, but he didn't expect that from there came out a group of people, each holding sharp objects, clearly with malicious intentions...

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