Be a small county magistrate in ancient times

“General, according to regulations, foreigners are not allowed to enter this city gate,” Zhang Yuan said. “If you want to see them, you must enter the barbican.”

"A regulation? Where did this regulation come from?" Song Qingfeng had never heard of such a rule being issued from above.

Meng Changqing coughed twice. "These are the rules I set."

“It’s good that Magistrate Meng is being cautious.” Zheng Jie turned slightly to the side, as if to protect Meng Changqing. “General Song, let’s enter the barbican.”

"Open the door."

Upon receiving the order, Zhang Yuan shouted loudly to the guards waiting inside the gate, "Open the gate!"

A dozen or so guards worked together to open the gate, and Zhang Yuan led his men in quickly. After they went in, the city gate was quickly closed again.

There were six people who came in: Zhang Yuan, Meng Changqing, Zheng Jie, Song Qingfeng, and Zheng and Song's close followers.

There is a small room inside the barbican, or as that would be a polite way of putting it; it's actually a shack, a remnant from when the barbican was built, and it's currently used to store some unused building materials.

Zhang Yuan explained, "Those two people are in this room."

Before he finished speaking, the door of the shack was opened, and the two savages looked out. When they saw that it was a familiar face, they wrapped their clothes tighter and came out.

Their clothes were similar to those of ordinary people in Liangzhou, except that they were a bit dirty.

"My lord." The two men huddled together and bowed to Zhang Yuan.

Zhang Yuan introduced, "These two are high-ranking officials from Liangzhou. Please explain the situation of your tribe to these two officials."

Zhang Yuan spoke the Liangzhou dialect, and the two people from the Snow Night tribe could only communicate in their dialect. Meng Changqing and Song Qingfeng had lived in Liangzhou for many years and could understand it, but Zheng Jie could only understand a little. At his current level, he could only tell that it was Liangzhou dialect.

Fortunately, there was Meng Changqing, one of their own, who translated for him in Mandarin.

"These two keep asking when we can send troops; they need at least a thousand men," Meng Changqing paused, then added, "They keep saying the same thing." Song Qingfeng said, "If you're in trouble, I'll definitely help. Don't worry."

"When are you going to give it to them?" the Snow Night tribe asked. "Can you come back with us today?"

“It’s definitely not possible today,” Song Qingfeng said. “Don’t worry, this isn’t something that can be rushed. Let’s first talk about the specific situation of the Snow Night Tribe. Only after we understand the situation clearly can we know how to help you.”

Meng Changqing stepped forward and asked them, "Why did the other tribes suddenly attack you?"

Meng Changqing asked the right question, and only then did the two reveal the real reason.

The conflict stemmed from issues related to food distribution.

The story begins in Daliang.

For several years, Daliang supplied the Xueye tribe with grain seeds. By last year, the Xueye tribe had enough grain seeds, so they thought of distributing them to several large tribes that they wanted to win over, and made an agreement with them that half of the grain they grew would be given to the Xueye tribe.

Those tribes all agreed readily when it came time to ask for the seeds.

But when the grain was grown and the Snow Night tribe actually asked them for half of it, they couldn't bear to part with it.

They all felt that they had worked hard to grow the crops, so why should they give half of them to the Xueye tribe? After discussing it, the tribes decided that at most they would return the seeds to the Xueye tribe.

How could the Snow Night Tribe agree? They firmly stated that they would teach those tribes a lesson.

Those tribes weren't stupid either. Instead of waiting to be taught a lesson, they simply joined forces and gave the Snow Night Tribe a beating.

This attack drove them directly out of the territory previously occupied by the Snow Night Tribe. (End of Chapter)