I'm letting you win over the female lead, not conquering cities and territories!

"Stop! Release the lady!"

"You audacious madman, put down your knife!"

Qin Hao, holding the elegantly dressed young woman hostage, swaggered out of the secluded, luxurious mansion and headed straight for the city gate of Qingmu Pass, following the path he had come from.

This strange man, dressed in coarse cloth postman's clothes, was carrying a bloodstained sword and tightly holding the garrison commander's wife in his arms.

This extremely bizarre and visually striking scene immediately caught the attention of the patrolling guards on the street.

Accompanied by shouts of shock and anger, dozens of city guards wielding spears quickly surrounded Qin Hao from all directions, attempting to beat him to death with clubs.

However, faced with these gleaming swords and spears, Qin Hao not only did not back down in the slightest, but instead curled up a mocking sneer on the corner of his mouth.

He slightly twisted his wrist, tightening the blade against the young woman's neck.

The sharp blade instantly pierced the young woman's fair skin, and a trickle of bright red blood slid down the blade.

"Ouch—! It hurts! Help!"

The young woman, pampered since childhood, had never experienced such fright and physical pain. She was so frightened that her legs went weak and she almost collapsed to the ground.

Tears and snot streamed down her face as she screamed hysterically at the guards who tried to approach:

"Get out of the way! All of you, get out of the way! You blind, utter lackeys, didn't you see his knife at my throat?!"

If I lose even a single hair, my husband will skin you all alive!

Upon hearing the young woman's scathing curses, the guards who were about to rush forward suddenly stopped as if someone had pressed the pause button.

The crowd exchanged bewildered glances, their hands gripping the spears trembling slightly, their eyes filled with apprehension and fear.

They knew their commander's character all too well.

General Zhao's love for this lady was so deep that it bordered on obsession!

If they can successfully rescue the lady today, it will naturally be a great achievement that will lead to promotion and honor.

But swords have no eyes; what if, during the robbery, the assailant accidentally slits the lady's throat...?

Then those guards present, and even their entire families, probably wouldn't be enough to be buried with the lady!

Thinking of this, all the soldiers hesitated to act, remaining frozen in place. They were forced to retreat by Qin Hao alone, and no one dared to step forward.

"What a well-trained group of 'good soldiers'."

Qin Hao looked at the city defense soldiers who were terrified by a woman, and a hint of undisguised contempt flashed in his eyes.

He didn't even bother to waste words with these lackeys, and like a bulldozer, he grabbed the woman in his arms and approached the city gate step by step.

As he walked, Qin Hao arrogantly shouted at the soldiers around him:

"What are you all standing there for? Hurry up and go tell your lovestruck general!"

He told me that his beloved wife was now in my hands, and if he wanted her to live, he'd better get his ass up to the city gate and come see me right now!

Since these are specially captured bargaining chips, how can this show be performed if the person in charge doesn't know about them?

Qin Hao is now determined to make things bigger and bigger!

……

In fact, Qin Hao didn't need to give any special instructions. The moment Qin Hao paraded through the city with the garrison commander's wife, several quick-witted guards had already scrambled to the garrison commander's residence to report the news.

At this very moment, inside the garrison commander's residence.

As the highest military commander in the city, Zhao De did not handle important military matters in his study.

On the contrary, he pushed all the mountain of border defense documents and arms allocation orders to the corner of the table like garbage.

General Zhao, dressed in casual clothes, was sweating profusely and pacing back and forth in the room like an ant on a hot pan.

"Oh dear! Why is Madam angry again? The sound of that teacup shattering breaks my heart..."

Zhao De frowned and tugged at his beard, his mind filled with thoughts of how to appease his wife.

"What expensive gift should I buy for her this time? She's already tired of the usual Western spices, and if I buy her top-quality pearls from the East China Sea... my salary as a garrison commander wouldn't be enough!"

"Could it be... that we'll deduct another 20% from next month's military pay to make up the difference?"

Just as this "lovestruck" general was seriously plotting how to continue embezzling military pay and exploiting soldiers to win a smile from his beloved.

"Bang!"

The study door was suddenly and violently kicked open.

"Who gave you permission to barge in without announcing yourself?! You rude jerk!"

Zhao De's thoughts were interrupted, and he immediately flew into a rage. He turned around and wanted the guards outside the door to drag this reckless fellow out and give him fifty lashes.

The scout who rushed in was deathly pale. He knelt on the ground with a thud, his voice cracking with extreme terror:

"General! Something terrible has happened! Madam... Madam has been kidnapped by thugs!"

"Wh...what?"

Zhao De's barely contained anger instantly caught in his throat, and he felt as if he had been struck by lightning, his brain completely shutting down.

Several seconds passed before he suddenly reacted, grabbed the scout by the collar and lifted him up, roaring with bloodshot eyes:

"How is this possible?! The defenses of Qingmu Pass are impregnable; not even a fly could get in! How could any thugs have infiltrated the inner city and kidnapped my wife?!"

The scout cried out, his voice trembling with tears:

"It's that... that courier who delivered lychees from Lingnan! General, he's not a courier at all, he's a ruthless bandit who kills without blinking an eye!"

"Are you...delivering lychees?"

Zhao De suddenly realized the truth, and the world before him seemed to spin around him.

The defensive loophole he deliberately left to please his wife turned out to be the death knell for her kidnapping!

It wasn't until this moment, when his beloved woman faced a life-or-death crisis, that General Zhao, who had always been obsessed with romance, finally regained some of the composure befitting a city's defender.

"Issue my order! Immediately mobilize all troops in the city! Heavy crossbowmen and spearmen, move out!"

Zhao De shoved the scout aside, took his sword from the wall, and charged out of the study like an enraged lion.

"Block the city gates tightly! Don't let a single bird out!"

……

In just a few minutes.

With deafening hoofbeats and the clanging of armor plates, all five hundred garrison troops of Qingmu Pass were mobilized, completely surrounding the main road leading to the city gate.

"Giddy up! Get out of the way! All of you, get out of the way!"

Zhao De leaped onto his horse and galloped away, not caring at all even injuring several soldiers who couldn't dodge in time.

Following the instructions, he rushed directly to the open space in front of the city gate.

The horse braked suddenly.

Zhao De looked up, and the scene that came into view made his heart clench.

In the very center of the encirclement of hundreds of city defense soldiers, a tall, handsome, and resolute young man held a blood-dripping sword in one hand.

The cold blade was pressed firmly against the neck of his delicate wife.

The lady's luxurious silk nightgown was stained with blood, and she was weeping bitterly.

"stop--!"

Zhao De's eyes instantly turned red, and all his reason vanished when he saw the bloodstain on his wife's neck.

Without even considering how the other person had gotten there alone, he leaped off his horse, charged at the forefront of the soldiers, and roared without any restraint:

"Don't hurt her! What do you want? Gold and silver, wealth and honor, or high office and generous salary?"

"I'll give you anything! Just release my wife, and I guarantee you'll leave the city safely!"