The fiercest soldier of the border army

Although these auxiliary soldiers had never seen blood, they were all dressed in tanned leather armor, with standard-issue broadswords hanging at their waists, and they carried hard bows and arrows uniformly provided by the border troops.

This contrasts sharply with the tattered clothes and rusty short blades worn by the constables of Xiushui Town.

"Are you the traveling merchant who came to town to do business?"

Wu Yong's eyes were fixed on the front of the crowd, and he recognized Wei Zong at a glance.

He was deeply impressed when Wei Zong visited him a few days ago with gifts.

At this moment, Wei Zong had completely abandoned his previous smooth and docile demeanor as a merchant. He stood respectfully half a step behind Tang Shun with his hands at his sides, a standard posture of protecting his master.

Tang Shun raised his eyes, his expression calm and composed, his tone neither humble nor arrogant, "Commander Wu has brought his troops here today; what brings you here?"

There was not a trace of fear in Wu Yong's eyes, but rather an aura of ferocity.

In his youth, he was also a border soldier guarding the northern frontier, enduring hardships and constant sword and arrow wounds.

He was forced to retire to a local post due to a knee injury, and was given this sinecure in Xiushui Town.

Relying on his years of military service and local influence, he sternly shouted, "You mere outsider merchant, how dare you privately possess armor and weapons, and hoard bows and crossbows!"

"To gather a crowd in the wilderness, armored and armed, is tantamount to treason. Do you know your crime?"

He strode forward, his heavy boots slamming into the muddy ditch. "Besides that, you've illegally detained the people of my town, forced them to work, plundered their labor, and bullied our community!"

"In the name of Xiushui Town Supervisor, you are hereby ordered to immediately release all citizens, surrender them, and await further judgment!"

He adopted a dignified posture of pleading for the people, saying, "If you obediently confess your crimes and admit your mistakes, I will grant you leniency because you have come from afar."

"Only the ringleaders will be punished; the rest of the followers will be spared."

He paused, a cold glint flashing in his eyes, his tone turning sharp again, carrying a blatant threat:

"If you resist stubbornly, don't blame me for immediately writing a letter to the Prefect of Datong, punishing you for three serious crimes: illegally possessing weapons, setting up an unauthorized court, and forcibly conscripting laborers!"

After a stern and righteous rebuke, more than a hundred villagers working on the construction site all looked up.

A pair of eyes, filled with a mixture of fear, hesitation, and hope, fell on Tang Shun and Wu Yong at the same time.

Some people instinctively clenched their pickaxes and hoes, their knuckles turning white.

Some people wavered in their resolve and quietly backed away, wanting to get closer to Wu Yong, the local official in charge.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Tang Shun did not utter a single word of rebuttal, but calmly raised his hand towards Wei Zong.

Wei Zong, who was beside him, understood immediately and took out a stack of neat paper contracts from his bosom. He stepped forward and steadily handed them to Wu Yong.

"This is a contract of servitude signed voluntarily by all the townspeople."

Tang Shun’s voice was clear and bright, each word distinct and clear: “They illegally stole military funds, which is punishable by death according to the law. I couldn’t bear to do it, so I made them sign a contract to atone for their crimes.”

"If Wu Jianzhen has any doubts, he can ask in public and confront the authorities to verify them."

Wu Yong glanced down at the paper, his gaze suddenly sharpened, and his pupils contracted sharply.

The neat ink characters were clear and legible, and at the end of each contract was a bright red fingerprint.

It was an even more ruthless contract of servitude than a pawn contract or an employment contract!

He subconsciously turned to look at the group of working townspeople, and the people who had been slightly restless just moments before all bowed their heads.

No one dared to meet his gaze; their faces were filled with guilt and fear.

Wu Yong knew that the contract was probably genuine.

But in an instant, his confidence and anger surged again. "Stealing military supplies? You're nothing but merchants, what right do you have to call yourselves soldiers?"

Tang Shun stood in the center of the crowd and spoke loudly, "Wu Jianzhen, you seem to have a short memory. Wang Xianghong personally wrote a letter to you some time ago, have you forgotten?"

"Wang Xianghong?!"

The moment those three words reached his ears, Wu Yong's expression changed drastically, and he cried out in a low voice, "You...you are Captain Wang's men?"

Before he could finish speaking, Cheng Feng chuckled softly.

The laughter wasn't loud, but it carried a chilling coldness, clearly indicating that the person hated the man intensely.

Wei Zong stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze sweeping indifferently over Wu Yong, his eyes as cold as if he were examining a corpse about to be buried.

On the other side, Liang Enyi raised his hand to brush the mud off his trouser leg, walked slowly to Tang Shun's side, and gently wiped the blade with his fingertips.

After a brief moment of panic, Wu Yong forced down his nerves and shouted angrily, "So what if you're border troops?!"

"It is your duty to receive your pay and guard this land! But instead of protecting the people of this town, you coerce them into signing contracts and exploit them wantonly. Your crimes are simply unforgivable!"

"Release them immediately! Otherwise, I will send a letter to Commander Wang and make you corrupt border soldiers pay for your crimes in blood!"

Tang Shun quietly looked at Wu Yong, who was all bluster and no substance and spouted righteous indignation, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.

What a silver tongue she has, capable of distorting the truth and using clever words to argue!

He had already investigated the matter thoroughly and found that Wu Yong and Wang Xianghong were birds of a feather and secretly colluding.

The two had long been plotting in secret, deliberately blocking their rotating border troops outside Xiushui Town, and colluding with the Xiongnu to kill them in the wilderness through the hands of the barbarians.

Their ultimate goal was to embezzle the death benefits allocated by the imperial court and line their own pockets.

Xiushui Town was known in the town as "Wu the Skinflint" for his daily exploitation of the people and his mistreatment of them.

Today, however, he puts on the act of a righteous and incorruptible official, publicly putting on a show to win over the hearts of the people.

Tang Shun raised his hand and gently stroked the newly assembled bamboo frame beside him, then looked calmly at Wu Yong: "According to Zhao Jianzhen, you insist on bringing all the townspeople back to town today, is that right?"

Wu Yong stood tall and proud, his face full of arrogance, and raised his voice several decibels, deliberately making sure everyone in the audience could hear him clearly:

"The people of Xiushui Town are naturally under the protection of my Xiushui Town Supervisory Office! With me here today, you will not be allowed to detain another single person; you must release them all!"

The townspeople who were watching felt a surge of warmth in their hearts and looked at Wu Yong with gratitude and trust.

The crowd stopped what they were doing and gathered around, eagerly hoping to return to the town with their magistrate and live a peaceful life.

Tang Shun slowly surveyed the more than one hundred people present.

Each face conveyed a completely different emotion.

Some people have a burning desire to return to their homeland in their eyes, while others harbor resentment and conflict with themselves in their hearts. More often than not, there is blind obedience and wavering.

Tang Shun saw things clearly.

Wu Yong's plan was shrewd; he simply wanted to save face, win over the people, and solidify his prestige.

Tang Shun withdrew his gaze and turned to the townspeople, speaking frankly, "Fellow villagers, I know that everyone wants to go back, and I, Tang Shun, am willing to let you all leave."

The crowd looked up instantly, their eyes lighting up with surprise.

"We are building walls and fortifications in this desolate wilderness not to establish a separatist regime, not to become kings, and certainly not for a few taels of silver."

Tang Shun's voice was firm and resounding, echoing across the fields: "We worked tirelessly, day and night, all for two words—to survive!"

"You may not know, but the garrison commander has already decided to keep us outside the town and let the Xiongnu slaughter us!"

"What you don't know is that we are soldiers who take turns to garrison and protect Xiushui."

Tang Shun raised his voice, "If we all die in the wilderness, Xiushui Town will have no regular garrison left. How can a mere few dozen constables stop the barbarian cavalry?"

"When the nest is overturned, how can the eggs remain intact? Xiushui Town will be slaughtered!"

He deliberately concealed Wu Yong's capital crime of colluding with the Xiongnu and betraying the country, only revealing the fact that the garrison had been massacred and the entire town was left without soldiers to defend it.

This is a precise calculation.

He bet that Wu Yong had ulterior motives and would never dare to publicly refute or expose the truth; once he opened his mouth, he would be inviting trouble.

as predicted!

After he finished speaking, Wu Yong's face turned a deep purplish-red, his chest heaved violently, and his face was full of resentment and bitterness, as if he were swallowing a bitter pill.

He had a thousand schemes and plots, but he dared not utter a single word of them in public.

On the desolate wilderness, the people rose up in uproar, and their discussions exploded!

Are we just going to let the Xiongnu slaughter the defending troops?!

The people of the border town had all suffered from the plundering of the Xiongnu, and almost every family had a blood feud with the barbarians!

Everyone knows perfectly well that as long as the border troops are there, the border town is safe; if the border troops perish, the border town perishes!

Xiushui Town is a tiny place with only thirty to fifty garrison soldiers, which is already struggling to protect themselves. Yet, there is a local official who deliberately plots to harm the soldiers guarding the town!

If all these border soldiers perish, who will guard the city gates and defend against the Xiongnu? Are we really going to have to rely on those corrupt officials who only know how to exploit the people to die?

Public sentiment is gradually shifting.

The people who had just been swaying with gratitude towards Wu Yong have lost all trust in their eyes, gradually becoming filled with surprise, doubt, and indignation.

Public opinion has already shifted in Tang Shun's favor.

Taking advantage of this momentum, Tang Shun stared intently at Wu Yong, his gaze sharp, and threw out his final heavy-handed move: "Lord Supervisor, I'm putting my words here today."

"If you immediately open the town and allow us soldiers to enter and garrison, all the labor contracts of the townspeople will be publicly voided!"

"All citizens may return home immediately!"

"Our border troops are willing to live and die with Xiushui Town. I wonder if the garrison commander dares to agree?"