Top-notch Little Horseman

"First of all, during this trip back to the Right Guard Post, I secured official positions for ten brothers, including Liang Biao. From now on, they will be the horse herders of the Third Horse Battalion, our brothers!" Lin Chen scanned the crowd and then focused his gaze on Liang Biao.

"Brother Ye... Brother Ye, we..." Liang Biao's eyes were a little wet, and he almost knelt down before Ye Chen.

Ye Chen waved his hand and said, "From now on, we're all brothers, so there's no need to be so formal!"

"Haha, from now on we're all brothers, let's work hard in Huangchen Pass!" Smoker patted Liang Biao on the shoulder.

"In the future, we will surely make a name for ourselves and achieve great things!"

"Yes, do a good job!" Liang Biao clenched his fist excitedly.

Ye Chen cleared his throat, announced the matter, paused, and then continued, "And the second thing!"

"Famine is rampant everywhere, the number of refugees is increasing, and the Northern Barbarian cavalry are also loitering outside the border wall."

"The bandits who came this time didn't get away with it. We didn't suffer any major losses, mainly because the border cavalry arrived in time."

"I thought about it on the way here. Starting tomorrow, we're going to practice martial arts to strengthen our bodies! Liang Biao, you guys served in the border army, so you'll be the ones teaching us tomorrow, and we brothers will follow along."

"I hope that each of us can be a model border soldier."

"In addition, we need to replace everyone's equipment. I plan to equip everyone with high-quality gear over the next three months."

"We need at least ten archers, and each of them must be dressed in cloth and leather armor!"

But getting this isn't so easy. Even with a status, the money isn't so readily available.

We still have to take it one step at a time.

The group gathered together and discussed the matter of practicing martial arts and acquiring equipment for quite some time.

Just then, the door was kicked open, and Zhuzi stumbled in.

His face was covered in sweat, his shirt was torn, and there was blood at the corner of his mouth, as if he had been slapped.

"Sir, Sir Ye, you're finally back! Something's happened in the village!"

What?

"Tell me what happened!" Ye Chen hurriedly walked over and said.

Zhu Zi swallowed hard and told him what had happened.

It turns out that early this morning, Zhang Bapi from Dingyuan County arrived at Chenjiazhuang with his men.

He led ten henchmen, carrying sticks and ropes, and went into the village to find the village chief.

They say there's a drought this year, so the rent will be increased by 30%.

But the village had already paid its rent, and besides, the village had no grain to spare.

Zhang Bapi wouldn't listen at all, saying that this land belonged to his family, and that if people farmed Zhang's land, they would have to pay Zhang's rent, and that drought or no drought had nothing to do with the rent.

Village Chief Chen knelt on the ground begging him, but was kicked away, his head...

The bag hit the threshold, and blood immediately streamed down his face.

After kicking Old Man Guo to the ground, Zhang the Skinflint started searching the whole village for his belongings.

They turned every grain bin in the village upside down, but managed to collect less than half a bag of mixed grains, and they still complained that it wasn't enough.

Finally... his men found the ewe and her lamb.

As Zhang Bapi spoke, his voice trembled uncontrollably.

That ewe was the hope for survival for more than a dozen families in Chenjiazhuang, and those lambs had just been born.

When they saw Zhang the Skinflint ordering his henchmen to take all the lambs away to pay the rent, the villagers could no longer tolerate it and rushed forward to stop him.

Ayu rushed to stop him, but was hit on the forehead by a lackey, and immediately rolled on the ground in pain.

Other villagers stepped forward, and they too were slapped several times.

"Yes, right, Sister Yaoyao happened to be in the village, and she also stepped forward to stop it..."

Hearing this, Ye Chen's heart skipped a beat.

He had just returned and learned from the monkey that Qin Mengyao had gone to Chenjia Village, so he decided to go find Qin Mengyao after telling her these two things.

But I never expected that something like this would happen.

"Zhang the Skinflint not only ignored him, but also went up to Yao Yao with a smile and tried to hold her hand. As a result, Yao Yao grabbed a pair of scissors and stabbed the back of his hand, so he had his men tie her up."

"When we went up to stop them, they all knocked us to the ground."

"Zhang the Skinflint said he would take the people away and the sheep away as well. He also said that this village dared to resist even though they didn't pay rent, so he would detain the people first and come back to settle accounts another day."

"I escaped in the chaos to warn you... Officer Ye, you, you must go and save Sister Yao Yao..."

This skin-peeler actually had lustful thoughts and wanted to take Sister Yao Yao away. Ye Chen's eyes immediately turned cold.

The Zhang family is nothing more than a landlord with no money; today, Ye Chen is going to beat the landlord!

"Zhu Zi, you lead the way. We'll take a shortcut and stop them!"

At Ye Chen's call, more than twenty people, fully armed, strode out of the Desolate Dust Pass.

Although their weapons were somewhat haphazard, including carrying poles and sickles, and Liang Zhichao even had a sharpened wooden stick in his hand, it was still a weapon for each of them.

Twenty-one people hurried along the path at the foot of the hill towards Chenjiazhuang.

This road is longer than the official road, but once you cross a ridge, you can stop people traveling from Chenjiazhuang to Dingyuan County. This is a necessary route.

None of the twenty-one people spoke; their hurried footsteps rustled on the yellow earth.

After quickly crossing the earthen ridge, Ye Chen immediately spotted a group of people. The man in the lead, with triangular and sly eyes, was none other than Zhang Bapi.

Zhang Bapi rode his gray donkey at the front, looking smug and humming a tuneless courtesan tune.

Behind him, on the dirt road, ten lackeys led the procession forward.

Some carried loads of grains they had dug out of Chenjiazhuang; others carried ewes with their hooves bound, while lambs in bamboo baskets bleated incessantly.

In the crowd, Qin Mengyao, with her hands tied behind her back, was being carried forward by two lackeys, one on each side, walking unsteadily.

"Go!" Ye Chen shouted and immediately rushed down the slope.

Everyone else rushed down the slope, raising a cloud of dust beneath their feet.

Zhang Bapi was riding a donkey, swaying back and forth, when he suddenly saw a large group of people rushing down the slope, and he was immediately stunned.

These people were all carrying weapons, including crossbows; they were clearly not ordinary people.

However, some of them were carrying short knives, wooden sticks, and hoes, and they were dressed in tattered clothes with their faces covered in yellow dust.

This is clearly a bandit gang; these are refugees robbing the road!

Zhang Bapi's first reaction was that he had encountered a robbery, after all, a large number of refugees had gathered in Anyuan County.

Anyuan County is only about 100 li away from Dingyuan County, and may have already entered Dingyuan County's territory.

He was puzzled, though, that those refugees usually wandered in the mountains, so why would they dare to come to the official road?

Besides, they're trying to rob Master Zhang's way out of his way! Are they tired of living?

He was not afraid at all; on the contrary, he found it amusing. How could a few starving and emaciated refugees dare to provoke him?

Ye Chen rushed to the front of the group and blocked their path with his sword.

"Leave the people! Put down the sheep! Return the grain, and we'll spare your lives for now!"