Daqin arrests alchemists, what does it matter to me as a qi refiner?

The military officer Zhao Wenhua beside him smiled and said, "Your Excellency is very far-sighted and truly a genius!"

"Ah~"

Suddenly, a soldier came running from the north: "Sir, Mr. Zhao, this is not good!"

Wang Zhigang saw the other party running outside the city gate and asked sternly, "Why are you so flustered?"

The soldiers knelt on the ground in panic: "The enemy soldiers are coming, please save us!"

"What?" Wang Zhigang was extremely shocked.

He immediately turned around and ran down the city wall.

Everyone followed and rushed to the north gate.

Arriving at the north gate, Wang Zhigang looked carefully.

Dozens of bandits broke through the defense line of the soldiers guarding the city, poured into the city like a flood, and headed directly for the streets where the county government office was located.

The officers and soldiers were defeated one after another and were unable to stop the enemy's offensive. Some even abandoned their weapons and fled.

Wang Zhigang was extremely anxious but there was nothing he could do.

He was very clear about the situation in Jeju City - Jeju City had no decent guards and could only rely on the government's guards to resist bandits. These guards were young and strong men recruited temporarily and were not worthy of being used.

If these bandits were allowed to rush into the county government office, it would surely bring disaster to Wang Zhigang.

Wang Zhigang shouted anxiously: "Quick, send someone to notify every household! Ask the local gentry to bring people to stop the thieves!"

"Yes!" The guard next to him took the order and left in a hurry.

"Mr. Zhao, hurry up! Help me stop the bandits!"

Zhao Wenhua hesitated and said, "Sir, I'm afraid I can't defeat the bandits!"

"You're talking nonsense! If you dare not obey my orders, I will revoke your honor!"

Zhao Wenhua's face suddenly changed when he heard this.

He gritted his teeth and agreed: "I obey your command! I will never let you down!"

He immediately took out his sword and mounted his horse.

There were two war horses. He turned over and mounted one of them. Then he clamped his legs around the horse's belly and took a few deep breaths of the air in the horse's belly.

"Gee! Gee!" Zhao Wenhua raised his whip and lashed his horse hard, then rode towards the bandits who were rushing towards him.

"puff!"

The long sword hit the bandit's shoulder.

The bandit felt pain and raised his hand to chop at Zhao Wenhua's neck. Zhao Wenhua dodged in time but his right arm was still scratched.

"Hahaha, kill!" The bandit shouted excitedly when he saw that he had succeeded.

The surrounding bandits saw that the situation was not good and drew their scimitars to rush towards Zhao Wenhua.

Although Zhao Wenhua was a weak scholar, he was not a coward. He waved his sword and shield, barely holding off his opponent. Then he seized the opportunity and slashed the bandit on the left with his sword.

Zhao Wenhua took advantage of the chaos to escape, rode his horse to the side, and finally got rid of the thieves.

When the bandits saw that their target had escaped the encirclement, they became furious and started chasing after him again.

……

Yang Ling rode his horse and fought among the bandits, constantly looking for opportunities to kill the lone bandits. He was already bored with staying in Jeju City and was eager to capture Jeju City as soon as possible.

The number of bandits was too large, and the 4,000 elite troops under Yang Ling were simply unable to contend with them.

However, the bandits were at a disadvantage - the government guards were simply unable to stop the bandits' charge; the officials were more concerned about their own lives and were unwilling to risk their lives to stop the bandits, because this would result in heavy casualties among the people in the city, and might even lead to the fall of the entire city.

The bandits rushed forward at a very fast speed, gradually approaching the Jeju County Government Office.

"Stop them! Stop them!"

County Magistrate Wang Zhigang commanded the guards to try to intercept the bandits.

But they were outnumbered and could not stop their opponents' crazy charge.

The bandits were only ten meters away from the wall of the county government office. It would only take a moment for them to break through the guards' defense and enter the government office.

"No!" Wang Zhigang cried out to the sky.

The corners of Yang Ling's mouth curled up in a cold arc: "Death, you dog official!"

He urged his horse to charge straight into the group of officials in front.

The officials were terrified and hid, but the thieves were too fast and they couldn't escape!

boom!
Yang Ling's sword pierced the opponent's throat. The official covered his bleeding neck and slowly fell to the ground.

Yang Ling continued to drive his warhorse, broke into the group of guards, waved his sword to block, and forced the guards to retreat.

"Kill!" The thieves swarmed forward, trying to capture and kill Yang Ling.

Yang Ling kept swinging his sword, killing all the thieves who rushed in front of him.

The number of these bandits was not particularly large, only about two or three hundred, but they were all brave and courageous. Their ferocity and fearlessness posed a huge threat to Yang Ling, making it difficult for him to deal with them.

"What should we do? These bandits are too troublesome. If this situation continues, sooner or later more bandits will come to attack. Jeju City will surely be destroyed!"

Yang Ling cursed inwardly.

Just when Yang Ling was in a state of panic, he suddenly heard shouting and killing coming from the front, and a large number of soldiers were rushing towards this side.

The officers and soldiers held torches, shouted loudly, and rushed towards the bandits. Their shouts and cries resounded through the sky.

When Yang Ling saw those officers and soldiers, he showed a relieved expression.

Yang Ling relaxed a lot and focused on dealing with the thieves.

The bandits were greatly horrified when they saw the reinforcements coming.

These people were a mob. They ignored the officers and soldiers and continued to kill Yang Ling.

Yang Ling swung his sword and easily eliminated the first few thieves. He then dodged and evaded to avoid the enemy's concentrated fire.

Soon, officers and soldiers arrived nearby.

These officers and soldiers organized their formations quite skillfully and prepared to engage the bandits.

Yang Ling looked at the scene and couldn't help but shook his head and sighed.

Their troops had no idea how to fight in formation. After years of fighting overseas, the officers and soldiers had developed a habit of being lax.

When they fought overseas before, the officers and soldiers had never encountered a situation like today.

Yang Ling felt that he could not fight any longer or he would surely lose, so he quickly turned his horse around and ran towards the county government office.

"My lord, please leave quickly! I will cover your retreat!" Yang Ling's followers shouted loudly, and risked their lives to stand behind Yang Ling.

"Come on!"

Yang Ling jumped off the horse, then quickly climbed onto the warhorse and urged his mount to gallop towards the county government office.

"Protect the master! Protect the master!" the soldiers shouted.

Not only did they not retreat, but they took the initiative to launch an attack in an attempt to stop the bandits.

The bandits were stunned when they saw this.

The thieves didn't understand why this group of soldiers suddenly became so loyal and brave.

"Come on!"

The thieves rushed forward and tried to kill Yang Ling and others.

"Kill!"

The bandits brandished their weapons and continuously attacked the government troops' defense lines.

At this moment, a deafening roar of killing suddenly came from afar. "The enemy soldiers are coming!" someone shouted loudly.

The government troops were in a panic.

"Protect the master! Protect the master!" the leader of the guards shouted loudly.

The bandits were also confused. Many of them dropped their weapons and fled in panic towards Jeju City.

These thieves originally came to rob Jeju of its property, but they ended up not gaining anything and instead lost more than half of their possessions.

When Yang Ling led his army back to Jeju City, he suddenly saw that the gate of Jeju City was open and many defeated soldiers poured out of the city.

He hurriedly tightened the reins and led his men to the Jeju County Government Office, only to find that the office was empty.

"Sir! The bandits have seized the Jeju County Government Office. What should we do?" asked the leader of the guards.

"Immediately send someone to notify each battalion and regiment to strictly guard the post and defend Jeju City. Do not let any thieves enter the city. The rest of you, follow me to rescue the victims." Yang Ling said.

Jeju City has fallen.

However, Yang Ling did not think that Jeju had been conquered by the rebels. After all, there were 50,000 to 60,000 refugees in Jeju, and there were more than 20 garrisons in Jeju. If this was the case, the government army would have sent reinforcements to quell the rebellion long ago.

Jeju City is now empty and no one lives there. It must be that thieves tricked their way into obtaining the key to the city gate, opened the gate, and rushed in to kill people.

When Yang Ling attacked Jeju, it took him only three days to capture Jeju City. Now the people in Jeju City have already fled, so there is no one left to stop the bandits from attacking the city.

The bandits wreaked havoc in Jeju City, but the government troops did not dare to pursue them.

Because Yang Ling was in charge of guarding Jeju City, he could not dispatch government troops without Yang Ling in the city.

Yang Ling rushed back to Jeju City and found that the situation there was even more critical. The officers and soldiers had already collapsed, and the bandits were reckless and attacked the officers and soldiers at all costs.

Under the fierce attack of the bandits, the officers and soldiers were retreating step by step.

"How did you end up like this?" Yang Ling was furious and shouted, "Hurry up and hold on!"

His voice spread throughout the city, and the morale of the officers and soldiers was immediately boosted.

The officers and soldiers re-stabilized the defense.

Yang Ling and his confidants searched for civilians in the city. They soon found civilians gathered in the East Market. These civilians were tenants of nearby gentry families. When they heard that Jeju City had fallen, they were all terrified.

When they saw Yang Ling coming, they were excited as if they had seen a savior.

"Master Yang! You have to save us!"

"We are willing to submit to you, sir."

"Please let Lord Yang make the decision!"

These tenants knelt down before Yang Ling and begged for mercy.

Yang Ling remained silent and did not reply.

The tenants were all very scared and looked up at Yang Ling, wondering what he would do.

After a long while, Yang Ling took a few deep breaths and said loudly: "Don't worry, fellow countrymen! I will definitely protect you and will never let anything happen to you."

These words were spoken passionately, but Yang Ling did not make any grandiose statements and seemed very calm.

The tenants breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.

They stopped making noise and stood quietly by.

Yang Ling led his troops to search the city for valuables in the homes of the common people in order to minimize losses.

Although Jeju is a remote small county, it has more than 5,000 households and many houses. Some furniture cannot be moved around at will, otherwise it will affect neighborhood care.

"Sir, please lend me your precious sword." Yang Ling said to the soldier standing on the street.

The soldier hesitated for a moment and handed the badge to Yang Ling.

Yang Ling looked at the soldier's badge and couldn't help but frown: This is the badge of the Jinyiwei. Yang Ling had dealt with the Jinyiwei several times and was very familiar with the badge.

Yang Ling didn't say anything, she put away the soldier's badge.

At this time, several soldiers suddenly came out of the government office, escorting several men. Those men were short in stature, with fierce and ferocious faces, and they were the bandits from Jeju.

"Catch them!" Yang Ling ordered loudly.

The bandits were all wearing shackles and their hands were full of wooden spikes.

Yang Ling's troops captured these bandits, and they struggled desperately. These bandits were skilled in martial arts, and they quickly broke free from the troops' control. They wanted to take advantage of the chaos to escape.

"Catch them, and kill anyone who dares to escape!" Yang Ling shouted.

The soldiers gathered around and captured several bandits. They were tied up tightly and could not move.

Yang Ling carefully checked the belongings of the bandits and found gold, silver and jewelry.

"Take it back!" Yang Ling said.

His troops escorted the bandits back to the government office.

As soon as he reached the gate of the government office, he saw Yang Ling's brothers walking anxiously outside the gate. When they saw Yang Ling, they all rushed over and said, "Brother, the thieves are too powerful. The soldiers on the city wall can't resist them."

"The officers and soldiers are not doing their job well. You continue to stay and make sure to defend the government office. I will go to reinforce them!"

"Brother, I'll go with you!"

"Don't mess around! You are my most trusted troops, and you must not take risks lightly."

"yes, Sir."

Yang Ling rode his warhorse and galloped straight out of Jeju City. His figure quickly disappeared into the night.

The night wind was fierce, blowing against Yang Ling's armor, making a rustling sound.

Yang Ling's target was the Ji River, heading north along the river.

The bandits in Jeju were killing people in Jeju City. Yang Ling was worried that the bandits would cross the Ji River and attack the reinforcements from Changhua and Qingshiling. If this were the case, the reinforcements from these two routes would probably suffer heavy losses.

Although the bandits of Jeju City were brutal and cruel, they were not good at water. Even on land, they relied more on tools on the shore and were not good at water battles.

If Yang Ling's guess was correct, then they would cross the Jishui River and launch a surprise attack on the food trains of the two reinforcements.

If Yang Ling's judgment was wrong, Jeju City would be captured at any moment.

However, Yang Ling believed in his own judgment that the bandits from Jeju would definitely come out from the Jishui River and cross the river to commit crimes.

Sure enough, when Yang Ling was still a few miles away from the Ji River, he encountered bandits crossing the river.

"Prepare for battle!" Yang Ling shouted.

The officers and soldiers immediately drew their bows and arrows, aiming at the bandits who were crossing the river.

The thieves seemed to sense the danger and stopped crossing the river, raising their shields or crossbows for defense.

Yang Ling sneered, "Shoot! Release!"

"bang bang bang"

The arrow pierced through the darkness and fell into the water, splashing countless waves.

The thieves hurriedly dodged the arrows. They were slow and it was difficult for them to dodge the arrows perfectly.

In the end, the bandits failed to cross the river successfully, and only more than 20 people managed to cross the river.

They had just run a short distance when Yang Ling's troops attacked again. Seven or eight more bandits fell. The rest fled in panic.

At this time, the scouts sent by Yang Ling rode back to Jeju City to report.

When they came back, Yang Ling was resting on his horse. The scout said, "Your Excellency, the enemy has withdrawn to Jeju City. After our army occupied the city, only four or five hundred civilians were left in the city, and the rest had been moved to the mountains. Our army captured about six hundred bandits, all of whom were tied up."

"Well done!" Yang Ling showed his joy, "Order all the troops to take the bandits to the county town!"

After the fall of Jeju City, the bandits were powerless to resist and allowed the soldiers to deal with them. These bandits were all criminals, and their fate was predictable.

This matter was solved like a stroke of genius. Originally, Yang Ling had thought of robbing people's houses. Unexpectedly, the bandits robbed people's houses first. They did not have time to burn all the property, which resulted in the looting of Jeju City. (End of this chapter)