The Golden County Magistrate

"Wait! What are you doing?" Chen Yan was stunned.

"Ah? You didn't ask me to..." Yang Ping'er was also stunned, confused by his reaction.

"You don't think my wish is to take you, do you?" Chen Yan said in a lost voice.

"Isn't it... not?" Yang Ping'er finally felt something was wrong and stuttered a little.

"Of course not!" Chen Yan said with a smile.

"Then why do you want to be alone with me..." Yang Ping'er was completely confused.

"Because I want to ask you a question that Miss Xueyan can't know." Chen Yan sat up and looked serious.

"Question?" Yang Ping'er repeated, confused.

"Do you remember the question I said you lied about?" Chen Yan looked deeply into her eyes, "My wish is for you to answer my question truthfully!"

Yang Ping'er remembered it instantly.

At that time, Chen Yan asked her whether Tan Chao had a large amount of reserve weapons and food, and whether it recruited people and trained them in the way of regular troops.

She said she didn't know at the time.

But Chen Yan easily saw through her lie.

"You actually want to ask that, not me?" Yang Ping'er could hardly believe her ears.

"Your body is insignificant compared to the answer to that question." Chen Yan said lightly.

His implication was actually to hint to the other party that her life was not valuable, as long as she answered honestly, it would be okay to let her go.

But Yang Ping'er felt very uncomfortable when she heard this.

Although she certainly hoped that the other party would not touch her, she always felt uncomfortable when someone belittled her body like this.

After a long time, she suppressed her emotions and said, "Yes, he did. Although he has been handling this matter personally, I noticed it. I also secretly followed him and explored that place, but I could only go to the periphery and could not go in. The security inside was too strict."

Chen Yan's eyes lit up and he said in a deep voice, "Where is it? How many people are there?"

Yang Ping'er frowned and said, "Since you have caught Tan Chao, wouldn't it be better to ask him directly?"

Chen Yan said calmly, "This matter is of great importance. He may not answer me honestly. If I can get information from you, it will be much easier to break through his psychological defenses."

Jin Ze's four cargo ships are expected to arrive at Chengtang Lake tomorrow morning. He will leave tomorrow morning at the latest, so a quick battle must be decided.

Yang Ping'er seemed to understand, but since things had come to this point, she did not hesitate and told everything she knew.

Chen Yan asked dozens of questions in a row, and after repeatedly confirming that what she said was true, he fell silent.

Seeing that he looked wrong, Yang Ping'er couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong?"

A strange color flashed in Chen Yan's eyes, and he said, "Nothing, it just confirmed a guess I had in my mind. Go out, someone will arrange a place for you to stay. I will let you go after dealing with Tan Chao's matter tomorrow."

Yang Ping'er was surprised and said, "Are you really willing to let me go?"

Chen Yan lay back on the bed and said lazily, "You fought for it yourself. But remember not to do such evil things again, otherwise I will not spare your life next time I meet you."

In the study next door, Xueyan was still awake, lying on the couch and curled up, muttering softly, "How am I not as good as her... He actually chose her first..."

In fact, she didn't really hope that he would choose her.

It's just that choosing Yang Ping'er first was a blow to her self-esteem.

She asked herself that she was better than Yang Ping'er in every aspect, but she was not selected. The psychological gap can be imagined.

Just then, the sound of opening and closing doors came from next door.

She was startled, got up and walked to the window, gently opened the window a little, and saw that Yang Ping'er had changed into an ordinary dress and walked to the deck outside.

Wei Chuan appeared from nowhere and took her to the hatch.

Xueyan was stunned for a moment, and then she was overjoyed.

It turned out that Chen Yan didn't want her!

The next morning, the soldiers of the Nafu Camp escorted the pale-faced Tan Chao back.

"Is it done?" Chen Yan was eating breakfast alone on the deck of the small building ship, and asked casually.

"Report to the lord, we have counted them one by one to ensure that no thieves are alive." A sergeant replied respectfully.

Tan Chao's facial muscles twitched, and he was still frightened when he recalled the horrible scene.

He is definitely not a good person.

But seeing thousands of corpses lying on the ground, he still shuddered in his heart!

The task Chen Yan gave him yesterday was very simple, to completely wipe out the remaining river bandits in the water fort.

The water fort was arranged in layers, and even if it was successful to attack from the outside, there would be fish caught in the net.

But with the help of Tan Chao, it could be done easily.

Tan Chao held a banquet in the name of celebrating the success, and then put the poison given to him by Chen Yan in everyone's food and wine.

In the second half of the night, almost all the river pirates who had eaten the wine and food were killed by poison.

Some of the fish that slipped through the net were cleaned up one by one by the soldiers of the Nafu Camp.

Afterwards, a big fire destroyed the entire water fort and the corpses.

From then on, the former Jingjiang River Pirates no longer existed.

"I have done what you said, can you let me go?" Tan Chao came back to his senses and said humbly.

"Let you go so that you can find your men hiding in Qianzhuwu?" Chen Yan said meaningfully.

Hearing this, Tan Chao was shocked and looked at him in disbelief.

Chen Yan's face sank: "Don't say that this official will not give you a chance. If you hide anything, this official will execute you immediately!"

Tan Chao never dreamed that everything he had painstakingly hidden had already been discovered by Chen Yan, and his entire psychological defense line collapsed instantly.

His legs went limp, and he sat down on the ground, saying dejectedly, "I... I give up!"

A smile appeared on Chen Yan's lips.

It's done!

"Tell me, who are you training those naval forces for?" he said in a deep voice.

Tan Chao hesitated for a long time, and finally uttered a few words.

"Prince Yi... Tang Mo!"

Chen Yan breathed a sigh of relief.

Finally, the doubt that lingered in his heart had an answer.

Half an hour later, Tan Chao was taken to the prison room at the bottom of the cabin and imprisoned.

During this half hour, Chen Yan asked everything he wanted to know, and repeatedly confirmed all the details to ensure that Tan Chao did not lie.

The result was quite surprising to him.

At the beginning, Tan Chao was indeed ordered by the King of Yan to try to control the Jingjiang Canal Transport.

But when he arrived here, an uninvited guest came to see him.

The envoy of Prince Yi Tang Mo!

When the man saw Tan Chao, the first thing he said was: "It is difficult for the King of Yan to achieve great things. Please, Mr. Tan, give up the dark and join the light, and help our Prince Yi!"

The man came quietly after nightfall. That night, Tan Chao and him talked all night long.

The other party stated to him hundreds of reasons why the King of Yan would fail, and analyzed the situation in the world clearly and persuasively for him one by one. In the end, he successfully persuaded Tan Chao to betray the King of Yan and join the King of Yi.

It was also agreed that Tan Chao would stay in Jingjiang and secretly train a group of elite naval forces, and wait until three years later, when the King of Yi started an uprising, he would raise troops to respond.

The other party promised him that as long as he could cut off Jingjiang for three days, the capital would be broken!