Chapter 171: I Thought They Were Thieves

Luo Feng raised his hand and pointed to Xiexiezi, who was in a daze on the side. Xiexiezi had charged at the very front just now and could be described as exceptionally valiant.

Originally, the first bandit who was about to scale the city wall was someone else, but that person was knocked down by the garrison, and Xiexiezi, who was behind, exerted his strength and was the first to rush onto the city wall.

Jiang Jinshi walked to Xiexiezi's side and clapped repeatedly: "Good! Worthy of being a brother of my Yangguangzhai. In addition to the reward of one hundred taels of silver, I will give you the position of a Small Squad Leader!"

Regardless of whether Xiexiezi was willing or not, Jiang Jinshi grabbed Xiexiezi's hand and raised it high, celebrating for him very happily.

"Brothers of my Yangguangzhai, as long as you contribute, there will definitely be a reward. I look forward to everyone's performance next time!"

Xiexiezi woke up as if from a dream and looked at Jiang Jinshi with a puzzled expression. That expression clearly said:

How did I become a Small Squad Leader?

Jiang Jinshi smiled and responded in a voice only the two of them could hear: "I think highly of you! You used to lead an entire mountain stronghold anyway; leading a few dozen people shouldn't be a problem!"

Xiexiezi wanted to ask something, but there were too many people present, so he had to let it go for now!

"Luo Feng! Just like in Jiangcheng before, handle the affairs inside the city for now!" Jiang Jinshi believed in Luo Feng's ability, and now he was ready to go meet the boss of the Fei Nu She!

"Yes!"

"Wang Hou, lead the way!"

……

At this moment, the people of Qingcheng were all staying behind closed doors at home. After all, they had heard the commotion of the bandits attacking the city.

But now that there was no sound, the common people couldn't figure out who had won, and they didn't have the guts to go out and look. Basically, they were all pricking up their ears to listen for movement.

Zhang Zhengyan was scratching his head in anxiety at home, even feeling somewhat desperate. He hadn't expected that his Fei Nu She had just started to improve, and before the other party could talk to him in detail, the bandits had attacked.

He had heard that Ziyun City in Shuo Fang Jun had been attacked by bandits, and the common people had suffered. Just hearing about that scene made him feel scared.

Even if the Prefect of Shuo Fang Jun had caught all the bandits and beheaded them in public, the harmed common people couldn't come back. Life was one's own; only by living did it have meaning!

Although he had heard that the bandits of Yangguangzhai had attacked two cities and were very good to the common people, Zhang Zhengyan and most of the people of Qingcheng didn't believe it. If bandits could be that good, then they wouldn't be bandits.

In the end, Zhang Zhengyan sighed and could only blame his bad luck. Others might not know, but earlier he had just gone to buy food and heard a garrison soldier running in a panic to call for help, saying that thousands of bandits had come outside the city.

So he hurriedly took the food and rushed home. Now that he thought about it, with such a huge disparity in numbers between the garrison and the bandits, how could there be any chance of winning!

Just as Zhang Zhengyan was letting his imagination run wild, a series of urgent knocks came on the door!

"Dong! Dong dong!"

This sound startled Zhang Zhengyan. His first reaction was that the bandits had come!

Covering his mouth to keep himself from making a sound, he hurriedly looked around for a place to hide.

Seeing no safe place to hide, Zhang Zhengyan prepared to go upstairs and stay with the pigeons. Early this morning, he had cleaned up the pigeon droppings and put them together in a large wooden basin.

He prepared to hide in that wooden basin and cover himself with the droppings to escape a disaster.

Wang Hou outside the door continued to pound on the door. Seeing no movement for a long time, he shouted at the top of his lungs: "Zhang Zhengyan, my Big Brother is here to talk to you about cooperation. Open the door!"

Zhang Zhengyan, who had just gone upstairs, heard this sentence. His joy couldn't be hidden, and he hurriedly went downstairs to open the door.

It was truly a case of "after the dark willows and bright flowers, there is another village"! It seemed his luck was still not bad!

Zhang Zhengyan opened a crack in the door. Only after seeing Wang Hou did he truly feel relieved. After opening the door, without waiting for Wang Hou to speak, he hurriedly pulled the few people into the house, then poked his head out to look around, and carefully closed the door.

Jiang Jinshi was confused and whispered to Wang Hou: "Is this person hiding from someone? Why is he acting like a thief?"

"I don't know! He was quite normal last time!" Wang Hou was also confused, always feeling the other party's behavior was strange.

Zhang Zhengyan closed the door and breathed a sigh of relief, saying softly: "Sorry! I just thought the thieves had come!"

Wang Hou's expression stiffened. Now he finally understood what was wrong!

So he was guarding against us!

Jiang Jinshi gave Wang Hou a look, meaning: Didn't you tell him in advance?

Wang Hou winked and responded, meaning: I didn't reveal the identity of the bandits!

Zhang Zhengyan saw that no one responded after he finished speaking and laughed awkwardly: "Haha! This... don't blame me, don't blame me... it's just that the thieves attacked the city, and I was a bit worried! I didn't mean that you distinguished guests were thieves!"

Jiang Jinshi cleared his throat, preparing to change the subject: "Well, let's talk about the cooperation first!"

Wang Hou immediately followed up: "Yes, yes, yes! This is my Big Brother; he is here to talk to you!"

Hearing about business, Zhang Zhengyan immediately beamed with joy and enthusiastically reached out to Jiang Jinshi: "Little brother Zhang Zhengyan, may I ask Big Brother's surname!"

"Jiang Jinshi!" Jiang Jinshi reached out and shook hands with Zhang Zhengyan.

Zhang Zhengyan enthusiastically prepared to invite Jiang Jinshi upstairs to see his pigeons, but was stopped by Jiang Jinshi raising his hand.

"I just want to ask, can you ensure that the post stations in the various prefectures of the Northern Frontier are established for the time being?"

"Yes!" Zhang Zhengyan nodded very firmly. Fearing that Jiang Jinshi wouldn't believe him, he added: "I have more than two hundred pigeons in my hands now. For just the various prefectures of the Northern Frontier, it's no problem. It's just..."

"Just what?"

"It will take some time. If I do it alone, it will be very slow!" Zhang Zhengyan knew very well that training pigeons to return to their "home" and gradually increasing the distance was a very time-consuming thing.

"If I provide you with manpower, can you finish it within a month?" Jiang Jinshi asked, stroking his chin.

Zhang Zhengyan calculated silently in his heart and then shook his head.

"It can't be done. Simply put, letting the pigeons get familiar with their 'home' takes one to two weeks. Even if you give me manpower, Big Brother, I have to train them, which will take another period of time!"

Although Jiang Jinshi didn't understand the ins and outs, what Zhang Zhengyan said made a lot of sense, so he decided to continue to extend the time.

"Then two months should be enough, right?"

"Two months is no problem!" Zhang Zhengyan patted his chest and guaranteed. This time he was much more confident!

Two months was the maximum time Jiang Jinshi could accept, because winter would be coming in two months. He had to master the first-hand information from the front line as soon as possible to avoid being caught off guard!

"Since that is the case, then follow me and work hard! Just go to Wang Hou for any expenses you have. I will bear all the costs. Besides that, I will give you ten taels of monthly wages for the time being, and we will add more later depending on the situation!" ===== CHAPTER 172 =====