My older brother said I'm invincible.

Chapter 39 Eating Ten Heroes in One Meal
Duan Niang looked at Li Xuanba, who was running back and forth, her eyes filled with worry.

These days, Sanlangjun's health is getting better day by day, but his affairs are also increasing day by day. In the past few days, he has met many people, and Duanniang can often hear them talking about leaving the city. She doesn't quite understand, but she is very worried.

She heard that the area outside the city was very dangerous, with cannibalistic thieves everywhere.

Li Xuanba ran for a while, then stopped, panting heavily.

Recently, he has been exercising more and more frequently. Even after Liu Xuan left, if he has nothing to do, he will go for a run or toss the hammer in his hand. He is never idle. He is also running faster and faster. Wearing that light armor, he can jog slowly for nearly half an hour without speeding up, which is something he could never have imagined in the past.

However, he was still far from achieving the goals set by Master Liu: to travel a hundred miles a day while wearing three layers of heavy armor and to throw the Golden Gourd Hammer three hundred paces.

Li Xuanba was covered in sweat from running, but he didn't feel tired at all; he felt exceptionally comfortable.

He washed and dressed.

Today, he is going out of the city to do some work.

After putting away the clothes she had changed out of, Duan Niang's eyes were full of worry. As she worked, she said, "Xuan Ba, are you really going to leave the city?"

"It's not safe outside the city, why do we insist on going out?"

Li Xuanba hesitated for a moment, afraid that Duan Niang would worry, so he didn't tell the truth. He only said, "I'm not going alone. My elder brother has arranged for many people to go with me, so don't worry. I'm going to the farm, so there won't be any danger."

Duan Niang sighed deeply.

"I heard that there's a band of bandits outside the city called Qingzao Village. They're attacking officials and kidnapping people to eat. Their leader has a blue face and fangs, and he can eat ten strong men in one meal. How can we let you go out of the city?"

Upon hearing this, Li Xuanba immediately burst into laughter.

“Duan Niang, don’t listen to the nonsense those people in the manor are talking about. My elder brother’s subordinate, that brother surnamed Feng, is the one who killed a giant bear half a year ago, Duan Niang, you know him, right? He’s going to accompany me. With him here, what man-eating demons are we afraid of?”

Feng Li was quite famous in the mansion.

Knowing she couldn't stop him, Duan Niang could only advise, "Be careful then. Don't go ahead. Stay close to that Mr. Feng and let him protect you."

Duan Niang led Li Xuanba all the way to the door, and then asked Liu Chounu to keep a close eye on her young master.

Liu Chounu didn't say much, but he did express his determination to do his best.

Since Li Xuanba didn't know how to ride a horse, Liu Chounu carried him in his arms and headed straight for the orchard in the south courtyard.

Liu Chounu was not wearing armor, but his old bow and arrows, as well as his sword, were already hanging on both sides of his horse.

He rode his horse, looking more energetic than before.

"Old man, you're getting on in years. If riding a horse is inconvenient for you, why don't you..."

"Haha, my lord, please don't underestimate my horseback riding skills. There's nothing inconvenient about it."

Liu Chounu laughed, "Don't be fooled by the fact that the men you found are young and strong. If they encounter thieves outside the city, they might not dare to charge into battle. Private fights and hunting are completely different from killing thieves. I will protect you, my lord."

When the two arrived at the South Courtyard, Zhang Du was already waiting. He quickly helped Li Xuanba down, Liu Chounu tied up the horse, and the group hurriedly entered the orchard.

A large group of people had gathered in the orchard, including Li Xuanba's senior brothers and the warriors sent by his elder brother to assist him, totaling more than thirty people.

There were many horses not far away, and they were also fully armed, carrying bows and arrows, swords and knives.

The scene was chaotic, with people standing in twos and threes, talking loudly, looking more like thieves than thieves themselves.

"Shut up!!!"

Suddenly, Liu Chounu shouted. He stood there, holding the hilt of a knife in one hand, and his voice seemed to come from his chest. It was extremely penetrating, and the entire orchard fell silent.

Everyone looked at him, and Li Xuanba smiled at Liu Chounu.

The old guard is indeed different.

Feng Li noticed the old man at that moment, and seemed to understand something. He quickly walked to Li Xuanba's side, "Third Master, everyone is here, thirty-two people. Two carriages are prepared at the North Gate; we can take them directly."

“You can’t walk like this,” Liu Chounu suddenly said.

Feng Li was taken aback and looked at him. Liu Chounu pointed to the people in the distance, "If we leave the city like this, we won't reach our destination. Some people will get lost, and some may even get injured."

"In your opinion, sir..."

"There are over thirty people, so let's make them ten people into a team, with a team leader; and five people into a squad, with a squad leader. They only need to remember their subordinates, and when traveling, let them supervise their subordinates to prevent them from getting separated from the group. The team leader will determine the distance between them."

Although Feng Li came from a military family and had studied military strategy, he had virtually no practical experience. As Liu Chounu explained the important matters one by one, he was quite surprised. "May I ask what your background is, sir? And what school of military strategy do you study?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Chounu laughed heartily, “Gentleman, don’t make fun of me. I’m just an old Hu, how could I know anything about military strategy? I fought a few battles when I was young and killed a few Eastern bandits.”

The term "Eastern bandits" is somewhat unfamiliar nowadays, but Feng Li knew what he was referring to, and his eyes showed even more respect.

Under Liu Chounu's guidance, Feng Li divided all his men into three teams. He took charge of one team, Zhang Du took charge of another team, and at Feng Li's suggestion, Liu Chounu also took charge of the first team.

Then, he found some people of higher status who were known to everyone and established six squad leaders.

After everyone had identified their assigned person and dressed neatly, they began to wait.

They were waiting for Wei Ting.

After waiting for nearly half an hour, Wei Ting finally arrived late.

He didn't seem to be in a hurry at all, but after all, he wasn't Li Jiancheng's retainer, just his friend, so Li Xuanba couldn't say much. Of course, Wei Ting didn't arrive late on purpose; he had gone to do some work.

He went to the government office and processed the necessary paperwork for everyone.

This thing is like a pass to leave the city. With this pass, they can legally enter and leave the city. Although as a son of a duke, he can enter and leave at will, having this thing makes it even more legal.

The reason given was to protect the public farms outside the city and to transport grain seeds; everything was legal and compliant, and there was nothing wrong with it.

Zhang Du and the others carefully put away the document, their eyes filled with excitement.

This small document has a huge impact. With this document, people will no longer be afraid of being conscripted by officials when they go out. And probably no officials will dare to arrest anyone from the Duke's mansion.

"You all go ahead. I still need to meet with a few people from the Zheng family. We need to discuss the grain seeds and farm tools with them."

Wei Ting said with a smile that he didn't plan to go out with them; he would just help them prepare their things.

Li Xuanba was also very grateful for his help. Although this person had the air of a powerful clan and was a bit arrogant and looked down on others, he was still quite serious about his work.

With everything prepared, the group left the mansion in a grand procession.

Li Xuanba sat in Liu Chounu's lap, wearing a light armor and an extra garment. Although the law forbade the private possession of armor, for top nobles, wearing light armor when hunting or playing was reasonable and not a big problem.

They arrived at the north gate of the city, where the servants arranged by the elder brother were already waiting. There were two carriages there, filled with the things needed to settle the people.

They brought the two carriages with them, and the officials at the city gate were hesitant to check their route. It was Feng Li who took the initiative to let them register.

Zhang Du and the others still remembered how fierce the officials were when they entered the city. They would have been forced into labor if they hadn't been paid enough.

But now, these fierce officials bowed and scraped, respectfully escorting them all the way to the city gate.

Li Xuanba stepped out the door, and what came into view were rows of large pits. Many ragged farmers were digging pits under the orders of the officials, one after another. In those dug pits, there were piles of unclaimed corpses. They were simply folded up, filling the entire pit, and then hastily covered up, without tombstones or decorations.

Those filled-in pits look no different from the ones with freshly turned soil.

Most of the roadside trees along the official road were withered, dark and dry, and vicious birds landed on them, emitting mournful cries.

The smile on Li Xuanba's face vanished instantly.

He looked at the people on his left and right.

"let's go."

(End of this chapter)