With the rise of my family, I can summon the Daoist Soldiers' Nest.

That evening, the four family heads drank and chatted in the camp, laying out their concerns and plans, and finally finalized a preliminary plan, thus formally forming an alliance of offense and defense.

They agreed to cooperate and support each other in the upcoming recruitment and suppression operations, ensuring that neither the Wang nor Wei family would gain an unfair advantage in the task allocation.

On the third day, Wei's army finally arrived late.

Although they arrived late, their formation was impressive; from a distance, the procession stretched out, numbering about four or five thousand people.

Judging from their formation, it seemed as if they were deliberately showing off to the Wang family. The entire army was marching in full armor, the armor plates gleaming coldly in the sunlight. The soldiers were all strong young men, marching in neat formations, clearly not just a motley crew, but a regular army capable of fighting with heavy armor year-round.

What's even more subtle is that the Wei family did not mix with the four military camps, but instead set up their own camp not far away, forming their own faction.

Seeing this, none of the four families took the initiative to approach, lest they be met with indifference.

I heard that the head of the Wei family himself did not come with the army, but only sent a younger generation to lead the team.

The next day, the prefect issued a summons, ordering all the troops to come to the prefectural city to discuss matters.

The group, accompanied by guards, entered the city with the procession.

This was Lin Ye's first time setting foot in the prefectural city, and it truly lived up to its reputation. The city walls towered into the clouds, and the city gates were bustling with people, merchants gathered, and the cries of vendors rose and fell.

There are many martial artists in the city, and Taoist soldiers can be seen from time to time on the streets and alleys, either patrolling or carrying goods, demonstrating the local military strength and wealth.

No one dared to delay, and they hurried straight to the county government office.

Although it was called a prefectural government office, it was not particularly grand, and its size was quite inconsistent with the prosperous status of the prefectural city.

This was also the norm in the Northern Han Dynasty. Apart from the prefectures directly under the imperial court, many government offices in the prefectures were located within the territory, and their grandeur often gave way to the actual power holders.

The prefectural city is located in Qing County, which is the territory of the Wang family. The Wang family is the true controller of the prefectural city.

The prefect's jurisdiction was limited to a few unclaimed counties. His daily duties were merely to mediate, convey imperial orders, and collect taxes, making his position rather awkward.

Upon entering the main hall of the prefectural government office, one sees a plump old man, about fifty years old, sitting in the hall with a smile on his face. This is Prefect Zhu, with the Prefectural Commandant and the Prefectural Assistant Cao sitting on either side of him.

The people entered the hall in order and took their seats on both sides.

The person from the Wang family was the current head of the family, who was about fifty years old and had a calm and composed demeanor.

The one from the Wei family was a young man, about the same age as Lin Ye, in his early twenties, with a hint of arrogance and sharpness in his eyes.

Lin Ye understood immediately that this must be Wei Hao, the grandson of the current head of the Wei family, and most likely the future successor.

After all, the head of the Wei family is already over seventy years old and it's time to consider the matter of succession.

Once everyone had arrived, Prefect Zhu stroked his beard and said with a smile, "Congratulations! Our Qingyang Prefecture has a new lord, Lord Lin, who is young and promising!"

"If you need any help in the future, feel free to ask anyone here. We are all lords, and we should help each other to make Qingyang Prefecture even better."

Seeing that the atmosphere at the banquet had become lively, and that there was still some awkwardness between the Wang and Wei families, and that the time was almost right, Prefect Zhu cleared his throat and said seriously:

"The reason for gathering everyone here today is probably already known to you."

We must send troops to Gongchang Prefecture to thoroughly eliminate the Northern Xiongnu spies and bandits, in preparation for a possible major battle this winter.

Although the prefecture and Gongchang Prefecture have conducted small-scale raids every year for the past two years, these are mostly minor operations. Due to limited resources, the large groups of bandits have never been eradicated.

Now that the imperial court anticipates war, it has issued a conscription order to wipe them out and resolve the problem in one fell swoop.

He looked around the room, his tone growing serious. "This operation is different from the past. We must wipe out all the Northern Xiongnu spies and bandits in one fell swoop, temporarily clear the grain route, and at least ensure that no one can disrupt the transport this winter."

Therefore, each lord is required to be responsible for a designated area and conduct a comprehensive search within their jurisdiction. If the imperial court finds any area poorly managed and that affects the grain supply lines, those responsible will be held accountable.

At this point, Prefect Zhu's gaze sharpened, and the hall fell silent for a moment.

Seeing the slight change in the expressions of the lords, he softened his tone: "Of course, we won't make things too difficult for everyone. Gongchang Prefecture has ten counties in total. We only need to clean up six of them, and the remaining four will be handled by Gongchang Prefecture itself."

The head of the Wang family immediately stood up, slightly displeased, and said, "Six counties? What about Xining Prefecture? They're also next to Gongchang Prefecture. Aren't they going to send troops?"

Prefect Zhu calmly replied, "The Qingyuan Sword Sect of Xining Prefecture will not participate this time; they have other important matters to attend to."

The head of the Wang family snorted, sat back down, and said no more.

Seeing that the Wang family head had just expressed his opinion, Wei Hao immediately followed up, "Then how should these six counties be allocated?"

Prefect Zhu smiled and said, "This is precisely what we invited you all here to discuss. Our prefecture is responsible for two counties, and the remaining four will be handed over to you."

The head of the Wang family stood up again, his tone carrying an unquestionable sense of allocation: "Then it is so. The Wei family and I will each be responsible for one county, and the remaining four families will be responsible for two counties together."

Wei Hao immediately slammed his fist on the table and stood up, staring at the Wang family head: "Why should my family be in charge of a county? My family only has the territory of one county, so we should only be in charge of half a county; your Wang family owns three counties, so it's only fair that you're in charge of one and a half counties!"

The Wang family patriarch remained unhurried, a smile playing on his lips: "Very well, since your Wei family only occupies one county's territory, then your Wei family's stewards and troops will withdraw from those two counties. My family will take charge of this one and a half counties alone, how about that?"

Wei Hao was speechless, his face darkening as he sat down heavily.

The head of the Wang family walked up to the map. "Then my Wang family will be in charge of Cheng County, the Wei family will be in charge of Zhang County, the Su and Gao families will jointly manage Qin'an County, the Chen and Lin families will be in charge of Qinghe County, and the remaining two counties will be managed by the prefectural city. What do you all think?"

As everyone stared at the map, it was not hard to see that Cheng County and Zhang County were the closest to Qingyang Prefecture, followed by Qin'an County, and the farthest was Qinghe County.

Logically, the closer one is to Qingyang Prefecture, the fewer bandits there should be, because although the strongholds of Qingyang Prefecture cannot be directly suppressed, they can reduce the number of monsters, maintain relative order, and make it difficult for bandits to take hold.

Chen Cheng immediately stood up and spoke up for both families, saying, "Our Chen and Lin families are still weak. Brother Lin has just become a lord, and Xiang County is in dire need of reconstruction. Our military strength and number of warriors are limited. I'm afraid we are not up to the task of taking charge of Qinghe County."

The Wang family patriarch smiled enigmatically: "Oh? I've heard that as soon as Lord Lin took office, he led an elder and four disciples of the Qingyuan Sword Sect to wipe out three bandit gangs in one fell swoop. Quite formidable indeed!"

When he mentioned the "Qingyuan Sword Sect," he deliberately emphasized the words, his gaze sweeping over the Su and Gao families.

Su Yuan, the head of the Su family, and Gao Ming, the head of the Gao family, originally intended to advocate for changing regions, since the four families had formed an alliance the day before. However, upon hearing "Qingyuan Sword Sect," their expressions changed slightly, they exchanged a glance, and remained silent.

Wei Hao also looked suspicious, staring intently at Lin Ye, as if trying to discern the truth from his expression.

Lin Ye met everyone's gazes and observed their expressions, especially those of the Su and Gao family heads, but remained silent.

Ultimately, the Lin and Chen families were assigned to Qinghe County, the furthest county.