We agreed on a famine year, so how come your family has enough rice and wheat flour?

"Boss, it's terrible! Our gate has been breached again!"

A bandit quickly rushed into the Hall of Righteousness.

The leader, Sun Li, suffered a defeat during the day and originally planned to fight his way back tonight, but two border soldiers from Black Stone City suddenly arrived, forcing him to cancel the plan and properly entertain these soldiers.

Upon hearing the bandit's words, Sun Li immediately lost his composure and roared in anger:

"What? Who dares to do this?"

"I don't know, and those villagers we captured on the mountain, they all seemed to have some kind of audacity; they grabbed hoes and started a riot!"

Upon hearing the news of the bombing of the stronghold, Sun Li could no longer sit still.

It must be because they lost too many brothers these past few days that those villagers dared to rebel.

"I'll take a knife and chop these villagers up right now, to make an example of them and deter others!"

Sun Li was filled with murderous intent.

At this moment, a border soldier placed a hand on his shoulder and said with a smile:

"Boss, there are so many brothers here. You can just send someone to suppress them. There's no need to go personally. Our business is more important."

Sun Li agreed with what the soldier said, so he arranged for a personal guard to lead a group of men to resolve the village riot.

The soldier continued laughing, "Boss, this time we've prepared five hundred brand-new mandarin duck battle coats and a thousand shi of grain..."

Upon hearing this, Sun Li was overjoyed.

Putting everything else aside, let's take this mandarin duck battle coat and disassemble it thoroughly, taking out the cotton inside separately and pulling out the embroidery thread separately.

The iron nails and rings of the lining can be removed separately, and the remaining fabric can be re-cut to achieve "military-to-civilian conversion".

The more you do it, the more profitable it can be!

"Uncle Wu, your visit this time has truly been a wonderful surprise. But with so much military supplies, aren't you worried that the border troops might harbor resentment?"

Sun Li looked at the border soldier in front of him, dressed in standard armor, named Wu Jiang, who was the captain of the Black Stone City border army.

"Don't worry, I'm not doing this alone." Wu Jiang patted Sun Li on the shoulder.

"Half a month ago, there was a disobedient guerrilla general whose entire force was wiped out by our commander-in-chief at the drill ground."

Reselling military supplies was a common practice along the entire northern defense line.

It was common for low-ranking soldiers to wear the same pair of mandarin duck battle jackets for ten years.

However, according to regulations, each soldier must be issued a pair of mandarin duck battle jackets every year...

They didn't even spare the military rations.

According to regulations, soldiers should have one liter of coarse rice per day during peacetime and one and a half liters of coarse rice during wartime marches.

But in reality, those who can actually get 60% of the full amount are already considered conscientious officials.

Often, it's only 30-40% of the actual amount, and I'm hungry every day.

Even that wasn't enough; they wanted to replace the old grain with new grain.

The border troops of Blackrock City eat eight-year-old rations year-round; those who get to eat five-year-old rations are considered lucky...

Sun Li felt even more reassured after hearing Wu Jiang's words.

Just then, the fighting outside grew louder and louder.

"Boss, something terrible has happened! A border army has appeared out of nowhere, and the brothers are all scattering in terror!"

A bandit, looking disheveled, rushed into the Hall of Righteousness.

"What! Border troops?" Sun Li's eyes widened, and he turned to look at Wu Ba Ye beside him.

Wu Jiang was stunned for a moment. "That's impossible! What border army would be so audacious as to come to the rear of Black Stone City!"

The entire Blackrock border army consists of their own people, so naturally they wouldn't come to a place like this.

The only possibility is the border troops from other border cities, but that's even more impossible. No border army can easily leave its own defense zone. Even if they come to Blackrock City, they have to greet them first.

"Uncle Wu, what do you think we should do about this?"

As Sun Li spoke, he couldn't help but think of the border troops he had encountered during the day, so he quickly told Wu Jiang about them to see if he recognized them.

"A female general?" Wu Jiang seemed to have thought of someone, his eyes widening in disbelief.

"Impossible! Qin Hongying was already shot dead by the General as if she were a rebel. How could she possibly be alive?"

The Qin Hongying that Wu Jiang mentioned is the guerrilla general he just spoke of.

He personally witnessed Qin Hongying being shot by a sharp arrow.

"Is that woman carrying two swords and riding a red military horse?" Wu Jiang gripped the bandit tightly.

"Yes, that's right, that female general was carrying two swords and riding a red horse." The bandit nodded hurriedly.

"Oh no, oh no, it really is her! She's still alive!"

Wu Jiang looked as if facing a formidable enemy, his face grave.

The other border soldier wasn't much better off; he was trembling all over.

"Uncle Wu, what's going on? Are the border troops outside your men?" Sun Li was confused and quickly asked Wu Jiang.

"Stop asking so many questions, just get me out of here! If she sees the two of us here, she'll definitely kill us!"

Wu Jiang was filled with fear.

The Qin family army under Qin Hongying's command was not originally stationed in Heishi Border City, but had been in Zhuojun, Youzhou, suppressing rebels.

However, the Tartars have been invading frequently recently, and the border troops here collapse at the first contact. Youzhou has lost three counties: Liaodong, Liaoxi, and Youbeiping.

Qin Hongying was then ordered by the governor to garrison the border town of Heishi in Yuyang County.

Initially, the military officer of the Black Stone Border Army tried to win over this guerrilla general, but Qin Hongying was unyielding and was even discovered to be reselling military supplies.

The adjutant reported the matter to the commander-in-chief of Yuyang.

The general then took advantage of the opportunity to distribute military pay, ordering the Qin family army to come to the drill ground to collect their pay without wearing armor, which led to their complete annihilation...

Afterwards, the general slandered Qin Hongying and her army to the prefectural government, accusing them of colluding with the Tartars.

To seduce the Tartars is a capital offense.

Since the general had connections in the prefectural capital, the matter was dropped...

Sun Li didn't know what was going on, but he still led the guard out of the Juyi Hall through the back door.

At this moment, flames rose everywhere inside the mountain stronghold.

Qin Hongying led five soldiers and ten soldiers who had been lying in wait in Black Wind Village for a long time, and slaughtered the mountain bandits.

These mountain bandits were originally a rabble with no military training whatsoever. When they saw the border troops arrive, they scattered in a panic.

After all, they believed that the border troops, who had gone to great lengths to suppress the bandits from hundreds of miles away, must have brought a large number of men with them.

Before long, the entire mountain stronghold was under Qin Hongying's control.

Qin Hongying released all the villagers who had been captured by the bandits to build the village.

"General, we haven't found the leader Sun Li, nor any officers wearing border army armor," a soldier dressed as a farmer said as he stepped forward.

"They must be hiding!" Qin Hongying's eyes were icy.

"Keep searching! Even if you have to turn the whole village upside down, find them!"

"yes!"

"..."

Sun Li, accompanied by ten personal guards, escorted Wujiang all the way.

Unfortunately, they ran into a group of soldiers wearing red padded jackets.

"They're here, fire!" A junior officer from the Hanzhong Army decisively gave the order.

Four soldiers drew their crossbows and fired their arrows with a whoosh.

Every arrow struck its mark, and the four guards immediately fell to the ground.

Sun Li felt his heart bleed; these were his elite troops, and they had died just like that.

The remaining six guards quickly took out their shields and formed a battle formation.

Under their cover, Sun Li and Wu Jiang fought their way back.

They retreated to a hidden stronghold nestled inside the mountain.

This is the warehouse of Black Wind Village.

If government troops were sent to suppress the bandits and they couldn't win, they would retreat to their hidden stronghold. At the entrance, there was a stone gate. Once it was lowered, the people outside couldn't do anything to the people inside. They had enough food and drink to last them for a month.

Once the Blackrock border troops learn of what's happening here, they can come to their aid.

After all, many officers needed to resell military supplies through Sun Li.

"grass!"

Xiao Qi and four soldiers blocked the entrance to the hidden stronghold, but they couldn't get in or open the stone gate, so they cursed angrily.

Suddenly, Xiaoqi remembered someone. "Quick! Quickly, get that hunter! He has a thunderbolt that can blast open this stone door!"