I asked you to go hunting, and you ended up wearing a yellow robe?

Boom-!

The dull drumbeats echoed across the empty city tower, one after another, as if striking the hearts of everyone present.

dong dong——!

The drumbeats quickened.

Qi Shan gripped the hilt of his knife, his black constable uniform fluttering in the night wind.

His eyes were as calm as a deep well, reflecting the distant, winding fire dragon.

Zhao Bingkun and Chen Chong also climbed the city wall, their armor reflecting a cold light under the torches.

Zhao Bingkun's voice carried a hint of suppressed anger: "Where is Sun Maocai?"

Chen Chong spat, "Where else could he be? He ran towards the south gate! I sent men to chase after him, but that old bastard had already slipped out of the city and headed towards the border army camp!"

Zhao Bingkun said, "It really was him."

"It's hard to guard against a thief within the family! It's so hard to guard against a thief within the family!"

Qi Shan said calmly, "Your Excellency, the main character has arrived."

Before the words were even finished, the fire dragon was already a hundred paces away.

Under the firelight, more than two hundred cavalrymen stood reined in their horses, their swords and spears like a forest, their killing intent soaring to the sky.

Although he was dressed in a rumpled fur coat and disguised as a bandit, his disciplined and menacing military aura was impossible to conceal.

The leader, a burly man riding a tall horse, was none other than Li Long, a border army commander.

He glanced at the city gate, but didn't see the alluring red figure, which fueled his anger even more.

That useless Hongchan actually failed!

Qi Shan must die today!

Li Long suppressed his murderous intent, spurred his horse forward ten steps, and pointed his whip at the city wall, his voice booming like a bell.

"Zhao Bingkun on the city wall, listen up! I, I am the second-in-command of Black Dragon Stronghold! You have one incense stick's time to hand over Qi Shan, the murderer who killed my elder brother's only son!"

"Otherwise, on the day the city falls, not a single chicken or dog will be spared!"

The sound echoed in the night sky, and fear appeared on the faces of the new recruits below the city wall.

Zhao Bingkun was so angry that he laughed. He pushed aside the guards in front of him, walked to the wall, and pointed at Li Long's nose, cursing loudly.

"Li Long! How dare you call yourself Black Dragon Stronghold? You, an official appointed by the imperial court and a border garrison commander, dare to collude with bandits and slaughter the people under your jurisdiction. Now you even want to disguise yourself as bandits and attack the county town!"

"Look at the knife in your hand, and look at the soldiers behind you! It's stained with the blood of the people of my Great Zhou! This is treason!"

Zhao Bingkun took the secret letter out of his pocket and held it high.

"Your secret letter with Zhao Wuji, the leader of Black Dragon Stronghold, is here! It's in black and white, with your personal seal on it! The evidence is overwhelming; do you still want to deny it!"

A commotion erupted below the city gate.

The border soldiers behind Li Long began to stir. Most of them were locals from Qingyang County. Hearing the county magistrate's angry rebuke and seeing Li Long's gloomy face, many of them began to look away.

Li Long's face instantly turned a deep liver color.

He never expected that Zhao Bingkun, a civil official, would dare to publicly break off relations!

To his utter surprise, that damned letter actually ended up in his hands!

But he was a seasoned veteran who had been through many battles, and he knew that he could not admit to being a border soldier at this moment.

Once it is confirmed that he led troops to attack the county seat, it will be a serious crime of treason, and no one can save him.

"Bullshit!" Li Long roared, further solidifying his "bandit" identity. "I don't know any Li Long or Wang Long! I'm here to avenge the young master! Zhao Bingkun, if you dare utter another word, I'll be the first to chop off your dog's head!"

A ruthless glint flashed in his eyes.

It seems the only option is to break through the city first, kill everyone, and then pin the blame on Black Dragon Village!

"Archers, prepare!" Li Long drew his sword, pointed it at the city wall, and shouted, "Shoot!"

"Wait a minute."

A calm voice came from behind Zhao Bingkun.

Qi Shan walked slowly to the front of the battlements, took a longbow from a soldier beside him, and drew a wolf-tooth arrow.

"Commander Li," Qi Shan's voice wasn't loud, but it carried clearly to everyone's ears, "I've heard you're an excellent archer, once killing a Tartar centurion a hundred paces away with a single arrow?"

Li Long was taken aback, then grinned maliciously: "What? You, a peasant, want to compete with me in archery?"

Archery is his proudest skill.

Qi Shan remained silent.

He simply drew back the bowstring slowly.

The bow is drawn as full as a moon.

On the city wall, everyone held their breath.

Meng Da and the group of constables stared intently at Qi Shan, Chen Chong gripped the hilt of his knife tightly, and even Zhao Bingkun forgot his anger, watching the scene with tension.

Below the city gate, the border soldiers behind Li Long stared wide-eyed.

They had all heard their commander boast about his archery skills back in the day, and now they found it unbelievable that an unknown constable dared to challenge them to his face.

The night breeze seemed to have stopped.

Qi Shan let go.

hum!

The bowstring twanged softly.

The wolf-tooth arrow seemed to transform into a black lightning bolt, tearing through the night sky with a sharp whistling sound, heading straight for Li Long's face!

too fast!

Li Long's pupils suddenly contracted. His instincts from years of fighting made his scalp tingle, and he subconsciously leaned back sharply.

puff!

A muffled thud.

The arrow grazed the tip of his nose and cleanly severed the bright red plume on his helmet!

A tuft of red hair drifted through the air.

Li Long's warhorse was startled, reared up, and neighed.

He lost his balance and fell awkwardly off his horse, landing on the ground.

Dead silence.

The entire battlefield was deathly silent.

Whether it was the guards on the city wall or the border troops below, everyone seemed to be frozen in place, staring blankly at the scene.

Li Long... was startled by an arrow and fell off his horse?

Li, the commander who prided himself on his archery skills and was known as the archer who could hit a willow leaf from a hundred paces, was almost blown in the head by an arrow?!

"good!"

Someone shouted first, and thunderous cheers erupted from the city tower!

Li Long got up from the ground, his face turning pale and then red. He touched the bare top of his helmet, feeling a burning pain on his face.

This is an utter disgrace!

"Kill them all! Attack the city!!" He roared like a mad tiger, brandishing his sword. "The first to scale the city walls will be rewarded with a hundred taels of silver and a promotion of three ranks!"

Enticed by the generous reward, some of his trusted guards began to stir, raising their shields and ladders in preparation for a charge.

Just then.

More and more people were seen on the city wall.

Li Long was taken aback. Could it be that there were county soldiers in the city?

But what happened next left him speechless.

Hundreds of people, carrying torches, hoes, carrying poles, and pitchforks, surged out like a tide.

Instead of scattering and fleeing, they quickly gathered on the city wall, surrounding Qi Shan in layers, forming a wall of flesh and blood.

The old man at the head of the group was the same one who had delivered the carrying pole to Qishan earlier. He slammed his hoe on the ground and roared, his eyes red:

"Captain Qi is the benefactor who killed the bandits! Anyone who wants to harm him will have to step over the corpses of us brothers first!"

"Yes! Officer Qi gave us a way out! We can't let him down!"

"Damn it! You bunch of thugs, instead of fighting bandits, you're attacking your own people! What kind of scum are you!"

The people were filled with righteous indignation. Although their farm tools were not as sharp as swords and spears, their angry and resolute faces and their protective gazes created an invisible force that crashed into the enemy's formation.

The border troops who were preparing to attack the city hesitated.

They looked at the familiar faces in the crowd opposite them—they were their neighbors, Aunt Wang who had sold them pancakes, and Li the blacksmith who had drunk with them…

I can't lift the knife anymore.

"Useless! A bunch of useless trash!" Li Long trembled with rage, kicking over a stunned guard beside him. "Charge! They're troublemakers! Anyone who backs down will be killed without mercy!"

However, all that answered him was silence.

Two hundred border troops were forced to a standstill by hundreds of unarmed civilians.

The scene fell into an eerie stalemate.

In this suffocating atmosphere.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

A rapid sound of horses' hooves came from the darkness behind the border troops, growing louder as it approached.

A swift horse, like an arrow released from a bow, broke through the night and headed straight for the front lines.

Before his horse had come to a complete stop, the officer dismounted, raised a command arrow sealed with wax high in his hand, and roared with all his might:

"The Commander-in-Chief has given the order—"

"Border Army Battalion Commander Li Long, return to camp immediately and await further instructions from the military advisor! No mistakes allowed!"