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

He withdrew his gaze and looked directly into Yuan Tianlong's probing eyes:

"But Qingyang County... is my foundation."

"Inside the city, there are still more than three thousand mouths to feed. Outside the city, there are thousands of newly arrived refugees who recognize me, Qi Shan."

"What will happen to them if I leave? I can't abandon them."

The boss actually refused?

Crazy!

Meng Da and the others were stunned; they could hardly believe their ears.

Yuan Tianlong was also stunned.

You should know that in this world, the status of civil officials is far lower than that of military officials!

The position of a centurion is higher than that of a county magistrate, let alone a mere county assistant.

He had imagined that Qi Shan would be excited, grateful, and immediately bow down in worship, but he never expected that he would refuse.

After a brief moment of surprise, Yuan Tianlong's weathered face erupted with an even louder laugh than before.

"Haha...hahahaha!"

The laughter was so loud that even the horses pawed at each other uncomfortably.

He slapped his thigh hard, his admiration turning into fervent praise: "Excellent! What a noble act of not abandoning the common people! My vision, Yuan Tianlong, was too narrow!"

He stared at Qi Shan as if he were looking at a piece of uncut, exquisite jade.

There are many fierce generals in his Yuan-character battalion who only know how to charge into battle.

But a commander who, in the face of immense wealth, still remembers the lights of thousands of homes behind him is extremely rare!

Such a person is either a hypocrite or... a true tyrant!

Qi Shan, with his eyes that had been soaked in mountains of corpses and seas of blood, was clear and resolute; he was by no means a hypocrite.

"Since that's the case, I won't insist!" Yuan Tianlong declared decisively, his voice booming. "In my capacity as the General of the Northern Border Defense, I will personally report your military achievements and request a substantive appointment as a 'Chief of a Thousand'!"

"Recruit your own soldiers! Produce your own food and pay!"

"From this day forward, Qingyang County will be the first formidable iron-clad city outside my Yuan-character Camp! You, Qi Shan, will be the lord of this formidable city!"

Upon hearing this, the entire room fell silent.

Meng Da and the others' eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

Refusing the offer, instead... resulted in an even more terrifying promise?

Doesn't this amount to directly acknowledging Qi Shan's independent status in Qingyang County? Giving him official recognition and letting him develop his own power! From a recruited subordinate, he's risen to become an equal ally!

Qi Shan's pupils suddenly contracted.

He gave Yuan Tianlong a deep look, his heart churning with turmoil.

This renowned general from the North possessed a magnanimity and vision far exceeding his expectations.

Without further hesitation, he dismounted, knelt on one knee, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and said in a deep voice, "If the general does not despise me, Qi Shan is willing to serve as a separate unit under your command, to guard the northern gateway for our Great Zhou!"

This bow was not to a superior or subordinate who blindly obeyed orders.

Rather, it was a pledge of loyalty and mutual respect among heroes in a chaotic world!

"good!"

Yuan Tianlong laughed as he dismounted, personally helped him up, and patted him hard on the shoulder, everything understood without words.

……

The army turned around and escorted Qi Shan and his party back to Qingyang County.

The atmosphere became somewhat awkward on the way.

The veteran soldiers under Yuan Tianlong's command initially looked at Qi Shan's "crippled army" of less than a hundred men, all wounded and in tattered armor, with a sense of superiority and disdain typical of professional soldiers.

In their eyes, they were just a group of lucky county soldiers.

However, everything changed when Meng Da, unable to control his tongue, started boasting to a familiar officer.

"...You didn't see how dangerous that place was! It was a bottomless abyss, and the narrowest part of the plank road was only wide enough for half a foot to fit on! Our Lord Qi didn't hesitate at all; he was the first to tie a rope around his waist and cross it!"

"Rookie recruit Yan Zhi almost fell, dragging five people down with him; the rope was about to snap! It was Lord Qi, with one hand! Just one hand! Against the wind, he pulled all five back! His palm was instantly mangled, a bloody mess!"

"And that night raid! A camp of three thousand men! It was riddled with holes. We followed the adults in, and the sentries were being slit in the throats, one group after another, before the blood even had a chance to flow!"

"The most amazing thing was killing Yelüda! The lord only brought the four of us, charged into the central command tent, and that bastard was still playing with women! Three heads were thrown in, and Yelüda peed himself on the spot! The lord made three cuts, and snap, that fat pig's head rolled on the ground!"

He spoke with great enthusiasm, but Yuan Tianlong's personal guards felt a chill run down their spines. From initial disbelief to shock, and finally, their gazes towards Qi Shan's silent team completely changed.

That was neither disrespect nor investigation.

It was a sense of awe towards a monster, and a deep-seated fervor.

Overnight, they scaled cliffs, raided a camp of three thousand, and killed their commander amidst a sea of ​​ten thousand soldiers...

Is this something a human being could do?

This is a myth that would be criticized as too fake even if it were written in a storytelling performance!

But now, the very people who created this myth are right before their eyes. The heads of the Yelü officers, still dripping blood, hanging from their saddles, are the most irrefutable evidence!

In an instant, the way all the soldiers of the Yuan Battalion looked at Qi Shan changed.

……

On the city wall of Qingyang County.

Zhao Bingkun leaned against the wall, his eyes filled with longing.

Qi Shan had been out of the city for a day and a night without any news, and his heart was in his throat the whole time.

Two hundred men raiding a camp of three thousand?

This is just so outrageous no matter how you look at it.

He had even begun to consider what would happen to Qingyang County if Qi Shan didn't return.

Just as he was becoming increasingly anxious, a large cloud of smoke finally appeared on the distant horizon.

A large banner with the character "元" (Yuan) fluttering in the wind immediately catches the eye.

"It's General Yuan Tianlong's troops!" a sharp-eyed garrison soldier exclaimed.

Zhao Bingkun's heart tightened.

Yuan Tianlong has arrived? Where is Qi Shan? Was he rescued by General Yuan, or...?

His heart sank. He knew the true nature of the border troops very well. If someone like He Yong could become a centurion, the entire system was rotten to the core. Even if Yuan Tianlong had a better reputation, how good could he be? Was he just here to reap the benefits?

However, as the army drew closer, his eyes widened suddenly.

He saw it.

Under that banner bearing the character "Yuan," standing shoulder to shoulder with the renowned Northern general Yuan Tianlong was a figure covered in blood, his armor tattered, yet his posture as upright as a spear.

Who else could it be but Qi Shan?!

Zhao Bingkun felt as if a bolt of lightning had struck him on the head. His hands, which were gripping the wall, trembled violently, and his fingernails dug into the cracks between the bricks.

He... he not only came back? But he's also walking with Yuan Tianlong?

What exactly happened?

"Quickly! Open the city gates!!" Zhao Bingkun roared with all his might, his voice distorted.

The heavy city gates slowly opened, and thousands of people who had been waiting at the gates craned their necks.

When they saw Qi Shan and the hundred or so returning warriors behind him, the crowd stirred.

Immediately afterwards, everyone's attention was drawn to the things hanging on the saddle.

One by one, the heads that died with their eyes wide open were strung together with braids, swaying and bobbing with the horse's stance.

The most striking thing was Meng Da's head perched high on the tip of his spear—Yelü Da, the vanguard general of the Yelü tribe! The look of terror on his plump face was frozen in time.

The entire city was deathly silent.

You could hear a pin drop.

next second.