The peasant girl has a private space, and her husband is handsome.

Around noon, Li Xuanji arrived with Wang Shou and 10,000 soldiers, very close to the east gate of Qinghe County.

Su Qianqian looked up at the sky and saw that it was covered with dark clouds, as if it was about to rain.

Her men were spreading the word throughout the city, beating drums and gongs: "The King of Huainan's men are almost at the East Gate. Anyone with ambition, please go to the East Gate and defend the city together."

Since Magistrate Tang has already submitted a letter of surrender to Huainan, he will certainly go to the East Gate to welcome the troops under the command of the King of Huainan in order to show his loyalty.

She wanted the people to witness firsthand the fact that Magistrate Tang had betrayed the country and surrendered, so that he would be completely despised by the people, and then she could teach him a lesson.

Gu's restaurant employees banged gongs and shouted in the street, "We swear to defend Qinghe County to the death! People without weapons can come to Gu's restaurant to get them!"

The weapon Su Qianqian provided was a sharpened wooden stick.

Now she has thousands of villagers helping her, so making a large number of sharpened wooden sticks is still easy.

Upon learning the news, the headmaster of Qingsong Academy immediately suspended classes. Scholars are very principled; they were determined to protect Qinghe County with their lives and rushed to Gu's Restaurant to collect sticks.

Master Zhang took the wooden stick from Gu's shop, carried it to the East Gate, and immediately saw Magistrate Tang standing on the city tower.

He was very puzzled. Magistrate Tang had been missing for so many days, but suddenly he reappeared today. How strange!

Could it really be as Miss Su said, that Magistrate Tang has defected to the enemy? Is he here today to welcome the King of Huainan's army into the city?

If Magistrate Tang surrenders to the enemy, Qinghe County will likely be unable to hold out.

Magistrate Tang was waiting at the east gate to welcome the army of the King of Huainan.

He also had red silk hung on several large trees inside the city gate to celebrate the arrival of the King of Huainan's men. He even prepared four suona players to play celebratory music as soon as the city gate opened, welcoming the King of Huainan's men into the city.

Magistrate Tang took this auspicious day very seriously and specially put on a brand-new official robe and hat.

Standing atop the city tower, he gazed into the distance and saw that the army of the King of Huainan was less than a mile from the city gate. He loudly commanded, "Open the city gates and prepare to welcome the King of Huainan's troops into the city."

Upon hearing this, Master Zhang was finally 100% certain that Magistrate Tang had truly surrendered.

That damned magistrate! He has no regard for the lives of the people in the city!

He had relatives who fled from other places, who said that in the cities that had surrendered, the troops of the King of Huainan plundered the people's property at will and abducted many young and beautiful girls, which was simply heinous.

Master Zhang tried to persuade him again, saying, "Magistrate Tang, you must not open the gate! A classmate of mine escaped from the south and said that after Ling County surrendered, the people of the King of Huainan burned, killed, looted, and committed all sorts of atrocities in the city."

"Magistrate Tang, if you let the rebels into the city, it will be a disaster for the people of Qinghe County."

Magistrate Tang didn't care about the common people; what did their suffering have to do with him as magistrate?

His soldiers all carried broadswords, so they weren't afraid of these scholars with broken sticks. It was no big deal; they would just kill anyone who disobeyed.

Magistrate Tang ordered again, "Open the city gates and welcome the troops of the King of Huainan into the city."

Master Zhang clashed with Magistrate Tang, and together with a group of scholars, they formed a human wall, blocking the city gate and preventing Magistrate Tang's men from opening it from the inside.

The scholars faced death without fear—

"If you want to open the city gates, you'll have to step over our dead bodies."

"We swear to defend Qinghe County to the death."

Master Zhang was quickly carried away by the soldiers, repeatedly shouting, "Put me down, put me down!"

Unfortunately, he and the scholars were too weak to resist.

Master Zhang had never felt so desperate. He prayed silently in his heart, "Heavens above, please send someone to deal with this damned magistrate! Please save the people of Qinghe County!"

If the city gates are opened, Qinghe County will be completely finished.

Magistrate Tang looked down at Su Qianqian in the crowd. So what if she's a genius painter! So what if she's good at business and making money! So what if she has a high reputation! Once the King of Huainan's men enter the city, I'll make sure you're beheaded.

The King of Huainan said he wanted to chop the little girl into mincemeat.

Magistrate Tang was smiling smugly when he saw the little girl raise her bow and arrow and shoot it at him.

How dare that little girl?

Magistrate Tang tried to dodge, but it was too late. The arrow flew up the city wall and struck him squarely in the chest.

"Pfft!" A mouthful of blood spurted from Magistrate Tang's mouth.

He was filled with resentment when he fell.

They were just a hair's breadth away from successfully entering the city and killing the young girl.

Unfortunately, he will never see it again.

Magistrate Tang lay on the ground with his eyes wide open, clearly dying with his eyes open in disbelief.

Upon seeing this, Master Cai was so frightened that he fled immediately. He never expected that the young girl would have such courage, killing the magistrate with a single arrow.

He was standing right next to Magistrate Tang at the time and witnessed the young girl descend like a goddess, deftly raising her bow and killing the man without even flinching.

Even men might not be able to remain that calm.

That's terrifying! That young girl was decisive, calm, and composed; she was no ordinary person.

The surrounding people were also deeply shocked by the murder of Magistrate Tang.

The soldiers who had captured Master Zhang were completely terrified. The magistrate was dead. What were they supposed to do? Whom should they listen to next?

Master Zhang broke free from the soldiers' restraints and shouted loudly, "Magistrate Tang colluded with the enemy and betrayed the country! Well done! Heaven has eyes!"

His students also shouted that it was good that he was killed.

Master Zhang felt extremely fortunate that Miss Su was there.

After killing Magistrate Tang, Miss Su closed the city gates that had already been opened, directly turning the tide of the entire situation.

The young girl acts swiftly and decisively, displaying the demeanor of a great general. Perhaps Qinghe County can truly hold its ground.

Su Qianqian shouted, "Magistrate Tang embezzled huge sums of money and oppressed the people; he deserves to die!"

Master Zhang quickly echoed, "He deserves to die!"

The people joined in the chant: "They deserve to die!"

The sound was deafening.

Magistrate Tang was unpopular with the people. He not only bullied the farmers by collecting several times the amount of grain tax, but he also showed no mercy to the merchants in the county town, creating various tax levies to extort money and causing widespread suffering among the people.

The people had long been complaining, but they were afraid of those in power and dared not speak out.

But now that the magistrate of Tang County is dead, what is there to be afraid of!

Outside the city, less than a hundred meters from the east gate, Li Xuanji heard the shouts from inside the city and sensed something was wrong.

Could something have happened in Qinghe County? The voice doesn't sound like they're about to surrender at all.

He halted the army's advance, saying, "Attention everyone, the situation may change."

Inside the city, Master Zhang was quick-witted. He felt that someone needed to step forward and lead the people of the entire county to fight against the enemy.

The person leading the group was none other than Miss Su.

Master Zhang came to Su Qianqian's side and bowed deeply.

"Although I, Zhang, am just a scholar, I am willing to do my part to protect my country and follow Miss Su's orders to protect Qinghe County with my life."

Once someone started, the other scholars followed suit, expressing their willingness to obey Miss Su's commands.

The common people are the same.

Only the officers and soldiers still looked bewildered.

Master Zhang then posed a soul-searching question to the officers and soldiers: "Do you really want to open the city gates and let your loved ones suffer the burning, killing, and looting of the rebels? You should think carefully, because defecting to the enemy is a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of your family."

The officers and soldiers were terrified by the idea of ​​executing nine generations of their families. Most of them were locals with families to support, and none of them wanted to be executed along with their entire clan.

"Now is the time when we need manpower," Su Qianqian asked the officers and soldiers present, "If you are willing, you can fight alongside me."

The soldiers found themselves surrounded by furious civilians, with sharpened sticks pointed at their heads. It was terrifying; it was clear that these people were in support of Miss Su.

Unexpectedly, this Miss Su has won the hearts of all the people in Qinghe County without making a sound!

And then there's the mount that Miss Su is riding—a huge white tiger with its jaws wide open, as if it might leap up and bite someone at any moment. It's terrifying.

The officers and soldiers found that they had no right to refuse, and could only stand up one after another to express their willingness to fight the enemy together.

"We were forced into this by Magistrate Tang, and we are willing to fight alongside the people of the city against the enemy."

"Miss Su, we are willing to fight alongside you against the enemy and obey your commands."