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

Several cartloads of plows and harrows were unloaded at the edge of the fields outside the city, and the fields were then plowed by large yellow oxen.

After being tilled, the soil becomes loose and breathable, making it more suitable for seed germination and growth, which can increase grain yield.

Planting grain is the most important thing right now, and Su Qianqian's goal is to cultivate all the fields outside the city.

She said to the white tiger, "Cuihua is not as smart as you right now. I'm going to give you a task. Go ahead and keep watch. When you see enemy troops, look up at the sky and shout loudly. That way, I'll know the enemy is coming."

The white tiger was extremely pleased with itself for being praised for its intelligence. It glanced disdainfully at the parrot and strode away proudly.

To save time traveling back and forth to the city for meals, Su Qianqian brought a cook with her.

If no rebels come, let the people eat in the fields and continue working in the afternoon.

As a result, the noodles in the large iron pots had just been cooked and hadn't even been eaten yet when a deafening tiger roar came from afar.

Su Qianqian immediately raised the large metal megaphone and shouted, "Everyone, retreat in an orderly manner as I said before."

The people immediately loaded their plows and harrows onto carts and had oxen pull them back to the city.

They climbed onto the carriage themselves and retreated towards the city gate.

Everything was in perfect order.

The rebels in Sicheng numbered about fifty. They rode their horses to several large pots of noodles and found that the noodles in the large iron pots were still steaming.

The young officer in charge was named Zhu Dachang.

He gazed at the carriages fleeing in the distance, laughing arrogantly, "We only have fifty-odd men, and we've already scared them half to death. If more men came, wouldn't it be an easy way to take over Qinghe County!"

His fifty-odd soldiers laughed particularly loudly.

"General Zhu is mighty!"

"They got away fast this time, but they might not be so lucky next time. Next time, we must cut off their heads and hang them on the city wall of Sicheng."

Su Qianqian arranged for the people to evacuate quickly for two reasons: first, to protect the people, and second, to lure the enemy deeper into her territory.

Anyone who has ever fished knows that to catch fish, you need delicious bait.

Once the enemy has gained some spoils, they will most likely send more men to pursue them to a place closer to Qinghe County.

Then we can wipe out all the enemy soldiers and greatly reduce the troop strength of Sicheng.

If we can capture Sicheng, we will have an extra line of defense.

The vast fields between Qinghe County and Sicheng can then be cultivated with peace of mind.

After the rebels in Sicheng scared away the people of Qinghe County three times in a row, Duan Dachui, the general defending Sicheng, became a little arrogant.

He went to Huainan and personally told the King of Huainan about his three glorious deeds, embellishing the story by saying that he had killed many soldiers from Qinghe County.

The evidence was the dozens of sharpened sticks that were found.

Many people know that some of the militia in Qinghe County use long sticks as weapons.

The stick looks a bit old; it doesn't look like a newly made fake.

The King of Huainan was overjoyed and immediately rewarded Duan Dachui with two beautiful dancers, as well as sending him an additional three thousand soldiers.

The strategist Wang Changxu suggested, "Right now, the Great Qi is fighting against the Northern Barbarians and also against us, so they must be in dire need of food. I estimate that they are leaving the city to cultivate the land in order to grow grain. If we can stop them from growing grain, it will be easier to attack them later when they run out of food."

The Prince of Huainan shared the same idea and said to Duan Dachui, "General Duan, your main task at present is to sabotage the grain planting plan in Qinghe County."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Duan Dachui had no intention of just destroying crops; this task was too easy and offered no challenge whatsoever.

His goal was to capture or kill the little girl surnamed Su, so that he could get a bigger reward and shock everyone.

With his abilities, killing that little girl wouldn't be difficult.

After returning to Sicheng, Duan Dachui personally led his troops to the outskirts of Qinghe County.

When the people of Qinghe County spotted him, they all ran away in fright, giving him a huge advantage.

They collected two full cartloads of farm tools, a dog, and three large tin loudspeakers.

The dog was incredibly obsequious; it picked up a large tin megaphone and placed it in Duan Dachui's hand.

It even used its claws to dig at the ground and unearthed a wooden box full of silver.

Duan Dachui originally intended to kill the dog for meat, but he never expected the dog to be so intelligent and human-like.

He sent all these spoils to the Prince of Huainan's residence to curry favor. Little did he know that these spoils were specially left for him by Miss Su, a long-term plan to catch a bigger fish.

Only after listening to the soldiers delivering the spoils of war did the King of Huainan understand the purpose of the large tin megaphone.

He shouted twice into the loudspeaker, and the sound spread throughout the entire mansion, frightening all the servants into kneeling on the ground.

The King of Huainan was very satisfied. "General Duan is quite capable. He managed to snatch such a treasure from that young girl. Li Xuanji led tens of thousands of men to Qinghe County earlier, but he didn't get anything. General Duan is much more impressive."

However, the King of Huainan thought that Duan Dachui didn't need to send over the captured dogs as well.

When the soldiers from Sicheng who were delivering the spoils of war saw that the King of Huainan did not like the big black dog, they immediately began a dog training performance.

"Stand up! Sit down! Roll over!"

That dog was very obedient; it could do everything.

The King of Huainan was also very surprised.

He recalled receiving a secret letter from the capital a few days ago, saying that Miss Su's dog had been sold for a sky-high price of ten thousand taels of silver in the capital. It must be this kind of dog.

"Good, very good, General Duan has done a very good job. Reward General Duan with three thousand taels of silver."

However, the King of Huainan disliked dogs by nature, so he said, "Let's take this dog back to Sicheng."

The King of Huainan was very pleased and drank two extra cups of wine that evening.

Since they felt they could snatch things from that little girl, defeating her wasn't entirely impossible.

He will take back what he lost from that little girl.

Meanwhile, the capital city also received the latest news from Qinghe County.

Last time, when Su Qianqian led people to support disaster relief, Prime Minister Feng persuaded Emperor Qi Jing to send a military supervisor surnamed Song to Qinghe County.

The military supervisor, Song, was very conscientious. Whenever there was any disturbance in Qinghe County, he would use the county's carrier pigeons to send messages to the capital.

The speed was quite fast; the news arrived on the same day.

Therefore, the news that the rebels had taken a search and rescue dog, several large tin loudspeakers, and several cartloads of farm tools from Qinghe County caused a sensation at the morning court session.

Minister Luo looked distressed. "Your Majesty, it's such a pity that dogs worth ten thousand taels of silver each were handed over to the rebels. If they had been donated to the court and sold, an extra ten thousand taels of silver could have been used for disaster relief."

Emperor Qi Jing hadn't expected that such a capable young girl would have so many things stolen from her. He thought that Supervisor Song was an upright man and shouldn't have misrepresented military intelligence.

"What exactly is a large tin megaphone?"

Duke Anguo remembered that Gu's Tea House used a large tin cannon to sell rice candy, so he quickly sent someone to fetch one from Gu's Tea House and presented it to Emperor Qi Jing.

Emperor Qi Jing shouted into the large tin megaphone, and the sound echoed throughout the Xuanwu Hall, very loudly.

It was so loud that all the ministers covered their ears.

Minister Zhang of the Ministry of Personnel sighed, "This is truly a valuable item! How could such a good thing have been stolen by the rebels?"

These words clearly imply that Miss Su is incompetent.

Duke Anguo was also speechless at these people. "These are just trinkets that Gu's Teahouse uses for business; they're hardly anything of value!"

You are all openly or secretly trying to smear Miss Su.

If it were you stationed in Qinghe County, you would probably have handed it over to the rebels long ago.

Prime Minister Feng looked worried about the country and its people. "Your Majesty, Miss Su seems to be out of sorts lately. She has suffered so many losses at the hands of the rebels. I'm afraid Qinghe County will be difficult to defend."

"Duan Dachui, who was stationed in Sicheng, used to be very famous. It is said that he was strong enough to uproot mountains and his spirit was unmatched. Miss Su, a weak woman, may not be his match."

"If that giant hammer hadn't fallen to the Prince of Huainan, our Great Qi's war in the northern frontier would have had a better outcome."

Vice Minister Luo quickly said, "Miss Su is incompetent. The court should send a capable person to Qinghe County to take over the troops."

Duke Anguo finally understood the intentions of these people; they wanted to seize military power from Miss Su.

A shrewd person like Miss Su, unless she herself is willing, no one can take away her military power.

Duke Anguo had great confidence in Miss Su.

"Your Majesty, as the saying goes, all's fair in war. It's highly likely that Miss Su deliberately sent those spoils to the rebels to lure them in. Perhaps Miss Su will be able to retake Sicheng soon."