Qingjiang meanders, the shade of trees illuminates the water.

In early spring, Jiangning Mansion becomes the scenery of Jiangnan.

There are old willows and golden threads beside the bridge, and people can cross the river from the south to the north.

After the Wanping Army retreated, even the weather improved a lot.

Cao Su was in the government army, training his soldiers all day long.

He had made great military exploits in the war and had firmly established himself as a centurion.

Now he is so tall and powerful that no one thinks he is a seventeen-year-old boy. All his soldiers worship him and his troops are very effective in combat.

He is at the forefront of Wang Meng's tent.

Wei Tao became a road patrolman in Jiangning Prefecture, gathering an army to clear out the bandits.

According to Tan Ma's intelligence, in addition to the troops of Wanping Army, there are now three big bandits gathering in the mountains and forests throughout Jiangning Mansion.

The latest group of big bandits is active in the boundary of Wucheng, south of Pingcheng.

Wucheng was now captured by the Wanping Army.

Wei Tao personally led the army to quell the invaders, and at the same time he also had the intention of regaining Wucheng.

If we can capture Wucheng and then advance westward, we can occupy the Qingluo River ferry.

The Qingluo River runs through the north and south of Jiangning Prefecture and is one of the Wanping military grain roads that now occupies Jiangning Prefecture.

A few days later.

The army of the government army came out from the south gate in a mighty manner and headed straight for Wucheng.

.........

Xiaoyun Mountain.

The man in black robe holding the sword looked thoughtful.

"Wei Tao really went to suppress the bandits?"

Next to him stood a middle-aged man wearing a blue robe.

On the top of the mountain, there is mist.

The middle-aged man took out the creed from Fei Ge, shook his head and said, "Wei Tao's army has already walked out of the south gate of Pingcheng, and is going to annihilate Guan Yan of Wucheng. It should be true."

"An informant said that he saw Wei Tao riding a high horse and sitting in the middle of the army."

"The generals of the three armies are Liu Chuang, Wang Meng and Xia Song."

"Wang Meng and Xia Song are the newly promoted captains of the Imperial Army who were recently promoted to generals by Wei Tao."

The information was very detailed, and the middle-aged man in Taoist robes actually knew the organization of Pingcheng's army very clearly.

The man holding the sword looked "unbelievable".

It was like hearing some joke.

"Wei Tao, a house-guarding dog, actually takes the initiative to go out to suppress bandits."

"I really can't believe what happened to him."

"Or is this simply a conspiracy?"

In his words, the man holding the sword still looked down on Wei Tao.

But he quickly denied what he said.

"If it's a conspiracy, for what purpose? There must be a purpose, right?"

"Could it be that the weak city defense is used to attract the Wanping Army to attack and involve the main force of the Wanping Army in Jiangning Mansion?"

The man holding the sword was puzzled.

He held the sword in his left hand and made a strange mudra on his right hand.

Then the bamboo tube hanging on his body made two "bang bang" sounds.

After the lid of the bamboo tube was opened, a burst of green smoke came out.

Then a small flying insect emerged.

The little flying insect shook his head, a little confused.

"go!"

The man holding the sword gave the order.

The little bug flapped its wings lazily and took off, circled twice in the air, found the right direction, and flew into the depths of the misty jungle.

"Recognizing scented insects?"

The middle-aged man in blue robe smiled slightly.

He also knew something about the methods of the sword-wielding man, and it was not unusual for him to be able to cultivate such a level of scent-seeing insect.

"Going out of the city to suppress bandits costs money and food."

"Pingcheng is already in dire straits waiting to be renovated. Where will Wei Tao get the money and food?"

The man holding the sword shook his head, still confused.

"I do know about this. It is said that the big families in the city jointly contributed money and food."

"Since Wei Tao became the inspector of Jiangning Prefecture, his rank has risen, and there are more big families in Pingcheng who want to flatter him."

"Wei Tao raised a large amount of money and food and went out of the city to suppress the bandits."

"Big households took the lead, and some wealthy small households also voluntarily donated money and food for Wei Tao to suppress the bandits."

The man in green robe said.

The man holding the sword smiled and said, "I understand this."

"Is Wei Tao trying to make money in the name of suppressing bandits? Now Pingcheng's resources are in his hands. If he returns without success, the money and food will probably not be returned to the big and small households."

The man in green robe heard the man with the sword say this.

A trace of disdain was revealed.

"If this is really the case, then Wei Tao is indeed short-sighted and not worth mentioning."

.........

The army sets out.

Divided into three armies: front, middle and rear.

After Wang Meng became a special general, he had not made any achievements, so he volunteered to be a pioneer officer.

As the centurion of Wang Meng's tent, Cao Su was naturally among the front troops.

The front army of the government army can also be called the vanguard army.

Maintain a distance of several miles from the Chinese army.

The army went all the way south and took the official road of Xiaoyun Mountain.

The official road in Xiaoyun Mountain was long, narrow and rugged, and the marching speed slowed down.

The army can only travel twenty or thirty miles in one day.

Most of the soldiers walked all night and were still in the Xiaoyun Mountain area.

Cao Su and others, who were the fastest, had already approached the Baishui River area.

After crossing the Baishui River, you will reach the boundary of Wucheng.

"Cao Baifu, do you know what the big bandits in Wucheng look like?"

"I heard today that soldiers from other tribes said that the bandit was nine feet tall, six arms long, with a green face and fangs. A wrought copper rod weighing over a hundred kilograms was as light as a lantern in his hand."

When stationed at night, Cao Su and another centurion in the army were on duty together.

There were a total of eight centurions in the front army, and two centurions led their subordinates to take turns on duty.

The centurion who was talking to Cao Su was named Deng Bing.

He is not young anymore. He is also from Pingcheng and has been in the army for more than ten years.

In this batch of city defense battles, many centurions and commanders died.

Deng Bing was only a very tall man at first, but he was promoted to centurion after the war. He is currently at the third level of Qi and Blood. If he cannot break through to the realm of strength in martial arts, then becoming a centurion will be the limit of his military career.

He is an enthusiastic man who talks nonsense and talks nonsense.

After hearing this, Cao Su responded with a smile.

"When I first became a centurion, many people in Pingcheng also said that I was a strong man eight feet tall, murderous and bloodthirsty."

"It turns out that I am a peace-loving young man."

"Fighting and killing is not what I want."
To be continued...