Chen Gui had just fled from Xia Pi to Tancheng, but the city was recovered in the blink of an eye. This was really unexpected for him.

A few days passed in a flash, and a rickety carriage was seen raising a cloud of dust and slowly drove into Xia Pi, which had just experienced the baptism of war.

There were many changes in the city at this time. You could still see traces of fierce fighting. Some bloodstains had not been wiped clean yet, and the large black area was terrifying. You could almost imagine how fierce the battle had been in the city.

Chen Gui walked out of the carriage with the help of Chen Deng. With just a glance, he saw a group of armored soldiers not far away, kicking doors from house to house. The ferocious-looking soldiers broke into the houses, and then there was a commotion.

"Master, you can't take it away. If you take it all, our whole family will starve to death!"

"Get out of here! Do you still want to be charged with collaborating with the rebels? You must know that these grains are all stolen goods. Now the envoy has shown leniency and has not punished you. He has only recovered the stolen goods. Not only are you not grateful, but you also want to resist. Have you had enough of living?"

The soldiers in military uniforms stole food from the homes of these ordinary people without hesitation.

Sometimes, some people even steal anything valuable they see and accuse the thieves of stealing stolen goods. Anyone who dares to resist will be beaten up.

Being robbed is still the worst thing. But if there are women in the family who are not pretty, then there is a high possibility that something outrageous will happen.

Such scenes were everywhere inside and outside the city, and from time to time people would cry loudly, which was unbearable to watch.

Chen Deng and Chen Gui walked along, and both of them were stunned: "What on earth happened here? Didn't Xiao Jian recover Xia Pi? Why did he search the entire city? Isn't he afraid of provoking a civil uprising?"

Chen Deng stopped one of the armored soldiers and asked, "You are robbing civilians in the street like this, don't you know that this is a capital crime?"

The officer who was stopped was only a sergeant. He was very unhappy after hearing what Chen Deng said and was about to take action, but when he turned around, he saw that Chen Deng was wearing luxurious clothes, had a noble temperament, and had delicate skin and tender flesh, and he was obviously a celebrity.

The sergeant did not dare to offend a general like Chen Deng, so he could only cry out: "Don't slander me! I didn't rob the people, I didn't do that, don't talk nonsense!"

"I saw it with my own eyes, could it be false? Or do you want me to question Xiao Jian in person?"

When the sergeant heard that Chen Deng actually knew his immediate superior, he was almost scared to death. He knew that this weak scholar in front of him was not to be trifled with.

So the captain had no choice but to bite the bullet and say, "Your Excellency, you don't know. We are just following orders."

"Order?"

Chen Deng didn't understand what he meant.

The sergeant had no choice but to explain the situation carefully.

Chen Deng was stunned after hearing this, and immediately went back to discuss with Chen Gui: "Father, after Qi Hou conquered Xia Pi, he held a public trial, killed many lawless tyrants, and distributed the seized grain to the people in the city..."

Chen Gui was speechless after hearing this: "So, Xiao Jian sent troops to forcibly collect grain, not only because he was short of food, but also to seek justice for the damaged noble families?"

"Killing people and destroying their hearts, this is really a good plan."

Chen Gui sighed deeply, his emotions were so shaken by Wang Jing's methods that he couldn't calm down for a long time.

Chen Deng did the same. He shook his head helplessly with a wry smile on his face. "I guess the situation in Pengcheng is the same as in Xiapi. They punished the noble families and distributed wealth to win the hearts of the people. Now, although the territory has been recovered, the people's hearts are scattered. I'm afraid that when Marquis Qi comes again next time, the people of Xuzhou will have to prepare food and drink to welcome the king's army."

Both Chen Deng and Chen Gui were wise men, and naturally knew what human nature was like. No matter how positive Tao Qian's reputation was in governing Xuzhou before, now that he was tormented by Xiao Jian, he would probably be infamous in the future.

Chen Deng sighed: "Marquis Qi is really a terrible person. With just this one move, he has caused chaos within Xuzhou and destroyed its own foundation."

Although Wang Jing withdrew his troops, he had robbed a lot of things and left a mess for Tao Qian to clean up. In this battle, Xiao Jian's recovery of Xia Pi could be said to be a victory but still a defeat.

Chen Deng's face was full of helplessness: "I don't know who came up with this vicious plan for Marquis Qi. It really left us with a big problem."

Wang Jing stole a large amount of gold, silver, jewelry and other valuables and made a fortune.

Then the grain from the wealthy families was distributed to the poor people.

Now that Xiao Jian has come back, the power of the aristocratic families and the wealthy families has returned, and they are determined to snatch these "stolen goods" back from the people.

Whoever dares to stop it will offend all the noble families and powerful families in Xia Pi City.

But if we don't stop it, we will offend the ordinary people who make up the majority of the population and lose public support.

Being caught in such a dilemma, I feel like I am neither a human nor a human being.

That is why Chen Gui said that this was a murder and a destruction of the people’s hearts. Those killed were people from aristocratic families and those destroyed were the hearts of the common people.

Wang Jing's move undoubtedly greatly shook the local ruling authority of Xuzhou, intensified the contradictions between the two major classes of the aristocratic families and the common people, and exposed all the problems that had been covered up to the sun.

Chen Deng even went a step further and wondered, if Wang Jing invaded Xuzhou again, would the people of Pengcheng and Xiapi still oppose him? When the people of other counties heard the news, would they support Tao Qian, the local governor, or Wang Jing?
The more I think about it, the more uneasy I feel.

The father and son were suddenly in a bad mood: "This is really a troubled time."

On the other side, the Qingzhou soldiers were slowly withdrawing from the Xuzhou battlefield. The tens of thousands of troops were divided into three groups, commanded by Wang Jing, Zhang Fei and Taishi Ci respectively, who took turns to cover the retreat and successfully evacuated the Xuzhou territory.

When passing by Pei County, Wang Jing originally intended to let Gan Mei's family go back.

Who would have thought that Gan Wu was such a cunning person. After knowing that Wang Jing, who saved him, was Qi Hou himself, he said that he could never repay Wang Jing for saving his life and wanted to follow Wang Jing and serve him like a dog. He even sent Gan Mei to Wang Jing as a maid.

Although he is a small figure, Gan Wu obviously has his own philosophy of survival.

The affair between Li Bao and Zhang Ming made him realize that with his small family, he could not protect his daughter's innocence at all. It would be better to let Gan Mei stay with Wang Jing so that he would not have to worry.

Even in Gan Wu's opinion, if Wang Jing fell in love with his daughter, maybe the fate predicted by the fortune teller for Gan Mei would be in Wang Jing's body, and there would be a day in the future when she would be extremely rich!

The result was that Wang Jing went to Xuzhou and returned victoriously, not only bringing back a large amount of food and money, but also a charming maid.

Guo Jia couldn't help but imitate Wang Jing's tone and said jokingly: "My lord, our expedition this time feels like the Yellow Turban Army, robbing money, food and women."

"Fengxiao, you better be more polite. It's not me who wants to steal them. They are the ones who have to follow me."

"Yes, yes, the lord is extremely charming, so naturally there are people who will throw themselves at him wherever he goes."

"I always feel like you're laughing at me, but I have no evidence."

Wang Jing glared at Guo Jia unhappily. The two were chatting and laughing when suddenly a personal soldier came over with a message: "Urgent news from Jibei, there are thieves causing chaos!"

"Is this true? Where is the battle report? Submit it quickly!"

Wang Jing frowned as he read the battle report sent back from the frontline. Then he slammed the table and stood up angrily: "This is really outrageous!"

"My lord, what happened?"

Guo Jia rarely saw Wang Jing angry, so he was very curious about what had happened to make him so angry.

Later, the battle report fell into his hands, and Guo Jia finally realized that the remnants of the Yellow Turbans took advantage of Wang Jing's absence to cause trouble in Jibei State again.

Xun You also read the battle report and frowned: "Choosing such a clever timing to attack, I'm afraid this is not an ordinary rebellion." Wang Jing led his troops to the battle, and also took away three powerful generals, Zhang Fei, Taishi Ci and Dian Wei, as well as two military advisors, Guo Jia and Xun You.

The military force is not large, but the civil and military lineup is luxurious.

This also led to a decline in Wang Jing's control over Yanzhou, so some people began to become restless again.

Guo Jia was speechless after reading the battle report and sighed: "Isn't it good to be alive? Why do you have to seek death?"

Although the rebellion caused by these bandits incited many people to participate, to be honest, these people were just a mob and could not shake Wang Jing's rule in Yanzhou at all.

The battle report said that many soldiers of the defending army were killed or injured, and a large number of innocent civilians were also killed. Seeing the bloody casualties, Wang Jing could not help but get angry: "We will talk about other things later. I will take a small team to the front line first to prevent the situation from escalating."

"Don't worry, my lord. We will dispatch troops and reinforcements will arrive soon."

Wang Jing brought the Twelve Xuanlin Guards and assembled a thousand cavalrymen, and then immediately rushed to Jibei State.

Jibei State, Lu County.

A thousand cavalrymen broke through the heavy crowd like sharp knives.

When Wang Jing led his people to the main gate on the west side of the city, the gate slowly opened. Prime Minister Deng Yuan and a group of officials had already arrived at the gate and were waiting.

When Deng Yuan saw that Wang Jing, wearing the Dragon Shadow Armor, was accompanied by only a thousand cavalrymen, he was slightly stunned, and then nodded secretly, thinking that Wang Jing was not only skilled and courageous, but also knew how to win people's hearts.

With a thousand cavalrymen who can advance or retreat, it is not risky to come to the rescue.

However, there were tens of thousands of enemy troops and the situation in Jibei State was precarious. Wang Jing came to the rescue with only a thousand men, which had a remarkable effect in boosting the morale of the troops.

Deng Yuan led a group of officials to welcome Wang Jing inside the city gate.

The atmosphere was tense and serious. Deng Yuan did not say much. He just took the lead in bowing deeply to Wang Jing and said to him, "General, please be careful! On behalf of the people in the city, I thank you, General! Thank you, warriors!"

This time Wang Jing led his army here, which was quite risky.

If the rioters outside the city cannot be suppressed in one fell swoop, the people in the city behind them will probably be trapped in the chaos and their bodies will be gone.

However, Wang Jing, who was used to seeing mountains of corpses and seas of blood, looked calm at this moment, without any sign of nervousness.

Wang Jing waited until Deng Yuan and other officials finished their greetings before he said in a loud voice: "Please rest assured, I will do my best to suppress the rioters outside the city! Let's go!"

The thousand Shenwu Army cavalrymen behind him roared to the sky: "We will win! We will win!"

Deng Yuan and others did not say anything more. After greeting each other, Deng Yuan and the officials turned around and climbed up the city wall. As a drum sounded on the city wall, more than a hundred wooden poles were suddenly erected at the same time by the people on the city wall. A bloody human head was placed on each wooden pole.

The city walls on both sides of the north gate suddenly looked like a forest of trees. The scene was horrifying. On the highest pole erected above the central city gate was hung the head of one of the bandit leaders. The head, dripping with blood, looked extremely hideous and eye-catching at this moment.

Hanging the heads was naturally intended to deter the rioters.

But the effect seemed not very obvious. More and more rioters gathered outside Lu County, and many remnants of the Yellow Turban Army who had been dispersed at the beginning gathered together again.

Wang Jing knew that the situation in Lu County was critical. He had to take advantage of the mobility of the cavalry and win a few battles while the enemy had not yet surrounded him to restore the people's hearts and morale in the city so that the defenders could hold out until reinforcements arrived.

A thousand Shenwu soldiers came out in full force, the sound of horse hooves roared like thunder, and the militiamen under the city gate were seen struggling to twist the ropes to open the gate.

When the city gate creaked open, Wang Jing, who was standing on his horse with his sword drawn, felt the view in front of him suddenly become clear, and the bright sunlight shone on his golden armor.

Wang Jing's brows were raised in anger, he looked up to the sky and let out a long roar. He immediately urged his famous horse Jueying to rush out of the city gate with a shake of the reins. Seeing a crowd of people gathering, he rushed towards the large group of rioters gathered outside the city.

The twelve Xuanlin guards, each holding a long spear and with extraordinary martial arts skills, followed Wang Jing closely, shouting in unison, and charging on their horses, causing an earthquake. The galloping hooves of their horses raised a large amount of dust.

The rioters wandering outside the city wall had tried to attack the city gate not long ago, and even shouted loudly to threaten the officials in the city to send them food immediately, claiming that if the officials in the city dared not to send them food, they would attack the city within three days and kill everyone.

After several days of preparation, these rioters were apparently organized.

Even before Wang Jing came to rescue Lu County, they had hardly rested. They managed to piece together dozens of ladders and planned to attack the city tomorrow.

Unfortunately, before they could even take any action, they were beaten by Wang Jing's troops.

Due to the lack of weapons, they could only cut down trees and make them into wooden spears.

In just a few days and nights, they cut down countless trees outside the city, and even cut down all the bamboo forest by the river north of the city. They sharpened the front ends of wooden sticks and bamboo poles to make crude bamboo spears and wooden spears.

At the moment, these rioters, thousands of people gathered together, holding up these crude wooden and bamboo spears, they looked like a black mass like a forest, and they really had some momentum.

No wonder Deng Yuan and the others looked very solemn and obviously very nervous when Wang Jing arrived this morning. Even Wang Jing, who rushed out of the city to test the waters, was somewhat surprised when he saw this scene.

However, as the drums sounded on the city wall just now, more than a hundred tall poles suddenly stood up on the city wall, and a human head was placed on top of each pole. When the rioters outside the city who were clamoring took a closer look, the noise suddenly died down.

As long as the rebel soldiers were not blind, they would have witnessed with their own eyes the hundreds of bloody heads raised from the city walls.

The bandits, who already lacked organization and morale, suddenly lost their momentum. Many of them screamed in fear and fell into a panic.

"Why were so many people killed in the city? Who is the head in the middle?"

At this time, some sharp-eyed people had already seen the face of the human head hanging on the highest pole above the city gate tower. When they saw the man's face, they couldn't help but gasp.

"What's the ghost hand?"

As soon as the four words "Ghost Hand He Bing" were mentioned, who among the rioters present didn't know them?
He was one of the famous bandits in Jibei State. He had been wreaking havoc in Yanzhou for many years and was known for his brutality and inhumanity. He had repeatedly raided the manors of large families in the northern counties of Yanzhou and committed countless bloody crimes, harming many innocent people.

Even though most of these rioters were from Jibei State, after arriving in Lu County, they heard about the cruelty of Ghost Hand He Bing from the local rioters.

When someone shouted out the words "Ghost Hand He Bing", the rioters could not help but scream out in surprise. They didn't know how He Bing's head was suddenly hung on the city gate.

Hundreds of human heads were also hung at the same time. Each one had a miserable death and a hideous face, which frightened many of the rioters.

Before they could figure out the situation, they saw the city gate open from the inside, and a strong general, riding a horse and holding a sword, rushed out of the city first. Then dozens of strong cavalry followed the general out of the city gate and galloped towards them.

Although there were only a few dozen riders, the rioters who had never seen the world seemed invincible. They lost their courage before even engaging the Shenwu Army.

The sudden change made the rioters panic. The wooden and bamboo spears that were originally standing upright suddenly fell to the ground, and the rioters who had gathered together began to disperse.

At this time, several leaders among the rioters were also shocked, but they seemed to have some experience, so they immediately shouted to the rioters around them not to panic, and to gather together quickly. They put down the wooden and bamboo spears in their hands and pointed them at the troops rushing out of the city to prevent them from being directly attacked by the troops rushing out of Zhongqiu County.

There were also about thirty or forty rioters armed with bows and arrows. They gathered together and raised their longbows, put arrows on them and pointed them at Wang Jing and others who were rushing towards them.

Their bows were not properly crafted bows, and were not even the simple hunting bows used by ordinary hunters. They were just crude longbows made from some elastic branches and bamboo strips. In order to increase the power, the bow body had to be made very long. After the string was hung, it was as tall as a person. The bowstring was also made of hemp rope and was very crude.

As for the arrows used, they were made from some straight branches or even bamboo branches. Most of the arrows did not even have arrowheads, but were just sharpened branches or bamboo branches. (End of this chapter)