Northern Wei Invasion

When Li Muyuan said this, County Magistrate Wang Lichuan did not get angry but sighed instead. "Alas, the news is true. Several county magistrates in our Baiyue County have already been assassinated by scouts."

The magistrate's words startled everyone present once more.

County Assistant Zhou Yongsi also spoke up to ask, "Magistrate, do you mean those Northern Wei scouts have already infiltrated our Baiyue County?"

"Exactly! Yingmen Pass has always been the gateway to Beiyuan Prefecture, so it's only natural for enemy scouts to appear in our Baiyue County." Wang Lichuan explained while furrowing his brow deeply. "But I never expected these enemy scouts to be this strong."

Typically, county magistrates were held by those at the Martial Master Realm. For enemy scouts to assassinate a magistrate meant their strength was no lower than that of a Martial Master.

And since Baiyue County was the prefectural seat of Beiyuan Prefecture, it would certainly be the first to suffer from scout sabotage.

While everyone was still shocked by this, Chief Clerk Lu Yan suddenly asked, "Magistrate, has the Imperial Court stated the purpose of this Northern Wei invasion? Our two nations haven't gone to war in over a decade. Why would Northern Wei suddenly launch an attack on our Great Yan?"

Wang Lichuan shook his head. "The specific purpose is unclear, but Prefect Xu mentioned in his letter that the Northern Wei Emperor wants to make one last desperate gamble before he dies."

"Ah, this..."

"Hiss..."

At these words, everyone present revealed expressions of horror.

Lu Feng, standing at the very back, knew nothing about this Northern Wei Emperor, so he nudged Captain Fang with his elbow and asked in a low voice.

"Captain Fang, what's the deal with the Northern Wei Emperor?"

Hearing him ask, Captain Fang replied quietly, "I don't know the specifics either. I only know the Northern Wei Emperor is nearly seventy years old."

Lu Feng was stunned for a moment. Nearly seventy—that really wasn't far from death.

For someone to want one last bout of madness before dying, that was understandable.

But precisely because of this, the intensity of Northern Wei's attack this time would be all the greater.

After hearing the magistrate's answer, Lu Yan stroked his beard and spoke again. "This Northern Wei Emperor really refuses to give up! But our Great Yan isn't easy to bully either. With Yingmen Pass's defenses, it would be very difficult to breach without five hundred thousand troops. That's why they're sending scouts inside the pass to assassinate and sabotage, trying to shake our morale."

County Lieutenant Li Muyuan also nodded in agreement. "Lord Lu speaks sense. But now the higher-ups want us to strengthen our defenses. As everyone knows the defensive strength of our Qinglu County, defending just the county city itself wouldn't be a problem, but the towns and villages below are a different matter."

Qinglu County was already one of the weaker counties in Baiyue County, with only fifteen hundred garrison soldiers.

They were fine for routine defense of the county city or suppressing bandits, but when it came to defending against enemy scouts, they were clearly inadequate.

And County Lieutenant Li Muyuan was the official in charge of these garrison soldiers.

Hearing Li Muyuan say this, County Magistrate Wang Lichuan naturally understood the situation, so he said, "Defending only the county city is certainly not enough. That's why I've decided to dispatch the county yamen's constables and yamen runners as well."

At these words, Li Muyuan's expression improved somewhat, but the faces of several captains turned grim.

They usually just patrolled the streets and handled cases. As long as they didn't encounter any manhunts for notorious bandits, there was basically no danger.

But now the magistrate wanted them to defend against enemy scouts—that was pushing it.

Those enemy scouts could assassinate even Martial Master Realm magistrates, so killing them, mere Eighth-Rank Martial Artists, would be a walk in the park.

Yet as county yamen captains, they couldn't refuse the magistrate's orders.

Li Muyuan nodded slightly upon hearing this. "If that's the case, the manpower is still a bit tight, but we can barely manage."

County Magistrate Wang Lichuan then swept his gaze over everyone again, finally settling on the four captains including Lu Feng.

"Four captains, although this mission carries some danger, for the sake of the nation, for the people, for your parents, wives, and children, I hope you will step up and protect them."

With that, Wang Lichuan stood up and bowed to the four of them.

The four quickly bowed in return.

Captain Qin was the first to speak. "Magistrate, as captains of the county yamen, protecting the nation and its people is our duty. Even if you hadn't ordered it, I would do my utmost to help Qinglu County through this crisis."

Captain Qin was the magistrate's man, so saying this was meant to support the magistrate's position.

At the same time, he placed himself on the moral high ground, making it impossible for the other captains to refuse.

Seeing this, Lu Feng and the other two captains also cupped their hands in agreement, all consenting to the magistrate's request.

County Magistrate Wang Lichuan smiled at this. "Good! In that case, I'll begin arranging personnel and assignments."

Then, the magistrate had County Lieutenant Li Muyuan dispatch twelve hundred garrison soldiers to spread across Qinglu County's major towns and villages, responsible for defense work below.

The remaining three hundred garrison soldiers would cooperate with the county yamen's constables and yamen runners to defend Qinglu County City.

In this task distribution, Lu Feng received fourteen yamen runners as his subordinates.

Although none of these fourteen were experts, they were all martial artists.

And Lu Feng's defense duty changed from his previous patrol of East Street to patrolling and defending both East Street and the East Gate.

With the task distribution complete, everyone began to leave. At that moment, County Magistrate Wang Lichuan suddenly called out to him and said.

"Lu Feng, although I didn't want to involve you in patrol duties, the situation is different now. I hope you understand."

Lu Feng nodded. "Magistrate, I understand! Please rest assured, whether it's the patrol duties you've assigned or the Martial Examination matters to come, I won't let you down."

Hearing him say this, Wang Lichuan revealed a look of relief and patted him on the shoulder. "Good! I believe in you. But if you truly encounter any danger, remember that preserving yourself is the most important thing."

"Yes, I've noted that!"

With that, Lu Feng turned and left. There was actually one more thing he hadn't said—that among everyone in Qinglu County, the magistrate himself was the most dangerous target.

Those enemy scouts' primary assassination targets would certainly be officials like the magistrate.

Once the County Magistrate is killed, the entire county will be leaderless, and the remaining officials and commoners will be thrown into panic.

Returning to his own room, Lu Feng pondered for a moment. He wasn't particularly concerned about the Northern Wei invasion or the harassment from enemy scouts.

After all, he was a transmigrator and held no sense of belonging to the Great Yan Dynasty.

"Forget it, no use dwelling on that. Better keep cultivating."

With that, he resumed practicing the Cloud-Dispelling Palm, and time flew by until the next day.

When he arrived at the County Yamen again, he found the Constables and Yamen Runners all looking tense.

Standing outside his room were exactly twenty men—six Constables and fourteen Yamen Runners.

Seeing this, Lu Feng strode forward quickly, and the twenty men immediately cupped their hands in salute to him.

After a quick inspection, he discovered that all the Yamen Runners assigned to him by the County Yamen were Third-Rank and Fourth-Rank Martial Artists—not a single Fifth-Rank Martial Artist among them!

The defense duties assigned by the County Magistrate yesterday were full-time tasks, meaning patrols had to be arranged even at night.

So Lu Feng spoke slowly, "Everyone, I trust you already understand the importance of this mission. Starting today, our squad will be split into a day shift and a night shift. To facilitate shift management, this Captain hereby appoints Fan Tao as day shift leader and Chen Han as night shift leader. Does anyone have any objections?"