At his words, everyone looked at Fan Tao and Chen Han with envy.
They all worked for the County Yamen and naturally knew that Lu Feng got along well with the two men. With Lu Feng making the arrangements, none of them dared object.
Everyone voiced their agreement, and Lu Feng then carefully assigned the men to the day and night shifts.
The ten men on the day shift then left with Fan Tao to patrol East Street and the East Gate.
Qinglu County had four gates in total, one in each direction: north, south, east, and west.
The county's guards were mainly responsible for the gates' daily defense. However, yesterday, County Magistrate Wang Lichuan had assigned the East Gate's defense to Lu Feng, so he would guard it alongside the soldiers.
To familiarize himself with the East Gate, Lu Feng went there in person to inspect it.
As soon as he approached, he noticed that the number of guards stationed there had doubled.
Previously, each gate had only four guards, but today there were eight.
When Lu Feng neared the gate, one of the guards noticed him at once. He hurried over, cupped his hands, and asked, "Might you be Captain Lu Feng?"
Lu Feng studied the man and realized he didn't know him. "That's right. I am Lu Feng."
The guard's eyes lit up. "Captain Lu, Centurion Wang is waiting for you at the East Gate Tower. This way, please!"
The Centurion Wang the guard mentioned was presumably the military officer in charge of guarding the East Gate.
"Very well. Please lead the way."
With that, Lu Feng followed the guard to the tower above the East Gate.
Once he reached the tower, his view opened up, and he could see everything outside the city at a glance.
A burly man in armor, a long saber at his waist, stood on the tower.
Lu Feng didn't know him, but from his uniform, it was clear he was Centurion Wang, the officer guarding the East Gate.
The guard cupped his hands toward the man. "My lord, I've brought Captain Lu."
The burly man turned to Lu Feng and looked him up and down. Then he waved for the guard to leave and cupped his hands to Lu Feng.
"Captain Lu, I'm Wang Tieshan, a Centurion in the City Guard. I failed to greet you in person. Please forgive my discourtesy."
Lu Feng smiled faintly. "Lord Wang, you're too kind. I've come at the County Magistrate's order to assist with the East Gate's defenses. I'm new here, so I hope you'll show me the ropes."
"Haha, there's no need for that. The County Lieutenant already informed me yesterday. We can discuss how to handle the East Gate's defenses together."
Hearing this, Lu Feng's doubts finally cleared.
The man was clearly a military officer, yet he'd been so courteous from the moment they met. It turned out the County Lieutenant had given him a heads-up.
"Since it's the County Lieutenant's decision, I'll gladly follow your lead."
The two then discussed patrol arrangements at the East Gate. It turned out that only fifty City Guard soldiers were assigned to the gate, divided into four shifts, with each shift standing watch for three shichen.
But things were different now, so every person entering the city had to be inspected one by one.
They also had to reinforce the gate's defenses, which meant twice as many City Guard soldiers were now stationed there.
At this point, Wang Tieshan suddenly looked troubled. "Captain Lu, most of the City Guard have been sent to the towns and villages below. I only have fifty soldiers under my command now. Could you send some constables to help us guard the East Gate?"
Lu Feng didn't agree right away. He pondered for a moment before replying, "Sending men to help guard the East Gate is part of my duty. But I don't have many constables under my command, and I also have to oversee patrols on East Street, so I can spare only a limited number."
Wang Tieshan understood what Lu Feng meant and continued, "In that case, Captain Lu, how about ten men? What do you think?"
Lu Feng rubbed his chin and considered it briefly. "Ten is a bit too many. I can spare eight at most, split between the day and night shifts."
Helping defend the East Gate was one of his duties, but the other man was asking for too many people. Lu Feng couldn't disrupt his own arrangements, so that was all he could offer.
Wang Tieshan sighed, then finally nodded. "All right, eight it is. Thank you, Captain Lu. When this is all over, I'll reserve a table at Hongman Tower and properly thank you for your help."
"Haha, I'm only doing my duty. There's no need to be so courteous, Lord Wang."
After speaking with Wang Tieshan, Lu Feng returned to the County Yamen and told Chen Han and Fan Tao to assign four men from each shift to help defend the East Gate.
Then he returned to his room alone and continued practicing Cloud-Dispelling Palm.
Three days passed in a flash.
During those three days, no enemy scouts appeared in Qinglu County.
Not a single suspicious incident had been reported in the towns or villages under its jurisdiction, either.
Over those three days, Lu Feng had raised his Cloud-Dispelling Palm proficiency to 980 points.
He figured that once his Cloud-Dispelling Palm proficiency broke through again, his Martial Realm would advance with it.
A breakthrough in a minor realm wouldn't mean much to him, but advancing from Martial Artist to Martial Master was a major breakthrough, and there were surely many things he needed to keep in mind.
So he decided to consult Chief Clerk Lu Yan first. He could break through after learning what to expect.
Having made up his mind, Lu Feng walked over to the Chief Clerk's room and knocked. "Lord Lu, your subordinate Lu Feng requests an audience."
A moment later, Lu Yan's voice came from inside. "Come in."
Lu Feng pushed open the door, cupped his hands, and said, "Lord Lu, forgive me for disturbing you."
"Haha, sit." Lu Yan smiled as he poured him a cup of tea, then asked, "What brings you here, Captain Lu?"
"Sir, I have something I'd like to ask you about."
Lu Yan gave him another look. "Go ahead."
"Sir, I'd like to ask what I should be aware of when advancing from Martial Artist to Martial Master, and how their strength compares."
Lu Feng voiced his question directly. Since arriving in this world, he'd only fought people in the Martial Artist Realm, so he had no idea how powerful experts in the Martial Master Realm were.
Hearing the question, Lu Yan raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Why are you suddenly asking about this? Are you about to reach the Martial Master Realm?"
Lu Yan's question gave Lu Feng a slight start. The man really was perceptive.
But Lu Feng's expression remained calm. "I'm nowhere near as impressive as you think, sir. The County Magistrate said earlier that enemy spies are all experts in the Martial Master Realm, so I wanted to ask."
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