The autumn night is deep, and the starry light emits a quiet light. The cool night wind blows from time to time, making people feel the bleakness and coldness of autumn.

Yuan Cheng drew five hundred strong men from the county soldiers, and the four bannermen of the village chariot regiment, gathered about six hundred people. At the hour of Hai, everyone was full of food, and Yuan Cheng distributed five taels of silver to each soldier who was about to leave the city. He spoke a lot of words to boost morale, and then asked them to hurry up and rest, preparing to sneak out of the city in two directions at the third update.

Waiting for everything to be prepared, Yuan Cheng called Zhou Xian, Lin Bao and others to discuss the specific sneak attack plan in order to consider every possible change in advance. Just as everyone was about to leave the city, a sudden change interrupted their plan.

Several county soldiers rushed into the hall with a middle-aged man who looked like a farmer. The other party looked calm and looked up and glanced at the people in the hall, and asked, "Who is in charge here?"

Yuan Cheng did not answer, turned to the county soldiers beside him and asked, "Where did this guy come from?"

A county soldier stepped forward and bowed to Yuan Cheng and said, "Inspector Yuan, he said he was ordered by the command of Li Zhensheng, the magistrate of Yancheng County, and there was something important to discuss with you. The brothers put down a basket and pulled him into the city."

Yuan Cheng nodded and said to the middle-aged farmer: "What do you call this brother? I am Yuan Cheng, and I am the inspector of Wuyang City. At this moment, I am temporarily responsible for all the affairs in the city."

The middle-aged farmer bowed to Yuan Cheng and said, "The villain is named Li Er, who is the personal servant of County Magistrate Li. Here is a letter from our county master." After that, he took out a letter from his waist and reached out to attack and handed it to Yuan Cheng.

Yuan Cheng took it from Li Er, opened it and looked carefully. After a while, his face was filled with surprise and said, "Brother Li Er, are you saying that County Magistrate Li will lead reinforcements outside the city tomorrow?"

Li Er nodded and said, "When my county master heard that County Magistrate Pan was assassinated by bandits, he was anxious and immediately gathered his soldiers to come to rescue him. However, in Yancheng, there were also two bandits, Ziweixing and Pashanhu, and the bandits were not inferior to Wuyang at all. Therefore, the troops brought cannot be too much. I hope Inspection Yuan can understand."

Some doubt flashed across Yuan Cheng's face and asked Li Er: "I wonder how many people will Magistrate Li bring here tomorrow?"

"One hundred and fifty cavalry. In order to avoid being discovered by bandits, they will sneak out of Yancheng when it dark tomorrow. They can probably reach outside Wuyang City at about the third update. What my county master means is that at the fourth update, he launched a raid on the bandit camp from the north, and the defenders in the city also launched an attack from the south at the same time. The cooperation between the two will surely defeat the bandits."

Zhou Xian saw Yuan Cheng frowning, his face full of displeasure with Li Er. He quickly said, "Inspector Yuan, Brother Li Er has come from afar, and I have worked hard all the way. Let him go down and take a rest first! This matter is of great importance, so we should discuss it first before making a decision."

Yuan Cheng woke up and knew that no matter how disliked he was, he was the only one who sent reinforcements so far, and he could not offend him easily. Thinking of this, Yuan Cheng bowed to Li Er and said, "Brother Li Er, I almost forgot. Please go down and have some wine and food first, and we will discuss it and then send you a clear letter."

Li Er bowed to thank him. "Inspector Yuan, my county master once said that the opportunity should not be missed and the time should not be returned. I also hope that you can make a decision as soon as possible so that I can also repay the county master."

Yuan Cheng nodded and asked the county soldiers to take him down.

"You said, if he came to rescue us sincerely, why did he send only one hundred and fifty cavalry? There are more than ten thousand bandits outside the city. What role can his men play?"

Zhou Xian looked at Yuan Cheng, full of anger, and smiled faintly, "In my opinion, this may not be the case. If he really doesn't want to rescue us, he can ignore our request for help like other officials around him. But he sent people, and according to his intention, he will lead his troops to come tomorrow. If he was just doing it, he would not have done this level."

Yuan Cheng looked slightly stunned, sat back on the seat, muttering, "Can it be that as he said in his letter, it is because of the two bandits in Yancheng."

Zhou Xian nodded and said, "I see that there are nine out of ten. Inspection Commissioner Yuan, are you familiar with the County Magistrate Li of Yancheng?"

Yuan Cheng shook his head first, then nodded and said, "It's not familiar, but I heard from Magistrate Pan once before. The Magistrate Li Zhensheng, whose courtesy name is Hualin, was a Jinshi who just passed the exam this year. He only took office in Yancheng in April, and it has been less than half a year until now. By the way, he is from Mizhi, Shaanxi and a fellow villager with the thief."

"Have you heard of all this about how he is and how he is doing locally?"

Yuan Cheng shook his head and said, "Second Young Master, Wuyang and Yancheng are less than a hundred miles apart, Wuyang belongs to Nanyang Prefecture, while Yancheng belongs to Xuzhou Prefecture. The information I got was also said by Magistrate Pan inadvertently. As for more detailed things, how could I know?"

Zhou Xian frowned and thoughtful, looking at Lin Bao who had been silent and said, "Master, what do you think? Should we cooperate with this County Magistrate Li to defeat the enemy?"

Yuan Chengyi said, "Yes! Master Lin, you can talk too."

Lin Bao pondered for a moment and said, "In my opinion, this County Magistrate Li is still a little capable?"

Yuan Cheng said with a puzzled face: "Master Lin, did you know this person before?"

Lin Bao shook his head and smiled, "You don't need to understand it. You can roughly calculate it. Wuyang and Yancheng are both county towns, but the geographical importance of Yancheng is far higher than that of Wuyang. It is located in southern Henan and has been an ancient military road since ancient times. It is directed to Xiangyang when walking southward, and can go directly to Xiangyang. Walking northward, you can also threaten Kaifeng and Luoyang. The revival of Duke Huan of Qi in the Spring and Autumn Period and Duke Wen of Jin destroyed Cai and Emperor Guangwu of Emperors all began from here. It can be said that the loss of Yancheng, and the southern Henan will be lost."

Yuan Cheng touched the back of his head and said, "Master Lin, you said this only points out the importance of Yancheng's geographical location. What does this have to do with whether Li Zhensheng has the ability?"

Lin Bao smiled and said, "Yancheng is the key to the Central Plains, and Wuyang City happens to be the key to Yancheng. Once Wuyang City is broken, Yang Si will be connected with the two bandits in Yancheng. At that time, Yancheng will not be able to hold on for a long time. This is why he ignored Wuyang City's besieged so many days ago. As soon as the news of Magistrate Pan's assassination spread, he immediately sent reinforcements?"

Zhou Xian suddenly realized: "Master, are you talking about Li Zhensheng because he was afraid that Wuyang City would be breached, which would affect the Yancheng he controlled. Then he ignored the threat of the two bandit forces and sent troops to help."
Chapter completed!