Chapter 4: The Lonely Village Hero

  A Fei was new to the Gu era and had a very limited understanding of customs and human relationships. However, on the other hand, the original owner of this body, that thirteen-year-old Yi boy who had never left the mountain valley, probably knew even less than the transmigrator. So he panicked for a moment and shouted out "Zhang Old Master", afterwards thinking about it, this sentence almost sent himself to his death.

  Let's not mention whether what Old Wang said next door is true or not, and whether they are really the county magistrate's clansmen's tenants. Let's just say that this Master Zhang is a prominent figure in the county, how would he personally run to a poor mountain valley to see his own tenant? And even if he knew his own tenant, what obligation did he have to help them testify? As long as he said impatiently: "I don't know them." The soldiers on the spot could behead these two "Dongyi spies" to serve as a warning.

  Fortunately, it was not necessary for Old Master Zhang to take action, as a yamen runner from the county helped out by providing evidence: "They are indeed tenant farmers from the poor village of Chengxi, I can vouch for them."

  Originally from a place called "Poor Valley", it's really a fitting name, poor to the extreme. Ah Fei lifted his head with difficulty under the pressure of the soldiers and took a glance at the official, and indeed there was still some vague impression left in his original memory.

  Although they were tenants, they didn't have to pay rent directly to the imperial court. The land rent was all paid to the owner of the property - Old Master Zhang. As for whether Old Master Zhang paid taxes to the state or not, no one knew. However, their family still had to pay the poll tax, also known as the head tax. Therefore, the county yamen came to Punguang once or twice a year to collect taxes, but it was estimated that the place was too poor and couldn't even squeeze out half a copper coin, so even the yamen runners didn't bother to make the trip in vain.

  So I still have some impression of this official, because after he ran in vain, his head was dizzy for a while, and he actually took a liking to the old dog next door. But with one stick, he didn't hit the dog, but instead, Ah Fei gave an order, and the hunting dog pounced on him and bit his leg. Fortunately, the old dog next door was too old, estimated to be only a few years younger than Old Wang, and its big teeth were almost all gone, so it didn't really hurt the official. In the end, Old Wang still handed over two rabbit skins he had stored away to make amends.

  So the official unexpectedly stood up to testify today without anyone forcing or urging him, which made Ah Fei feel a warm current in his heart: "After all, there are still good people in this world... If it were me, I would dare to let the dog bite me, and at this time, I would definitely confirm that these two goods are indeed spies of the Dongyi without a doubt!"

  But then the official said: "The older one is indeed a Han person, but the younger one is a barbarian. To be on the safe side, let's just kill them both."

  "My goodness, this man is really unbearable, taking personal revenge to such an extreme! Ah Fei quickly cried out: 'My family has been farming in the county for seven generations, only knowing that we are subjects of the great Han, not knowing what barbarians are! Please, esteemed county magistrate, carefully examine the evidence and release me. Although I am young, I am willing to help defend the county city and kill the scattered barbarian bandits!'"

  "Hey kid," said the young master, slightly bowing his head and looking at Ah Fei's face, "have you studied with someone before?"

  In that era when information was not well developed, it was actually very easy to make up nonsense. Ah Fei knew his speech was a bit unlike a real rural poor boy - would a poor boy care about the year number? Would he say words like "Great Han subject"? - but he had already discovered that Shi Gongzi was quite curious about himself, and if he didn't speak like this, he wouldn't be able to further stir up Shi Gongzi's curiosity, and it was very likely that his head would fall to the ground in an instant.

  He hastily replied, "When I was ten years old, I went into the forest to gather firewood and met an old man who was about to freeze to death. I saved his life that night and dreamed that he brought me several books to read. When I woke up, I could recognize some characters and understand some etiquette."

  The young nobleman showed a sneering smile: "I don't believe it."

  You don't believe it, that's fine! Ah Fei knows that making up a story from scratch is difficult, especially with Old Wang next door who has seen him grow up. If he says something like "a scholar passed by and taught me to read" - which is a common cliché - what if Old Wang doubts it? That would be troublesome. It's better to make up a legendary story that no one can verify or believe, so even if the young master doesn't believe it, he won't have time to investigate further because of the bandits nearby, and his own head will be temporarily safe.

  As expected, the young master did not continue to interrogate and instead turned to urge the county magistrate to entrust him with the military power of the city. The county magistrate had no way out, neither dared to escape nor willing to die, so he picked up his pen and wrote a few words, agreeing to his request.

  At that time, the young master immediately ordered the soldiers to release Ah Fei and Old Wang from next door, letting them follow him. After leaving the county government office, they rushed all the way to a large house, where more than 20 strong men rushed out after a shout - presumably the strong men left in the warehouse by the Shi family. He ordered these strong men to wake up the citizens of the city and block the east, west, and south gates of the county with wood and stone. After finishing, they were divided to guard the three gates, then turned around and rushed back to the county government office.

  At this time, according to his previous order, the county's militia had gathered in front of the government office. Among them, 70% were around 50 years old, and 30% were not as big as Ah Fei. They all had sunken chests and swollen bellies, thin bones like withered wood, and trembling legs. Mr. Shi saw this and shook his head repeatedly, asking County Lord to open the warehouse and collect all the weapons in the county. In total, there were only a dozen or so halberds, two knives, one shield, three bows, two quivers of arrows, most of which were rusty. Finally, County Lord took off the long sword from his waist and presented it to Mr. Shi.

  The young master had no choice but to distribute these broken and worn-out weapons first. Ah Fei watched from the side, seeing that this young master originally had a confident expression, as if he had his own command, and with just one glance, he could defeat the bandits and make a name for himself in the world. However, this expression soon completely disappeared, replaced by helplessness, despair, and confusion, and finally turned into deep sorrow.

  Observing, suddenly the young master turned his head and looked at him: "I saw you holding a deerskin earlier, where did it go?" Ah Fei smiled bitterly: "Don't know which soldier took it away." Joking, just now being pressed to the ground by the soldiers, immediately felt three or four hands rummaging in his clothes, although they didn't get any money, could the deerskin have been spared?

  "Was it you who hunted that deer? What kind of weapon did you use?" asked the young master immediately.

  "The little people will use bows and arrows."

  "Alright," said the young master, picking up a bow and handing seven arrows to Ah Fei.

  At that time, the young master led the earth soldiers and A Fei to rush straight to the north gate of the county town. On the way, he asked A Fei his name. A Fei reported his name and said he had no surname - it was either that his parents forgot their family surname or their nationality hadn't developed surnames yet, so only heaven knew.

  A Fei also tried to get the words of Shi Gongzi, and after much effort, he finally found out that the place where he was located was indeed the Korean Peninsula. This is the easternmost county of the Eastern Han Dynasty - Lelang County, where the barbarians and the Hans live together, with more than a dozen counties, and the county seat is called Chaoxian, which is estimated to be Pyongyang City in later generations. At that time, the governor was also surnamed Zhang, just like the local county magistrate, and Shi Gongzi's father had served as the director of the postal service under his appointment, but had just resigned not long ago, but he still had a great reputation throughout the county.

  They soon arrived at the North City Gate, where Master Shi dispatched his troops to defend the city, while keeping Ah Fei and Old Wang from next door by his side. Although Ah Fei didn't understand anything about fighting, he had read some superficial knowledge from ancient books, which seemed to indicate that Master Shi was quite familiar with military tactics, as evidenced by his orderly deployment of troops.

  The sky had not yet darkened, and the barbarian bandits had indeed arrived. According to what Shi Gongzi said, these barbarians were not from Fuyu or Mohe, but rather from Goguryeo - as for Ah Fei himself, he probably would never be able to figure out which ethnicity he belonged to. Goguryeo was fundamentally different from the other barbarian tribes in two ways: first, they had organization and a government; second, they were formally recognized by the Han Dynasty as kings, with the current king of Goguryeo being named Bogu.

  A Fei remembered that he had seen in a book, Goguryeo had been harassing the northeastern counties since the Emperor Huandi's reign, until the Gong Sun family dominated Liaodong and temporarily surrendered. However, they later helped Cao Wei defeat Gong Sun, and finally betrayed Cao Wei, being defeated by Zhong Yu. Of course, at that time, it should not have been Bo Gao as king anymore, but his son or grandson in power, A Fei completely forgot.

  The high-ranking Goguryeo soldiers didn't come in large numbers after all, the so-called "over a million troops" is completely nonsense, and even if they were united with Qi, there were only a few thousand people, just a few dozen times more than the defending soldiers inside the city... Moreover, each of them wore helmets and armor, nearly half of whom were cavalrymen, and their spears were generally on the short side, about three meters or so, not even close to eight feet.

  A Fei stood on the city wall, looking far away, and felt that his two legs were a bit soft, wanting to lean against the wall to change his posture. Who would have thought that first his left foot, then his right foot, began to tremble, and like dominoes, produced a chain reaction? First, his feet shook, then his calves shook, then his thighs shook, then his waist shook... By the time even his teeth started shaking, Shi Gongzi finally noticed.

  "Are you afraid?" The young master smiled calmly at him.

  A Fei could no longer speak, and simply nodded - or perhaps his chin was just trembling.

  "You have the blessing of the immortal, nothing will happen to you, right?" The color of mockery in Shi Gongzi's eyes gradually deepened, "Are you sure we can't win this battle?"

  "The Art of War says, 'When you outnumber the enemy five to one, surround them; when you outnumber them ten to one, attack them...' Ah Fei's heart was racing wildly, he estimated his heart rate had exceeded 180 beats per minute and was heading straight for 200. He wondered if he would die of fright before the Goguryeo people could even kill him."

  "You've even read The Art of War," Prince said with a curl of his lip. "But you're still standing."

  A Fei's eyes swept left and right, discovering that almost all the guards in his line of sight, including old Wang next door, had already collapsed to the ground. He also felt a strong urge to collapse, but his knees were shaking wildly, shaking so hard that he couldn't change frequency for a while, and couldn't even bend over.

  At this time, Prince Gong was calm and collected. He looked down at the city again, and suddenly stamped his foot heavily: "Alright, open the gate, go to war!"