Chapter 28: Nanton County Magistrate

  The city wall of Nandun County was pitch black, and the top of the city tower seemed to be quiet and deserted. Only the sound of the night watchman's drumbeat coming from within the county seat could make people feel that there were living people in this county.

  Riding on the dark night, Gao Luan led a group of elite soldiers to rush under the city wall. He looked up at the not-so-high city wall and his mouth corner involuntarily revealed a hint of cold smile.

  The height of the city wall is very low, at most just less than one zhang (a unit of length) of small height, and it was also built with earth bricks.

  Compared with the towering and majestic city walls that stretch into the clouds, it's like a difference between heaven and earth.

  How could the mere earthen walls of a small county town possibly withstand these fierce warriors? This is why they looked down on it with disdain.

  "Get on the rope!!"

  Although it is short and only two words, the effect it brings is obvious.

  Only fifty soldiers of the Yuan army threw the rope that had been prepared early towards the city head, and one ring was inserted into the city wall, then pulled hard on the rope to see if it was solid.

  "Storm the city!" Gao Lan gave the order once again.

  The brave soldiers immediately one by one agilely climbed up onto the city wall.

  It was almost in an instant that Gao Lan had already climbed onto the city wall, everything went very smoothly.

  Gao Luan had just climbed up onto the city wall and hadn't even caught his breath, when he saw two sleepy-looking guards slowly walking up the stairs.

  Their spears were all slantingly placed, their eyes were drowsy and sleepy, their faces were tired, and their vigilance was very low. It's obvious that they are just passing the time.

  It's possible that these two guards did not think that in the quiet and peaceful Nanton County, someone would sneak in unnoticed.

  As soon as they climbed up to the city wall, they saw that what should have been a quiet and deserted place suddenly had many people appearing out of nowhere. The two guards were startled and more than half of their sleepiness was gone.

  "Who are you..."

  As soon as the words were spoken, two of Yuan's fierce warriors had already drawn their swords and flashed them out like lightning, casting a cold, icy glow. The two guards clutched at their necks with both hands, their eyes wide with shock as they stared at the group in front of them. Blood spurted from between their fingers, but when they tried to shout for help, they found that their throats had been cut and all they could manage were despairing gasps, unable to utter a single word.

  Gao Lan glanced calmly at the corpse on the ground, he had seen tens of thousands of dead people before, as a general in the army, he had long since developed an iron heart, in this chaotic world, human life was not considered precious, and in this era, human life was not even worth more than that of horses and cows, to Gao Lan, the dead were nothing but slaughtered pigs.

  He turned to look at the soldiers beside him, and pointed at one of the hundred officials: "You, lead half of the men to open the city gate and welcome the three young masters into the city. The rest of you, follow me to the county government!"

  "Promise!"

  Before long, the gate of Nandun County slowly opened, and a torch in front of the gate was shining brightly, swaying back and forth towards Yuan's army.

  Yuan Shang's eyes sank instantly, and he waved his hand at the soldiers behind him.

  In an instant, the once quiet night sky was shaken by the sound of horseshoes and shouting, the earth trembled, the sky shook, and the Yuan army, who had been holding their breath in concentration, suddenly mounted their horses, like a fierce beast waiting to pounce, and charged towards Nandun County with a mighty roar. The scene was like a majestic dragon, sweeping across the outskirts of the city, engulfing the wild grass and dust, and fiercely entering the depths of the county town...

  Nanton County Government Office

  "What's going on? What's going on!"

  The disheveled Nandong County Magistrate hastily ran out of the bedroom barefoot, looking around in a daze and listening to the distant sound of horseshoes outside the county government office, clearly extremely frightened and at a loss.

  "Sir! Sir! Something's wrong!"

  Only in the county government building, a group of county officials and clerks rushed into the county government building in a hurry, all with their clothes disheveled, apparently also hastily getting out of bed.

  One of them stepped forward and said to the Magistrate of Nandong County, "Your Honor, a group of soldiers suddenly appeared in our county from an unknown place, occupying the four gates of the county and each important road. Our city guards were unprepared and unable to resist, they retreated in defeat, and even our camp was occupied by them! Your Honor, what should we do?"

  Nan Dong County Magistrate heard the words and suddenly became flustered, stuttering to ask: "T-troops? Is it Lei Xiu from Huaiyin, or Chang Yi from Chaohu, or perhaps the Red Robbers from Jiuli Mountain?"

  An official hastily shook his head and said, "This humble one had just climbed high to observe, but saw that the approaching troops have several thousand men and horses, all of whom are iron cavalry with hard armor, their commands are orderly, they don't seem like mountain bandits or robbers......"

  "What... what troops will be stationed there?" The county magistrate of Nandun was sweating profusely upon hearing this.

  If I knew what was going on with the other party, it would be easy to deal with them according to their needs and pay them off. But since I don't know who they are or where they come from, this is a bit more difficult to handle.

  Not knowing the other party's intentions and bottom line, it's hard to decide whether to stay or leave.

  County Magistrate Zheng was polishing his sword when he suddenly heard a loud noise at the county yamen's main gate. The two large gates, which had just been tightly closed, were burst open by someone. He saw Gao Lan, dressed in light armor, leading dozens of elite soldiers, walking swiftly into the county yamen.

  The crowd in the county government office was suddenly scared to the point of almost peeing their pants, and they hastily retreated into the main hall.

  He glared at them with his eyes wide open and shouted in a loud voice: "Where are you hiding? Everyone, stand over there! Whoever runs, I'll chop off their head!"

  One loud shout, and the effect was surprisingly good. The crowd that had just been fleeing in disarray stopped in their tracks, gathering together in the county government's large courtyard, motionless, with only their eyes showing fear and terror as they stared at the high platform in front of them.

  "This is still reasonable."

  Gao Lan looked around at the crowd and said: "Which one of you is the magistrate of Nandun County, come out and talk to me!"

  After a long time, Nan Dunxian finally emerged from the crowd, stumbled and staggered, and rushed to Gao Lan, bowed his head and said: "I am the magistrate of Nan Dunxian, I have seen this...this leader, I don't know which mountain stronghold this leader is from? What brings you to our Nan Dunxian tonight?"

  Gao Yun heard the words and suddenly became furious, stretched out his hand to grab the county magistrate of Nandun, pulled him in front of himself, pointed at his nose and shouted: "You scoundrel! Blind your dog eyes, what kind of dog-headed leader are you? You take a good look, which part of me looks like a mountain bandit who robs and plunders?"

  Nan Dun County Magistrate Zhe heard the words and wiped away the cold sweat on his head, secretly sighing in his heart. This isn't a matter of whether it looks like or not, this is clearly...

  "May I... may I ask the master of the house..."

  "Looking for death!" Gao Lan was furious.

  "Which... generation king?"

  "Shut up!"

  Nan Dun County Magistrate was almost in tears, it's the first time he saw such an unreasonable bandit leader, and a title that still had to be picked and chosen, as if this county would have to call him General.

  "That... how should I address you, sir? I hope you won't mind teaching me." The county magistrate gave Gao Lan a bow of three bows and four knocks, his humble appearance as humble as possible.

  Gao Lan heard this and was taken aback for a moment, feeling somewhat dizzy in her heart.

  Yes, he has been following the lord to fight in the south and north for many years, killing everywhere, and almost everything that others have done in the military, but it seems like today's robbery of the county government is really the first time. The young master also said that he cannot reveal his identity at will, so what should this county magistrate call himself?

  "You... you call someone a general and that's it!" Gao Lan was silent for a moment before slowly speaking up.

  Everyone in the county government was shocked upon hearing this.

  The current bandits are too arrogant, they even self-proclaimed themselves as generals?

  If all officials who rose to power by robbing and plundering were promoted this quickly, then it would be better for everyone to quit their jobs and become mountain bandits.

  Seeing the crowd's confusion, Gao Lv lightly cleared his throat and said loudly: "You all listen to me, we are not mountain bandits, but the left general of the current dynasty, Yicheng Tinghou, Yu Zhou Mu Liu Huangshu's account under the upper general, ordered to come here... to collect grain!

  "What?" Inside the county government office, everyone looked at each other in surprise. Liu Bei's men had arrived in the middle of the night to collect taxes?

  Sounds good, but it's clear that you're here to grab food!

  But taking a closer look at their attire, it's indeed the standard uniform of regular soldiers, ordinary bandits would never be able to dress like this.

  Nan Gong County Magistrate's heart stabilized, Liu Bei, although said to be at odds with Cao, was after all a virtuous name outside, and tonight his troops came to attack, this life can also be considered saved.

  The county magistrate hastily rushed up to Gao Luanzhang and paid his respects, saying: "It turns out that the great general under the imperial uncle's command has arrived in person. I hope the general will not take offense at my earlier transgression."

  "Easy to say!"

  Gao Lan raised his hand to interrupt the county magistrate, saying: "In recent years, the harvest in Ru'nan has not been good, and the grain and grass are insufficient. It is quite difficult to support the army. We should not have troubled you neighboring small counties, but now everyone knows that Liu, the Governor of Yu State, has received the Emperor's edict, and is preparing his horses and soldiers, cultivating and storing grain, and will soon attack the national thieves. As Han officials, shouldn't you also make some efforts for Liu's great cause?"

  Nature, nature.

  At this moment, County Magistrate An dares to make any move, naturally it is Gao Lan who says something and he follows suit.

  "What are you still standing there for? Quickly send someone to open the warehouse!" Gao Lan's impatient reminder was very overbearing.

  "Yes! Yes! I'll send someone right away......" The county magistrate hastily turned his head and shouted to the officials behind him, "Quickly, hurry up and lead General's troops to take the grain and fodder!"

  "Promise..."

  The official in charge of grain supplies led a portion of Gao Luan's soldiers away hastily.

  Gao Lan remained in the county government office, entered the main hall, and sat down on the kneeling bench with a big smile. He looked up and down at County Magistrate several times and said: "You, County Magistrate, are quite sensible, what's your name?"

  County Magistrate Deng heard this and hastily accompanied him with a smile, saying: "I am Deng Chang, styled Tongzhi, from Yiyang, Jiangxi... I don't know what the general's surname is?"

  Gao Lan heard the words and turned his head slightly, humming softly but didn't make a sound.

  Deng Chao, however, pretended to be clever and carefully looked at Gao Lan for a while before suddenly realizing: "I observe that General's face is like a tiger's and his whiskers are curly, his demeanor is majestic and awe-inspiring, not common in appearance. Could it be that he is the Tiger General under Liu Yizhou's command... Zhang Fei, Zhang Yide?"

  "Gao Lan suddenly turned his head, his eyes wide open, his expression complex and unpredictable, making it impossible to guess his emotions."

  Deng County shrunk his neck, looking at Gao Luan with a weak gaze: "General, please don't be offended, I was just speaking casually, no other meaning... Could it be that I guessed wrong?"

  The main hall of the prefecture was quiet...

  After a long time, Gao Luan finally cracked a smile and said: "Not wrong, too right! You damn well guessed it... No mistake, I am indeed Zhang Fei!"