Chapter 68: County Town

  That night, Guan Yu hastily and somewhat disheveled returned to the capital alone. County Magistrate Xu, under strict orders, led nearly a thousand soldiers and militiamen overnight towards Zhao Family Village.

  However, at noon on the second day, a group of people came rushing with horses, and from a distance, it was not clear what they were doing. All that could be seen was the rolling dust, with people and horses vaguely visible, and the sound of horseshoes striking the ground. The scene was quite frightening, and Wang Shizhe and his men thought they had encountered a large group of bandits. Without even waiting for lunch, they immediately gathered their soldiers together, formed a battle array, and prepared to fight.

  After arriving at the front, it was a group of people driving hundreds of war horses, coming in a mighty manner. When they saw the army formation in front, they stopped and immediately someone came to ask for an audience.

  Wang Shizhe was puzzled in his heart, thinking that this was a group of horse traders, which was not uncommon from Western Qin to here. However, on such a scale, these sturdy war horses were probably worth tens of thousands of taels of silver. These people really had great ambitions.

  However, after inquiring about it, it turned out that the villagers of Zhaojia Village had joined forces to defeat the bandits who came to attack them. All these were spoils of war, and he felt a mix of surprise, joy, and a hint of sourness. When he heard that the leader was actually the young man he had sent to join the army, who had now become a commander-in-chief, although still just a minor official, but also considered to have risen rapidly in rank. He couldn't help but think that Zhaojia Village really did have talented people and auspicious land, having produced such an outstanding individual.

  He inquired about the details with the villagers. He also secretly admired the young man's arrangement and courage, and then let the government soldiers escort these villagers back to the county town, while he himself took a few attendants and rushed straight to Zhaojia Village.

  At this time, Zhaojia Village was already overjoyed, and the villagers who felt like they had survived a disaster didn't need to be mentioned. The wounded soldiers of the Xingfeng Army were also very happy. After going through a battle that wasn't intense for them, the resentment that had been building up for many days had dissipated. Moreover, they had found a place to settle down, and it looked pretty good. This young general was quite likable, not just because of his bravery but also because of his kindness and generosity towards his subordinates. One by one, they all smiled and became excited and enthusiastic.

  Yan Ding had already left with Deputy Director Ding, and this time's credit would not be without their share. However, if they stayed away from the salt fields for too long, they would also be criticized by others. So, after waiting for Zhaojia Village to be safe, they immediately returned.

  Later, Zhao Shi gathered all the villagers who could speak and counted the one hundred war horses that had been deducted. One horse per household was more than enough, and although it was a bit troublesome to raise these horses, they were a great help in farming the land.

  Then there were many new people in the village, and a family of two could temporarily live. But this was not a long-term plan, the first thing to do was to build some new houses and settle these people down. Zhao Lao San had slowly come out of his grief over the loss of his son, and with a wave of his hand, he said that these people were all saviors of the Zhao family village, and they couldn't be mistreated. He took charge of this matter himself. Zhao Shi handed over the silver money and entrusted the matter to him.

  At this time, Zhao Shi had already become the de facto leader of Zhao's village. With his experience in handling complex affairs in Qingyang, he had also gained some insights. He found that it was better to delegate tasks to responsible individuals and supervise them regularly, rather than trying to do everything himself. This approach allowed him to handle matters efficiently without major mistakes. As a result, Zhao Shi felt a sense of accomplishment deep down in his heart.

  Everything was handled properly. Zhao Shi took out another 100 taels of silver and had someone buy some wine and food in the town, setting up a banquet in the village. The wine and dishes were served continuously, and the atmosphere in Zhao's village finally reached its peak. At first, the villagers still held a respectful attitude towards those soldiers from the Xuanfeng Army, not daring to get close to them. But after drinking to boost their courage, they began to open up, taking turns to offer wine toasts. Most of these soldiers were also rough and straightforward men who ate large chunks of meat and drank big bowls of wine. They were generous and open-minded, and as the wine flowed, the villagers realized that these people weren't so bad after all. Their fearful hearts disappeared, and with their faces flushed from drinking, some even called each other brothers or friends.

  At dusk, County Magistrate Wang finally arrived at Zhaojia Village. He happened to catch the scene where Zhao Shi led Du Shantiger and others to welcome him into the village. Zhao Shi had met him before, but his cold demeanor only allowed for a brief explanation of the situation without avoiding anything, directly laying out the matter of dividing the spoils. This made County Magistrate Wang very embarrassed, but since things had already been said openly, there was no need to be overly cautious. Neither he nor the county could do without this achievement, so although his face still showed a few traces of displeasure, in his heart he was extremely delighted. He didn't mind this small embarrassment at all.

  He repeatedly expressed his humility, and also guaranteed that if anything happened in Zhaojia Village in the future, he would only need to find him, Wang Shizhe, in the county town, and there was no one who wouldn't help. After the matter was settled, it was natural for everyone to enjoy themselves. As this was under the jurisdiction of Gongyi County, Wang Shizhe was naturally the host, and under the rounds of toasts from the guests, Wang Shizhe became dizzy and drunk, finally collapsing onto the table. Since ancient times, there have been many differences between literary and military figures, and Du Shantiger couldn't help but look at this county magistrate with disdain. He was one of the most enthusiastic in pouring wine for Wang Shizhe, until he got him to pass out. Only then did he glance over with a drunken eye, smack his lips, and say, "Not good at drinking, but looks like he's still a straightforward person..."

  The next day, Zhao Shi sent off Wang Shize and the other officials who were still dizzy from their ordeal. He then returned to the village and began to focus on building its foundation. However, he was unaware that the mountain bandits had caused a huge stir in Gongyi County, and his name had become synonymous with that of Yan Wangye (the King of Hell). After this battle, Zhao Shi's reputation spread rapidly through the mouths of the salt workers, the Gongyi County militia, and the officials. Someone even gave him the nickname "Gongyi Fierce Tiger", which sounded particularly impressive. As time passed, his fame grew, and eventually, it reached the point where people in Gongyi County would say that you might not know who the county magistrate was, but you couldn't not know about the fierce tiger who had eliminated tens of thousands of mountain bandits.

  As a result, the villagers from nearby villages gradually gathered around Zhaojia Village, next to a village where a fierce tiger was guarding. What can make these farmers who have suffered from bandits feel at ease?

  The villages established one after another made Zhaojia Village expand more than ten times, and it was already much larger than a town. But these are later stories, which will not be mentioned here for the time being.

  When everything was ready, Zhao Shi handed over all the matters to Li Lao San and Shang Yan Zu, and he himself took Du Shan Hu and several clever and sharp soldiers from the Hui Xing Army, plus Tu Gen Da Niu, to the county town. He wanted to bring back his mother and sisters, and then go to the Tuanlian Shi's yamen to make this traveling general identity a reality...

  They came to the county town with eighteen people, not just to pick up Zhao Shi's family. The village has enough labor and money, but building a house is still a job for craftsmen. Although rural houses are not so particular, not everyone can build them. If you don't want to worry about the house collapsing in a year or two, it's better to come to the county town to invite some craftsmen back.

  Upon arriving in the city, the group split into two parts. One part, led by Zhao Lao San's relatively mature Xiao Wu, went to find familiar people to help hire craftsmen and purchase materials such as wood. The remaining people followed behind Zhao Shi, slowly heading towards the Zhang family's large mansion.

  Turning the corner, in front is the Zhang family's mansion. The Zhang family can be considered a prominent family in Gongyi County, and this mansion is naturally not small. The entrance is particularly wide and majestic, with two or three people high black lacquer doors that look very solemn. Several servants stood at the door, chatting and laughing while pointing and gesturing to a group of children standing by the side of the gate.

  "Little Cuihua, Little Cuihua, come to the countryside, enter a wealthy family... born of mother, raised without father..." These children are all around eleven or twelve years old, dressed in rich people's clothes. They surround a little girl in the middle, clapping and jumping with abandon, innocent and carefree. But the song they're singing is quite vicious. The little girl in the middle wears a plain white dress, her hair styled in a high bun, her slightly dark face flushed bright red, tears streaming down like pearls, biting her lip to hold back sobs, looking pitifully sad.

  Zhao Shi's face suddenly turned black when he saw this scene. When he was a child, he was often bullied like this. Although the incident happened some time ago, his memory of it was extremely vivid. Moreover, he knew that children who were only a few years old could not understand much, but were simply influenced by the adults at home.

  He quickly walked a few steps, pulled open the door and came to the front of the girl's house. The girl first stared at him blankly, then suddenly burst into tears and rushed into Zhao Shi's arms, "Big brother... waa... they bullied me... Cui Hua misses you..."

  This child is none other than Zhao Shi's younger sister, Zhao Cuihua. As soon as she saw her big brother suddenly appear in front of her after a long time, the little girl burst into tears and couldn't catch her breath. She didn't forget to fiercely point at the children who bullied her and tattle on them to her brother.

  As soon as Zhao Shi stepped forward, more than a dozen people behind him immediately surrounded them. Each of them was tall and sturdy, with evil expressions on their faces, which frightened the children to cry out in surprise and scatter like birds and beasts. In the blink of an eye, they had all run away without a trace. Even Zhao Cuihua, who was crying with her head down, looked up at them from time to time with a face full of fear and trepidation.

  "This... is the Commander's sister?" Du Shantiger's eyes circled around Zhao Cuihua and Zhao Shi's faces a few times, shaking his big head, "Doesn't seem like it, huh. Don't be afraid, little miss, if anyone dares to bully you again, just find me Du Shantiger, I'll beat him up so badly he won't even recognize his own parents."

  Zhao Shi's face turned dark, holding his sister to the door of Zhang's house, he could see that several children went straight into Zhang's house through this path. It seemed that Zhang's family was not in doubt, and it seemed that his own family members were not living well in Zhang's house. This matter had touched his taboo and moved the painful place in his heart, and the fire in his heart suddenly burst out.

  Those few family servants were frightened by this group of people, and they wanted to teach them a lesson, but seeing that each of them had a horizontal knife at their waist and looked ferocious, even if they had the heart to do so, they didn't have the guts to go and look for trouble with this group.

  But soon they saw these people coming straight to the door, with a very unfriendly look, their hearts were all trembling. One who was slightly quicker had already slipped inside the gate, apparently going to find the person in charge. Another one who was slightly bolder stepped forward and trembled as he said: "You... what do you want to do?"

  "I'm looking for Zhang Shiwen." Zhao Shi said coldly, suppressing the anger in his heart.

  "Is the Third Master's name also something you can call out? You dare to come here looking for trouble, your guts aren't small at all..." Along with the voice, a chubby fellow had already walked out with big strides.

  Those few house slaves saw this fatty, and their courage immediately returned to its original size. They gathered around him, one of them pointing at Zhao Shi and the others saying: "It's Zhang the manager who was scared by these little young masters, and they still want to cause trouble in front of the gate."

  That fatty only then carefully swept a circle on the crowd, seeing the horizontal knife at the waist of the crowd, and was also very shocked in his heart. After seeing Zhao Shi holding Zhao Cuihua who was crying with tears in her arms, he also understood several points about the ins and outs of things.

  This man indeed has a few points of bearing, the horizontal knife is not something that anyone can carry on their body, it's a standard military knife. Looking at these people's appearance, I also have a few points of distrust in my heart, and my posture has come down. He bowed his head and said: "I don't know what business you have with our third young master, our third young master is busy with official duties, he is currently at the county government office. If there's anything, why not go to the county government office to find him directly?"