After midday meal.

County town, government office.

"Sir, the Wang Family sent someone. They have gathered the money and are ready to go to Fu Ze Village to redeem the people. They hope you will send soldiers to escort them," said the steward.

"Tell him that there's unrest in the city and refugees causing trouble outside. We're short of manpower; I really cannot send anyone. Let him handle it himself."

"Understood."

...

Wang Cultivator guessed that Chang Yuan wouldn't be so kind as to send someone for protection. He informed Chang Yuan just for form's sake.

He dispatched more than a dozen Nursing Home guards, led by a Grade-Entering Martial Artist from a collateral branch of the Wang Family. Carrying gold and silver worth ten thousand coins, they got into the basket from the city walls and exited the city.

...

Afternoon.

Just at 3:00 PM.

Smoke began to rise from the kitchens of Fu Ze Village. More than a dozen women put washed rice in pots to cook.

In the village, more than a thousand Divine Brave Guards had already gathered.

These thousand plus Divine Brave Guards were organized into twelve teams.

Each team had three groups, each group consisting of thirty men.

The team leaders included Zhang River, Han Wu, Hu Qiang, Lu Yuan, Hu Shi, Hu Mountain, Gao Yuming, and others.

Among them, Gao Yuming was the best in Martial Arts among the five deserters from the Qingzhou Army that Chen Mo took in, having served as a Decurion.

Among these people, over five hundred wore Defense Army armor, and more than two hundred wore bamboo armor.

After this period of training, this group of Divine Brave Guards was already in shape and no longer charged recklessly without a clue, as they did during their first raid on the Salt Warehouse.

Among them were sword soldiers, gun soldiers, archers, and shield soldiers.

So-called gun soldiers wielded long spears and wolf brushes made from bamboo.

Shield soldiers had wooden boards with an iron sheet nailed on to block arrows.

Chen Mo stood in front of them, giving a pre-battle mobilization speech.

"Training soldiers for a thousand days, using them for an hour. Brothers, our time to completely overthrow oppression has come. The corrupt officials in the city bully us, humiliate us, harm us, resulting in most of you having fragmented families, with no home to return to and no land to farm..."

With each phrase Chen Mo spoke, he looked at a team. Once his gaze swept through everyone, he finished his prepared speech: "Tonight, let's show the corrupt officials in the city that we are not humble commoners, and that the blades in our hands are not blunt. Therefore, I've decided, tonight we rise in arms and attack the county town!"

"Attack the county town, kill the corrupt officials!" Zhang River and Han Wu almost exclaimed at the same time, then looked at each other in tacit understanding, as if to say, this time we haven't let anyone snatch the lead.

"Attack the county town, kill the corrupt officials!"

Hu Qiang and others also started shouting, followed by all the Divine Brave Guards, thundering in unison.

Who do these common people hate most in their daily lives?

It's the clerks of the County Government Office.

Most of these people had already shed blood, so when thinking of tonight's siege, their first reaction was not fear, but extreme excitement.

Because of the rules Chen Mo previously established, there were rewards for military merit and killing enemies, and combined with daily training, they had gained some confidence. Now, finally, they could engage in real combat, wielding real weapons—they couldn't help being excited.

Only Lu Yuan and a few others didn't look so calm.

They were coerced into it, originally unwilling to rebel, but with family under the care of the reserve forces at the mountain stronghold, Lu Yuan had to grit his teeth and go along with it.

Beside them, the man sent by the Wang Family to redeem Wang Ran looked on with horror.

Pingting County is surely on the brink of turmoil.

...

At the first quarter of 7:00 PM.

There were more than a dozen large porridge pots at the village entrance, steam rising from the lids. The scent of rice mixed with a faint aroma of meat wafted into the noses of the refugees.

Zhang River stepped forward, saying, "I've heard about the matters outside the county town. What you all may not know is that the court had long allocated disaster relief grain for Pingting County Magistrate to distribute porridge outside the city, but I never expected that the disaster relief grain allocated by the court was actually embezzled by the corrupt officials in the city, and even shot you all. It's outrageous."

The disaster relief grain Zhang River spoke of, of course, did not exist; it was a lie he fabricated on the spot.

There's an unpleasant truth, but it's a fact that the lower class is easily deceived.

As soon as he said this, the refugees gathered at the village entrance were instantly in an uproar. However, this group of refugees wasn't completely foolish, as someone questioned: "When did the court allocate disaster relief grain? Why is there no news?"

This person had a bit of sense, but not much. Because Zhang River pulled out a forged document, waved it before the refugees' eyes, and brushed aside their doubt, saying, "The disaster relief grain only arrived in recent days. Everyone in Pingting County knows, how come you don't?"

Nowadays the people of Pingting County are either in the city or in Chen Mo's village; there are no people from Pingting County among the refugees.

Once he said this, the villagers began to tentatively believe him.

Seeing no more doubts, Zhang River didn't dwell on the topic, then pointed to Chen Mo and continued, "Our Brother Mo couldn't bear to see everyone being humiliated by corrupt officials, couldn't bear to see you starve, so he took our own provisions to make porridge for everyone."

In the refugees, there were already people arranged by Han Wu at this moment, loudly declaring, "The young master is benevolent."

"The young master is benevolent."

The crowd echoed in agreement, but their eyes were all staring at the porridge in the pots. They never expected there to be shreds of meat and wild vegetables in the porridge.

With a wave of his great hand, Chen Mo gestured, and Zhang River called out, "Everyone, line up properly. We will begin serving porridge shortly, one by one, no need to rush."

With the Divine Brave Guards maintaining order, the refugees quickly arranged themselves into line.

One ladle per person, ensuring everyone received some, as more was still being cooked in the village.

Afterwards, the refugees discovered that not only was there meat and vegetables in the porridge, but also salt; it wasn't plain porridge.

With the intake of salt, everyone felt much more energetic.

After they finished their porridge, Chen Mo proclaimed loudly, "Fellow villagers, the corrupt officials in the city embezzled your disaster relief grain. Shouldn't such officials be killed?"

"They should be killed." Several voices rang out among the refugees.

"Good." With a wave of his hand, a whole pile of sharpened bamboo poles was brought in by Zhang River and the Divine Brave Guards, as Chen Mo said once more: "Villagers, follow me to the county town and kill those corrupt officials!"

"Kill the corrupt officials!"

"Kill the corrupt officials!"

At this point, the crowd was convinced there had been disaster relief grain, becoming incensed, and as some began to take up the ground's sharpened bamboo poles, the others followed suit.

Watching those figures, Chen Mo slightly closed his eyes, knowing that many of these people would likely die this night.

When he opened his eyes again, they were filled with determination.

In these chaotic times, no one's hands are truly clean.

"Move out," Chen Mo shouted with a raised arm.

Chen Mo certainly wasn't counting on them to help him storm the city; they were gathered for the sake of spectacle.

Over a thousand Divine Brave Guards organized themselves by teams, blending in among them, guiding them, thus ensuring it wouldn't be too chaotic.

The massive crowd surged towards Pingting County town.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.