Looking at the people who had been arrested, Zheng Boyuan sighed and said to Xu Di, "I don't know what these people are thinking. Why would they give up a good life and insist on going down a dark path? What's the point?"

Xu Di shook his head and said, "These people are trained and brainwashed from a very young age. They have nothing on their minds except their lord. They are trained killing machines. How can you expect them to consider whether doing these things is worthwhile or not?"

Recently, the Great Yan in Wuzhou has ceased its activities. On its fifth attempt to enter the palace, it encountered an insurmountable obstacle. After the city wall was repaired, it looked inconspicuous, but it was very different from the original. Those homemade thunderbolts thrown at it only caused a layer of dirt to fall off the city wall.

After the Great Yan suffered its first defeat, the morale of its army began to waver. Ma Ming came to discuss with Xu Di the possibility of reclaiming the territory from Wuzhou to the border river. Xu Di had been considering how to deal with the Great Yan and how to deploy defenses along the border river after reclaiming the territory. This was the most crucial question.

Although the border river is known as a natural barrier, the Wuzhou area is the easiest place to be breached. If this line is well defended, even if the Great Yan prepares for several more years, it will not be easy for them to attack from the other side. Now that the Great Yan's strategist has been captured, Xu Di believes that with their marshal alone, it will be very difficult to continue advancing into the territory of the Great Liang.

The best way is to build a city wall along the boundary river, just like the Great Wall. However, this would be a huge project, and the first thing to consider is the money. Xu Di started to think about where he could get the money. The Ministry of Revenue was already in deficit for several years, and it was unknown when they would be able to fill this huge hole. Emperor Liang Cheng had already squeezed out 100,000 taels of silver, and it would be difficult to ask for more. The two places that Xu Di could reach out to were both in dire straits. He wanted to go to other places, but he didn't know where to get the money. Xu Di decided to go to Wuzhou and sit down with Ma Ming and Feng Zhongyi to discuss the matter properly.

There is a post road from Wuzhou to Luzhou, located between two mountains. Xu Di and a few close followers rode along this post road. The trees on both sides of the mountain were lush and green, a gentle breeze was blowing, and birdsong could be heard from near and far, which made people feel quite comfortable.

The group let their horses trot slowly along. Xi Jing'an looked up at the mountains on both sides and said to Xu Di, "My lord, this kind of place is quite suitable for robbing and pillaging." As soon as he finished speaking, they heard two whistling arrows, and they really did encounter some bandits.