You can't go wrong!

That's definitely Lao Jiang's voice!

Sun Jian's heart skipped a beat. Although he couldn't hear what Old Jiang said, his appearance here at dusk gave Sun Jian a vague sense of unease.

"Old Jiang?"

Magistrate Wang felt the name was very familiar, as if it belonged to a villager from Sun Jian's village. But before he could confirm, Sun Jian, with a serious expression, clasped his hands and said, "Esteemed sirs, please excuse me."

After saying this, Sun Jian ignored what Lord Yao and Magistrate Wang were saying, quickly went downstairs, and ran to the main entrance of Juxian Tower.

At this moment, Old Jiang had already been pushed to the ground by the guards at the door. He tried to get up and try to break through the door again, but the guards had already drawn their sharp blades and pressed them against his neck.

"I think you really want to die!"

The sword blade had already pierced the skin on Old Jiang's neck, and blood gushed out like a spring, but Old Jiang remained unfazed, his eyes bloodshot, and he wanted to continue charging into Juxian Tower.

"Holy crap!"

Seeing this, Sun Jian didn't have time to think and kicked the guard hard in the back.

With a loud "bang!", the guard was kicked away before he could dodge.

When the other guards saw their comrade suddenly kicked away, they all drew their swords and became alert.

"How dare you! Who...who are you! How dare you attack a guard!"

"What kind of damn guards are they? They dare to kill people in the street?"

"Otherwise, if I had been quick enough, that knife would have almost slit my friend's throat."

Seeing that the remaining guards had surrounded him, Sun Jian didn't tolerate them. He pulled Old Jiang up from the ground and warily stared at the group of guards around him.

"What? You want to make a move?"

"Try drawing your swords again?"

“Sun Jian…you…you’ve finally come out.”

Upon seeing Sun Jian, Old Jiang burst into tears of joy, completely disregarding the blood still seeping from his neck.

"We'll talk about it when we get back. Cover your neck with your hand and stop the bleeding first."

After speaking, Sun Jian turned his gaze back to the group of restless guards.

These soldiers were all Governor Yao's personal guards, and they couldn't be intimidated with just a few words.

Many people were already poised to strike, their hands gripping the hilts of their swords.

At the critical moment, Governor Yao rushed over and shouted a rebuke.

"Get out of my way!"

Upon seeing familiar faces, the guards sheathed their swords and retreated.

Governor Yao stood beside Sun Jian and sternly rebuked his personal guards: "Insolence! Mr. Sun is my guest, who dares to be disrespectful?"

"You wouldn't dare!"

The guards all knelt down on one knee, begging for forgiveness.

"Get out of my way!"

"Yes, sir!"

Seeing that the situation was under control, Sun Jian quickly checked Old Jiang's wounds.

Judging from the amount of bleeding, it seems that no blood vessels were damaged; it was just a superficial wound and nothing serious.

"Old Jiang, what brings you to the city to see me? Did something happen in the village?"

Upon hearing Sun Jian's question, Old Jiang's face turned ashen, and he said, word by word:

"The three...the three ladies have been taken away by the officials!"

"What!"

"Not only the three ladies, but also Lao Cao and Er Gouzi were arrested."

Hearing this news was like a bolt from the blue.

Sun Jian's heart skipped a beat, and he felt completely disoriented. He grabbed Old Jiang by the collar.

"You said...who kidnapped them?!"

Why are they arresting people?

Old Jiang looked like he was about to cry, and said with great grievance, "I was taken away by the prefect of Hongnong County!"

"them……"

Upon hearing this, Governor Yao and Magistrate Wang, who were standing behind Sun Jian, were both taken aback. They exchanged a glance with extremely complicated expressions.

Sun Jian was in no mood to observe their reactions. Hearing that his three wives had been taken away, he was extremely anxious: "Why did he arrest my three wives?"

Old Jiang sighed deeply before recounting the whole story.

Since Sun Jian left yesterday, the grain requisition in their village began this morning.

The matter of requisitioning grain has always been the responsibility of the prefect of a prefecture.

The prefect first assigns the tasks and quantities to the counties under his jurisdiction, and then the grain supervisors or county magistrates of each county lead their teams to complete the tasks.

But this grain requisition was completely different.

Not only was it carried out about ten days earlier than the stipulated date, but it also bypassed the counties, with the prefect personally leading the collection efforts.

Although this grain requisition caught people off guard, fortunately, most farmers in Sunjiazhuang were still able to hand over their grain thanks to Sun Jian's influence.

With Sun Jian absent, Chu Qingcheng, as the elder sister, became the head of the household. However, when Cao Cao helped transport the grain to the government troops for weighing, this is how the incident began...

The prefect's son was an idle and lecherous man. When he went out to collect grain with his father, he would prey on several families' daughters every day in each village they passed through.

He was captivated by Chu Qingcheng's beauty and, disregarding the occasion, made flirtatious remarks and even physically assaulted her.

Old Cao came out to stop them, but was beaten seriously by the officials. He tried to fight back, but was stopped by the village chief and the others. The village chief knew the principle that the people should not fight against the officials. On the one hand, he sent Old Jiang to the city to inform Sun Jian, and on the other hand, he called on the elders in the village to confront the soldiers and buy time.

Such a big thing happened in the village, and Gu Zijian and Zhou Wan'er rushed over upon hearing the news, but they didn't expect that their arrival would only exacerbate the conflict.

The prefect's lecherous son saw the three women and found them to be as beautiful as angels with graceful figures. He was so drooling that he insisted on taking the three women away by force, citing the crime of obstructing the collection of military provisions.

"Then what?"

Upon hearing this, Sun Jian was furious.

Even Governor Yao was so angry that his face turned pale and he gritted his teeth.

After all, this was under his jurisdiction, and the prefectural governor was his subordinate. I never expected that old man would be so stupid as to do such a thing!

Old Jiang said hesitantly, "Of course the villagers disagreed. After all, it's your family's business, so who would dare not take it seriously? Everyone argued their case, and in the end, they got into a fight with the soldiers."

"Old Yu from the east end of the village and Old Kuai from the west end of the village were both killed by government troops because of this!"

Upon hearing that the villagers dared to stand up to the government troops and were even willing to be killed in order to protect their three wives, Sun Jian was moved but also filled with indignation.

"Damn it! These aren't soldiers, they're worse than bandits, they deserve to die!"

"Sir, don't be anxious. Let him finish speaking. With Governor Yao here, he will definitely stand up for you," Magistrate Wang said, trying to comfort Sun Jian who was trembling with anger.

Governor Yao's face was so dark it could drip water. He asked Old Jiang, "What happened next? Were the people taken away? Where did they go?"

Old Jiang continued, "Seeing that someone had died and things had gotten out of hand, the prefect himself came. But to everyone's surprise, when Madam Gu saw that dog of a prefect, she became very agitated, shouting 'dog official!' and refused to listen to any more advice before drawing her sword to assassinate him."