The troops under Lord Hu are just there to make up the numbers. Most of them are older naval or infantrymen from the Lingnan coast who have been transferred here to wait for retirement.

Lord Hu was afraid that training the soldiers would injure their old arms and legs, so he was reluctant to re-employ them. It was even difficult to find a place for these soldiers to retire on South Island.

Usually, the military strength under the command of a county governor is allocated according to the importance of the area he is in. Usually, the number of troops under the command of a county governor is between two and five thousand.

At present, Lord Hu has no more than a thousand soldiers under his command, and this thousand is just in name only. Excluding those who died of old age or sickness, it would be good if he could have five hundred people to use.

These veterans are stationed on the other side of the mountain behind Yeli Village, close to the sea.

Jiang Lili and Xin Che met once in the mountains, which was similar to a large and simple nursing home.

She thought this was the logistics department under Lord Hu, but today she found out that all the soldiers were here.

Jiang Lili comforted Lord Hu and said, "Let's observe the situation first. The prince said that these two people can't cause any trouble. I will also notify the He family to arrange countermeasures."

When Hu Chen heard Jiang Lili's words, his tense body relaxed slightly.

Jiang Lili felt very sad about Mr. Hu's situation. An old man was guarding a deserted island with a group of old men. There was no hope at all. How could he not give in to decadence?

Thinking of this, Lord Hu said, "Everyone is worried. There is no one else available besides the one the He family sent to you."

We already have the Xin family army, and there are many people who can be used, so there is no need to go there in person.

Lord Hu rolled his eyes at me. The day after tomorrow, Marquis Ping and his hunting team had just returned from the foot of the mountain with eight wild sheep, and Haizhou Island was on their minds. "What? Is he planning to run away?"

"Thinking this way, it will be less difficult for your country to attack South Island."

"That girl's desire to make money never stops for a moment!"

Qin Lichang and Qin Li exchanged a glance, and the first thing that came to their mind was that all these pirates who had been recruited were cunning and skilled in making knockout drugs, stealing, and tracking...

"That's right." Lord Hu put down his bag again. "How about I treat you to a mutton hot pot as a comfort food in recognition of my hard work in renovating the fire pole?"

Zhao Xinche had earlier sought out premium shelled Amomum villosum for his wife, Yang, to aid pregnancy and childbirth. Having previously traveled to Southeast Asia, he was relatively unfamiliar with the South China Sea. "Under the Sunan Islands, there are a dozen or so large island nations, both large and small. Their lifestyles are relatively primitive, and they enjoy interacting with the locals. Merchants from Lingnan and the North Coast have also conducted trade with those large island nations."

Ping Hou calmly analyzed, "If the enemy country is eyeing your South Island and wants to send troops to capture it, you may not have a chance of victory. The soldiers have been stationed in the mountains for a long time and cannot take advantage of the terrain, which is easy to defend but difficult to attack."

At present, South Island is full of crises. The fate of refugees and islanders is the same. In addition, due to the trust in the character of Zhao Xinchefu, Haizhou Island did not hide much and told the eight people the current military situation on the island.

At that time, Qin Li brought Xin Cheng and Zhao Xin Che with him because of the matter of the two spies.

Lord Hu's eyes were sharp. How could a bad official who loved his people like his own children suddenly change his temper? "Old man, he doesn't look so shameless."

"Da Wu and I, the yamen runners, are also professionals."

Hu Chen smiled and said, "No, no, it's just an accident."

Lord Hu saw that the number was too small, so he took his men and captured them all in one fell swoop.

In fact, among the batch of wild sheep that Pinghou led his men back from the foot of the mountain, not two of the ewes were the ones you asked Dapang to feed from modern times.

*

On the deserted coast, the Zhang brothers are plotting.

Zhao Qinli frowned: "Who should I send to do this?"

Qin Li pondered for a moment: "If we capture him now, I'm afraid it will alert the enemy and make them think he wants to capture Jiang Lili. It will probably take a day or two."

"If we let them go back, send someone to follow them and get a rough idea of ​​how many people are on the other side and their combat strength."

After Qin Li finished speaking, Lord Hu looked up at Haizhou Island. After listening to Pinghou's analysis, it seemed that Qin Lichang's decision to place his soldiers in the mountains for "retirement" was a waste of time, but in fact it was the wisest choice.

Seeing Haizhou Island's greed, Lord Hu gently persuaded him: "In the past, every household in Yeli Village could eat meat because of those eight wild sheep. If he wants it, he can ask Pinghou and Seventh Brother to help him catch them. We will give him a preferential price. One large lamb will cover the labor cost of making two fire poles."

"Old Hu, it's not easy for you either. But it's okay. Fifty or sixty is the age to make breakthroughs!"

I knew Qin Lichang and the others had a keen sense of smell, so I asked, "Where did those two spies come from? Do you have any idea?"

Ping Hou took out the shells that the Zhang brothers had given him and said, "Looking at the shells and conchs under Li Li's table, they look like something that shouldn't be found on Haizhou Island. They look like shells that would be found in the Sunan Islands."

As experienced young generals, the eight members of the Xin family, father and son, had guessed the situation in Dan'er County more than 40% of the way through, and they could only sigh before hearing it.

"Should we play hard to get or capture the man and torture him?"

Haizhou Island swore solemnly: "You will live and die with this island!"

"Who said you were planning to run away? You were carrying your bag because you were planning to go to the barracks outside the mountain to comfort the soldiers."

"As long as we can hold the south coast, everything will be arranged by them. It's just..." Haizhoudao scratched his head: "You really have someone there. Be careful with your soldiers. If they send one out, they will definitely get cold legs if the sea breeze hits them."

In order to save money and conceal my tracks, I released them outside the mountain for a while, which attracted seven other rams.

Zhang Zhao tried to hide his joy on his face: "Hahaha, I didn't expect that Jiang Lili's so-called heavy troops would actually be a group of experienced and powerful veterans."

Lord Hu believed it, "If you want to eat sheep, let the people in his hands catch them themselves. The eight wild sheep must be kept in a pen outside the village and tamed."

I stroked my beard, recalling the situation ten years later: "The small prosperous dynasty ignored these small countries and didn't bother to send envoys to negotiate, leaving them alone to deal with them."

We haven't returned from the mountains yet, and we've figured out the location of the Dan'er County barracks. "You find it strange. The emperor of the Xiaosheng Dynasty has no time to care about Jiang Lili. Even the Dan'er County he established is like a mere formality. How could he arrange for a heavy military presence? It turns out it's just a group of old and weak soldiers."

This allowed the younger soldiers to firmly grasp the terrain advantage and use the mountains as a natural defensive barrier, which saved a lot of effort.

"So you also know about the recent situations of those big countries."

Xin Cheng pointed at the archipelago below the map and said, "Since we've confirmed it's the Sunan Islands, we've narrowed the scope. It's better than looking around like a fly with a head."

Haizhou Island said that in public, but he was not really interested in it.