Ma Mingjie naturally knew this, so he obediently smeared his face black, then followed behind the people of Shili Village, mingling among the refugees, waiting for instructions!

Meanwhile, Ma Minghao and his group of soldiers, riding tall horses and followed by a group of people, quickly attracted the attention of the guards above!

They whispered a few words to each other, and then someone quickly ran down to support the guards at the door!

Upon closer inspection, it became clear that the person leading the group was an acquaintance, while the men behind them had their hands tightly bound together with a thick rope, one after another!

The group of them rushed over immediately!

His face was full of surprise!

"Minghao! You're finally back! If you hadn't come back, the Prefect would have sent people to look for you again!"

"You've brought quite a lot of people this time. I wonder when the other team will be back!"

"Did you encounter any danger on the way?"

"Hey, something doesn't seem right to me."

"There were several hundred of you when you left, how come there are only a little over 100 left now?"

"Where are Lao Zhu and the others?"

"Why is it you leading the team?"

When Ma Minghao saw these people, he jumped off his horse with a smile, went up and patted them on the shoulder. When he heard them ask him such a question, he looked helpless and sad.

"Hey brothers, you all know what kind of people Lao Zhu and his gang are. They can't resist a woman!"

"We've ruined quite a few fine girls along the way!"

"And each time it went too far, it was more and more outrageous. Once, they went into the village and insisted on taking the village chief's daughter and daughter-in-law! They even didn't intend to spare his wife!"

"And the young wives of other families in the village were also violated by them!"

"Tell me, we went to conscript men, which already made them resentful. Now we've defiled their wives. How could they be happy about that? So, on a dark and stormy night, all of them were killed by that group of angry villagers!"

"But those people could distinguish between good and evil, and only killed those who laid a hand on their wives, so we escaped a disaster!"

"They drugged the food they served us that night. When we woke up in the morning, we found cold, lifeless corpses next to us. By the time we went out to look for them, they were long gone."

"We had no other choice!"

"We also have a mission from the prefect here, which we can't abandon. This mission is to avenge those brothers. Although we are also very sad, we really have no choice. Who told them to mess with the wrong people!"

Upon hearing this, the guards at the gate remembered the usual ways of Old Zhu and his gang, and they believed it!

They shook their heads helplessly!

"None of these people are good people; it's better that they're dead!"

"When they're in the city, they take advantage of being on the side of the prefect's brother-in-law, Pang Da, to do all sorts of evil deeds!"

"I never expected that things would get even worse after we got out. This has really driven those people to the brink of desperation!"

"Any man with a shred of backbone would not swallow such an insult to his wife!"

"You actually dare to eat their food? You've got guts!"

"Yes, yes, thankfully those people didn't poison you directly. If they had, none of you would have escaped!"

"Exactly! Those people still have some conscience, but if they weren't really driven to desperation, I don't believe they would have killed people themselves!"

"The war, coupled with the severe drought, meant there was no food or water, which was already very difficult!"

"Now they're conscripting soldiers again, and we have to watch them humiliate our wives. No one can stand it!"

"You might suffer a little physical pain, after all, they are Pang Long's men!"

"Now that the Commandant is gone, he has completely taken control of the military camp! Anyone who disobeys his orders will be executed!"

"I've already killed several of my brothers!"

"This has made everyone feel insecure!"

"And he specifically kills those who are on good terms with the county commandant!"

"And most of you are children that the Commandant picked up from outside, who have followed you since you were little. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call you half his son!"

"Now that you've all returned alive, none of Pang Long's men have come back. I wonder how he'll torture you!"

Ma Minghao also let out a long sigh!

"What can we do? The world is in chaos right now. Small fry like us can't just die anytime soon!"

"We can only meet force with force and water with earth!"

Let's take it one step at a time.

"If the Commandant of the Prefecture were still here, he would never have allowed them to act so recklessly!"

The guards at the door looked at each other and agreed that he was right. They had all been under the command of the commander before, and although their relationship with him wasn't as close as Ma Minghao's, the commander was genuinely good to his subordinates! He had never killed them so easily like Pang Long had!

Unfortunately, it's clear to anyone with eyes that the Commandant of the Prefecture is probably in grave danger!

Moreover, since the Commandant of the County left, the Prefect's series of actions have made them realize that the previous claims that he was afraid of his wife and that the bad things were done by his brother-in-law may not be true!

Pang Long might just be a tool in his hand!

After all, the Commandant of the Prefecture was too upright to associate with them!

Seeing everyone's sorrowful expressions, Ma Minghao patted them on the shoulder again!

"Alright, everyone, stop overthinking it. This will all pass eventually!"

"I need to take my men inside and report right away!"

Just as they were about to go inside, a few people walked up to them from somewhere!

"Gentlemen officers! Could you please let us in?"

"My husband has come here asking for help!"

Only then did the guards realize that a group of people had suddenly stood up next to Ma Minghao!

They were so frightened that they drew their swords from their waists!

There were only a few women among them, and the rest were strong men, especially one of them who was not only tall and strong, but also had eyes like a ferocious beast!

Looking at them sent chills down my spine!

They were pointing knives at these people!

"Who are you? When did you arrive?"

"Our Shanping County does not accept outsiders!"

Bai Jian remained completely calm despite the knife in front of him. He chuckled and said, "Gentlemen! We really meant no harm. We arrived just now while you were talking here, but you were so engrossed in your conversation that you didn't hear us speak several times!"

His smile did nothing to lower the guard of the person opposite him!

He was indeed very strong!

The chassis is very stable; it's clearly the work of a professional!

Seeing that they were still so wary, Bai Jian still had a smiling face!