The sound of drums woke up the townspeople and brought them panic. Although Salt Marsh Town had been ravaged by bandits countless times, every time a new attack came, everyone would feel extremely uneasy because no one could predict what the bandits would do.

The drumbeats continued, and the old, weak, women and children gathered from all over the town to the training ground. The young and strong picked up sticks, rakes and other labor tools, and quickly ran to the three city gates with the militia...

A moment after Lauren lit the torch in the corner of the mansion, Pompey, Baker, Elaite, Bill, Sales and the servants ran into the yard one after another.

Wu Lai was sitting in the yard, with Lauren and El standing beside him. Lauren, wearing light armor, was holding a large flag tightly. The red flag was reflected by the firelight as a ball of scorching flame. At El's feet was a wooden box tied at both ends with belts, and in his hands was a set of leather half-body armor.

After everyone arrived, Wu Lai stood up with a smile and said, "Bandits always like to disturb people's sleep. Fortunately, they don't have many chances."

Seeing Woolley so confident and relaxed, Ilett felt relieved and a smile appeared on his face. Pompey and Baker laughed out loud immediately, but Baker's laughter was somewhat in agreement, while Pompey's laughter was sincere, because he knew Woolley very well, for example, the whole process of the bandits' attack on Seneca.

Bill frowned slightly, and after being slightly surprised, Sales looked at Wu Lai with a hint of admiration.

"The bandits will be here soon. I won't waste any more time on small talk. I'll guard the east gate, and Baker and Ilett will guard the south gate." After a pause, Wu Lai's eyes turned to Bill, "Bill, you guard the west gate. Be especially careful. There are a lot of bandits this time, and the south gate can't be opened. They will probably attack from both the east and west at the same time."

"Okay!" Bill nodded heavily.

"Twenty archers are deployed at each of the three gates. The young and strong men in the town will help block the gates. We just need to defend. When they approach, just order them to shoot. Shoot as they get closer. Make sure they don't miss. I want to see how many of them can be killed or injured." Wu Lai said as he took the leather armor handed to him by El and put it on. "Don't attack the west gate and the south gate."

"Lord Wu Lai, please arrange it for me as well." Sares volunteered.

Wu Lei hesitated for a moment and nodded: "Okay, you go and help Tribune Bill guard the west gate."

"yes!"

"Let's go." Wu Lai quickly dressed up, reached out and grabbed the wooden box, and said to Lauren, "Bring the horse."

"yes!"

…

Osius did not walk fast because he was not in a hurry at all. The defense of Salt Marsh Town was much stronger than before. It would be easy to suffer losses if he attacked in the dark. In addition, he had more than a hundred people from the Salt Marsh Town quarrying team as hostages. The vision would be better after dawn, so he could let the people in the town see clearly first. By then, even if Wu Lai refused to open the door, the townspeople would probably not agree.

After walking ten miles, it was dawn.

When they were still more than 200 steps away from the east gate of Salt Marsh Town, Osus reined in his horse and said, "Everyone stop!" Hundreds of his men responded in unison, their voices shaking the sky.

On the wooden bridge of the arrow tower above the east gate, Wu Lai curled his lips and said to Lauren and El standing beside him: "They are trying to intimidate us by shouting this. They are trying to show off their numbers. To put it bluntly, they are also trying to give themselves courage."

El chuckled when he heard that, and the nervousness he had felt when he saw the bandits coming in large numbers suddenly disappeared. Even Lauren, who was standing next to him, grinned. As a veteran, he had experienced many battles. To be honest, the hundreds of bandits in front of him were just a small scene. With the current defense of Salt Marsh Town, they could be easily repelled.

Osus narrowed his eyes. Although he already knew about the new defense arrangement of Salt Marsh Town, the feeling of seeing it with his own eyes was different after all. After just a few glances, he felt admiration for the designer of this defense.

After taking another look at Wu Lai and the other two on the wooden bridge, Osius made a counterattack and several small leaders came over.

"Scout team, ride your horses quickly around the town to explore." Osus ordered.

"Yes, sir!" The leader of the scout team responded, and then he turned his horse and shouted orders, leading more than 20 scouts to gallop along the canal...

Seeing this, Wu Lai raised the corners of his mouth slightly.

This is getting more and more fun, Wu Lai said to himself.

"Boss, why is there no movement in the town?" A small leader couldn't help but ask Osius. According to past experience, the town should be noisy at this moment, with the townspeople either hiding or fleeing with their families. How could it be as quiet as it is now? This was obviously a bit strange.

"That's because the new consul knows how to manage the townspeople." Osius couldn't help but twitch his eyes, because he only said half of it. The fact that he could make the whole town so quiet showed that Wu Lai was not only good at management, but also very domineering. He might even be a cruel and arbitrary guy, otherwise the townspeople would not be so obedient.

Cruelty and dictatorship seem to be able to restrain his reliance - if the new consul decisively abandons the more than 100 people in the quarrying team, the situation will become a little tricky.

Are you that kind of person? Osius looked at Wulai on the wooden bridge. Although it was their first meeting today, Osius guessed at a glance that it must be the new young governor Wulai Grindo.

For some reason, Osus felt that although he was more than a hundred steps away from Wu Lei, he could still clearly feel the contempt in the other's eyes.

Bastard. Osius narrowed his eyes, waved his right hand, and shouted angrily: "Bartley!"

"Here!" A horseman quickly ran out from the group of bandits. The man on the horse looked less than 30 years old. He carried a huge wooden longbow on his back. The thickest part of the bow was as thick as an adult's wrist, and even the bowstring was as thick as a little finger. Such a wooden bow is unique.

"Shoot that woman to death!" Osius pointed at the wooden bridge and shouted in a deep voice. The main task this time was to set fire, not to kill people. When I accepted the task, I was told that setting fire was the key. As for people, if there was resistance, just kill a few symbolically. Once you get close to them, leave immediately. Don't linger, especially don't hurt officials.

The woman is definitely not an official, Osius thought to himself.

"Okay!" Bartley immediately dismounted, flipped his hand, took the longbow in his hand, hooked the quiver next to the saddle with the bow tail, and a feathered arrow with a shaft as thick as a thumb was already hanging on the string.

"Sir, the other party is going to shoot arrows." Lauren has excellent eyesight and immediately gave a warning at a glance.

"I saw it, you two should hide in the arrow tower immediately..." Wu Lai's pupils shrank as soon as he finished speaking, because Bartley's feather arrow had already broken through the air and attacked...

Bartley is one of Ossus's right-hand men. He has followed Ossus since the second year of his banditry. He has great arm strength and superb archery skills, and is the well-deserved "Arrow King" in the Fox-Wolf Bandit Gang. Among Bartley's battle records, the most impressive one is the fourth and final battle between the Fox-Wolf Bandit Gang and the First Legion, in which he shot an arrow through two axemen who rushed towards Ossus' back from three hundred steps away.

Bartley's arrows are fast, accurate, powerful, and have a long range, but it would be a mistake to think that he is only good at archery - his bow is actually his melee weapon. The bow body can smash with great force, and the thick copper sheet at the end of the bow can be used for chopping and stabbing. The number of enemies who died in his close range is no less than the number of souls killed by his arrows.

But his melee ability was overshadowed by his arrows, because his arrows were so invincible...

The long arrow turned into a gray light and attacked, so fast that it was difficult to follow with eyes. As soon as Wu Lai's pupils shrank, the black dot that the arrow head turned into had grown several times larger.

After instantly determining the landing point, Wu Lai made a move that surprised Osius and the other bandits - he moved sideways and stood in front of El...

"Duh" - the long arrow sank in an instant, the tail of the arrow still humming and trembling, at the same time, Wu Lai let out a muffled groan...

"Sir..." Lauren cried.

"Master..." Although El's sight was blocked and she couldn't see what was in front of her, she could clearly hear Wu Lai's muffled groan...

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"I'm fine." Wu Lai let out a long breath and put down the wooden box that he had used to block the arrows in front of his chest in a hurry.

Lauren took a glance and saw a long feathered arrow nailed to the wooden box. The arrow shaft was pitch black and it was impossible to tell whether it was made of wood or metal.

That was a close call. Lauren heaved a sigh of relief.

El quickly dodged from behind Wu Lai, and quickly glanced around, noticing a small hole in the leather armor on Wu Lai's chest. He quickly reached out and gently touched it, and asked with concern: "Master, are you okay?"

"Nothing, how could anything happen to me?" Wu Lai smiled and said, "Go into the arrow tower and help the archers sort out the arrows."

"Master..." At this moment, El's mind kept appearing with Wu Lai's blocking just now. He thought to himself, the master is so nervous about a servant like me, how can I bear to leave and leave the master here alone?

"Be good and listen to me." Wu Lai reached out and touched El's head, smiling again.

"El, don't distract Lord Wu Lai." Lauren reminded hurriedly. He had already seen that the bandits did not want to shoot Wu Lai, but wanted to intimidate Wu Lai. If El stayed here, the bandits might shoot a second arrow.

El understood after thinking about it, and immediately told Wu Lai to be careful, then quickly ran back to the arrow tower.

"Lauren! If you don't fight back, these guys will go crazy." Wu Lai said with a smile, straightened his chest and stretched his arms, and said, "Come on, let them have a taste of my big thing."

"Okay!" Lauren's eyes lit up, and she bent her waist and opened the large wooden box behind her...

At the same time, at the south gate of Salt Marsh Town, Baker stood with his hands behind his back not far from the city gate, loudly commanding the militia and town officials guarding the place to block the gate with stones and wood. After just a short while, the city gate was already blocked tightly with several layers of wood, but Baker still felt it was not enough.

"Lord Baker, this is a bit redundant. Lord Wu Lai said that the bandits cannot expand here at the South Gate." Pompey said with a wry smile and shook his head.

"Oh, respected Priest Pompeii, Lord Wu Lai said so, but I'm just worried that I can't complete the defense task assigned by Lord Wu Lai. It's safer to block the door tightly." Baker shrugged and replied.

You are just afraid of death. Pompey muttered to himself and smiled: "Lord Baker, maybe your consideration is right, but I think it's enough. At this level, no one should think about breaking open the city gate."

"Really?" Baker was stunned. He thought that what Pompey said was not wrong. Just as he was about to order everyone to stop, he heard the shout of an archer coming from the arrow tower.

"Lord Baker, there are a dozen bandit cavalrymen running along the canal. Do you want to shoot them?"

Coming? Baker was stunned again, and then his voice doubled: "Shoot! Shoot them to death!"

After that, Baker waved his hands vigorously at the militiamen and town managers who were carrying stones and wood: "Hurry! Hurry up, add another layer, stack it higher! Stack it higher!"

Baker at the south gate was in a panic, but Bill and Salis at the west gate were different.

Like Wu Lai, Bill stood on the wooden bridge between the arrow towers, holding the railing with his hands, following the dozen or so bandit cavalrymen going away, his brows slightly furrowed, as if thinking about something.

However, Sales hid himself in the guardrail connecting the arrow tower and the wooden bridge, slowly wiping the sword in his hand. He seemed indifferent to what was happening outside and did not even look at Bill.

There was no one behind the West Gate, not even a single person could be seen...

On the training ground, nearly three thousand townspeople sat on the ground in groups of three or five, some whispering, some worrying secretly, but no one dared to make a loud noise. At the edge of the training ground, more than twenty town guards patrolled back and forth carrying big sticks - not to guard against bandits, but to see if anyone was making noise. If so, the big sticks on their shoulders would not be polite.

On the wooden bridge at the east gate, Lauren squatted, constantly taking things out of the big wooden box and handing them to Wu Lai, while Wu Lai quickly assembled the box while observing the bandits' movements...