On Niutou Mountain.
Zhao Lin sat firmly at the top.
Niu Dadan and other bandits were kneeling below.
"Your Excellency is truly brave and resourceful. I am ashamed that I abandoned you and ran away alone. I deserve to die..."
The magistrate apologized repeatedly.
He was terrified.
First, no one expected that Zhao Lin had such fighting power that he could knock Niu Dadan away in one go.
Secondly, I didn’t expect Zhao Lin to bring so many soldiers with him.
A mere prefect actually has thousands of soldiers and horses. What does he want to do?
The more the magistrate thought about it, the more frightened he became.
Zhao Lin said, "Don't be afraid, County Magistrate Liu. I didn't tell you in advance. Ignorance is not a crime."
County Magistrate Liu breathed a sigh of relief, but his expression remained serious.
Zhao Lin said, "When the Flower and Stone Gang was robbed last time, His Majesty was very worried, so he specially approved a unit for me, with 3,000 soldiers, so I recruited 3,000 soldiers."
Magistrate Liu suddenly realized and said, "Your Excellency has only been in Qingzhou for a few months, yet you have managed to train these soldiers while also overseeing the state's major affairs. It's true that heroes emerge from youth."
This shows the importance of compilation.
If Zhao Lin didn't have the 3,000-man organization given by the emperor, with so many soldiers under his command, County Magistrate Liu would have to report him.
Zhao Lin's gaze fell on Niu Dadan: "Do you admit your guilt?"
"I'm not convinced."
Niu Dadan shouted, "You are trying to trick me. If you have the guts, let's have a fight. If you win, I will surrender."
"Hmph, I want you to surrender?"
Zhao Lin snorted coldly, "You robbed the people and committed countless evil deeds. You deserve the death penalty. Still want to live? Come, execute Niu Dadan and the other bandits on the spot, and hang their heads in the market as a warning to others."
Someone immediately came over and pinned Niu Dadan to the ground, and ignoring his pleas for mercy, chopped him down with a knife.
The hot blood sprayed all over the face of the gangster next to him.
"Spare your life, my lord, spare your life."
Mr. Pu collapsed on the ground in fear, desperately begging for mercy: "We are all good citizens. This is all Niu Dadan's fault. He forced us to do this."
"Yeah, they're all really awesome."
The other gangsters shouted.
Zhao Lin looked at him coldly: "Want to live?"
Mr. Pu kowtowed repeatedly: "I want to live, I want to live."
Zhao Lin said, "I'll give you a chance. If you do well, you can live. If you don't, hmph!"
"It must be well done, it must be well done."
Mr. Pu said repeatedly.
"Go and inform the other three Heavenly Kings that Niu Dadan heard that I am coming to attack in person, and gather them together to discuss countermeasures." Zhao Lin ordered.
Mr. Pu understood immediately and said repeatedly, "I will definitely get it done."
Mr. Pu was very efficient and in less than half a day, he had lured all three kings to come.
The three men were originally dreaming of capturing the prefect alive, but the moment they saw Niu Dadan's head, they were stunned.
"Those who surrender will not be killed." Zhao Lin said.
What else can I do? I can only surrender.
The three bandit leaders had sad faces and, under Zhao Lin's arrangement, led the officers and soldiers to their mountain and captured all their men.
In less than a day, Zhao Lin captured all four kings who were causing chaos in Huayun County.
"Sir, this time we suppressed the bandits and gained a lot."
As the person in charge of the bandit suppression operation, Song Huaian reported: "A total of 3,877 bandits were captured, including four bandit leaders."
"The treasures obtained included 125 taels of gold, 178,400 taels of silver, and approximately 100,000 strings of copper coins."
"In addition, there are 158 sets of leather armor, 87 bows, over 300 arrows, and over 400 swords and spears."
"There are some other belongings, such as clothes and cupboards, which are not included in the calculation."
Everyone was a little excited.
We gained so much in the first battle. There are so many bandits in Qingzhou.
"Eliminate all banditry and stabilize the people of Qingzhou." Duan Yongfeng shouted.
Zhao Lin was also very happy, but he still put on a show. He said, "Why are you so happy? These are bandits, in other words, a mob. You are all regular soldiers, and you used strategies. Isn't it natural for you to defeat them?"
Zhao Lin's words were like a bucket of cold water poured on their heads, and these people immediately calmed down.
Song Huaian bowed and said, "Your Excellency is right. It is too early for us to be happy now. We will only be happy when we defeat the enemy on a real battlefield."
Duan Yongfeng, Tang Baihan and Xia Dayu all secretly despised him.
Scholars are thick-skinned and good at speaking.
However, Zhao Lin was very happy with the victory in the first battle and the acquisition of so much wealth. He first rewarded the army and then returned home.
The news that Zhao Lin had captured all the Four Heavenly Kings of Huayun County in one day, with one dead and three captured alive, spread, shocking the entire Qingzhou.
Bang!
The teacup fell heavily to the ground.
"What did you say? He led troops to suppress bandits and won?"
Zhao Chenhan's face was filled with murderous intent, and he stared fiercely at the secret guard who reported the news: "Where did he get the soldiers?"
The secret guard said, "Some time ago, because the flower and stone levy was robbed, the emperor specially approved him to have 3,000 men."
"Three thousand people? Is the emperor crazy?"
Zhao Chenhan was so angry that veins on his forehead were throbbing, and he didn't care about being respectful to the emperor anymore: "It's been several months, why are you telling me now?"
The secret guard said, "We thought the prince knew."
Yes, the military camp is just outside the city. Zhao Lin often goes there to see it. How could Zhao Chenhan not know about it?
But he didn't expect the origin of this military camp to be like this.
He thought that some army was here and was busy with the Hua Shi Gang matter, so he didn't go to investigate.
As a result, he was caught off guard by Zhao Lin.
"It's okay, it's just a bandit suppression, what's the big deal?"
Zhao Chenhan consoled himself by saying, "Qingzhou is full of bandits. If he has the guts, he can just capture them one by one. This will be a good opportunity to strike down the bandits and prevent them from causing trouble for me."
Zhao Chenhan's work on the Flower and Stone Project was not going smoothly.
Although Zhao Lin had prepared everything in the early stages, these officials were willing to sacrifice their lives for the sake of benefits and did not care about the threat that was not in front of them.
Moreover, Zhao Chenhan is not like Zhao Lin. As long as it does not hinder him, he doesn't care what the officials do. In order to make those officials do their work better, he even condones them to plunder the people.
Although this allowed the officials to cooperate better, it also provoked a lot of civil unrest, making the smooth transportation of flowers and stones difficult.
In the past month, there have been three consecutive robberies of flower and stone transports.
Although Zhao Chenhan suppressed the matter, if it continues, the truth will eventually come out.
Fortunately, Zhao Lin took action at this time.
The secret guard hesitated for a moment and did not tell Zhao Chenhan that there was something wrong with Zhao Lin's troops.
The prince is still young and cannot withstand too much of a blow, and he doesn't understand these things either. It's better to tell Madam and let her decide.
After receiving the message from the secret guard, Han Yuehua stood up. "Zhao Lin is suspected to have thousands of elite soldiers under his command? They are as elite as the Zhenbei Army. Where did this rebellious son get so many troops?"
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