Li Jing rode a black war horse "one zhang black", carried a horn bow, a seven-foot sword, a horizontal sword, and a horse spear in hand. He brought Zhang Chengzong, Liu Shouqian and eighteen young and hungry people to the north gate. When he arrived at the north gate, a large number of villagers had already gathered under the village wall of the north gate. Lin Wei, Lin Wu, Wang Chong and others also arrived wearing all their bodies, but Xiao Shitou and the eight were one step earlier, and they all wore iron armor and spears and went up to the village wall.

The villagers were worried when they heard the alarm bell. When the village chief Wang and Shugen came, they immediately surrounded him. "Sanlang, could they be bandits? Shuanzi said there were more than 100 people, all of whom were tall and big horses." Shuanzi was a slave of the old village chief. He often handled some purchasing matters, and was considered a relatively flexible person. Seeing Li Jing looking at him, he immediately said, "Those people gathered on the way in front of the Silakan. I saw that there were many people carrying arches and swords and holding spears."

When Li Jing heard this, he became a little confused: "Those people took their weapons and gathered in front of the diary?" After receiving a clear reply, Li Jing had already eliminated more than 90% of the bandits in his heart. If the bandits were coming, it was most likely that they would come quietly after dark. It was impossible for them to come in broad daylight with open fire with a stick, and they even gathered in front of the Silla Diary, which was only a few miles away from Chishan Military Town.

Lin Wei has now married his fourth sister and has been given a betrothal gift. Even the zodiac day for marriage is set at the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month. In a few days, Lin Wei and Li Jing will be a real family. He looked at Li Jing and saw that he had the same thoughts as himself. "Sanlang, I don't think these people look like bandits, so why don't Erlang and I ride a horse to inquire."

"Okay, you two are careful, don't get too close to them, check it from afar and come back quickly."

"I know, if these people are really bandits, then I will ask Erlang to come back first, and I will go directly to Chishan Town to invite reinforcements. If the visitor is a friend but a not enemy, I will come back first to notify you." After Lin Wei and Li Jing discussed a simple countermeasure, they asked Xiao Shitou and the others to open the village gate and rode their horses with Lin Wu.

The old village chief stepped forward and said, "Sanlang, if the bandits are really coming, Lao I will fight with all the young and old in the village to the end, and you will lead all the people. As long as you pass the number down, we will listen to you." Li Jing nodded: "No need to say that, this Wangli Village is also my Wangli Village of Li Jing. If the thief comes, I will definitely hold on until reinforcements arrive. In fact, there is no need to worry too much. Our Wangli Village has a village wall of nearly two feet, and there are more than a hundred young and strong people in the village, and there are these weapons. Even if the bandits are counted, we can still insist on reinforcements coming."

"Brother Wang San, we should not all guard the north gate of the village. If the thief comes, we have to hold on to the Chishan soldiers for at least two or three hours before we can arrive. So I guard the north gate, and you can divide some to guard the east gate. There are only two village gates in Wangli Village. As long as you guard it well, more than 100 horse thieves will not fight." Wang Chong said: "I'll listen to you."

Wang Chong chose the village chief Shugen, who had been the leader of the team, and then picked three weapons and armored people, including Xiao Shitou, and then picked fifty village chiefs with sticks to rush to the east gate. Li Jing commanded the remaining people to start boiling water and boiling oil under the village wall, and moved some stones and wood to the village wall. He also arranged for Zhang Chengzong, Liu Shouqian and several other archers to divide the bows and arrows, so that they could ignore the rest and just follow his command. When the bandits approached, they would shoot the people and shoot the horses first, and specifically asked the neighbors to shoot. Li Jing believed that even the most powerful horse thief would be able to play a deterrent role if the leader was killed.

When everything was almost done, Zhang Chengzong, who was climbing on the long four-meter-long tree that was temporarily erected inside the wall, immediately shouted: "Here, they are here."

"Did you see clearly? How many people have come?"

"There are more than one hundred numbers, all riding horses in front, and more than a dozen carriages behind, and some trucks."

"Have you seen Brother Lin or Brother Lin?"

"It's too far away, I don't know if they're with those people, but there's no one else around their team."

Li Jing frowned. Why didn't Lin Wei and Lin Wu send someone back to report the news as agreed in advance? Could it be that they fell into the bandit's hands? With their brother's skills, it seems impossible. Just as he was randomly guessing, Zhang Chengzong suddenly shouted: "Two riders came out over there, oh, one is Brother Lin."

Li Jing hurriedly stared at the distance, and it was true that smoke and dust came all the way, and two horsemen rushed straight. When they approached, one of them was Lin Wei. The two arrived in a flash. Lin Wei stopped his horse outside the village gate and waved to Li Jing and laughed: "Sanlang, open the door quickly. It is the General of the Wendeng County Magistrate Huangfu Ming's Mansion, General Song Shi of the Unified Army Wendeng Camp, and General Cui Zhen of Chishan Town, who came to pay their birthday to his mother-in-law."

After hearing this, Li Jing couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. At this time, the team behind was approaching, and several people got out of the carriage. Li Jing had good eyesight, but he had already seen that among these people, there were indeed the Cui Town General of Chishan and the old boss of Tuanjie Camp. As for the one with a green robe next to him, it must be the county magistrate Huangfu Zheng of this county. He hurriedly said to the wall: "Open the village gate, the county magistrate Huangfu Mingfu, the Cui Town General of Chishan and the Song Shi of Tuanjie Camp have arrived."

The old village chief below breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that the person was an official or a bandit. After he recovered, he immediately realized that the person coming was the parents of Wendeng County. He dared not be careless at the moment, so he quickly asked Village Chief Li Shugen to pound the gong again and organized the villagers to go out of the village to greet him.

Li Jing took the villagers out of the village, and bowed and smiled from a distance: "General Cui Zhen, General Song Shi Generals, Huangfu Mingfu, and several people who came to the village are really shocked. We are late to welcome him, so I would like to send a letter." This was the first time Li Jing and Huangfu Zheng County Magistrate met. I just felt that this county magistrate was a bit too young, at most thirty, and even his beard was only short. However, his long appearance was good, and he was very gentle when he met, and he had no airs.

"I should say sorry, I am right. I heard that this county has produced a civil and military talent. I was awarded the title of a village tribute to the imperial examination at the age of sixteen. Later, I volunteered to enlist the united troops, and fought fiercely on the way, killing several thieves. As soon as I entered Dengzhou, I had to be a disciple of Cui Gong and Yu Gong. I was outstanding in Dengzhou camp and created a set of training laws to praise him. In a short time, I was promoted to a general. This is the glory of our Wendeng County and the glory of my parents for Wendeng County. I heard that General Li returned to his hometown but never came to visit him. It was really rude. I heard that General Li was filial and wanted to hold his mother's birthday. I specially invited all the officials of Wendeng County to come."

"Unexpectedly, when the rich gentry in the county learned about this, they all wanted to follow him to bet on General Li's style with their own eyes and pay their birthday to Li's mother in person. It was difficult for me to refuse this matter, so I came together. When I arrived in Chishan, I happened to invite General Cui Zhen and General Song Shi to come together, but I didn't expect that it would be a sin to hear that it caused a misunderstanding for the general."

After Huangfu Zheng said this, Li Jing understood the reason why so many people suddenly appeared. According to his words, there were almost half of the wealthy officials and gentry families in Wendeng County. If Li Jing was just a seventh-rank general, it would be impossible to have such a result. He knew that if Huangfu Zheng and others supported him, the bigger reason was because of his two teachers. Everyone would carry the flower sedan chairs, and everyone would do things that would be praised. In a small coastal county like Wendeng, a young general suddenly appeared, and he was a disciple of Cui and Yu, and these officials and gentry in Wendeng County would naturally not miss this opportunity to curry favor.

Although many people understand that even if they come so eagerly to support the show, Li Jing may not really care about them. But there is a saying in the officialdom that if you support the show and give a generous gift, the other party may not remember it, but if you don’t support the show and don’t give the gift, the other party will definitely remember you.

All the guests came, not to mention that they were all the top figures in the same county. Li Jing was also very polite to the officials, gentry and wealthy families who came. He personally welcomed the people into the village and arranged them to their homes. The Li family was not in enough places, so he arranged all the people without officials to the homes of several wealthy families such as Village Chief Wang and Village Chief Li Shugen. He also arranged people to cook water and cook tea and drink, and the village was very lively for a while. Of course, these guests came over there, of course they could not come empty-handed. All the guests of more than 100 brought a generous gift, with the few being twenty or thirty, and the many such as Cui Zhen, Huangfu Zheng and Wendeng County.

Several wealthy businessmen brought gifts worth less than 100% of the people. Especially the head of the Du family, the richest businessman in the county, had a thousand coins at one time. However, when he came out with such a generous gift, he also brought a small condition, hoping that Li Jing could let his second son find a job with Li Jing. Li Jing met Du Zhongwu, the second son of the Du family who accompanied him. Although he was a little weak-hearted, he was a serious person who had passed the imperial examination and passed the Jinshi. However, after he passed the Jinshi in the Tang Dynasty, it would take two years to be selected by the Ministry of Personnel in the court, and not every Jinshi could be elected as an official.

Du Zhongwen waited for two years after the Jinshi period, and participated in the selection of officials of the Ministry of Personnel but failed to be selected. When Du heard that Li Jing was very capable, he brought his son with him. He took a thousand guan at one time. Sure enough, Li Jing happily accepted the heavy gift and told Du Zhongwu and his son that as long as Du Zhongwu did not dislike going to the border garrison, he could arrange for him to be a military officer from the ninth rank. Du Shuyuan was almost dizzy when he heard this result. Although he was only the lowest level within the 30th level of the ninth rank, but for a merchant family, the Du family, who had never had any official positions in the merchant family, this thousand guan was worth it.

Not only did Li Jing accept money from the Du family, he refused all the gifts brought by everyone who came. The gifts from more than a hundred people were actually as large as 3,000 trump cards, and Li Jing made a surprise fortune.

"Chengzong, are you ready for the people who go to see the opera troupe? When you are ready, the banquet will start first, and the banquet will be held." Seeing the dusk approaching, Li Jing hurriedly asked everyone to prepare for the birthday party. Li Jing was about to go home to invite his mother Han to come and greet everyone and accept everyone's birthday greetings, but Xiao Shitou suddenly ran over in panic again.

"Brother, something big happened!"
Chapter completed!