In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 434 The Defeated Army

"Wang Wang Wang."

Upon smelling their owner's scent, Da Huang and Er Huang rushed over, circling around Chen Dao, their tails wagging like helicopter propellers, expressing their joy.

"Big Yellow, Second Yellow."

Chen Dao bent down and gently stroked the heads of Da Huang and Er Huang, saying with a smile, "Thank you for your hard work."

"Wang Wang Wang."

Big Yellow and Second Yellow barked in response to Chen Dao, as if to say it wasn't hard work.

Chen Dao then took out two small pieces of fire lingzhi and handed them to Dahuang and Erhuang: "This is a reward for you."

"Wang Wang Wang."

Dahuang and Erhuang happily swallowed the fire lingzhi, and then continued to lie at Chen Dao's feet, affectionately rubbing their heads against Chen Dao's trouser legs or sticking out their tongues to lick Chen Dao, in order to express their affection for their master.

Chen Dao also sat down on the ground, leaning against the tree trunk behind him, and pretended to doze off by the farmland.

After several days of intense travel, Chen Dao was exhausted. Once back in the safe environment of Chenjia Village, he fell asleep without realizing it.

When Chen Dao woke up again, Da Huang and Er Huang were still dutifully guarding his side, as if afraid that their master would be harmed by others. On the other hand, Xiao Yuan had already fallen into a deep sleep in Chen Dao's arms, without any vigilance.

"Rhubarb and Erhuang".

Chen Dao glanced at the setting sun and said, "I have to go back now. You all take good care of the farmland."

"Wang Wang Wang."

The two yellow dogs, Dahuang and Erhuang, showed reluctance in their eyes. However, despite their high intelligence, they did not try to stop Chen Dao from leaving. Instead, they stood there and watched Chen Dao leave until his figure disappeared from sight. Only then did they reluctantly return to the farmland and dutifully guard it.

…………

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Time flies, and May has arrived in the blink of an eye.

The weather in Qingzhou was getting hotter and hotter. Xu Zhiwen, who was in his office, looked up from a document and exhaled a breath of hot air.

The sweltering heat was nothing to Xu Zhiwen, a martial artist who had already reached the sixth rank. What truly exhausted him was the sheer volume of official documents.

Although Taiping County is small, Xu Zhiwen has a lot of official documents to deal with. He works five hours a day in the county government office, and more than four of those hours are spent processing these documents.

"The county magistrate."

Just then, a minor official appeared at the door and said to Xu Zhiwen inside, "Your Excellency, two guests are requesting an audience."

"guest?"

Xu Zhiwen looked up and asked, "Did the person who came give their name?"

"The leader claimed to be Li Qingyun from Ding'an County."

"Li Qingyun?"

Xu Zhiwen's face lit up with joy, and he hurriedly said, "Quickly, invite them in."

"Yes!"

Not long after the official left, he took the two men to Xu Zhiwen's study.

Upon seeing Li Qingyun walk in, Xu Zhiwen jumped up from his chair and gave Li Qingyun a big hug.

"Brother Li, it's been a long time."

"Brother Xu, it's been a long time."

After a simple hug, Xu Zhiwen looked at the travel-worn Li Qingyun and said with a smile, "It's been several months since we last met, Brother Li, you're still as handsome as ever!"

After speaking, Xu Zhiwen looked at the man accompanying Li Qingyun and asked, "Who is this?"

"I am Liu Yi, a subordinate of Magistrate Li."

The man introduced himself.

Liu Yi was originally the owner of a martial arts school in Ding'an County. He and Li Qingyun would not have had much interaction before, but recently Li Qingyun recruited martial artists in Ding'an County, which made him Li Qingyun's subordinate, or rather, one of Li Qingyun's guest retainers.

After experiencing the Sun family incident, Li Qingyun deeply realized the importance of having power. Therefore, he not only began to practice martial arts himself, but also recruited some independent martial artists in the county to work for him.

Although independent martial artists are often carefree and unwilling to be driven by others, there are always exceptions. Some martial artists who lack their own resources and cannot support their own cultivation are still willing to serve Li Qingyun.

That's how Liu Yi was recruited by Li Qingyun. Although he owns a martial arts school in Ding'an County, there aren't many people in Ding'an County who can afford to learn martial arts. Therefore, although Liu Yi's family is well-off, it is extremely difficult for him to continue his martial arts career.

Upon seeing Li Qingyun recruiting martial artists, Liu Yi volunteered to become one of Li Qingyun's retainers, hoping to obtain sufficient cultivation resources: Blood Feather Chicken and Crimson Blood Chicken.

Zhang Heyun usually sells the Blood Feather Chickens and Crimson Blood Chickens to Ding'an County through Li Qingyun. As long as one joins Li Qingyun's sect, one can obtain a certain number of Blood Feather Chickens and Crimson Blood Chickens each month according to one's own strength, which is undoubtedly very attractive to martial artists like Liu Yi.

Therefore, Li Qingyun has recruited quite a few martial artists recently, and the independent martial artists are also very willing to serve Li Qingyun.

Of course, the main reason is that Li Qingyun is a relatively upright person. Unlike the Sun family, he does not exploit the people. Instead, he has formulated a series of policies that benefit the people. This makes many ordinary martial artists have a very good impression of Li Qingyun and are willing to be driven by him.

"So it's Brother Liu."

Xu Zhiwen clasped his hands in a fist salute to Liu Yi, then pulled Li Qingyun's hand and helped him to sit down. After personally serving tea to the two of them, he said in a joking tone, "Brother Li, you've come all this way, surely not just to visit this old man?"

"Brother Xu is right."

Li Qingyun laughed heartily and said, "Can't I come here specifically to visit Brother Xu?"

"Don't I know you, Brother Li? You're the kind of person who never comes to the temple without a reason. How could you possibly come all this way just to see me!"

Xu Zhiwen shook his head. He knew very well that Li Qingyun, as the head of a county, had countless matters to deal with every day, just like him, and it was impossible for him to take time out of his busy schedule to visit him.

"It seems nothing can be hidden from Brother Xu!"

Li Qingyun suppressed his smile and said, "I have come here today to ask Brother Xu for a favor."

Xu Zhiwen put down his teacup and said, "Brother Li, please speak."

Li Qingyun took a sip of tea to moisten his throat and said, "Brother Xu, you know about the battle in Liangzhou a while ago, right?"

"Of course I know."

Xu Zhiwen nodded without hesitation. He had personally told Chen Dao about the battle in Liangzhou, so how could he not know?

"Brother Xu, you must have seen the routed troops that appeared after the Battle of Liangzhou, right?"

"I've seen it."

Xu Zhiwen nodded. It was impossible for Yang Zheng of Liangzhou to have wiped out all 25 troops. In fact, the number of government troops who died on the battlefield was probably less than 5.

Most of the remaining troops were either captured by Yang Zheng or turned into a rout and scattered.

Because of its proximity to Liangzhou, Taiping County had seen many deserters fleeing there. However, these deserters did not cause much of an impact. As soon as they showed up, they were immediately wiped out by the county government and Chenjia Village, and they did not cause any major disturbance.