The commotion outside quickly alarmed everyone, and the front hall was soon filled with people from all sides. As expected, the first to react were the barbarians. While others were still frantically asking what was happening, they had already dispatched their own scouts. Two fierce-looking fellows mounted their horses and rushed out without hesitation. The others gathered in the front hall, their valuables already wrapped up and thrown on the ground, each person wiping their weapons and adjusting their equipment.

The Duanmu family had fewer than ten guards, but they were all skilled. Several members of the Duanmu family themselves were also capable fighters, and they drew weapons from their luggage.

The Yang family had more trouble. They actually loaded their luggage onto carriages and horses, appearing ready to break through. At this moment, Zhou Rui stepped forward. "Everyone, put away your tricks for now. If we don't get through this wave, none of us will see tomorrow's sun," Zhou Rui said calmly.

"Who do you think you are?" The head of the Yang family's guards spat.

As if only a flash of light had passed, Zhou Rui had already drawn his weapon and rushed forward, the blade pressed against the guard leader's neck. "Although this is a buffer zone, it's also close to Yunzhou. You could say it’s Yunzhou, more or less. In Yunzhou, spitting, defecating, or throwing garbage in public places, and failing to clean it up after being warned, is subject to a fine of five taels or five yuan to two hundred taels or two hundred yuan, according to the management regulations promulgated by the Yunzhou Civil Affairs Bureau. If refused, a Yunzhou military officer present will carry out the detention. According to the management regulations of Yunzhou's Four Great Prisons and twelve city detention centers, those who behave poorly during detention, show serious resistance, attempt to escape, or seriously violate the detention management rules will be punished with a minimum of twenty military rods and a maximum of the death penalty. Additional sentences of more than two years require verification by the local government. Sentences of more than fifteen years of detention and the death penalty are all subject to centralized approval by the Pacification Commissioner's office. If not countersigned by Pacification Commissioner Ye Tao, the sentence is invalid... I'll skip the middle process and just execute you directly."

"You... are you from the Yunzhou army?" Yang Ming asked nervously, frowning.

"Indeed." Zhou Rui didn't bother to lie; he never did. Moreover, he needed to temporarily unite these people, so he couldn't bother hiding his identity. "Zhou Rui, Battalion Commander of the Special Operations Battalion, at your service."

The entire scene fell silent as soon as Zhou Rui's name was mentioned. The name was too famous. Although Zhou Rui didn't take assassination jobs, he had assassinated members of the Daoming Sect's assassin group, Eagle Eye, one by one using various methods, which caused a sensation throughout the Central Earth Continent, especially among those with families and backgrounds who knew it even more clearly. Zhou Rui was now widely regarded as the number one assassin in the world.

"You are Ye Tao's subordinate?" The barbarian leader thought for a long time before organizing the whole sentence clearly, carefully crafting each pronunciation, so as not to be disrespectful.

Zhou Rui answered the question in the language of the Northern tribes, which pleased the barbarian leader. Compared to Central Earth language, the language of the Northern tribes was a more common "foreign language" for them, although his level wasn't very good, it was enough to express his meaning. After a few words, the barbarian leader named Kagas agreed to temporarily listen to Zhou Rui's orders and fight the enemy together.

"Prepare yourselves and move the arrows up. I need you to hold the roof, ensuring that no one can climb onto the roof and no one can throw torches," This was Zhou Rui's order.

"Big Sister, I'm counting on you inside. The inn only has one exit here, and with that barbarian in the back, no one can climb over the wall," Zhou Rui said to Jin Xiangyu. "Yang family, Duanmu family, what do you say?"

Yang Ming said somewhat unwillingly, "Then we'll listen to you. This... is this Yunzhou's hospitality?"

Zhou Rui didn't care, still planning in his mind what opportunity he could find later to let the Yang family die at the hands of the bandits. Although he had revealed his identity now, at most he would get a comment about being outnumbered and failing to rescue them in time, which was nothing. He would probably get a lot of rewards privately, as well as quite a few Balanced Scorecard points.

The Duanmu family's steward took out a copper token from his pocket, respectfully handed it to Zhou Rui, and said, "We haven't had the chance to stop and find someone to contact us along the way. This was given to us by Second Master Qi, who said to give it to someone from the Chamber of Commerce or Ye's Workshop when we arrived in Yunzhou, and someone would naturally take care of us. Since you are here, sir, although the Duanmu family's strength is weak, we will do our best to assist you in defending against the enemy."

Zhou Rui nodded and said, "You, and the Yang family, divide up and guard all the windows. Those with bows and crossbows, shoot separately. If there aren't enough people or bows and crossbows, just find something to block the windows. Start preparing now. It won't take too long, my men will be here in half an hour at most."

Zhou Rui's words gave everyone great confidence. What kind of unit was the Special Operations Battalion? This unit, which was always out of everyone's sight, had no fixed garrison and no fixed training ground, but they were Yunzhou's absolute trump card. As long as they held on for half an hour, they would have the honor of seeing the glory of this unit.

Zhou Rui never deliberately showed his confidence or lack of confidence. When he climbed onto the roof and used a telescope to look at the cavalry groups surging on the dark horizon, when the bandits launched their first wave of arrow attacks, this indifference turned into a calming force, a force that prevented the entire inn from falling into panic.

"It's not bandits, it's the Flying Tiger Battalion. Gao Senqi really doesn't learn, still playing the disguise trick... Looks like you two groups, or maybe even you few distant guests, are really valued." Zhou Rui's eyes seemed to say: This is troublesome; I really have to put in some effort.

Kagas snorted and personally climbed onto the roof. His follower handed him the longbow, which was almost as tall as he was. Kagas nocked an arrow, drew the bow to its full extent, and shot the first arrow with a whoosh...

Even though he had been watching Zheluo practice archery, Zheluo's style was very different from this Kagas. Zheluo's characteristic was rapid-fire, maintaining extremely high accuracy while doing so, and the archers around Ye Tao were all of this type, some even more extreme, such as Chen Xiaolai, who was the so-called desperate rapid-fire archer. He had never seen an archer who charged more in front than the infantry. However, Kagas was not like this. He was a longbowman, an archer who could accurately hit and kill at a distance where other arrows had already lost their power. When he was already within the other party's range, he was not as useful as an archer like Zheluo, but his unhurried archery had a steady and powerful performance. Moreover, the arrows he used were all specially made.

Kagas shot three arrows in a row, the arrows drawing beautiful arcs, accurately pinning Flying Tiger Battalion warriors disguised as bandits to the ground along with their warhorses. The arrowheads used by Kagas were not even metal but some kind of stone. The leisurely Zhou Rui casually picked up one, felt it. The density of the stone was very similar to that of metal, but this stone was obviously not a meteorite but something much more active. Zhou Rui could see the arrowhead emitting a faint light due to the intense air friction, and even bursting into a ball of fire at the moment of hitting the target.

When these cavalrymen charged close to a certain distance, when these barbarian warriors began to shoot in full force, they really suppressed the opponent. Not to mention those who wanted to throw torches, they didn't let go of those holding torches. These people who had traveled thousands of miles to get here were obviously top-notch experts from those tribes, and their performance was simply amazing. And the biggest characteristic of these people was that they were not afraid of death. Facing the arrows flying towards them, they actually used the sturdier parts of the leather armor they were wearing to block them... Even in Yunzhou's archer battalion, with such comprehensive armor, those archers would not proactively do such a thing.

In the front hall of the inn, Jin Xiangyu moved a chair and sat down leisurely. The sound of arrows hitting the wall was too exciting, but Dragon Gate Inn was not a shoddy building. The inn was at least a brick-wood structure. After all, in this northern place, the structure of the building was related to whether it had enough cold resistance. At this time, the barbarian in the shop who had never been named was sitting calmly in the backyard, holding his knife, looking up, counting the stars...

The people around him looked at this barbarian with a feeling of not knowing what to do. This guy looked simple and honest, but his ruthlessness was simply appalling. When an enemy jumped into the courtyard, the barbarian jumped up and cut the person completely symmetrically into two pieces with one knife, falling to the ground. Such an amazing performance also inspired the courage of the few people who were stationed in the backyard with him, and they easily solved the few people who jumped into the courtyard.

After trying this attack, the other party found that close attacks did not achieve any good results, and actually regrouped at a distance of about seven or eight hundred paces and stopped.

"Did we repel them?" A guard from the Duanmu family asked timidly.

"Not even close. If it were really bandits, the damage from this first attack would have been enough to make them retreat, but they are not. There must be someone they want to kill in the inn. They are an army, they are elites, and they will not hesitate to sacrifice to achieve their goals," Zhou Rui said calmly.

"Let's negotiate with them... let's hand over the person they want, we... we... we don't have to die together," Yang Ming said after some hesitation. This was also the feeling of some people.

"What if they want to kill you?" Zhou Rui snorted coldly.

Before they could discuss further, the Flying Tiger Battalion quickly launched a second attack. They no longer engaged in contact battles, but tied cloth strips to the arrows, lit them, and circled the inn at a medium speed, throwing the arrows high and far, while a small team of knights stood quietly, obviously gathering momentum, waiting for the people in the inn to escape so they could take the opportunity to pursue.