Regardless, this fellow still had a fatal handle in Han Mo's grasp, and at this moment, no matter what he said himself, Zhang Huai and the others would no longer believe him.
He wouldn't be foolish enough to abandon Han Mo's trust and try to appease Zhang Huai and the others again.
After all, what Han Mo could give him, Zhang Huai could not.
Just as Han Mo had said before, there were plenty of corrupt officials in this world. In Neihuang County, if all the original constables were to be eliminated, perhaps only one or two would be wrongly accused.
It was better to use the transgressions of this person than to eliminate him. Rather than killing him with a single blow, it was better to keep him. After all, this fellow had served as the county captain here for several years.
Keeping him by his side would save Han Mo a lot of trouble.
"My son-in-law is brilliant!"
"Alright, stop with the flattery. Take two brothers and let's go out for a stroll, and pick up some food for the men!"
The new county magistrate had arrived, and he had arrested so many bandits as soon as he took office. This turned the small plaza in front of the county yamen into the liveliest place in the entire Neihuang County.
Even the ordinary people of Neihuang County could see that this county magistrate was different from the previous ones.
As people were discussing animatedly, Han Mo quietly led a few subordinates and walked out of the Neihuang County yamen.
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"What did you say? Wang Xingye is dead? Then what about the men he brought?"
Fifty li outside Neihuang County, in Majiazhuang, this was originally an ordinary village.
However, since Li Mao'er and his men arrived, it had become a bandit stronghold.
Although Li Mao'er claimed to have gathered over ten thousand men, his actual fighting force was no more than three thousand men at best.
Upon hearing that Wang Xingye was dead, Li Mao'er was truly startled.
That was one-sixth of his strength!
Moreover, as his trusted general, the men Wang Xingye led were all strong young men.
"My King, you must avenge us! We went with over five hundred men, and only a few of us managed to escape. The rest were either killed or captured. You must uphold justice for us!"
The few stragglers who escaped knelt on the ground and wailed incessantly as they spoke.
"How is this possible? Weren't you supposed to coordinate from within? What about that fellow named Lu? With so many of you, you couldn't even defeat over a hundred government troops?"
Li Mao'er spoke while heavily pounding the table.
"My King, Leader Wang was killed by that fellow named Lu. That guy colluded with those government troops and deliberately set a trap to harm us!"
What happened last night occurred in the middle of the night, and many people didn't even understand what was going on before they were routed like a collapsing mountain.
All the fierce bandits who dared to fight and kill were either being paraded in the county town or had already been beheaded by the government troops.
These escapees were all seasoned veterans.
When attacking, they all stayed on the periphery. The moment they saw the situation was bad, they immediately turned and fled. It was these people.
At such a distance, and at night, they naturally couldn't see clearly who the actual killer was.
They only heard someone shout "Lu Ying is the killer" from the front before they fled in panic. Now, they were naturally determined to insist that Lu Ying was the killer.
"Did you see clearly, was it really Lu Ying who killed them?"
Li Mao'er stood up abruptly.
If Wang Xingye died at the hands of the government soldiers due to his lack of skill, then there was truly nothing to say. After all, the two sides were inherently hostile, and it was nothing to say that the government captured bandits.
But if these men were trapped, the situation would be completely different.
The reason he sent out five hundred men, and his trusted general, was because Zhang Huai, that scoundrel, had given him a thousand shi of grain.
And he had also promised that if they could capture the county magistrate and extort a ransom, all of it would belong to them.
Therefore, he had sent out his trusted general.
If this was a series of schemes, wouldn't he be in danger next?
"My King, we all saw it with our own eyes. My General Wang was killed by that dog-like scoundrel named Lu!"
How could these people dare to say that they hadn't seen clearly at all and had run away?
At this moment, they could only insist that Lu Ying was the one who killed them.
"Good heavens, you dog! He's using the heads of our brothers to claim credit!"
Li Mao'er spoke while kicking over the table in front of him.
"My King, this matter cannot be let go. If we don't gather our troops now and attack the county town directly, we can wipe out all those scoundrels!"
"Yes, my King, those were five hundred brothers. We can't just watch them die for nothing!"
The bandit leaders under Li Mao'er began to clamor.
"All of you, shut up! If those scoundrels deliberately calculated against us, wouldn't us attacking the county town right now be falling right into their insidious plan?"
Li Mao'er was not someone who only had courage but no strategy to gather so many bandits.
After all, being a bandit in Hebei relied not only on the weapons in hand.
If his brain wasn't sharp, he would have already been wiped out by the government troops.
"Then what do you suggest? We can't just let this matter go, can we?"
"Someone, send someone into the city immediately to inquire thoroughly and find out what that fellow named Lu is doing!"
Li Mao'er gritted his teeth and then gave the order.
Even Wu Lin had not expected that a whim of his would actually gain them ten days of precious time.
It was precisely because of these ten days that the situation in Neihuang was completely reversed…
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Three days passed in a flash. Han Mo's men were finally settled, and Wu Jie and Wu Lin had initially taken over the command of the garrison.
However, the deficit left by the predecessor was too great. Even the two of them were plagued by troubles.
"That much of a shortage?"
Looking at the enormous figures listed by the two of them, Han Mo's eyebrows furrowed.
"The food and supplies from the imperial court have been in arrears for six months, and the weapons they use are basically a pile of scrap iron. To train them, without this amount, even if immortals came, it would be impossible…"
Wu Jie knew that Han Mo was also new to this, but besides asking Han Mo, he didn't know where else he could get so much food and supplies…
"My Lord, County Magistrate Zhou has brought Assistant Magistrate Zhang…"