After returning to the bandit suppression camp, Su Fan arranged living quarters for the bandits who had joined the camp, as well as for Cheng Yaoyin and his group.
He also found Da Jun to check how many new recruits had been gathered in the past few days.
Indeed, the recent achievements of the bandit suppression camp had significantly boosted its reputation.
Twenty new recruits had been gathered in the past few days, which was not bad.
"Boss! It's bad! They're fighting at the city gate!"
Gou Dan, who was responsible for recruiting near the city gate, suddenly ran back, panting, and said to Su Fan.
"Who is fighting?"
Su Fan asked curiously.
"It's Bai Hong! Bai Hong is fighting with the City Lord's mansion people. Dozens of them are fighting Bai Hong alone!"
Gou Dan took a breath and continued.
"Bai Hong!"
Su Fan was stunned and immediately led his men towards the city gate.
Bai Hong was someone Su Fan intended to recruit. Su Fan valued his strength and character, and it would be a great loss if he were beaten to death!
When Su Fan and his men arrived at the city gate, the City Lord's mansion people had already retreated. A bloody and mangled person lay by the city gate.
Su Fan immediately rushed forward.
"Bai Hong! Bai Hong!"
Su Fan called out twice, holding Bai Hong, who was covered in blood and unconscious.
However, Bai Hong had no strength left to speak.
He opened his mouth towards Su Fan, only managing to make a faint sound. Su Fan couldn't hear what he said.
Su Fan looked at Bai Hong's remaining life force, which was less than a thousand points and dropping rapidly.
Without hesitation, Su Fan quickly took out various healing pills from his backpack and stuffed them into Bai Hong's mouth as if they were free.
Only when Bai Hong's life force stopped decreasing and began to slowly recover did Su Fan breathe a sigh of relief.
"Take him back."
Su Fan instructed the soldiers following behind him.
Although Bai Hong's life was saved, it would still require one or two days of rest to recover. NPCs in the game world were not like Su Fan; Su Fan could become lively again with just a replenishment of life force, but they were more realistic.
Su Fan took a deep breath. Fang Shijie, don't let me catch you!
Su Fan snorted coldly.
Fang Shijie's son was still in his hands. He wondered if he could use his son to lure Fang Shijie into a trap.
However, he thought that there was no opportunity at the moment. He needed to find evidence of Fang Shijie colluding with the Ministry of War, not just kill him.
He could only put this matter aside for now.
After Bai Hong was brought back and had recovered for half a day, he finally woke up.
"Are you alright? How do you feel?"
Su Fan asked when he saw Bai Hong wake up.
"Thank you."
Bai Hong saw Su Fan and simply said a faint thank you.
"How is it? Lost the bet, didn't you?"
Su Fan said with a smile.
"Don't you know why I lost?"
Bai Hong was not grateful and said indifferently to Su Fan.
"Although it's partly my fault, Fang Shijie doesn't trust you. Even if I hadn't sent you back, he would have started suspecting you sooner or later. Suspicion is like a seed; once it sprouts, it's only a matter of time before it grows into a towering tree."
Su Fan said solemnly.
Bai Hong did not reply. He knew Su Fan was telling the truth.
"I will fulfill my promise and help you, but I have one condition: I will not participate in any actions targeting the City Lord's mansion."
Bai Hong said to Su Fan in a deep voice.
"Agreed."
Su Fan immediately smiled.
This request was not excessive. Dealing with the City Lord's mansion did not require so much martial force. He had experts like Long Jianye and Cheng Yaoyin under him, and Bai Hong was not as high-ranked.
The bandit suppression camp currently had less than three hundred soldiers. Although the high-level combat power was sufficient, the number of ordinary soldiers was still insufficient.
To take down Kaoshan Wang, Li Changmin said that at least a thousand soldiers were needed.
With so many soldiers, how long would it take Su Fan to recruit them one by one?
The fastest way was to go to the front lines and borrow troops from Xia Yuan.
A thousand soldiers were nothing to Xia Yuan; any one of his battalions had a thousand soldiers.
"Xia Yun, I'm planning to go to the front lines for a trip."
Su Fan informed Xia Yun before leaving.
"Do you want me to go with you?"
Xia Yun didn't know what Su Fan was going to the front lines for, but she could guess that he had something to do with her father, so she asked.
"No, it might be dangerous for you to come along. Stay at the bandit suppression camp. With Cheng Yaoyin and Long Jianye here, the bandit suppression camp is very safe now."
Su Fan directly refused. Xia Yun's presence would only make the journey more dangerous for him, and it was unnecessary.
Su Fan immediately asked Li Changmin to prepare a horse. During this time, he encountered Qi Ling.
Qi Ling saw Su Fan and communicated with him using sign language.
"I heard you're going to the front-line military camp?"
Qi Ling asked Su Fan with a puzzled expression.
"Yes, I have some matters to attend to there."
Su Fan nodded and said.
"Then be careful on your way, and be careful of the people from the Trapped Formation Camp when you reach the army."
Qi Ling warned Su Fan.
Hmm?
Su Fan was slightly taken aback.
He suddenly remembered that Qi Ling was also a former member of the army. She was later discovered to be a woman and treated as a spy, but Qi Ling had never spoken about the specific details, and Su Fan had never asked. Could the army Qi Ling belonged to before be the Trapped Formation Camp?
Su Fan had some doubts, but he didn't have time to inquire now. He could only ask when he returned.
Su Fan mounted his horse and immediately set off for the front lines.
The spies from the City Lord's mansion who were monitoring the movements of the bandit suppression camp immediately reported this to Fang Shijie.
Fang Shijie's eyes lit up.
If Su Fan died on his way to the front lines, it would have nothing to do with him.
"My Lord City Lord, news has come from Tianlong City regarding Su Fan's identity."
At this moment, a subordinate came to report.
From the moment Su Fan arrived, Fang Shijie had sent a carrier pigeon to Tianlong City to investigate Su Fan's background. Due to the long distance, it had finally received a reply after so many days.
"What did it say?"
Fang Shijie asked urgently.
"Su Fan is the Deputy Commander of the Imperial Guard, personally appointed by His Majesty, and he has a good relationship with the Crown Prince. According to folk rumors, he is also romantically involved with the Princess and is a potential candidate for the驸马 (Emperor's son-in-law)."
The subordinate informed Fang Shijie of all the information they had obtained about Su Fan.
"Deputy Commander? Crown Prince? Princess? Quite a background, no wonder he's so arrogant!"
Fang Shijie frowned slightly.
This made Fang Shijie feel even more troubled.
With such a background, he definitely couldn't kill him openly. He had to use someone else's hands and ensure that no one suspected him of being involved.
"You may go. Have Xu Wei come in to see me."
Fang Shijie clapped his hands and dismissed the subordinate who had delivered the message.
Soon, Xu Wei entered.
Fang Shijie handed the written letter to Xu Wei.
"Ride swiftly and deliver it to the army."
Fang Shijie said to Xu Wei.
Xu Wei was Fang Shijie's trusted subordinate for communicating with the army, a fact that even his personal guard Bai Hong was unaware of.
This was for the sake of secrecy; the fewer people who knew, the better.
"Yes!"
Xu Wei took the letter and immediately rode a fast horse towards the front-line army.