Chapter 26: Bandits Attack the City
Chen He recognized at a glance that it was a soldier stationed at a tower five miles outside Baicheng. He immediately rushed over in a panic, grabbed the man's sleeve and said in panic: "What did you say? Why did those bandits from Crescent Moon Mountain suddenly come down the mountain!"

The soldier was so flustered that he couldn't speak clearly. He was just scratching his head when a big hand rested on his shoulder.

"Don't panic and speak slowly."

The sergeant turned around and saw a handsome young man looking at him gently.

Although he didn't recognize the person in front of him, he could tell at a glance from the dragon robe Wang An was wearing that he was a very important figure.

However, the situation was urgent, and the guard forgot to dismount and salute. After trying to calm down, he said, "Your Excellency, I saw the bandits from Crescent Mountain coming down the mountain from the tower, and they are coming towards Baicheng in a mighty force!"

"What? They're coming for Baicheng?" Chen He became even more flustered. He grabbed the soldier's sleeve and confirmed again, "You're not seeing things!"

The guard said anxiously: "Yes, I saw it clearly!"

"Have you notified the government office?" Wang An asked calmly.

The guard replied, "The first to be notified was the government office. They said the new prince and Lord Chen were in the city gate, so they asked me to come and report. By the way, where is the prince?"

"I am the king," Wang An said, and asked, "How many people are there? Did you see clearly?"

The guard was speechless, hesitating, "I didn't see it clearly, but there are thousands of bandits in Crescent Moon Mountain. I'm afraid all of them are here!"

"Thousands of people!" Chen Huaian frowned immediately. "How could these bandits be so bold as to attack the city directly? Maybe it's just a misunderstanding?"

Wang An looked at Chen He calmly, "Has there ever been a case of bandits attacking a state capital before?"

"That's not the case." Chen He replied, "It's just that Zhao Yi's garrison troops were here before, so the bandits in Crescent Mountain didn't have the guts to attack the state capital even if they wanted to. But now..."

Wang An immediately understood what Chen He meant. It was that because Zhao Yi had left, these bandits dared to attack Baicheng.

Come to think of it, there is almost no armed force in the entire Jizhou area now, and the only 3,000 garrison soldiers have been almost disbanded by Wang An.

However, Wang An did not feel any regret. If those 3,000 garrison soldiers were really pulled to the battlefield, they would become defeated soldiers in an instant.

But how could the bandits in Crescent Mountain grasp the time so accurately?

Wang An understood after just a little thought. It seemed that Zhao Yi was not just selling military rations privately, but might even be colluding with these bandits.

However, now is not the time to think about these things.

Wang An immediately ordered Chen Huaian: "Rally the army immediately and return to defend Baicheng!"

Chen Huaian did not hesitate and immediately accepted the order!
Fortunately, since the Black Armor Guards needed to escort Wang An all the way, almost everyone was riding a horse.

Although they are not regular cavalry, they are at least highly mobile.

Wang An did not just stand there and watched. He quickly returned to the reviewing platform and said to the 200 remaining soldiers who were already beginning to panic: "Everyone, the bandits from Crescent Mountain are attacking Baicheng. Our homes and loved ones are about to be exposed to the enemy's butcher knife. Those who are willing to follow me into battle and kill the enemy, put on your armor immediately!"

Wang An pointed to the corner of the parade ground, where the armor and weapons that Wang An had extorted from Zhao Yi were piled up.

More than a hundred old and weak people in the crowd suddenly showed fear on their faces and lowered their heads in shame.

The reason why they were willing to stay in Jizhouwei was because they were old and in poor health, and they wanted to spend their retirement in Jizhouwei. Although life in Jizhouwei was hard, at least they could still have food to eat.

But if you need to go into battle, that’s a different story.

Seeing this, Wang An turned his attention to the remaining one hundred or so young and strong men.

Some of them, like the old and weak, lowered their heads with timidity on their faces. Only a few people either did not hesitate or after a brief hesitation finally walked towards the pile of armor and weapons.

Among those who did not hesitate was Xu Huang, one of Wang An's disciples at the beginning.

Wang An did not waste any time and kept urging the soldiers who were willing to go into battle to put on their armor quickly.

After the team was roughly assembled, Wang An took a look and saw that there were still about seventy or eighty people.

Wang An said to Chen Huaian, "You guys are faster on horseback, so go first!"

"Yes, sir!" Chen Huaian said nothing, but waved his hand, and more than a hundred black-armored guards immediately rode out of the city gate and headed towards Baicheng.

"Chen He, you guys follow me later." After Wang An said this, he personally led the more than 80 garrison troops who remained behind to set off.

Chen He and other state officials were left behind, watching Wang An and others leave with worry, and silently wished: "I hope His Royal Highness Prince Xin will win a great victory, and I also hope that this is just a false alarm!"

By the time Wang An led his troops out of the city, the black-armored guards of Chen Huaian and others had become just small black dots in their sight.

It is no wonder that Chen Huaian is so anxious. After all, he is from the Black Armor Guard directly under Cao Meng. This time he came to Jizhou more to protect Cao Yunmeng than to protect Wang An.

Wang An looked at the guards behind him who were already in chaos before they even left the city walls, and sighed, "Hurry up and keep the ranks in order!"

No matter how reluctant he is to admit it, Wang An's real foundation lies in this group of garrison soldiers.

After two hours of rapid march, Wang An and his garrison soldiers finally arrived outside Baicheng. However, at this time, war had already broken out in Baicheng, and cries and roars could be heard constantly from the small city.

Wang An's heart skipped a beat. No matter how hard he tried, he was still a step behind.

The bandits from Crescent Mountain still broke into the city. Although Baicheng had been warned in advance, there was no way to defend it because of the collapsed city walls.

What's more, there were only three shifts of yamen runners in Baicheng, and no garrison at all.

It’s not surprising that the bandits could easily break in.

"Where is Chen Huaian!" Wang An whispered, and his eyes quickly saw two groups of people fighting outside the city gate.

Among them, the ones who showed an attacking posture were the small number of Black Armor Guards, who kept using the advantages of their horses and armor to attack a group of cloth-clad bandits at the city gate over and over again.

There were about four to five hundred bandits, who were disrupted by Chen Huaian's attack and could only fight back with all their might due to the narrow city gate.

If you don’t know, you would think that Chen Huaian is the one attacking the city, and those blocking the city gate are the defenders of Baicheng.

"Damn it, that bastard Zhao Yi, didn't he say that there are no more soldiers in Baicheng? Where did these soldiers come from? They are so difficult to deal with in a battle!" Among the bandits, a strong man holding a big knife said hatefully as he looked at the black-armored guards who were rushing up in waves not far in front of him.

(End of this chapter)