C74

The bandits wanted to escape, but just as Gu Yue and the rest were about to give chase, Tang Yin blocked them with his blade, and said in a deep voice: "Don't chase anymore!" Tang Yin was alert, he naturally understood the principle of not chasing after a desperate enemy. Now that the sky was dark and they were not familiar with the environment, it would not be worth it if they ran into the forest and were ambushed by bandits.

Not long after, a group of people came running up the official road. The leader, who looked to be in his early thirties, wore black iron armor, had a red tassel on his head, and was riding on a large horse. He looked quite majestic, and behind him were a few soldiers with crooked armor on their helmets.

The leader urged his horse to take a few steps forward, looked around at Tang Yin and the others, and then said politely: "I am the leader of Pingyuan County, may I ask, are you the guards of Master Tang?"

Hearing this, Tang Yin took two steps forward, raised his head, and said: "I am Tang Yin!"

Ah!" The high-ranking officer's body trembled when he heard this. He hastily jumped off his horse and rushed to Tang Yin's side. He interfered in the salutation and sternly said, "This subordinate, Zhang Zhou, came late and frightened Master Tang. Please do not take offense.

Tang Yin looked at the leader from head to toe. Before he came to the Pingyuan County, he had already understood the situation here. There were three divisions within the Pingyuan County, and the commander of the First Regiment was none other than Zhang Zhou.

Zhang Zhou's appearance was average, and he had a medium build. Standing together with Tang Yin, he was slightly shorter, and did indeed have the dignity of a high-ranking officer.

"General Zhang, do you not know that there is a bandit here?" There were quite a lot of bandits just now, especially the two people in the lead, who were all Spiritual Martial Expert. With such a large group of bandits, Zhang Zhou knew that it was time for him to withdraw from his position.

"Oh …" Zhang Zhou looked troubled, he slowly lowered his head and said: "This subordinate has heard of it before."

"Then why not destroy it?" Tang Yin asked coldly.

"It's not that there was no encirclement, but rather, the bandits were crafty. They encircled and annihilated a few times, but in the end, they all escaped. This is your subordinate's incompetence! " Zhang Zhou lowered his head and replied.

Tang Yin did not know of his true abilities, but at least he had the courage to admit his wrongs. This made Tang Yin feel slightly satisfied.

He looked behind Zhang Zhou. There were more than two thousand soldiers behind him, although they were not considered to be old or weak, their spirits and spirits were not worthy of praise. Not only were their armor incomplete, they were also listless, looking like eggplants that had been beaten by frost.

This was Pingyuan County of the Pingyuan County, if it was already like this, then the situation of the other two legions could be easily imagined. He secretly frowned and said, "It's already late autumn, and we're about to enter winter."

"Yes …" That's right! " Zhang Zhou did not understand what Tang Yin meant.

Tang Yin raised his eyebrows and asked: "Are you planning to let our brothers below winter in simple clothes?"

"Oh …" Zhang Zhou was at a loss for words, he was at a loss for words, not knowing what to say.

Seeing that Tang Yin still wanted to continue questioning him, Qiu Zhen quietly pulled on his sleeves.

After all, Zhang Zhou was a Regiment Commander, and although Tang Yin was his superior, he had just arrived and his relationship with him had become too stiff.

He chuckled at Zhang Zhou and asked gently, "The Pingyuan County is in the cold lands, and the weather is already cold in the late autumn. Why hasn't General Zhang distributed cotton clothes to the soldiers?"

Zhang Zhou was not any kind of person, but seeing that he was standing beside Tang Yin, he guessed that his status was not low, adding that he was a gentle and refined man, he spoke softly and slowly, causing people to feel good towards him.

He replied, "It's not that I don't want to give them out, it's just that the military warehouse is empty. There's no cotton clothes in the county yet."

Tang Yin's frown deepened, and he asked: "Didn't the previous county magistrate report this to the county?"

"Yes, but there are still supplies to be delivered to the county."

"Then when will it be delivered?"

"This …" Zhang Zhou's face turned bitter, he lowered his head, and did not say a word. He also wanted to know when the supplies would arrive from the county, but he estimated that it would be impossible for them to arrive in a short period of time.

Seeing that he was always hesitating and wanting to say something, Tang Yin suddenly felt impatient. He walked past Zhang Zhou and went among the soldiers, looking at them from afar, this group of soldiers were really dejected. There were some soldiers who did not have any armor, and even those who wore armor were all in tatters. Many people's armor was already broken, and many people's armor had broken, and had pierced small holes on both sides of the holes, and then used hemp rope to tie them up. This kind of armor should have been scrapped a long time ago, and they still had to wear it, and go to the battlefield to fight against the Savage Soldier. How could such a soldier win?

The armor was incomplete, but some were old. Where was the new armor? Although Tang Yin had just met Zhang Zhou, he did not think that he had the guts to take Zhang Zhou's military assets into his own hands. He suddenly turned around, glared at Zhang Zhou, and asked: "Soldiers, either don't have armor, or you wear broken armor. Did you not report this to the county as well?"

"This …" Zhang Zhou was still unable to answer.

Tang Yin deliberately sneered, and said: "Or is it that General Zhang has taken all his new armor and used it to exchange for money to fill his pockets?"

Hearing this, Zhang Zhou's head buzzed, his legs floated up, and he almost sat down on the ground.

Possessing military assets was not a joke. It was a serious crime to be beheaded.

He looked at Tang Yin in shock and said repeatedly, "Ah, Master Tang, during my time in the military, I have never stolen even a hair's breadth of the army …"

"Where are those things?" Without waiting for him to finish, Tang Yin asked harshly.

"Ai!" Zhang Zhou sighed helplessly, he could not hide anything even if he wanted to, and spoke in a low voice: "It's been three years since the county sent out one helmet and one armor to the Pingyuan County, which resulted in an incredible shortage of armor. The brothers died in battle, so the armor on them was left to the new recruits, and if the new recruits died in battle, the armor would have to be left to the next batch of recruits, thus the armor that the brothers are wearing now are all the remnants of the soldiers who sacrificed themselves previously, it looks like … "It is a little shabby …"

"How preposterous!" After Tang Yin heard this, his eyes lit up. Gu Yue, Le Tian and the others also frowned, not daring to believe that something like this could happen.

"Is that true?"

"This subordinate definitely does not dare to speak any lies!"

"Isn't there any new armor in the county?"

"Your subordinate isn't sure." Zhang Zhou looked troubled.

He was unwilling to raise this issue, because even if it was brought up, it would be useless. The county did not control the goods and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

Tang Yin looked straight at Zhang Zhou, and after a long while, he did not say a single word.

Under his sharp gaze, Zhang Zhou felt uncomfortable all over, his head drooped even lower, and he did not even dare to breathe.

After an unknown period of time, as long as it was a century for him, he finally heard Tang Yin speak.

"General Zhang, bring your men and follow me!"

"Where is the Master Tang going?"

"Shunzhou!" Tang Yin quickly walked in front of his horse, held onto the saddle and jumped on it.

"Go..." To the Shunzhou? Master Tang going to the Shunzhou is to … "

"Military!" Tang Yin replied expressionlessly.

Armour was the last layer of protection for the soldiers on the battlefield. Without armor, how many casualties would there be in a single battle? No matter what reason County Head had, if he could not give a satisfactory answer, he would not let this matter rest.

Tang Yin wanting to return through the same route, and asking the County Head for supplies was completely unexpected to Zhang Zhou. He had been in the army for so long, but he had never seen such a strong county guard before.

"This... Master Tang, that's not right! " Zhang Zhou urged his horse to follow and advised carefully.

"Inappropriate?" Tang Yin raised his eyebrows and smiled, but his eyes flashed a cold light. He laughed and said gently: "If Yu He dares to say the word 'inappropriate' in front of me, I will chop off his head!"

Ah? Hearing this, Zhang Zhou swayed on his horse, and almost fell down.

He didn't know if Tang Yin was joking, but even if he was, his guts were just too big.

Of course, Tang Yin was not joking. Perhaps the other county guards were afraid of the County Head, but he was not afraid, not only because he had the title of the Northern Field General, he had to take away their military assets, causing the war to become disadvantageous. It was also a heinous crime.

On the way, he asked Zhang Zhou what was missing from the army.

Zhang Zhou's answer made Tang Yin so angry that both his eyes turned green. The army's weapons, armors, military uniforms, horses, and other military supplies were all lacking, all of them were lacking.

There were originally three legions of Pingyuan County, but the county pay was only enough for one and a half legions. Right now, the actual strength of the three legions was only around 20,000 people, which was a lack of one third.

The more Tang Yin heard, the angrier he got, and in the end, he asked, "General Zhang, tell me, what is there to be lacking?"

"Well... Only food is not lacking. " Zhang Zhou replied softly.

Alright, there's no shortage of food. At least Yu He had a little conscience, he didn't plan to starve all of the soldiers in Pingyuan County to death. Tang Yin muttered in his heart.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Zhou added on, "The county's grains and foodstuffs are only enough for one and a half regiments, but the big families of Pingyuan County have donated the foodstuffs, so there is no shortage of them in the army."

Teng! Tang Yin's anger rose again, the reins in his hands tightened, Yu He was someone who deserved to be killed!

He wanted to hear how Yu He would explain himself when he met him.

Tang Yin did not speak anymore, but the smile on his face gradually deepened.

Zhang Zhou didn't know what he was laughing at, but Qiu Zhen and the others understood his habits, and looked at each other. They couldn't help but shiver, and it could be seen that Tang Yin was truly angry again.

Qiu Zhen warned in a low voice: "Big Brother Tang, County Head is a very important position, it has a very high official rank, you must not act rashly!"

Tang Yin laughed evilly, he shrugged and replied: "Of course I know, don't worry!"

The more he said this, the more Qiu Zhen was worried.