294: Chapter 294 Taking Baoqing Mansion

Baoqing Prefecture City, on the city wall.

Chen Xuance furrowed his brows tightly, staring fixedly at the three thousand troops below.

"Where on earth did this terrifying army come from?"

Because Baoqing Prefecture was mountainous and difficult to access, news traveled slowly there.

Therefore, they did not know that Chen Hu's Fierce Tiger Army had already captured several prefecture cities.

The news of the Fierce Tiger Army's rebellion hadn't even reached this place yet.

"Father, that young man leading them seems to be Chen Hu from the hidden dragon ranking!"

Suddenly, an image of Chen Hu flashed through Chen Yunxiao's mind.

Hearing his son say this, Chen Xuance also recalled: "Isn't he the leader of the Fierce Tiger Gang in Linjiang Prefecture? Why would he appear here?"

At this moment, the three thousand Black Armor Cavalry led by Chen Hu had arrived 500 meters outside the city wall.

As a warning, the archers on the city wall had already nocked their arrows and aimed them downwards.

"Is that Young Master Chen Hu below?" Chen Xuance shouted. "I wonder, what is your purpose in leading an army here?"

"Naturally, it is to capture Baoqing Prefecture!" Chen Hu responded.

"What?" Chen Xuance was greatly shocked. "Young Master Chen, do you know that this behavior of yours is rebellion?"

Chen Hu was slightly stunned. "Commandant Chen Xuance, don't you know that I have already rebelled long ago, and have also captured the four prefectures of Linjiang, Yulong, Chenchi, and Dalin?"

"What?" Chen Xuance once again revealed a look of shock. Since Chen Hu had already captured the territory of four prefectures, why had the imperial court not reacted, and instead allowed Chen Hu to lead his army to Baoqing Prefecture?

"Commandant Chen, surely you have sensed it too. The soldiers behind me are all in the Marrow Refining Realm. You cannot stop us, so why not open the gates and surrender?" Chen Hu shouted with a smile.

"We eat the imperial court's salary, so naturally, we must be loyal to the imperial court. There is no need to mention surrender again. If you, a rebel, have the ability, then come and attack!" Chen Xuance replied righteously.

"Fine. Since Commandant Chen is unwilling to surrender, then witness the methods of my soldiers!" Chen Hu said indifferently.

He then ordered two hundred Black Armor Cavalry to step forward and instructed them to capture the city wall and open the city gates at the fastest speed possible.

Immediately, the two hundred Black Armor Cavalry rushed straight toward the city wall.

When they were ten meters away from the wall, both men and horses soared into the air together, flying toward the city wall.

"Shoot!" Thousands of archers fired their arrows simultaneously at the Black Armor Cavalry in mid-air.

However, the strength of these soldiers was at most the Skin Refining Realm, and most had not even reached the Skin Refining Realm.

The arrows they fired were too soft and weak for the Black Armor Cavalry.

Even if they did not use their internal energy to defend, the arrows could not break through their armor defense.

Likewise, the steeds beneath them were also protected by black armor, which could not be pierced either.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!" The dense rain of arrows struck the Black Armor Cavalry and their horses, but could not hinder their speed.

Very quickly, the two hundred cavalrymen landed on the city wall.

The Chen father and son immediately led their troops to surround and suppress them.

But the Black Armor Cavalry were simply too fierce; with a sweep of the iron spears in their hands, swaths of soldiers went flying out while screaming.

In an instant, a large area of the city wall was cleared.

Seeing this, Chen Xuance's eyes turned red. These soldiers were ones he had carefully trained.

Even when facing the Barbarians, he had never lost so many.

"Kill!" With a furious shout, Chen Xuance drew his long saber and turned into an afterimage, slashing toward one of the Black Armor Cavalry.

"Clang!" However, his attack was blocked by that Black Armor Cavalry.

Under the impact of the blade and spear, the Black Armor Cavalry and his horse did not budge, while Chen Xuance was sent flying backward seven or eight meters, staggering back five or six steps before barely stabilizing his figure.

He was unlucky; the one he had ambushed was a Late Stage Marrow Refining Black Armor Cavalryman.

"Yunxiao, leave quickly!" Chen Xuance immediately pushed his son. He knew that this Baoqing Prefecture City could not be held.

"Father, if we leave, we leave together; if we die, we die together!" Chen Yunxiao said with a resolute tone.

"What a touching display of father-son affection!" Just at this moment, a mocking voice rang out, and it was Chen Hu's figure appearing out of thin air on the city wall.

Suddenly, Chen Xuance's eyes lit up. As the saying goes, to capture the bandits, first capture the ringleader. As long as he captured Chen Hu, the crisis in Baoqing Prefecture could be resolved.

"Yunxiao, follow your father and capture him!" "Yes, Father!" The next moment, the father and son held their weapons and charged toward Chen Hu.

Seeing this scene, Chen Hu was speechless. "Do I look that weak?"

He had no interest in playing the game of pretend to be a pig to eat the tiger.

With a casual wave of his hand, a terrifying force appeared, directly sending the Chen father and son flying, crashing heavily into the city wall.

Then, they gloriously passed out.

Soon, Baoqing Prefecture City was captured.

Chen Hu also purchased over 100 Puppet civil officials and began to take over the entire Prefecture City.

However, after understanding the specific situation of this Prefecture City, Chen Hu was still somewhat surprised.

The prefecture cities he had captured had populations of at least five million people.

But Baoqing Prefecture, damn it, as a Prefecture City, only had a population of 1.65 million.

Moreover, most of the people in the city were sallow and thin, obviously looking like they were often unable to get enough to eat.

Furthermore, this Baoqing Prefecture actually had no Prefect, and half of the government official positions were vacant.

After summoning a few local officials to ask, Chen Hu finally understood what was going on.

First, Baoqing Prefecture had little profit to be made and was constantly facing Barbarian unrest.

On top of that, it was a place where officials were exiled. Therefore, very few officials came here to serve.

And the local officials were always trying to find ways to be transferred out.

Additionally, the Barbarians were very keen on assassinating the Prefect; it was said that in ten years, five Prefects had been assassinated, and two more had been severely injured.

Therefore, due to so many reasons, the position of Prefect in Baoqing Prefecture had been vacant for a long time.

With no profit to gain and a risk to one's life, who the hell would want to come here to be an official?

As for why most of the civilians in the city could not get enough to eat, the reason was also very simple. There was little arable land.

Moreover, after the crops they planted matured, the Barbarians would run out to steal the grain.

Coupled with the many mountains and bad roads, access was difficult. Even if one had silver, it was very difficult to buy grain.

This made Baoqing Prefecture extremely short of grain.

Suddenly, Chen Hu's heart stirred. He called up the System interface. He checked the price of rice.

"Damn, so cheap!" When Chen Hu saw the price of rice, he couldn't help but be shocked, because one underling points could buy 1 shi of grain.

One shi of grain was equal to 100 jin.

In Baoqing Prefecture, Chen Hu did not intend to play the game of tax refunds or grain refunds.

Because the Governors Office also knew that Baoqing Prefecture was extremely poor.

Coupled with the difficulty of transportation, they simply didn't have any taxes from them.

Subsequently, Chen Hu went to find out the price of grain in Baoqing Prefecture. It was very expensive. It cost two taels of silver per shi.

And, it was limited for purchase.

Thus, Chen Hu directly purchased 100,000 shi of rice in the mall.

Subsequently, he arranged for people to post notices. The content of the notice was very simple.

It was that everyone in Baoqing Prefecture could purchase one shi of rice by presenting their household registration.

The selling price was one tael of silver per shi. And the selling point was outside the government office.

As the content on the notice spread, people came to the outside of the government office, doubtingly.

When they bought one shi of rice for one tael of silver, the news spread rapidly throughout the city.

More and more people came to buy rice, and Chen Hu arranged for people to loudly promote their Fierce Tiger Army at the entrance of the government office.

The commoners who bought the grain all developed a sense of identification with the Fierce Tiger Army.

And the number of Chen Hu's underling points began to increase at an accelerated rate.

By noon, the underling points conversion amount in Baoqing Prefecture reached 1.5 million.

This also took Chen Hu by surprise; this conversion rate was too high.

But thinking about it slightly, it was also normal, because the civilians of Baoqing Prefecture had been in a state of hunger for a long time.

After the Fierce Tiger Army arrived, they were able to eat their fill. How could they not be grateful to Chen Hu?