During the period of staying in Yuzhou to suppress bandits,

Long Chen continuously developed and trained his own five thousand soldiers, resulting in an average martial strength of around 40 for the soldiers.

In addition, he selected one thousand elite soldiers to train as second-tier troops - Yellow Turban Fighters. The martial strength of this group of Yellow Turban Fighters fluctuated around 45!

After selling the Flame Lion Blade, Long Chen made a substantial profit. Utilizing these resources along with the ones he already had, he manufactured five hundred Zhuge Crossbows, significantly enhancing the long-range attack capabilities!

Long Chen also referred to his troops as the Dragon Army!

In reality, this was to weaken the Dragon Army members’ sense of belonging to the Han Dynasty’s imperial family, enhance Long Chen’s personal influence, and, coupled with the golden talent "Dragon and Phoenix Among Men," the overall favorability of the Dragon Army soldiers towards Long Chen reached 90, indicating a pledge of loyalty, with many even approaching 100, signifying unwavering loyalty!

With these advantages, coupled with Wang Yun’s intentional delegation of authority,

The Dragon Army eradicated a total of forty-eight factions of Yellow Turban forces in Yuzhou!

Upon hearing of the Dragon Army, numerous remnants of the Yellow Turbans quivered in fear, hesitating to confront them directly!

However, the territory of Yuzhou was vast, and Long Chen’s forces numbered only over five thousand. They couldn’t eliminate all the remaining Yellow Turbans but managed to crush some larger factions.

Yet, numerous small forces remained active in various regions within the territory of Yuzhou.

At the Governor’s Mansion of Yuzhou,

Long Chen and Wang Yun took their seats.

"Jue Ming, your merits in these days, both I and the court have witnessed. Today, the court will dispatch an envoy to confer rewards upon you!"

Wang Yun sipped his tea and smiled.

"Thanks to Lord Wang for your support! Long Chen is deeply grateful!"

Long Chen expressed his thanks with clasped hands.

"Hey! What’s with the formalities between us! Don’t be so polite!"

Wang Yun pretended to be annoyed.

Long Chen married Diaochan, and as Diaochan was Wang Yun’s adopted daughter, Wang Yun was now like Long Chen’s father-in-law.

Their relationship was indeed extraordinary! Therefore, Wang Yun had helped Long Chen several times to seek rewards from the court.

Today was the day the envoy arrived.

Just at this moment, a guard rushed in and knelt, reporting, "Announcement – My lord, the envoy has arrived!"

"Oh! Has he? Then, let’s welcome him quickly!"

Wang Yun pulled Long Chen’s sleeve.

"It’s like calling Cao Cao, and Cao Cao arrives!" Long Chen sighed.

Wang Yun, puzzled, asked, "Cao Cao? Are you referring to that little Cao Mengde? Do you know him?"

"No, no, hehe..." Long Chen awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

As they spoke, the envoy had already entered the Governor’s Mansion.

The envoy, to put it bluntly, was a eunuch by Emperor Ling’s side. However, upon arriving here, he adopted a condescending and arrogant attitude.

"By the mandate of heaven, the Emperor decrees... In recognition of Long Chen’s heroic performance in Yuzhou, he is specially appointed as the General Who Subdues Bandits and appointed as the Magistrate of Cai County... Heed this imperial edict!"

After hearing the rewards, Long Chen felt like he had been hit on the head with a stick, feeling dizzy.

The title of General Who Subdues Bandits was not to be taken lightly. Although it was just an honorary title without real power, its significance was considerable. At this moment, it was not yet the time when Dong Zhuo held power, so those holding the title of general in the Han court were still relatively few, unlike the later times when generals were everywhere.

Moreover, General Who Subdues Bandits was relatively better among the honorary titles, much better than those like Guerrilla General or Gatekeeper General.

As for the position of County Magistrate, it was surprisingly the county closest to Long Village, Xia Cai County. Long Chen had expressed his desire to return home several times in front of Wang Yun, but it had always been rejected due to the reason that the Yellow Turbans in Yuzhou had not yet been fully pacified.

Unexpectedly, Wang Yun had included this in the report of his merits.

It could be seen that Wang Yun had really worked for Long Chen.

Wang Yun was a member of the Taiyuan Wang family, a formidable aristocratic family. Although it couldn’t compare to the Yuan family with four generations of prime ministers, it wasn’t too far behind!

Thanking the imperial edict and seeing off the envoy,

Long Chen deeply bowed to Wang Yun.

With sincere words, he said, "Lord Wang’s grace towards Long Chen is beyond repayment!"

"Hey! You must not say that. As long as you take care of Little Chan and eliminate the Yellow Turbans in Yuzhou, that’s enough!" Wang Yun quickly helped Long Chen up.

Then, with a meaningful tone, he continued, "Jueming, although the Yellow Turban troubles in Yuzhou are almost extinct, there are still many Yellow Turbans in the north in Jizhou. The three leaders, General Tian Zhang Jiao, General Di Zhang Bao, and General Ren Zhang Liang, have not been eradicated yet!"

"Soon, I plan to go north and gather a large army with Left Central Lang, Imperial Commandant Huangfu Song, and Right Central Lang, General Zhu Jun, to completely crush the Yellow Turbans!"

"I hope you can assist me in this!"

After a moment of contemplation, Long Chen clasped his fists and said, "I will certainly do my best!"

"Good! Good!" Wang Yun laughed, patting Long Chen’s shoulder.

Just then, a knight rushed in from outside and urgently reported, "Report! Thousands of bandits have appeared in Gebei, Ruyi County!"

Long Chen snorted, "Humph! It’s Ruyi County again. Lord Wang, rest assured, I will go and crush these nuisances!"

"Good! Be careful on the battlefield, where swords and blades have no eyes!" Wang Yun reminded.

.....

Ruyi County, Gebei.

A simple defensive structure made of earth and mud was under attack by tens of thousands of bandits wearing coarse cloth and wielding long blades.

These bandits were as ruthless as locusts, ferociously attacking the makeshift defensive structure.

A man with a black cloth wrapped around his head, looking fierce, shouted loudly, "Brothers! Put in more effort!"

"As long as we break through the outer defenses of this village, the food and women inside will all be ours!!!"

This statement was more effective than any encouragement. His subordinates, each fearless of death, desperately attacked the defensive structure.

Inside the village, thousands of young men, armed with hoes for digging and bows and arrows for hunting, barely withstood the attacks of the bandits.

However, everyone wore an expression of fear, all intimidated by the ferocity of the bandits.

The militia leader, sensing the danger, immediately shouted to the militia beside him, "Zhongkang! Where’s Zhongkang?"

The militia hurriedly replied, "Brother Xu... Brother Xu went to organize the villagers to look for stones!"

"What a joke! At a time like this, instead of defending properly, he’s off looking for stones!?" the militia leader exclaimed in anger.

In the brief respite, the group of bandits charged again.

Dozens of bandits even rushed forward, engaging the militia in combat on level ground.

These militia members, who were mostly engaged in farming on regular days, were no match for the ruthless bandits, especially when fighting on open ground.