As another state capital, Yizhou City is indeed more prosperous than Yanzhou City.

After all, it is not on the northern border, where it faces nomads directly. Moreover, the Chen Dynasty court is pursuing a strategy of reducing military expenditures to recuperate and build strength — of course, the most important reason is that Yizhou has a much higher level of public security than the northern border.

And all of this is due to the Capturers.

The organization of Capturers originally evolved from the scouts established by the first emperor of the Chen Dynasty during his conquest of the world. These astute scouts were active on the front lines of war, using various means to capture many enemy prisoners and extract important information from them. After peace was restored, this external scouting unit was separated and instead tasked with maintaining internal security, using their skills to catch criminals who violated the law and bring them to justice.

"So, what exactly is going on here?"

In the southwest corner of Yizhou City, within the Capturers’ camp, Jiang Wenyuan, the leader responsible for Yizhou affairs, frowned as he looked at the report in his hand.

According to the contents of the report, the nomads had crossed Taiyin Mountain and allied with the Zhang clan of the Taiyin Mountain God’s Temple, breaching Yiyang County. The entire county was in chaos, and County Magistrate Hao Chong had led people to kill the rebel Zhang Qi, ultimately sacrificing himself in a fierce battle — while everything sounded normal for a frontline report, just like the recent reports from Yanzhou, it seemed off to Jiang Wenyuan’s eyes.

The previous death of Yanzhou’s commanding officer, Qi Jinshan, on the battlefield was believable. Although Jiang Wenyuan had never met Qi Jinshan, he had heard of him; a man deeply concerned with his official career, hard as iron, and eager for promotion might indeed fight to death without retreating.

But this Hao Chong... Jiang Wenyuan had met him.

As the magistrate of Yiyang, Hao Chong would occasionally come to Yizhou City to report on his duties, and thus Jiang Wenyuan had encountered him a few times — yet in Jiang Wenyuan’s eyes, Hao Chong was an ambitious but untalented person, greedy and lustful, especially the latter. Every time he came to Yizhou, he indulged in wine and women, even beautiful women under the pretense of searching for mysteries.

For such a person to have died bravely in battle... when did Hao Chong become so courageous?

All the commoners had fled, yet Hao Chong did not, managing to perish with Yiyang?

"There’s a problem, a very big problem."

Jiang Wenyuan frowned deeply.

However, there was no new information at present, and rashly sending people to investigate in Yiyang was extremely dangerous — more importantly, this matter was actually beyond his jurisdiction.

Although the Capturers indeed originated from military scouts, they have been separated for years, now only responsible for public security. Matters involving military content fall under the jurisdiction of the military officer commanding the troops.

But when he thought of the military officer in charge of Yizhou... Jiang Wenyuan truly started to worry.

The commanding officer of Yizhou’s troops was surnamed Qian, with the given name Jin. And it was an open secret within Yizhou that this Qian Jin had secured his position through connections — naturally, if it were just that, it wouldn’t be a big deal, considering the Southern Mountain Dao is not a conflict-heavy region like the northern border. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

But now... what use is a commanding officer appointed through connections, lacking martial prowess and military acumen?

"Perhaps there is still some use."

With this thought, Jiang Wenyuan got up and headed directly to the commander’s residence.

There indeed might be some use; although he could not expect Commander Qian to lead troops into battle, at least he could inquire about when the court’s army would arrive.

It must be known that although the war started quickly, it has been going on for some time. With the nomads having consecutively breached Jizhou and Yanzhou, the entire region north of the mountains is on the verge of collapse. How is it that the Chen Dynasty court is still slowly gathering forces? Can’t they move faster?

"They can’t move fast. On the court, matters are significant, as the saying goes, ’pull one hair and move the whole body.’ Moreover, deploying troops is a vital state affair, and the court ministers will consider it carefully. All you need to do is wait," Commander Qian Jin replied to Jiang Wenyuan’s inquiry upon arriving at the commander’s residence.

"So, is there anything else you wish to discuss?"

"I..."

Seeing Commander Qian reclining on the couch with his chest exposed, Jiang Wenyuan was momentarily unsure if he should continue speaking.

Generally speaking, in official correspondence, proper attire is the basic courtesy — but Qian Jin’s current state suggested it was not that he was unwilling to wear clothes but couldn’t.

The reason... it was likely because Commander Qian was practicing some art.

Like those cultured gentlemen of the Capital City in Jiankang, Commander Qian also enjoyed discussing abstruse philosophies. However, unlike discussing mysteries or the Mystical Technique, he was involved in those alchemical powders, mystical prescriptions.

According to some scholars of mysticism, since metals and stones could become imbued with Evil Qi when forged into weapons, gaining inconceivable powers, perhaps by grinding metals and stones into powder and consuming them, one’s body might also become as indestructible as Divine Soldiers — naturally, the first batch of people who tried this mostly died, proving with their lives that not everything is safe to ingest.