Guchuan Jianren frowned at the villagers facing him with their fish spears, his eyes shifting.

The people of Tianci Village were so nervous their palms were sweating.

They were strong and healthy, but in the end they were only common folk, not soldiers who had ranged over battlefields and seen life and death a hundred times... It would be a lie to say they weren't afraid.

Guchuan Jianren could see it too. He gave a savage laugh and called out in the Zhaohe tongue, "Sons of Zhaohe, don't be afraid! They're nothing but mud-legged peasants who only know how to fish. All muscle and no guts. They'll fold at the first blow.

Everyone, charge... Take the grain, take the women, take..."

His voice was suddenly drowned out by a rumbling roar, like ten thousand horses stampeding.

The sound came closer and closer.

They turned to look, and the color drained from their faces in terror.

It wasn't ten thousand horses, but it was more frightening than ten thousand would have been.

The rider at their head wore fine clothes and sat a spirited horse.

The rest were all broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, carrying strange, huge blades, and the terrifying killing air rolling off them struck fear into every heart.

War banners snapped and flapped in the wind.

It wasn't Ning Chen's Ning'an Army.

The banners had Ning embroidered on one side and Modao on the other.

Guchuan Jianren breathed a little easier. As long as it wasn't Ning Chen's Ning'an Army, they'd be fine.

He began to calm his frightened soldiers. "Don't panic, everyone. It's not the Ning'an Army. There are far fewer of them than us. They must be an ordinary Great Xuan coastal patrol. Nothing to be afraid of."

The Zhaohe soldiers traded looks.

Every one of them looks like a demon, like a big angry bear, and you're telling me they're an ordinary patrol?

The people of Tianci Village, on the other hand, were overjoyed.

One look and you could tell these were Great Xuan soldiers.

Look at our Great Xuan soldiers, every one of them a hero...…