Most of the county residents were illiterate, but there were always a few who recognized some common characters.

Additionally, with Qin Yu and Miss Cai Yan explaining things to them over the past few days while distributing good seeds,

It became clear what was written on the notice posted outside.

This notice served as a guarantee!

The county marquis was truly determined to ensure that even if Le Ping County faced a disaster year, there would be a good to distribute.

As a result, any bandits from the Black Mountains trying to seize this grain would be going against the entire Le Ping County.

The people looked at each other and saw the determination to protect their private property in each other’s eyes.

“Rest assured, Marquis Qiao. If bandits come, we will definitely capture them!”

With this attitude, it would be much easier for Qiao Yan to select strong individuals from the county residents to start defense work.

In fact, if Qiao Yan hadn’t held them back, some of the enthusiastic Le Ping County residents might have already grabbed their weapons and headed into the mountains to fight.

This truly reflected the brave spirit of Bingzhou.

If used properly, they could become an excellent resource.

But the condition was that she had to be able to swallow them whole!

This wasn’t a battle fought without preparation.

In the past month, she hadn’t just been building a model of Le Ping County and its surroundings out of clay.

She was also searching for a suitable location to fight the bandits.

Without systematic training in military strategy, she had to use some clever but simple methods to fill in the gaps.

Using the thirty thousand sack of grain as bait was part of her plan, and she needed the right tools to succeed.

One of these “tools” was entrusted to Lu Yuan.

Although Lu Yuan had kept a low profile over the past month, she was doing something crucial.

Aside from Qiao Yan’s intention to appoint her as the gatekeeper, Lu Yuan had, on the second day of their arrival in Le Ping County, taken part of the money given to her by Qiao Yan and found a few women in need of household subsidies.

Together, they collected fallen leaves from the mountains, dried them, and strung them together with ropes to create leaf cloaks.

These leaf cloaks didn’t cost much—the fallen leaves in the mountains were readily available, and the ropes were common household items.

The materials were common, and the wages paid to the women who made them were not high.

However, the women’s careful craftsmanship meant that the final product was very close to what Qiao Yan had envisioned.

At this moment, Qiao Yan held one of the finished cloaks in her hand and waved over a county official.

The official, who had followed her up the mountain, confusedly put on this special cloak and then was instructed by Qiao Yan to lie down under a tree.

Because Lu Yuan specifically sought out women with some sewing skills, the leaf cloaks covered almost every part of the wearer.

Now, looking at the official lying on the ground, it seemed as if he had merged with the earth.

In modern terms, this was like an alternative camouflage uniform.

“Mr. Zhongde, what do you think?” Qiao Yan turned to Cheng Li.

“It’s excellent for monitoring activities in the mountains,” Cheng Li’s eyes flashed with excitement.

Others might not see the deeper meaning of Qiao Yan’s actions, but he certainly did.

If they wanted to lure the enemy into a trap, they had to appear as if they had defenses, but not too many.

At the very least, they couldn’t have obvious patrols in the nearby mountains.

By doing this, the scouts sent by the enemy would have a hard time noticing any hidden observers when they arrived.

Cheng Li had previously wondered if, besides setting the grain warehouse in a particularly strategic location,

Qiao Yan would also have people hidden in the mountains to monitor the situation.

These people would need to be particularly skilled at tracking and hunting in the mountains.

With these cloaks, many problems were solved.

All that was needed was for some of the county officials to wear these cloaks and lie hidden in strategic positions.

Given that there were only two paths from the Black Mountains to the grain warehouse that didn’t pass through the county town, this greatly reduced the area they needed to monitor.

In Cheng Li’s view, twenty people would be enough to cover these essential paths, and they could do so without being detected.

And twenty people—

This number didn’t even need to come from the young and strong men selected yesterday from Le Ping County.

It could be filled just by using some of the existing county officials.

Qiao Yan didn’t want too many people to know about this plan, not even Bao Hong, the Lieutenant of the Northern Army was informed.

Only these twenty county officials followed her up the mountain.

At this moment, seeing these people dressed in this special attire one after another, she walked around them to ensure there were no issues with their change of clothes.

After confirming everything was in order, she said, “I’m ordering you to ambush in your respective positions for ten days, alternating between day and night shifts. When changing shifts, you must go north and circle around Snow Kiln Ridge to find the path down the mountain back to the city. Anyone who tries to be deceitful and cunning by taking the White Dragon Path…”

Her gaze swept over the people present like lightning, carrying a hint of intimidation in her eyes.

Then, she slowly said, “I don’t think any of you would want to see the consequences of that.”

Because everything the county marquis had done was full of indescribable incredibility, even though she didn’t specify the punishment, they couldn’t help but shudder.

Seeing her intimidation was effective, Qiao Yan softened her tone and continued, “But rest assured, whether the bandits appear within these ten days or not, and regardless of who discovers their whereabouts, I will personally double your salary for this month.”

With this statement, it was enough to make these county officials fulfill their duties for the sake of a doubled monthly salary.

While feeling sorry for her almost empty treasury, she arranged each person in the positions she had decided on earlier.

The reason they had to go north before descending the mountain was that most of the bandits in the Taihang Mountains were distributed in the direction south of the mountains.

To avoid revealing themselves during shift changes, they naturally had to avoid walking on these essential paths.

After arranging everything, she and Cheng Li went down the mountain together.

Although the process of going up and down the mountain seemed to be just setting up watch posts, it took quite some time.

By the time Qiao Yan re-entered Le Ping County, it was sunset.

She looked back towards the Black Mountains, where the forests were covered in a golden hue, and the peaks were shrouded in the glow of the setting sun.

In this sunset, her gaze lingered on the second peak behind the gentle slope nearby, and she smiled meaningfully. “Mr. Zhongde, do you know the name of this mountain?”

“I would like to hear more about it,” Cheng Li replied.

Qiao Yan explained, “The mountain in front is called Xihutai Mountain, and the one behind it is named Lianhua Mountain because it resembles a lotus flower or a palm.

Within Lianhua Mountain, there are peaks such as Shanzhang, Nanzhang, and Houzhang.

I intend to set up an ambush at the peak of Houzhang. What do you think, Mr. Zhongde?”

As she spoke, she pointed towards the direction of Houzhang Peak.

Cheng Li followed her gesture and saw Houzhang Peak, which resembled a palm, extending in the direction they had previously descended.