The turbulent winds of the outside world could not shake the small town of Lao Hu.

A continuous half-month of heavy snow had turned it into an isolated island, cut off from the rest of the world.

The Qiao family continued their daily routines of running, practicing martial arts, and studying, following their disciplined schedule.

However, the changes in each of them were clear—one could even say they had been reborn.

Qiao Yunxin, the true descendant of a military general, had warfare ingrained in his very bones.

While he lagged slightly behind his younger brother in reading and writing, he had an instinctive understanding of military formations and strategies.

During training drills, he would consistently defeat Qiao Yunting, leaving him utterly routed.

Even Qiao Yunqing, who had once been able to handle him with ease, now found himself barely securing a narrow victory.

Qiao Yunqing was secretly astonished—his eldest brother was a natural-born military commander.

In their past lives, without proper guidance, his talent had been wasted.

Thankfully, in this life, Qiao Xin was there to mentor him, and it was not too late.

Beyond teaching him swordsmanship, spear techniques, and archery, Qiao Xin also began introducing him to military strategy through stories.

The Great Jing dynasty had taken a different path after the Sui dynasty, with the previous emperor and the new emperor being cousins—many aspects of history here mirrored those of Qiao Xin’s previous world.

She spent 10 merit points in her system to rent an improved version of various strategy books and their explanatory videos for a month.

After hastily absorbing them herself, she then relayed the knowledge to her family every night in a force-fed manner.

How much they could actually learn, however, was out of her hands.

It wasn’t entirely Qiao Xin’s fault—most people preferred to rely on brute strength rather than scheming.

Who wanted to spend every day thinking about tricks and plots when they could simply take the straightforward path?

If her family weren’t so lacking in combat power, she wouldn’t have to go through all this trouble!

With Qiao Yunqing’s cunning mind alone, they should have been able to handle things—but now, she had no choice but to step in with an enhanced version of strategy training.

The wretched system had only rented her the material for a month! “You said this was about farming, so why are we talking about conquest again?” she grumbled.

She did want to settle down and farm peacefully, but without a stable environment, no matter how beautiful a paradise she built, it would never last under the threat of war.

Time was running out, and she could no longer afford to be picky.

The heavy snow had lasted a full month.

In the north, vast areas were buried under white disasters, while the south was frozen stiff.

When spring came, the nomadic tribes would inevitably raid the south for resources. The southwestern barbarians could very well attack Weizhou again.

The imperial court was likely to expand its military recruitment, and there was a high probability that two out of three conscripts would be taken.

When that happened, her family’s most likely fate would be both her eldest and third sons being sent to war.

Qiao Yunxin had just shot another arrow through the bullseye and was about to take a break when Li Zhong burst in, sweating profusely. “Madam Qiao, bad news! The money from selling the meat has been stolen!”

“Stolen? Who would go out robbing in this heavy snow? Where are they now?”

“They’re at my house! I first went to get Uncle Mo to take a look, and then I came here to discuss what to do with you!” Li Zhong’s heart ached—this was the third time.

The first time, they had only lost money, which didn’t involve Qiao Xin, so they hadn’t asked for her help.

But the second time, the stolen goods were part of their joint business with Qiao Xin, and the most valuable item was the tiger pelt she had hunted.

This time, the goods were originally meant to be handed off to the Fan family at the city gates.

All the hunters except for Qiao Xin, who had to stay home for training, had gone out. But before they could even reach the main road, they were ambushed.

The robbers not only took the goods but also injured people.

If they kept quiet any longer, the robbers would escalate to killing and arson!

Three people were injured.

To protect their cargo, they had fought back, resulting in one of them getting a deep cut on the arm, requiring at least ten days to recover.

When Qiao Xin arrived, the injured men looked ashamed and lowered their heads. “Madam, we lost the goods…”

They had vowed to Qiao Xin that they would deliver the items safely, which was why she hadn’t accompanied them. Now, they had utterly embarrassed themselves.

“As long as you’re alive, that’s what matters. Did you recognize who they were?”

“They were bandits from the back mountain. I saw one of them last year when they came to the village,” Wang Dakui spat, his hatred boiling over.

When he first moved here, he had been unaware of the bandits, and his wife had been taken by them. His father had been killed, and his mother had lost an eye. Worse still, he hadn’t been home that day—so he hadn’t even had a chance to avenge them.

The bandits had returned every harvest season, forcing the villagers to resist. Though they had suffered losses, they had at least managed to make the bandits wary.

But now, it seemed the bandits were still watching them!

Qiao Xin was taken aback. “Bandits? Why didn’t you mention this before?”

“Wei Prefecture is surrounded by bandits, just like how the mountains are full of tigers and wolves. The authorities have tried to wipe them out, but each time, they make a big show of it and then do nothing. Eventually, they just gave up.

Originally, the bandits only wanted goods and wouldn’t harm people. But in recent years, they’ve grown greedier, taking both goods and lives. This place is practically lawless—of course, anyone can bully us.”

No wonder. Even beggars didn’t want to settle in Lao Hu Town despite its decent houses—this was the real reason.

Li Zhong looked at Qiao Xin nervously. “We didn’t tell you because we were afraid that if you found out, you’d leave. Then we’d have no hope left.”

Housekeeper Fang had mentioned before that there were many dangers in Lao Hu Town, but Qiao Xin hadn’t taken it seriously. She had thought he was just talking about wild animals—not that it included bandits.

“Alright, I understand. Take care of the injured. Leave the rest to me.”

Back home, she turned to her sons, who were practicing martial arts in the courtyard. “Pack your things. Tomorrow, I’ll take you to see some real blood.”

Qiao Yunxin was stunned. “Where to?”

Qiao Yunting twirled his spear excitedly. “Are we going up the mountain again?”

“Yes, but this time to fight bandits. I’ve long heard that the bandits of Wei Prefecture are just as dangerous as wild beasts, making it impossible for merchant caravans to pass.

I initially wanted to stay out of their way, but now that they’ve dared to rob me, if I don’t retaliate, next time they’ll be crapping on my head!”

“Mother, suppressing bandits is the government’s job. Why must we get involved? Besides, if the bandits didn’t have powerful backers, would they dare to be so brazen?” Qiao Yunqing asked.

“I don’t care who’s backing them. What I do care about is that they crossed the line. And for that, they’ll pay.”

Her tone was light, but Qiao Yunqing could hear the deadly intent behind it.

“I don’t want to fight either—I just want to farm. But if the rich, who eat well every day, still want to steal from the poor, who only have scraps, then I have no choice.”

It was hard to argue with that logic.

“Do we have to go?”

“We have to. The eldest and third sons need to see real blood if they ever hope to survive on the battlefield. This is the perfect opportunity.”

At dawn, Qiao Xin and her sons, armed and dressed in white cloaks, disappeared into the snowy mountains.