Seeing the gloomy faces of the group in front, Jiang Chen quietly tugged on the sleeve of the person in front of him.

"Didn't they say that city entry fees were abolished long ago? How dare they openly defy the law?"

Hearing Jiang Chen's question, the man in front sighed helplessly.

"You don't understand these things; you must be from out of town. The city entry fee, although the Emperor abolished it long ago, there are many bandits and robbers in this Jiangnan region. These people protect us, so we can only obediently pay some fees to thank them for their actions."

"However, it is rumored that all of this is just a means for the Su family to amass wealth. For people like us who are poorly clothed, they probably only collect two or three thousand coins as a token gesture. But for someone as well-dressed as you, wanting to enter the city without three to five taels of silver is just a pipe dream."

While the person in front was chatting with Jiang Chen about these matters, the guards standing at the gate naturally noticed Jiang Chen and the others chatting idly. After roughly hearing what Jiang Chen and the others were talking about, the guards who were just collecting money at the gate directly dropped the wooden bar blocking the city gate and walked towards Jiang Chen.

"What are you people doing? Don't you know you can't gather and make noise at the city gate? I suspect you are scouts sent by the bandits. Come with me to the yamen."

As he spoke, the guard wanted to reach out and pin Jiang Chen to the ground. Just as he was about to make a move, the few people behind Jiang Chen moved, kicking these guys to the ground one after another. After all, facing these good-for-nothing local militias, the experts traveling with Jiang Chen could easily defeat them even with their eyes closed.

Just as Jiang Chen was about to ask these guys some questions, suddenly an arrow shot towards Jiang Chen from the city tower. If someone hadn't been quick-eyed and quick-handed and caught the oncoming arrow, Jiang Chen would have been injured.

Before they could start questioning, a group of people rushed out from the other side, holding spears, and directly aimed their spearheads at Jiang Chen and the others.

"How dare you openly attack coffins! Aren't you bandits being a little too arrogant? This is a city under Lord Su's rule; how can we tolerate you little people being arrogant here?"

"If you don't want to die, then obediently come with me to the yamen; otherwise, don't blame us for being impolite."

As they spoke, they moved the spears in their hands closer to Jiang Chen. Sensing that Jiang Chen might be in danger, these imperial guards immediately took action. The people who were just riding tall horses and flaunting their power were all knocked to the ground, and the weapons in their hands had long been taken over.

Seeing that Jiang Chen dared to openly attack these people, the person who had been chatting with Jiang Chen was instantly pale.

"You guys should run! If Lord Su leads the other soldiers out, you'll be in trouble."

Thinking of some things that had happened before, this person trembled like a leaf. He had once been a family slave of another wealthy merchant, escorting goods all the way to Jiangnan.

But before long, after arriving here, almost all of his wealth was directly seized by Lord Su under false pretenses. As for the master who came with him, Lord Su casually found an excuse to throw him into prison.

Seeing that Jiang Chen was taking risks, he couldn't help but panic.

But what he didn't expect was that no matter how he tried to persuade them, Jiang Chen and the others showed no intention of leaving.

"Looking at your appearance, you should leave quickly; this is not a place to reason."

Seeing this person's anxious appearance, Jiang Chen realized that this seemingly rich Jiangnan might be deeper than he thought.

Before Jiang Chen could think for a moment, another group of people rushed out of the city quickly. Seeing that they were all wearing armor and holding weapons, pointing at them, Jiang Chen had already made up his mind to kill.

You should know that these local militias are usually only equipped with weapons, not armor. After all, armor is a military item that is truly completely controlled.

But he never expected that the Su family would even allow their subordinates to privately hoard armor. If this were brought before the court, it would be a major crime of treason.

"Where are you people from? Why do you dare to cause trouble here? I, Su Mingtao, will not tolerate you bandits causing chaos here."

As Su Mingtao spoke, he kept winking at Jiang Chen. After all, all the bandits within a dozen miles were cultivated by them. Although he couldn't recognize every bandit, almost all the bandits had seen him.

While Su Mingtao was thinking about how Jiang Chen would cooperate with him to put on a show of bravely capturing the bandits and how he should write to the court to request credit for himself, the people beside Jiang Chen put Jiang Chen behind them and pointed the spears in their hands outwards.

Seeing Jiang Chen's group, Su Mingtao waved his hand, and his subordinates quickly pressed forward. Although the imperial guards following Jiang Chen were all skilled, they still couldn't gain any advantage against these militiamen in armor. Before long, realizing that they might be injured, Jiang Chen simply waved his hand, and these imperial guards pretended to be defeated and quickly retreated, protecting Jiang Chen behind them.

"You bandits have good martial arts skills. I, Su Mingtao, am not a completely evil person. Seeing that you have such high martial arts skills, I will give you a chance to make amends. As long as you are willing to sign this contract and pledge allegiance to our Su family, we can forgive and forget everything."

As Su Mingtao spoke, he rode his horse forward, wanting to bring these experts under his command. After all, as a member of the Su family's collateral branch, he didn't have a very high status at home. Only by relying on the Xizhou pass, he could barely say a few words in the Su family.

Now, if he could send these experts to the head of the family, his status in the Su family might rise.

But the reaction of these imperial guards made Su Mingtao's face change again and again.

His words of personally recruiting them, which he had just said while sacrificing his dignity, were like air to these imperial guards and received no response.

Thinking of this, Su Mingtao could no longer suppress the anger in his heart, drew his sword, and the next second, these militiamen swarmed up, grabbing the imperial guards, along with Jiang Chen and that unlucky guy, and escorted them all to the prison.

Seeing the people who were still waiting at the gate to enter the city dared to discuss his actions, Su Mingtao directly inserted the steel knife in his hand into the ground.

"Whoever saw that scene just now, stand up voluntarily, and I will give you a decent explanation."