As Gao Delai’s words fell, the seaside became quiet. The common people in the distance, upon hearing these words, breathed a sigh of relief knowing that the other party would not harm civilians. Some remained tense facing the formidable army, some feared they might not keep their promise, but most were worried about their family members within the military forces.

They had already lost so much due to the war—family members, homes. Now facing such powerful opponents with few against many, they had absolutely no chance of victory.

This point was also clear to the troops under Ishikawa Sanao’s command.

On one hand, they felt vigilant and deeply indignant about the foreign landing. On the other hand, they anticipated Ishikawa Sanao’s decision.

Ishikawa Sanao noticed the constant evaluating gazes from everyone, his face growing increasingly purple with anger.

Was it dignity and reputation, or life itself?

But looking at the current situation, even if he immediately sacrificed his life and fought desperately, once his subordinates were all dead, his reputation would still be ruined. When the opponents occupied Mizusawa Kingdom, wouldn’t they still publicize his past deeds?

Never mind whether the common people would actually believe it.

The power of discourse always rests in the hands of the strong!

Ishikawa Sanao thought that losing both life and dignity would be worse than preserving his life to plan for the future.

However, he who had always been known for his valor found it still difficult to openly submit in front of others.

Hot sweat dripped down through the gaps in his armor. The golden light of the setting sun ahead was so piercing he couldn’t open his eyes. Those thousand-plus people standing with their backs to the setting sun still maintained their formation in complete silence. Ishikawa Sanao suddenly felt his heart turn ice-cold.

He even somewhat bewilderedly wondered how he had come to this point.

Was it only because of Sakurai Hideaki’s incident from years ago?

Qin Yining said, “Lord Ishikawa, what is your decision?”

Everyone’s eyes immediately focused on Ishikawa Sanao’s face.

Ishikawa Sanao’s lips trembled, unable to utter a single word.

Qin Yining raised her hand and made a gesture.

The commander of the prince’s mansion guards standing at the dock immediately roared loudly, “Ha!”

Following this, over a thousand guards simultaneously assumed ready positions, shouting in unison with earth-shaking volume, “Ha!”

This synchronized roar brought intense shock, frightening the people of Mizusawa Kingdom into huddling together. Among the more than two hundred soldiers of Mizusawa Kingdom, the younger ones even sat down on the ground on the spot.

Ishikawa Sanao shuddered and nearly fell off his horse. In his panic, the choice in his heart had already blurted out.

“The first option, the first option! I choose the first option!”

Gao Delai translated Ishikawa Sanao’s words to Qin Yining. Qin Yining smiled slightly, “Good, then I will honor my agreement, and I ask that you honor yours as well. Tomorrow morning, you will bring your subordinates and family to personally welcome Sakurai. I require you to gather the people of Mizusawa Kingdom, with at least one person from each household attending Sakurai Hideaki’s funeral!”

Making him bow and confess his crimes to Sakurai in front of the entire nation’s people?

Ishikawa Sanao flew into a rage, glaring furiously as he said, “Don’t push your luck!”

In response, the prince’s mansion guards once again roared with earth-shaking volume.

Ishikawa Sanao’s mount was startled and paced restlessly. He expended great effort to steady himself.

Facing such absolutely dominant military force, he had no power to choose, much less any ground for reasoning.

For a moment, Ishikawa Sanao felt extremely embarrassed and only wanted to escape this place. Without time for careful thought, he had already turned his horse around and, not caring whether there were still people in front of him, directly spurred his horse to break through, galloping toward his mansion at breakneck speed, as if evil spirits were chasing him from behind.

The samurai and nobles also hurriedly spurred their horses to follow.

Seeing that the daimyo and samurai had all fled, the more than two hundred soldiers of Mizusawa Kingdom had no fighting spirit left and immediately scattered like birds and beasts.

Qin Yining sneered mockingly. Thinking that Sakurai had actually been exiled by such a despicable villain, leading to his tragic life, she felt another wave of melancholy and regret.

“Alliance Leader, this time was truly exhilarating!” Liao Zhibing and Gao Delai laughed heartily. This feeling of using open strategies, fighting with clear methods in the open, and crushing opponents with sheer strength was simply incredibly satisfying to body and mind!

At this time, a small boat slowly approached the shore. Xu Weizhi and Xie Yue walked onto the dock with the support of escort soldiers.

Qin Yining also disembarked from her ship. Seeing the two men, she smiled and said, “Both gentlemen timed this perfectly. Whether early or late, the intimidation effect on Ishikawa Sanao would have been halved. This has truly been hard work for both gentlemen.”

“The princess’s signal came in time, otherwise our journey would have also taken some time.”

Xie Yue and Xu Weizhi smiled as they looked around. The two men walked in circles twice, laughing as they said, “How long has it been since we set foot on solid ground? After getting off the ship, this old man feels like he’s swaying while walking now.”

Qin Yining giggled, “I was the same way when I first disembarked. Even now I still feel unsteady walking. I imagine after we return, it will take some days before we can adapt.”

Qin Yining turned back to instruct Ji Dashun and the others, “Tell the brothers to set up camp on the spot and prepare meals. Since we rarely have a chance to come ashore, we won’t stay on the ships. We’ve left helmsmen on the ships, right?”

“We’ve left people there, Princess, don’t worry.” Xie Yue said, “Since the princess just told that Ishikawa Sanao that we wouldn’t disturb the common people, let’s not have our troops enter the city.”

“I was thinking the same thing. However, we need to replenish food and fresh water from the ships. We’ll leave a small portion of people to transport water, and bring some others to purchase rice and grain.”

“That sounds good.” Xu Weizhi agreed approvingly, “The prince governs his army strictly. When fighting in the past, he also never disturbed the people. If we maintain this style, it will help our troops develop good habits in the future. The princess spoke very well earlier—war is a matter between soldiers and has nothing to do with civilians, women, and children.”

Qin Yining smiled slightly, “These are all things the prince constantly talks about. I’m just influenced by him.”

Everyone couldn’t help but laugh.

After arranging everything, Xu Weizhi said, “I wonder how the prince is doing now. Returning to the capital with His Majesty, I don’t know if everything went smoothly.”

Qin Yining thought of the beating Pang Xiao had received, and the smile on her face faded.

“His life should be safe enough. His Majesty still needs to keep the prince alive to force information about the treasure’s location. But suffering is unavoidable. This sea voyage was also a desperate measure—ostensibly for Sakurai’s matter, but wasn’t it also to avoid the spotlight? Once everything is resolved, we’ll return.”

Leaving Pang Xiao alone in the capital to bear everything, Qin Yining was completely uneasy.

Xie Yue and Xu Weizhi also nodded. Seeing Qin Yining’s deeply furrowed brow, they smiled and comforted her, “Princess shouldn’t worry too much. First, the prince has extremely strong adaptability, and with guards protecting him, self-preservation is sufficient. Second, things might not be as terrible as we imagine. Moreover, our journey has been smooth, and we’ll return soon. When the time comes, we’ll meet soldiers with generals and floods with earth—as long as we work together with one heart, there’s nothing we can’t resolve.”

Qin Yining nodded in agreement.

She thought the same way.

It’s just that while the reasoning was simple, not worrying about Pang Xiao was impossible.

Meanwhile, Pang Xiao, who was currently the subject of Qin Yining’s worries, was actually not living as miserably as she imagined.

After Li Qitian returned to the capital, he followed Pang Xiao’s advice and stationed outside the city. After the officials respectfully welcomed the imperial carriage, several consecutive days of governmental affairs completely occupied his attention.

He was busy cleaning up the remaining followers of the Lu family, dealing with the famine following the floods, and urgently searching for the treasure. For a time, he was so frantically busy that he couldn’t tell what day it was.

Under such circumstances, Li Qitian naturally had no time to deal with Pang Xiao.

Pang Xiao returned to his imperially bestowed residence. What had originally been a large household now had only him alone at home, naturally making his heart feel empty and desolate.

Fortunately, he knew Qin Yining would return soon, and his large family was peacefully spending their days in Xiyue, which made his heart feel somewhat better.

Additionally, Ji Zeyu often came secretly to see him. The two exchanged court news and suggestions, and occasionally chatted casually, which greatly lifted Pang Xiao’s spirits.

At night, Ji Zeyu once again avoided the guards and came to the outer courtyard study.

As soon as he pushed open the door, he saw that wine and dishes had already been prepared on the side table placed by the window. Pang Xiao sat cross-legged on one side, smiling as he pointed to the opposite side, “I knew you’d come at this hour.”

Ji Zeyu smiled slightly, his clean and handsome face appearing like the finest flawless jade in the dim lamplight.

“Are your injuries better today?” As he spoke, he also sat cross-legged across from Pang Xiao, first picking up the wine bowl for a couple of sips.

“They’re all healed—just surface wounds.” Pang Xiao poured wine for Ji Zeyu, saying, “Don’t drink on an empty stomach. We’re just here to chat, so eat more food. This roasted chicken was specially made according to your taste.”

Ji Zeyu had a sweet tooth, so the roasted chicken was made with a sweeter flavor.

Pang Xiao tore off two chicken legs and placed them in Ji Zeyu’s bowl.

Ji Zeyu didn’t stand on ceremony, taking a chicken leg and biting into it heartily. After a while, he sighed again, “My people discovered today that there are more and more starving people along the rivers. We have roasted chicken to eat, but they can’t even get one bowl of thin porridge a day.”

As he spoke, he put down the chicken leg and sighed heavily again.

Pang Xiao set down his wine bowl and said in a low voice, “You also know that Sister Ning has some businesses. To be honest, more than a month ago, Sister Ning had already instructed her head steward to go south for disaster relief. By now, the silver in his hands has reached rock bottom. But with so many mouths to feed, it’s not something that can be sustained by one person’s financial resources alone. I’ve also contributed silver to supplement Sister Ning’s efforts, but our strength is ultimately limited. For such matters, it would be best if His Majesty took action.”

The implications of the latter words were already sufficiently moving without elaboration.

Where would His Majesty have the mood to take action? He was nearly driven to madness over the treasure. Even his targeting of the Lu family faction arose from the treasure matter.

Both Pang Xiao and Ji Zeyu knew clearly that Li Qitian’s attention was not on the common people at all.

The two sat in relative silence. After a long time, Ji Zeyu remembered another matter.

“By the way, I heard some news. The spies around His Majesty were sent out before you returned to the capital. I heard they were dispatched to investigate the whereabouts of the Qin family. Do you have enough people with the Qin family? If they encounter His Majesty’s spies, what are your chances of victory?”

Upon hearing this, Pang Xiao’s brow furrowed tightly.

“His Majesty arranged people before I returned to the capital?”

“Yes. Princess Imperial mentioned it in casual conversation. She heard it when she entered the palace and was at the Empress Dowager’s place. I don’t know whether this news is true or false. But as you know, although women’s casual conversations may seem irrelevant, they always bring up things that none of us men know about.”