Qin Yining didn’t immediately express her stance, her brow slightly furrowed as she looked toward the county magistrate, her eyes full of probing inquiry.

Magistrate Liang stared back at Qin Yining without flinching. He was deeply convinced of his own righteousness, without the slightest hint of guilt. He was certain he was seeking a way out for his brothers, even willing to offend such a noble as Princess Consort Zhongshun in order to stand up for his comrades.

Seeing him like this, how could Qin Yining not guess what he was thinking?

“Silence!” At this moment, Lu Weigui angrily rose to his feet and shouted, “Liang Qiuping! What do you mean by these words! You want to surrender to the enemy?”

“Isn’t what I said correct? Sir, you don’t care about the brothers’ lives and deaths. At critical moments, you can still order everyone to clear a path for you, finding ways to survive no matter what! But what about all these brothers? Must they all lose their lives because of your momentary foolishness?”

Though his words were directed at Lu Weigui, Magistrate Liang’s eyes kept sweeping toward Qin Yining, clearly speaking indirectly, implying that Qin Yining had her own escape route and didn’t care about others’ lives.

Lu Weigui was furious and roared: “Where have I shown disregard for everyone’s safety! If I truly had, why wouldn’t I have broken through earlier instead of waiting until now!”

“If you don’t have such intentions, why not consider more for your subordinates?”

“It’s precisely because I must consider that we’re discussing this matter here, that I haven’t made decisions on my own! But what are you saying? Surrender to the Tatars, then become their blade to kill Zhou people?”

“Otherwise, what else can we do! You nobles all have escape routes, but are we supposed to just die!”

“…”

Lu Weigui and Magistrate Liang argued until their faces were red and necks thick, each holding firmly to their own views, yet they had made their respective thoughts clear.

Lu Weigui wanted everyone to survive, but absolutely would not surrender to the Tatars to fight against Lu Heng. Even if Lu Heng was committing treason, he was still a Zhou person after all.

But Magistrate Liang was willing to betray the Zhou Dynasty for the sake of survival.

Qin Yining didn’t want to judge who was right or wrong between the two, only saying: “Both of you, please listen to what I have to say first.”

The two men glared at each other like ruffled fighting cocks, and only after a long while did they look toward Qin Yining with their anger still unabated.

Qin Yining said, “None of us are clear about what the situation outside the city actually is. Have the Tatars really attacked? Does Duke Dingguo truly lack the strength to fight the Tatars, or can Lu Heng’s people hold the city? We don’t know any of this now. Making decisions based on just a few words heard from outside would be far too hasty.”

Lu Weigui took a deep breath and agreed: “The Princess Consort speaks truly.” Then he looked disdainfully at Magistrate Liang again, “The dust hasn’t even settled and the city hasn’t been taken, yet Magistrate Liang is already thinking of surrendering to the enemy. Isn’t this too early?”

“You!” Liang Qiuping was quite angered but couldn’t find words to refute for the moment.

Seeing the two had a tendency to start quarreling again, Qin Yining frowned and said: “The situation hasn’t been clarified, no solutions have been found, yet you two are already fighting among yourselves. Aren’t you afraid of being ridiculed? Isn’t your decision-making too premature?”

Lu Weigui was startled, then gradually understood, and his expression became embarrassed.

Magistrate Liang wasn’t like Lu Weigui in his thinking. His heart still held a burning anger, and he spoke sarcastically: “The Princess Consort truly speaks without feeling the pain. Your status is noble, even if the city falls, you’ll surely find people willing to die to escort you away, but what about the brothers! No matter how chaotic the court becomes, no matter how the Tatars advance, what does it have to do with us! We’re not the ones enjoying fine food and drink, wearing gold and silver in normal times, but when trouble comes, we’re expected to die!”

It must be said that Liang Qiuping was extremely skilled at stirring emotions. During the argument, some of the bailiffs who came with them already felt the same way, and now with these few words, he had stirred up the emotions of the bailiffs and runners again. Regardless of whether the court’s treatment was generous, people have greedy natures – given a little good, they want even more. They would only think Magistrate Liang’s words made sense, directly hitting their thoughts.

The crowd had been relatively quiet originally, but hearing Magistrate Liang’s words, each became increasingly emotionally agitated.

Indeed, with soldiers at the city gates, the feeling of facing death was too terrible. This sensation of having a blade hanging over their heads, of having reached a dead end, was not something these people who usually lived better than ordinary citizens could bear.

Being rebuked so, Qin Yining didn’t get angry at all.

Under the pressure of fear, human hearts naturally become sensitive and restless. Even if she said more now, it wouldn’t have any effect; it would only make people more firm in their own thoughts.

So Qin Yining said calmly: “I won’t let people die in vain. Right now we’re surrounded and can’t know the real situation outside. It’s not easy to know what their actual plans are. If you have doubts in your hearts, it’s not appropriate to make decisions immediately. You can observe for a while before deciding.”

At this point, Qin Yining smiled mockingly: “You’re not people I brought anyway, so I don’t really have the qualification to command you. If you feel that following me won’t lead to any way out, you’re free to do as you wish. But there’s one thing I must make clear first.”

Qin Yining looked around, seeing that everyone’s attention was on her, then said: “The Tatar people are not of our race. For years they’ve raided the borders, committing every evil against the border people – burning, killing, and plundering. When they gather provisions, it’s our people who suffer. Facing such wolves, whoever harbors thoughts of surrender, I will absolutely not forgive lightly.”

Hearing this, the men couldn’t help but fall silent.

Some were reflecting, while others remained unconvinced.

“The Princess Consort speaks so easily. You were born noble, lived in luxury – how could you understand the hardships of common people below? Duke Dingguo is Prince Zhongshun’s sworn brother, and at critical moments will surely come to rescue you,” Magistrate Liang said mockingly, “You have your own escape route, so you don’t consider the brothers’ lives? When you run away, how do you expect us to survive? If we don’t surrender to the Tatars, should we just willingly go die?”

Qin Yining simply couldn’t understand how there could be such a person who could speak of treason and betraying the country so righteously.

Qin Yining became even less inclined to try persuading the other party, because dogs only focus on the bone in front of them, pigs only see what’s in their feeding trough – speaking human words to non-human things, they won’t understand.

Qin Yining waved her hand and said: “Do as you please.” After speaking, she turned and went into the inner room.

Jingzhe, Ji Yun and the others immediately returned to their positions. After all, this was the government office, Lu Weigui’s territory, so they couldn’t very well see the guests out, but their refusal to continue the conversation was already quite obvious.

Lu Weigui was only angry at Magistrate Liang’s way of speaking, and after going out, he strode quickly to his study.

Magistrate Liang spoke in low voices with the clerk for a few moments, then turned to call the brothers to return to their guard posts.

Inside the room, Qin Yining quietly told Jingzhe: “You need to arrange people to secretly protect Magistrate Lu’s safety. At such a life-and-death crisis, many people will use any means necessary to survive.”

Jingzhe nodded and said in a low voice: “You suspect they’ll harm Magistrate Lu?”

“They might not kill Magistrate Lu, but they could bind him and use him as a bargaining chip to negotiate with the Tatars. Actually, their best bargaining chip isn’t Magistrate Lu, but me.”

Ji Yun, remembering Qin Yining’s experiences among the Tatars, felt the hair on her back stand up.

“Princess Consort, please don’t speak carelessly. You won’t experience those things again. We’ll all do our utmost to protect you and absolutely won’t let you fall into Tatar hands.”

Seeing Ji Yun so nervous, Qin Yining couldn’t help but pat her hand and smile: “I know, so while protecting Lu Weigui, you must also find ways to protect me.”

Jingzhe said seriously: “Princess Consort, rest assured. Even if we must sacrifice our lives, we will keep you safe.”

Qin Yining waved her hand, “Why would you need to go so far? Besides, from now on, if there’s no opportunity to break through, I simply won’t go out anymore – that will make it easier for you to protect me.”

Jingzhe smiled and agreed. Seeing that Qin Yining could still chat and laugh casually at such a tense time, he couldn’t help but admire her, and even his own nervous emotions were greatly relieved.

“Princess Consort, do you think Duke Dingguo can win?” Jingzhe asked.

Qin Yining said: “Duke Dingguo’s abilities are beyond question. If there are some setbacks, it’s probably because he was caught off guard by the enemy. However, as long as he catches his breath and is given time to adjust, he’ll certainly be able to hold this place and prevent Tatar invasion.”

Speaking of which, it was quite ridiculous – the person who had been attacking Huichuan County from outside the city now had to turn around and directly face the Tatars.

How exactly did the Tatars arrive? Did they disguise themselves and enter the Zhou Dynasty, or did they directly advance their troops to achieve their goal? Or perhaps, did someone provide assistance?

Thinking of this, Qin Yining’s expression became even more grave.

If there really were traitors, Ji Zeyu’s actions would become much more difficult.

She wondered how Pang Xiao’s injuries were doing now. If he weren’t injured, he surely would have come directly to take her back by now.

Qin Yining’s thoughts wandered, and before she knew it, an hour had passed.

During this time, everyone listened carefully to what Lu Heng’s subordinates were saying outside the walls. They discovered that not only were they worried, but Lu Heng’s men were equally concerned about the Tatar invasion.

By evening, the conversations outside had changed again.

“Duke Dingguo might also be at the end of his rope. Being defeated by his former opponent like this – doesn’t he feel regretful?”

“If Duke Dingguo had brought the Dragon Cavalry Army, he definitely could have made the Tatars cry for their mothers!”

“But now we’ve been abandoned here like this, and we’re about to ‘cry for our mothers’ too.”

“Who knows what it looks like outside the city now.” Qin Yining frowned as she spoke.

Ji Yun shook her head, and just as she was about to speak, they suddenly heard the deep voice of Da Han, who was on guard duty outside the door: “Who are you! This is the Huichuan County government office, not a place for random people to enter!”

The words had barely finished when they heard Da Han say in great surprise: “It’s you who’ve come! Please come in quickly.”

The difference in attitude was so great that even Qin Yining felt puzzled.

Ji Yun went to lift the door curtain and saw a tall, thin figure walking in. He held a mask as thin as cicada’s wings in his hand, with delicate features – it was Mu Jinghu! It seemed that he had just been questioned at the door because Mu Jinghu had removed his disguise, which caused the person to calm down and completely change his attitude.

Qin Yining said with pleasant surprise: “How did you come back? Why aren’t you staying home to spend more time with Boss Qiu and Yan Ge’er?”