Qin Yining had witnessed famine firsthand, so she understood all too well what desperate acts starving people would commit when driven to extremes.

Standing beside Pang Xiao, Qin Yining looked at the skeletal common people before her, at the twisted, angry expressions on their yellowed, gaunt faces, at their withered hands raised like tree branches holding broken bowls, and felt as if someone had hollowed out a piece of her heart, leaving her breathless with anguish.

These people shouldn’t have had to live like this!

The incompetent ruler of Great Yan had treated them poorly, and now that the Great Zhou Emperor had taken over, he likewise didn’t regard their lives as worth anything.

They had been suppressing anger and despair in their hearts, but due to their lowly status, they hadn’t dared to act out.

After experiencing disaster after disaster and not being treated as human beings by the Son of Heaven, if they could still maintain their composure, wouldn’t everyone be saints?

Qin Yining felt that she certainly couldn’t manage to feel no hatred at all.

Moreover, this was under the terror of famine.

“What should we do? What should we do?” Qin Yining unconsciously gripped Pang Xiao’s hand tightly.

Feeling the icy touch of Qin Yining’s fingers, Pang Xiao couldn’t help but grasp her hand tenderly, using his palm to warm her.

Having to watch such a scene was truly too unfair to her.

Pang Xiao soothingly rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb, then called out loudly: “Fellow villagers and elders, please quiet down and listen to what this prince has to say!”

“No! We won’t listen!”

“You’re all corrupt officials! You’ve embezzled the disaster relief grain the court gave us! Every day you just use thin gruel to fool us!”

“We surrendered from Great Yan, so in you Zhou people’s eyes we don’t count as human beings!”

“We want food! We want grain!”

…

The people spoke all at once. Normally, such a scene would have whipped up emotions and caused loud shouting. But the starving people simply didn’t have the extra strength to yell. Even speaking to Pang Xiao like this, they had to pause and pant after every few sentences.

They weren’t pure rioters, making Pang Xiao completely unwilling to use violence to suppress violence. He could only call out loudly: “Everyone please calm down. You all know that Great Zhou has been at war for years and originally inherited the mess left by the Northern Ji Kingdom. Add to this that Great Yan’s former Grand Emperor specifically exploited the people’s lifeblood and converted all those tax grains into money and hid it away.

“These people are all extremely clever—poor at governing the country, but each one a master at scheming. They hid the silver away, leaving Great Zhou without enough money to take!

“His Majesty’s heart is with the people, but everyone understands the saying ‘even a clever woman cannot cook without rice.’ Moreover, this is a heavily disaster-stricken area. After the earthquake, the access roads have all been blocked by massive rocks that rolled down from the mountaintops, or cracked and damaged. Horse-drawn carts carrying grain simply cannot reach the city.

“That day, the Princess Consort, just a small woman, trekked through mountains and rivers for an entire day to procure that little bit of rice and sweet potatoes for everyone. To let more people survive while waiting for His Majesty’s relief grain to arrive, we had no choice but to make thin porridge from the limited grain to fill everyone’s stomachs and stave off hunger.”

Pang Xiao’s deep voice carried far through the air, and the chaotic scene quieted somewhat.

“This prince guarantees to everyone that whether it’s His Majesty, this prince, or every court official and constable here, everyone has the same goal: to let the disaster victims survive, to let more people live.

“His Majesty has always been concerned about this place. Relief silver and grain will arrive soon. I can empathize with everyone’s hunger, but no matter what, everyone should persist in staying alive.”

Speaking to this point, Pang Xiao smiled self-mockingly: “Everyone says I’m a demon who kills without blinking—so I’ll bear that reputation. Right now I only hope that everyone can maintain their reason, conserve their strength, and wait as much as possible for rescue from the capital to arrive. For the majority of people to survive, this demon has no choice but to be the villain. If anyone else incites trouble, this prince will not be lenient.”

Pang Xiao’s words made everyone present fall silent.

Only then did people seem to remember that Pang Xiao wasn’t one of those pampered parasites, but a stern soldier who was even more trustworthy than those people in the jianghu.

What he said, he would certainly deliver.

Such thoughts arose in the people’s hearts.

But what had they received after placing their trust and hope before? Abandonment and betrayal from the court!

It had been so during the previous dynasty, and the Great Zhou Dynasty would still be the same—they would only use pleasant words to deceive them, and when the crucial moment came, they would still be the ones sacrificed.

Some of the common people began sobbing.

Someone shouted angrily: “You’re threatening us! There are so many of us—no matter how capable your people are, how many can there be!”

“Exactly! Hand over the grain! Hand over the grain!”

…

Unexpectedly, Pang Xiao’s impassioned speech didn’t quell the riot but instead seemed to make it more intense.

The disaster victims, driven by hunger and anger, surged forward like a tide.

If Pang Xiao’s Tiger Ben Army had been present to follow his commands, it would have been manageable.

But the twenty-odd Dragon Cavalry soldiers present had no such understanding with Pang Xiao. Combined with the constables originally in the government office, even with these people punching and kicking in the crowd, they still couldn’t stop the disaster victims.

Seeing those people rushing toward the government office one by one, Pang Xiao quickly pulled Qin Yining aside.

The disaster victims poured into the already dilapidated government office like locusts.

Perhaps shocked by the tents and collapsed walls in the courtyard, everyone stopped advancing further.

A disaster victim let out a sob.

“This isn’t right. Magistrate Li has always shared our hardships. When we had no houses, he let us live in the government office. When we had no food, he ate thin porridge with us.”

“Yes, when the court had no money to buy rice for us, the grain we’ve eaten these days was all donated by Prince Zhongshun and the Princess Consort. They’ve always been with us.”

“If we charge in like this now, what kind of people does that make us!”

…

Among the disaster victims, these few voices took the lead, and soon a portion of people’s hostility dissipated, their feelings of revenge and destruction no longer so intense.

But the others still wanted to rush inside.

Moreover, from behind the crowd, someone shouted loudly: “They definitely have grain—it’s all been hidden by Prince Zhongshun and the Princess Consort!”

This shout came too abruptly, completely inconsistent with the people’s previous words. Qin Yining immediately sensed something was wrong.

“Your Highness, someone is fanning the flames from behind!”

“I know. I’ve already sent people to investigate.”

Pang Xiao comforted Qin Yining, but his words lacked concrete evidence to calm the nearly starving people.

With that previous shout, some among the disaster victims unwillingly charged into the government office. Some didn’t want to go but were swept along by the crowd. Those disaster victims without strength were knocked down and trampled underfoot, never having another chance to stand up.

This was a chaotic and bloody scene.

Adult roars, children’s and women’s cries, disaster victims trampled to death on the ground, and disaster victims smashing and searching through the government office—these chaotic scenes made it impossible for Qin Yining to continue watching.

She closed her eyes and murmured: “This isn’t sustainable. If it’s like this in just Yang County, what about the other counties? And the old capital? I do suspect someone is fanning the flames behind the scenes, but most urgently, we really have no grain left.”

Pang Xiao frowned and held Qin Yining in his arms, saying quietly: “The grain is all in the hands of wealthy households. But they all refuse to give in. I can only continue negotiating with them.”

Qin Yining moved her fingers and only then realized they had gone completely stiff from the cold.

Such a chaotic scene had truly frightened her.

Not to mention her—even Magistrate Li and the Dragon Cavalry soldiers behind Pang Xiao all had pale faces. None of them had seen such a situation before, but now they had witnessed it.

The people who couldn’t find grain began wailing loudly.

Magistrate Li stood on high ground again to comfort the people.

At this time, Huzi and two elite Tiger Guards brought a raggedly dressed woman forward.

“Your Highness, Princess Consort, we caught a suspicious woman.”

Pang Xiao glanced at the woman and discovered she was a plump, fair-skinned young woman in her early twenties. Although her clothes were tattered and her face smeared with soot, one could tell at a glance that such a healthy appearance couldn’t possibly belong to a disaster victim.

Pang Xiao said: “First take her to a secluded place and question her carefully about what exactly happened and who instructed her to incite the people. If she won’t talk, use military methods to pry open her mouth.”

“Yes.” Huzi immediately responded and, together with the two elite Tiger Guards beside him, dragged the woman away.

But Qin Yining looked at the woman’s retreating figure and said: “Why do I feel that woman looks so familiar? It’s like I’ve seen her somewhere before.”

Pang Xiao said: “Think more carefully.”

Qin Yining frowned in thought.

She really had seen this face before, but the woman’s dress and appearance had interfered with her memory, and she truly couldn’t remember for the moment.

Just then, those disaster victims in the government office came rushing out again like a black mass.

A male voice that had been shouting and fighting for the people bellowed: “They can’t produce grain—they must have hidden it somewhere! Capture Prince Zhongshun and the Princess Consort and ask them where the grain really is!”

“Right, those corrupt officials must have hidden it!”

“Capture them and make them reveal where the grain is!”

…

The people shouted chaotically and charged toward Pang Xiao.

The guards and Dragon Cavalry soldiers quickly blocked them, drawing their sabers halfway from their sheaths.

At this time, someone had already infiltrated the crowd and silently captured the man who had just incited the crowd’s emotions.

Pang Xiao said grimly: “Conserve some of your strength. The grain we managed to procure these days wasn’t meant for you to eat and gain strength to rebel!

“I know everyone’s fears. I can guarantee you that I will definitely obtain grain! Even if you don’t trust me, you should trust yourselves. Put your hands on your hearts and tell me—since I arrived, have I not done everything possible to protect you all?”