Zhao Hanzhang entered the city after dark, but Zhao Erlang did not.

At that time, he had entered the city with Zeng Yue, and many people in the city had seen them.

Everyone knew that Zeng Yue was Zhao Hanzhang’s personal guard who had always stayed by her side, and Zhao Erlang had also returned, which meant Zhao Hanzhang had returned as well.

So many people in the city waited, waiting to see how Zhao Hanzhang would handle these troublemakers.

Although they had been back in Luoyang for several days, they still stubbornly refused to settle down. Their husbands, fathers, and brothers had all been captured by Shi Lei, most of their family property had been plundered or lost, and their family members and clansmen were scattered, currently wandering who knows where. What was the point of staying in Luoyang?

They wanted to seek refuge with relatives and friends—perhaps they might encounter their family members?

Hearing that Zhao Hanzhang had returned to Luoyang, some immediately wrote calling cards and had them sent to the Zhao Residence.

The calling cards were sent to the Zhao Residence like snowflakes. Several families ran into each other at the Zhao Residence gates and immediately began conversing: “Is your family also here to visit Administrator Zhao?”

“That’s right. Life in Luoyang is difficult to bear. My father and brothers were all captured by Shi Lei. Mother wants to take us to Qingzhou to seek refuge with my maternal uncle, so we’ve come to request her permission to leave.”

“Alas, everyone in my family was preserved, but all our wealth was plundered. Now we don’t even have rice to cook with. Staying in Luoyang we only have an empty house. We want to go to Yanzhou to seek refuge with my uncle.”

“Now nearly a quarter of Luoyang’s city has been burned, His Majesty and the imperial clan are not here, and the Xiongnu still raid from time to time. Isn’t staying here just waiting for death?”

“Zhao Hanzhang brought us back for nothing more than wealth, but the wealth has already been plundered by that scoundrel Beigong Chun and Mi Ce. Why must she still detain us here?”

“I’m just afraid what she values isn’t limited to wealth. If she won’t release us then, what can we do?”

“Then I’ll starve to death in Luoyang and see how she deals with it!”

They spoke without avoiding people. The soldiers guarding the gate found it difficult to pretend not to hear, so these words were sent to Zhao Hanzhang along with the calling cards.

While flipping through the calling cards, Zhao Hanzhang said: “Want to go on a hunger strike? Tsk, do they have plenty of food right now?”

The soldier remained silent. They really didn’t. Beigong Chun and Mi Ce had been ruthless. When Zhao Hanzhang permitted them to plunder these aristocratic families, they looted everything they saw and could take. Now their food and provisions were separately arranged by Ji Yuan after returning to Luoyang.

Starving to death was a cruel way to die. There weren’t many people in this world who would actively starve themselves to death, let alone actually accomplish it.

Those who could achieve this were without exception people of great determination.

However, although she didn’t believe they truly had the ability to starve themselves to death, Zhao Hanzhang still took this matter seriously. She pulled out a sheet of white paper and began contemplatively writing a letter of self-reproach.

In Dajin, Luoyang was a city of suffering. Since Emperor Hui ascended the throne, warfare inside and outside Luoyang had been constant.

Today Empress Jia would kill this prince, implicating many people; tomorrow that prince would kill another prince, similarly implicating many people.

Officials and aristocratic families within Luoyang were killed in wave after wave. Some people left Luoyang with their entire families, while others moved in with their entire families.

After the current emperor ascended the throne, Prince Donghai had killed with bloodshot eyes, successfully becoming the eighth prince to control Luoyang. Until now, it had only been three years. No prince had competed with him for Luoyang and the emperor anymore, but Luoyang’s situation had become even worse.

Famine!

The Xiongnu had invaded three times!

Not counting this last time, in the previous two occasions, although they hadn’t broken into Luoyang, they had reached beneath Luoyang’s city walls. Each time the Xiongnu came, the villages outside the city would be completely plundered. If there was grain in the fields, it would be harvested by the Xiongnu, trampled by their horses, or even directly burned.

In any case, their intentions were very malicious.

Under such circumstances, Luoyang’s population continually fled, while those who remained were all people who couldn’t easily flee even if they wanted to.

They were divided into three groups: one part consisted of ordinary commoners without the ability to flee. In Luoyang, they still had shelter, but once they left Luoyang, they would have nowhere to live and lacked the food and money needed for flight, so they couldn’t flee.

One part consisted of people who would rather die than leave their homeland.

The remainder were people who had the ability to flee but couldn’t due to family and national interests.

This group mostly consisted of Luoyang’s aristocratic families.

They had finally gathered the courage to flee Luoyang following Prince Donghai and had certainly already planned their future path.

Because they encountered Shi Lei, they not only lost their family wealth but also lost family members. Among these, how many had been separated from their families?

She knew that at this time they must be thinking about following their plans to seek refuge with relatives and friends, or to search for family members. If it were her, she also wouldn’t want to return to empty, desolate Luoyang.

However, Luoyang needed people!

Zhao Hanzhang could only harden her heart and refuse to permit their migration, forcibly keeping them in Luoyang.

Zhao Hanzhang deeply understood these circumstances and wrote them all in her letter of self-reproach. She told them this was done out of necessity. They were experiencing it, she was experiencing it, and the people around her were as well.

She was currently separated from her mother and maternal clan. Didn’t she want to return to Yuzhou?

Didn’t General Beigong’s Xiliang Army want to return to Xiliang?

Zhao Hanzhang wrote to this point and paused, emphasizing Beigong Chun and the Xiliang Army. They had come to rescue Luoyang and rescue Dajin. They had been away from home for three years already. To return home, they had repeatedly made efforts and rushed about, but until now, they still hadn’t been able to return.

Was it really that mountain pass blocking them?

Of course not. It was the responsibility they carried, their desire to save Luoyang and save Dajin, which was why they still couldn’t return to their homeland.

Zhao Hanzhang earnestly requested them to stay, to remain in Luoyang for at least three years. After three years, they could leave or stay as they wished.

At the end, Zhao Hanzhang wrote: “The separations of life and death, the pain of broken human relationships that result from this, I take upon myself and will bear the karmic consequences. I only hope Luoyang can be defended, preventing the Xiongnu from moving south and bringing devastation to all under heaven.”

After finishing writing, Zhao Hanzhang set down her brush. Too lazy to check it over, she sighed once before handing it out: “Deliver this letter to Scholar Ji. Ask him to polish it a bit, then post it.”

A young girl bowed and accepted it, turning to withdraw. Only then did Zhao Hanzhang see her clearly and called out: “You are… Yigui?”

Zhao Yigui turned back, smiling brilliantly, and performed a deep bow: “Yes, Miss. I passed the academy’s examination. The teachers permitted us to work in the county office. Magistrate Fan selected me, so I’m following her now.”

Fan Ying had gone to Gucheng. Anticipating she wouldn’t return so quickly and having many matters here, she left herself behind to coordinate with Ji Yuan and handle miscellaneous tasks.

Fan Ying had been promoted, becoming Zhao Hanzhang’s Administrative Clerk. She was Fan Ying’s subordinate. With Fan Ying absent, this kind of document delivery and processing fell to her, though there were many things she still couldn’t do—she could only help with delivery and categorization.

Zhao Hanzhang looked at her with gratification and nodded: “Work hard. In the future, this world will rely on people like you to govern it.”

Yigui couldn’t help but smile shyly. She held back but still couldn’t restrain herself, lifting her head to look at Zhao Hanzhang with starry eyes: “Miss, my grades were good, so the teacher specially permitted me to take the surname Zhao. I’m now called Zhao Yigui, with your Zhao.”

Zhao Hanzhang was slightly stunned, then stood up and patted her head, smiling: “Go on, deliver the draft to Scholar Ji.”

“Yes!”

Zhao Hanzhang watched her run off with small steps. The heavy mood from the entire morning improved. At least what she had done had already borne fruit, hadn’t it?

Even if it was just changing one person’s fate, that was still worthwhile.