Zhao Hanzhang made an effort to recall and finally remembered, “Right, I remember now. Fifth Great-uncle said he was honest and sincere, but I approved him because he was proficient in the Analects and also wielded an excellent gentleman’s sword.”

Xun Xiu, following at her side and rear, overheard this and laughed, “The Governor has excellent judgment. County Magistrate Zhao not only practices the gentleman’s sword well, he also wields the blade quite skillfully. When Shi Lei’s army stormed into Meng County, it was he who led the county office guards and remaining garrison troops to fight in the alleys, holding back the enemy forces and buying time for the civilians. When our reinforcements arrived, Shi Lei’s army hadn’t completely taken control of Meng County, which is why we could recapture it.”

Hearing this, Zhao Hanzhang’s anger subsided somewhat. She felt Zhao Bin might truly not be very skilled at handling certain matters, so she looked at Fan Ying, “Go help him.”

Fan Ying understood, acknowledged the order, and pulled on her reins to stop by the roadside. After the entire procession passed, she turned her horse around and went back to find Zhao Bin.

In these times, even fleeing required certain qualifications—not everyone could manage it.

As a later saying put it quite accurately: whose ancestors weren’t illustrious at some point? Starting from the Yan and Huang emperors, those who could survive through the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the Qin and Han dynasties, and the most chaotic hell-like period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties to finally reach New China—none of them came from simple ancestry.

Returning to the present, those who had the capital to flee at the first sign of war—could they be ordinary people?

Truly ordinary people had no capital to flee. They could only go with the flow, hoping that the invading Jie Hu wouldn’t kill them but would leave them to continue as common people or take them as slaves. They could only follow circumstances.

When entering the city, Zhao Hanzhang had already noticed that apart from a scattered dozen or so people, everyone else wore at least coarse hemp clothing without a single patch.

In this world, those who could wear clothes without patches were either wealthy people or the servants of wealthy people—apart from that, there were no other options.

If the city truly couldn’t be defended, she would naturally let them leave. But right now, with military morale unstable and everyone still defending the city, if they fled, her military and civilian morale would completely collapse.

They were also gathering at the city gates, loudly demanding to leave. Zhao Bin had talked himself hoarse. “Everyone, please rest assured. We can definitely defend Meng County.”

“But what if we can’t? Are you going to make us wait here to die? Magistrate Zhao, Inspector Zhao has always loved the people. Please let us out.”

“If Shi Lei storms into the city again, can you guarantee our lives? Open the city gates and let us out!”

“We’ve paid you grain taxes and donated military supplies. What more do you want from us?”

“Why waste words? Let’s just charge through. They fought again today—who knows when the Jie Hu will storm back into the city?”

At these words, everyone pushed harder toward the city gate, nearly knocking Zhao Bin over.

The soldiers guarding the gate became furious. They crossed their spears left and right, blocking the crowd. The gate officer drew his blade with a sharp sound and stepped forward, shouting, “Fall back! Fall back!”

Those pressed at the very front were jolted by this shout. They also grew angry, rolled up their sleeves, and charged forward, refusing to retreat!

The common people had their own spirit, and the gentry had even more pride. A few mere soldiers dared to shout at them? Everyone pushed forward even harder, almost touching the city gate.

Fan Ying brought a team of personal guards over. Seeing the situation, she kicked her horse’s belly and galloped forward, cracking her riding whip in the air.

Hearing the whip crack and horse hooves, the back portion of the rioting crowd turned to look and quieted down somewhat. But those in front were still shouting to get out, struggling to push forward, their hands almost striking the gate officer’s face.

Fan Ying rode around from another side to get to the front. She directly brought her whip down—not just cracking it in the air like before. The whip struck one of the foremost men’s face with a sharp crack. She pressed her lips tightly and brought the whip down repeatedly, striking over a dozen times. Only then did the clamoring, shoving crowd gradually quiet down.

Fan Ying glared at them unhappily, “Keep making noise! Why have you stopped?”

Zhao Bin saw that several people in front had been whipped by Fan Ying until their faces and arms were bloody. He couldn’t help but want to speak up for them.

Fan Ying turned her head and glared at him, then looked down from her elevated position at these dozens of troublemakers. “With a great enemy at hand, Meng County is under martial law. Anyone who undermines military morale shall be executed without mercy!”

“Go ahead and make trouble—I’ll just kill and bury you all!”

The man who had been whipped three times refused to accept this and shouted through his bloody face, “You dare! Inspector Zhao wouldn’t dare treat us like this…”

“This is the Inspector’s order!” Fan Ying declared loudly. “What do you think you are? Compared to the entire Zhao family army, the Yuzhou army, and all the people of Yuzhou, do you think you carry any weight?”

“The Inspector herself is defending the city here. Do you think you’re more noble than the Inspector?” Fan Ying cracked her whip and turned to the gate officer. “Drive them away. If they dare gather again, whether at the city gates or anywhere else, treat them all as spies.”

“At such a critical time, you dare disturb the people’s hearts—I suspect you’re all spies sent by the Xiongnu and Jie Hu!”

Everyone’s expressions changed drastically as they glared at Fan Ying with anger but dared not speak.

Fan Ying saw that Zhao Bin still hadn’t moved and couldn’t help turning to glare at him again.

Zhao Bin finally reacted and hastily tried to persuade them kindly to leave.

They lingered without departing, unable to resist stealing glances at Fan Ying. They saw her tapping her whip against her palm with a half-smile on her face.

Everyone shrank back and silently turned to leave.

Only then did Fan Ying snort.

Zhao Bin raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead and exhaled deeply, utterly exhausted. “Administrator Fan, thank you.”

Fan Ying couldn’t understand and asked, “Magistrate Zhao, you’re far too gentle with them.”

Zhao Bin said, “They’re all people under my governance. People naturally fear death, especially when they have family. Knowing there’s a war, who would want to stay in the city?”

He continued, “Putting myself in their shoes, if I were an ordinary citizen and if I could flee, I would want to flee too.”

Fan Ying was speechless.

She turned to look at the surrounding soldiers.

Zhao Bin realized his mistake. Seeing the soldiers’ expressions turn grim, he quickly said, “But I am an official. For those like us with responsibilities, naturally the people come first—oh, the Inspector comes first, since we have thousands upon thousands of common people standing behind us, including our own relatives and family. We cannot allow the barbarians to come south.”

Fan Ying’s expression improved slightly. “Good that you understand.”

She silently criticized him—Fifth Great-uncle’s recommendation was indeed accurate. He truly was honest and sincere—just too sincere.

Zhao Hanzhang stood on the gate tower, holding up her telescope to look into the distance.

Xun Xiu also had one in his hand, yet he still enviously looked at the telescope in Zhao Hanzhang’s hands.

He’d heard that the Inspector’s telescope was personally made by Master Fu. The new telescope could see even farther—it was one of a kind.

After looking for quite some time, Zhao Hanzhang lowered her telescope and pointed in one direction, asking, “Can they really camp so peacefully upstream there?”

Xun Xiu asked, “Are you worried they’ll breach the river embankment and use water to attack us?”

He said, “That’s impossible. There’s been little rain this year. The river water is clear with little stored water.”