Tuoba Yilu became furious upon seeing this and said to Zhao Hanzhang, “This person is extremely rude. Little sister, why must you use him? Hand him over to me, and I’ll lead troops out right now to intercept and kill him!”

Zhao Hanzhang hurriedly stopped him, saying, “Elder brother, wait a moment. I still need him to deal with the Xiongnu for now.”

Since the conversation had reached this point, Tuoba Yilu glanced at the weapons laid out and said through gritted teeth, “Little sister, don’t worry. I’ll return immediately to muster troops to help you.”

Zhao Hanzhang’s eyes lit up upon hearing this. She grabbed his hand, which immediately transformed into a firm grip, “Elder brother’s righteousness is admirable. Once we quell the Xiongnu rebellion, I will definitely petition His Majesty to request the appointment of a crown prince for Dai Kingdom.”

Tuoba Yilu’s eyes also brightened. He liked straightforward people like this—everyone stating their terms clearly, avoiding endless guessing games.

He stared intently at Zhao Hanzhang and asked, “Little sister, is this true? Can you really obtain a crown prince appointment for my Dai Kingdom?”

Zhao Hanzhang nodded with complete certainty, “Elder brother, rest assured. Other matters might be difficult, but this is not difficult for me.”

Indeed, it wasn’t difficult. This was just a matter of Zhao Hanzhang saying a word. His question was whether Zhao Hanzhang was sincere.

Changing Dai Commandery to Dai Kingdom and enfeoffing him as King of Dai only meant that Dai Commandery was his fief. Whether it could be passed to the next generation still depended on the court.

To be honest, if Zhao Hanzhang remained this capable and didn’t make foolish mistakes, he felt that Dai Kingdom might only last his generation. Biliyan definitely couldn’t hold onto Dai Kingdom.

He could already imagine that after his death, the court would delay giving his son the title and fief, and his sons would have no recourse.

But now it was different. Zhao Hanzhang said she would appoint a crown prince.

A crown prince personally appointed by the court would, barring any accidents, directly inherit everything from him. If the court refused to grant the appointment without cause, it would be the court’s fault.

Disrupting the established order—those Han officials who valued rules would certainly not agree to it.

Tuoba Yilu felt this was a worthwhile deal and immediately decided to return and mobilize troops.

Since she was so generous, Zhao Hanzhang additionally gave him one hundred sets of armor, one hundred sabers, one hundred longswords, and one hundred spears, all drawn from her own share, being extremely generous.

Zhao Hanzhang and Liu Kun together escorted Tuoba Yilu out of the city. Glancing at Tuoba Liuxiu standing silently to the side, Zhao Hanzhang feared that father and son might clash again on the road, which would be bad if someone actually died.

Neither Tuoba Liuxiu nor Tuoba Yilu could die at this time, so she said to Tuoba Yilu, “My elder nephew is brave and his martial skills are superior. I hope to see him on the battlefield.”

Tuoba Yilu glanced at Tuoba Liuxiu, his expression darkening slightly as he nodded, assuring Zhao Hanzhang.

Having said this, he mounted his horse and, leading his personal guard and escorting his newly acquired treasures, headed home.

Liu Kun waited until they had gone far, then let out a long breath. Today had truly been dangerous.

Turning his head to look at Zhao Hanzhang again, his heart rose with concern. He hurriedly advised, “Although Shi Lei is domineering, he is currently a fierce general. Moreover, he commands over a hundred thousand troops. Better to yield when possible.”

Liu Kun suggested she soften her stance and placate him.

Zhao Hanzhang’s expression darkened, displeased, “Elder brother has also suffered losses and grievances at his hands. You should empathize with me. Such a person cannot be indulged. I have many generals under my command who lead over a hundred thousand troops. Must I carefully placate each one?”

She sneered, “A barbarian is just a barbarian, not worth strategizing with.”

With that, she turned and left with a sweep of her sleeves.

Liu Kun was stunned, then sighed. She was truly angry, even speaking harsh words. Well, Shi Lei was indeed infuriating enough. He considered himself broad-minded, yet had been angered enough to want to draw his sword and kill the man.

Liu Kun shook his head, no longer trying to persuade her, and followed with his hands behind his back.

Somehow, the words they had spoken outside the city reached Shi Lei’s ears and spread secretly, angering him so much that he smashed many things in his tent.

The next day before dawn, a small contingent quietly left Jinyang carrying Shi Lei’s letter, heading toward Fanyang.

At this time, Wang Jun was stationed in Fanyang, primarily intercepting the Xiongnu’s retreat deeper into Youzhou.

He had forcibly seized territories under his control in Jizhou, such as Zhongshan Kingdom and Changshan Commandery, incorporating them into Youzhou.

Shi Lei began to keep a low profile, rarely appearing in Jinyang city anymore, and no longer managing Jinyang’s public order. He even withdrew the two thousand soldiers he had given to Zhao Kuan.

Although he rarely appeared in public anymore, the officials and soldiers inside and outside Jinyang knew he and Zhao Hanzhang were in conflict, their relationship rapidly deteriorating. Everyone was on edge, fearing they might clash in Jinyang at any moment.

Because of this worry, everyone paid less attention to the human trafficking case. Even when Zhao Kuan led people to raid a copper mine and arrested many people, it didn’t cause much of a stir. Everyone was afraid that if Zhao Hanzhang and Shi Lei fought, Jinyang would suffer catastrophic casualties.

At this critical moment, Zhao Kuan discovered three large mass graves near the mine. Upon excavation and counting, there were approximately over five thousand corpses, with more than half already reduced to white bones, the remainder in the process of becoming skeletons, and even over three hundred relatively fresh recent corpses.

Once the case was made public, Jinyang was shaken. The refugees and common people together surrounded the Governor’s Mansion, nearly beating Liu Kun to death inside.

Liu Kun was rescued from the Governor’s Mansion, still clutching that piece of paper. He couldn’t believe the results and, disregarding his attendants’ dissuasion, headed directly toward the mine.

The attendant worriedly muttered behind him, “Your Excellency, Your Excellency, it was Magistrate Zhao who sent people to rescue you. Even if you must go to the mine, you should first report to Magistrate Zhao that you’re safe, otherwise she will worry.”

Liu Kun walked forward with his head down, passing a mountain path only wide enough for one cart. He glanced at the wheel ruts pressed into both sides. There was no grass growing on the ruts, indicating this road was frequently traveled.

Were these carts for transporting corpses?

Liu Kun reached the end and saw Zhao Hanzhang standing with her back to him. Hearing movement, she glanced back, and upon seeing it was Liu Kun, her expression remained impassive as she turned her gaze away, continuing to look down at the large pit before her.

The Zhao Family Army soldiers wore thick white masks on their faces as they excavated the bones. The bones had not yet been completely cleared out. Those pressed at the very bottom were scattered white bones, and they could only estimate how many bodies were buried based on the skulls.

In an irregularly shaped pit about ten meters in diameter, they didn’t even need shovels—they could simply scrape with their hands and pull out several bones with each handful.

Even the Zhao Family Army personal guards, who were accustomed to death, now had pale faces, occasionally running aside to vomit, their eyes red as they looked at this mass grave.

Zhao Kuan climbed up from below, his face pale as he reported, “This is the largest and oldest of the three mass graves. According to the mine steward’s report, it existed before Magistrate Liu arrived in Jinyang. This copper mine was originally operated by the Jinyang government office, using mostly criminals as miners, with a small number of purchased slaves. But later, when Jinyang fell, all the officials fled, the miners rebelled and also fled, and the mine was abandoned.”