My lord, spare his life!

Who could have imagined the war would develop this way?

When the eldest brother-in-law received the news, he was stunned.

The thieves… no, the future new master's army has already stormed the prefectural capital. He glanced up at the sky; the sun had only just climbed to its zenith. He counted the number of ambushes he had laid with his fingers and asked in bewilderment, "They're supposed to be the elite troops of the prefecture, how could this be?"

The collapse happened too quickly.

Although he had anticipated that the battle wouldn't last a day, he hadn't expected it to collapse in just half a day. Even if they had switched to street fighting, the battle wouldn't have ended so quickly. The messenger hesitated, unsure whether to speak, which displeased his brother-in-law.

"Is there something you shouldn't say? Tell me."

"There were not many troops to support the ambush inside the city."

A single, simple sentence caused the elder brother's face to change drastically, his features contorted as if he had eaten a pancake laced with excrement. The troops used in this ambush were all from the county's garrison, supported by the county's treasury. However, in addition to these troops, each household also had a private army. Although called private armies, they were also drawing a portion of the county's treasury's funds without actually serving their own purposes.

The prefecture government has no authority to mobilize these troops.

Normally, these private soldiers would be mobilized to support the local garrison, attacking the enemy from both the front and rear. But when they were needed, they vanished without a trace.

"...None of them came?"

"They've come, but they haven't received orders to take action."

Some were about to take action but were stopped at the last minute.

The elder brother clenched his fist: "No one's going to investigate?"

"...they claimed it was because the private soldiers acted on their own initiative and refused to take action."

The elder brother-in-law almost laughed in anger: "We always knew they had their own selfish motives, each one of them... afraid of suffering even the slightest loss, but we never expected them to be so shameful at this crucial moment. Whether it was their private soldiers acting on their own initiative and refusing to send troops, or whether they saw the unfavorable situation and were afraid of losing their own men, so they retreated at the last minute, they know best in their hearts!"

The messenger broke out in a cold sweat. If this got out, the parents and their colleagues would be completely at odds. Fortunately, the situation was chaotic, and no one was specifically eavesdropping: "Parents, what should we do next?"

The elder brother-in-law said, "Let's not move for now."

His household had fewer than a hundred relatives, servants, and guards, and more than half of them were physically weak, unlike those back home. If these people wandered off and got into trouble, he wouldn't even have a place to appeal. It was better to wait and see how things developed. In any case, he had already made overtures to Lü Yuan through Zhe Meng; even if the latter didn't like him, he wouldn't rush over and indiscriminately kill innocent people.

"First, reassure everyone in the household; they were terrified that night as well."

His wife asked the kitchen to cook him a bowl of noodles to tide him over. As he ate, his brain, numb from staying up all night, finally felt a little better. Just after noon, someone knocked loudly on the door.

open the door.

The overwhelming stench of blood made the gatekeeper's legs tremble.

The person in charge was Guan Si's right deputy.

She had a fairly approachable appearance, but even that physical appearance couldn't outshine the chunks of flesh and bone stained on her armor, the blood on the armor plates already dried. Standing outside the door, an outsider would have thought she was leading a troop of men to ransack the entire mansion.

Her voice was a little hoarse: "Are your parents here?"

The gatekeeper shrugged, too afraid to answer.

"If you're here, please let me know something's up."

The right deputy, standing outside the door, showed no intention of drawing his sword, which reassured the gatekeeper and eased his tension: "Please wait a moment, General, I will go and inform your family immediately..."

The deputy on the right nodded: "Hmm."

Not long after, the eldest brother-in-law came out in person.

He expected to see Zhe Meng or someone from Zhe Meng's group, but instead, he saw a complete stranger. The Right Vice-Minister, upon seeing the person, didn't waste any words with him, simply ordering someone to get into the supply wagon and go with her. Seeing this, the elder brother-in-law guessed that they weren't going to kill him.

She lifted the hem of her coat, got into the car, and settled in.

Zhang Yang indeed had no intention of taking his life.

"...What was I thinking before? How could I not have noticed these things were wrong?" Zhang Yang frowned, reflecting on the details of his previous behavior. In fact, looking at it from a different perspective, this world was full of flaws, unlike the game world.

It still comes down to that one sentence—

This game is not a R-rated game.

This means the game can't have any explicit content, and the gore can't be too realistic. For example, the color of the blood will be slightly altered. Zombie or plant-type NPC monsters will either bleed but ooze pus, or have no blood at all; the "blood" they spit out when injured will be black, white, blue, yellow, or green... Only the blood of legitimate human NPCs will be pinkish. Players will also bleed when injured, but their bleeding will be extremely restrained!

The battlefield is a different story.

If an artery is severed, a jet of blood will spurt out, and the amount of bleeding will be staggering.

The more Zhang Yang thought about it, the more embarrassed she felt, so she simply put the idea out of her mind. As long as she didn't want to remember, she could pretend nothing had happened. When her brother-in-law came looking for her, Zhang Yang was trying her best to eat to save her already depleted strength.

Dry rice is fine...

But the older brother-in-law saw several familiar faces.

If I'm not mistaken, these mangled human heads had been arguing with him just a few hours ago, and now they were all dead.

He stopped outside the door, his face ashen.

Zhang Yang looked up and saw the yellow nameplate above his head: "You're the brother-in-law of Rabies, right? Come in, what are you doing standing at the door?"

It wasn't that she intentionally wanted to address him so intimately, but since his official title was "Zhe Meng's elder brother-in-law," Zhang Yang simply called him that too: "Kuangquan said you've been serving and managing affairs here for several years, and are very familiar with all aspects of the prefecture, right?"

The elder brother-in-law forced himself to remain calm: "I am unworthy of such praise."

"What's there to be ashamed of? If I weren't familiar with this, I wouldn't be able to handle logistics and coordination. Please, take a seat wherever you like." Zhang Yang noticed his gaze lingering on that row of heads. "You know them?"

"...You are all my former colleagues."

Zhang Yang said, "Oh, they were really careless."

The elder brother-in-law moved his lips.

Yes, you could lose your life if you're not careful.

Seeing the unfavorable situation, this group chose to remain still, unwilling to lose any more of their private troops. Little did they expect to run into such a ruthless opponent, losing their lives in a completely haphazard way. Their heads are now lined up here, ready to be used as food. This female ruler certainly has a good appetite.

The elder brother-in-law calmly sat down.

At this moment, he noticed Zhang Yang's seat.

He guessed that this person's status was probably above Zhe Meng's.

"...I wonder how they died?"

Zhang Yang said, "The order was that those not wearing armor or carrying weapons would not be killed, but the rest would be killed. They didn't surrender, and they were all fully armored and armed. Why wouldn't we kill them? Two of them fell into my hands, but the rest were killed by the Hundred Ghost Guards. I couldn't interfere. What, are there any relatives or close friends of yours among them?"

He doesn't look like he's grieving.

The elder brother shook his head: "Just a little sad."

However, his fear of Lu Yuan deepened even further.

Lu Yuan is planning to wipe out several troublesome powerful families in Zongren County, leaving only the obedient ones, so that she can truly control Zongren County in the future. Her scheming is quite profound. On second thought, Lu Yuan was able to lie low under the command of her family's annihilation enemy for many years, seizing the opportunity to strike back—isn't that enough to show how deep her cunning is?

However, she was usually a flirtatious and amorous woman.

No matter how much scheming one has, a terrible reputation can overshadow everything else.

Zhang Yang knew that this person had been recommended by Zhe Meng to help with the work, and wanted to win him over. After thinking for a moment, he said comfortingly, "That's good. The sadness will pass. Just think of these colleagues as resigning and changing jobs. It's normal to never see colleagues again after changing jobs."

Brother-in-law: "..."

"They're just dead, they haven't broken ties with you."

The elder brother-in-law struggled to maintain his composure, forcing himself to agree with her: "...Your Majesty's words are quite reasonable."

Seeing that the reassurance had worked, Zhang Yang continued to focus on his meal.

She only stopped talking once her stamina had returned to a safe level: "What are your thoughts on the reconstruction of Zongren County?"

The elder brother raised his face, which was ashen.

His eyes were somewhat unfocused: "What does the Queen mean?"

Zhang Yang said, "Aren't you very familiar with the administration of the prefecture?"

The elder brother-in-law pursed his lips, turning his sluggish head, trying to keep up with the thoughts of the thug before him. Judging from their few exchanges, this woman was cold-blooded and cruel. If he didn't comply, his life would be in danger. When did Lu Yuan's forces acquire someone like this? Where had Zhe Meng gone, leaving him to face her alone?

"Previously, Lord Lü spent money to purchase a large amount of grain. After discussions within the prefecture, considering that this year's harvest was still acceptable, they sold off all the surplus grain, leaving only the granary. Now, the prefecture's granary has been robbed..."

Are you trying to say that even a skilled cook can't cook without rice?

Brother-in-law: "..."

The situation isn't actually that bad.

He simply wanted to point out that the theft of the county's granary had unsettled the people. If there were any omens of natural disasters this year, and someone easily instigated a mob, the unrest would be uncontrollable. Furthermore, these days everything costs money, so he hoped that when Lu Yuan plundered Zongren County, he would show some mercy and at least leave them some resources.

That's what he implied.

But what Zhang Yang heard was completely different.

She said, "Don't worry, we have a large family business, we're not poor."

Brother-in-law: "..."

Even if you told that to a ghost, it wouldn't believe you.

If Lü Yuan had ample supplies, would he have needed to engage in such large-scale procurement? Judging by the timeline, Lü Yuan must have prepared to attack the Imperial Clan Court and its officials before the mutiny even began. Thinking about this, I find Lü Yuan increasingly insidious.

Zhang Yang: "By the way, where are the county's account books?"

It's strange, really.

I just had the county government searched, but they didn't find any of these.

The elder brother-in-law was not surprised by this question.

Zongren County is different from other places, as can be seen from the fact that private armies can still draw salaries from the county government without actually serving their own purposes. The county government is merely a figurehead; real power is still in the hands of a few families. Naturally, the most important account books are kept in their studies.

Even he couldn't casually look at old accounts from previous years.

It's easy to imagine how problematic these ledgers are.

Zhang Yang waved and called for someone to come.

She turned to Guan Siyou, the deputy, and said, "Go, raid this place."

Brother-in-law: "..."

The right deputy smiled and said, "Your subordinate obeys."

No matter where you are, raiding someone's home is a very lucrative job.

Although she wasn't greedy, she knew Zhang Yang was generous, and that he would give her an extra performance bonus for leading her men on this job. This money would be enough for her brothers and sisters to eat meat and drink wine for a few more days, and for their armor and weapons to be repaired several more times.

The older brother realized something was wrong.

He subconsciously glanced at Zhang Yang's location again.

The other person was sitting in the main seat, still eating, completely oblivious to the fact that he was also in the room. He felt a pang of discomfort at being slighted, but even more so, he was worried about the unknown future.

They dared not be angry, nor dared they speak out.

Zhang Yang asked him, "Is your family wealthy?"

The elder brother-in-law wanted to ask Zhang Yang if his answer about being rich would lead to the question, "Was your family's property confiscated too?" He naturally wouldn't dare, and tried his best to maintain a proper smile: "My family has lived in our ancestral home for generations, and we own some land. We have been managing it for several generations. In times of peace, several members of our clan served as officials, reaching the rank of duke or minister. Although not high-ranking officials, we can still be considered a wealthy family in the area. Our family's assets should be quite substantial."

In times of chaos, families need to grow stronger, but not too large.

A family's wealth is limited; too many children dilute it, while too few children cannot protect the family fortune. In such cases, the only option is often to have the most outstanding children of the next generation stay to marry into the family, while the others marry into the family to maintain their interests through marriage alliances.

Therefore, he is indeed not short of money.

He was diligent and conscientious in his post and did not deliberately seek to amass wealth.

The other party cannot use this as an excuse to raid their home.

Zhang Yang: "...Alright, then you can continue with your original salary for now. Once the situation stabilizes, I'll gradually clarify the financial situation of the various prefectures and counties, and then we'll re-establish unified salary standards."

Having a large family fortune has its advantages.

Employees may be allowed to pay for their own work under certain circumstances.

Brother-in-law: "..."

Every word the other person said was unexpected.

The sword of Damocles hanging over his head hadn't fallen, and he seemed somewhat anxious. Only when Zhe Meng appeared did his tension and anxiety find an outlet, and his taut shoulders visibly relaxed. Zhe Meng hadn't yet tidied herself up; her body was covered in the marks of the battle, and her arrival clearly increased the stench of blood in the room.

"This humble general greets your lord."

The elder brother-in-law's eyes widened slightly. He had vaguely guessed that Zhang Yang was no ordinary person, but he was still somewhat surprised when it was actually confirmed.

Zhang Yang asked, "How are your injuries?"

Getting slashed twice in the melee is normal, but the resilient health bar is unstoppable; even when only a sliver of health remains, it slowly recovers most of its original value.

"Minor injuries will heal on their own if left untreated."

Zhang Yang disagreed with her attitude: "Then you still need to rest and recover properly. What if the wound reopens? Are you prepared to follow in Sun Quan's footsteps?"

Zhe Meng chuckled, "My lord."

"Um?"

"This humble general has done a meritorious service this time, hasn't he?"

She had merits in fighting on the battlefield, in recommending her brother-in-law to be a laborer, and infiltrating the city to assist in planning.

Upon closer inspection, it's not a small amount.

"Of course, I'll remember them all."

Realizing something, he asked Zhe Meng.

"What do you want? Which prize are you eyeing?"

The spoils of war are nothing more than a few kinds: gold and silver treasures or fine horses and carriages. They ask fiercely, what do they want: money, people, or carriages and horses?

Zhe Meng's eyes were bright.

The huge guy immediately knelt down.

"If you do not despise me, I am willing to become your godmother." As long as one is willing to work hard, she can also become one's biological godmother with whom one has no blood relation.

As he spoke, he kowtowed.

Brother-in-law: "..."

Zhang Yang: "...???"

? ?|??w?`)

Zhe Meng: Anything is possible.