With a warehouse full of supplies, I stood alone as king in this chaotic world, gun in hand.

Nangong Wu nodded after listening. "Considering that you were completely unaware of this and were able to correct it in time, all soldiers from the East Camp should return to the East Camp to await orders."

I will report this matter truthfully to His Majesty, and you will not be held accountable.

"Thank you for your mercy, Your Highness!" The centurion kowtowed in gratitude.

"Thank you, Your Highness, for your mercy!"

The tens of thousands of soldiers in the East Camp also expressed their gratitude.

"Go back first! Wait for the imperial court to re-investigate you." Nangong Wu told them to return to the military camp and wait.

This is a serious crime of treason, and the imperial court will send people to investigate them.

Upon hearing that the imperial court wanted to conduct another investigation, some soldiers became frightened again.

If a reinvestigation is conducted, the officials sent to investigate will likely be less accommodating, and may even deliberately accuse you of a crime, imprison you, and then force your family to pay ransom.

They've seen this kind of thing many times before.

Nangong Wu saw through their thoughts and said, "Don't worry, I will send people to follow them and I will not wrong an innocent person."

If you truly encounter any injustice, you can come to the Prince of Zhenyuan's residence to appeal to me, and I will certainly uphold justice for you.

Hearing her words, the soldiers' worries dissipated.

"Your Highness, we are relieved to hear your words!"

All the men in the East Camp stood up, lined up, and left.

Those still kneeling in place were all private soldiers whom Nangong Xun had captured and raised.

"You have two choices: go home, or stay and become regular government soldiers," Nangong Wu said to them.

These people are trained and can be incorporated into the regular army if they wish to enlist.

"Your Highness, my father passed away early, and my mother remarried. Only my elderly grandparents are left at home. I'm afraid they can no longer serve the court!" said a man in his thirties.

"Yes, I understand." Nangong Wu nodded to him.

"You were abducted to the mountains, causing you to be separated from your families. The imperial court will provide you with some compensation. Those who have been abducted for more than three months will receive five taels of silver, six months ten taels, one year twenty taels, two years forty taels, and so on. This compensation will be paid by my Zhenyuan Prince's Mansion!"

These people were arrested because of the sins committed by Nangong Xun, and the imperial court failed to rescue them in time. They should be compensated.

The kneeling soldiers were stunned.

Not only were they not punished, but they even received money.

Nangong Heng was also surprised to hear this.

Nearly 20,000 people, with a compensation of 20 taels of silver per year, which is higher than the regular military pay, is a considerable expense! Even the Mu Prince's Mansion couldn't afford that much silver.

"What are you all standing there for? Why aren't you thanking me?" Su Siyan shouted.

The kneeling soldiers finally realized what was happening and hurriedly kowtowed to express their gratitude.

"Thank you for your grace, Your Highness! Long live the Emperor!"

"Get up, everyone!" Nangong Wu raised her hand. "Everyone, line up first. We'll give you your money in a bit. Those who want to go home can go home, and those who want to stay and enlist can leave their names."

There were nearly 20,000 people, and the city was in chaos with nowhere to settle them. They were given silver so that they could go back to their homes.

She then instructed Li Zhan, "Go back to the Prince's mansion and have the steward bring over 100,000 taels of silver."

Nangong Heng, Su Siyan, and several generals following behind were all so shocked that their mouths were agape.

The Prince of Zhenyuan's mansion is truly wealthy; they can just casually produce 100,000 taels of silver. They're incredibly extravagant.

"Yes." Li Zhan accepted the order, mounted a horse, and went back to get the silver.

The private soldiers were overjoyed to hear that they would receive silver and lined up in an orderly fashion.

"Everyone line up! Have you thought about how long you're going to be held captive?" Su Siyan shouted. "If anyone dares to lie about the time, they'll be sorry!"

"Sir!" A soldier raised his hand to him. "I was captured and brought up the mountain the longest. I did population registration and know how long they've been here."

"Alright, come and help." Nangong Wu beckoned to him, "If you stay until the end, I'll give you an extra five taels of silver."

The soldier was overjoyed and hurried over, saying, "Thank you for your trust, Your Highness."

He took out a worn booklet with curled edges from his bosom and presented it to Nangong Wu with both hands. "Your Highness, this is a roster I wrote myself. The names of everyone in Qingfeng Village are all in this book."

Nangong Wu glanced at it but didn't take it. "You can keep it. When the money arrives, just distribute it to them according to the names and dates they went up the mountain."

"A roster?" Su Siyan took the booklet, scrutinizing the man suspiciously. "How do you have something as important as a roster?"

"To be honest, sir, I'm a cook. I was one of the first people they captured and brought to Qingfeng Village, and it's been five years now. I have to cook according to the number of people every day, and I can clearly write down the date of each person they bring," the cook explained to him.

Su Siyan opened the roster to look at it, then closed it again after a while, and said to Nangong Wu, "Your Highness, there should be no problem with this roster."

Seeing his seriousness, Nangong Wu instructed him, "I'll leave the distribution of silver to you. Also, Li Shuang, stay behind. I'll go to the palace first to take a look."

"Whenever you have time, come to the Prince's Palace to see me."

This was something I had promised him before.

"Thank you, Your Highness." Su Siyan was very grateful.

"Okay, do a good job." Nangong Wu said, taking the horse from a soldier.

Suddenly, he felt light and was placed on the horse's back. Then, Bei Chenyan sat down as well.

Nangong Wu was speechless. "Can't you ride one yourself?"

"That's too much trouble. It's not that far from the palace." Bei Chenyan squeezed the horse's flanks, and the horse galloped off towards the city.

"Sister of Prince Runing, I also want to go to the palace to see Father Emperor." Nangong Heng also pulled over a horse, leaped onto it, and followed her.

The three rode into the city.

Inside the imperial city, apart from the soldiers who were still searching for the rebels, there were no pedestrians on the streets, and all the shops on both sides had their doors closed.

Outside the palace gates, the bodies of the rebels they had poisoned still lay there.

Seven or eight thousand corpses lay scattered across the open space outside the palace gates.

"This..." Nangong Heng was stunned when he saw the corpses on the ground.

"Sister of the Prince of Runing, how did you do that?"

"He was poisoned to death with poisonous smoke." Nangong Wu didn't hide anything from him, her expression indifferent, as if she were just telling him something unimportant.

Nangong Heng's eyes were filled with fear. "Sister of the Prince of Runing, it's fortunate that we are not enemies, otherwise, I'm afraid I wouldn't even know how I died."

Upon hearing his words, Nangong Wu's eyes flashed with coldness.

There is no such thing as kinship in the royal family. Emperor Mingde is only being kind to her now because he still needs her and is wary of the 300,000-strong Zhenyuan Army.

If Emperor Mingde were to pass away, it would be unknown who the next emperor would be.