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

Nangong Wu rushed over after hearing the news.

Nearly a thousand corpses were simply buried in a large pit; this is absolutely unacceptable.

At her suggestion, they burned it.

They first placed dry firewood at the bottom of the large pit, then put the body down, piled more dry firewood on top, poured in kerosene, and set it on fire.

A local tyrant who sucked the blood and sweat of the people was wiped out along with his entire clan.

Nangong Wu glanced at the burning corpses again, then turned and returned to Runan City.

As soon as she entered the government office, she saw Li Zhan waiting for her.

"What's wrong?"

"Your Highness, the villagers from Qingyan Village came looking for you earlier, but left when they found you weren't there," Li Zhan reported.

"The villagers of Qingyan Village came to see me?" Upon hearing the name Qingyan Village, Nangong Wu immediately thought of the gold mine. "Did they say what they wanted to discuss?"

Li Zhan replied, "They came in five people, representing several villages to express their gratitude to you. In appreciation of your life-saving grace, they are willing to give you the gold mine."

"They're going to give me the gold mine?" Nangong Wu asked, somewhat surprised.

Standing to the side, Ji Hongfei overheard their conversation and couldn't help but say:

"Your Highness, the people from those villages were all captured by Liang Zheng and imprisoned. They were even forced to pan for gold. If we hadn't come, these people would have been exploited to death by the Liang family."

Besides, this gold mine has already been discovered, and bandits are rampant. These villagers simply can't defend it. Why don't you take over the gold mine? With your current reputation, no one will dare to covet it!

"Don't talk nonsense." Nangong Wu glared at him. "Our rescue of these villagers was just a coincidence. We must not take advantage of their kindness."

But what you said makes some sense. The allure of gold mines is too great; it will attract villagers from other villages and bandits to pan for gold, and they simply can't stop them.

She instructed Li Zhan, "If those villagers come again, talk to them and see if they are willing to sell the land in that area. You can offer them a higher price."

If they wish, they can move to Runan City. We will provide them with housing free of charge and help them find work, ensuring they never go hungry.

Because the Liang family preyed on the people, there were not many residents in Runan City to begin with. After the Liang family was wiped out, there were even fewer people in the city. It would be good to let them into the city.

Moreover, Runan City will be expanded in the future.

"Yes!" Li Zhan replied.

"Your Highness, if we buy that land, should we send people to guard it?" Ji Hongfei asked.

"Yes, but let's leave it for now. We'll go take a look when we have time. For now, we need to protect those villagers," Nangong Wu said.

They don't have many people right now, and their biggest problem is that they're afraid of attracting bandits, which would put the villagers in danger.

Hearing her words, Li Zhan sensed that the situation was serious. "Those people shouldn't have gone far. I'll go find them right away."

After finishing his speech, Li Zhan left in a hurry.

Nangong Wu returned to the Second Hall, where she was temporarily working.

The government offices here follow the layout of "front office and rear residence," with the main hall (court hall) being the place where major cases are publicly tried.

The Second Hall: Directly behind the main hall is the Second Hall (which is an internal office area), where officials handle daily official business and pre-trial cases; it is part of the office area.

The Third Hall, located behind the Second Hall, was the inner courtyard of the official's residence, where his family lived.

As soon as Nangong Wu entered the room, she saw that there were many more documents on her desk.

When she was in Kyoto, she rarely dealt with official business, but after coming to Runan City, she had endless things to do every day, and her subordinates were all busy as spinning tops.

Li Ke walked in and handed over a list with both hands. "Your Highness! More than 5,600 soldiers in the city want to leave."

Nangong Wu took the list but didn't open it. She said to her, "Then let them come to the front hall of the government office to collect their silver. Ten taels of silver per person. You and Cao Bin will distribute it to them."

"Yes! Then I'll go out and deliver the message right away." Li Ke withdrew and went to find Cao Bin.

Nangong Xiao was looking at a map of Runan City when he turned around and asked, "Sister, it won't be easy for us to expand Runan City. First of all, there's this moat."

Without looking up, Nangong Wu said, "It's not difficult. Once things stabilize in the city, we can simply stop the moat from flowing!"

Nangong Xiao frowned slightly. "If we fill in the moat, digging another one like it would be a huge undertaking."

"There's no need to dig a moat anymore; it's unnecessary for us! But to prevent bandits from harassing the people in the city, we still need to build city walls," Nangong Wu said.

"That's true." Nangong Xiao nodded. "With us here, even without the moat, no one can breach our city gates."

He walked back to his desk and said, "I've already sent a message to my father by carrier pigeon, telling him what happened here."

Upon hearing him mention carrier pigeons, Nangong Wu thought of the dozens of carrier pigeons they had brought and realized they needed to train them as soon as possible so they could contact the outside world.

"We need to get Li Hu and the others to train those carrier pigeons properly."

"Don't worry! The Flying Feather Guards are reliable."

While the brother and sister were chatting, someone else came in.

Nangong Wu looked up and saw that it was Duan Chengye.

"This humble general greets Your Highness and the Crown Prince!" Duan Chengye greeted them first.

"No need for formalities!" Nangong Wu gestured to him, "Sit down and let's talk!"

Duan Chengye took out a thick folded book from his pocket and handed it to her with both hands. "Your Highness, there are seven passes in Runan Prefecture. This is the list of soldiers stationed at the seven passes, totaling 42,000 men."

"You've collected them all so quickly." Nangong Wu took the folding book and opened it to take a look.

"More than 28,000 soldiers wanted to leave."

With over 28,000 people, plus the more than 5,000 garrison troops in Runan City, the number of people wanting to leave was around 34,000.

"Yes, more than 70% want to leave." Duan Chengye also said helplessly, "They said that if they stay, it would be treason, and they are afraid that the court will blame them and implicate their families."

With the ten taels of silver you gave me for travel expenses, even those who were still hesitant decided to go.

If military pay hadn't increased to two taels of silver, even more people would have left.

"It's alright," Nangong Wu said understandingly. "Then let them come to the city to collect their silver! Ten taels each, and they can leave immediately."

"This subordinate understands!" Duan Chengye hesitated for a moment, then asked her, "Your Highness, with so many people missing, should we replace them?"

"No need. The Nanqi army won't dare to invade. Divide the manpower evenly, and each pass will have two thousand guards, which is enough! As for the Nanqi Kingdom, don't worry about them. Just tell them to be careful of bandits," Nangong Wu instructed.

If the Southern Qi army dares to invade, she will definitely teach the Southern Qi emperor a lesson.