In the dense forest on the hillside outside Qingping County, several scouts hurried across patches of withered grass still dusted with lingering snow and rushed toward the army concealed among the pines.

“General! A contingent of imperial troops is heading toward Qingping County!”

The young Chongzhou commander left behind to await orders immediately brightened.

“Are they carrying Wei banners?”

The scout replied, “No Wei banners were seen. They’re flying the banner of Jizhou.”

The commander’s expression became difficult to read.

“Who is leading them?”

“An elderly general and a younger commander.”

The commander muttered, “Could it be that Wei Xuan and He Jingyuan have come together?”

One of his subordinates asked, “General, should we still ambush those rebels gathered outside Qingping County?”

The commander shook his head.

“The Jizhou army has arrived. Let our people continue leading the rebels in causing trouble. Better yet, have them break into the county seat. That way, no matter who came from Jizhou, the army will be forced to fight the rebels.”

The greater the casualties among the city’s civilians once the rebels entered, the more blame could be pinned on Wei Xuan and his faction.

Their heir’s original plan had been to intercept the grain collected from Qingping County.

Given Wei Xuan’s temperament, he would certainly fly into a rage and personally lead troops to collect the grain.

When confronted by county residents whose anger had already reached its peak, it would be impossible for the two sides not to clash.

Once news spread that the imperial court had forced grain requisitions so harshly that an entire county rebelled, and that the army had massacred unarmed civilians, it would undoubtedly shake the empire.

—

The situation at the city gates was far from encouraging.

Qingping County was merely a small county town. City defenses had never been a priority.

Even the rammed-earth walls were absurdly low.

Aside from a bare gate tower, there were no barbicans, arrow towers, or defensive bastions of any kind.

Having received advance warning, Constable Wang had already led his men to shut the city gates.

He had also gathered what few bows and arrows he could find and stationed them at the firing ports above the gate.

Even so, the defenses looked pitifully sparse.

There weren’t even enough people to fill the wall.

Having a group of constables defending city walls was ridiculous enough on its own.

But Qingping County had no standing troops and, aside from occasional bandits, had not seen warfare in decades.

Below the walls stretched a vast sea of farmers.

Every one of them carried hoes, rakes, or pitchforks.

Gone were their usual honest and simple expressions.

Now they looked fierce and savage, as though they wanted nothing more than to devour the constables standing above them.

Not only were the younger constables terrified—even Constable Wang felt his heart quiver.

With thousands of farmers gathered below, what could this tiny gate tower possibly stop if they truly decided to charge?

At this point, his only hope was that Jizhou Prefecture had heard the news and would quickly dispatch troops.

Remembering Fan Changyu’s message, he leaned over the battlements and called down to the crowd.

“Fellow villagers, what are you doing? Don’t let a moment of confusion drive you into committing a crime that will bring extermination upon your entire clan!”

Most of the farmers had followed the crowd this far but still feared the bows and arrows on the walls.

Though they vastly outnumbered the defenders, no one wanted to be the first to die.

Everyone knew the consequences of rebellion.

Knowing it in their hearts was one thing.

Hearing it spoken aloud was another.

Most of them had spent their entire lives working fields and had never even left Qingping County.

The only thing they knew was that officials and the Emperor were the greatest powers in the world.

And in Qingping County, the magistrate was the highest official.

Offend the magistrate, and you would be beaten and imprisoned.

Offend the Emperor, and your entire clan would be sent to the execution grounds.

Normally, even seeing these constables made them nervous.

Now, hearing Constable Wang’s warning, many began to waver.

The man leading them noticed immediately.

His eyes sharpened.

Pointing at Constable Wang, he shouted,

“When you dog officials throw your weight around, we farmers are nothing but lowly peasants for you to order about! But now that we’ve been driven to the edge of death, suddenly we’re your fellow villagers?”

He spat.

“I don’t deserve to be called a fellow villager by a lackey of the magistrate!”

“Exterminate nine generations?”

“Our grain seeds are gone! The Emperor doesn’t even need to exterminate our clans—we’ll starve to death first!”

“If death is inevitable, we might as well break into the city, grab some travel money, and join the Rebel King of Chongzhou! At least there’s a chance of survival there!”

The farmers who had begun wavering immediately hardened their resolve.

“The government won’t let us live!”

“We’ll carve out our own path to survival!”

The leader raised his farming tool high.

“Bring out that dog magistrate and let him die!”

Behind him, the crowd roared in unison.

“Bring out the dog magistrate!”

“Let him die!”

Seeing the situation slipping away, Constable Wang quickly shouted,

“Everyone, calm down! The grain seeds… the grain seeds will be returned! Go home! As long as you disperse, the government won’t pursue the matter of rebellion!”

The leader sneered.

“See that, everyone?”

“When we weren’t rebelling, these dog officials didn’t care whether we lived or died. They killed people and still took our grain!”

“But now that we’ve rebelled, suddenly they’re willing to return it!”

“All these years of suffering happened because they knew we were easy to bully!”

His words fueled the crowd’s resentment even further.

Seizing the momentum, he continued.

“We can’t back down!”

“The moment we retreat, these dog officials will start bullying us again!”

“And what about those wealthy families in the city?”

“Which one of them hasn’t looked down on us?”

“When we came to town for market days, they looked at us like we were filth!”

“Charge into the city!”

“Kill the dog officials!”

“Take their gold and silver!”

“Make them pay back every humiliation we’ve ever suffered!”

He exchanged glances with several men behind him.

Understanding immediately, they joined the shouting.

“That’s right! We weren’t born inferior! We just weren’t lucky enough to be born in the city!”

“Don’t let the magistrate’s lapdogs fool you! If we go home now, we’ll end up just like Ma Family Village!”

“We’ve already come this far! Why retreat now?”

“Even if I die, I’ll die after enjoying myself!”

“I heard the women in the city are so soft you could pinch water out of their skin! Their skin is as white as dough!”

“Brothers who never managed to get wives—don’t you want to spend one night as the bridegroom of a wealthy young lady?”

With the massacre of Ma Family Village fresh in everyone’s minds, no one dared retreat.

And now there were temptations waiting in the city.

The farmers’ eyes reddened with excitement.

Breathing heavily through clenched teeth, they shouted,

“Charge into the city!”

Constable Wang had only learned the full story after arriving at the gates.

The rebellion had two causes.

First, the soldiers sent to requisition grain had been brutal and tyrannical, treating farmers like animals.

Second, when villagers from Ma Family Village tried to report the matter to Jizhou Prefecture, their entire village had been massacred on the road.

Having already lost his position as head constable, even Constable Wang lacked confidence when promising the return of the grain.

Now, seeing the farmers below transformed into beasts driven by rage, he could only plead earnestly.

“Villagers, don’t be foolish!”

“Qingping County is tiny!”

“If you rebel here, do you really think you’ll survive long enough to reach Chongzhou?”

“And even if you escape, can your wives, children, and elderly parents escape too?”

The loudest agitators were mostly men with neither elders nor dependents.

Constable Wang’s words struck home.

Many of the farmers’ expressions changed.

Some of those who had only come because desperation left them no choice shouted,

“Will you really return our grain?”

Constable Wang honestly wasn’t sure whether the authorities would.

After a brief hesitation, he gritted his teeth.

“Yes!”

Others who had relatives in Ma Family Village shouted angrily,

“Hand over the dog officials and soldiers who slaughtered Ma Family Village! Otherwise this isn’t over!”

Constable Wang hurriedly replied,

“The government will thoroughly investigate the Ma Family Village tragedy and provide everyone with an explanation!”

Seeing the rebel ranks beginning to fracture under Constable Wang’s words, the instigators exchanged looks.

One of the loudest troublemakers shouted again,

“Thoroughly investigate?”

“How?”

“However you dog officials decide!”

“What if you simply claim bandits did it?”

“What can we do then?”

The argument immediately resonated.

The crowd began growing restless again.

“That’s right!”

“Hand over those bastards right now!”

The mob started pushing toward the gates.

Constable Wang shouted,

“Do not advance any further!”

“Another step and we’ll fire!”

The constables beside him drew their bows.

Yet the hands holding the arrows trembled.

The crowd cursed even louder.

“This Wang fellow is a county constable!”

“Maybe it was his own men who killed the people of Ma Family Village!”

“Why would he hand them over?”

The farmers’ anger surged anew.

They looked at Constable Wang with increasing hostility.

Just as he was becoming overwhelmed, a commotion erupted behind him.

The newly appointed yamen runners marched onto the walls with dark expressions.

One of them shoved Wang aside.

“A bunch of dismissed nobodies think they deserve to wear those uniforms?”

Constable Wang and his men flushed with humiliation.

Below, one of the leaders spotted the newcomers and smiled in satisfaction.

“See that?”

“These dog officials have never treated our lives as human lives!”

“If they want to shoot, let them shoot!”

“If I die today, fellow villagers, remember to avenge me!”

After shouting those words, he strode forward.

The “yamen runners” who had seized the bows immediately unleashed a volley into the crowd.

Ironically, none of the loudest agitators were hit.

Instead, several ordinary farmers who had been pushed forward fell dead with arrows through their bodies.

The moment blood was spilled, chaos exploded beneath the walls.

Someone recognized one of the dead and cried out in grief.

“Erdan!”

The agitators immediately fanned the flames.

“See that?”

“From beginning to end, these government dogs never intended to let us live!”

“Charge in and fight them!”

The man clutching one of the corpses appeared to be the victim’s brother.

His face twisted with fury.

“I’ll fight these dog officials to the death!”

The farmers, blinded by rage, were just about to storm the gates when—

Boom!

A thunderous sound rang out.

Blood splattered below the walls.

The crowd stared.

A yamen runner had just been thrown from the city wall and smashed to death on the ground.

The farmers stopped in confusion and looked upward.

Standing atop the walls was a man wearing a green ghost mask.

His voice was cold.

“Whoever fired the arrows is the one you should seek revenge against.”

The mask had been a common sight during the New Year Lantern Festival.

Yet on his face, it radiated an eerie and chilling aura.

The leading agitator suddenly felt uneasy.

“Who are you?”

Xie Zheng replied,

“The man who kills corrupt officials.”

The real and fake yamen runners on the wall finally reacted.

Constable Wang and his men had no idea what was happening.

The fake runners simply drew their blades and attacked.

Xie Zheng didn’t even bother fighting back.

The cold wind filled his wide sleeves as he stood on the wall with robes fluttering.

As he sidestepped incoming blades, he casually grabbed attackers by their collars and hurled them from the wall.

Another body crashed below.

Constable Wang stood dumbfounded.

While tossing yet another fake runner over the edge, Xie Zheng turned his head slightly and said,

“The magistrate has been imprisoned. These are impostors. Tell your men to act.”

Constable Wang finally snapped out of it.

Though he had no idea who the masked man was, the strange happenings at the yamen over recent days suddenly made sense.

“Capture these impostors!”

The constables didn’t understand what was going on.

But seeing their leader charge forward, they stopped hesitating and drew their weapons.

Soon they were fighting the fake runners.

Below, the farmers watched as if attending a play.

One asked blankly,

“Why are the officials fighting each other?”

Another replied,

“Looks like Constable Wang’s men are fighting the ones who fired the arrows.”

“Those people in the magistrate’s office aren’t exactly saints, but Constable Wang’s a good man.”

“Once my ox wandered into a neighboring village and that scoundrel Chen claimed it as his own.”

“Constable Wang got it back for me.”

Seeing things spiraling out of control, the agitators continued stirring trouble.

“Can Constable Wang outrank the magistrate?”

“These dogs are killing their own colleagues just to save themselves!”

“Our lives mean even less to them!”

“If you want revenge, break through the gates and kill the magistrate!”

Many of the farmers were now hesitant.

They didn’t know whether to force their way in or wait for an explanation.

Soon, all the fake yamen runners had been thrown from the walls by Xie Zheng and the others.

The farmers, most of whom had never killed anyone, looked nervously at the pile of corpses outside the gate.

Standing atop the wall with his hands behind his back, Xie Zheng said,

“Those willing to take their grain and return home may consider today’s matter closed. The government will not pursue any charges.”

“As for those who remain stubborn—Jizhou’s army is already on its way.”

“If you break through these gates today and take even a single life, there will be no turning back.”

“Whether you spend the rest of your lives farming beside your wives, children, and parents, or drag your entire families to their deaths, is your choice.”

The mention of Jizhou’s army immediately frightened the farmers.

For people who had spent their entire lives tilling the soil, soldiers represented something terrifying.

The combination of threat and reassurance was effective.

Compared to returning to their ordinary lives, charging into the city only to have their families executed afterward was obviously not an attractive choice.

One of the agitators challenged him.

“Words are cheap. Where’s the grain?”

Just as Constable Wang was about to answer, a shout came from behind them.

“The grain is here!”

It was the staff of Yixiang Tower carrying sacks of grain onto the walls.

The gates absolutely could not be opened.

Instead, baskets were lowered from the wall carrying portions of the grain.

Several farmers rushed forward and opened the sacks.

The moment they saw the contents, broad smiles spread across their faces.

Some even wiped tears away with their sleeves.

“It’s grain!”

“It really is our grain!”

The instant the crowd learned their grain had been returned, most of the rebellious farmers finally relaxed.

Constable Wang stepped closer and quietly said to Xie Zheng,

“Hero, thank you for saving Qingping County. But returning the military grain to the farmers like this… how is the yamen supposed to explain it to the officials from Jizhou?”

Xie Zheng replied calmly,

“The magistrate will explain.”

The order abolishing the grain requisition had already been sent to Jizhou together with his command ordering Wei Xuan to return to Huizhou and strengthen its defenses.

Jizhou would not continue collecting grain.

But there was no need to explain all that to a mere constable.

Constable Wang had been on the verge of collapse all day.

Hearing those words, he finally relaxed.

Indeed.

His responsibility ended with calming the rebels and preventing them from entering the city.

Anything beyond that belonged to the magistrate.

“This hero truly has quick wits,” he praised.

“To think you used the threat of the Jizhou army to frighten them. At least the people inside the city have been spared.”

Xie Zheng remained silent.

The Jizhou army wasn’t a bluff at all.

With something this serious happening in Qingping County, Jizhou would inevitably hear about it.

As long as the person arriving wasn’t Wei Xuan, the army would never fight these manipulated farmers.

Seeing the rebellion being defused, the agitators grew increasingly anxious.

Their dreams of wealth and status were slipping away.

One of them shouted again,

“What about the dozens of lives lost in Ma Family Village?”

Constable Wang immediately looked to Xie Zheng for help.

The green ghost mask concealed all expression.

Xie Zheng only said,

“Stall for time.”

Constable Wang blinked.

Then he understood.

There was no way to solve the Ma Family Village massacre on the spot.

All they could do was wait until Jizhou’s troops arrived and stabilized the situation.

Wiping sweat from his forehead, he did his best to placate the troublemakers.

Meanwhile, Xie Zheng quietly observed the men who repeatedly incited the crowd.

They weren’t seeking justice.

They only wanted to fuel hatred and make matters worse.

But what exactly did they gain from escalating everything?

Real farmers weren’t eloquent.

They were being manipulated by these men and driven by hatred.

Once crimes were committed, the farmers would be the ones unable to escape punishment.

Yet these agitators acted without fear.

That suggested powerful backing.

Just as the troublemakers were once again reigniting tensions by demanding answers about Ma Family Village, Xie Zheng was preparing to quietly eliminate them.

Suddenly, a loud announcement rang out from atop the wall.

“The magistrate has arrived!”

The crowd instantly fell silent.

All eyes turned toward the city wall with hostility.

Xie Zheng narrowed his eyes.

He initially assumed the people behind the conspiracy had forced the magistrate to appear.

But when he turned around, he saw the portly magistrate striding forward proudly.

Behind him came servants escorting bound soldiers.

And among them was Fan Changyu.

She wore a maid’s outfit that clearly didn’t fit properly.

In one hand she held a boning knife pressed against the throat of a captive.

Because the sleeves were too short, half of her pale wrist was exposed.

Several shallow cuts already marked the captive’s neck.

Clearly, he had not behaved during the journey.

Xie Zheng’s gaze shifted to the prisoner’s face.

For a moment, he froze.

Then the expression beneath the green ghost mask became indescribably colorful.