"Hmm." Lin Hai stroked his chin and said noncommittally, "That makes sense. If she's really a palace maid, having entered the palace at a young age, she naturally doesn't understand the outside world. Moreover, she's been trained day after day to serve the imperial nobles, so she has no other thoughts. A few words can scare her, making her easy to control."

"Then, should we return them? Even though they can't spread any news now, that's because Xue Tao and the intelligence department are keeping a tight lid on it. Once they're married off in batches, they'll know even more, and it'll be even harder to prevent them. It's like being a thief for a thousand days, so why should you be on guard against thieves for a thousand days?"

Shi Zhen'er thought that among the two hundred palace maids, at least fifty of them were chattering that they came from the palace. Even if they came to a small place like Qinghe to get married, they could only marry a figure like the Earl of Qinghe. As for the people under the Earl of Qinghe, well, they were just household slaves. How could they be qualified to marry palace maids?

Whenever Shi Zhen'er thought about this, she was filled with anger. Do these palace maids think they're so great, so noble? They're supposed to be waiting patiently for marriage, and now they're trying to steal her men, more than fifty of them at a time... Is there any law in this? Don't they understand that a fallen phoenix is ​​no better than a chicken?

Well, maybe they really didn't regard Shi Zhen'er as their opponent. Although they had been in Qinghe for several months and hadn't even seen Lin Hai, they all believed that as long as they could meet Lin Hai, it would be easy to capture an earl in this remote place.

This was exactly the same plan that Xia Junao, the Emperor of Daliang, had originally planned: "If I could cause some turmoil in the harem, at least I could distract him. If he had the guts to marry them all himself, then even exhausting him to death would be a great accomplishment..."

Of course, Lin Hai didn’t actually think so much. After being a straight man for so many years, he only knew one thing: "Since they were sent by the enemy, they can’t be good people. Although some innocent people can be killed directly, we can’t let them go." This is probably the reason why Lin Hai postponed his own wedding date to delay Ling Yang and others from getting married.

"If we retreat, these people will be dead. After all, no one can tell whether any of them have been instigated by us to rebel." Lin Hai sighed and said, "Although killing them directly is the easiest, it is better to avoid killing if possible.

So, you and Xue Tao should make a plan. They've been in Qinghe City long enough. Let them walk around and see everything in Qinghe. Aside from the classified projects, they can see everything. But let them truly mingle among the people. Let them interact with street vendors, farmers, woodcutters, steel mill workers, road construction crews, construction workers rebuilding the city, and the soldiers we're training. It should be thorough, thoughtful, and insightful.

Tell them they can't just watch without talking, or just talk without writing. Every night, they must submit at least 800 words of reflections on their visit. "They can start with three months of visiting. If that's not enough, add another three months. Then, we'll ask them about their wishes. We'll select those who still want to stay in Qinghe and get married. The rest can choose to make a living within Qinghe, and the Earl's Mansion will provide initial support for their livelihood."