Late at night, the main hall of the county government office, which should have been empty, was tightly closed, with lights shining from inside.

Inside the hall, two groups of people stood on either side, swords drawn, creating a tense atmosphere. Dozens of gleaming blades reflected a cold, icy light in the candlelight.

On the left were over thirty yamen runners led by Ge Fanghai, the magistrate of Suiyang County. On the right were six or seven Western Rong people, surrounding and protecting the Western Rong prince Danma and his princess Chu Mingyao.

Prince Danma was a typical Western Rong man, tall and strong with a short beard, making him stand out in the crowd.

He gripped the hilt of his sword tightly and said to Ge Fanghai, "Magistrate Ge, have you thought this through? If you dare to harm my wife and me, you will be making an enemy of the entire Western Rong army."

Ge Fanghai chuckled and said, "Your Highness, I certainly understand the stakes, but if I let you go, who knows if you'll tell the General's Mansion everything? If that happens, I'll lose my life."

Standing beside Danma, Chu Mingyao did not hide behind her husband, and said to Ge Fanghai, "We, the Western Rong, do not want to be involved in this matter anymore. You must know that the goddess Su Wan cured my father's heart ailment, so we can no longer have any plans for the General's Mansion."

“I know all this,” Ge Fanghai said, “but this matter has been going on for so long, and you know the inside story, so you absolutely cannot back out halfway.”

Outside the tightly closed back door, Su Wan peered through the crack. Behind her was the magistrate's desk where he conducted trials, and a screen had been added. She couldn't see most of the people facing off, but could hear their conversation.

Because of the tense situation, the yamen runners who were originally patrolling and guarding outside rushed to the main hall to provide support, which allowed her to sneak over and take a look.

Then Chu Mingyao said, "Magistrate Ge, our trip to Youzhou was arranged by my father, and we informed him of our last-minute arrival here. You know the consequences if we don't reach the General's Mansion by tomorrow."

Ge Fanghai laughed and said, "Your Highness, please don't try to fool me. When the Southern Chu Kingdom married you off to this Western Rong Crown Prince Danma, everyone knew what your little schemes were. Cooperating with us was the Crown Prince's own idea; the Western Rong King was unaware of it. Since he didn't know about this, what reason did you have to tell him? Did you tell him that you suddenly became interested in Suiyang County?"

Su Wan, who was listening outside, was completely confused. She turned to the guard who was eavesdropping and asked, "What exactly is going on?"

The guard whispered, "I didn't hear the whole thing before. It seems that the Crown Prince of Xirong told the magistrate of Suiyang County that Xirong did not intend to participate in this plan. The magistrate of Suiyang County disagreed, and the two sides argued for a long time, becoming increasingly at odds, which led to this situation."

Su Wan touched the letter in her arms.

She roughly understood that the magistrate of Suiyang County was a spy planted in the Great Jin by the Southern Chu. A conspiracy targeting Youzhou was centered around him, with the Western Rong crown prince also involved, and there were inside agents within the General's Mansion. This plan was clearly extremely detrimental to the General's Mansion.

The reason Xirong wanted to withdraw from the plan was because she had just cured Xirong King Danmoji. Danmoji sent a letter to the Emperor of Great Jin, informing both sides of a ceasefire. This meant the original plan could no longer be carried out. The Xirong Crown Prince's visit was specifically to inform Ge Fanghai that Xirong would no longer participate in the plan, but Ge Fanghai refused.

The seemingly insignificant magistrate of Suiyang County had actually become involved with both the Southern Chu and Western Rong kingdoms. If she hadn't come here by chance, even if Wei Jingzhuo and General Zhao Xian were incredibly clever, they probably wouldn't have guessed that the enemy's spy was just a mere county magistrate.

The only thing she doesn't know now is the details of this plan.

Ge Fanghai said, "Let me be frank. You can't leave today; you have to stay here obediently. Don't make things difficult for me. After our plan succeeds and the General's Mansion is destroyed, I will personally escort you two back to Xirong, how about that?"

Danma sneered, "Who do you think you are, daring to stop me?"

With the sound of a sword being drawn, chaos erupted in the hall, and shouts filled the air.

"Don't go any further!"

"Step back, or I'll attack!"

"Don't move, stay where you are!"

Su Wan sensed that a fight was about to break out, and she couldn't help but feel nervous.

The captain of the guards whispered in her ear, "Madam, Ge Fanghai is probably from the Southern Chu side. Now the Southern Chu and the Western Rong are about to fight each other. What should we do?"

Su Wan hesitated for a moment, then turned her head and said, "We have already signed a ceasefire treaty with the Western Rong. If anything happens to the Western Rong Crown Prince and Crown Princess, the Western Rong will definitely come to our aid."

The captain of the guards said, "Then shall we help the Crown Prince of Xirong kill these yamen runners?"

Su Wan shook her head again: "It's probably not going to work. Didn't the guard who overheard us say there were more than thirty yamen runners inside? The Crown Prince of Xirong only has a few attendants. Even with the ten of us, we might not be able to defeat them."

The captain of the guards said, "Madam, rest assured, the people on the other side are all government officials. We are confident."

Su Wan said, "Don't think it's that simple. Since the magistrate of Suiyang County is a spy planted by Southern Chu, these yamen runners are definitely not recruited from the local area. They are very likely special forces soldiers selected from the Southern Chu army."

The captain of the guards was taken aback for a moment and asked, "Madam, what is a special forces soldier?"

"They're really tough, very special soldiers. The kind who can take on ten at once."

As Su Wan answered, she rolled her eyes, and suddenly an idea came to her.

Everyone in the hall had already raised their swords. Prince Danma of the Western Rong roared, "I'm about to leave the hall now. Anyone who dares to stop me will die by my blade."

He grabbed Chu Mingyao with one hand and held a knife in the other, walking towards the door, with his guards following behind, all with their knives raised.

The constables under Ge Fanghai were intimidated by Danma's imposing presence and dared not step forward. After all, Ge Fanghai had said that the Crown Prince and his wife must not be harmed. Who would be foolish enough to actually do it? If Danma were to strike them down, they would become their own deaths. They simply surrounded her slowly, but no one rushed forward.

Seeing his men so afraid of death, Ge Fanghai was furious and said, "What are you people good for? Grab him and don't let him leave!"

None of his men dared to make a move. This made Ge Fanghai extremely anxious.

He has essentially broken ties with the Western Rong. Once his plot is exposed, he will have no chance to escape to the Southern Chu Kingdom in the south; he will be captured and beheaded on the way. His only chance of survival now lies in preventing the Western Rong prince from leaving.

Remembering that a generous reward would surely attract brave men, he quickly shouted, "Whoever captures the Western Rong prince will be rewarded with 100,000 taels of silver."

This really worked. A dozen or so constables immediately became eager to try, bypassing Danma and the others, and ran towards the door, blocking the exit.

Chu Mingyao's heart tightened, and she grabbed Danma's hand, saying, "Your Highness, they've blocked the exit!"

Danma took a deep breath, shielded Chu Mingyao behind her, and said, "It seems we can't let this go. Come with me and fight our way out."

As soon as the words were spoken, the grievance drum outside the hall began to beat loudly, and a girl's voice, which sounded like she was crying but wasn't, drifted through the open space in front of the hall and into the hall.

"My lord, whether it's sunny or cloudy, I have a terrible injustice to accuse you."

This drumming left Ge Fanghai completely bewildered.

He never expected that someone would come to the county government office to appeal in the middle of the night.