After a day's carriage ride, Jiang Qinyu was quite sleepy and fell asleep as soon as she hit the bed. She was just drifting off to sleep when Lu Yanzheng woke her up.

"Brother Zheng?" Jiang Qinyu opened her eyes, still a little confused.

Lu Yanzheng quickly said, "Take the child and hide in the house. Lock the door and don't open it for anyone except me."

"Oh, okay." Jiang Qinyu was still a bit dazed, but she nodded obediently.

Seeing that she was starting to wake up, Lu Yanzheng slipped out of the room in the dark.

Jiang Qinyu quickly got up, bolted the door, and checked the windows, finding them to be rather flimsy.

She thought for a moment, then took a refrigerator out of the system and placed it in front of the window.

"Auntie..." Shu Fan's voice suddenly rang out in the darkness.

Jiang Qinyu quickly went over and patted him reassuringly, "Did I wake you up?"

"Did something happen?" Shu Fan noticed that Lu Yanzheng was no longer on the ground, and that his aunt had brought out something new to block the window. He began to feel uneasy.

Jiang Qinyu paused for a moment, then decided to let the two children get up.

“There’s some noise outside. Your uncle went to check. We’ll just wait for him to come back in the room.” Jiang Qinyu said, and then began to help the two of them get dressed.

After finishing, she put all the bundles in the room into her spatial storage.

Just then, a loud shout came from outside, "Fire! Fire! Help!"

A fire? That's the same as a fire, isn't it? Jiang Qinyu instantly lost her composure.

She quickly put the refrigerator away and looked out through a crack in the window.

Upon seeing this, Jiang Qinyu gasped in shock.

Suddenly, a group of people appeared out of nowhere in the courtyard of the post station. Each of them looked fierce and menacing, holding a torch in one hand and a weapon in the other.

The houses opposite Jiang Qinyu's house were all on fire, and the courier was running around in circles helplessly. Fortunately, no one lived there, otherwise they would all be doomed tonight!

They already have very little water here, not even enough for food and drink, so where would they find extra water to put out the fire?

There wasn't a single patch of green to be seen on the nearby mountains, and nothing to put out the fire.

Lu Yanzheng stood before these men, his posture ramrod straight, his gaze authoritative as he looked at the bandits, and asked in a cold voice, "Did you set this fire?"

“That’s right!” The leader of the bandits looked at Lu Yanzheng, who was dressed neatly, with hatred in his eyes. “What I, Huang Renyi, do, I will never hide!”

Lu Yanzheng asked again, "You've come to steal grain?"

He had already seen many familiar faces among these bandits during the day.

"You're smart to know what's good for you! Hand over your grain right now, or I'll make sure you all die here!" Huang Renyi shouted.

Lu Yanzheng chuckled, "Very well, you've got it all covered, from murder and arson to looting. In that case, I'll grant your wish!"

Before he finished speaking, Lu Yanzheng's figure had already disappeared!

Jiang Qinyu was stunned. When she turned her gaze to Lu Yanzheng again, he had already charged into the midst of the bandits.

No one knows whose weapon he seized, but he wielded a large knife with great skill, and in just a dozen breaths, more than half of the bandits had fallen!

"You...you, who exactly are you?" Huang Renyi stared at Lu Yanzheng in horror, his hands and feet numb, almost unable to move.

"Hero, spare us! Hero, spare us! This is our first time robbing..."

"We only thought of robbing the post stations because we had no other way to survive. They are protected by the imperial court, so they can survive even if they are robbed. But no one cares about us!"

"The corrupt officials of the imperial court refuse to open the granaries and distribute grain, leaving us no way to survive. We were forced into this situation..."

Seeing that they were no match for Lu Yanzheng, their knees buckled and they all knelt down to beg for mercy, except for Huang Renyi.

Lu Yanzheng stared at them coldly and sharply, "Does being unable to survive justify murder and arson? Yongshan County will open its granaries in three days and distribute grain; each person can receive a bowl of thick porridge per day."

"What? Yongshan County is going to release grain?" Huang Renyi's mouth dropped open in astonishment, then he shook his head and said, "No, you must be lying to us! How could that corrupt official Zhu Youcai possibly release grain?"

"Yes, sir, we were forced to flee the famine because of Zhu Youcai. But once we got out, we found that the situation outside was almost the same as in Yongshan County, and there were bandits everywhere on the road. That's why we ran back. But even after we came back, fate still didn't give us a way to survive. We had no choice but to..."

“Brother Huang’s parents starved to death on the way to escape famine, and his wife and children were killed by bandits. If we hadn’t really been desperate to survive, we really wouldn’t have come here to set fires and rob.”

"We've set fire to houses that we're sure don't have any food inside. Please, sir, have mercy and save us!"

"Please, sir, have mercy..."

Lu Yanzheng looked at them and said, "Zhu Youcai has had both arms cut off and has been escorted to the capital. Yongshan County has now been taken over by the border army."

"Border troops?" Huang Renyi was somewhat bewildered, and the others were equally confused.

Lu Yanzheng said no more, pointing his broadsword at the kneeling men, "Considering this is your first offense, if you can put out the fire at the post station immediately, I will spare your lives!"

These people set fire to the house without adding oil; the fire was not out of control.

As soon as he finished speaking, some of the quick-witted people among the kneeling crowd kowtowed to Lu Yanzheng several times, then scrambled to find some soil, carried it up, and smeared it onto the burning house.

Lu Yanzheng stood in front of Huang Renyi, looking at him with an imposing air without any anger.

Huang Renyi dropped the knife in his hand, bent his knees, and knelt before Lu Yanzheng. "Thank you, General, for sparing my life!"

"You may be spared the death penalty, but you cannot escape punishment. Choose between serving in the border town or staying in Yongshan County to build the city wall." Lu Yanzheng looked at the man on the ground and sighed inwardly.

He has met many people like Huang Renyi, each of whom was forced onto a path of no return. He sympathizes with them, but that doesn't mean he agrees with their actions.

Murder and arson are unacceptable and unforgivable under any circumstances.

He was only giving this group a chance today because no major losses had been incurred. If there had been any casualties, he would not have let any of them go.

"I am willing to serve in the border town!" Huang Renyi kowtowed again, his gaze resolute.

Lu Yanzheng put his hands behind his back and looked towards the horizon.

Qin Shen and the others should be arriving soon, right?

Jiang Qinyu was at a loss for words when she saw this scene.

The reason these people would rob the post station's grain was largely due to the government's inaction during natural disasters.

When ordinary people can't survive, they'll naturally try to find a way, and the quickest way is to rob others.

Huang Renyi didn't lead anyone to rob ordinary people, and it was his first offense, which shows that he still has a basic sense of right and wrong. Lu Yanzheng's handling of the situation is quite in line with his personality.

Just then, a group of people arrived outside the post station.

"General, I am late..."

Jiang Qinyu could hear Qin Shen's voice from a great distance. She turned to the two children and said, "It's all over now, you can go back to sleep!"