Upon hearing this, Jin Changge raised his head and said:
"That's good."
"Often, ordinary people are kept in the dark. They don't even know what their status is when they go to the battlefield. They die in confusion, and in the end, they gain nothing..."
At this point, the girl sighed softly, realizing that she herself had been just like that before.
Qin Ze nodded and continued, "After the city was breached, some of the soldiers realized they could no longer withstand our offensive, and many surrendered."
Upon hearing this, Jin Changge pressed further, "Then... how did His Majesty treat it?"
Qin Ze crossed his arms and said calmly, "Of course, they will all be confiscated and used for forced labor in the future."
"We can't just kill them all, can we?"
“Once Nanze is captured, their power is gone. There is no need to carry out the killing and massacre. It would be better to make them work as laborers to repair the city. We can make them work as laborers and reform them later, depending on the circumstances.”
"If they perform well, they can naturally regain their civilian status."
Jin Changge nodded and said in a low voice, "Your Majesty has considered things from a long-term perspective."
"I think this arrangement is good too." She still didn't turn around.
Qin Ze then stepped forward and leaned close to her, saying, "After Nanze was breached, Jin Fengluan fled from the imperial city, but I later sent people to surround and intercept her, and captured her."
"And the people of Prince Qing's mansion..."
Looking at Jin Changge's thin figure, he didn't know how to speak for a moment.
"Did you... catch them?" the girl asked in a low voice.
Qin Ze remained silent for a moment before finally humming in agreement.
“Turn around,” he said again.
The girl remained unmoved, simply lowering her head further and muttering, "It's good that you've caught them."
It's late at night.
"Your Majesty, you have been on the front lines of war; it is time for you to retire for the night."
"I'm not sleepy yet."
"But I'm sleepy, I should go to sleep now." The girl's voice grew softer and softer, but her shoulders were trembling.
How could she be the same heroic woman who once ruthlessly fought against the foreigners?
No matter how courageous and determined she is, daring to betray her family and fight alone, in essence, she is still just a nineteen-year-old girl who has lost all her relatives.
In this world, she had indeed lost everything and was all alone.
Furthermore, her identity destined her to suffer some slander in the future. Even though she had an extremely strong heart, at this moment she was undoubtedly just a delicate and helpless girl.
If the roles were reversed, Qin Ze wouldn't think he could have done better than her, which is why she is all the more pitiful.
Qin Ze grabbed Jin Changge's sleeve as she was about to leave, but from the moment she chose to go back to her room to rest until now, Jin Changge had never shown her face to him.
"Your Majesty, I'm really sleepy..." The girl's voice was so soft it was almost inaudible, but Qin Ze could hear the suppressed emotions in it.
'What must be faced will eventually have to be faced,' Qin Ze thought to himself.
So he simply grabbed her cold hand and pulled her around. The girl couldn't break free from his strong grip and could only plead, "Your Majesty, I really want to..."
"Prince Qing fled to Cangwu Mountain, where the barbarians led their troops in pursuit. He was then killed by the barbarians in the ensuing battle," Qin Ze said quickly, while observing the girl's reaction.
Jin Changge stopped speaking abruptly, his face still somewhat pale, but there was no change in his expression.
Then Qin Ze continued:
"As for Jin Jiande, he passed away a few days ago."
"The captured servants of the Prince's mansion said that after he returned from Nangang, he went to the palace to..." He paused for a moment, after all, this was something Qin Ze had not expected.
While Jin Jiande's death was indeed true, it couldn't have been a sudden and unprovoked death. Therefore, Qin Ze then ordered his soldiers to interrogate the servants of the Prince's mansion. This was not a necessary step, but Qin Ze felt it was essential to get to the bottom of things because of Jin Changge.
Her family may have committed heinous crimes, but ultimately the girl deserves a clear outcome.
When Qin Ze later learned what Jin Jiande had done, he was indeed somewhat surprised. He did not expect that Jin Changge, who had always been treated as a "commodity," would have such a brother protecting her in that dark home.
However, since it exists, there is no need to hide Jin Jiande's affair; the girl should know everything.
After a pause, Qin Ze continued, "They said that Jin Jiande went to plead with Jin Fengluan for your sake, and returned to the mansion severely injured."
"without....."
He was about to continue speaking when he saw the girl shaking her head and backing away repeatedly.
Qin Ze thought she didn't believe him, but that was understandable. He sighed and said, "It's true."
"The servants said that he died of illness two days after he returned."
“Everything I said is true.”
The girl had retreated to the wall, her head still bowed, but she began to sob softly:
"I know...you're not lying to me."
"...That's the kind of person he is."
“He’s always been like this…” Her voice trembled so badly it was almost incoherent, but the girl kept talking to herself.
“When he came to save me that night, I knew he had already thought it through. Even if he saved me, he couldn’t bear the consequences… but he still did it.”
At this point, Jin Changge squatted down against the wall, helplessly holding her head in her hands, her voice completely turning into a sob.
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