Chapter 36 Fear Sun Ze was already sitting uneasily and fearfully at her place…

Chapter 36: Fear. Sun Ze sat restlessly and fearfully in her presence…

Sun Ze stared dazedly at Jin Yanqiu. For a moment, he suspected that Jin Yanqiu was a demon, and that the twenty thousand Zhenbei Army soldiers outside had been bewitched by a demon.

But if there really was such a powerful demon in this world, what would be left for the Emperor and the noble families?

The girl before him was probably a decoy placed in plain sight by the puppet master to draw attention.

No matter what he was thinking, facing a girl barely over ten, Sun Ze simply couldn't bring himself to kneel.

Jin Yanqiu did not take offense. She pointed to a seat beside her and said with a smile, "General Sun, please sit."

In this era, women faced fewer restrictions than in later generations, but their status was still very low.

Therefore, most people found it hard to accept a woman as their Lord.

However, Jin Yanqiu believed that Sun Ze would accept it in the end.

She had summoned Sun Ze to win him over. With Sun Ze's help, governing Yuyang City would be far easier.

As for Ding Hang… in Jin Yanqiu's eyes, Ding Hang was of no use.

Ding Hang was indeed learned and eloquent, but from what she knew, all the city's daily affairs were handled by Ding Hang's strategists, while Ding Hang himself spent his days writing poems and chasing romance.

What she wanted were people who could get things done. Therefore, winning over Ding Hang's advisors was a much better deal than winning over Ding Hang himself!

Of course, power grows out of the barrel of a gun, and the most important person was still Sun Ze.

According to Jin Mingtang, Sun Ze was a relatively upright man, so Jin Yanqiu planned to put him to good use.

In accordance with Jin Yanqiu's gesture, Sun Ze sat cross-legged at the seat of lower rank on her right.

Mu Guang, meanwhile, immediately took the seat of lower rank on her left.

At this moment, aside from the maidservant, only the three of them were in the room. Jin Mingtang was not present.

This was Jin Yanqiu's request.

If she always brought Jin Mingtang along for everything, even if she was capable, her subordinates would go to Jin Mingtang first in trouble, not to her as their Lord.

The Zhenbei Army generals, in fact, were already used to reporting everything to Jin Mingtang first.

The Zhenbei Army originally belonged to Jin Mingtang, and Jin Yanqiu had no objection to that. But she knew things couldn't go on like this forever.

For one, she wanted real power. For another, Jin Mingtang was old and couldn't protect her forever.

After Sun Ze and Mu Guang sat down, Xiao Tao served them tea.

It was green tea that Jin Yanqiu had ordered to be pan-fried at her estate in Luoyang.

Although the Great Qi already had a custom of drinking tea, their method was completely different from that of later generations.

The upper class of the Great Qi would first roast a tea cake, crush it, and then boil it with scallions, ginger, tangerine, and other spices to make tea soup.

Jin Yanqiu couldn't quite adapt to this way of drinking tea, so she had green tea pan-fried instead.

She didn't have good tea bushes, and she didn't know the optimal method for pan-frying, so the tea she produced turned out mediocre.

But Jin Mingtang loved it anyway.

When he was fighting the Hu people in the past, Jin Mingtang always carried a can of tea with him. When he was tired, he would grab a handful, chew it, and swallow it all.

Fighting wars really drained your mind. It was through countless battles that Jin Mingtang had worn out his body, which is why he looked so old.

Xiao Tao set down the green tea, and then set down six empty plates in front of each man.

"General Sun, please have some snacks first," Jin Yanqiu said.

Sun Ze was confused by this.

This girl said she would serve tea, but she gave him a bowl of water with a few tea leaves floating in it.

And now she was telling him to eat snacks… but in front of him were clearly empty plates, not a single snack in sight!

Just as he was puzzling, the empty plates suddenly filled with exquisitely made, fragrant food.

Sun Ze was terrified, recoiling instinctively, almost falling backward.

He was sure that just moments ago, the plates before him were empty!

But in the blink of an eye, the plates were heaped with food.

Where did all this come from?

Could this mysterious Lord really be a monster?

Sun Ze broke into a cold sweat, his face pale as death. He wished he could bolt from the room.

But he didn't dare, and he couldn't get away.

Earlier, when Mu Guang had shot and killed all of Ding's servants, one arrow each, he already knew that Mu Guang was no ordinary fighter.

Outside the room, there were ring upon ring of fully armed soldiers.

He was alone—how could he possibly get out?

But the most terrifying thing was the woman seated at the head of the room.

She was a monster who had bewitched all of the Zhenbei Army soldiers. If a mere mortal like him dared to resist, he'd probably be eaten in one bite.

Wait—could food conjured by a monster even be eaten? If he ate it, would he fall under the monster's control?

Seeing Sun Ze so scared, Jin Yanqiu found it a bit funny.

Everyone else had immediately taken her for a deity, but this Sun Ze seemed different?

The way he looked now, he was scared out of his wits.

But that was fine. Even if Sun Ze feared her, he would still obediently comply.

Jin Yanqiu didn't take Sun Ze's reaction seriously, but Mu Guang was displeased.

His Lord was an immortal. What did Sun Ze mean by showing fear?

He glared coldly at Sun Ze and said threateningly, "General Sun, these refreshments were specially prepared for you by the Lord. Won't you have a taste?"

Sun Ze didn't dare to eat the oddly shaped, brightly colored snacks in front of him, but he also didn't dare not to.

Trembling, he reached out and took a strawberry sandwich cookie from one of the plates before him.

As soon as he tasted it, Sun Ze was stunned.

The pastry shell was crispy, and when he bit into it, a rich sweet-and-sour fruit flavor melted on his tongue.

So sweet, so delicious!

Sun Ze had a sweet tooth, though few knew it.

His favorite pastime was holding his small jar of honey and using chopsticks to dip in and eat it bit by bit.

He had eaten honey, malt sugar, and brown sugar brought by merchants from the south.

But none of those were as good as the pastries before him.

The biscuit in his hand was quickly finished, and Sun Ze’s gaze involuntarily fell on the pastries in front of him.

Would the other pastries be just as sweet?

He had already eaten the food conjured by this mysterious Lady on the city wall earlier, so a little more wouldn't hurt.

With that thought, Sun Ze picked up a small cake.

The soft cake wasn’t as sweet as the biscuit he had just eaten, but it was still delicious. After that, he tried the butter cookies, the sweet and moist honey bread, the matcha mochi with a sweet tea aftertaste...

In no time, Sun Ze had tasted every dish from all six plates.

If not for fear of losing face, he would have eaten them all.

These foods conjured by the spirit were simply too delicious.

He just wondered if his stomach would rot later.

A bit alarmed, Sun Ze instinctively picked up his teacup for a sip to calm down, only for his face to change drastically—this was too bitter and awful!

On the other side, Mu Guang was refilling his own tea.

Today’s sandwich biscuits were overly sweet, a bit cloying, so he relied on tea to wash away the taste in his mouth.

After drinking the tea, Mu Guang felt better.

He straightened up, composed himself, and spoke to Sun Ze: "General Sun, Da Qi's fate is sealed, and chaos is about to sweep the land. Heaven could not bear to see the Central Plains starve, so it bestowed upon my Lady many foods from the celestial realm to relieve the people..."

Hearing this, Sun Ze asked instinctively, "This is food from the celestial realm?"

So what he had eaten was food from paradise, not something conjured by a spirit from toadstools?

Indeed, how could something made from toadstool leaves be this delicious?

At this point, Sun Ze deeply hoped the young woman before him was not a spirit.

Since that was the case, he would treat her as a goddess!

Yes, she must be a goddess, one who could conjure countless foods!

Sun Ze took a deep breath, trying to adjust his mindset.

Seeing this, Jin Yanqiu smiled and began discussing matters of Yuyang City with Sun Ze: "General Sun, you sent your Deputy General to maintain order in the city and had the people take a detour around the city wall. You care for the people."

Sun Ze was taken aback.

He hadn't told anyone in the Zhenbei Army about this, so theoretically, the person before him shouldn’t know.

Yet this woman did, which must be due to her strange—no, divine—abilities.

Forget it, whether she was a spirit or a goddess, he couldn't defeat her. He should just obey.

"Your subordinate has done nothing; it is far inferior to the Lady’s benevolence," Sun Ze quickly said.

He now regretted not kneeling and bowing the moment he entered.

Would it be too late to kneel now?

He was truly afraid this woman would hold a grudge and do something to him.

He didn’t want to die yet...

Jin Yanqiu smiled and began talking about other matters, such as plans for settling the city’s people and her requirements for the Yuyang City garrison.

"Starting tomorrow, the Zhenbei Army and the Yuyang City garrison will escort the villagers living near Yuyang City home in batches. As previously agreed, I will give each of them one hundred jin of grain."

"At that time, the household registrations for these people must be re-registered without any omissions."

"Our Zhenbei Army has Three Major Disciplines and Eight Points of Attention. These regulations must also be observed by General Sun’s soldiers."

"Once the people in the city are settled, I will arrange for some people to serve as grassroots officers under General Sun, training the Yuyang City garrison according to the Zhenbei Army's methods..."

Jin Yanqiu spoke at length and then asked Sun Ze, "General Sun, how many wealthy families are there in Yuyang City? How do these people usually behave?"

"Are there any talented individuals in Yuyang City who have been overlooked due to their backgrounds?"

"Among Ding Hang’s advisors, which ones can be won over?"

...

Jin Yanqiu asked many questions.

She wanted the people under her rule to live well, so she naturally had to learn to govern this realm.

She believed she could do it.

First, human potential is limitless—as seen in how many founding emperors’ hometowns produced famous ministers and generals.

Second, she wasn't governing alone. She now had Jin Mingtang, Zhou Jinling, Mu Guang, and others to assist her, and there would be more in the future.

Finally, and most importantly, in the original plot, she had accomplished many things!

Even without the system as a cheat advantage, she had become a wise empress who helped Wei Lian manage the rear. There was no reason she couldn't manage the realm now.

As for Sun Ze, he answered every question without holding back, trembling as he revealed all he knew.

The person before him was so powerful that he dared not speak a single lie.

While talking with Sun Ze, Jin Yanqiu had the system record and summarize their conversation for her.

Before her transmigration, she had used AI to write year-end summaries to fool her boss, but now, the system she used was far more useful than any AI on her phone.

Jin Yanqiu talked with Sun Ze for an hour. During that time, she sent a letter to Zhou Jinling, arranging some tasks for him, and also received news from outside.

For instance, Lu Deyong had tried to escape through the south gate but was caught by Zhenbei Army troops lying in ambush nearby.

After they finished talking, Jin Yanqiu pulled up the document the system had prepared, then summoned the Zhenbei Army officers to give them their orders.

She rattled off a list of names and their details, instructing the Zhenbei Army to bring those people to Yuyang City's lord mansion, then recited another set of addresses, ordering them to surround those places.

The first group were the knowledgeable people Sun Ze had mentioned, and the latter were the unscrupulous wealthy families he had identified. It would take further assessment and interrogation to decide what to do with them, but keeping them under watch first was definitely the right move.

While handling these matters, Jin Yanqiu also assigned some tasks to Sun Ze.

Watching Jin Yanqiu sit in the seat of power and direct everything, Sun Ze felt a surge of admiration.

He had only mentioned those names and addresses once! The Lord could remember them all—truly worthy of being a fairy, no, a deity.

By the time Jin Yanqiu had taken care of everything, another half hour had passed.

So Sun Ze had been sitting there, restless and terrified, for a full three hours.

The six plates of snacks Jin Yanqiu had given Sun Ze weren't much.

Besides, as everyone knows, foods like bread and cookies are high in calories but digest quickly, making you hungry again soon.

What's more, Sun Ze was tall and a general, so his appetite must have been huge.

Jin Yanqiu looked at Xiao Tao: “Xiao Tao, bring a charcoal stove for General Sun.”

A charcoal stove? Was she going to warm him up with it?

Sun Ze was about to say it wasn’t necessary when a soldier came in carrying a small stove topped with a clay pot.

After setting down the stove, another soldier poured hot water into the pot.

Just as Sun Ze was getting confused, a piece of flatbread, some sauce, and two braised chicken legs suddenly appeared in the pot.

The sauce quickly dissolved in the water, and the aroma spread—it was the smell of braised beef he had noticed that morning.

Was this what the Zhenbei Army had eaten for breakfast?

Sun Ze couldn’t help but swallow.

He didn’t have to wait long in craving. Soon, a maidservant told him the noodles were ready.

Taking the pot off the stove, Sun Ze eagerly took a bite.

Delicious, truly delicious!

He just wondered if eating this would drain his life force.

Bah, nonsense! This food was a gift from the gods—no way it would drain his energy!

Despite his fear, Sun Ze couldn’t resist and quickly finished the noodles, even drinking all the broth.

After eating, Sun Ze planned to go back to the city. But just before leaving, something struck him, and he asked Jin Yanqiu nervously, “Lord, did I forget to tell you? The emperor died.”