Yin Shuangshuang went to the place where the county soldiers were being held. These soldiers were tied together with ropes and gathered in a larger open space for supervision.

After Yin Shuangshuang arrived, she waved her hand and ordered the leaders to be arrested and sent to prison.

Yin Shuangshuang’s actions clearly agitated the already tense county soldiers, and a sense of unease spread through the crowd, causing a commotion.

Yin Shuangshuang coughed, her legs weak as if they were made of noodles, and her voice was feeble. Of the over a thousand people there, only a few could clearly hear what she was saying.

So Yin Shuangshuang decided not to waste her efforts. She leaned back slightly, half resting on Wei Yingnan, and gestured for her second cousin Wang Ruibo to come and speak for her.

Wang Ruibo’s eyes were red and bloodshot from exhaustion. He had been interrogating Hu Bingchen, Xu Huirong, and Chai Pengfei, trying to extract useful information from them.

Yin Shuangshuang had specifically sent someone to call Wang Ruibo out. She had told him what he needed to say, and he had been mulling over his words on the way there.

Now that Yin Shuangshuang had signaled him, Wang Ruibo jumped onto a makeshift high platform, which was essentially just a table found from somewhere.

Although Wang Ruibo had been somewhat nervous, when the moment came, he was not nervous at all. He cleared his throat, looked around at the county soldiers who had been ordered to quiet down, and spoke up.

"Are you all still confused and don’t understand what’s happening? You were just following orders, so why were you suddenly arrested and treated like criminals?"

As a martial artist, Wang Ruibo’s voice was full of vigor and carried far. All the county soldiers present heard him loud and clear.

These county soldiers were already bewildered, and as Wang Ruibo spoke, they immediately started echoing in agreement.

"Yes, my lord, we were just following orders. We did what we were told, so why were we suddenly arrested?"

"My lord, I’m innocent! I haven’t done anything wrong! Why was I arrested?"

"My lord, we were only ordered to kill enemies of the state. How did we become criminals?"

"My lord, I still have an old mother and younger brothers to take care of at home. I can’t leave them, my lord!"

"Quiet down and listen." Wang Ruibo raised his hand to calm them, and the surrounding guards shouted a few times, quieting the crowd once more, though everyone’s eyes remained fixed on Wang Ruibo.

"You may not know this, but County Magistrate Chai Pengfei, County Magistrate Hu Bingchen, Secretary Xu Huirong, and the arrest officers and constables from the county government were conspiring together.

They opened a gold mine illegally, and even captured common people, cutting their tongues out and forcing them into labor in the mine. And those you were ordered to intercept and kill were the new County Magistrate of this county!"

Wang Ruibo then recounted the deeds of Xu Huirong, Hu Bingchen, and Chai Pengfei. If some county soldiers were previously proclaiming their innocence, they were now completely despairing!

Even though these county soldiers were not well-informed, they were not idiots. They had seen the rescued common people, who were like the walking dead.

In truth, they had already sensed something wasn’t right, but people have a tendency to avoid danger. Many, despite feeling uneasy, instinctively chose to ignore the truth.

Some clever ones had already noticed something amiss, so they remained in constant fear. Now, with their suspicions confirmed, they fell into despair.

To these ordinary county soldiers, it felt like disaster struck while they were just sitting at home. Intercepting and killing a court official was a crime punishable by death.

Suddenly, the county soldiers were collapsing or stunned with fear, crying innocence and causing chaos. The sounds were tangled up, making it impossible to hear who was saying what.

Out of sheer fear, even the guards’ shouts had no effect. If it weren’t for the fact that Yin Shuangshuang had sent enough people, something might have gone wrong right then and there.

Wang Ruibo shouted several times from the high platform, and with Yang Yixuan bringing his men to quell the situation wave after wave, they finally had the chaotic county soldiers under control and quiet again.

Seeing the fear and despair in the soldiers’ eyes, Wang Ruibo’s voice softened: "Rest assured, the County Magistrate is wise and will not wrongfully punish the innocent. Those leaders who followed Chai Pengfei’s orders are not entirely blameless.

But you are all just ordinary county soldiers who knew nothing, so the County Magistrate will not punish you. You may leave and return to your homes now."

They had thought they were doomed, but the situation suddenly took an unexpected turn. Unbelieving, the county soldiers looked at each other to confirm they weren’t hearing things wrong, then burst into tears of joy.

When the guards who were originally watching them came forward to untie them, the soldiers realized they truly weren’t being punished and were really being released. They all rushed to kneel in front of Yin Shuangshuang.

A large group of people kept kowtowing to Yin Shuangshuang, saying things like "Mr. Qing Tian," each with an expression of sincere gratitude.

Yin Shuangshuang smiled and raised her hand to quiet them. The soldiers immediately fell silent: "Innocence is no crime. This time you suffered an unexpected disaster.

All injured individuals can receive a potion for their injuries and two taels of silver afterwards. Go home and recuperate."

Two taels of silver may not be much, but it’s enough for a person to recover from injuries. This money would be deducted from the confiscated silver.

In this battle, many county soldiers were injured, but fortunately, no one died. Most of the injuries were from arrows shot by Yang Yixuan’s men from behind.

The reason no one died is because Yang Yixuan instructed his men to mainly target the arms and legs to avoid fatal injuries.

These injured county soldiers had resigned themselves to their fate, thinking they’d have to manage with their injuries. Escaping with their lives was a blessing, so to receive injury potions and silver was unexpected and touching.

Even if they had been deceived before, they really almost killed the County Magistrate. Now, the injured soldiers were moved, many of them crying and kneeling to thank Yin Shuangshuang.

Once they returned, these county soldiers spread word of Yin Shuangshuang’s benevolence, sparking admiration and making many people fond of her as a County Magistrate. People were more willing to go to the county government to drum and seek justice, though that’s a story for another time.

Distributing silver and injury potions took quite some time as the grateful soldiers were sent off. Yin Shuangshuang, though still faint, continued to interrogate Hu Buwei and Zhou Chengbing separately.

Hu Buwei was slippery, and it took Yin Shuangshuang a long time and many verbal traps to get him to slip up, gaining some valuable information, while Zhou Chengbing was much simpler.

Having been born as the legitimate son of the Zhou Family, Zhou Chengbing had never suffered before. Being thrown into jail without even being questioned by Yin Shuangshuang, he confessed everything after being tied up and whipped once.