Song Zhi said lightly, "Actually, I'm not such a cruel person that I would kill you. It's a good thing that you are so loyal. I'll just spare your lives."

Everyone looked at Song Zhi warily, not understanding what she was up to.

Song Zhi changed the subject and said, "But, you can escape the death penalty, but you can't escape the punishment of living. How about this? If you really want to keep silent, then forget it. I will just give you a small punishment."

Song Zhi smiled brightly.

Xie Ting beside him shuddered inexplicably. After being with Song Zhi for so long, he finally understood.

Song Zhi smiled, life and death are unpredictable.

Whenever Song Zhi smiled like this, nothing good was going to happen.

Just as I was thinking this, I heard Song Zhi say, "Xie Ting, castrate them all. It's just a little less meat, such a small punishment. Don't let them die. I am so kind and merciful."

After saying that, she decided not to stay here any longer and stood up to leave.

"Don't...don't go! Let's talk, let's talk."

Song Zhi had only taken a few steps when he heard several people shouting in fear from behind.

Compared to death, living without dignity is obviously the most frightening thing.

For a man, such punishment is worse than letting them die directly.

She is kind and compassionate, she is simply a devil.

Several people rushed to say, "The new emperor doesn't have any plans, but he did leave a backup plan. In the dilapidated temple east of the city, under the Buddha statue is a tunnel leading out of the city."

Song Zhi turned around and sat back, his eyes deep, "Continue."

The men continued, "We're staying here to stir up trouble and prevent you from gaining the support of the people. Then, after you've let down your guard, the Tianqi soldiers will sneak into the city through the tunnels and slaughter you without a single survivor. The people will then cheer and celebrate, and the new emperor will take the opportunity to spread those rumors, making everyone misunderstand that you're truly bloody and violent."

Song Zhi nodded. This insidious method was indeed something that someone like Mu Yuanzhi would come up with.

Perhaps the inspiration for this tunnel came from the tunnel in Gouer Lane.

When the capital city closed its gates, Mu Yuanzhi thought that everything was under control and he just needed to catch the turtle in the jar.

As a result, there was a hole in the jar and they all ran away through the tunnel, which made Mu Yuan very angry.

Thinking of this, Song Zhi looked at the others and asked, "Anyone else?"

"That's all, that's all, Your Majesty. We've spoken out such an important matter. Please have mercy on us and let us go."

Song Zhi didn't answer directly. He blew on his nails and said nonchalantly, "You've been bullying people in Liucheng for a long time. You must have done a lot of immoral things."

She specifically asked Meng Qi to investigate these people and found that they were corrupt and bullied the weak and did all kinds of evil. They were ordered to give advice to Zhang Liu, so that Zhang Liu could gain the trust of the people in the name of a former court minister, and then discredit her through storytelling.

Most of the money Zhang Liu earned went into these people's pockets.

Her words made the men in the dungeon pale, and they stammered incoherently, "No, that's not the case. We simply strayed on the wrong path, but we are not bad by nature. If only the Empress would give us a chance, we would reform and start anew."

"Rehabilitation?"

Song Zhi looked at them and said, "You can reform yourself. How unfair it is to treat the people you bullied to death."

She said slowly, "You told me what I wanted to know, so I really won't kill you or punish you. However, everything has its cause and effect, and you still need to pay for the sins you carry."

Under the horrified gazes of several people, Song Zhi said word by word: "Xie Ting, destroy their martial arts, tie them up and send them to the victims' families."

She doesn't care what those people do.

"No, Lady Empress, they are so cruel to us that they will make us suffer a fate worse than death."

"You can't do this. You clearly promised us..."

Having said this, several people paused.

Because they then recalled that Song Zhi had never made any guarantees to them, and even the two choices he gave them at the beginning were choices that would lead to their death.

Their expressions changed from panic to deathly pale.

"Lady Empress, we are willing to serve you and even help you infiltrate Tianqi to obtain intelligence. We only ask that you, Lady Empress, spare our lives."

This was their only convincing argument, so they had no choice but to try their best to see if they could buy themselves a glimmer of hope.

However, Song Zhi showed no sign of wavering.

"I don't need people with overly malicious minds here, so take care of yourselves."

After saying that, Song Zhi left the dungeon.

Outside, the sun is shining and the autumn air is crisp.

Wild geese flew across the azure sky, and golden leaves swirled and fell in the breeze.

She breathed a long sigh of relief. It was indeed more comfortable to be in the sunshine. The dark dungeon was indeed not suitable for her.

She asked Meng Qi to take people to the dilapidated temple in the east of the city to check it out, and sure enough, they saw a tunnel under the huge Buddha statue.

Meng Qi asked, "Boss, shall I take the men and fill it up right away?"

Song Zhi waved his hand, "That won't do. The tunnel they dug with so much trouble must be used."

"what do you mean?"

"Take your men and guard the ruined temple and outside the city respectively. If Mu Yuanzhi really dares to send people, let them sneak in through the tunnel. Then the people outside the city will be responsible for cutting off their retreat. At the ruined temple, we will capture anyone who comes out. They will line up and fall into our trap. What a great opportunity."

Meng Qi's eyes suddenly lit up, "Okay, leave it to me."

After dealing with these people, Song Zhi wrote a few notices and asked Song Chenfeng to post them in the busiest places in the night market.

The content was roughly telling them to stop hiding, that she wouldn't eat people, and that they should just come out and move around normally during the day.

Whether people believe it or not, and what the effect is, are not within her consideration.

If these people really open their eyes, they will realize how naive the rumors they believe are.

After the Phoenix Army occupied this place, they did not take a single needle or thread from the people. They had to bring their own food. They never made things difficult for them, and there had never been a single conflict. This shows how strict their military discipline was.

An empress with strict military discipline would never eat a child.

Song Zhi felt that the people in this city were a bit stupid, so he let them slowly discover the truth on their own.

She wanted to see how long these people could last, hiding during the day and moving around at night.

What's more, the food in the city will be sold out one day. What will we do then?

Song Zhi was not the type to curry favor with someone she didn't like, and she didn't care what the people in the city thought of her.

Because reality is about to give them a loud slap in the face.

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