Be a small county magistrate in ancient times

Why not say it in Chapter 725?

"You!..." Meng Changqing managed to utter a single word before holding it back.

If it were based on her temperament when she first arrived in Beishan County, she would have immediately broken ties with Zhang Yuan. But she has matured, or rather, to be more realistic, she has also fallen.

Zhang Yuan had previously pledged his loyalty to Meng Changqing several times. It must be said that while this behavior was not clever, it was effective. Now that he had made a mistake, Meng Changqing would consider whether to give him a chance to correct it.

To give an analogy, Zhang Yuan is like a broken jar with a chip, but this jar is placed in Meng Changqing's yard, and she knows where the chip is, so she can repair it and barely make it hold water.

But if the water vat is blown up, it's hard to say what kind of water vat Song Qingfeng will replace it with, or whose yard it will be placed in, or whose water it will be filled with.

More likely, Song Qingfeng will move the land where she put the water tank to his own yard, so she won't be able to use it anymore.

Since she still wants to use him, she hopes he will correct his shortcomings rather than berate him, humiliate him, and ultimately alienate him from her.

That's why I had to call Brother Zhang first when I made that sarcastic remark to him earlier.

"For the sake of so-called face and favors among colleagues, are you willing to disregard national security?" Meng Changqing said angrily. "Brother Zhang, you are also a veteran. The Beishan County you are defending is closely connected to Hongjia County. If Hongjia County is captured, and the court punishes you, can you escape responsibility? No, no, no, even blaming someone is too far-fetched." Meng Changqing questioned loudly, "If the enemy breaks through the city walls, can you survive? How many people in these two counties will survive!"

"Border security is of paramount importance. Since you saw the oversight long ago, why didn't you say so?" Meng Changqing asked repeatedly, his tone filled with disappointment. "Why didn't you say so!"

"This..." Zhang Yuan stammered several syllables, but couldn't utter a complete sentence.

He knew he had a problem, of course, but in front of so many accomplices, the urge to argue was still stronger. However, he didn't dare to continue arguing while facing Meng Changqing's anger.

"I... I thought it wasn't the time for the Yan army to attack in previous years, so I didn't think..." Before he could finish speaking, Meng Changqing's face turned as black as ink, so he quickly stopped and changed his tone, "I was wrong, it was my carelessness."

Meng Changqing took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.

"Find two cavalrymen now and send them to Weishan Camp and Liangzhou Prefecture to deliver messages. Tell them that I have invited General Song and Prefect Zheng to come here. Unless they have something extremely urgent to attend to, tell them to set off immediately. I will be waiting for them on the city wall!"

"Yes."

Zhang Yuan knew that Meng Changqing was not going to give either of them a friendly welcome by inviting them both at the same time. He just didn't know what punishment General Song would give him if he found out about this.

Although he had some doubts, he dared not be careless about the task Meng Changqing had given him. He went down from the city wall to personally select men and horses, and even taught the two messenger soldiers how to speak.

After everything was arranged, Zhang Yuan wiped the sweat from his forehead, looked up at the city wall again and again, and finally braced himself and returned to Meng Changqing.

“My lord, they have already set off,” Zhang Yuan said. “But with this round trip, General Song and the others will likely arrive here after nightfall. Why don’t you come down with me and rest for a while?”

"Alright, I won't bother," Meng Changqing said. "Go get a stool from the room, I'll sit here."

The houses Meng Changqing was referring to were barracks built on the city wall, intended to provide temporary shelter for soldiers during bad weather, and also to store weapons.

Zhang Yuan jogged back and forth, personally carrying out two long benches.

"My lord, please have a seat." Zhang Yuan placed the bench behind Meng Changqing, and then said to Xi Bei and Chu Mufeng, "Lord Bai, Master Bai, please have a seat as well." There were two benches in total. Meng Changqing occupied one for himself, Xi Bei and Chu Mufeng shared the other, and Zhang Yuan stood to the side with his head down.

“Old Zhang, sit down too.” Xi Bei leaned over to speak to Zhang Yuan. “There are only these two stools in the room? Come on, sit next to me.” As she spoke, Xi Bei also squeezed closer to Chu Mufeng.

"No, no, no," Zhang Yuan hurriedly waved her hand, saying with shame, "I have no face to sit here."

Meng Changqing smiled at him, but Zhang Yuan felt insulted even though he hadn't said anything. He touched his nose and said with a forced smile, "Sir, let me make you a pot of tea."

They said they were brewing tea, but in reality they just brought out a small table and a stove for boiling tea, and even asked someone to buy some snacks from the new street.

Looking at the steaming tea in front of her, Meng Changqing first thought about whether there was a lockable outhouse nearby. Only after confirming that there was one did she feel at ease drinking it.

Zhang Yuan sat on the city wall for more than an hour. He noticed that Meng Changqing was staring in the direction of Hongjia County. He felt a chill down his spine. He also thought about Zheng Jie and Song Qingfeng arriving later. He really didn't know how to explain himself to get rid of his responsibilities.

I felt uneasy no matter how much I thought about it.

As the sky grew darker, Zhang Yuan's heart pounded with anxiety.

When it was time for the change of guard in Beishan County, the next shift of soldiers came up to take over the work of the previous shift. Meng Changqing watched them quickly complete the handover, and then looked at the neighboring Hongjia County.

"When is the garrison change in Hongjia County?" Meng Changqing asked.

Zhang Yuan walked over quickly and replied, "It was always around 7 PM a few days ago, I don't know if the time has changed now."

"There's no one on duty here, so how did you know when they changed shifts?"

There were people here a few days ago.

Meng Changqing was tired after sitting for so long, and he had seen enough of what was going on here. Zheng Jie and Song Qingfeng hadn't arrived yet, so since he had nothing else to do, he simply got up and headed towards Hongjia County.

After entering Hongjia County, it took quite a while before they saw the first person on duty. He was dozing off with his spear in hand, and didn't even notice when Meng Changqing walked up to him.

Zhang Yuan tried to wake the person, but Meng Changqing stopped her.

Meng Changqing ignored him and led his men eastward.

The second person I met wasn't asleep; he was just standing there with peanut shells scattered all over the ground, shaking his leg and humming an unknown tune.

He spotted Meng Changqing, but didn't realize what Meng Changqing was up to, because Meng Changqing was still smiling and greeting him, "It's your turn to be on duty."

The guard thought Meng Changqing remembered him, and was even a little smug. He quickly kicked the peanut shells at his feet aside, smiled sheepishly, and said, "Yes."

"Keep eating, I'm going to take a look to the east."

After walking for several miles, Meng Changqing found that the situation he saw was indeed similar to, or even more serious than, Zhang Yuan's description.