The traveling party, consisting of Chinua, her eight subordinates (including Hye, who was riding in Misheel's carriage), the two hundred and twenty-three imperial guards under her command, and Misheel's contingent of one hundred soldiers, was heading west back to Ntsua-Ntu City. Sitting on the bench in the large carriage, Hye and Misheel sat opposite each other. There were six boxes behind the bench. As they left in the morning, Misheel noticed that Hye had not said a word to him, and he was curious about what was in the six boxes.
"May I ask, what are the six boxes at the back of the carriage?' Misheel asked."
Hye put down the book in his hand, looked at Misheel and said, "Those boxes are full of dry leaves."
Misheel asked, "Leaves? Why are you carrying leaves back to Ntsua-Ntu City?"
Hye said, "Femi, the female doctor in Hosha City gave them to me. They are used to calm people and help them sleep better."
Misheel asked, "What are you going to do with them?"
Hye smiled and said, "Of course I will sell them."
Misheel chuckled and said, "I heard from Timicin that you are not only a great advisor, but also a great war strategist. Are you willing to serve in the palace? I believe that with your qualifications and Chinua's help, you can hold an important position in the palace."
Hye scoffed and said indifferently, "I will not bend the knee for any king, especially your king."
Misheel saw Hye's gloomy face, and the negative attitude expressed, so he realized that he might have crossed a line by inviting Hye into serving the royal court.
Misheel said with a smile, "It's just a thought. You can choose not to serve the royal court."
"Minister Misheel!" A soldier's voice called from outside the window as he rode by.
Misheel lifted the window's curtain and asked, "What's wrong?"
"There was a small group of about forty civilians, men, women and children walking in front of us," the soldier said.
Misheel sighed and said, "They must be people fleeing from the southwest." He turned to the soldiers. "Do not disturb them and assure the civilians that we are just royal officials passing by. In addition, give them food, water, and blankets."
"Yes, Minister Misheel." The soldier quickly rode away.
Hye looked at Misheel, who was sitting opposite him. He had met many ministers of Hmagol before, but he could tell from the way he talked to the soldier that Misheel must be a man with real compassion to serve ordinary citizens.
"Why should we give them food? There are still two days left until we arrive in the capital?" Hye asked.
Misheel smiled with a heavy heart and said sadly, "That's why we are giving away our food and blankets, because we only have two days left to reach the capital. We could survive a day without food and a night without blankets before returning home, but who knows how many days these civilians have been hungry and how many nights they have been cold."
Hye looked at Misheel. He said, "Now I finally understand where Timicin's attitude comes from."
Misheel said, "You are stationed in the east and you went to war, so you might not hear about the flooding in the southwest of Hmagol."
Hye asked, "What is your king's plan for this?"
Misheel said, "At the moment, His Majesty is still dealing with a highly contagious disease in northwest Hmagol."
Rolling his eyes at Misheel, Hye asked, "So, will your king abandon the southwest? I heard that most of the civilians living in the southwest are descendants of Tanggolian."
Misheel protested, "The southwest of Hmagol is not abandoned, but the King has not yet had a good plan to solve this problem. When the flood just happened, he had already sent aid, but you may already know that such help is only a temporary solution. Once the food is exhausted, the people will suffer again."
As soon as Misheel finished speaking, the carriage suddenly stopped.
"What's going on?" Misheel said, quickly pushing the door curtain aside.
The driver said, "My Lord, there are people blocking our way."
Hye and Misheel stepped out of the carriage and discovered that there were more civilians than the soldiers initially reported.
"Where did all these people come from?" Misheel muttered.
Hye noticed two groups of people traveling on the same road as them.
The first group was larger, consisting mostly of men; the second was smaller, with more elderly individuals, women, and children.
"Why are you blocking the road?" Chinua asked as she approached the people standing in front of the carriage.
"Please share some food with us," said a woman holding a baby in her arms and carrying a toddler on her back.
Chinua looked down at the woman and said, "Minister Misheel ordered the soldiers to give you some food, water and blankets."
"Chinua," Hye said, gesturing his head towards the first group of people less than thirty yards away.
Chinua saw a group of young men distributing food to the first group of civilians.
"They are handing out food, water and blankets over there; why don't you go get some?" Chinua said.
An old woman stepped forward, grabbed the young mother's arm, and said, "Daughter-in-law, step away... don't block their way. They are Magoli, so they are likely to help their own people."
She quickly pulled the young mother to the side of the road.
The young mothers standing on the roadside moved slowly aside.
The old woman added, "Whatever they don't need, we can pick it up later."
Chinua jumped off her horse and walked with the others towards the woman standing by the roadside. "This grandmother, why do you say that?" Chinua asked. Because Chinua was not a soft-spoken person, the two women took a few steps back from Chinua.
The old woman's voice shook, her trembling lips slowly moved as her teeth chattered against each other. "Dear sir, please forgive us if we had misspoken."
She quickly put her hand into her belt, took out two copper coins and handed them to Chinua.
Chinua pushed the old woman's hand away and asked, "I'm just asking for clarification because I don't understand why you said that."
The old woman slowly took back her hand, feeling that her two copper coins might not be enough to satisfy the Magoli soldier. She said politely, "Is what I said wrong?" She looked at Chinua.
Chinua said, "I just don't understand your last sentence. Is there any hidden meaning?"
The old woman said, "My words don't have any hidden meaning."
A loud harsh voice came from a distance which diverted Chinua's attention from the old woman and the young mother.
She looked up and saw a young man walking towards the second group of people carrying a sac.
"Here!" A young man threw a bag on the ground. "Don't go around saying that we Magoli don't share any food with you. Ptooey." He spat at the people standing on the roadside. "Outcast...you are not even Magoli. How come you live in Hmagol..." He complained as he slowly walked towards the first group of people.
"Mama, look... bread." A little boy with ragged clothes and thin limbs ran forward and grabbed the dirty bread on the ground with a smile.
The young man's action enraged Chinua. Her heart raced. The thought that her soldiers had sacrificed their lives so scumbags like him could walk made her blood boil.
In anger, Chinua yanked the dirty piece of bread from the boy's hand and rushed towards the young man who was walking towards the first group of people.
Chinua grabbed his hair, pulled him back, and stuffed the dirty piece of bread into his mouth. Then, grabbing his shirt with both hands, she picked him up and threw him to the ground.
The incident happened so fast that the young man didn't even have time to react. The next thing he knew he was already on the ground. He struggled for a while before he was able to breathe freely. After spitting the dirty bread out of his mouth, he pointed at Chinua only to realize that he couldn't move his arm higher due to the sharp pain on his ribcage. He tried twice to speak but all that came out from his mouth was a low grunt.
Seeing their friend knocked down, ten young men rushed towards their fallen friend. One of the men reached him and asked, "Are you alright?" While helping him to his feet.
The young man grunted, then forced out, "He... I think... he... he broke my rib." He groaned.
Chinua scoffed and said, "A broken rib is a better punishment than a missing head."
Another man pointed at Chinua. "You outcast! Do you know the punishment for hurting a true blood Magoli?"
"Oh, I don't know," Chinua said through gritted teeth. "Why don't you tell me?"
The man said, "Harming a true blood Magoli will land you in jail, that's the law."
Chinua laughed. "I've never heard of a law like this," she said angrily.
"In the Hmagol constitution, it is written that all people living in Hmagol are Magoli, no matter where their ancestors came from, or which surnames they choose to use. I want to know which constitution you read this law from?' Hye said with his arms crossed across his chest and smirked at the ill-educated young men standing before him.
"'Do you think you can defeat us if you know a little martial art? Huh?" Another man said threateningly." He walked aggressively forward with the remaining young people.
A silly expression appeared on Hye's face; he said with a smirk, "A little skill?"
He turned to look at Chinua, teasing, his lips curved down slightly. "He is laughing at your fighting ability. This scum makes me question whether it is worth risking our lives to let him live a peaceful life in Hmagol."
He chuckled and looked at the twenty people who stood looking at Chinua and him.
"Honestly, if I were you, I'd get down on my knees and surrender right now. I wouldn't threaten, especially her."
Chinua stared at the men and asked, "You have not answered his question yet?"
"Yeah, you haven't answered his question yet," Naksh led the others forward. He began to crack his knuckles and neck from side to side.
Seeing more and more people coming towards them, the Magoli civilians retreated towards the other civilians.
Jeet yelled at the men, "Answer the damn question or I'll make sure you can't talk again!"
His loud deep harsh voice only frightened the Magoli men even more, and they continued to retreat.
" Listen, guys, we are all Magoli, there is no need to get into conflict over those who have been abandoned. Those outcasts over there are Tanggolian descendants. They happen to live in Hmagol, and therefore they don't deserve anything from the Hmagol government,' one of the men said, pointing to the second group of civilians not far away."
Hye scratched his chin and said, "If historical records are correct, the southwest region of Hmagol originally belonged to Tanggolia and was later conquered by King Batu. In order to show respect for the people who surrendered peacefully, King Batu established the Supreme Law of Hmagol."
He looked at the civilian men. "I read the Supreme Law of Hmagol two hundred years ago, and I did not see the law you mentioned in it. So, I am confused by that law."
Drystan sneered at Hye and said, "You surely know about everything, even the supreme law. What a nerd?"
Hye looked at Drystan, genuinely amused by Drystand's foolishness, and said, "If you're going to serve under a Magoli, you should know their laws."
The men said, "Yes...the government only provides aid to true Magoli with the Magoli surname. If you don't believe me, ask Mayor Orgil."
Chinua asked, "So you mean that the aid sent is only for Magoli citizens with Magoli surname?"
"That's right." The man replied proudly.
Chinua asked, "Who is responsible for delivering aid to the southwest?"
Misheel quickly walked to Chinua and said, "It's Minister Enkhjin."
Misheel looked up at Chinua. It could be seen from Chinua's expression that she was very unhappy about this situation, and he himself doesn't understand how this issue arose in the first place.
"But Chinua, this doesn't seem right, because I have worked with Minister Enkhjin for many years, and with his righteous attitude, there is no way he would let this happen. There must be some misunderstanding here," he said. "I can guarantee that Minister Enkhjin will never show such prejudice towards anyone."
Chinua understands the process of delivering supplies, having experienced it herself. She knew that if the person sending the supplies was honest, then the person receiving the supplies was dishonest.
Although Mönkhbat held the title of Southern General, his main responsibility was to protect Da-Lao Pass, and he had no say in political decisions. The final decision was largely made by the southern governor, Gerel.
"There's no misunderstanding. It seems this corruption is so deep-rooted that if we don't root it out, we won't see it," Chinua said, walking toward the group. She stared at the men for a moment. "There is no legal provision in the Hmagol constitution that only native Magoli people with the Magoli surname can receive government assistance in times of need. It reads that all citizens living in Hmagol are Magoli. Therefore, any assistance provided by the government must be distributed equally to all those who are suffering during difficult times."
Misheel said, "You heard Chinua, bring those food bags and gather everyone here. I will distribute the food to the people myself." He turned to Chinua. "Chinua, let's take a break and eat something before continuing."
When the soldiers finished making lunch, Zhi grabbed a bowl of soup and a piece of meat and turned around to find a place to sit. At this time, he found Chinua sitting alone in the distance, watching Misheel and the soldiers distribute food to the fleeing civilians. He grabbed another piece of meat and walked towards Chinua.
Zhi sat next to Chinua and handed her the meat in his hand. "You don't have to think too much," Zhi said. "Such a situation is common in any kingdom. Among a hundred ministers wearing white cloaks, there will always be one or two wearing black cloaks."
Chinua took the piece of meat from Zhi's hand and said sadly, "I have always believed that ministers who serve the imperial court are ministers with compassion and a heart to serve the country. They are those appointed by father. They are all law-abiding and impartial."
Zhi smiled and said, "You know, there is a sentence in Tanggolian that I like very much."
Chinua turned to look at Zhi and asked, "What is that sentence?"
Zhi sighed, looked at the people sitting and eating, and said, "No matter how clear the emperor's order is, he is still thousands of miles away."
Chinua sighed and said with a heavy heart, "Very well said."