Madam, don't do this!

Chapter 194 The rumble of carriages and the neighing of horses (3)

The woman tripped over her skirt and fell; the way she fell was like falling face down on flat ground.

If you're unlucky, this fall could be enough to disfigure you.

The woman was a little luckier, perhaps because her ample bosom provided some cushioning; in any case, although the situation was terrible, at least she wasn't disfigured. Her forehead must have hit something hard; it was red, swollen, and you could see tiny, oozing blood vessels.

Her knees, however, were bright red, soaking through her white dress, like two blooming plum blossoms.

It must have hurt a lot, because the woman's brows furrowed, her pearly white teeth clenched, and a faint hissing sound came from between her teeth.

Of course, there was no time to worry about these minor injuries in the current situation. The woman frowned and looked ahead. The three people who were originally a little distance away had now appeared not far away.

There were three men.

With shifty eyes.

His clothes were also sloppy.

Even their faces and hands were covered in black grime.

He must be a low-level rogue or scoundrel in Songzhou City, who makes a living by petty theft, extortion, and staged accidents.

The woman's face grew paler and paler, devoid of any color. She tried to get up, but her legs were clearly injured in the fall, preventing her from standing. She could only push off the ground and move backward.

Before long, something cold pressed against my back—the cold railing of the Yi River.

On the other side, the three men, confident of victory, knew the woman could no longer escape their grasp. They slowed their pace and approached her in a fan-shaped formation. In the moonlight, their eyes gleamed with an eerie, wolf-like light, sending chills down one's spine.

They exchanged glances, and all three could see the greed and desire in each other's eyes.

This woman is absolutely stunning.

Even those young sluts in Qunyu Garden are far inferior to her.

For these drifters living at the very bottom of society, the prostitutes of Qunyu Garden were people they could never reach, while the woman before them seemed more like a fairy descended from heaven.

Beautiful, so beautiful.

If it were an ordinary person, knowing the other party's identity, they might not dare to have any special thoughts, but it's different for them. They are just worthless lives anyway, and if they can taste this woman's flavor, then it would be worth losing their lives.

The person who sought them out only demanded that the woman die; he didn't care what happened before or after her death.

That being the case...

Gudong.

The three men's throats began to move, and they swallowed almost simultaneously.

But just then, the woman, with one hand on the railing, suddenly exerted force, and her body rose from the ground, her upper body already over the railing. With a leap, a loud thud was heard, and her body was submerged in the Yi-Luo River.

The three men stamped their feet and beat their chests, rushing over, but all they could see was the river churning beneath the surface, then a few bubbles rose to the surface, and then nothing more.

It has probably sunk.

They drowned.

Eh.

A sigh escaped his lips, and he couldn't help but feel a pang of regret, for she was truly a very beautiful woman.

As for saving people... they can't swim.

……

the other side.

Outside the Qunyu Garden, there was a young man in his mid-twenties.

She still smelled strongly of rouge, and looking at the bright red lipstick marks on her face, one could roughly guess what she had been doing.

Four maids followed behind him.

They were all mature women in their early twenties.

He had seriously considered whether to switch to an older person, and even tried it. But putting aside whether anyone would be willing to switch with him, he just couldn't stand the sight of him, so he switched back.

He is different from others.

Others go to Qunyu Garden for leisure.

He went to Qunyu Garden to make an exchange.

After all, he had basically exchanged all the concubines and maids of young masters of similar age and status in Songzhou Prefecture... and once he had exchanged a woman, he would quickly lose interest and have no desire to do it a second time.

He felt that his hobby was becoming increasingly perverse.

Actually, he wasn't like this at first.

He didn't know exactly when he developed this fetish. He only knew that in the beginning, he would get excited even if he swapped with the same person ten or eight times, let alone once.

But that's not possible now.

Only a new woman can ignite the passion in his heart.

But Songzhou Prefecture is only so big, and there's only so much that can be used for exchange. So he set his sights on Qunyu Garden. After all, even the same prostitute in Qunyu Garden could be Young Master Zhang's woman today and Young Master Zhao's woman tomorrow.

Every time is a completely new experience.

This excited him greatly, and he spent almost every day in Qunyu Garden during this period.

only……

The man had one hand on his waist, and a dull ache made him grimace.

Visiting Qunyu Garden too often will ultimately harm your health.

Although he didn't look in a mirror, he could roughly guess that he looked quite haggard.

Or, how about quitting?
The thought crossed his mind, but he quickly shook his head. Quitting was impossible, absolutely impossible. Forget it, he'd just quit drinking.

He didn't think there was anything wrong with his behavior. Maybe it was a bit perverted, but many sons of noble families and nobles had much more elaborate ways of doing things than he did. At least on his side, it was all consensual, and at least there was no forced abduction of women.

It was already late at night, but the moon was very big, and the road surface seemed to be covered with a layer of white frost, so it wasn't too difficult to see the road.

After descending the steps, he saw the carriage at the entrance of Qunyu Garden. The coachman seemed too tired and was dozing off. The man walked over and patted the coachman on the shoulder to wake him up, then groggily crawled into the carriage. Just as his head popped inside, a large hand reached out and covered his mouth. The next instant, a tremendous force pulled him into the carriage. And then…

puff.

With a dull thud, the man's body convulsed violently, as if something sharp had torn through his skin and burrowed into his stomach.

A thick, warm liquid began to gush out.

The man's eyes were wide open.

Fear, despair, shock, disbelief!

He tried to speak, but the other person's hand was so strong that he didn't have a chance to open his mouth, and his struggles were completely suppressed.

Pfft, pfft, pfft!

The coachman, yawning and driving the carriage, did not notice the commotion inside the carriage behind him.

He was even more unaware that streaks of bright red blood were slowly dripping down the carriage, leaving hideous crimson lines on the street.

……

The morning sun felt warm and comforting on my face.

Song Yan opened her eyes.

There was nothing beside me.

Everything seemed like just a beautiful dream.

There were still some long black hairs on the pillow. Song Yan smiled. Could it be that the woman knew that he was about to leave Ningping, so she came to see him off?

He shook his head, deciding to stop thinking about these random things.

After washing up and having breakfast, Song Yan, accompanied by Luo Tianshu, Luo Tianquan, and the two maids, went to the training ground.

A thousand heavily armored soldiers were already poised to attack.

That's right, it's one thousand.

In reality, Song Yan currently commands a total of four thousand heavily armored soldiers, all of whom he brought to Liaodong. After the war against the Japanese pirates ended, the blacksmith workshops continued their work, operating in three shifts to urgently produce one thousand suits of armor. Song Yan had previously expressed doubts about this, as his guerrilla general's token only allowed him to recruit three thousand soldiers; four thousand would be considered overstaffing.

This is military power.

Even if it's just a little over a thousand, it's still tantamount to treason, a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of one's family.

Luo Yuheng casually scoffed at this, saying that at a time like this, who would care about such a trivial matter? Song Yan thought about it for a moment and realized that it made a lot of sense. Right now, everyone's attention was focused on the palace, and they all wanted to see if Emperor Ninghe could get through this ordeal. Naturally, attention to other matters would be greatly reduced.

Therefore, Luo Yuheng and Song Yan arranged for three thousand heavily armored soldiers to escort the grain supplies to Liaodong ahead of time.

Song Yan had to prepare the provisions himself. There was no other way; the three thousand soldiers were not registered with the Ministry of War, so the Ministry wouldn't allocate any provisions or pay. Moreover, given the current situation in Ningguo, even if the Ministry of War did allocate provisions and pay, with layers of deductions, it would be a great stroke of luck if even one or two out of ten could reach the border.

As for Song Yan, he led the last thousand heavily armored soldiers to catch up from behind at the scheduled time. The transport of supplies was slower, and they should be able to rendezvous before entering Pingyang Prefecture.

Of these thousand soldiers, five hundred were led by Mahan and were all excellent scouts.

The other five hundred were led by the dynasty; they were all ruthless men who had seen blood and had several heads on their hands.

However, the man beside Wang Chao was unusually tall and burly, standing out like a crane among chickens among a group of heavily armored soldiers. When Song Yan looked over, the man immediately turned his head away, looking somewhat guilty. This was completely different from the other heavily armored soldiers who looked at Song Yan with fervent eyes.

It must be Luo Tianyang.

He probably thought that once he put on heavy armor and a face shield, no one would be able to tell his identity or how conspicuous his height of over two meters was, completely unaware of his own limitations.

"Brother-in-law, take care on your journey."

"Liaodong is bitterly cold, and various forces are deeply entrenched. If you need anything when you get there, just write a letter and have someone bring it to you. The Luo family will prepare it for you as soon as possible." Luo Tianchu sighed, patted Song Yan on the shoulder, and said.

"If you can't hold on, it's fine to come back. No matter what, there will always be a place for your brother-in-law in the Princess's residence. As for other people's gossip, there's no need to care at all."

“I know you're good at fighting, but the Jurchens are ultimately different from the Japanese pirates. The Jurchens have cavalry.” Even Luo Tianquan, who was usually quiet, couldn't help but give a few words of advice: “Defending the country and protecting the people is important, but you must protect yourself even more. Don't recklessly put yourself in danger for the sake of some empty fame…”

Given Luo Tianquan's sparing nature, it's truly remarkable that he could say so much at once.

Parting is always a sad thing.

The two little girls cried their eyes out, tears and snot mixed together, their little chins were all dirty.

Song Yan smiled and shook her head, then squatted down and hugged the two little ones in her arms, comforting them gently. She promised to come back next spring, and the two little ones gradually stopped crying.

He looked around again.

Outside the campsite was a shady grove of trees, overgrown with weeds, with deep ditches on both sides, where water flowed gently.

In the shade of the trees, a beautiful figure stood quietly, her face veiled, obscuring her true features; only her graceful silhouette stirred the heart.

Like a wisp of cloud shimmering in the moonlight, like swirling snowflakes drifting in the wind!
It was Luo Tianxuan.

Her body is not suited to being in crowded places, so she is content just to catch a glimpse of her like this.

Outside the barracks, there were many civilians, a large crowd, mostly family members of the heavily armored soldiers. They had met before, but they hadn't left yet.

Someone was waving and calling out a name.

Someone was sobbing softly.

Amidst the solemn atmosphere of departure, sorrow and anticipation permeated the air.

Looking around again, Luo Yuheng was nowhere to be seen.

Although I said last night that I wouldn't come to see you off today, I still feel a little empty inside.

That's it.

"Take good care of Mother." Nodding to Luo Tianchu and Luo Tianquan, Song Yan turned around and said, "Let's go!"

At a command, accompanied by a thunderous roar, a thousand heavy cavalrymen, in neat formation, flowed northward like a stream.

The carriages rumbled, the horses neighed, and the travelers carried bows and arrows at their waists!
Parents, wife, and children saw them off, but the dust obscured the Xianyang Bridge!
……

(End of this chapter)