Madam, don't do this!

Chapter 199 The Path to Death (2)

Intense anger gnawed at Fang Hai's body like a malignant tumor, and the stinging pain was like steel needles piercing his brain, spreading from his head to his limbs and bones.

He had never hated anyone so intensely before.

The Jiang family is doing very well... very well indeed.

Jiang Miaojun.

She was a mother, yet she had an affair with the lover who had killed her son.

Jiang Zhiyun.

She became pregnant out of nowhere as a concubine. Did she really expect the bastard child in her belly to inherit the Fang family's wealth? Did they all think the Fang family was easy to bully? Or had he been playing the role of a nice guy for so long that these people really thought he was a fool who could be bullied and manipulated at will?
Fang Hai was aware of Fang Jun's quirks.

At first, Fang Hai didn't take it too seriously. Many sons of powerful and wealthy families were somewhat abnormal, and compared to them, Fang Jun's situation was already quite good. He thought that if his son could have a beautiful wife, his personality would change.

Furthermore, the Fang family needed to solidify its relationship with the imperial family, and since Emperor Ninghe had no suitable princess at the time, he chose Princess Gaoyang. Princess Gaoyang was probably unwilling, but women from aristocratic families did not have the right to decide their own marriages, and this was especially true for children of the imperial family.

Whether Gao Yang liked it or not, she eventually became the Fang family's daughter-in-law.

Fang Hai thought his son would settle down, but who would have thought that after marriage, Fang Jun's hobbies would become even more outrageous, and coupled with the fact that he hadn't been able to have a son or daughter for several years, even Fang Hai couldn't help but worry. So, he called Fang Jun to a secluded place, and under his questioning, he finally learned the truth.

Gao Yang was very beautiful, and Fang Jun liked her very much before they got married. However, after the wedding ceremony, he suddenly felt that Gao Yang was nothing special and could no longer be interested in her. Although they had been married for several years, he had never touched Gao Yang.

Even the bloodstains on the white cloth on their wedding night were caused by Gao Yang cutting his palm, which was a way of protecting Fang Jun's reputation.

Jiang Zhiyun was the same; after becoming Fang Jun's concubine, she never touched this woman's finger.

But now, Jiang Zhiyun is pregnant.

She's been married to Fang Jun for over a year and is now pregnant?

Ha ha!

Her son is already dead, yet this vile woman still dares to humiliate her like this.

She had already chosen a path to death.

Jiang Zhiyun knew about Fang Hai's appearance, but pretended not to know. She just sobbed and touched her stomach, saying that she and her child would be bullied in the future and that life would be difficult. She had a great talent for acting, and tears even came to her eyes. Coupled with her sorrowful voice, it was truly heartbreaking to hear.

But deep down, he was extremely excited. Fang Jun only had one wife and one concubine. With Gao Yang missing, the child in her womb would be Fang Jun's posthumous child, the sole heir to the family. Even if she couldn't inherit the entire Fang family and the dukedom, Fang Hai, the Marquis of Songyang, was guaranteed a place.

By then, they would be considered true nobles.

Thinking this, Jiang Zhiyun's lips twitched, and she almost couldn't help but laugh.

Just then, Fang Hai walked up behind Jiang Zhiyun, and a white silk ribbon was wrapped around Jiang Zhiyun's neck from behind.

Immediately, he exerted force with his arm.

Jiang Zhiyun began to struggle desperately, kicking her legs wildly and making strange gurgling sounds. Before long, her head tilted to the side, her wide eyes filled with disbelief.

Even in death, Jiang Zhiyun never understood why Fang Hai killed her and the child in her womb.

Put the white silk away safely.

Fang Hai found a place to wash his hands and then walked towards the study.

He needed to prepare a memorial to the throne and also fabricate some evidence.

He was an expert in this area; the evidence he fabricated was so convincing that neither the Ministry of Justice nor the Court of Judicial Review could find any fault with it.

Song Zhe.

Yang Ming!

My son, Fang Hai, will not die in vain.

……

It is about twenty miles outside Songyang City.

There's a rare, fairly spacious meadow here, perfect for setting up camp.

Smoke then rose in wisps.

The cooks had already started preparing the food.

Of course, they did not escort any grain supplies. Each heavily armored soldier only carried enough dry rations for three days. The cooks' job was relatively simple: to cook a pot of hot soup so that the brothers could warm themselves up.

With meat broth as a side dish, even the dry rations in your hand are no longer so hard to swallow.

That's right, it's meat broth.

After all, it's not difficult to hunt anything in this desolate wilderness. Although each person wouldn't get many pieces of meat from a wild boar, it's already quite good to be able to taste some meat during the march.

Inside a tent, Song Yan was doing calculations.

We have traveled approximately thirty-five li today.

This is just the beginning. The further north they go, the lower the temperature becomes, the more exhausted the soldiers will be, and the slower their pace will be. It will take at least half a month to reach the new capital.

If only we had cavalry.

Song Yan couldn't help but feel envious.

In this era of cold weapons, cavalry was undoubtedly the most coveted type of soldier for every general.

A vast army, invincible in its path.

The thought of such a scene is exciting.

It seems that after arriving in Xinhou County, we should find an opportunity to borrow some warhorses from the Jurchens. As a friendly neighbor, the Jurchens will surely not refuse.

On the other hand, the area north of Liaodong has been part of the Central Plains since ancient times. Why should the Jurchens raise horses on the Central Plains?

That's going too far, that's not good, it needs to be changed.

If he could acquire four thousand warhorses and raise four thousand heavy cavalry, Song Yan was confident he could pacify the entire Liaodong region. Gu Banxia's slender fingers were gently massaging Song Yan's shoulders, relieving the soreness caused by wearing armor all day.

Liu Yisheng and Yang Siyao were arguing about something while looking at a map.

The two were planning their next route in detail. Liu Yisheng suggested taking the official road, which would greatly improve their speed. Moreover, the official road would pass through many villages and towns, making it convenient to resupply.

Yang Siyao suggested taking the side paths, which were slower but safer, since most of the bandits were concentrated near the main road.

Of course, their relationship wasn't all arguments; they also had points of agreement. For example, regarding Liutang, a place 200 miles away, which was occupied by rebellious rioters, their idea was to avoid these rioters and try to avoid conflict.

The rebel Li Er already claimed to have 50,000 followers.

Although the heavy infantry were incredibly destructive, the difference in numbers was simply too great; they weren't even enough for one person to take a bite out of them.

Watching the two argue, Song Yan smiled and didn't take it to heart. Compared to the official road versus the side road, Song Yan was more interested in Li Er from Liutang. Mainly, the name Li Er was a bit special, always reminding him of Li Erfeng.

However, it certainly wasn't that person. If it were that person who started a rebellion, the territory they occupied in these past few months would definitely not be limited to just Liutang County.

"Report!"

Just as the noise was raging inside the tent, a voice rang out from outside the door.

The familiar voice told you it belonged to a kind and honest man.

"come in."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ma Han lifted the curtain and walked in. He first bowed to Song Yan before speaking: "General, my scouts have discovered that a large number of bandits have gathered in the mountains ten miles away."

"The total number is around six hundred people."

Six hundred bandits?

Song Yan raised an eyebrow. This was not normal. Although there were bandits in the vicinity of Songzhou Prefecture, they were not large in scale. There were few bandits with more than a hundred members, let alone a group of six hundred.

“It must have been formed by several bandit groups coming together.” Liu Yisheng stroked his chin, thinking: “Under normal circumstances, the relationship between bandits is not very good. After all, those in the same trade are enemies. Although they may not fight each other when they meet, they rarely gather together.”

"It can only be said that these bandits are plotting a large target that they cannot deal with alone."

"They couldn't possibly be after us, could they?" Yang Siyao's expression was somewhat strange. Recently, there had only been one major target on this route, and that was their group.

only……

"Six hundred bandits fighting against a thousand heavily armored soldiers? Who gave them the courage?" Yang Siyao thought the world was a bit crazy and she couldn't understand it.

Liu Yisheng smiled and said, "Their target should be us."

"To be precise, the target is our lord."

“Someone wanted to assassinate our lord, and they probably paid a huge price, such as a large amount of gold and silver, to gather the bandits together, hoping to use them to take our lord’s life.”

"However, the other party clearly does not know enough about our lord's situation."

“He was unaware that the lord had a thousand heavily armored soldiers by his side… Therefore, I speculate that the other party only knew that the lord was going to Liaodong to serve as a county magistrate and was going to take this route; but he did not know that the lord also had the identity of a guerrilla general.”

"To be able to do this much, the other party's identity must be quite extraordinary. Some time ago, Song Zhe and Yang Ming appeared in Songzhou Prefecture. Perhaps these two are behind it."

Yang Siyao frowned: "But, according to the intelligence I have, the Yang family clan itself should be shrinking recently, strictly restraining its members from taking lives easily."

Liu Yisheng chuckled and said, "Yang Ming was born and raised in Dongling. He only knows that his father is the Minister of Rites and his grandfather is the Grand Secretary. How much affection can he possibly have for his own clan?"

"As far as I know, Yang Ming is eccentric and violent, and he is arrogant and disdainful of others. He probably wouldn't even take the orders of his own clan to heart."

"The designated heir of the Yang family is Yang Hexing's grandson, Yang Siqi."

"I think Yang Ming, and even his eldest brother, might not be convinced. They will probably do something to prove that they are more talented than Yang Siqi and the other younger generation of the Yang family."

“A hot-tempered young man with drive, who does whatever comes to mind, most likely Yang Guochen didn’t even know his son was so fierce.”

Song Yan had a faint smile on her face.

Liu Yisheng's skills are still up to par.

He analyzes things not only based on the information he currently has, but also takes into account people's personalities.

Although much of it is speculation, it must be admitted that what Liu Yisheng said is very close to the truth.

Song Yan held the bowl and drank a large mouthful of meat soup: "Then what should we do?"

"Simple, lure them into the trap."

Liu Yisheng also smiled. If he had a feather fan in his hand, Song Yan would even feel that he had a bit of the demeanor of Prime Minister Zhuge Liang: "Leave a hundred men to protect the carriages."

"The rest of you, extinguish the campfire, dismantle the tents, erase all traces, and hide in the woods."

"We can't let these bandits find out we have a thousand heavily armored soldiers, or they'll run away."

"These bandits have no choice but to die if they dare to attack our lord."

"They usually commit murder and robbery, and their hideout must have accumulated a lot of money and grain. This joint operation must have brought them a lot of benefits as well."

"How can gold and silver fall into the hands of these wicked people? We, as the people of Heaven, will punish evil and use this money where it is needed."

Liu Yisheng spoke with righteous indignation, displaying the demeanor of a reclusive sage.

Indeed, the hypocrisy of scholars is evident.

Even Yang Siyao couldn't help but roll her eyes at him.

Liu Yisheng seemed to feel a little embarrassed, like a deflated balloon: "There's nothing we can do. Although we have a large sum of money from the Japanese pirates, we won't lack military funds in the short term."

"But what if it goes on for a long time?"

"What if our lord has over 10,000 heavily armored soldiers? What if our lord has 300,000 troops?"

"Money is something that can be spent very quickly."

(End of this chapter)