Madam, don't do this!

Chapter 208 The Envoy for the Marriage and the Envoy for the Wedding (1)

In fact, Qian Yaozu was somewhat unhappy when he was first transferred to Pingyang to serve as a military supervisor on the border.

After all, Liaodong is freezing cold and the north wind is biting. How can it compare to the prosperity of Dongling? Even the women here are rough and careless, and they don't have the tenderness of the women of Dongling at all.
They also faced invasions from the Jurchens; a slight misstep could cost them their lives.

However, who would have thought that the Jurchens would attack the city, and Dou Xian and Liang Youde would die in battle.

The original prefect of Pingyang Prefecture fled at the mere sight of the enemy.

With the help of Xilin Academy's maneuvering, he was made the governor of this prefecture.

Although they were holed up in Pingyang City and dared not go out easily, and were constantly provoked and threatened by Jurchen cavalry outside the city, they were ultimately safe inside the city.

As the highest-ranking official in a city, he commanded orders that none dared disobey, giving him a bit of the air of a local tyrant.

Although this thought was disrespectful, it made Qian Yaozu quite comfortable, and even the prosperity of Dongling was no longer so attractive.

Looking back at the city, he saw that the streets were filled with commoners, bustling and lively. He couldn't help but feel smug. If it weren't for them, they would probably have had their heads chopped off by the Jurchen barbarians.

In that case, it would be a great achievement, and I would feel at ease accepting the position of governor.

However, the people inside the city, dressed in rags and with lifeless eyes, could not see this.

Outside the city, the fields were littered with white bones, and nothing else could be seen.

Below the city, a group of officials, numbering several hundred, along with about three hundred soldiers, were escorting carriages towards the northeast.

There were at least one hundred horse-drawn carriages.

The truck was filled with bulging sacks, and it was unclear what was inside them.

Behind the convoy followed thousands of women, most of whom came from ordinary families. They were dressed in tattered clothes, thin, pale, and had fear and despair in their eyes. Some were even sobbing quietly.

Qian Yaozu only glanced at these people briefly before quickly losing interest; they were just lowly commoners, not worth paying much attention to.

"I heard that the new magistrate of Xinhou County is named Song Yan?" Qian Yaozu suddenly asked slowly.

Behind Qian Yaozu was a man with a mustache, who was the advisor.

Nowadays, apart from Pingyang City, all other places in Pingyang Prefecture have fallen. The reason why Qian Yaozu attaches importance to Xinhou County is because of its special geographical location.

Xinhou County can be considered the gateway to Pingyang.

It is the place where Ningguo borders the Jurchens.

Of course, there were other borders connecting to the area, but those places either had turbulent rivers or towering mountains. In other words, whether Ningguo merchants wanted to enter Haixi or the Haixi Jurchens wanted to raid Pingyang, Xinhou County was a necessary passage.

This county town is located on the border.

In previous eras, a mere ten thousand, or even just a few thousand, elite troops stationed at the Xinhou Pass were enough to withstand the Jurchen cavalry, relying on the city walls' advantages. It was arguably the most secure border pass in the entire Ningguo. If it weren't for Qian Yaozu's questionable actions, which led to the death of General Dou Xian, a significant drop in the morale of the defending officers and soldiers, and the loss of two thousand soldiers, leaving insufficient defensive forces, this border pass would never have fallen so easily.

Qian Yaozu not only didn't think he had done anything wrong, but was even complacent about being able to save Pingyang City.

Such an important border post naturally attracted the attention of the imperial court, and thus, news of it had already reached Qian Yaozu's ears more than a month ago. Moreover, the magistrate of this new county held immense power. He was not only responsible for maintaining the livelihood of the county's residents but also for military affairs related to defending against the Jurchens.

Upon hearing this, the clerk replied, "What the governor says is correct; the county magistrate is indeed named Song Yan."

"What do you think of this person?" Qian Yaozu asked lazily.

This clerk, clearly having done some investigation, began to recount: "Song Yan, a son of a concubine in the Song State Duke's family, married into the Princess's household and is known as the Little Divine Physician..."

He was well-versed in poetry and prose, and once wrote the poem "Linjiang Xian," which is considered a masterpiece.

"He was skilled in warfare and once ambushed and killed tens of thousands of Japanese pirates in Ningping County, built ten mounds of jing (a type of Japanese pyramid), and cleared out several islands occupied by Japanese pirates."

"For his military achievements, he was granted the title of Viscount of Ningping County!"

Listening to the advisor's words, and knowing that Song Yan was only a son of a concubine or a son-in-law, he showed disdain in his eyes. Upon hearing the poem "Linjiang Xian," he nodded slightly, feeling that this young man was indeed quite capable.

Hearing that Japanese pirates had been ambushed and killed and that a mound of corpses had been built, he felt extremely disgusted.

vulgar.

That's really crude and vulgar.

They were just peasants after all. They killed so many Japanese pirates without hesitation and even built mounds of corpses; it was extremely brutal.

Does Ningguo not promote benevolence and righteousness? How can they then educate other ethnic groups?
He's a complete butcher.

"Judging by the time, Song Yan should be arriving soon, right?" Originally, Qian Yaozu had some intention of making friends with him.

He was a prefectural governor, while the other party was merely a county magistrate; it was rather inappropriate to call them acquaintances.

However, the imperial court's order to him was to cooperate with the newly appointed magistrate and drive out the Jurchens. It was already late November, and by December, the weather would be freezing cold. Even the Jurchens would be holed up in their tents and wouldn't be out raiding much. By spring, the Jurchens wouldn't need to raid anymore.

In Qian Yaozu's eyes, the so-called expulsion of the Jurchens was nothing more than a formality to gain military merit and seniority.

With this experience, wouldn't it be easy for him to rise through the ranks when he returns to the imperial court?
Even if such a person is not as high-ranking as oneself, befriending him would be considered a good deed... But who would have thought that he was a butcher? To associate with such a person would be a disgrace to one's status.

The advisor smiled and said, "They should have arrived. Some time ago, the servants received news that a grain transport convoy was heading to the new empress's residence. Because they had the eldest princess's token and an imperial edict in hand, they were not stopped. Rumor has it that the eldest princess dotes on this son-in-law and often talks with him all night long. Perhaps the eldest princess was worried that Song Yan had been wronged in Liaodong, so she sent a large amount of grain in advance."

Qian Yaozu snorted: "Mother-in-law and son-in-law, talking all night long? That's simply against human ethics."

After a pause, Qian Yaozu spoke again: "A grain transport convoy? Speaking of which, we don't have much grain left in Pingyang City. For the sake of the people of Liaodong, shouldn't Song Yan contribute some?"

"As it should be."

Qian Yaozu then burst into laughter.

Song Yan was unaware that his grain had already been targeted before he even entered Xinhou County.

However, even if they knew, they probably wouldn't care much. The food was there; whether they could get their hands on it depended on their own abilities.

With dozens more women joining the group, the pace of their journey slowed considerably. These women were mostly widows and children, their husbands and children killed, their homes burned down by the Jurchens, and with nowhere to go, they followed Song Yan.

Although he looks like a slightly immature young boy.

But the corpses of those more than one hundred Jurchen barbarians brought them a great sense of security. Even in a border region like Xinhou, they felt safer than in other places in Pingyang.

On the way, Song Yan also inquired about the situation, and it was similar to what he already knew.

"Why didn't you go to Pingyang City?" Song Yan asked.

Although the situation in Pingyang City is quite bad, at least survival should not be a problem.

When Pingyang was mentioned, the woman who had been talking to Song Yan changed her expression.

This woman's name was Yue Niang.

Her surname was unknown. According to her self-introduction, she was found by an old woman by the river. Because it was the Mid-Autumn Festival, she was called Yue Niang (Moon Maiden). She was pretty and clever from a young age and was raised by the old woman as a child bride. She married her husband when she came of age.

When the Jurchens attacked, the husband was beheaded while protecting his elderly mother and wife.

This time, her mother-in-law died at the hands of Wugucha's gang, leaving her all alone in what was once a happy family.

She was a bit bolder than most women, so she was the one who answered most of Song Yan's questions.

The expression on Yue Niang's face surprised Song Yan. Looking at the other women, all of them were filled with fear: "But is there something wrong with Pingyang City?"

Her neck twitched slightly, and Yue Niang took a breath before saying, "Young General, do you know that the Jurchen cavalry only attacked Pingyang Prefecture once? Even though Pingyang Prefecture had money, food, and manpower, they never attacked it again after that. Why is that?"

Song Yan then played the straight man, asking, "What's the reason for this?"

"It was because Qian Yaozu, the prefect of Pingyang, had made a deal with the Jurchen barbarians in secret. Every so often, he would send large amounts of grain to the Jurchens in exchange for the peace of Pingyang City."

"Besides food, there are women."

“We do not want to become playthings of the Jurchen barbarians, so we cannot go to Pingyang City. In fact, most families who do not want their daughters or wives to suffer misfortune hide in the mountains and forests.”

"There aren't enough women in Pingyang City, so that old bastard Qian Yaozu will send people to the mountains to capture them. Those people don't dare to fight the Jurchen barbarians, but they are very good at dealing with the common people hiding in the mountains. They even call it a marriage envoy!"

As if recalling something, Yue Niang's body trembled slightly, probably because she had almost been captured by the marriage envoys several times before.

"Once enough women are captured, they will be transported to the Jurchens along with grain and cloth. The soldiers escorting them are the marriage envoys!"

(End of this chapter)