Madam, don't do this!

Chapter 209 He really thinks he's the emperor (2)

Envoy seeking a spouse.

Envoys escorting the bride.

It is a good name, though.

I wonder if the Jurchens will still have a wedding envoy?

Such terms are only used when princesses or princes from different countries marry. This Qian Yaozu is incredibly arrogant. Does he think he's the emperor?
Thinking this, Song Yan found it amusing. Could this be considered a case of "when the cat's away, the mice will play"?

"How do you know all this so clearly?" Song Yan asked curiously.

Although the corpses scattered all over the place were quite frightening, the women had learned from their time together that Song Yan was actually very easy to talk to. So they were no longer as reserved as before and relaxed a little. One of the women replied, "It's not a secret. Most of the people hiding in the nearby mountains know about it."

“Those marriage envoys aren’t the kind of people who can keep secrets. Sometimes when they capture a woman, they’ll reveal some things in conversation. Occasionally, a woman might escape by accident, and these rumors will spread over time.”

"That old bastard Qian Yaozu also said that as long as the Jurchen and Han people intermarry, their bloodlines will merge within a hundred years, and then the Jurchen and Han people will be one family."

"Pah! That old bastard has two beautiful daughters, why don't he send his own daughters over there?"

"Why should we be the ones to be tortured by those Jurchen barbarians?"

"If they fall into the hands of the Jurchen barbarians, how could they possibly survive?"

"Old turtle" has almost become Qian Yaozu's nickname.

I wonder if Qian Yaozu will be so angry that he'll have a stroke after hearing this.

Song Yan smiled, his contempt for Qian Yaozu growing ever stronger. This man was even more shameless than he had imagined. He was clearly sending money, food, and women to the Jurchens to curry favor and survive, yet he insisted on putting on an act as if he were doing it for the good of the world.

This person perfectly embodies the hypocrisy of scholars.

"Those marriage envoys are all a bunch of bastards."

The women of Liaodong are mostly fierce and outspoken. After their fear gradually subsided, they began to speak in a vulgar and offensive manner: "If we catch a woman and take a fancy to her, we will rape her. They are just as hateful as those Jurchen barbarians. Even the mountain bandits are a hundred times better than them."

"If you still have money on you, giving them some silver might just spare your wife and daughter."

"This is already considered to be following the rules. I've heard of even more shameless people who kill people as soon as they see money, taking women and money with them."

Song Yan could probably understand.

Qian Yaozu was no good. In Pingyang Prefecture, those who truly cared about the world either died fighting against the Jurchens, like General Dou Xian and General Liang Youde, or those who refused to compromise their principles were either punished and removed from office by Qian Yaozu, or sent directly to the dungeon. Some even lost their lives.

Those who can stay and work under someone like Qian Yaozu are mostly the same type of people.

As for the so-called soldiers, conscripts, and escorts, they were mostly just local ruffians temporarily recruited.

Such people are usually at the bottom of society, feared and looked down upon. Now that they have risen to great heights, the evil thoughts and wicked desires that have been accumulating in their hearts have erupted, and they are probably even worse than animals.

These women, unaware of Song Yan's thoughts, continued talking amongst themselves.

Generally speaking, the lives of the people in Pingyang City were worse than those of the people who hid in the mountains and forests.

Those with wives and daughters would be forcibly abducted.

Furthermore, due to the large amount of grain sent to the Jurchens, there was a food shortage in the city. Not to mention having enough to eat, they couldn't even keep alive. It is unknown when it started, but the elderly had no food to eat, and many corpses were thrown out of the city every day.

Even if someone wanted to leave the city in search of food, Qian Yaozu would keep the city gates tightly closed under the pretext of preventing a Jurchen attack, leaving them only able to wait to die inside the city.

Moreover, although it is winter now, which is not the season for the outbreak of plague, a small-scale outbreak still occurred due to the large number of people gathering. Fortunately, there are still many doctors in Pingyang City, and they have managed to control the plague.

Although Song Yan had heard some things about Qian Yaozu and Pingyang Prefecture from Mingyue, he found that the situation was far worse than he had imagined when he actually arrived here.

"I heard that the first to get sick were a group of rogue soldiers. They went to an old farmer's house to collect grain, but they didn't get any and were unhappy. They suspected that the old farmer had hidden the grain, so they searched through the chests and cabinets. They accidentally found a hole in the ground and thought that the old farmer might have stuffed the grain into the hole."

"They found a hoe and dug open the hole, only to find a nest of rats inside. In their fright, several of them were bitten by the rats and developed high fevers after returning home. They died a few days later."

"Subsequently, his family members and colleagues began to develop symptoms such as high fever, leading them to suspect that it might be an epidemic."

"The doctors in Pingyang City immediately ordered the area to be sealed off, and all those who had been in contact with these people were quarantined."

"They say the plague has been brought under control, but in reality, it's just that the plague disappeared once all these people died and their bodies were cremated. Actually, I feel that these people were just getting their comeuppance for all the bad things they did."

Upon hearing this, Song Yan felt somewhat puzzled.

This feels a bit like the plague.

The plague has other names, such as cholera and the Black Death.

Then Song Yan shook his head, thinking it probably wasn't the plague, since the plague was an extremely terrifying infectious disease, especially in ancient times when medical conditions were so poor.

The Black Death once swept across Europe, reducing the European population by half, which was quite terrifying.

Of course, it's also possible that the local healers controlled the situation quickly enough, preventing a major disaster. It's a pity the corpses were burned; otherwise, if they had been disposed of in a barbarian tribe, given the Jurchens' medical capabilities, they could have easily wiped out an entire tribe. Thinking this, Song Yan felt it was somewhat against the natural order; he wasn't a ruthless person like Jia Xu or Cheng Yu.

As they talked, the women turned their attention to Qian Yaozu, calling him a turtle and a bastard, saying nothing nice about him.

"I've also heard people say that although that old bastard looks respectable on the outside, he's actually a scoundrel."

“He would select all the women who were captured. Those who were beautiful and had good figures would be kept by the old bastard and taken as concubines. In just a few months, he already had twelve concubines, and several of them were already pregnant.”

"Pah, that old tortoise, I wonder if he can still stand up straight, the baby in his belly is probably not that old turtle's child."

He became increasingly uninhibited in his speech.

She has a kind of free and easy spirit like a woman from the frontier.

Such conversations are rarely heard from women in places like Songzhou.

But does Qian Yaozu really think he's the emperor? Is he choosing concubines?

They chatted casually, and the group didn't seem deserted.

Song Yan even saw some women staring at some soldiers and asking them in hushed tones. These soldiers were scouts, and they had brought these women back from the icy and snowy land.

He could roughly understand what these women were thinking. Although soldiers didn't have high status, in this chaotic world, having someone to rely on was always a good thing. Their husbands were gone, so if these soldiers didn't mind, it wouldn't be bad for them to live together.

It was somewhat heartless.

The death of a loved one is certainly heartbreaking, but sadness solves nothing, and life must go on.

In this era, even wanting to be sad for a little longer is a luxury.

However, the soldiers wouldn't utter a single word without orders from their superiors, though a few had slightly flushed cheeks, seemingly unable to bear the women's teasing.

Seeing this, Song Yan did not stop it.

After all, he commanded soldiers, not just killing machines.

Before we knew it, it was noon.

There was no scorching sun, but the snow began to fall again.

Because there are few people around, the snow-covered ground has not left many traces, and as far as the eye can see, it is a vast expanse of white.

This is roughly what the northern landscape looks like: thousands of miles of ice and snow.

More than a hundred warhorses obediently followed the procession.

Speaking of which, when warhorses recognize their masters, some are still unruly when the aura is initially detected as abnormal. However, Luo Tianyang simply pressed down on the horse's back and pinned it to the ground. No matter how much the horse struggled, it was unable to get up.

Then they became much more obedient.

Among the heavily armored soldiers, not many can ride horses, but it wouldn't be difficult to gather about a hundred of them.

Song Yan then had these men mount their warhorses so they could get a feel for what heavy armored soldiers were like.

And so, another three days passed.

The heavy snow fell intermittently.

The snow was already up to their knees.

The road is now even more difficult to travel.

The view was all white; if it weren't for the women he had brought along, he probably wouldn't have been able to find his way.

The armor, cold as ice, was removed and placed on the carriage. The warhorses were then harnessed with ropes, the ends of which were made of door panels or similar materials, to temporarily serve as carriages, gliding across the snow like sleds, which was more convenient than a real carriage.

Three days later, the heavy snow finally stopped. Although the sun was shining brightly, the temperature was still very low, and the snow showed no signs of melting.

Four days later, the silhouette of a city could be seen in the distance, hazy and indistinct, nestled amidst the vast expanse of white snow, giving it a faint, almost ethereal, dreamlike quality.

Xinhou County is finally almost here.

They finally reached the official road, which was also buried in snow, but clear wheel tracks and messy footprints could be seen.

Mahan squatted down and examined the area: "It must have happened shortly before us."

"The number should be quite large, probably several hundred or even a thousand."

Given the weather and the fear of the Jurchen cavalry, it's hard to imagine a large number of refugees returning to the city.

"It's alright, everything will be clear once we get into the city."

(End of this chapter)