Madam, don't do this!

Chapter 211 Influenced by Fang Hai (1)

Blood and qi permeated the air.

Countless adult men remained silent, trembling with fear.

A sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy sent chills down the spines of these adults.

They had never seen such an unruly person before... You should at least listen to Qu Yang's identity, what if he's one of our own?
For a moment, the vast Qingliu Pavilion was filled only with Qu Yang's screams, one after another.

As for Lei Yi, he glanced at Song Yan discreetly, his expression somewhat agitated. He also deeply hated people like Qu Yang, but he was just a lowly soldier, merely a heavy infantry captain under Song Yan's command, and there were many things he couldn't decide on his own. Now, hearing Qu Yang's screams, Lei Yi felt a sense of relief, as if all the worries and frustrations of the past few days had vanished.

Looking at Song Yan again, his eyes showed even more admiration.

Although the general was young, he was decisive in character.

In this respect, even General Dou Xian and General Liang Youde could not compare.

Back then, the two generals were stationed at the border, constantly hampered by Qian Yaozu. They clamored more than once to cut off Qian Yaozu's useless head and use it as a chamber pot, but they could only say such things in private. On the surface, they still had to be respectful to Qian Yaozu.

If the two generals had the same decisive and ruthless character as General Song, and had executed Qian Yaozu earlier, they would not have died at the hands of the Jurchens, the border would not have been breached, and Pingyang would not have fallen.
Thinking this, he looked at Song Yan with even more admiration. Perhaps, only someone like General Song could suppress the current chaos in Pingyang Prefecture.

However, the wedding envoy was arranged by Qian Yaozu.

He immediately chopped off the arm of the wedding envoy, which was a slap in the face to Qian Yaozu. Given Qian Yaozu's personality, he might not care about Qu Yang, his cheap brother-in-law, but he definitely cared about his reputation.

Even if the general were to drive out the Jurchens and suppress Pingyang, he would still likely face criticism from civil officials in the court.

However, given the general's character, if those civil officials were to truly harm him, he would naturally not sit idly by and await his death like Generals Dou Xian and Liang Youde. Moreover, with the general's methods, those weak scholars...

Ha ha!

Their fate will probably not be much better than that of the Japanese pirates.

Qu Yang's screams continued.

It would certainly hurt a lot. As the saying goes, the ten fingers are connected to the heart, let alone having a hand chopped off.

The excruciating pain was like countless dense steel needles stimulating Qu Yang's mind, and even the screams in his throat were out of tune.

The people around were terrified, looking at Song Yan as if he were a vengeful ghost about to take their lives.

They're just a bunch of local thugs.

He's fine for bullying honest people on ordinary days, but he immediately cowers when he encounters someone as fierce and menacing as this. The most ruthless beings he's ever seen are the Jurchen cavalry, but inexplicably, this new county magistrate seems even more terrifying than the Jurchen cavalry.

He casually pulled up a chair and sat down, glancing once more at the crowd of dozens of burly men around him, and his body trembled in unison.

"Speaking of which, I haven't introduced myself yet."

"My name is Song Yan, the magistrate of Ning'an County, the magistrate of Xinhou County, and also the border garrison general of Pingyang Prefecture."

Song Yan spoke slowly and deliberately.

"Although I have only just arrived in Xinhou, I have received intelligence that someone is smuggling grain into Haixi without authorization." Song Yan did not care about what others thought and continued, "At present, we Han people and the Haixi Jurchens are at war."

“At this time, transporting grain to Haixi would be aiding the enemy and treason.”

"As the newly appointed magistrate and garrison general, I naturally cannot stand by and watch such a thing happen. And since you all have over a hundred carriages under your command, would you mind if I, the magistrate, took a look?"

Upon hearing this, many intelligent people broke out in a cold sweat.

Surrender to the enemy and betray the country?

This crime deserves not only severe punishment like being torn to pieces, but also the extermination of three generations of one's family.

The new magistrate came prepared to accuse someone of such a serious crime right off the bat.

They're still plotting against other people's women; who knows, this day next year might be the seventh day after their deaths.

As he spoke, Qu Yang seemed to have finally recovered a little. Perhaps the pain was so intense that his consciousness was somewhat numb, so the pain was not so strong.

At least, the screams finally stopped, and her eyes were fixed on Song Yan, filled with endless resentment: "Song Yan..."

"Bastard."

"You actually dared to cut off my hand, you're dead."

Qu Yang's voice was shrill and insane, like a vengeful ghost howling: "My brother-in-law will not let you go. You, and all the people around you, your women... will all die."

"No one will survive."

"You just wait, hahahaha, I'll pamper them right in front of you, hahahaha..."

Qu Yang seemed to have gone mad, howling and laughing at the same time.

The sound sent chills down the spines of the surrounding officials, who looked at Qu Yang with displeasure. What were they doing pretending now? Begging for mercy might have given them a chance to live, but instead they were deliberately provoking this jinx. Did they want to die? If you've lost your hand and don't want to live anymore, don't drag them down with you.

"Brother-in-law?"

Song Yan raised an eyebrow, seemingly curious.

Everyone swallowed hard, their gazes fixed on one person. Compared to the others, whose roguishness couldn't be concealed even by their fine clothes, this person appeared more refined.

This man, named Guo Fei, was indeed a scholar.

Unfortunately, his scholarship was mediocre, and he failed the imperial examinations several times, only achieving the rank of a junior scholar. It was only after Qian Yaozu came to power that he gradually gained influence, using methods largely similar to Qu Yang's, except that he was more ruthless. Qu Yang offered his sister, while he offered his wife. However, although his wife was somewhat beautiful, she ultimately could not compare to Qu Yang's sister, and therefore her status was not as high as Qu Yang's.

As a scholar, he had more experience than these pure thugs, and perhaps he knew how to deal with this fierce and menacing magistrate.

Guo Fei didn't want to show his face, but everyone's eyes were on him, so he had no choice but to step forward and bow to Song Yan: "This humble one is Guo Fei, reporting to the general, Qu Yang's sister is the concubine of Lord Qian, the governor of Songzhou."

"As for those carriages, Your Excellency, you can see for yourself that they are indeed filled with grain."

"However, it is not aiding the enemy, but rather Lord Qian Yaozu's goodwill in order to promote friendship between the Ningguo Jurchen and the Ningguo Jurchen people."

Goodwill?

Song Yan's expression darkened.

Just hearing those two words brought back some extremely unpleasant memories for Song Yan.

An unnamed fire began to surge in his chest.

Guo Fei kept a close eye on Song Yan's expression. When he saw Song Yan's gloomy face, his heart skipped a beat. He thought to himself that something was wrong, but he didn't know what he had said that offended Song Yan.

For a moment, he was so shocked that he broke out in a cold sweat.

Song Yan's eyes were already narrowed to slits, and his fingers tapped lightly on the table: "What is goodwill?"

Guo Fei swallowed hard, his throat bobbing, and forced himself to answer, "The governor said that the Jurchens are barbarians."

"He is hot-blooded and unruly, and cannot be taught."

"The invasion of Ningguo was due to a lack of food and clothing. As long as the Jurchens are provided with food and clothing, the border troubles will naturally be resolved."

“Send women to the west of the sea to intermarry with the Jurchen barbarians and give birth to children with Han blood. Over time, the barbarians will no longer be barbarians and will all become Han people.”

boom!
No sooner had he finished speaking than Song Yan slammed his palm on the table.

The solid wood wine table shattered with a crash.

The wine pot, plates, and glasses on the table shattered and broke on the floor.

This slap seemed to strike the hearts of everyone present, causing them all to tremble.

"What a fine example of goodwill." Song Yan's body trembled slightly. Compared to barbarians and Japanese pirates, the traitors within the Central Plains disgusted Song Yan even more: "What a fine example of blood fusion, what a fine example of barbarian generals not being barbaric, what a fine example of everyone being Han Chinese..."

"This county never expected that old bastard Qian Yaozu would have such foresight."

Song Yan's tone was chilling: "In Ningguo, there are still people who are not clothed and not fed. Even after years of hard work, some still starve to death. The governor is so generous, giving away the grain that the people use to survive to the Jurchens. He doesn't know how many more people in Ningguo will starve to death without this grain."

"I would like to ask, has the imperial court granted your permission to negotiate peace with the Jurchens, sending them money, grain, and women?"

"Qian Yaozu, Qian Yaozu, truly brings glory to his ancestors."

"I'm afraid those old fogies in the Qian family's ancestral graves will be too excited to sleep at night."

After hearing what Song Yan said, anyone could tell that he was very angry. At this moment, who would dare to say anything more?

Song Yan didn't mind. He waved his hand, and immediately a black-armored guard behind him brought over a stack of papers. Song Yan gave him a wink, and the black-armored guard handed the papers to Guo Fei.

Most of these thugs were illiterate, so Guo Fei read it aloud, and as everyone listened, they could all sense that something was wrong.

The passage first describes the current tragic state of Pingyang Prefecture, where bones litter the fields. Then it mentions that on the way to Xinhou, they encountered a group of Jurchen cavalry, numbering about a thousand, led by the Jurchen prince Wugucha, who had already been killed.

Hearing Guo Fei's voice, Song Yan's cheeks flushed slightly. The contents of this piece of paper were a little exaggerated.

It's all Fang Hai's fault.

He used to be a very innocent person, but he went astray after spending too much time with Fang Hai.

As for the following part, it indicates that after the new empress arrived, she began to pacify the refugees. From the refugees, she learned that Generals Dou Xian and Liang Youde had died heroically in battle, and that Qian Yaozu had abandoned the city and fled... In short, it wrote down everything that Qian Yaozu had done and didn't do, using a little bit of exaggeration.

Even Qian Yaozu's comment that the water was too cold couldn't be missed.

The article was long and eloquent, with a rhythmic and varied tone. Even after listening to it, they all felt that Qian Yaozu, that old bastard, truly deserved to die.

Then they all realized that this newly arrived county magistrate was far more terrifying than they had imagined. He had come prepared and didn't care about Qian Yaozu's status as governor. The first thing he did upon arriving in Liaodong was to kill Qian Yaozu.

Song Yan clapped his hands, waking up the dozens of people: "Alright everyone, it was you who said it was goodwill, and it was you who said it was to transport grain and women to the Jurchens. Since that's the case, then sign your names."

"Guo Fei, right? Let's start with you."

Guo Fei trembled slightly. He knew that once he signed his name, he would become a so-called tainted witness.

Similarly, signing his name also signifies a complete break between him and Qian Yaozu.

Thinking of what Qian Yaozu had done in Pingyang Prefecture, Guo Fei trembled slightly, his throat bobbed, and he forced back his fear, saying in a hoarse voice, "General Song, do you really intend to fight the Prefect to the death?"

Song Yan couldn't be bothered to waste words with such a minor character.

He simply shook his head, glanced at Zhang Long, and in the next instant, Zhang Long's body suddenly appeared beside Guo Fei, his steel knife slicing through the air with a hiss.

A line of blood immediately appeared on Guo Fei's neck, and a few breaths later, his head fell to the ground.

Blood spurted out!

(End of this chapter)