Madam, don't do this!

Chapter 213 Gao Yang's Thoughts (3)

Using Jurchen heads to build a mound of skulls?

Although he still doesn't know what Song Yan is planning to do, Lei Yi really wants to build a mound of skulls with Jurchen heads.

Even in my wildest dreams.

Perhaps only the mound of heads built from those skulls can soothe the souls of those who died on the frontier.

Taking a deep breath, Lei Yi desperately suppressed the agitation in his chest: "General, what do you intend to do?"

Song Yan then looked further north: "Qu Yang and the others are dead, but... the wedding procession must continue."

Lei Yi was simple-minded, but not stupid. He immediately understood after Song Yan's words: "The general means that we replace Qu Yang, and then..."

No wonder, sir, you inquired carefully about the process of the wedding procession and even left that map behind.

Lei Yi's smile grew wider and wider, and his expression became increasingly excited.

He guarded the border town of Xinhou County for more than ten years, repelling the Jurchen cavalry countless times, but each time he could only repel them, not annihilate them.

There's only one reason: we can't catch up.

The Jurchens were all cavalry.

The soldiers in Ningguo were mostly infantry.

Relying on their absolute mobility, the Jurchen cavalry could come and go as they pleased. Despite fighting countless battles over the years, they were never able to cripple the Jurchens.

However, if one were to disguise oneself as a wedding envoy and infiltrate the other party's tribe...

Song Yan patted Lei Yi on the shoulder: "Get a good rest tonight, you'll get tired eventually... By the way, go find some more poison tomorrow... Any kind of poison will do, as long as it can kill people. Poison is hard to find, but getting some croton oil won't be a problem."

……

The new county government office and the inner residence.

The room prepared for Song Yan was naturally the main room.

Gently pushing open the door, Gu Banxia propped her cheek with one hand, her eyes half-closed, as if she were dozing.

Hearing the door open, she opened her eyes and saw her son-in-law. A gentle smile appeared on her face as she walked behind Song Yan, took off her coat, and hung it on the hanger. "Is your work finished, son-in-law? I'll go prepare some hot water now."

"You can go to sleep first, you don't need to wait for me," Song Yan said, though she was somewhat eager to take a bath. After all, she hadn't had a chance to bathe along the way, and her whole body felt stiff and uncomfortable. She had been traveling for over twenty days with almost no proper rest, even fighting with Wugucha in the middle. Even after arriving in Xinhou County, she was still busy dealing with the wedding envoys. Even a body of iron would be starting to rust by now.

"I was traveling by horse-drawn carriage, so it was fine."

After saying that, Gu Banxia left the room.

In Ningping County, Banxia always prepared hot water in advance, but this didn't work in Liaodong because it was too cold, and the boiled water would cool down very quickly.

Bu Yu brought a wooden tub for bathing. The tub was quite heavy, but it was nothing for a martial artist like Bu Yu. She simply nodded slightly to Song Yan as a greeting, seemingly trying to emulate her sister-in-law's cool and ruthless female warrior persona.

However, Song Yan still felt that Bu Yu was more suitable to take the route of a widow, since the identity alone was a plus.

While waiting for the pinellia to boil, Song Yan took out some things. Those people had mentioned before that the Jurchens were fond of alcohol; he wondered what effect adding these cephalosporins to the jar would have.
And these glycerin suppositories, which should be considered suppositories, I wonder how much of their medicinal effect they can exert if poured directly into alcohol or water?

Oh, and these few bottles of sleeping pills, I wonder how many people they can knock out?

As he looked at each item, a smile involuntarily appeared on Song Yan's face.

Before she knew it, the temperature in the room seemed to have risen quite a bit. Only after belatedly looking up did Song Yan realize that the room was already steaming hot.

But the bathwater had already been prepared.

Song Yan put her things away again, took a good shower, and felt completely refreshed, as if she had lost several pounds.

Once in bed, he held Banxia's soft body and fell into a deep sleep.

The night was very quiet.

Although he had a beautiful woman in his arms, nothing actually happened. Even after working tirelessly for twenty days, Song Yan still couldn't muster any energy.

The next day, everything was as usual.

The two city gates were still guarded by soldiers in black armor.

Some residents have also left the county town and gone to the mountains, probably to persuade their relatives and friends to return home. It's hard to say that Xinhou County is truly safe now, but at least they can fill their stomachs. In this kind of weather, few people can survive staying deep in the mountains.

The thousands of women from yesterday also stayed behind; they certainly wouldn't go back to Pingyang City, as no one wanted to be captured again. As for their resettlement, that was a problem, so Song Yan delegated the task to Liu Yisheng, the advisor—that's what he did.

Eighty percent of the grain, cloth, tea, and other items on the more than one hundred carriages were cleared away, while the remaining twenty percent were left untouched. As for the wine, not a single jar was touched.

Lei Yi was putting a lot of effort into building a mound of Jurchen heads. Although Song Yan told him to rest, it seemed he hadn't slept much all night. When Song Yan saw him in the morning, his eyes were bloodshot, but he was extremely excited. He was arranging for people to prepare dried meat, fried noodles, and other rations. Moreover, the scouts Lei Yi had sent out had returned.

Although Xinhou County was mainly guarding against the Jurchens, it was also necessary to have some control over the situation in the court. Since they were unlikely to get information from Pingyang Prefecture, Lei Yi immediately arranged for the guards to enter Dingzhou Prefecture after entering Xinhou County, so that they could be prepared in advance if there were any major changes in the court.

Song Yan felt that Lei Yi was actually a rather contradictory person.

He is honest and straightforward in some things, but meticulous and thoughtful in others.

The scouts did indeed bring some news, and this intelligence was crucial for Song Yan.

First of all, Emperor Ninghe was still alive.

At least Dingzhou Prefecture has not yet received news of the national mourning.

Song Yan felt a little relieved. As long as Emperor Ninghe was alive, he had value. He was like a target, attracting a lot of attention just by sitting on the dragon throne.

The second major event was the dismissal of Yang Guochen, the Minister of Rites at the time.

As for the reason, it was naturally because of the disappearance of Princess Gaoyang and the assassination of Fang Jun.

Neither the Fang family nor the royal family would sit idly by; they would definitely seize the opportunity to make the Yang family pay a heavy price. Even Xilin Academy and Bailu Academy would not let go of this good opportunity to kick someone when they're down.

According to the intelligence brought back by the scouts, Yang Ming has been sentenced to death and will be beheaded next autumn. A son born of a concubine is not enough for the Yang family to withstand the pressure of half the court to protect him.

Yang Guochen was also dismissed from his position as Minister of Rites for failing to properly educate his son.

A princess and a son of the Fang family traded away a minister from the Yang family.

It's really hard to say who won and who lost in this outcome.

However, for the royal family and the Fang family, this undoubtedly provides a breathing space, giving them more room to maneuver. The Yang family, of course, will not stand idly by and watch the royal family and the Fang family turn the tables. It's conceivable that while nothing may happen openly between the two sides, the behind-the-scenes conflicts will be far more intense than before.

This information was ultimately rather brief.

It must have been a turbulent time in the imperial court that day, but I was unable to witness it, which is truly a pity.

After arriving at this pass, Liu Yisheng had a lot more to do. Song Yan was mostly thinking about how to fight the war, and Liu Yisheng was basically in charge of governing a county. Fortunately, the population of Xinhou County was still small, so there weren't too many trivial matters.

There has been no movement in Pingyang City for the time being.

However, no one can say for sure how long this peace will last.

Kong Chan, Die Yi, Xue Ying, and the other maids were still not quite used to the climate in Liaodong. The excessive cold made the young maids prefer to wrap themselves in thick quilts and stay in the bedroom. However, when Song Yan went out, the young maids still obediently followed by his side.

Just like before, Luo Tianyi, despite being Song Yan's personal bodyguard, was nowhere to be seen.

When Princess Gaoyang first saw Xue, she was slightly out of control, but she was a woman who knew how to control her emotions. In just two days, she regained her usual elegant and noble demeanor.

Perhaps worried that her appearance might be seen by others, causing further disruption to the relationship between the Fang family and the royal family, she rarely went out, spending most of her time hidden in her room. However, Song Yan could sense that even though she was confined to her room and her small courtyard, Gao Yang was still in a good mood.

It was still too cold, and even though Gao Yang was very careful about her appearance, she still had to wrap herself up in layers, making her look like a round rice dumpling. Her originally slender figure was no longer visible.

After two consecutive days of sunshine, the snow began to melt.

The melted snow will turn into thick ice skating after sunset.

Gao Yang slipped and fell heavily to the ground.

Fortunately, she was dressed warmly enough to avoid injury, but her current physique was too round, with her little hands wrapped in thick sleeves, making her look like a chubby penguin, and she couldn't muster any strength for a while. After struggling for a long time, all she did was roll a short distance, without achieving anything in the end.

Her pretty cheeks puffed up fiercely, and it was unclear who she was angry with.

Fortunately, he was alone in the courtyard, so he didn't have to worry about being seen in his disheveled state. Just as he was thinking this, Gao Yang had a premonition and suddenly looked up to his left. Right at the courtyard gate, he spotted a familiar figure—none other than Song Yan.
Song Yan seemed to be in some discomfort; her lips twitched from time to time, and her face was spasming incessantly.

Noticing Gao Yang's gaze, Song Yan took a deep breath: "It's nothing. I've received professional training. I won't laugh."

Gao Yang's face turned red at a visible speed, and he grabbed a handful of snow and threw it at Song Yan.

Seeing Song Yan run away in a pretentious manner, Gao Yang felt quite pleased with himself, but looking at his own current situation, he couldn't help but feel a little depressed.

This cousin of mine didn't even bother to come over and help me up.

As she was thinking this, a hand suddenly appeared beside her, grabbing her wrist through her thick clothes. Gao Yang felt a strong force coming from her, and she finally stood up from the ground.

At that moment, the two were very close.

As the setting sun cast its glow on his face, Gao Yang suddenly realized that this so-called cousin was actually quite handsome.

(End of this chapter)