Madam, don't do this!

Chapter 248 Hell on Earth (5,000 words)
The nineteenth year of Ninghe.

December.

The tenth!

The morning sun shone through the window, and the wind picked up. Even with the doors and windows tightly closed, a chill still lingered. With Song Yan's current strength, although he couldn't completely ignore the chill like Hua Lian Yue, he was still much better off than ordinary people. The cold wind actually felt quite refreshing on his face.

My body felt hollowed out, hungry and exhausted.

He is a master after all, not an ordinary person can withstand it. That feeling is probably more tiring than a normal night. It is probably a bittersweet experience.

Perhaps there was more happiness than anything else.

There are benefits too; after briefly sensing the internal energy within my body, it has increased significantly. Judging solely from internal energy, I should now be considered at the Great Perfection of the Fifth Rank? Half-step into the Sixth Rank?
With his powerful physique, he now has some ability to protect himself. He uses the Vajra Arhat Technique to transform his internal energy into a medicinal elixir to temper his body, cleansing every cell in his body.

About fifteen minutes had passed, and his internal energy was completely depleted. However, because his physical body was strong enough, he wouldn't weaken like Luo Tianyi after his internal energy was exhausted.

Picking up the clothes and putting them back on, he pushed open the door and saw a beautiful figure practicing swordsmanship in the courtyard. It was Luo Tianyi.

Perhaps spurred on by the competition with Hua Lian Yue, Luo Tian Yi became even more diligent than before. Originally, it was thought that Luo Tian Yi would be dealt a severe blow by Hua Lian Yue.

A biting wind howled, clothes fluttered, and thousands of snowflakes were stirred up.

There is a unique kind of beauty in the shadowy figures.

Speaking of which, Song Yan was a little embarrassed when she accidentally saw Luo Tianyi changing clothes last time, but it seems that her sister-in-law didn't care at all and had her usual icy face.

Perhaps this is what people call "heroes of the martial world," unconcerned with trivialities.

"How are you feeling?" A gentle voice came from beside me; it was Yang Siyao.

Yang Siyao, Gu Banxia and the others have been quite busy these days.

Before entering Liaodong, they rescued some women from bandits. After arriving in Pingyang Prefecture, they rescued another group. When the wedding envoy arrived, they rescued over a thousand more. All of these women are currently settled in Xinhou County.

Resettling these people is both easy and difficult. Xinhou County doesn't lack houses now. When the Jurchens breached the city gates and massacred the county, many died under their swords, leaving many empty houses. Some also escaped. Now, these empty houses in Xinhou County might one day find an owner.

Therefore, Yang Siyao, Gu Banxia, ​​and several maids including Kong Chan have been taking stock of the families who were indeed wiped out in recent days. After the houses were identified, people were arranged to move in. Occasionally, some people would come out and claim to be relatives of the family, saying that the property should rightfully be inherited by them.

The vast majority are imposters; a little investigation will expose them.

It's not that it's incomprehensible; most people are a little greedy. But at this moment, it just adds a lot of extra work for them.

As for the farmland in Xinhou County, it was in complete chaos.

Yesterday, after finishing their work, it was already dark. When they returned to the county office, they heard that Song Yan had already returned. They rushed to the back house, only to find Song Yan lying on the ground, which really startled all the women.

Fortunately, after checking, Luo Tianyi found that she was simply asleep.

Song Yan smiled and said, "It's alright."

A small hand quietly reached out from beside him and slipped into Song Yan's palm, its coldness carrying a hint of warmth.

Yang Siyao's expression remained unchanged, only her long eyelashes trembled slightly. She had assumed that her relationship with Song Yan was merely one of cooperation; Song Yan had helped her uncover the truth about her sister, and she had helped Song Yan bring news from the Yang family. Even though they had shared a bed, she thought there wouldn't be much affection between them. However, when she saw Song Yan lying motionless on the ground yesterday, Yang Siyao realized that she was more worried than she had imagined. Even without a formal title, this was her man.

The two walked a little towards the pavilion.

"You must be exhausted these past few days?" Song Yan could see that Yang Siyao had dark circles under her eyes, which were obviously due to long hours of work.

"It's alright, they're just some trivial matters." Yang Siyao shook her head, indicating that she didn't care. "The matters are not difficult to handle, but they are troublesome and time-consuming. Occasionally, we can't avoid arguing, which makes me feel annoyed."

Yang Siyao briefly explained the situation regarding the house and farmland: "Sometimes, several people will fight over an unclaimed house. Giving it to anyone will cause dissatisfaction among others, and often it takes a whole day to resolve one issue."

“The fighting over the fields outside Xinhou County is even fiercer. I say this piece is mine, he says it's his, and it can easily escalate into a fight.”

Song Yan thought about it for a moment and realized how bad it was. It was fortunate that Yang Siyao and Gu Banxia could endure it for so long. If it were him, he would have mobilized the Black Armored Warriors long ago.

“Simple. Starting today, all unclaimed houses will be taken over by the county government and distributed to homeless vagrants.”

"If you want to inherit the house, you can't do it unless you can provide proof that you are a direct relative. Otherwise, forget about it."

"As for the land, it will all be taken back to the county government. The people of the new county will be informed that the land will be remeasured before the spring and allocated according to the population."

Song Yan stretched his arms: "Of course, there will definitely be some people who are dissatisfied, but with four thousand black-armored soldiers here, there's no need to be afraid. By the way, spread some rumors in the shadows, saying that the new magistrate feels that there are too many trivial matters to handle and is preparing to leave with his black-armored soldiers and quit being the magistrate."

Yang Siyao covered her mouth and chuckled, "That's a good idea."

The people of Xinhou County dared to return because they saw soldiers stationed there, and the black-armored warriors gave them a great sense of security. If they forced the county magistrate to leave, without the protection of the black-armored warriors, they would probably have to hide back in the mountains again, where they would freeze to death in the freezing cold.

Therefore, even if someone still tries to cause trouble, the neighbors will not let them off the hook.

As expected, my husband is truly amazing.

The method is simple, yet very effective.

Unlike them, who only tried to persuade, forgetting that people's greed cannot be dissuaded.

How are things in Gaoyang?

"Nothing's wrong." Yang Siyao shook her head. Apart from work, Yang Siyao mostly kept an eye on Gao Yang's movements.

After a few days, Gaoyang remained quiet.

She spends most of her time locked in her room and almost never goes out. Even when the others occasionally want to go shopping, Gao Yang refuses, even when Luo Tianyi invites her. This isn't Gao Yang's personality; in fact, she's quite a sociable girl... Of course, there are reasons, such as the fact that she's nominally dead now and shouldn't be in the public eye.

In short, there are no problems at the moment.

Song Yan felt a little relieved. To be honest, he didn't really want to be on the opposite side of Gao Yang.

Gululu.

A strange noise came from my stomach.

Yang Siyao smiled and stood up from the stone bench: "I'll go prepare some food for my husband."

As she spoke, her graceful figure swayed gently as she headed towards the kitchen.

Husband?
Yang Siyao usually addresses him as "Mr." or similar terms, and occasionally, to take advantage of the situation, she calls him her cousin. The term "husband" is rather unusual.

Thinking this, Song Yan took out a book from his pocket.

Leave no trace in the snow.

After being kidnapped by Hua Lianyue, when he first returned to Xinhou, Gao Yang gave him this, saying that Luo Tianyi had found it on the corpses after killing the three Yang brothers.

This is a manual on lightness and agility techniques.

Just from the name, it sounds much more impressive than something like walking on water.

As a habit, he started by memorizing. His memory was good, and he could memorize most of a manual after flipping through it a few times. As for the quality of the "Treading Snow Without Leaving a Trace" manual, Song Yan didn't really care. He was happy to have a lightness skill to practice. He wasn't picky.

Footsteps came from the courtyard gate. Yang Siyao was carrying a large tray with several bowls of white porridge, two dishes of pickled vegetables, and a few steamed buns.

"It's time to eat."

A soothing voice echoed through the inner quarters.

Then they saw Luo Tianyi stop practicing his sword, and Gu Banxia, ​​Gao Yang, and even the girls Kong Chan all rushed over, making it quite lively.

Around noon, a carriage creaked and groaned as it left Xinhou County, flanked by several fast horses on either side.

……

Pingyang City.

This is the capital city of Pingyang Prefecture, and the only remaining part of Pingyang besides Xinhou County. One would expect this place to be teeming with life, but at this moment, the entire city of Pingyang is deathly still.

On the city wall, the soldiers lay staggering, their faces pale and their limbs weak. They could barely lift their spears, using them mainly as crutches to keep from falling. Though they were supposed to be defending the city, it seemed more of a psychological comfort than a practical matter.

The city streets were packed with people.

The ragged figures, some sitting, some lying down, stared blankly at the sky, perhaps not even knowing what they were looking at.

They didn't know what the point of staying in this city was anymore.

These people were almost all men or elderly women.

Most of the young women have been abducted by Qian Yaozu. Recently, he has gone even further, not even sparing women in their thirties or forties, or girls in their teens.

Pingyang City really accommodated a lot of people, a very, very large number.

Qian Yaozu only wanted to bring these people under his control, but he never considered whether Pingyang City could accommodate so many people. People were crowded in the city and had nowhere to live. Most of them could only lie on the streets.

The more people there are, the more food is needed to feed them.

Meanwhile, Qian Yaozu negotiated peace with the Jurchens, using large amounts of grain and women to buy their own lives. The last bit of grain in the hands of the common people was completely taken away, and each person had only a small amount of dried wild vegetables mixed with bran to keep them alive each day.

These past few days, even bran, dried vegetable dumplings have run out.

Whenever someone is about to die, a large crowd gathers around them, breathing rapidly and with eerie light in their eyes.

Occasionally, you'll see people holding children in their arms, their bloodshot, distorted eyes searching for someone to trade with.

Even worse, there were girls who were only eight or nine years old, with a straw stuck in their hair, standing on the side of the street with a blank expression.

This is called "wife-selling".

Some families who couldn't make a living would take their wives out, stick straw in their hair, and if someone took a liking to them, they could pay a few coins to take them to the back to vent their anger.

But now, these straws are stuck in the heads of these little girls.

Alive.

These two seemingly light words feel like a heavy mountain pressing down on everyone.

"Old Liu is dead..."

Suddenly, someone screamed. The middle-aged man who had been lying on the ground with a weak breath finally fell silent. A brief silence fell over the surroundings. The next moment, seven or eight figures pounced on him like mad dogs.

They didn't care about anything else; all they wanted was to fill their stomachs.

With its mouth open and its eyes bloodshot, it looked like a wild beast.

Others fixed their gazes on the doors of nearby houses, the original inhabitants of Pingyang City, whose homes surely held food. Just yesterday, Zhang Ajiu and his companions had broken down a door and feasted, and the girl in that house, with her delicate skin, had screamed in agony for most of the night.

As they thought about it, their eyes grew increasingly frantic. After a few breaths, they could no longer hold back and gathered together to start banging on the door with their shoulders.

Just then, a group of people appeared from the street.

These people were mostly hooligans and scoundrels gathered by Qian Yaozu, who called themselves the "enforcement team."

Upon seeing the group of people lying on the ground gnawing on the corpse, the thugs immediately rushed over, kicking each of them to the ground, then picked up the corpse covered in teeth marks and swaggered away.

What a joke! This is Lord Qian's territory. How could such a morally bankrupt act as cannibalism and child-exchanging occur? If word gets out, what will become of Lord Qian's reputation?
These lowly people, even if they die, will only starve to death.

As for ramming the door? That's not their business. They wouldn't even part with their money; they deserved to die.

Seeing the arrogant law enforcement team, their eyes filled with resentment, they had considered escaping the city. They would rather forage for food in the snow than wait to die here. But the city gates were sealed, and none of them could leave. They had also considered rebelling against that bastard Qian Yaozu, but they were starving and had no strength left in their bodies. How could they possibly be a match for those well-fed thugs and ruffians?
The corpses collected by the local thugs were then pushed out of Pingyang City on carts and carelessly dumped on the ground.

There, the corpses had piled up into small hills.

Once a prosperous city, Pingyang is now a living hell.

……

Meanwhile, inside the governor's mansion, the melodious sounds of a zither and other string and wind instruments filled the air.

The finest bamboo charcoal emitted a refreshing bamboo fragrance, making the mansion quite warm even in the dead of winter. A dozen beautiful women draped in thin veils were swaying gracefully in the guest hall. Qian Yaozu, a man in his forties or fifties, sat in the main seat, squinting as he admired the captivating dance. His square face gave him the air of a refined scholar.

A maid cut a slice off a peeled pear and stuffed it into Qian Yaozu's mouth.

"Pooh……"

But he spat it out.

Winter fruits, though precious, lack flavor and are too bland.

Qian Yaozu frowned, looking at the bear paws, roast duck, roast chicken, bird's nest, and steamed lamb laid out on the table, but he couldn't muster any appetite.

It's the same old stuff every day, and eventually I get tired of it.

"Eh."

Being a local tyrant in Pingyang City was nice, but it was still not as prosperous as Dongling City. Even the dancers that were carefully selected were several levels below the prostitutes of Qunyu Garden.

He was starting to miss life in Dongling City.

Moreover, there is no food left in Pingyang City. Even the grain that was planted has been looted, and there is no prospect of the next batch of goods. It is unknown whether the Jurchens will turn against them.

It would be best if he could be transferred ahead of time. In any case, he had managed to defend Pingyang City, which was a great achievement. With the strong support of his colleagues at Xilin Academy, he might have a chance to climb the ranks again.

He is now the Prefect of Pingyang, and who knows what position he will reach if he climbs any higher?
Could it be one of the six ministers?

If he succeeds, he will be the first Minister to emerge from Xilin Academy.

He wanted to become the Minister of War.

After all, he was very capable in warfare. Dou Xian and Liang Youde both died, but he survived. What else could this be but a sign of ability?
Thinking this way, Qian Yaozu couldn't help but feel a little smug.

When you tell a lie enough, you start to believe it yourself.

This sense of triumph didn't last long. For some reason, he suddenly felt a strange palpitation, as if something terrible was about to happen, and he felt increasingly agitated.

"Get out, all of you."

Qian Yaozu suddenly flew into a rage for no reason. He waved his hand forcefully, dismissing the dancers. An inexplicable irritation made him want to vent his anger. With a forceful slap, he overturned all the food on the table to the ground.

Could it be that those lowly people in the city are planning a rebellion?

Or is it that the Jurchens have returned?
Impossible. After sending so much food and women, the Jurchens shouldn't need to launch another attack. Pingyang's walls are high and strong; those Jurchen barbarians couldn't possibly breach them easily.

Anyway, let's go take a look first.

He appointed several hundred tall and strong guards, who, like a fierce tiger, patrolled his territory. As the carriage passed by, Qian Yaozu frowned when he saw the dirty, lowly people outside through the carriage window.

Damn it, these lowly people don't even know how to bathe; their smell is absolutely disgusting.

They really are lowly people.

The existence of these lowly people is simply tarnishing his reputation. He crammed a large number of refugees into Pingyang City for the sake of merit, but now he finds them utterly repulsive. Letting them starve to death one by one is too slow. Maybe he should find an opportunity to get rid of them all. In any case, he absolutely cannot let these lowly people escape. If they spread rumors everywhere, his reputation will be damaged.

Thinking this, Qian Yaozu climbed the city wall and found no Jurchen cavalry outside the city, which put him completely at ease.

It's good that the Jurchens didn't come.

Huh?
what is that?
Suddenly, Qian Yaozu noticed that a small black dot had appeared on the vast expanse of snow.

Have Qu Ming's wedding envoys returned?
Judging by the time, it should be about time. This time we can have another month of peace and quiet.

(End of this chapter)