Madam, don't do this!

Chapter 452 (Five Thousand)
"A-gu-da!"

A high-pitched, sharp cry came from the night sky.

Looking up, I saw a phantom with outstretched wings fly across the night sky, accompanied by a sound like a dart tearing through the air.

Those were gyrfalcons kept by Nakhtoya.

The most terrifying bird of prey on the Haixi Grassland.

With a wingspan of over two meters, it resembled a giant shadow, whipping up a gust of wind before finally landing steadily on Song Yan's shoulder.

Because of Song Yan's relationship with Nakhtoya, this gyrfalcon was quite close to Song Yan. Despite its wingspan exceeding two meters and its height of fifty or sixty centimeters even when standing on Song Yan's shoulder, it was not heavy, weighing only three or four kilograms, making it as light as a feather to Song Yan.

Perhaps it is precisely because of its light weight, significantly smaller than that of eagles, that the gyrfalcon, despite its enormous size, is still classified as a medium-sized bird of prey. Its call is also particularly eerie, like someone shouting in a high-pitched voice, "A-gu-da," and it is said that the name of Emperor Taizu of the Jin Dynasty, Wanyan Aguda, originated from the call of the gyrfalcon.

Due to the invasion of the Xiongnu army, many of the Imperial Guards have been withdrawn by Song Yan.

The gathering and transmission of information was no longer as swift as before. Therefore, Song Yan assigned Nahetuya to the task, not expecting her to do anything special, but simply to keep the three gyrfalcons under control.

Human eyes can never compare to eagle eyes.

Even a galloping warhorse cannot compare to a gyrfalcon soaring through the sky.

Of course, Song Yan had only known the gyrfalcon for a short time and couldn't yet discern its general meaning from its calls like Nahetuya did... However, the mere appearance of the gyrfalcon at least indicated that the Xiongnu army in Anzhou City had begun its operations.

Song Yan pursed her lips: "Lei Yi, take an elite cavalry unit and go to meet Nakhtoya."

Lei Yi accepted the order and left.

Song Yan wasn't too nervous.

Even if the Xiongnu army were to begin its operation now, it would still be more than 100 kilometers from Anzhou City to Dehua County, and traveling at night would be inconvenient. By the time the Xiongnu army appeared, it would likely be early morning the next day.

His gaze swept over the few remaining survivors in the governor's mansion: Ma Zhifeng, three coachmen, and a steward. Song Yan smiled, his gaze landing on the steward. In an instant, the steward's body stiffened, his face turned deathly pale, and even his breathing became more rapid. Wherever Song Yan's gaze swept, the steward felt as if a knife was slowly cutting through his skin, causing excruciating pain.

"You must be the steward of the governor's mansion. What's your name?" Song Yan asked with a smile, his tone sounding very kind and gentle.

He waved his hand, and the many black-armored soldiers turned around and headed towards Dehua County.

The butler and three coachmen were forced to follow behind.

Ma Zhifeng was unwilling, but with someone pushing him from behind, he could only stagger along.

"Replying to Your Excellency... This old servant's surname is Zhou, Your Excellency can just call me Old Zhou." Steward Zhou grinned, his face fawning, "I have been following Master... no, following that old beast Ma Zhifeng for over twenty years. I know better than anyone what shameless things that old beast has done. If Your Excellency wants to know anything, this old servant guarantees to tell you everything I know."

Hmm, he's someone who knows how to adapt to the times.

The title has changed from "Master" to "Old Beast".

Even Ma Zhifeng, who had already given up on life and was full of despondency, couldn't help but raise his head upon hearing this. He looked at Steward Zhou in disbelief. After more than twenty years of being master and servant, he trusted Steward Zhou so much that it even surpassed that of his son and wife.

He never owed Steward Zhou anything.

money.

woman.

Even Zhou's sons all secured good positions in the governor's mansion.

Normally, relying on the power of the governor's mansion, he would do whatever he wanted, and the governor would turn a blind eye. Even this time, knowing that escaping was dangerous and that there could be no mistakes, especially not leaking the news in advance, even though he was willing to abandon many of his children, Steward Zhou still secretly told his son about it, allowing those bastards to slip away from the governor's mansion a day early. After learning about this, Ma Zhifeng did not punish Steward Zhou too much.

Ma Zhifeng felt he had done more than enough for Steward Zhou. Over the decades, he had treated very few people with genuine kindness, and Steward Zhou was definitely one of them... But who would have thought that Steward Zhou would betray him without the slightest hesitation?

I laughed somewhat self-deprecatingly; this is probably karma.

Song Yan also disliked Zhou, the steward, for his treachery. Upon hearing this, he merely frowned slightly and asked, "How did you escape from Anzhou City?" Abalu was an extremely ruthless man; whenever he conquered a territory, he would inevitably massacre the entire city. Anzhou was a large city; tens of thousands of Xiongnu were insufficient to besiege it, but they could certainly block all four city gates.

According to the intelligence Song Yan possessed, Abal did indeed do just that.

Four days ago, the Xiongnu army besieged the city.

Only after sealing off all four city gates did they launch a full-scale attack.

Song Yan was very curious about how Ma Zhifeng had managed to escape from Anzhou City. Could it be that this guy had been hiding outside the city all along?

Butler Zhou did not hide anything and explained everything that Ma Zhifeng had done.

When Song Yan heard that Ma Zhifeng was prepared to use the lives of two to three hundred thousand soldiers and civilians in Anzhou City to pave his way to success, he could sense that many of the black-armored soldiers were breathing rapidly and with suppressed anger, clearly struggling to control their rage. Not to mention these soldiers, even Song Yan himself was startled by Ma Zhifeng's ruthlessness.

This guy was truly a beast; even at the very end, he was fooling the people of the city.

Song Yan's gaze toward Ma Zhifeng was filled with utter disgust. He couldn't believe that such a despicable and shameless person existed in the world. Taking a deep breath, Song Yan controlled the oppression and agitation in his chest. Although he felt that cutting off an inch a day was already an extremely cruel punishment, he now felt it was far from enough.

"Go back and tell Granny Liang to take better care of the Prefect."

“Start with the skin, half an inch each day.”

hiss!
Upon hearing this, the expressions of the surrounding soldiers all became particularly strange.

For a man, this is not just physical torture, but a double torment of both body and mind.

Seeing your most precious possession shrink by half an inch every day must be incredibly disheartening.

Song Yan glanced back at Ma Zhifeng, and sure enough, on that listless face, Song Yan finally saw a different expression... fear.

Song Yan was quite satisfied with that appearance.

Let's just stay afraid.

It won't be long before this scumbag realizes that death is actually an extremely luxurious thing.

As for what happened next, it was an accident. After some persuasion, Ma Zhifeng did indeed intend to sneak out through the gate in a carriage, but by then, the city gate was already surrounded by the Xiongnu, making a normal exit impossible. Left with no other choice, Ma Zhifeng abandoned the luxurious carriage he had prepared beforehand and, with his wife and four sons, entered the underground canal.

However, in places like underground channels, filled with sewage and silt, and subject to a foul stench, movement inevitably slowed down. Furthermore, the channels were crisscrossed with ravines and interconnected pipes, creating a complex and intricate network. Even back in Dongling City, when Song Yan knew the correct route beforehand, he still got lost several times.

Ma Zhifeng and his group knew almost nothing about the underground canal, so they naturally lost their way.

It was two days later when they left the underground canal. Fortunately, Ma Zhifeng was a cautious man and had made preparations in advance. He had prepared three extra carriages in the mountains outside Anzhou City. Otherwise, they probably wouldn't have made it to Dehua yet.

Moreover, these people did not have the foul stench typical of culverts, suggesting they had probably given themselves a quick clean.

Judging from this, the soldiers and civilians of Anzhou City must have held out for a day, and perhaps not even that... There was no way around it; although the walls of Anzhou were high, they couldn't compare to those of Yongchang, and the Anzhou garrison was far inferior to the elite border troops. Although Ma Zhifeng had rallied the morale of the Anzhou garrison and civilians, the disparity in strength was too great. Once heavy casualties were incurred, coupled with the inability to find Ma Zhifeng, the prefect, the hard-won morale would quickly collapse...

What followed was... a three-day massacre of the city.

Nowadays, Anzhou City should be a scene of corpses strewn across the land and blood flowing like rivers.

Don't these barbarians of the Xiongnu need to sleep and rest?
For nearly a month, Abal and his men were either massacring cities or on their way to massacre cities, as if they had no time to rest at all.

Steward Zhou quietly raised his head and glanced furtively at Song Yan. Seeing that Song Yan wasn't particularly angry, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief. A certain thought uncontrollably surfaced in his mind. He pursed his lips and then mustered all his courage: "My Lord..." "Before escaping from Anzhou City, that old beast Ma Zhifeng sealed all the wealth, gold, silver, jewelry, antiques, and paintings he had embezzled over the years in a box and buried them in a secret place, just waiting for the day he could be reinstated and reclaim this wealth."

"This old servant is willing to tell the Marquis the location of the burial, and I hope that the Marquis will be merciful and spare my life."

Song Yan raised an eyebrow, his expression suddenly turning cold. He turned around, scrutinized Butler Zhou, and after a few moments, slowly spoke: "Are you trying to negotiate with me?"

The voice was flat and unhurried, with almost no fluctuation in tone.

The indifferent voice, coupled with the mocking look, made Butler Zhou's scalp tingle. But at this moment, Butler Zhou still mustered all his courage, raised his head and looked Song Yan in the eye.

He knew that he absolutely could not back down at this moment.

This was his only chance to survive.

Very few people in the entire governor's mansion knew the location of the buried treasure, and all the servants who helped bury the chests were poisoned. He and Ma Zhifeng were the only two who knew. And since Song Yan had just killed Ma Zhifeng's wife and four sons, he would never hand over this pile of silver to Song Yan.

Thinking this way, Steward Zhou felt more at ease. Although his pupils trembled slightly, he still put on a posture that suggested he could negotiate with Song Yan at the same table: "Your Excellency is joking. This is not about negotiating terms. It is just a transaction that benefits both of us."

"Your Excellency may not know, but those things are worth at least two million taels of silver."

"Does the Marquis not even feel a little tempted?"

"My request is not high. I only ask that Your Excellency prepare a fast horse and a carrier pigeon for me. Once I have moved to a safe distance, I will naturally inform Your Excellency of the location via the carrier pigeon."

"Spare this lowly servant's life in exchange for two million taels of silver for the Marquis. Isn't this an excellent deal?"

Song Yan chuckled.

Indeed, Steward Zhou's worthless life is not worth a million taels of silver. If he could actually get that money, he would have made a fortune. But he'll only tell you the location after you've left to a safe place? Does Steward Zhou think he's a fool?
Moreover, this guy seems to have underestimated human nature.

Song Yan smiled and looked behind Steward Zhou. Steward Zhou was somewhat suspicious and subconsciously followed Song Yan's gaze. Ma Zhifeng's face suddenly appeared before him, his face full of mockery and ridicule... For some reason, seeing Ma Zhifeng's expression, Steward Zhou's heart skipped a beat, and an extremely bad premonition suddenly arose in his heart. The next second, Ma Zhifeng slowly spoke: "In the backyard of the Anzhou Prefectural Governor's Mansion, there is a dry well, and the wellhead is sealed with a huge stone."

In an instant, Steward Zhou's face turned deathly pale. He rushed towards Ma Zhifeng like a madman, trying to gag Ma Zhifeng and break his neck: "You bastard, shut up!" He cursed angrily but to no avail. A black-armored soldier grabbed Steward Zhou's neck in an instant. Ma Zhifeng looked at Steward Zhou with some smugness: "Below the dry well, there are three thousand silver winter melons, each weighing a hundred taels."

“There is a place in the back garden that has just been renovated, and there are a hundred boxes buried underground, filled with jewelry, calligraphy and paintings, antiques and silver bricks.”

"Three other boxes of gold sank to the bottom of the lake."

"..."

In one breath, Ma Zhifeng revealed all the places in the governor's mansion where money and jewelry were hidden. Steward Zhou seemed to have all his strength drained away, looking dejected and desperate. Just by looking at his expression, you could tell that what Ma Zhifeng said was true.

Butler Zhou couldn't understand it. Had Ma Zhifeng gone mad?

What good will this do to him?
Has he forgotten who killed his son?

Ma Zhifeng was chuckling.

He naturally didn't want all the money he had embezzled in his life to go to Song Yan, the murderer. But since Steward Zhou was already ready to speak, the money was destined to fall into Song Yan's hands. So why should he let Steward Zhou, the bastard who betrayed him, get away with it?

If we're going to die anyway, let's die together.

At least you'll have someone to keep you company on your journey to the underworld.

Haha... Hahahaha...

Ma Zhifeng laughed wildly.

Unable to bear such stimulation, Steward Zhou let out a howl and pounced on Ma Zhifeng like a madman, wrestling with him. Song Yan watched with amusement from the side, and suddenly said, "Steward Zhou, just like Ma Zhifeng, hand him over to Granny Liang."

After all, it's two million! Such a large sum of money would tempt Song Yan. Considering that it was Butler Zhou who brought it up, he wouldn't mind giving Butler Zhou a reward.

"Their treatment is the same as that of the governor."

Butler Zhou: "...???"

……

boom!
boom!
boom!
Outside Anzhou City, 20,000 Xiongnu cavalry launched a fierce charge, sweeping forward like a dark cloud covering the earth. Wherever they went, thick dust billowed like a raging torrent, threatening to engulf everything in its path.

The chaotic hoofbeats pounded the ground, as if the entire earth trembled.

Behind the cavalry were more than 20,000 infantrymen.

They were covered in blood, following closely behind the cavalry like a pack of wolves.

Almost every Xiongnu barbarian had an abnormal red or white complexion.

Their eye sockets were deeply sunken, and the area around their pupils was dark and bluish-gray, as if they hadn't had a proper rest in a long time, yet their eyes blazed with extreme excitement.

kill.

Rob.

淫！
Destruction and ruin.

The stench of blood and the screams of women seemed to completely expose the most savage, ferocious, and bestial side of human nature, causing everyone to gravitate towards the beasts.

Behind them, Anzhou was already deathly silent.

Inside and outside the city walls, there were motionless corpses everywhere.

Men, women, the elderly, children...

The corpses piled up, emanating a warm, stench. The entire city was devoid of any sign of life; even the beautiful women of the governor's mansion, after being tortured beyond recognition, had their throats slit. No matter how beautiful the women, they cared nothing, for they believed that in the next city, many more women awaited them.

The entrance to the culvert was blocked by corpses, and blood flowed into a river within the city.

A large number of vultures and crows hovered in the sky, cawing loudly. As soon as the Huns left, the dark flock of birds quickly descended, their sharp claws tearing at the corpses, their hooked beaks ripping off chunks of rotting flesh.

This must be what hell is like.

The infantry's speed was ultimately somewhat slow, so the cavalry often had to stop and wait for the infantry behind them.

Abaru was somewhat dissatisfied.

The thrill of riding a warhorse at full gallop was interrupted time and time again... the feeling was indescribably unpleasant.

Even though he was dissatisfied, Abal could only suppress it, since infantry were necessary for sieges.

As the morning mist began to fall, Abal, along with his 38,000 elite cavalry and 24,000 elite infantry, arrived outside Dehua City.

That's right, it was 38,000 cavalry and 24,000 infantry.

This number is clearly extremely abnormal!

(End of this chapter)