Madam, don't do this!

Chapter 534 Yan'er, I'm Pregnant (11,000 words)

moonlight.

Light fog.

Torch.

A dense crowd of people.

The warhorse appeared too suddenly, and almost instantly the sword was already above Kono Juro's head.

In the critical moment, Kono Juro instinctively raised his katana in an attempt to defend himself.

Through the silver-white mask, Kono Juro could clearly feel a pair of cold eyes suddenly sweep over him.

The next moment...

Clang!
The explosive sound of metal clashing suddenly rang out.

At the same time, a string of blinding sparks exploded.

The sword in Song Yan's hand was specially forged; how could a mere Japanese sword possibly withstand it?

With a snap, the Japanese sword broke in two. To Kono Juro's horrified gaze, the sword cleaved directly in two from his head. Although Kono Juro possessed some skill, he was still flesh and blood after all, and the sword ripped his head open, spraying red and white blood everywhere.

As his head fell to the sides, his eyes remained wide open, filled with resentment and fear. Even in his final moments, Kono Juro probably couldn't believe he had lost his life so easily.

laugh.

He continued to exert force with his arms, and when facing the Japanese pirates, his whole body seemed to be filled with inexhaustible strength.

The blade continued to slash downwards.

neck.

Chest.

The steel-forged sword, combined with Song Yan's immense strength, cleaved Kono Juro's entire body in two from head to toe.

Broken internal organs mixed with disgusting filth gushed out onto the ground.

A thick stench of blood began to permeate the mist, even tinging it with a pale red hue.

Song Yan's body trembled slightly, and he couldn't help but let out a low growl: "That felt great."

Sure enough, the Japanese pirates were much more satisfying to kill than the Xiongnu.

The Japanese pirates at the forefront couldn't believe what they were seeing. Who would have thought that their fierce and ruthless leader would be cut in two so easily? For a moment, they were stunned, as if they were dreaming, and instinctively stopped in their tracks.

Meanwhile, the other Japanese pirates behind them continued to surge forward, causing chaos in the entire pirate ranks.

That wasn't all. Song Yan's warhorse didn't stop; its hooves thundered as it charged forward, instantly sending several Japanese pirates flying. Their bones were broken and flesh shattered with cracking sounds; they were already lifeless before they even hit the ground. Even more terrifying things followed. More and more warhorses emerged from the light mist, their gleaming silver armor like a galaxy in the night sky. A torrent of fire swept forward, instantly washing away everything in its path.

In a short time, cries of agony rose into the sky.

These silver-armored guards were capable of killing high-ranking officials in the imperial court, and were ruthless individuals who could invade the Jurchens in Liaodong and resist the Xiongnu. Moreover, a large portion of them were recruited from Ningping, Songzhou, and surrounding prefectures and counties. In earlier years, they had suffered greatly from the raids by Japanese pirates and witnessed the horrific scenes they had endured. Almost every one of them harbored a deep hatred for the Japanese pirates.

They were ruthless and showed no mercy to these Japanese pirates.

Three thousand silver-armored guards, like a sharp dagger, instantly tore apart the Japanese pirates' formation. Blood was everywhere they went; some were hacked to death, some were trampled by warhorses, and some had their skulls and sternums crushed by horses' hooves... In just one wave of attack, the Japanese pirates had already left behind hundreds of corpses, the air thick with the stench of blood.

The Japanese pirates' formation was completely disrupted.

Only after the three thousand silver-armored guards had completely passed through the Japanese pirate army did these hunchbacked, despicable beasts seem to realize what was happening. Some of them even seemed to try to fight back, howling and charging towards the silver-armored guards.

However, these fools simply do not understand the difference between heavily armored cavalry and unarmored soldiers.

After charging for some distance, the Silver Armor Guards' rear guard became the front guard, launching another new charge. The Japanese swords slashed at the silver armor, producing an extremely unpleasant sound, accompanied by blinding sparks, but they could not cause any real damage to the Silver Armor Guards. On the contrary, each swing of the Silver Armor Guards' swords could easily take away a fresh life.

However, after only a few charges, nearly ten thousand Japanese pirates were routed.

Although the Japanese pirates were ruthless, they were also bullies who preyed on the weak and feared the strong. The increasing number of corpses on the ground had already shattered their fighting spirit. They screamed and tried to escape, but the two thousand silver-armored guards and more than two thousand Japanese soldiers who had been lying in ambush all around finally emerged from their hiding places and quickly formed a huge encirclement, gradually rushing towards the center area to kill them.

Screams.

The sound of a blade cutting into bone.

The sound of blood gushing out from the knife wound.

For a time, the area outside Ningping County had become a veritable hell on earth.

At first, some of the Japanese soldiers were indeed hesitant and timid. However, when they saw the silver-armored guards slash down with their swords, and blood splattering everywhere, the crimson color seemed to stimulate the rationality of the Japanese soldiers. Their inherent ferocity was completely aroused, and they pounced forward like mad tigers.

This is no longer a war.

It was a completely one-sided massacre.

The weapons and equipment of the two sides are not even on the same level, and even doubling the number of people cannot make up for this gap.

The number of Japanese pirates still alive is decreasing.

Some people managed to break through the encirclement and ran frantically towards the sea. But from a distance, they could see flames shooting into the sky on the sea. Luo Tianquan and his family's guards had already surrounded them from all sides, completely extinguishing their last hope.

……

This attack by the Japanese pirates came suddenly and ended even more abruptly.

Five thousand against nine thousand.

For Song Yan, this might be the first time he has fought such a costly battle.

Even the people of Ningping County were not greatly affected. It was only when they woke up the next day and prepared to go out of the city to work that they found corpses strewn everywhere outside the city and blood staining the ground red.

As for these heads, they certainly cannot be wasted.

Without Song Yan's arrangement, a large number of servants, guards from the mansions of wealthy families and merchants, and even many ordinary people voluntarily went outside the city to cut off the heads of the Japanese pirates one by one and pile them into a small hill. Some people were mixing yellow mud, and others went to find Taoist priests in the mountains outside the city, probably to ask for an auspicious day to build three more Jingguan outside Ningping County.

Luo Tianshu then said that the honest and simple people of Ningping County had all been corrupted by Song Yan.

Song Yan felt wronged by this slander. It was the common people who wanted to build the Jingguan (a mound of stones), so why was he being blamed?

Moreover, even if it was Song Yan who instigated the people, what does it have to do with the Prince of Yan?
He most likely doesn't have the surname Song, okay?

In the afternoon, Song Yan took Lin Xue to the mass grave.

Oh, no, that's not right. This place shouldn't be called a mass grave anymore. Ever since Lin Xiangwan bought it, it's become some kind of Holy Mother Mountain. If it weren't for the Holy Mother's protection, how could Song Yan have survived Yang Miaoqing's clutches and even been granted a fiefdom?

Lin Xiangwan was indeed very concerned about Song Yan's matter. The entire mass grave was managed very well. The messy mounds and earthen mounds that used to be everywhere have now been reorganized and reburied. The tombstones are arranged neatly, and in the middle of the countless tombstones is a larger tomb.

High walls were even built around the many graves to prevent wild animals from disturbing them.

They also planted many cypress trees to prevent field mice from damaging them.

They even hired two elderly people to stay here as tomb keepers.

Lin Xue has a very deep affection for her mother.

This female general didn't shed a single tear when she was sold off, but when she knelt before Mei Yingxue's tombstone, tears streamed down her face.

Song Yan also offered sacrifices and burned some paper money. He then talked on and on about his experiences over the past few days, especially how he had been granted the title of Prince of Yan. He thought that if his mother knew how successful her son was, she would probably be very happy.
Afterwards, he left the space to Lin Xue and took a pile of paper money. He lit a few sheets of paper money in front of the other tombstones around him... This was probably some impression left over from his previous life. Although he was also an orphan in his previous life, he had lived with his parents for a short time when he was a child. He especially remembered that whenever his father took him to visit the graves of his ancestors, he would buy more yellow paper. In addition to the graves of his ancestors, he would also light a few sheets of paper on the other graves next to them.

Perhaps they wanted to ask their neighbors to take good care of their elders in the afterlife.

Hua Lianyue also kowtowed before the tombstone.

Although if Mei Yingxue were still alive, she would be about the same age as Hua Lianyue, but in terms of seniority, she would be Hua Lianyue's mother-in-law. She would definitely have to inform her mother-in-law about her becoming Song Yan's second wife.

Luo Tianxuan and Luo Tianyi also burned some paper money and whispered something to each other.

Lin Xue had a lot to say, and she talked for a long, long time until it was almost dark. She then kowtowed three times to the tombstone before getting up.

On the third day, Chu Yue and Chu Menglan took their leave.

After all, this mission was somewhat unnecessary. There were only two truly important matters: Hua Lianyue's marriage and Lin Xue's search for her relatives. As for the negotiations with Ningguo, they were the least important.

Now that both things are done, it's time to go back.

Lin Xue was somewhat reluctant to part with it.

However, she also understood that it was not easy for the Chu Emperor to allow her to return to Ning Kingdom to find her relatives, and that the entire delegation had taken a great risk by delaying for so long.

After exchanging a few more words with Song Yan, he mounted his warhorse and rode away swiftly.

Who knows when we'll meet again?

With the matter of Ningping County resolved, Song Yan instructed Luo Tianshu and Luo Tianquan to each select their two hundred most elite soldiers from the 2,500 soldiers who had shed blood during the anti-Japanese war. In a place like Dongling, if one did not have a force completely under one's control, one would truly die without even knowing why.

Song Yan wanted to hand over all the Japanese pirate guards to the two men directly, but they refused. In Luo Tianshu's words, it was normal for a prince to have one or two hundred guards. Any more than that would give others a handle to use against him... Song Yan understood that his two brothers-in-law were very opinionated people and that they must have their own plans, so he did not insist.

The sugar workshop, tea workshop, and ironware workshop under the Luo family's name were all destroyed.

As for the workers, Song Yan offered them high salaries, and they would migrate to Pingyang with the Silver Armor Guards. Song Yan would not refuse those who wanted to bring their families; in fact, he would warmly welcome them, since Anzhou and Pingyang were currently in dire need of people.

Normally, long-distance relocation is an extremely dangerous undertaking.

On the one hand, the long journey might be too much for their bodies, and if they were to fall ill, they might even lose their lives.

On the other hand, the consumption of food is enormous, and many families cannot afford it.

Most importantly, these are turbulent times, with bandits and robbers robbing people everywhere along the way, and you never know when you might get your head chopped off by some powerful figure.

But with Song Yan and the Silver Armor Guards there, these things were not a problem at all. There was enough military rations, and even if there wasn't enough, they could borrow some from the prefectural governors along the way. Song Yan found that the officials in Ningguo were quite kind. Whenever he led five thousand Silver Armor Guards to borrow rations, not one of them disagreed.

Don't worry if you get sick, there are military doctors in the army.

As for bandits, there's even less to worry about. With five thousand cavalrymen, unless they're out of their minds, they would never dare to mess with this force.

Three days later, all the households had finished their preparations, and Song Yan led his people back to Songzhou Prefecture in a grand procession.

This time, Luo Yuheng didn't sit on the threshold as usual, resting his chin on his hand and waiting quietly... probably because this was the Fang residence, not his own home, so many things weren't as convenient.

Fang Hai, on the other hand, had been waiting at the door for a long time. When he saw Song Yan return, he laughed loudly: "Your Highness is really no peaceful man. As soon as you arrived, the Japanese pirates attacked Ningping. Meeting you is probably the most unlucky thing that has ever happened to those Japanese pirates."

"It's a pity, it's a pity..."

Song Yan smiled and instructed Zhang Han and Lei Yi to settle the workers' families before looking at Fang Hai: "Uncle Fang, what's there to regret? They were just some beasts."

"It's a pity that I wasn't by the Prince's side this time. Such a good opportunity to earn military merit has been wasted." Fang Hai shook his head and sighed.

Ever since he first earned military merit by following Song Yan, Fang Hai has become somewhat addicted to such things.

After all, it was military merit earned for nothing.

It smells the best.

Song Yan was taken aback, then chuckled: "It's alright, once we get to Liaodong, there will be plenty of military merits for you to accumulate, and it's not impossible for you to become a Duke."

"Then I will await your arrival." Fang Hai's smile faded slightly. "When does Your Highness intend to depart?"

"As soon as possible." Song Yan thought for a moment: "There are more and more people, and it's not good to delay for too long. Prepare enough food for a few days. We can borrow some along the way. Prepare more empty carts to store armor and the belongings of the relocated people..."

Song Yan shared some of the things that had come to mind.

Fang Hai is more professional in this area than Song Yan is, and Song Yan is confident that Fang Hai can make proper arrangements.

After giving his instructions, Song Yan headed towards the guest courtyard. He had been quite busy these past few days and was ready to take a good rest.

Luo Yuheng sat on a stone bench in the pavilion of the guest courtyard.

His posture appeared slightly languid.

Her graceful figure blends almost perfectly with the surrounding scenery, making her look like a painting from afar.

Hearing footsteps, Luo Yuheng turned around and beckoned to Song Yan: "Yan'er, come here for a moment."

Song Yan smiled and walked over, sitting down opposite Luo Yuheng: "Aunt, is there anything you need to tell me?"

As he spoke, Song Yan keenly sensed that Luo Yuheng seemed a little off today.

Her brows were furrowed tightly, as if she were hesitating.

After a while, Luo Yuheng seemed to have mustered all her courage and made the most difficult decision. She raised her head, her eyes shining brightly as she looked at Song Yan:

"Yan'er, I'm pregnant!"

Song Yan: (ΩДΩ) ? ? ?

(End of this chapter)