Wife, Don't Be Like This!

Chapter 102 - Protected by My Younger Sister-in-law

Song Yan was not angered by the words of these pedants. On the contrary, he smiled. He wasn't afraid of the Yang family's revenge; he was only afraid of not knowing how the Yang family would retaliate.

Speaking of which, he had truly underestimated the level of the Yang family. After all, it was an aristocratic family that had been passed down for so many years; there were still smart people.

He had originally thought the Yang family would arrange for assassins to secretly get rid of him. But in reality, the Yang family had adopted another, more venomous and more soul-crushing method.

One thing that had to be admitted was that in ancient times, the power of public opinion was often in the hands of these scholars.

In almost all dynasties, scholars were always more respected.

For ordinary commoners, they always felt that since scholars were literate, they were naturally more reasonable, and would subconsciously believe what the scholars said. Invisibly, they could sway the direction of public opinion.

You talk about creating things like newspapers to fight for control of public opinion... this is actually a very unrealistic thing.

Even if you could improve papermaking and printing techniques to lower the cost of newspapers to a minimum, the common people who wouldn't buy them still wouldn't buy them. Even giving them away for free wouldn't be of much use. The literacy rate is really too low.

The direction of public opinion is ultimately still guided by the scholars.

This move was extremely vicious.

Downplaying the suffering caused by the Wokou to the coastal commoners, glossing over it, as if it were just a neighborhood dispute. Yet they emphasized the matter of Song Yan slaughtering and burning the Wokou, immediately shaping Song Yan into the image of a cruel and inhumane butcher.

Then it was all sorts of 'zhi hu zhe ye,' benevolence, righteousness, and morality. Ordinary commoners might not even understand it, but they would feel it was very impressive.

However, all of this was just the setup. The end was the real killing move.

'If by chance the Wokou gather an army of one hundred thousand to invade Songzhou, what is to be done?'

The surrounding commoners might not understand the other words, but this sentence they could absolutely understand. These commoners of Songzhou had no choice but to seriously consider this problem. After all, it concerned their own lives and property.

After all, the Wokou had always been cruel. Once the Wokou broke through Songzhou, the entire Song Prefecture would probably have rivers of blood and fields of corpses.

In addition, with the previous words as a setup, they would subconsciously feel that this kind of disaster was all caused by Song Yan burning the Wokou. It was a disaster brought by Song Yan.

They would only think along the lines of what these scholars said and wouldn't consider for a moment whether the Wokou could even gather an army of one hundred thousand. Let alone one hundred thousand, even the previous group of five thousand was already extremely rare. The Wokou of this era were mostly scattered, in small groups.

Who knows, if other places outside of Ningping were attacked by Wokou, the blame might also be pinned on Song Yan's head.

In this way, Song Yan's image would change from a hero who defended his home and country against the Wokou to a plague god who brought disaster.

As for tying up Song Yan and handing him over to the Wokou to appease their anger, this kind of thing could only be done by scholars. But Emperor Ninghe would probably not agree. After all, not every emperor is a Zhao Gou or a Zhu Qizhen.

Song Yan was certain that this scholar Linghu was only one of them. Let alone outside the city, even within Song Prefecture, who knows how many scholars there were in different places, promoting the same rhetoric.

Perhaps seeing that the audience was growing, that scholar Linghu became even more smug. His voice was also louder than before. When he got excited, his speech became a torrent, and spit flew from his mouth.

In his words, Song Yan was not just a fierce and cruel butcher, but had become a treacherous villain who disregarded the lives of the tens of thousands of people in Song Prefecture just for his own successful official career.

The words coming out of his mouth also became more and more intolerable.

In the end, it simply turned into direct verbal abuse, such as 'a dignified man actually marrying into a family, truly a disgrace to all men'; 'performing the wedding ceremony with his younger sister-in-law, disregarding human ethics'. Even Luo Yuheng was not spared from being criticized, with things like 'as a woman, to actually show her face in public, not abiding by the womanly way,' and so on.

The gentleness and refinement of a scholar—not a trace was left.

Yet there were really some people who felt that scholar Linghu's words made a lot of sense. This was probably because they were residents of Songzhou city. Even if the Wokou plundered, they most likely wouldn't be plundered.

Song Yan originally didn't care much, but someone really couldn't stand it anymore.

With a hum, that scholar Linghu only felt a flash of light before his eyes. The next instant, something ice-cold was already pressed against his face.

His originally righteous-sounding voice stopped abruptly. The moment he saw the sharp edge of the sword, his body shivered, and fine goosebumps quickly spread up his neck to his cheeks.

Even the other fellow students beside him instantly shut their mouths, not daring to speak again.

Gulp!

Scholar Linghu quietly swallowed a mouthful of saliva. The action was extremely cautious, as if he were afraid that a slightly larger swallowing motion would slit his throat:

“This, this young lady, what are you doing?"

This woman, who else could it be but Luo Tianyi?

A pair of bright eyes, as cold as ice crystals, without a trace of warmth. Her fingers seemed to be trembling slightly, as if the sword could slash down at any moment.

Probably, this was what they meant by 'a xia violates prohibitions with martial arts'. Official source ıs novel⦿fire.net

For these powerful martial artists, the laws established by the state were something they had never paid much mind to.

But for his younger sister-in-law to be protecting him like this, Song Yan was still quite moved in his heart.

"Tianyi, it doesn't have to come to this. Put it down."

But just then, a few fingers lightly patted Luo Tianyi's shoulder. Luo Tianyi pursed her lips, snorted, and finally retracted her longsword. She then shot another fierce glare at that scholar Linghu before turning to leave.

After Luo Tianyi left, those few scholars all let out a heavy breath.

"Greetings, brother." Song Yan chuckled and cupped his fists.

That scholar Linghu hurriedly returned the greeting: "Greetings. Thank you, Young Master, for saving my life. I am Linghu Rui. I do not yet know the Young Master's esteemed name."

He casually glanced around and saw that the commotion here had already attracted the attention of many people. Not just the tourists who had come out of the city for an outing, but also some refugees. There were even some people whose gazes were strangely darting around. They didn't seem to be here for an outing, but more like they were looking for a target.

When they saw which people's clothes and jewelry were more expensive, their eyes would light up.

Naturally, some people's gazes fell on these scholars. After all, in this day and age, most of those who could afford to study had some family wealth. What's more, looking at the attire of Linghu Rui and the others, they didn't look like students from poor families.

Although this was the bank of the Yi-Luo River, it was not, after all, inside Song Prefecture.

For outings and picnics, probably no one would do it within the prefectural city.

Song Yan thought of something, but he just smiled: "I am the 'lowest of the low' live-in son-in-law, the butcher you spoke of, Song Yan."

As soon as these words were spoken, the expressions on those scholars' faces immediately became a bit strange. The feeling of being caught red-handed badmouthing someone was truly awkward.

Many of the commoners' brows also furrowed. Their gazes towards Song Yan were somewhat unfriendly, as if they were complaining that Song Yan had killed too many Wokou and might attract the Wokou's retaliation.

Even those eyes that were looking around everywhere all fell on Song Yan. Their gazes became a little vigilant. After all, this was a formidable man who could resist over ten thousand Wokou and burn several thousand of them.

That Linghu Rui's face turned even paler. He only felt his throat tighten, and his Adam's apple bobbed nonstop. Although 'a live-in son-in-law, the lowest of the low,' the mere thought that the burning alive of several thousand people in a raging fire was the masterpiece of the person before him made Linghu Rui's blood run cold:

“Brother Song, um..."

Song Yan smiled at Linghu Rui, and then the expression on his face gradually became serious.

That Linghu Rui still didn't know what Song Yan was about to do. Just then, Song Yan's slightly low and suppressed voice slowly sounded in everyone's ears:

"In the sixth month of the first year of Taizu, taking advantage of the new founding of the Ning Kingdom, twenty-four pirate gangs joined forces, a total of eighty thousand Wokou. They landed at seventeen places including Dongchuan, Hugang, Hongpo, Baoshi, Ningping, Yudai, and Xialin. They burned, killed, and plundered along the way. Wherever they went, not even chickens or dogs were left. Thirty-six villages and towns were massacred. The two county towns of Dongchuan and Ningping were massacred. Song Prefecture was breached. For three days, their sabers were not sheathed. They massacred the city. Of one hundred thousand residents, only seven survived."

Linghu Rui's face suddenly changed. He opened his mouth, as if wanting to say something, but Song Yan's even heavier voice gave him absolutely no chance to interrupt.

"In the summer of the seventh year of Taizong, nine thousand Wokou landed at Yutang. They did not attack the county towns or prefectural cities, but the twenty-eight surrounding villages and towns were put to the torch. More than thirteen thousand men were massacred, and more than three thousand women were abducted..."

"In the sixth year of Gaozong, more than three hundred Wokou ships invaded Gaoyu Port. They massacred the city. Fresh blood dyed the seawater red, and corpses submerged the surface of the sea."

"In the thirteenth year of Tianshou, three thousand Wokou once again invaded Dongchuan. Wherever they passed, villages and markets were razed to ruins, and houses were emptied. The Wokou were cruel, taking pleasure in torturing young children. In a single old well, sixty-three children's heads were found. At a bonfire, there were one hundred and seven charred corpses... Eighteen days later, several Wokou ships docked and threw ashore more than a thousand women's heads."

"In the second year of Yongli..."

"In the eleventh year of Yuanjing..."

"In the sixth year of Ninghe…”