Wife, Don't Be Like This!

Chapter 104 - The Yang Family's Trap

The pedantic content of the imperial edict, Song Yan didn't quite understand, but he at least understood a few sentences.

Baron of Anning County.

From now on, he was Lord Song?

The Ning Kingdom had a tradition of not granting titles without military merit. Since the time of Taizu of Ning, fewer and fewer titles had been bestowed. In the two reigns of Emperor Yuanjing and Emperor Ninghe, Song Yan was the only one.

The surrounding crowd had various expressions. There was envy, admiration, and also jealousy in their gazes. That was a noble title! Even if it was the lowest rank of Baron, it was still considered to have entered the ranks of the titled nobility. Even if he did nothing from now on, as long as he didn't live a life of debauchery, the Baron's stipend would be more than he could spend in a lifetime.

Especially since Song Yan was a live-in son-in-law.

From the founding of the Ning Kingdom until now, in over a hundred years, he was the only one to be ennobled with the status of a live-in son-in-law.

Even in all of history, such cases were very few.

As for Linghu Rui and the other scholars, they were about to spit out bitter water from envy and jealousy. How could this be? Wasn't it just burning a few thousand Wokou to death? What was so great about that, and he gets ennobled?

Since when was a noble title in the Ning Kingdom so cheap?

Especially when they thought of their previous evaluation of Song Yan, 'a live-in son-in-law, the lowest of the low.' Who could have thought that in the blink of an eye, the other party had reached a height that they might never be able to climb to in their entire lives? For a moment, their entire faces were burning, as if they had been fiercely slapped. They were so depressed they were about to vomit blood. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ ɴovelfire.net

That Emperor Ninghe was truly muddle-headed and incompetent. To ignore them, the scholars, and instead give an important position to a live-in son-in-law.

They were the pillars of the state, the hope of Great Ning.

A fatuous ruler.

A fatuous ruler.

Of course, such curses could only be muttered in their hearts; they ultimately did not dare to say them out loud.

Although the Ning Kingdom did not convict people for their words, publicly slandering the emperor was still not allowed. If you were beaten to death for it, you'd have deserved it.

The most important thing now was to slip away quietly. They had previously humiliated the Grand Princess and cursed Song Yan. If by chance they wanted to settle scores afterward, that would be trouble.

Thinking this, the few of them exchanged a glance. Taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention to them, one by one their bodies quietly retreated and disappeared without a sound into the crowd.

It's just that these few scholars did not notice that several other people in the crowd had also disappeared.

For the many transmigrators who arrived in ancient times, gaining an official post and a noble title, having one's wife and sons benefit from it, rebelling and becoming emperor—this was probably the necessary path. Did this count as him taking the most important first step?

But compared to the status of Baron, the strange expressions on the faces of Luo Yuheng, Luo Tianyi, Gu Banxia, and even Yang Siyao and the other girls made him more curious.

"Xinhou County, what kind of place is it?" The problem lay here.

"That is the northernmost county town in the Ning Kingdom, under the jurisdiction of Pingyang Prefecture."

Song Yan let out an "ah." He instantly understood in his heart.

To put it bluntly, it meant he would have to directly face the Jurchens, and even the northern barbarian Xiongnu. This kind of border county town was naturally extremely dangerous, facing who knows how many wars throughout the year. Especially this Xinhou County; it had just been plundered by the Jurchens, and the County Magistrate Yin Feng had abandoned the city and fled. The current county town was probably just a stretch of ruins.

Of course, Song Yan was not too disappointed by this. After all, the two types of people he hated most in this life were, one, the Wokou, and two, the Jurchens. Neither was a good thing.

The Jurchens can actually be traced back to the Sushen ethnic group of the pre-Qin period. In the bitterly cold lands of the far north, they lived by fishing and hunting and were skilled in archery. As time passed, the Sushen developed and evolved, and came to have different names, such as Yilou, Wuji, and Mohe. These were all the ancestors of the Jurchen people.

During the Song and Liao period, the Jurchen people were ruled by the Khitans. Later, the Wanyan tribe rose up, unified the various Jurchen tribes, and formed a powerful force. During the era of Wanyan Aguda, the first state belonging to the Jurchens was established, the Jin Dynasty!

Later, the Jin Dynasty was destroyed by the Great Yuan, and they returned to a life of fishing and hunting.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Jianzhou Jurchens took advantage of the internal turmoil of the late Ming, when Li Zicheng broke through the capital, and entered the Central Plains, which led to the Qing!

Various contents related to the Jurchens recorded in the classics flashed through his mind. He hadn't expected that in this time and space, the name 'Jurchen' would appear so early, and moreover, they seemed to be even stronger than the Jurchens of the original time period.

Of course, no matter which time and space, their basic nature of 'farming and fishing when the Central Plains is strong, raiding the borders when the Central Plains is weak' had not changed much in the end.

He had sent a little warmth to the Wokou before. He wouldn't mind sending a little to the Jurchens either.

Compared to Song Yan's calmness, and even his faint hint of anticipation, Luo Yuheng's reaction was completely different. Her originally gentle, pretty face was now covered in a layer of frost. It was just because of her great beauty that even when her face was cold, she was still an icy beauty.

"Wei Liang, what is the meaning of this?"

"Why send my Yan'er to that kind of place? What exactly is my imperial brother trying to do? If you don't give me a reasonable explanation today, you can take these two imperial edicts back with you and just say that I, Luo Yuheng, have defied the edict."

Her ice-cold voice did not carry a trace of warmth.

Luo Yuheng was truly angry.

Those Jurchens, they might not be as powerful as the northern barbarian Xiongnu, but their level of cruelty was in no way inferior to the Wokou's, and might even exceed it. And they were skilled in riding and archery. Even if Song Yan had some ability, how could he possibly hold off the Jurchen cavalry? Wasn't this just sending Song Yan to his death?

Wei Liang was dripping with cold sweat. My lady, defying an imperial edict... I'm afraid you're the only one who would dare to say such a thing.

He looked at the surrounding people with some difficulty. Luo Yuheng waved her hand, and after no one was around, Wei Liang also had the two little eunuchs beside him withdraw. Only then did he cautiously say:

"Actually, His Majesty's original intention was to have the Lord Prince Consort serve as the County Commandant in Ningping County..."

He was now a Prince Consort.

From Wei Liang's mouth, the chaos in the imperial court from that day was gradually exposed before everyone.

Emperor Ninghe's calculations had been very clever. He wanted to use this opportunity to not only restore Luo Yuheng's status as Grand Princess and let her command some military power, but also to have Luo Tianshu, Luo Tianquan, and Song Yan all enter officialdom.

Even if they started from the lowest level, they would have a chance for promotion in the future.

However, Song Yan's appointment was met with desperate opposition from the Yang family faction officials.

In the end, under a compromise from both sides, Emperor Ninghe additionally granted Song Yan a noble title, and his official position was also promoted from County Commandant to County Magistrate. But the place of his appointment was changed from Ningping to Xinhou.

Song Yan let out a 'heh' and smiled.

So this is the Yang family's follow-up move?

Song Yan could almost imagine it. His trip to Xinhou this time would definitely not be smooth sailing. Perhaps he would encounter mountain bandits on the way.

Even if he really did get to Xinhou, with the Yang family's power, it wouldn't be a difficult matter to get in touch with the Jurchens. He could guess the Yang family's methods. Even if the Jurchens had already plundered Xinhou, as long as the Yang family promised the Jurchen tribes a certain amount of wealth and grain, the Jurchen cavalry would appear before the walls of Xinhou city in an instant.

At that time, Song Yan would only have two endings.

First, to die tragically under the hooves of the Jurchen iron cavalry.

Second, to be defeated in battle, and then be executed on the charge of military failure.

No matter what, he couldn't escape the word 'death'.

To be able to eliminate an enemy with just a tiny bit of money and grain was, of course, a very cost-effective deal.

That's the Yang family, the most powerful clan in the entire Ning Kingdom, an existence that could shake the imperial throne. To deal with him, they actually used so many methods. Shouldn't he feel a little honored?

Thinking this, Song Yan couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"You can still laugh." Luo Yuheng tapped Song Yan lightly on the head in irritation and said reproachfully.

When is it ever the right time? Can't you see that I, his mother, am about to die of anxiety?

Song Yan rubbed his head. Her fingers were soft; it didn't hurt.

"Mother, the imperial edict has already been issued. If I don't accept it, that would be defying an edict. Do you think those old foxes of the Yang family would let this opportunity go?" he said with a chuckle.

"So what? At worst, the two of us will lead the five thousand soldiers and fight our way over, specifically killing people from the Yang family. Even if we can't pull the Yang family up by the roots, we can at least fiercely tear off a piece of flesh from them," Luo Yuheng snorted.

The cold sweat on Wei Liang's forehead grew denser.

Based on his understanding of the Grand Princess, it wasn't impossible for her to do such a thing.

As for Yang Siyao, her face was full of strangeness. Although she had no sense of belonging to the Yang family, it was still a bit strange. She might be the first to go, after all, her surname was Yang.

"There's no need for that." Song Yan pursed his lips: "Although it's a bit dangerous, it's not necessarily not an opportunity. And..."

Saying this, Song Yan looked towards Wei Liang: "And I think His Majesty should have other arrangements, right? At the very least, he wouldn't let me go to Xinhou all alone, would he?"

Wei Liang smiled, his old face wrinkled like a wilting chrysanthemum.

"The Lord Prince Consort is truly intelligent."

As he spoke, Wei Liang pulled out an imperial edict from his sleeve.

Song Yan couldn't help but suspect just how many edicts this old fellow had hidden on his person.

"There's no need to kneel for this one. It's a secret edict."

"His Majesty said that if the Lord Prince Consort is unwilling to go to Xinhou, then find a way, for example, by falling ill, to delay for a period of time. After you participate in the Spring Examination next year and get a good result, he will naturally have a way to let you stay."

"If the Lord Prince Consort is willing to go to Xinhou, then he is to hand this edict, which confers the title of Guerrilla General, to you."

"There are very few military officials His Majesty can directly appoint. This Guerrilla General can recruit three thousand soldiers. The corresponding official system can be decided by the Lord Prince Consort with a single word, without needing the approval of the Ministry of War. But similarly, the provisions and pay must also be prepared by yourself."

"In addition, you are rewarded with ten thousand gold, as a commendation!"

Song Yan's eyes suddenly lit up.

What was this?

Three thousand private soldiers?

Don't underestimate this number. Although it's only three thousand, Song Yan had enough confidence to forge these three thousand men into an army that thirty thousand men couldn't take down.

What's more, there was ten thousand gold! Having come to this world for so long, he had never even seen what gold looked like.

Ten thousand gold, it should be enough to support three thousand soldiers.