Next, Song Qingshu began to use Helian Tieshu's identity to gather some of his trusted subordinates, to understand which ones were loyal to him, which ones could be won over, and which ones would sit on the fence. He also silently noted down their personalities and areas of influence in preparation for the future.
Although he was not familiar with these people at all, Song Qingshu was already very familiar with his identity. Now that he was mentally strong, even if there were any accidents, he would be able to quickly turn things around. Moreover, after reviewing the documents yesterday, he had a general understanding of his subordinates' personalities.
Calculating the time, the people from Spirit Condor Palace should be arriving in a few days. Originally, Li Qinglu was more familiar with the people from Spirit Condor Palace, but Class One Hall was Spirit Condor Palace's sworn enemy in the past, and it was hard to guarantee that the blood of the other was not stained on their hands. If she was sent, the hatred between the two of them might instead ruin things. Thus, after much consideration, he sent Yelu Nanxian out of the palace with the token to receive them. After receiving them, he arranged for them to hide near Lingzhou City, and once they received the signal, he would let them enter the city.
As for Mu Wanqing and Qin Hongmian, Song Qingshu had them secretly contact the people from the Mu Family and the remaining forces of the Qin Family. Although Mu Wanqing was not worldly, she was not stupid, and with the help of the older Qin Hongmian — in truth, Qin Hongmian's personality was similar, but she had been a princess for so many years, and had more than ten years of life experience. Things like gathering old subordinates, the two of them could still work together, albeit barely.
When Song Qingshu finished meeting with Helian Tieshu's trusted subordinates, Li Qinglu came to find him with a face full of excitement, causing his heart to skip a beat. "You didn't do something ridiculous again, did you?"
Li Qinglu rolled her eyes, and said somewhat sadly, "Am I such a bad woman in your heart?"
Naturally, Song Qingshu would not be moved by her acting. "Tell me, what is it?"
Li Qinglu's expression was strange, and she said with some schadenfreude, "I have found the Kunlun slaves you asked me to find."
Song Qingshu was overjoyed. "Good, it's time to let Nian Liandan have a taste of the women she's harmed all these years. Let's go and bring her over."
Not long after, Song Qingshu brought his men and appeared in a secret room hidden beneath the palace. After a night's time, Nian Liandan had already woken up. He was currently trying to regulate his breathing and heal his injuries. Unfortunately, he had been heavily injured by Song Qingshu, and his martial arts had been mostly crippled. His current efforts were more for psychological comfort.
In the other cell, Helian Tieshu and the others had already woken up. They had already learned of Song Qingshu's identity from Nian Liandan, and upon seeing him enter, they all started cursing.
"Noisy!" Song Qingshu couldn't be bothered to pay attention to them. He directly shot out a few gusts of wind from his finger, sealing their mute acupoints. The secret room immediately quieted down.
Nian Liandan opened his eyes and looked at him, the light of hatred in his eyes. However, he quickly suppressed it. "Prince Song, I was sent to Western Xia by the Great Khan after all, and I represent the will of the Mongolian Great Khan. It's fine that you've ruined the Great Khan's plan, but if you let me go, I'll put in a good word for you in front of the Great Khan. In addition to your relationship with the Ruyang Princely Residence, the Great Khan might let bygones be bygones …"
Song Qingshu stared at him as if he was looking at an idiot, causing Nian Liandan's hair to stand on end. "What, you don't believe me? When the Great Khan gets angry, corpses will float for thousands of miles, and the people will be plunged into misery and suffering. The end of Khoresm, Western Liao, and the other countries in the Western Regions is a clear proof. "
"I believe you, of course I believe you. I know the conduct of the Mongolian army better than anyone else," Song Qingshu said indifferently. "However, you said that you'll put in a good word for me when you return. Are you retarded or do you think I'm stupid? Do you think I'll believe your nonsense? "
Nian Liandan was so stifled that he couldn't speak. After a long time, he snorted. "In any case, the Mongolians value envoys the most. They believe that envoys represent their face. In the past, there were a few countries in the Western Regions that didn't believe in evil and killed the Mongolian envoys. In the end, even chickens and dogs weren't spared."
Song Qingshu said indifferently, "You don't need to scare me. Even though the Mongolians are powerful and prosperous, the countries in the Central Plains aren't those weak cities in the Western Regions. If he dares to come, I have a way to make it so that he won't be able to return. "
"You don't know the immensity of heaven and earth!" Nian Liandan snorted disdainfully. He had followed Genghis Khan for many years, so he knew how terrifying he and the Qie Xue Army under his command were.
"You don't need to worry about these things. This time, I've come to give you a present." Even though there was no mirror, Song Qingshu knew that his smile at this moment was definitely somewhat vulgar.
"A present?" Nian Liandan immediately revealed a wary expression. He wasn't an idiot. Of course, he knew that the other wouldn't be kind enough to give him a present.
Song Qingshu said with a smile, "Didn't I say yesterday that I want you to experience the feelings of those women that you've harmed over the years? So you have to do what you say."
Clapping his hands, Li Qinglu quickly brought in two Kunlun slaves. When Song Qingshu saw them, his face couldn't help but twitch. Good fellow, dark and muscular. They looked very much like the person in Shawshank's Redemption Prison, and also somewhat like Uncle Billy …
Forcefully resisting the disgust in his heart, Song Qingshu waved his hand to have them enter the prison cell.
Seeing them walk toward him with sinister smiles, Nian Liandan felt a bit scared. "You … what do you want?"
Song Qingshu explained, "They were abducted from their hometowns and sold here as slaves. I told them that as long as they can serve you well, I'll return their freedom and give them a large sum of money to return home. I think they'll definitely work very hard later."
Nian Liandan's hair stood on end when he heard this. He was originally a rapist, so how could he not know these things? He immediately screamed, "No, don't, I hate men the most. Just thinking about them makes me feel disgusted, not to mention being … ugh, Prince Song, Prince Song, spare me, I'll agree to any condition you have, I beg you …"
Song Qingshu said indifferently, "It's too late. You dared to have designs on my Little Sister Wan, so you're destined to have such an ending. At the same time, let me take the place of the heavens to enforce justice for those women that you've harmed."
"No … don't! Ah … "At this time, the two Kunlun slaves had already pounced forward. Normally, a grandmaster like Nian Liandan would be able to poke them to death with a single finger, but now that he was heavily injured and his martial arts had been crippled, how could he resist? Very quickly, his clothes were torn apart …
"Yi ~" Song Qingshu only felt a wave of nausea. This scene was truly too unsightly to look at, so he pulled Li Qinglu and walked out.
Li Qinglu also sucked in a few breaths of cold air, and the way she looked at Song QingShu became strange: "Meng Lang, you said I was a pervert yesterday, but I think you're the pervert."
Song Qingshu snorted. "To deal with a pervert, you can only use an even more perverted method."
Li Qinglu actually agreed with this point. "That's right. For a person like Nian Liandan, killing him with a single strike is instead letting him off easy. Only by letting him suffer the most disgusting and painful punishment in the world can he comfort those women that he's defiled." As a woman, she had an innate hatred for this kind of rapist, so she was especially sympathetic towards his suffering.
After exiting the secret chamber, Li Qinglu could not help but ask doubtfully, "Aren't we going to interrogate Helian Tieshu and the others? After all, there's still a lot of information that needs to be gleaned from their mouths. "
Song Qingshu replied, "First, the scene inside right now is a bit unsightly to look at. I really don't want to stay here for another second. Second …" He suddenly paused, and then said with a strange smile, "Why do you think I locked Helian Tieshu and the others up next door to Nian Liandan?"
Li Qinglu immediately understood, and could not help but laugh. "You really are an old fox."
As expected, roughly two hours later, when the two of them returned to the prison cell, Helian Tieshu and the others were already shivering. Without waiting for him to ask, they all spilled out everything they knew. All they asked for was for them to be given a quick death, and not to end up as miserable as the neighboring Nian Liandan.
At that moment, Nian Liandan was lying on the ground like a pile of mud, breathing his last breath. His entire body was covered in bruises, and the area under his pants was a mess. No one knew whether he had died from the injuries in his body, or whether he had died from anger. None of this was important. He would definitely remember the shadow of today when he went to hell, and he would probably regret everything he had done over the past few years.
He got someone from Class One Hall to clean up the mess inside, then brought Nian Liandan out of the palace and threw him into a mass grave. To prevent others from recognizing him, Song Qingshu had originally planned to scratch his face, but he discovered that his face had long since been scratched to the point where it was unrecognizable, which saved him the trouble.
As for the other two Kunlun slaves, Song Qingshu rewarded them with a sum of money and restored their freedom. He even specially had someone from Class One Hall escort them out of the city. After all, they had sacrificed quite a lot this time.
As for Helian Tieshu and the others, they were temporarily locked up here. It was not yet time to kill them.
Next, Song Qingshu summarized the distribution of his forces in Lingzhou City based on the information Helian Tieshu and the others gave him. He also had a better understanding of which clans and ministers were currently neutral, and he had a clear target for his next plan.
Then, he used Li Liangzuo's secret message system to contact his trusted subordinates in the various counties. Occasionally, he would leave the palace and use Li Liangzuo's identity to maneuver around the various clans.
After around seven or eight days, Song Qingshu used Li Liangzuo's identity to lead Spirit Vulture Palace, the private soldiers of the various clans, and the troops sent to rescue the king to launch a counterattack back to Lingzhou City.
The commander on this side was also Song Qingshu, so it was not a balanced battle from the start. Soon, Helian Tieshu's troops were routed, and the palace was seized again. All of Lingzhou City was once again under Li Liangzuo's control, and Helian Tieshu and the others were killed on the spot.
After that, Song Qingshu immediately announced to the world: Helian Tieshu had rebelled against his superiors, and he had luckily escaped with the help of Mu Wanqing and the clan behind her. He hereby conferred her the title of Empress. To stabilize the country as soon as possible, he had decided to pick an auspicious day to get married.
The situation in Lingzhou City had been changing over the past few days, and the citizens had had enough of the hardships. They needed a joyous event to wash away their joy. As for the mourning period, Western Xia was not the Southern Song Dynasty, after all. They were not as strict when it came to etiquette. Of course, it was the continuous upheaval that gave Song Qingshu an excuse to get married so early.
Ever since that night, Song Qingshu did not try to launch any more night raids. After all, Mu Wanqing was still a young girl, and that would be too rash. So, he decided to give her a grand wedding.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
