"If you conquer more cities in the future, will you keep them for yourself?" Song Qin discovered that his sister seemed to have no concept of the relationship between ruler and subject.
"How could that be?"
After hearing this, Song Qin finally felt a little relieved.
The next moment, she added, "If the people of that city behave themselves and obey, I will consider it."
Song Wan thought that she didn't accept everyone, she also had her requirements.
Song Qin: “???”
Fortunately, these words were only said in front of him. If someone outside heard it, who knows how they would interpret it.
They had only more than 10,000 people, but they had 40,000 to 50,000 captives. They had enough strength to bring them from the Qiang tribe's nest to Qiang City, but it would take at least half a month to walk from Qiang City to the northwest at their current speed.
Gu Yanji was not around, and Song Wan didn't want to waste too much mental energy, so she tried to save as much as possible.
My mental strength is about to break through level ten. Relying solely on eating to recover is just a drop in the bucket and is very slow.
She is also impatient.
So Song Wan decided to temporarily detain these captives in Qiang City. It just so happened that all the houses in the city needed to be renovated recently, and these people would be wasted if they were not used.
Letting them work and expend their energy can help her save a lot of mental energy. As long as they are extremely tired, they will not have the mind to think about escaping.
After hearing Song Wan's idea, Song Qin felt helpless.
But there is no better way than this.
"Well, I'll have twelve swift horses gallop back to inform Zhao Zhi of the situation here, and have him bring a few tens of thousands more men to escort the prisoners back."
"Okay, I'll listen to you, second brother." Song Wan agreed with both hands. It would be better to throw away such worries.
Song Qin: “…”
It would be great if we really listened to him.
"Princess? Are you there?" A voice suddenly sounded outside.
It was the young boy who had come to report the news earlier. He was also in the team renovating Qiang City. He came to Song Wan to discuss something.
Hearing this, Song Wan walked out with her head held high and chest puffed out, and asked him, "What do you want from me?"
The young boy no longer kept his head down as before. He looked directly at Song Wan with a faint smile on his face. "The elders of the clan asked me to come and ask the princess if she wants to change the name of this city."
"Change the name?" Song Wan tilted her head.
Now, there are not only Qiang people living in this city, but also people from other ethnic groups. If we continue to call it Qiang City, it seems unfair to people from other ethnic groups and it will not be conducive to future management.
"Then what name do you think is good?" Song Wan knew that she was bad at naming, otherwise why none of the titles she gave herself were adopted.
The young boy touched the back of his head and suddenly felt embarrassed. "Princess, I can't read. The elders said that if you are willing, we would like to use your title to name it."
"My title?" Song Wan had revealed her identity to everyone yesterday, so now everyone knew she was Princess Xiaoyao of Dayue. "Princess Xiaoyao, Xiaoyao City?"
Song Wan read it over and over again, becoming more and more satisfied. She immediately decided, "Okay! Let's call it Xiaoyao City!"
After waiting for his sister to come back for a long time, he decided to go out and look for her. As soon as his left foot stepped out of the door, Song Qin said: "......"
Zhao Zhi defended the northwest for almost a month, until Daye started to attack the southwest, but the princess still hadn't returned.
He couldn't help but worry, wondering if something had happened to the princess.
"Zhao Zhi." General Mu had been awake for over half a month, but he still couldn't get out of bed. When Zhao Zhi told him everything that had happened during his coma, he was also very worried about the princess. "Right now, there is no war to fight in the northwest. I order you to take 50,000 troops to the Qiang tribe to support the princess tomorrow."
Zhao Zhi wanted to go, but he was worried about the northwest.
What if Daye disperses part of its forces and takes a detour to launch a surprise attack on the northwest? The weather is about to get hot, and the soldiers' wounds previously infected by chili powder have not healed yet, and they cannot withstand a second fierce battle in a short period of time.
"What about the northwest?" Zhao Zhi asked.
General Mu struggled to sit up from the bed, panting and saying, "Don't you still have me?"
Zhao Zhi hurried over to help him up and said frankly, "General, it's hard for you to even sit up now, so forget it."
If General Mu hadn't been lying down and had no strength in his hands, he really wanted to punch him.
"General, I plan to have Shi Quan take some men to Qiang City tomorrow to secretly investigate," Zhao Zhi planned. "If the princess and her group want to conquer the Qiang people, they must first pass through Qiang City."
Shi Quan was the young deputy soldier who had always fought to the death to protect Zhao Zhi.
"This is the only way." General Mu sighed, "In any case, the princess must be safe."
Otherwise, he would not have the face to see the old marquis in the future.
"General! General!" Stone Fist rushed into the tent, not even waiting to report. "General! Good news! Terrible news!"
He arrived as soon as he said he would, but he was a little reckless.
Zhao Zhi turned his head to look at him, frowned, and said, "General Mu is resting, can't you be more calm?"
Shi Quan: "I can't remain calm! General, Twelve, who was with Second Young Master Song, has returned. He said that the princess has completely taken control of the Qiang people!"
"What did you say? The Qiang tribe has been taken down?!" Zhao Zhi was both surprised and delighted, still a little bit incredulous. "How could it be so fast?"
Counting the days, it would take at least ten days to half a month to get to Qiang City from the northwest. Even if Song Twelve came back alone, it would take a short time. In other words, it took the princess less than a few days to conquer the Qiang people.
The joy on Zhao Zhi's face suddenly faded a little. He asked Shi Quan, "Are you sure that's Song Twelve?"
Shi Quan was of course certain and nodded vigorously, "Song Twelve brought back the heads of those Qiang leaders who had fought against us!"
Zhao Zhi was stunned on the spot, "All, all?!"
Stone Fist reaffirmed, "Yes! All of them! I'll come and report to you and General Mu after I've counted them."
Zhao Zhi's mind went blank. The princess actually did all that.
He had only one question, "Only the head? Covering it all the way, it must be smelly, right?"
Stonefist: ...
General, is now the time to be concerned about this?
The Qiang people were subdued, and the main threat to the northwest was gone. General Mu's heart, which had been tense since he woke up, finally relaxed.
He secretly sighed that the princess was indeed the granddaughter raised by the old marquis himself, and her style of doing things was as reckless as the old marquis had been back then.
"Now that the Qiang have been subdued, Zhao Zhi, you can rest assured and lead your men to rescue the princess," General Mu ordered directly. "As for the northwest, you personally write a letter, stamp it with my seal, and have it delivered to Jinzhou. Ask General Wu to come and temporarily take my place."
A country cannot be without a king for a day; similarly, an army cannot be without a general for a day.
General Mu knew that as a fourth-rank general, he was not qualified to dispatch generals of the same rank, but now was an extraordinary period, and he thought that General Wu should be able to understand given his character.
This was the only solution. Zhao Zhi sighed, "If I had known that General Wu and Second Young Master Song had come here together to escort the grain, I would have stayed and not left."
After discussion, it was decided that Zhao Zhi would lead 50,000 troops to Qiang City to escort the captives back.
As for Qiang City, the new city gate plaque was completed less than a minute after Song Shier left the city.
We hired the best carpenters and blacksmiths in the city to make it specially.
A large plaque was hung on the city gate, and the words on it were much more majestic than those elsewhere.
"Xiao-Yao-City!" Song Wan looked at the brand new city with a full sense of accomplishment. "This will be my personal base from now on!"
At the end of the world, she only had a decent team, and her biggest wish was to have a base of her own.
"Princess, what does base mean?" Song Qi asked from the side.
"The meaning of the base is that this place will be my territory from now on." Song Wan explained simply. He couldn't understand anything complicated anyway.
Song Qi really seemed to understand, but what he didn't understand was, did the princess really not intend to tell the emperor in the capital?
Zhao Zhi led his troops to Qiang City after more than half a month.
He stared at the three words on the city gate for a long time before he remembered to turn around and ask Song Twelve on his left, "We shouldn't be going in the wrong direction. Shouldn't this be Qiang City? When did it become Xiaoyao City?"
More than three months ago, when he sent scouts here to gather intelligence on the enemy, this place was still called Qiang City.
"It was the princess who decided to change the name." Before Song Twelve left the city, he happened to see the young man walking around the streets telling people that Qiang City was going to change its name to Xiaoyao City.
Nearly a month has passed, and Qiang City, no, from now on it will be Xiaoyao City, has undergone earth-shaking changes.
Compared to its previous desolate scene, the city is now very lively.
Because dozens of new families had moved here from the Qiang tribe’s old nest.
Those who moved into the city now could no longer get houses and land for free like those who had lived in the city before. They had to buy them from Song Wan.
But relatively speaking, Song Wan's prices are not expensive, and her selling method is very different from that of other dental shops in the market.
Ordinary families could own two nice houses and three or two acres of land by spending only three or five taels of silver.
But for those wealthy families who had escaped the net, the cheapest house that Song Wan sold was worth two hundred taels of silver, and the fields were also sold according to their fertility or barrenness. The good ones were worth ten taels of silver per mu, the average ones were worth eight taels, and the worst ones were worth five taels.
And a household cannot buy more than 20 mu of land.
Even so, there are still many rich people who rush to pay money. What can they do? If they want to gain a foothold here, they have to spend the money.
Besides, if this lord had been more ruthless and greedy, their property would probably have been lost like the previous people.
Now it only costs a few thousand taels, they have no objection at all, nor do they dare to have any objection.
Perhaps because there is hope in life, many people set up stalls on the streets.
There are stalls selling bok choy, stalls selling bamboo baskets, and some people put newly hatched chicks and ducklings in bamboo baskets bought from the stall next door and take them to the street to sell.
The main purpose is not to make money, but to add some vitality to the streets. From now on, they can hold their heads up high and live their lives in peace.
After all these years of suffering and hardship, this is the day I have been waiting for.
Zhao Zhi walked into the city and was surprised with every step he took. It was the first time he saw city walls and platforms reinforced with iron sheets.
"Hey! Twelve, you're back!" Song Wan was sitting under the shed of a breakfast shop on the street, eating wontons.
"Princess!" Zhao Zhi followed the voice and pushed Song Twelve aside, sitting next to Song Wan. "Why are you having breakfast here?"
Song Wan took a sip of wonton soup and said, "Because the wontons here are delicious, would you like a bowl?"
Seeing the princess eating so deliciously, Zhao Zhi felt a little hungry. He had been eating dry food all the way and hadn't smelled such a delicious smell for a long time.
He then said to the wonton shop owner, "Boss, give me a bowl of wontons too!"
After saying that, he looked at Song Twelve and added, "Give him another bowl too!"
"I'm so tired! Please wait a moment, sir! The wontons will be ready soon!" A young couple runs the wonton business. The wife is responsible for wrapping the wontons in the back, and the husband is responsible for cooking them in the front.
"Twelve, sit down." Song Wan said that it was tiring to look up at people like this.
Song Twelve responded and sat down, and asked, "Why didn't the Second Young Master come out with the princess?"
"My second brother is in the prisoner-of-war camp. He said he wouldn't feel at ease unless he watched over us personally." Song Wan replied.
It was called a prisoner camp, but in fact it was just a number of tents built using Qiang resources, with about ten prisoners crammed into one tent. It was not an iron wall, so Song Qin found it difficult to feel at ease.
"Your wontons are ready!" The wonton shop owner came over with two bowls of steaming hot wontons and carefully placed them on the wooden table. "Enjoy your meal!"
"Thank you." Zhao Zhi smelled the fragrance and couldn't wait any longer, so he immediately scooped up a wonton with the soup and stuffed it into his mouth.
It was fragrant and hot, and he kept slurping it up while eating.
"These wontons are really good!" Zhao Zhi said after swallowing them despite the heat.
"Of course, this is the second best wonton I have ever eaten." Song Wan thought.
"Then where is the first one?" Zhao Zhi was curious.
"Of course it was the time when Gu Yan and I rushed to Xinzhou to snatch Yao Xu!" Song Wan said without thinking.
Zhao Zhi didn't know about this, so he almost choked, "What? Princess, you, you also robbed Xinzhou with General Gu? How come I haven't heard of it!"
"That's because we robbed it secretly. Otherwise, why do you think the prefect of Xinzhou hasn't been replaced yet?" Song Wan drank the last mouthful of soup and answered him.
"Why?" This was also what Zhao Zhi had always been puzzled about. He used to think that it was because Xinzhou was far away and that the prefect Yao was not involved or not involved much in family affairs, so the emperor pardoned him.
"Because I had already captured the real Yao Xu and taken him to Guizhou." Song Wan said with a smile, and asked the boss for another bowl of wontons.
Zhao Zhi: ...
Speaking of Xinzhou, Song Wan suddenly felt a little anxious for Gu Yan. Without him around, her mental strength could not be at full capacity.
"By the way, Zhao Zhi, do you know what the situation is in the southwest now?" Song Wan suddenly lost interest in the full bowl of wontons.
"I don't know much, but not long ago, probably when you, Princess, annexed the Qiang people, Daye sent troops to attack the southwest. I heard that the emperor of Daye who led the troops personally appointed the crown prince this year." Zhao Zhi told her everything he knew.
"If I remember correctly, don't key figures like the prince usually have to stay in the capital?" Song Wan asked puzzledly.
"I don't know either," Zhao Zhi admitted. "I once asked General Mu about this, and he found it strange, too."
"Since everyone finds it strange, let's go and take a look." Song Wan made the decision.
Zhao Zhi was choked again, and Song Shier, who had been eating wontons quietly, was not spared this time.
"Princess, don't you plan to go back to the northwest?" Song Twelve asked after he recovered.
"Why would I go back to the northwest? Isn't my second brother here?" Song Wan said bluntly, "I'm going to the southwest to look for Gu Yan."
Song Twelve: ...
Fortunately, the second young master didn't hear this, otherwise he would definitely complain that the princess valued women over her brother.
Zhao Zhi still felt something was wrong. "Princess, are you planning to go to the southwest alone?"
"Of course not." Song Wan said, "I must bring Song Qi and Gu Wu. I'm used to them."
Gu Wu must miss his master too.
Well, she seemed to have thought about it a little, but it seemed that it was not related to mental power.
"When does the princess plan to leave?" Zhao Zhi asked again.
In fact, Song Wan hadn't thought it through yet. She meditated for a while, then her eyes fell on the steaming wontons in front of her. Her eyes lit up, "I got it! After finishing this bowl of wontons!"
Song Twelve: “!!!”
He was thinking of reporting to the second young master after he finished eating this bowl of wontons!
No one can stop Song Wan from making a decision.
It was more than half an hour later when Song Qin found out about this. As soon as he entered the house, he saw his sister actively packing her luggage.
In the big bag, there was only one set of clothes, and the rest were snacks.
Song Qin came in, holding ointments for bruises and injuries. Song Wan stared at them and smacked her lips. "Are these for internal use or external use? Are the internal ones bitter?"
Hearing her question, the veins on Song Qin's forehead jumped, "Song Wan!"
He couldn't help but feel a little angry and called out the full name.
"What's wrong with you, second brother?" Song Wan still looked heartless.
Song Qing's anger, which had just been aroused, dissipated in an instant.
He said helplessly, "Ah Wan, Second Brother hopes that you can come back safe and sound. Don't make me worry, okay?"
"You don't know my strength yet. Even Gu Yanji can't beat me!" Song Wan wanted Song Qin not to worry, but she couldn't say it. "Second brother, I will take good care of myself. You should take good care of yourself too. Escorting prisoners is very hard work!"
Song Qin laughed angrily. If possible, he would like to exchange lives with her.
Song Wan sighed, reached into her bag, and pulled out a sugar cake. "Here, second brother, I'll give you a sugar cake."
Song Qin lowered his eyes and saw the large sugar cake in her hand, which was twice the size of an ordinary one. He twitched his lips and asked, "Who made these snacks for you?"
"Those people in the city." Speaking of this, Song Wan couldn't help but praise, "They are amazing. They made so many snacks in less than an hour!"
Knowing that Song Wan was about to leave Xiaoyao City, many women took out the best ingredients in their homes. Dozens of women gathered together and made these ingredients into delicious and long-lasting cakes and sugar cakes. They also sealed the pickled meats that their families would only eat during the Chinese New Year in small jars and put them in small jars filled with ice for her to take with her on the road.
"Well, that's because you deserve it, sister." Song Qin took the sugar cake.
It was not easy to snatch some food from her. Even the greedy daughter in his family could not get it without shedding a few tears.
"Of course I deserve it." Song Wan had no intention of being modest at all.
To be honest, Song Wan was a little reluctant to leave the base that she had renovated with her own hands, even after only a few months.
She mounted her horse and said to the people who were seeing her off, "Don't worry, I will be back."
Song Wan was satisfied with every aspect of Xiaoyao City. After the war was over, she would study it further and renovate and reinforce it more firmly.
In Xiaoyao City, almost all the people took to the streets and crowded together in an orderly manner. They looked at the people on horseback with admiration and respect in their eyes.
"We will wait here for the princess." The old patriarch said piously, "Wait for the princess to come back and inspect the peppers everyone has grown."
Then everyone knelt down.
"Farewell, Princess!"
When Song Qin saw this scene, it was impossible for him not to be shocked.
His sister has unknowingly won over many people's hearts, and even many of the Qiang people are loyal to her.
"Goodbye everyone!" Song Wan waved to everyone and finally said, "Goodbye, Second Brother too!"
Song Qin paused, looked up and met Song Wan's smiling eyes, and couldn't help but chuckle. It would be strange for such an outstanding sister who made him so proud not to have loyal followers.
He hummed, and patiently instructed, "Song Qi, protect the princess."
Song Qi: "I understand!"
After hearing this, Song Wan added softly, "It's almost enough for me to protect him."
Song Qi: ...
Song Qin: ...
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