CH 176

Guo’er was going to marry.

The groom was chosen by the Yang shi, Han Ling, the top scorer of the first imperial examination of the new dynasty.

He didn’t have a wife, and he didn’t have a maid or tongfang serving him in the bedroom, so he was still a virgin despite his age.

After asking about Guo’er’s wishes, Yang shi mentioned it to Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan also asked Song Shizhao to ask Han Ling what he thought.

Han Ling felt trepidation and did not refuse.

Thinking about it, he didn’t dare to refuse.

On the day that Guo’er got married, Lin Yuan suddenly felt that he had become old. He even asked Chen Baisong, “Do I look old?”

Chen Baisong kissed his face and said with a smile, “We are two old men.”

Lin Yuan: “Go away.”

Chen Baisong didn’t go away, he hugged Lin Yuan and whispered in Lin Yuan’s ear, “You’re still quite young.”

The years have given Lin Yuan preferential treatment, and there were no wrinkles on his face. Sometimes Lin Yuan thought that this was a benefit brought to him by his transmigration. After all, in modern times, when he was in his early twenties, there were already wrinkles at the corners of his eyes.

But Chen Baisong did not receive such preferential treatment.

There were already wrinkles on his face, not many, and it even gave him the attractive look of a mature man.

But Lin Yuan sometimes inevitably thought, if Chen Baisong left this world before him, what would he do?

Or perhaps he didn’t need to think about what to do.

Because he would still sit on this throne, remain busy with government affairs every day, and when he was sitting alone on the dragon bed in his spare time, he would remember that someone once made love to him in this room.

But romantic love was always only a part of life, not the whole of life.

He would be sad, but he would stand up again in a few days.

“You have to stay with me longer.” Lin Yuan rarely spoke in such a tone. He had been an authoritative person for a long time, and he always spoke in a commanding tone, but when this sentence came out of his mouth, it was as if he was showing weakness.

Chen Baisong looked at Lin Yuan intently and said softly, “Alright.”

Han Ling became the princess’s consort and had his own mansion, but he lived in the princess’s mansion most of the time.

His parents lived in his mansion, and the Han family still couldn’t believe the fact that their son had become the princess’s consort.

Before he came to Beijing, he was just the son of an ordinary farming and scholarly family, and their lifelong dream was that their son could become a successful candidate in the imperial provincial examination, get a minor official post, and change their family’s status.

But their son not only passed the imperial provincial exam, but also became the top scorer in the palace exam, and now he was married to the only princess of the dynasty.

The Han family were all crazy with happiness, they wanted nothing more than to worship Guo’er to the skies.

Many people in the imperial court also felt that the Han family had reached heaven in a single bound.

But no one felt that Han Ling and Guo’er were not compatible. After all, Han Ling was the Great Ming’s first top scorer of the palace examination. So long as he didn’t seek death by himself, his life would be smooth sailing from now on. Even if he didn’t make any great achievements, he would live a stable life.

After getting married, Guo’er would still often go back to the palace. She usually didn’t go to Lin Yuan, but to Yang shi and her birth mother.

Her birth mother was already an old woman, but she still remained at Yang shi’s side.

According to her own words, she had served the empress dowager half of her life. If she was not allowed to serve, she really did not know how she would live in the future.

Habits accumulated over many years were like imprints engraved on people. One’s appearance might change, but these imprints would not disappear.

Lin Yuan sometimes felt that when the feudal dynasty ended, it was likely that those so-called feudal remnants probably didn’t know how to live either, right?

They only received one kind of education and only knew one way of living.

So at the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were intellectuals shouting for freedom on the one hand, and the old traditionalists who had just untied their braids on the other.

One side was in heaven and the other side was in hell.

During the morning assembly, Song Shizhao named all the neighboring countries that were going to pay tribute after receiving the diplomatic letters.

Korean Joseon, Japan, Ryukyu, Northern Di, Northeast Yi, Jurchen, etc.

Lin Yuan remembered that Japan was still in the warlord period, but he was curious about which warlord would come to pay tribute.

Which warlord would be the first to ask for assistance from the Ming Dynasty.

All the Mongolian tribes would come here this time, they have benefited, and of course they would want more benefits.

All neighboring countries coming to celebrate, it sounded very exciting in the history books, but in fact, many small countries were competing to come and take more benefits. And for the sake of the prestige as a great empire, they could only let them take some benefits.

If there was no benefit, who would ingratiate themselves to others for no reason?

Especially between countries, weak countries depend on powerful countries, just like Goryeo and the Yuan Dynasty.

But this so-called friendly relationship was also false, such as the Korean Joseon today.

Goryeo changed its name, and Lin Yuan knew that until modern Korea split into North Korea and South Korea, it would continue this name.

As for Japan, they were still in a state of chaos. The Japanese warlords were fighting with each other. Because of the war, the samurai in their hands were displaced. Forced by starvation, they all fled into the Great Ming borders, and became pirates.

Fortunately, the soldiers stationed at the borders were not useless straw bags, and these Japanese pirates have never been able to harass the common people.

But they still didn’t want to leave.

After all, they couldn’t survive in their own country. If they left the Great Ming as well, they really didn’t know where they should go.

The relationship between Japan and Korean Joseon was not good, and they didn’t speak Korean. Once they were found to be Japanese, no one knew what the consequences would be.

Lin Yuan also had a headache.

After the end of the morning assembly, he held an internal meeting and only allowed his confidants to participate.

Today’s Zheng Qingfeng already had a place among them.

“How should we deal with these people?” Lin Yuan asked.

Song Shizhao: “Kill?”

Lin Yuan shook his head: “They are good at hiding, when our soldiers go out, they would have already disappeared.”

The group pondered for a long time, and Zheng Qingfeng suddenly said, “If that’s the case, why don’t you ask them to build their own village?”

“Building a village right at the border.”

Song Lian: “This plan is very good!”

Lin Yuan understood. So long as they found a leader among the Japanese pirates and gave him the identity of the village head, he would manage these people automatically and voluntarily. After all, people were quick to adapt to their new social roles.

“They are unruly.” Chen Baisong said on the side, “With insatiable greed.”

After they built a village, should they be allowed to grow bigger? How could they guarantee that they would be honest villagers?

Could they expect these Japanese pirates to farm honestly by themselves?

Lin Yuan: “The Japanese are still warring.”

“In that case, let’s buy some women from them.”

At this time, Japanese women were still living in the shadow of war, and there was no place where there was no war in the whole country.

More and more men were dying, and life at home was long past liveable, and there were human bones everywhere in the wild.

With the promise of profits, the merchants began to flock to Japan.

The women were quickly brought back.

Currently, what all the warlords in Japan needed was food. They had to feed their own samurai, as for women? Especially civilian women, they didn’t matter.

A house was quickly erected, and these Japanese women were placed under the walls of the city, and they only needed to walk two steps to come out of the city.

Before they could feel too much fear and trepidation, they were assigned to work.

They had to learn new things first, language, and work. They were too busy to think.

Saki was one of them. She was born in an ordinary civilian family. Her father and brother died in the war, and her mother starved to death. She only just managed to survive with difficulty. Later, the merchant bought her from the lord.

Because she was too thin and small, she was not worth much food.

It was another morning. Saki woke up very early. She always got up before dawn, went to wash her face, and then ate breakfast with her friends.

At first they were very scared.

After all, this was a new place, and all the people around were foreign people, speaking a language they didn’t understand.

“There are Japanese pirates outside.” A friend told her.

They didn’t even know what Japanese pirates were, but people from the Ming Dynasty occasionally mentioned this word.

Although they didn’t understand the meaning, they also knew that this was not a good word.

They liked their current life very much. They studied Chinese in the morning, worked in the afternoon, and rested in the evening.

When did they ever take a break before?

Work felt very fulfilling now.

More and more women from their homeland were sent over.

Saki, who had learned Chinese, began to take on the responsibility of teaching them the language and helping them get used to living in this new place.

Saki would comfort these women who just arrived in a foreign country.

Soon, the women began to meet local men.

There were very few local women, but many bachelors, and these women were also in their youth.

Without guidance, the natural attraction between a man and a woman would emerge eventually.

Hormones took over this border city.

Soon after the first few newly married couples appeared, there were almost daily marriages in this city.

There was no luxurious wedding, just the couple having a meal with their neighbors and relatives and friends, and then going to the government office to register, and the marriage would be completed.

Saki also had a lover who, like her, was a language teacher who taught the new Japanese women.

He was a very gentle man, he had a pair of beautiful eyes, and he would read poems to her. She liked those poems, they were beautiful and melodic, even if she still couldn’t fully understand the meaning of those poems.

As for the Japanese pirates outside the city, they almost went crazy when they found out that there were Japanese women in the city.

Women could live a good life in the city, yet fierce samurai like them have no food and starve outside, how was this reasonable?

The pirates went crazy.

They didn’t dare to fight, they only dared to harass the city walls.

Once they saw soldiers coming out, they would run away.

But this time, they ran over like madmen, but didn’t take up arms.

Instead, they said, “I want to see your superior!”

“Why can those women enter the city! Could it be that they are more powerful than samurai, and more worthy of respect than samurai?!”

The soldiers could only call the battalion commander. The battalion commander could not understand what the Japanese pirates said, so he could only call Saki over.

Saki was the best at learning the Chinese language, she didn’t even have much of an accent.

After she stood on the city wall, the Japanese pirates below yelled even louder.

“We want to enter the city too!”

Saki relayed this to the battalion commander.

She was very scared. As soon as she saw these people, she thought of the samurai in her hometown. They had no respect for human life. They never blinked when they killed. If these people entered the city, would they destroy it just like they did to her hometown, this new home she finally carved out for herself?

The battalion commander said, “Tell them that they can enter the city. Currently, a village is being built outside the city, and we can’t let them in until we are sure that they are not a threat.”

Saki was trembling all the while. She looked down at her hideous-looking compatriots, and it was hard to believe that these people were really her compatriots.