Reborn as the Crippled King's Beloved-Chapter 560: Not a Man Who Sells His Daughter for Glory
Chapter 560: Chapter 560: Not a Man Who Sells His Daughter for Glory
A country, wanting men and women to be equal in status, cannot be achieved simply with a few words.
To many people, this seemed like a fool’s dream.
So Murong Jiu strived to sponsor women, letting them become officials to gradually change others’ thinking.
Nothing can be achieved overnight, especially such a difficult task.
Hong Yi, with her martial arts skills, had been reduced to serving as a mere maid, which was somewhat a waste of her talents.
Murong Jiu wanted her to go all out and reveal her exceptional side.
Perhaps one day, Hong Yi might wish to achieve great things, lead troops into battle, and become the first female general of Great Yan.
Even if Hong Yi wasn’t the first female general of Great Yan, a possibility might still exist within her female Imperial Forest Guard.
This would bring a different significance to Great Yan.
"I am willing to do it!"
Hong Yi said excitedly.
She rediscovered her original passion and was filled with fighting spirit.
Murong Jiu smiled and nodded, "Go ahead and do it, I’ll have your back."
Hong Yi nodded emphatically, and without sleeping or resting for the whole night, she managed to compile a list by the next day, which included all the junior sisters from her martial arts school.
This school was already loyal to Jun Yuyan.
Even among Jun Yuyan’s Hidden Guards, there were those trained here.
When Jun Yuyan learned of Murong Jiu’s intentions, without hesitation, he sent a group of female warriors to Hong Yi.
The Imperial Family had its own channels for training Hidden Guards and servant maids, some of whom were exceptionally talented and either served to protect the Emperor and the Princes or were placed in critical positions, and some even became spies in other countries.
Others, not as outstanding as the former, were also highly skilled.
With the establishment of the female Imperial Forest Guard, they could now be uniquely trained.
Just as Murong Jiu said, they could train women to lead troops and become generals.
Women are not inferior to men; that’s merely a societal prejudice.
Jun Yuyan always felt that no man in the world could compare to his Empress.
Of course, life was not always smooth.
The exiled Second Prince, fortunately, did not succumb to the deadly miasmas of the Souther Ridge and was clinging to life.
Murong Man also struggled to survive and gave birth to the "son" of the Second Prince.
It was said that the child in Murong Man’s womb did not survive, but she bought a son from a peasant woman and passed him off as her own.
As soon as she arrived in the Souther Ridge, she began to incite local landlords and tycoons to support her son, even plotting to poison the Second Prince to crown herself as the local Empress Dowager.
However, Yun Weiwei, the Second Princess Consort, was no pushover and even covertly raised her own guards. Inspired perhaps by Murong Man, the two women vied fiercely in the Souther Ridge.
Nevertheless, they could not stir up any real trouble.
The Souther Ridge was entirely under Jun Yuyan’s control, with local officers all appointed by him, ensuring direct access to his sovereign authority.
That is to say, every move the Second Prince made was under Jun Yuyan’s watchful eye.
The reason it was called regrettable was that a small coastal town in the Southern Ridge had been actually occupied by the "sea monkeys" of a bullet-sized small country, and over a hundred citizens were massacred.
This enraged Jun Yuyan immensely.
That bullet-sized country was just a small nation by the sea, which, due to its small size, liked to invade other nations’ islands at sea, wholly embodying the style of bandits, hence the citizens of Great Yan cursed them as "sea monkeys."
These "sea monkeys" used to only probe during times of internal strife within Great Yan. Now that the Great Yan Nation was wealthy and strong with a powerful army, they dared to massacre the citizens of Great Yan, which was practically suicidal.
Murong Jiu was also shocked when she heard the news.
Because this was greatly unexpected.
She frowned and said, "Could it be that there is some important treasure in Shabin County that these sea monkeys would rather offend the Imperial Court of Great Yan to lay their hands on it?"
"Spies have already entered the city to investigate; results should be available soon."
Jun Yuyan, looking at the sand table in front of him and holding a small flag of Great Yan, took Murong Jiu’s hand and said to her:
"Ah Jiu, we, will eliminate it."
During the conversation, the flag they both held was planted on the territory of that small country beyond Great Yan.
"Without it, a thousand years later, the territory of Great Yan will not be invaded to near destruction, and the sight of the suffering citizens will be unbearable. Originally, I was afraid to change history, affecting the national fortune, but, they provoked us first, didn’t they?"
Murong Jiu pursed her lips, looking at the small country where the flag had been planted.
She did not take long to consider before she nodded firmly.
"Alright, I support you. Do what you think is right. If we hesitate because we know history, then we are not ourselves anymore. Moreover, even if we didn’t know history, facing such a sudden incident, as the Emperor of Great Yan, you wouldn’t just endure in silence. This might not even be something that happened in history. History had already changed after Wang Yingluo appeared."
This sea monkey nation had never been liked by the citizens of Great Yan; they committed many evils at sea. Murong Jiu’s fleet had also been harassed by them before, but since they liked to disguise as other countries, it was hard to find a legitimate reason to sanction them.
"Ultimately, these sea monkeys dared to make a move precisely because they are skilled in naval warfare, possibly also driven by huge interests, but their arrogance cannot be separated from this either."
They probably thought that Great Yan was in a period of recuperation and would not rashly go to war.
But what they did not know was that since last year, Murong Jiu and Jun Yuyan had already secretly ordered the construction of ships and the training of a naval force in places like Fujian and Tianjin Guard.
After learning from Wang Yingluo about the later failed naval war, Jun Yuyan had allocated even more silver funds to expand the scale of the navy.
They had never feared the enemy’s invasion.
Jun Yuyan held Murong Jiu’s hand tightly.
With a wife like this, what more could a husband ask for?
Their convictions were nearly identical.
The next evening, news arrived via a carrier pigeon, revealing the reason behind the sea monkeys’ massacre of the citizens.
The reason was absurd; it turned out that when the sea monkey nation’s fleet was passing by Shabin County and stopped, one of the princes on the fleet had taken a fancy to the daughter of the County Magistrate and offered silver to forcefully take her onto the ship.
The Magistrate of Shabin County was not the type to sell his daughter for honor; he firmly disagreed because the opposition used force, leading to an outbreak of violent conflict.
The Magistrate knew to be cautious; once the other party revealed his identity, he naturally wouldn’t dare to strike hard for fear of becoming the source of enmity between the two nations.
But the prince, having only received minor injuries, felt his status and dignity belittled, and shockingly led a night raid, stormed into the Magistrate’s house, personally killed the Magistrate, and publicly coerced the Magistrate’s daughter. His subordinates followed suit, displaying similarly vile behavior.
The citizens, seeing such tragic scenes, were uncontrollably enraged as the Magistrate was seen as a good official and the Lord of Heaven in their eyes, and the lady was known for her kindness yet suffered such a fate, all spontaneously took up hoes and axes and charged forward.
The conflict escalated, but despite their numbers, the citizens were no match for this group of sea bandits, and over three hundred ultimately died.
It was not just the over one hundred people initially reported.
