Giant Ship Across the Song Dynasty: My Supplies Come from My Motherland

Chapter 53, Indeed

The night was long and dark, and the woodshed was cold, but thankfully it was draft-free. In the south, as long as there was no draft, the temperature wouldn't freeze you to death like in the north. But there was no way to sleep; it was quite uncomfortable.

The three of them sat there chatting, talking about all sorts of things. Suddenly, Lin Zhou asked curiously, "Do you know Wanyan Liang?"

"How could I not recognize him? He's my uncle." Hongliu asked curiously, "Grandpa Woben's son, why are you asking about him?"

"How is he?"

At this moment, Yangti spoke up: "What good thing could he be? He's about my age, and last year he became a general of the Dragon Tiger Guard. He's incredibly lecherous; I heard he didn't even spare his good brothers' wives and daughters. Years ago, he fought alongside my grandfather and was beaten like a dog by Yue Fei."

"Hey? You guys seem to have a pretty good impression of Marshal Yue."

"Of course! Though they are enemies, powerful foe are hateful yet respectable," Hongliu said excitedly. "Eliminating powerful enemies is national policy, but respecting opponents is in our nature. Many people in our Jin Kingdom greatly admire General Yue, and his military strategies are taught in schools. We Jin people are not barbarians!"

At this point, Hongliu added, "We also learned from you Han people... you always say we drink raw meat and eat blood without bathing."

"It's true that I don't bathe," Yangti said. "Mainly because it's too cold, and there's no way to bathe. In the capital, getting sick in winter is a death sentence even for royalty. That's why Hongliu refuses to go home even though she's embarrassed herself so much here; it's convenient to bathe here."

"Ouch! Why are you pinching me?! Did I say something wrong?"

"Even if you didn't say anything wrong, you can't say it here!" Hongliu was so anxious that she started speaking in Jin language: "How can you just say such things about a girl!"

Knowing these two is quite a blessing for Lin Zhou. He coughed and continued, "Then why do you also call yourselves the true inheritors of Chinese civilization? Aren't you Jurchens?"

"Eh... this... this..." Yangti clearly didn't understand the matter: "Father said so, Grandpa said so, Great-Grandpa said so, so we should just believe what they say."

Instead, it was Hongliu who spoke up: "Liaodong Commandery, you Song people don't have Han lineage. We are descendants of the Han Liaodong Commandery. Actually, according to the national lineage, Liao is the legitimate dynasty. Jin... how should I put it, we swallowed up Liao, so I am the successor. You are the barbarians!"

"Damn it, I'm a legitimate Han Chinese."

"Then you're a golden man too."

"Fuck you..." Lin Zhou's limited geographical and historical knowledge was completely muddled by her: "Is that how it's calculated...?"

"Yes, didn't your teacher teach you that when you were in school?"

Now it was Hongliu's turn to sound surprised: "Why is it called 'successor of the great lineage'? A nation's lineage must have a successor; whoever inherits the lineage is the successor. Let me explain. Look, the Liao Dynasty descended from the Liaodong Commandery of the Han Dynasty. After the Han Dynasty came the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties. During the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties, there were the Five Barbarian Invasions. Were there Liao people or Jurchens during the Five Barbarian Invasions? No, we weren't barbarians. Then came the Sui and Tang Dynasties. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Tang emperor bestowed flags and drums upon the Khitan leader, essentially bringing them back into the fold. After the Tang Dynasty came the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, wasn't the Yan-Yun region given to the Khitan by Shi Jingtang? Shi Jingtang was the son-in-law of Li Siyuan, the Mingzong Emperor of the Later Tang Dynasty. He recognized Yelü Deguang as his father, and Yelü Deguang thus obtained a legitimate title."

Hongliu paused here, then continued, "What was the background of your Northern Song Dynasty's founding emperor, Zhao Kuangyin? He came from a military coup, seizing the throne from Guo Wei, right? But even Guo Wei was a rebel. No matter how high you rise in rank, if you don't gain control of the country, history won't record a single word about you as an emperor of China. So, my Jin Dynasty succeeded the Liao Dynasty, and in terms of legitimacy, it's more legitimate than the Song Dynasty."

Lin Zhou's head was buzzing. Of all those names, he only recognized Zhao Kuangyin, the one he met while playing the game "The Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun," the one who wielded a dragon-patterned staff with incredible skill...

"You're really knowledgeable, hehe...hehe..." Lin Zhou chuckled dryly. He was now incredibly envious of those transmigrators who were full of knowledge. He, a street urchin, could really be told he knew nothing at all.

"I am educated! My teacher is Han Chinese, and that's how he taught me to say that the Song people were actually barbarians."

"Stop." Lin Zhou waved his hand and said, "I can't discuss this with you. I'm from Xi'an and I won't get involved in the argument between you two barbarians from the North and South. You're both barbarians. I don't care who has the purest bloodline, none of you are as pure as me."

"Damn it..." Yangti suddenly cursed, "For saying that, I'd have to drag you to Mount Tai to be sacrificed to the heavens."

Hongliu laughed heartily, "Yes, the sacrificial animals should be replaced with your cattle and sheep."

As they chatted, the rooster outside crowed, and dawn broke. Not long after, when it was fully light, the prince and princess woke up.

The princess lay on the bed and suddenly sighed for no apparent reason. The prince beside her looked up at the bed curtains and said in a deep voice, "What? Still angry?"

"I'm angry, how can I not be angry? Who wouldn't be angry? A spoiled and willful daughter, and a son as stupid as you. Who wouldn't be angry? And you, you good-for-nothing, you really don't care at all."

"How can I manage it!" The prince sat up, angrily saying, "Hongliu doesn't even listen to you, how could she listen to me? Besides, isn't she just like you? Back then, your stepmother wouldn't let you marry me, but made you marry my cousin instead, saying I was just the Fourth Prince's son, and you had to become the Empress. What did you do?"

"First, give birth to the lamb's hoof..."

"That's it! You're like this yourself, how can you expect your daughter to listen? Do I need to tell her who she took after?" The prince said, patting the quilt. "If she really gives you a grandson, are you going to throw him to your death?"

"That's impossible..."

"That's it! What else can we do? Break her legs and lock her up at home? Marry her off to just anyone?"

The princess fell silent, lying there sighing, "But you were once a prince, look what Hongliu has found."

"Hey, you know what, I actually quite like that kid." The prince patted the princess's belly and said, "Yesterday you told him to kneel down, and listen to what he said. Anyone else would have knelt down on the spot, right? And you know, girls love guys like that the most. He's unruly, clever, and most importantly, he's got some skills. You can't stop him."

"I don't care. The man my daughter is going to marry will either be a top scholar or a great general. There is absolutely no way she will marry an ordinary peddler."

"That's easy." The prince waved his hand. "I'll just give him a General Dangdang, that'll do. Father is about to go to war, I'll send it to him."

"Don't talk nonsense," the princess sighed. "Never mind, I'm not talking to you anymore. Sigh... I'm going to check on those brats."