Everyone was stunned at first, but they quickly realized that this was meant to use these women to impede the Jurchens and buy time for their own escape. At the thought that they might yet escape alive, joy appeared on their faces.
If these had been ordinary Han Chinese women, Guo Jing would never have given such an order. Given his compassionate nature, he might even have taken them all the way south with him. But these Han Chinese women were already the wives and daughters of Jin Dynasty soldiers, making them inconvenient to bring along. If they were left behind, there was no need to worry that the wolfish Jurchen soldiers pursuing them would violate them, since they were the wives and daughters of their comrades.
Song Qingshu was still wondering how he could save Guo Jing when a whistle suddenly sounded from the military camp. The disturbance in the Song Army camp had been discovered, and the Jin Dynasty's senior officers gathered in an emergency. Pusuan Zhongyi looked toward the valley, and his expression changed. "Not good! They're trying to flee under cover of night!" Without even having time to explain to Tang Kuobian, he hurriedly deployed the troops and led men in pursuit.
Song Qingshu and Daiqisi exchanged a glance, then hurriedly mounted their horses and followed. When they reached the Song Army camp, they found it packed with people and in utter chaos. They quickly summoned Pusuan Zhongyi to ask what had happened.
"Don't mention it. They're the wives and daughters of Xu Zhou soldiers." Pusuan Zhongyi snorted indignantly. "They were abducted by the Song people before, and now they've deliberately been abandoned here to slow us down."
Then he suddenly let out a few cold laughs. "I've heard the tales from the martial world—some Greatest