Chapter 84: Another Year Looking South for the Royal Army

Yinlang Commandery lay at the southernmost edge of The Great Yan Dynasty.

One side bordered the State of Jin.

The other bordered the State of Qian.

A century ago, Yinlang Commandery had actually been called Yinlang Commandery with a different first character—

尹郎, “Yinlang.”

It was the personal name of the first Chancellor after the founding of the State of Yan.

Because he had rendered enormous merit in helping the founding Emperor of Yan establish and govern the state, his home commandery had been renamed after him.

Named because of one man.

And later renamed because of another.

The renaming was connected to the first Marquis of Zhenbei.

A hundred years earlier, when the desert barbarians had answered the Royal Court’s call and prepared for a decisive battle against The Great Yan Dynasty, the newly enthroned Emperor of Qian personally led five hundred thousand troops north.

Yan suddenly faced enemies from front and rear.

What followed was the famous battle in which the first Marquis of Zhenbei defeated five hundred thousand Qian troops with only thirty thousand men.

That day, after smashing the Qian army, the first Marquis of Zhenbei composed a poem:

Whip raised, horse urged, I chase the silver tide;
Past clear-running streams, the peach blossoms lie.

The “silver waves” referred to the rout of Qian’s five hundred thousand troops.

Across the roads of Yinlang Commandery, corpses lay piled one atop another.

The armor worn by Qian soldiers reflected beneath the sunlight, rolling like silver waves.

The second line described the ease of the pursuit.

This was not warfare.

Not slaughter.

It was no more strenuous than strolling through spring fields and admiring peach blossoms.

Whether the first Marquis of Zhenbei had respected his opponents tactically, later generations could not know.

But strategically, the two lines displayed his utter contempt for the army of Qian with perfect clarity.

More than that the first Marquis of Zhenbei himself had been a native of the original Yinlang Commandery.

A genuine southerner of Yan.

And so, the commandery was later renamed Yinlang—

“Silver Waves.”

On Qian’s side, however, whenever official correspondence with Yan involved Yinlang Commandery, they stubbornly continued writing the old name.

The two characters “Silver Waves” were simply too painful for Qian eyes.

Every time Qian officials saw the name, they instinctively remembered that poem of the first Marquis of Zhenbei.

Then they remembered the disastrous defeat a century earlier.

Remembered their own soldiers lying dead across the land...

Seventy percent of Qian’s frontier troops were stationed against Yan.

The remaining thirty percent were distributed along the borders with Jin and Chu.

Yan, meanwhile, had placed its three hundred thousand finest iron cavalry the elite Zhenbei Army in the north to deter the barbarian tribes.

Along the empire’s southern border, Yan had established only one true frontier city:

Southwatch City.

Green Willow Fortress was one component of the defensive chain centered around Southwatch City.

There were eight other fortresses of similar scale.

Compared with Qian’s heavily fortified posture, Yan’s side looked almost perfunctory.

There was no helping it.

A century of accumulated military prestige.

An overwhelming psychological advantage.

Absolute confidence.

Perhaps Southwatch City and the various fortresses around it existed less because Yan feared Qian and more because Yan wished to spare Qian’s dignity.

After all, from Yinlang Commandery all the way to Tiancheng Commandery—the region surrounding the Yan capital the terrain was almost completely flat.

If anything happened in Yinlang Commandery, Yan cavalry could arrive at terrifying speed.

For a hundred years, countless men of Yan had dreamed of retracing the glory of the first Marquis of Zhenbei winning a marquisate, entering the highest ranks of government!

Unfortunately, Qian had never given them the opportunity.

Even the name Green Willow Fortress was supposedly connected to the first Marquis of Zhenbei.

According to legend, when the fortress was first constructed, the first Marquis of Zhenbei planted a willow branch here.

At the time, the Marquis had been full of ambition.

He imagined that by the time the branch grew into a flourishing green willow, he would probably already have led his army south and smashed through the capital of Qian.

Unfortunately, fate played tricks on men.

Because the war in the north had become urgent, Yan could not transfer more troops away from the decisive front against the barbarians to support the first Marquis of Zhenbei.

He therefore had no choice but to lead his troops through Qian’s three northern commanderies, plundering population and wealth, before returning home.

Later, for the sake of political balance, the first Marquis of Zhenbei a southerner was enfeoffed in the north.

For the rest of his life, he never fulfilled his dream of marching south and destroying Qian.

“I’m saying— with this many willow trees around, which one exactly did the first Marquis of Zhenbei plant?”

Mounted on horseback, Zheng Fan asked the people around him.

“Master is very interested in that?” asked Siniang, riding beside him under a disguise.

“What if the first Marquis of Zhenbei buried some treasure under that willow tree?

“Something like... the *Zhenbei Secret Testament*?”

“That’s easy.

“Master can give an order.

“Have the Blind Man search this willow forest using mental force without eating, drinking, or sleeping for a month.

“He’ll probably find it.”

The Blind Man Bei, riding nearby, instinctively coughed.

He interrupted Zheng Fan and Siniang’s unreliable conversation.

Pointing ahead, he said, “Master.

“Green Willow Fortress is up ahead.”

“Not easy.

“We finally made it.

“Pass the order.

“Pick up the pace.

“We enter the fortress and rest before sunset!”

The instant the words left his mouth, Zheng Fan urged his horse forward.

Behind him, Liang Cheng raised one hand in signal.

More than five hundred barbarian cavalry all wearing armor identical to that of the Zhenbei Army accelerated as well.

For a time, hoofbeats thundered through the willow grove and dust rose everywhere.

But the moment Zheng Fan rode out of the grove, he had no choice but to order everyone to slow down again.

The instant they left the trees, their view opened completely.

There was none of the desolation or decay one expected from a frontier fortress.

Instead fertile fields stretched endlessly before them.

Farmers men and women alike were working throughout the fields.

When more than five hundred cavalry suddenly emerged from the grove, many stopped what they were doing and began curiously staring.

Zheng Fan could not help looking back at the Blind Man.

“Blind Man.

“You’re sure we didn’t take the wrong road?”

This was the frontier?

This was the frontier?

This fucking place was supposed to be the frontier?

It was not that frontier regions could not farm.

But the endless fertile fields, combined with the healthy color in the faces of the farmers—

Beifeng Commandery’s bitter northern lands naturally could not compare.

But even during the journey south, through Huwei, Sanshi, and even Tiancheng Commandery the commandery surrounding the capital of The Great Yan Dynasty—

Zheng Fan had not seen common people living with this kind of prosperity.

“Master.

“The road is definitely correct,” the Blind Man answered.

Fine.

If the human radar said they were on the right road, Zheng Fan could only accept it.

Immediately, he ordered:

“Control your speed.

“If anyone’s horse tramples crops— execution without mercy!”

After Zheng Fan gave the order, Siniang reached one hand toward A’Ming.

A’Ming looked confused.

“What?”

“Give me your nail clippers first.”

“What for?”

“We may need to cut Master’s hair later.”

At first, A’Ming looked puzzled.

Then he understood.

He and Siniang exchanged a knowing smile.

Still, he did not hand over the nail clippers.

Their journey itself had doubled as military training.

After the first night’s experience in the “demon den,” the barbarians’ fear of Zheng Fan had been burned into their bones.

On top of that, Liang Cheng was genuinely skilled at training troops.

And every night after camp, the Blind Man Bei conducted ideological and political education.

He had the barbarian soldiers speak about the miserable years they had endured in the desert being oppressed and excluded by the great tribes and nobles, their families being detained as leverage, and themselves being thrown into penal tribes that is, used as cannon fodder.

Every night, the camp echoed with crying.

In short the five hundred cavalry had already been forged into a cohesive unit.

And because the barbarians themselves possessed excellent riding and archery skills, they could genuinely be called an elite force.

With Zheng Fan’s order, the cavalry column slowed and began moving carefully along the road.

The nearby farmers were not afraid of strangers.

Some even walked closer simply to watch the spectacle.

Of course, there was no heartwarming scene of civilians rushing forward to bring food and drink in a glorious display of military-civilian unity.

That left Zheng Fan strangely disappointed.

He wondered whether, the next time he led troops on campaign, he should notify the Blind Man in advance and hire a few actors.

The local farmers were not afraid of soldiers either.

As Zheng Fan’s force passed, they stared as though watching monkeys at a fair.

And because most of Zheng Fan’s troops were barbarians, their features looked noticeably different from those of Yan people.

That naturally intensified local curiosity.

After several li, news had apparently spread.

An entire nearby village came out to watch the novelty.

The already narrow road became increasingly packed.

The history of war between Yan and the barbarian tribes was extremely long.

But over the past century, because of the residence of the Marquis of Zhenbei, the barbarians had remained in a state of constant passive suffering.

They had long since lost the former ability to casually raid deep into Yan territory and ignite beacon fires across the entire state.

So local civilians possessed little hatred toward barbarians.

They regularly saw barbarian merchant caravans.

Within Yan territory, barbarian slaves were also common.

But barbarians wearing standard Yan military armor that genuinely was a rare sight.

During Zheng Fan’s transfer from north to south, the force had attracted attention several times.

Fortunately, incorporating barbarians into the army was not particularly rare in Yan.

The residence of the Marquis of Zhenbei had once maintained the Four Submission Tribes.

Oh.

Three now.

More importantly, perhaps a century of military supremacy had produced an extremely powerful sense of national confidence among Yan people.

They did not consider using barbarians as soldiers strange.

Nor did they feel frightened.

That reminded Zheng Fan somewhat of the Great Tang in another world.

Tang people had been proud.

Too proud.

That pride allowed them to absorb foreign peoples into their system and recruit foreign elites for their own use.

Open a Tang history and you would find enormous numbers of military commanders whose names were obviously foreign.

Of course, when your national strength was flourishing, none of that mattered.

But once the state weakened, the phrase:

“Those not of our race will surely harbor different hearts” would inevitably be proven again.

Two nights earlier, while drinking with the Blind Man, Zheng Fan had joked:

Who knew when The Great Yan Dynasty would produce its own An Lushan?

Then, the Blind Man Bei had stared at Zheng Fan with those blank white eyes.

Stared.

And stared.

Think about it.

Really think about it.

The Blind Man did not know whether Yan had produced an An Lushan.

But Yan had already produced you.

An Lushan had at least been a Sogdian.

Zheng Fan was not even from this world...

“Make way!”

In order for the column to continue moving, Zheng Fan finally had to order the barbarian soldiers to clear the road.

Yan customs were rough and fierce, but that did not mean every civilian was a complete idiot.

No one was stupid enough to challenge armed soldiers merely for the sake of watching a spectacle.

At last, after spending nearly two hours traversing what should have been a short road—

Zheng Fan led his force to the place where he would take office:

Green Willow Fortress.

Then, Zheng Fan felt as though he had gone blind.

A fortress was not a city.

Zheng Fan understood that.

In truth, it was more like the fortified manors of Beifeng Commandery larger or smaller depending on the place except with a stronger sense of direct government control.

The “fortress” before Zheng Fan if one could still call it a fortress was not small.

At least, one could tell it had once occupied a respectable area.

It could easily have housed more than a thousand soldiers without feeling crowded.

But now, its outer walls had collapsed decades ago.

Moss covered the ruined masonry.

When Zheng Fan moved closer, he even saw speckled hens running out from inside.

“Cluck, cluck, cluck...

“Cluck, cluck, cluck...”

They strutted proudly before Zheng Fan and his barbarian troops as though declaring sovereignty.

This time, even the Blind Man Bei had no idea what to say.

They had gone through so much trouble moving operations from north to south.

And in the end they had inherited a chicken coop?

Fan Li, on the other hand, chuckled happily.

“Now we can eat eggs every day.”

Zheng Fan drew a deep breath.

He felt like someone who had spent months in an online romance with Lin Chiling only to discover, upon meeting in person, that the woman actually looked like Ruhua.

“Who’s there?”

At that moment, an old man walked out from the chicken farm.

He wore a battered leather cuirass.

In one hand, he carried a clay jar.

As he walked, he scattered chicken feed.

When he saw Zheng Fan and the dense mass of barbarian soldiers behind him, the old man froze.

Then quickly steadied himself.

Holding the cracked clay jar, he pointed at Zheng Fan and shouted:

“Who goes there?!”

Well.

The old man was old.

But once he became serious, he genuinely possessed some of the imposing air of an old soldier who refused to die.

Of course, this was still Yan territory.

The frontier had not fallen.

The old man was not some lonely hero defending an isolated post beyond the border.

Zheng Fan exhaled.

He rode two steps forward, took out his identity token, and said:

“Zheng Fan, Commander of Green Willow Fortress under The Great Yan Dynasty!”

The old man first stepped closer and carefully examined the token.

After confirming it was genuine, he backed away several steps and knelt before Zheng Fan.

“This subordinate greets Commander!”

“Who are you?”

“This subordinate is Iron Sanzhu, Squad Leader of Green Willow Fortress.”

Zheng Fan put away his token.

Then he pointed toward the fortress before them.

“What happened to Green Willow Fortress?

“How did it become like this?”

“Commander...

“Green Willow Fortress has been abandoned for decades.”

...

Night fell.

The air was cold.

An old sour smell of chicken droppings drifted everywhere.

In short it was miserable.

Originally, Zheng Fan had planned on building a personal bathing pool inside Green Willow Fortress.

Now?

Build a bathing pool inside a chicken coop?

So he could soak in hot water while giant roosters wandered around adding seasoning?

The barbarian troops pitched tents around the remains of Green Willow Fortress.

Liang Cheng and Fan Li first carried a coffin inside.

They found a relatively dry, intact room and set it down there.

Along the journey, they had passed numerous checkpoints.

More than once, someone asked why a newly appointed officer was bringing a coffin with him.

Zheng Fan’s answer had always been:

“I have already prepared myself to die for the country and have my body wrapped in horsehide.”

The soldiers guarding those checkpoints had been moved almost to tears.

Several high-ranking officers had even taken the initiative to invite Zheng Fan to drink and swear brotherhood.

So one had to admit the customs of The Great Yan Dynasty were extremely simple and sincere.

In reality, the coffin contained Shatuo Que Shi.

Ding Hao, Xiao Yibo, Hong Bazi, and the others remained behind to escort the young women and various goods south.

They had not traveled with the main force.

Two chickens simmered inside an iron pot.

Siniang had also pasted corn cakes around the rim.

It was basically farmhouse chicken stew.

“Commander, aren’t you slapping this old man in the face?

“You’ve come to assume office.

“What is wrong with this old man treating you to two chickens?”

Old Iron walked over while protesting and tried to return the silver.

Zheng Fan did not accept it.

Instead, in a tone that allowed no argument, he pointed across from himself.

“Sit.”

Old Iron hesitated.

He no longer dared keep insisting about the silver.

Obediently, he sat opposite Zheng Fan.

“How long has Green Willow Fortress been abandoned?”

“Reporting to Commander— almost thirty years.”

“Why was it abandoned?”

Was Yan’s border defense genuinely this absurd?

If Zheng Fan had not personally seen the situation in Beifeng Commandery, he might truly have believed The Great Yan Dynasty had entered the final years of a collapsing dynasty.

“Reporting to Commander— the order came from above.

“Green Willow Fortress’s original troops were dismissed long ago.

“No military pay or grain has been sent here for years.

“This subordinate never married.

“And I had feelings for this place.

“So I simply remained here.”

“The frontier defenses are this neglected.

“Do the officials above know?”

“Of course they know.

“They absolutely know.

“The other fortresses are more or less the same as ours.

“Hardly anyone remains.

“This place is actually one of the better ones.

“Because this subordinate still lives here, there are at least some bricks and structures left standing.

“At several other fortresses, local farmers have already hauled away the stones to build pigpens.”

Hearing that it was not merely Green Willow Fortress but all the surrounding forts—

Zheng Fan understood.

The central authorities of Yan knew exactly what the situation was.

He could not help asking:

“They aren’t afraid the people of Qian will attack?”

The instant Iron Sanzhu heard those words tears flooded his eyes.

It was as though Zheng Fan had stabbed straight into the deepest wound in the old soldier’s heart.

Choking with emotion, he said:

“Commander...

“This subordinate joined the army at seventeen.

“In order to enlist, I even rejected the wife my family had already arranged for me.

“I was waiting for the day

I could earn battlefield merit and bring honor to my ancestors!

“Who would have thought...

“Who would have thought...

“Who would have thought!”

Iron Sanzhu stomped one foot.

He thrust one hand southward.

Grinding his teeth, he roared:

“This subordinate started waiting here at seventeen.

“I waited for those damned Qian bastards for more than forty fucking years!

“And those sons of bitches never came!

“My entire life was ruined by those fucking Qian bastards!!!”

Nearby, the Blind Man Bei was sitting there eating another orange.

Hearing Iron Sanzhu’s lament, he muttered softly:

“Another year looking south for the Royal Army... wonder how many companies are left in the Royal Army now.”

(End of Chapter)