Chapter 103: Tiger, Tiger, Tiger!

“Master, don’t worry. There’s only a blocking force directly ahead. We can break out from the flank…”

Before Liang Cheng could finish speaking, cavalrymen also rushed out from the beacon forts on both sides.

“…”

Zheng Fan.

“…”

Liang Cheng.

Liang Cheng raised his long saber.

There was no choice.

At a time like this, they could only fight head-on.

Cavalry could unleash its true terror only while charging.

The problem was that Zheng Fan’s side was already exhausted, both men and horses.

Whether they could smash through the opposing line was genuinely uncertain.

Even if they broke through, their speed would inevitably be slowed.

The several thousand Qian cavalrymen pursuing them relentlessly from behind would certainly close in.

At that point, of these three hundred-odd riders, there was no telling how many would actually survive.

Yet at that moment, the cavalry blocking them from the front suddenly slowed.

Liang Cheng gradually lowered the saber in his hand.

He did not order an acceleration.

He understood the opponent’s intention perfectly well.

They wanted prisoners.

When the Yan cavalry also began slowing, the Qian cavalry around them took the initiative to form an encirclement.

They kept their distance.

Too far for arrows to reach effectively.

But every possible direction of escape had already been sealed.

“They want us to surrender?” Zheng Fan asked.

“Most likely,” Liang Cheng answered.

“There’s no Geneva Convention in this era.”

“Whether there is one or not makes little difference.”

Liang Cheng signaled for the surrounding barbarian cavalrymen to gather tightly.

They instinctively formed a circle, protecting Zheng Fan and Liang Cheng in the center.

“Tsk.

“Tell me.

“Have I been too heartless toward them before?”

At this moment, Zheng Fan genuinely experienced the feeling of a dying man suddenly becoming charitable.

“Master, when I commanded armies in the past, my soldiers did not merely come from different tribes.

“There were even many different races among them.”

Zheng Fan did not know whether the original author of *Zombie Liang Cheng* had once drawn some unreleased side story or theatrical edition for the character.

The author “Liang Cheng” had died suddenly in a car accident.

So Zheng Fan did not know whether some unpublished material from the comic still existed.

Liang Cheng’s girlfriend, A’Qiu, had never brought it up either.

The original comic had mostly placed Liang Cheng in a modern urban setting.

His past was only vaguely mentioned.

Back then, plenty of readers had speculated.

Some even tried forcing Liang Cheng into the identities of the four ancient zombie progenitors one by one.

But the original author had never given a definitive answer.

As for Liang Cheng’s true origins—

Zheng Fan, the “ghostwriter,” did not know either.

He had merely been responsible for continuing the comic’s plot.

He had never intended to overturn its entire premise.

Much like Gao E continuing *Dream of the Red Chamber*.

He followed the atmosphere and trajectory of the earlier story and gave it a corresponding ending.

He did not suddenly write Jia Baoyu joining a rebel army and seizing the throne.

“So?” Zheng Fan asked.

“Master, a true king must possess a heart capable of accepting everything.

“Any living being who bows beneath your banner is your subject.

“Just like…”

“Like who?”

“The Yellow Emperor.”

“…”

Zheng Fan.

Zheng Fan desperately wanted to ask:

Is this your own self-completion?

Or did “Liang Cheng” truly leave behind some enormous unpublished side story?

You even dragged the Yellow Emperor into this.

What exactly is your past?

But now was obviously not the time to think about such things.

Imagining some glorious future where demons descended upon the world would only make Zheng Fan himself feel like a complete idiot.

The enemy had already surrounded him layer upon layer.

What sort of king of beasts was a tiger locked inside a cage?

“We chopped off the heads of all those officials in Mianzhou City.

“So no matter what conditions they offer now, they’ll be fake.

“The only reason they want us alive is to squeeze information about Yan out of us.

“They may think this operation was ordered by someone above us.

“Once they drain us dry of intelligence, they definitely won’t keep our heads attached.

“Watch.

“The other side will send someone over soon to negotiate terms and demand our surrender…”

The moment Zheng Fan finished speaking, a man dressed like a civil official rode out from among the Qian cavalry and came straight toward them.

“Too bad.

“Whatever he promises will be fake.

“Ah Cheng, I genuinely don’t want to become some loyal martyr for Yan.

“But surrendering to Qian only means dying a different way.”

Zheng Fan dared make that judgment because he understood just how useless Qian’s frontier army was.

Qian was unlikely to launch another northern expedition any time soon.

If two states were actively fighting and you surrendered, even if the enemy did not value you highly, they might still arrange a decent position for propaganda purposes.

Spend a thousand gold to buy the bones of a horse.

But Qian had no such need here.

“Master, we can charge one more time.”

“Can you break out by yourself?

“I can’t do it right now.

“My whole body is weak.

“Probably an aftereffect of the Demon Child possessing me.

“If you can escape, go first.

“Rejoin the Blind Man and the others.

“Find an opportunity to avenge me later.

“No need to go overboard.

“Just destroy Qian.”

“…”

Liang Cheng.

Liang Cheng genuinely wanted to tell him that if Master died, then not only he, but probably the Blind Man and everyone else at Willow Fort would suddenly drop dead together.

Whether they wanted to accompany him in death or not, they would be forcibly buried with him.

So there was never any possibility Liang Cheng could abandon Zheng Fan and flee alone.

“Master, I will not abandon you.”

“Goddammit.

“At a time like this, can you not start getting sentimental?

“If Siniang were here and performed *Farewell My Concubine* with me, maybe I could enjoy the mood.

“But you…”

“This humble official is Zheng Hongze, Military Adjutant of Liang Command of Great Qian!

“By order of the Grand Commandant governing the three northern commands of Great Qian, I have words for your leader!”

Zheng Fan pursed his lips.

Then smiled.

“Well.

“Same surname as me.”

“How do we answer?” Liang Cheng asked.

“Negotiate.

“Negotiate properly.

“You go talk to him.

“Salary.

“Benefits.

“Retirement insurance.

“Five social insurances and one housing fund.

“Provident fund.

“Drag out every possible detail.”

“To buy time?” Liang Cheng understood.

“Talk first.

“Miracles are things you fight for.”

Liang Cheng left Zheng Fan alone on horseback.

He dismounted, took another horse from a nearby barbarian soldier, then slowly rode out.

Zheng Fan lay across his horse’s back.

He reached behind himself and touched his back.

“Hiss…”

Damn.

It hurt.

……

“Grand Commandant, why have you not ordered an attack?”

A middle-aged man in light armor carrying a sword rode up beside the command carriage and demanded an answer.

The command carriage was an open platform vehicle.

It had a roof but no enclosing walls.

Men or horses pulled it.

Whenever Shangjing held lantern festivals or major celebrations, opera troupes and famous courtesans often stood atop such platform carriages and performed while parading through the streets.

In the military, they had developed into command platforms for generals.

At present, more than a thousand armored soldiers guarded the carriage closely.

Only three people stood atop it.

One at the front.

Two behind.

The man in front looked around fifty.

His long beard drifted elegantly.

His complexion was clean.

Red lips.

White teeth.

He wore a brocade robe and naturally radiated the bearing of a man accustomed to authority.

Behind him stood two middle-aged men in purple official robes.

The man below who had shouted the question wore armor and held a sword.

But one glance made it obvious both were decorative.

Neither the armor nor the weapon suited him in the slightest.

“Impudent!

“Military Commissioner Wu, how dare you speak to the Grand Commandant that way!”

One of the middle-aged men standing behind Grand Commandant Yang pointed at Commissioner Wu and rebuked him.

“Heh…”

Commissioner Wu dismounted.

Then stumbled and almost fell.

That small accident immediately weakened his imposing manner.

He climbed the steps onto the command carriage, then bowed toward Grand Commandant Yang.

“Wu Yingwu, Military Commissioner of Chen Command, greets the Grand Commandant.”

Only then did Grand Commandant Yang turn around.

He approached with a warm smile, raised Wu Yingwu’s arms with both hands, and patted them.

“This Commander has already heard what happened to Commissioner Wu’s father-in-law.

“Commissioner Wu, restrain your grief.”

The Prefect of Mianzhou City the tall, thin old man who had pursued pleasure until death and whose head had been cut off by Zheng Fan’s men was Wu Yingwu’s father-in-law.

Wu Yingwu had not been born a true commoner.

His family had once belonged to the scholarly class, but had declined.

It was only because his future father-in-law, the Prefect, had appreciated and supported him that Wu Yingwu entered officialdom.

The Prefect had even married his legitimate daughter to him.

Without the old Prefect’s recognition and support, there would be no Wu Yingwu of today.

Of course, the three northern commanderies of Qian—Chen, Liang, and Wei—each contained one military command.

Each command was controlled by a Military Commissioner.

Qian’s Military Commissioners were roughly equivalent to theater commanders.

And every one of them was a civil official.

The fact Wu Yingwu had risen to become a Military Commissioner proved that the old Prefect was not merely good at taking Five Minerals Powder.

He truly had an excellent eye for talent.

The Prefect had been able to occupy the lucrative post governing Mianzhou City, a major commercial transit center, partly because of his relationship with Wu Yingwu.

“Grand Commandant, these Yan dogs are savage beyond reason, guilty of every conceivable crime.

“This subordinate begs the Grand Commandant to immediately send troops and destroy them.

“I want their heads to comfort the spirits of the Qian people they murdered!”

“What’s the hurry?

“They’re already completely surrounded.

“Can those three hundred men sprout wings and fly away?”

The middle-aged man who had rebuked Wu Yingwu earlier spoke again.

Wu Yingwu immediately snorted.

“I heard someone’s wife and daughter also fell into the hands of these Yan dogs.

“Naturally, someone who sacrifices public duty for private feelings is unwilling to attack them.”

Military Commissioner Meng Changqi of Liang Command immediately flushed with rage.

He was about to retaliate when Grand Commandant Yang spoke first.

“Enough.

“Enough.

“You are Military Commissioners entrusted by the Imperial Court to guard entire regions.

“Yet you behave like street shrews.

“What dignity is this?”

Seeing Grand Commandant Yang angered, both Military Commissioners fell silent.

After all, Grand Commandant Yang commanded the military affairs of all three northern commanderies.

He was their direct superior.

At the same time, the three Yang imperial consorts inside the palace all came from his Yang Clan.

They were not his biological daughters, but his nieces.

He was nevertheless a close elder of their family.

Normally, Qian claimed that the scholar-official class and the sovereign governed the realm together.

Suppressing military officials was practically instinctive among the civil bureaucracy.

Allowing imperial in-laws to hold major power was likewise something the scholar-official class strongly opposed.

Grand Commandant Yang, however, was a special case.

Because he was a eunuch.

In his early years, when the current Emperor of Qian had still been Crown Prince, Yang had served as an attendant in the Eastern Palace.

After the Crown Prince ascended the throne, Yang introduced the three Yang sisters of Xiahang into the palace.

The Emperor adored them.

Yang was therefore entrusted with ever greater authority.

Despite being a eunuch, he even received a nominal post in the Bureau of Military Affairs.

Then he was sent north to command Qian’s three northern military commands.

Most miraculously, this eunuch had somehow grown a magnificent beard that countless scholars envied.

Perhaps they simply had not castrated him thoroughly.

Grand Commandant Yang turned toward the front.

“It would be easy to kill them.

“My army already surrounds them completely.

“There are only three hundred or so.

“They cannot fly into the heavens.

“What this Commander wants to know is who ordered them here.

“What exactly are the Yan bandits planning?”

Grand Commandant Yang turned and looked again at Wu Yingwu.

“These men deserve ten thousand deaths.

“The sins they committed could never be redeemed.

“But too many things have been happening inside Yan recently.

“It is said the Yan Emperor has openly broken with the Marquis of Zhenbei’s estate.

“The two sides have even deployed troops against one another.

“Now a Yan cavalry force suddenly thrusts into Qian territory.

“How can we guarantee there is no deeper purpose?

“If this Commander fails to uncover it, how am I supposed to explain myself to the ministers at court?

“How am I supposed to explain it to His Majesty?

“More importantly, earlier reports say this Yan cavalry force actually contains barbarians.

“Have we uncovered the mystery behind that?

“You men are Military Commissioners of Great Qian.

“You command the military power of entire regions.

“How can you disregard the affairs of the state because of personal hatred?”

Wu Yingwu and Meng Changqi exchanged a look.

Together with the third man, Military Commissioner Qian Shuwen of Wei Command, all three bowed toward Grand Commandant Yang.

“Many thanks for the Grand Commandant’s instruction.

“We are ashamed.”

Grand Commandant Yang stroked his beautiful beard with satisfaction.

At that moment, a civil official in formal robes came riding toward them.

The armored soldiers at the front immediately parted to let him pass.

It was Zheng Hongze, who had just finished negotiating with Liang Cheng.

He did not dismount.

He rode to the front of the command carriage and cupped his fists.

“Official duties prevent this subordinate from observing the full ceremony.

“I ask Your Excellency’s forgiveness.”

Grand Commandant Yang nodded.

“No matter.

“Adjutant Zheng has worked hard.”

Joy rose inside Zheng Hongze.

Truthfully, the business about official duties preventing full ceremony was merely an excuse.

Grand Commandant Yang had assigned the mission in the first place.

Earlier, when the Grand Commandant had asked who would go recruit the Yan force’s surrender, everyone around him had fallen silent.

Only Adjutant Zheng had volunteered.

What Zheng Hongze wanted now was to deepen the impression he left in Grand Commandant Yang’s mind.

For middle and lower officials trying to rise, everything depended on whether some great figure valued them.

“Reporting to the Grand Commandant, the Yan bandits are willing to surrender.

“They simply proposed many conditions.

“Allow this subordinate to report them one by one—”

Grand Commandant Yang chuckled.

“No need.

“Agree to all of them.”

“This…”

“Agree.”

None of those promises would ever be fulfilled anyway.

What he wanted was the purpose behind this Yan cavalry force’s southward incursion.

“This subordinate understands.

“One more thing.

“The Yan bandits say Lord Meng’s daughter is still in their hands.”

Meng Changqi’s face immediately filled with joy.

He quickly asked, “And my wife?”

“The Yan bandits say Lord Meng’s wife suddenly fell gravely ill yesterday and died despite treatment.”

“…”

Meng Changqi.

“Yan bandits!

“This official will never share the same heavens with you!”

Meng Changqi roared.

Inside, however, he released a long breath.

A burden had finally fallen from his shoulders.

That woman had at last died in an entirely reasonable way.

It had not been easy.

“Commissioner Meng, restrain your grief,” Grand Commandant Yang comforted him.

“This subordinate understands.

“Grand Commandant, do not delay affairs of state over this subordinate’s family matter.

“The state comes first.”

“Commissioner Meng is righteous.

“Adjutant Zheng, go deliver the reply.”

“This subordinate obeys!”

Zheng Hongze cupped his fists again.

Then he turned his horse and rode from the rear ranks to the front.

He crossed the Qian formation and returned before the Yan cavalry.

At that moment, Qian Shuwen, Military Commissioner of Wei Command, spoke from behind Grand Commandant Yang.

“Grand Commandant, you are wise.

“The Yan barbarians do not understand propriety and reject civilization.

“How could men from such a state possess loyalty or righteousness?

“Once these barbarians hear the Grand Commandant has accepted their conditions, they will naturally bend their knees and surrender.”

Grand Commandant Yang merely smiled.

“The Yan bandits do not have many peaceful days left.

“Just wait.

“It will not be long before their own household begins fighting itself.”

……

Zheng Fan pointed at Adjutant Zheng, who had returned.

He said to Liang Cheng beside him, “That dog bastard isn’t even willing to finish acting out the scene.

“The great figure commanding from behind definitely told him:

“No matter what conditions they propose, agree to everything.”

At that moment, Zheng Hongze rode forward and called out loudly, “The Grand Commandant has issued an order!

“All your conditions may be accepted!

“Immediately lay down your weapons, dismount, and surrender!

“Great Qian is a state of ritual and propriety!

“We will unquestionably honor our word!”

“Heh.”

Zheng Fan sneered.

Then suddenly, he saw two great eagles circling in the northern sky.

A smile immediately appeared at the corner of his mouth.

In the barbarian tongue, he ordered, “Shoot that bastard dead for me.

“He isn’t worthy of the surname Zheng!”

All the barbarian soldiers immediately raised their bows.

They took aim at Zheng Hongze.

Zheng Hongze, who had been secretly delighted that this task was about to be completed perfectly and that he might finally enter Grand Commandant Yang’s notice, felt his heart drop when he saw the bows.

Instinctively, he shouted, “Don’t—”

“Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!”

Several hundred arrows answered him.

Adjutant Zheng and his horse were both shot into pincushions.

Dead beyond dead.

The action immediately caused turmoil among the nearby Qian cavalry.

Their formation, which had loosened after everyone assumed the Yan soldiers intended to surrender, tightened once more.

……

“How dare he?

“How dare he!”

Grand Commandant Yang stood atop the command carriage in disbelief.

The three Military Commissioners behind him looked equally stunned.

Did these Yan bandits truly want to die?

Qian Shuwen, who had just claimed Yan had no loyal or righteous men, looked especially ugly.

……

“I don’t care whether you understand every word or not!

“Repeat after me!

“Use every ounce of strength you had when you were nursing from your mothers!”

The surrounding barbarian soldiers straightened in their saddles.

Zheng Fan shouted, “Warriors of the Great Yan Dynasty—”

“Warriors of the Great Yan Dynasty—”

“Swear to die before surrendering!”

“Swear to die before surrendering!”

“Long live His Majesty, Emperor of the Great Yan Dynasty!”

“Long live His Majesty, Emperor of the Great Yan Dynasty!”

“Long live the Marquis of Jingnan!”

“Long live the Marquis of Jingnan!”

One slogan after another was roared by several hundred barbarian soldiers in imperfect Yan speech.

A tragic and heroic momentum swept outward.

Even Grand Commandant Yang atop the command carriage could not help being moved.

At the same time, alarm rose inside him.

These Yan men were truly this unyielding?

They would rather die than surrender?

He suddenly felt a trace of relief.

Fortunately, the Yan people were about to fall into civil war among themselves.

Otherwise…

“Grand Commandant, the Yan bandits are stubborn beyond reason.

“Give the order!”

Wu Yingwu urged him.

Meng Changqi hesitated for a moment.

His daughter was still in the Yan soldiers’ hands.

Grand Commandant Yang nodded.

He looked toward the signalman in front of him.

“Kill.”

The signalman immediately transmitted the command.

In the next instant, the Qian cavalry surrounding Zheng Fan’s group began moving.

Their ranks tightened.

They were preparing to charge.

Zheng Fan, however, showed no fear.

With Liang Cheng’s help, he raised the long saber in his hand.

The barbarian soldiers raised their sabers as well.

They prepared for a battle to the death.

“Thud! Thud! Thud!”

“Thud! Thud! Thud!”

“Thud! Thud! Thud!”

Then, at the edge of vision to the north, a black shadow suddenly appeared.

Immediately afterward, the earth began trembling in a steady rhythm.

The Qian cavalry, which had been preparing to charge, began pulling on their reins.

Confused, they turned toward the north.

Grand Commandant Yang and the three Military Commissioners atop the command carriage also stared north in shock.

Ranks of black cavalry began appearing.

Their discipline was severe.

Their formations were precise.

Banners bearing the characters “Yan” and “South” snapped in the wind throughout the army.

A vast, murderous pressure swept outward with their arrival.

Like a genuine beast of war preparing to open its savage eyes.

“Woooo…”

A desolate military horn sounded.

Every Yan cavalryman raised his weapon.

Then together, they roared, “TIGER!”

“TIGER!”

“TIGER!”

(End of Chapter)