Chapter 137: Winning Their Hearts

Zheng Fan’s opening line left every soldier on the drill field stunned.

Even the barbarian soldiers.

They had already remained in Yan for quite a long time.

After daily drills, they were also forced to study the Yan language.

By now, although their own speech remained somewhat halting they had few problems understanding others.

Yet even those straightforward barbarians were shocked speechless by their Master’s brutally direct opening.

Huo Guang drew in a deep breath.

Then slowly released it.

Zuo Jiqian wanted to laugh.

But somehow he could not.

Most of the soldiers on the drill field were aristocratic-clan convicts.

To some extent, they had once belonged to Great Yan’s elite class.

After His Majesty destroyed their houses and ordered them exiled to the southern frontier they had certainly formed their own guesses about the Emperor’s intentions.

And truthfully the answer was not difficult to guess.

But everyone instinctively refused to think too deeply in that direction.

Their lives had already fallen this far.

Better to simplify things.

Better to imagine winning enough military merit to remove their families from slave status.

And then, to think further.

Dream larger.

Perhaps someday restore their houses.

The more desperate people became the more violently they craved hope.

Earlier, everyone had already understood Willow Fort was about to deploy.

Their military lord a man whose cold had required half a month of bed rest was finally going to lead them out to earn military merit.

Truthfully they had been impatient for it.

But since their military lord wanted to speak first, then everyone could sit properly and listen.

Afterward, they would shout a few slogans.

Declare their resolve.

Go through the formalities.

Compared with ordinary grunts they understood etiquette better.

They also understood how to cooperate with appearances.

Yet when such brutally direct words came from the mouth of their own commander everyone simply froze.

They no longer knew how they were supposed to cooperate.

What were they supposed to shout together?

“Many thanks to My Lord for translating the Imperial Court’s true intentions for us”?

The truth was often hidden for one simple reason.

The truth hurt.

Standing before the crowd, Zheng Fan looked at the complete silence.

Then smiled.

He was not skilled at speeches.

In his previous life, he had been a shut-in comic artist.

And given the genre of work he created he had almost never needed to appear in public.

But in this life after seeing and experiencing enough a person’s courage naturally grew.

What he had just said was deeply taboo.

Most people would at most think it secretly inside their hearts.

Very few would dare speak it aloud.

Zheng Fan did not know whether any undercover Secret Intelligence Department agents were hidden among these aristocratic convicts.

But he did not fear being reported.

Other people needed to keep a low profile.

Needed to avoid suspicion.

Needed to observe taboos.

Zheng Fan did not.

A man who had already broken all five limbs of an imperial Prince who exactly was he supposed to pretend to be modest for?

After doing something like that why worry about a few dangerous words?

“What this officer said— is the truth.

“Because that is exactly how this officer sees it.”

The convict soldiers on the drill field remained silent.

“But how should I put it?

“Fate has already brought you here.

“This officer knows that once, all of you were young masters.

“You were men of status.

“Men of rank.

“Perhaps some among you even had your social grades formally assessed.”

Here, “grade” did not refer to a Martial Artist’s rank.

For more than a century, it had been part of the political understanding between the Ji imperial clan and the aristocratic houses.

After all—

Yan was not Qian.

Yan possessed no imperial examinations.

“But whatever beauty you enjoyed in the past— whatever glory you once possessed that is nothing more than smoke now.

“Today— you are convicts.

“And your families— have been entered into slave status.

“The women in your families are probably working now.

“Pounding rice.

“Weaving cloth.

“Living as state slaves.

“That kind of life is not easy.

“It is exhausting.

“It is bitter.

“And it can destroy a person very quickly.”

Expressions on the convict soldiers’ faces began changing.

Their emotions were gradually being stirred.

Exactly whom that emotion was directed toward the Imperial Court… or Zheng Fan… remained unclear.

“The Imperial Court hopes you die here.

“Because the Imperial Court knows— and all of you know inside your own hearts that you hate the Imperial Court.”

Zheng Fan continued speaking the truth.

The atmosphere across the drill field grew stranger and stranger.

A proper pre-battle speech ought to have been filled with heroic spirit.

Break a wine bowl.

Shout a slogan.

March off with chests raised.

Instead—

Zheng Fan had somehow turned it into a funeral address.

“Master hasn’t pushed this too far, has he?”

Xue San quietly asked the Blind Man.

The Blind Man shook his head.

“Never compete with Master in storytelling.”

Xue San thought about it.

Then nodded.

“Right.”

Zheng Fan drew in a deep breath.

Then continued in a louder voice.

“But meeting me— was good fortune for all of you.

“Less than one year ago—

I was nothing more than a commoner.

“To say something unpleasant— if I had met any of you back then, I would have needed to lower my head, bend my waist, and respectfully call you ‘Young Master’ or ‘My Lord.’

“I am from Beifeng Commandery.

“One day—

I was conscripted as a laborer transporting military grain.

“The labor camp held more than two thousand men.

“Most of them died out in the desert.

“But I didn’t.

“Not only did I survive—

I earned my first military merit there!

“The Commandery Princess of the Marquis of Zhenbei’s estate wanted to take me in as a household retainer.

“I refused!

“Because I wanted office.

“I wanted wealth.

“I wanted a good life!

“And before you laugh at me for being an idiot— back then I really thought she wanted me to go to the Marquis’s estate and become a servant.

“I had never seen the world.

“I was a complete country bumpkin!

“Later—

I risked my life to save a Prince.

“I spent a long time lying in bed afterward.

“But I thought it was worth it.

“As long as I didn’t die— it was worth it!

“After coming here—

I was the first man to lead troops into Qian.

“I broke into Mianzhou City.

“I cut off the heads of the officials inside and brought them back!

“Don’t be fooled by how lively all the nearby forts and military commanders look now, taking troops every day to stir up trouble along Qian’s frontier.

“They’re all eating the scraps I left behind!

“I am not telling you these things because I want to boast.

“I only want to tell you one thing.

“You— are lucky.

“Because you met someone just as lucky as I am.

“Follow me.

“I cannot promise all of you will survive.

“And I doubt any of you would believe such a promise.

“People will die.

“Of course people will die.

“But I can make your deaths worth something.

“And I can make as many of you as possible survive.

“I can help you earn as much military merit as possible.

“Follow me— and I can help you win your families out of slave status faster.

“Follow me— and I can help you rise again sooner!

“The Zuo Clan is gone.

“The Huo Clan is gone.

“But all of you— still have a chance to climb back up!

“I— give you hope.

“At this moment—

I am your final hope.

“And your best hope!

“But I have one more request.

“A very simple request.

“For the sake of all the good food I’ve fed you every day over this past half month—

I hope you’ll listen.

“That is— if we reach the battlefield and I haven’t completely died yet if I’m still breathing then when you’re running for your lives don’t forget to drag me along!”

“Hahahahahaha…”

The solemn atmosphere suddenly shattered.

The entire field burst into laughter.

Zheng Fan laughed too.

“Tsk.”

Standing farther behind, A’Ming shook his head.

“Master used to love imitating Chen Daoming.

“Who’s he imitating now?

“The Marquis of Jingnan?

“The Marquis of Zhenbei?

“Or the Yan Emperor?”

Liang Cheng answered, “Couldn’t it be…

Master himself?”

A’Ming’s eyes widened slightly.

“Mm.

“As expected.

“The ones who speak least are always the best at licking precisely where it itches.”

At that moment, the Blind Man clapped his hands.

Xiao Yibo led several men over carrying a basket.

Inside were letters.

In this era, there was no free shipping.

Sending letters through relay stations was expensive and inconvenient.

If the distance was short perhaps.

But once the destination was far away whether the message arrived often depended on luck.

“Whose letters?” Xue San asked the Blind Man.

“Letters from their families,” the Blind Man answered.

Zheng Fan seemed not remotely surprised when Xiao Yibo and the others carried the basket forward.

He pointed directly at it and shouted, “These are letters from your relatives!

“Not everyone received one.

“But there are quite a few.

“This officer has already bribed and dealt with the local officials and the people supervising them.

“The work is still heavy.

“Life is certainly worse than before.

“It is exhausting.

“That cannot be avoided.

“But this officer— has already done what he can.”

Their houses had been destroyed.

Their assets confiscated by the court.

Their wealth and personal networks had been severed beneath the iron hooves of the Zhenbei Army.

They were convicts.

Their families were state slaves.

Naturally, they themselves possessed neither the ability nor the money to make arrangements for those relatives.

So when Zheng Fan spoke those words the gazes of the Huo and Zuo clansmen truly changed.

Not everyone in this world was Xiao Yibo.

Nor was everyone the Marquis of Jingnan.

Yan people after all were not barbarians.

They did not possess Qian’s flourishing culture of rites, ethics, refined prose, and moral essays.

But Yan people still valued filial duty.

And still valued human feeling.

Why had these men not escaped while being transported?

Why had they not fled after Zheng Fan gave them armor and horses?

Was it not because their families remained in the Imperial Court’s hands?

Among the Huo and Zuo clansmen there were even several ranked Martial Artists.

Huo Guang himself was an Eighth Grade Martial Artist!

If they had truly wanted to run they could have escaped on the road long ago.

But they had not.

They still hoped to use military merit to purchase freedom for their families.

And now, their own military lord had already gone to the trouble of making arrangements for those relatives.

That struck far deeper than feeding them meat at every meal.

Huo Guang stood.

After accepting the letter Xiao Yibo handed him, he did not immediately open it.

Instead he slowly dropped onto one knee before Zheng Fan.

Normally they still saluted.

Even though their military lord had spent the last half month wearing padded winter clothes and looking more like a wealthy country gentleman than an officer proper etiquette had still been observed.

But this time this kneeling salute carried genuine sincerity.

Zuo Jiqian stood as well.

Naturally, he understood perfectly well that Zheng Fan was buying hearts.

But there was nothing he could do.

As one of the people involved once Zheng Fan had gone this far—

Zuo Jiqian understood that he had already been caught.

So he too knelt.

Across the drill field, the Huo and Zuo clansmen slowly stood.

Then, one after another they dropped to one knee facing Zheng Fan.

“Whew.

“Blind Man.

“That move was brilliant,” Xue San praised.

The Blind Man laughed softly.

“It wasn’t my idea.”

“Not yours?

“Then whose…”

The Blind Man had indeed thought of this method.

But he had never mentioned it in Willow Fort’s correspondence with the Sixth Prince.

Because the Blind Man understood something clearly.

The Sixth Prince’s businesses and commercial holdings looked enormous.

But their actual surplus cash was limited.

Although he bore the surname Ji the protection money he paid was probably even greater than that of ordinary wealthy merchants.

The weapons and horses at Willow Fort truthfully were more luxurious than even those of the Jingnan Army in some respects.

By now, that alone had probably pushed the Sixth Prince close to his limit.

Asking him to spend even more money arranging better treatment for the relatives of the Huo and Zuo clansmen would have been expensive.

And more importantly at a moment when trampling the aristocratic clans had become the central political orthodoxy of Great Yan doing something like that carried enormous political risk.

The Blind Man had therefore never raised the matter.

But ever since Master returned this time—

Master had occasionally begun reading the Sixth Prince’s letters and intelligence reports himself.

Sometimes he even personally wrote replies.

So this had probably been Master’s request.

What was interesting was that such an excessive request the Sixth Prince had actually managed to accomplish it.

It seemed the bond between Master and the Sixth Prince really was excellent.

At first, the Blind Man had thought Master had begun reading those letters because he wanted to reclaim more direct control over information.

Later, however, Master had explained that in the roast-duck restaurant, the Sixth Prince had asked him:

“Do you even read the letters you supposedly send me?”

That had embarrassed Master somewhat.

So afterward, he started occasionally writing replies himself.

And while he was at it he packaged up a few memorable lines and sent them to the Sixth Prince as gifts.

As for whether helping with this matter might result in the Sixth Prince having another few ancestral graves demolished that was not something Zheng Fan intended to worry about.

A true scumbag after taking what he wanted lit a cigarette afterward and turned his head to ask:

“Sorry.

“Who are you again?”

“Our Master has grown up,” the Blind Man sighed.

“Oh.

“I’ll go report you later,” Xue San said.

“Heh.”

The Blind Man did not care.

“I’m going to tell the Demon Child you secretly want to be his grandfather.”

“…”

The Blind Man fell silent.

“Half an hour from now— we depart!

“If we’re going to play— we either don’t play at all or we play something big!

“Perhaps by the time we return— your military merit will already be enough to free your families from slave status!”

“We are willing to die for My Lord!”

“We are willing to die for My Lord!”

First open with brutal honesty.

Say something shocking.

Then, build.

Expand.

Turn.

Stir emotion.

And finally draw a giant pie in the sky.

Once the speech ended—

Zheng Fan did not continue watching all those soldiers kneeling toward him.

Instead he reached up and rubbed his temples.

Sometimes once you used techniques often enough they became instinct.

You no longer even felt as though you were using a technique.

But this feeling winning the hearts of men really was excellent.

It created an enormous sense of satisfaction.

Siniang walked forward and draped a black cloak over Zheng Fan’s shoulders.

“No.

“I’m not cold.”

“Master.

“Your cold only just passed.”

“No.

“I don’t want a cloak.”

Zheng Fan was unusually firm.

The Marquis of Jingnan’s gilded armor and blood-red cloak that truly looked incomparably magnificent.

It perfectly matched the image everyone carried in their head of a supreme commander.

But the Marquis of Jingnan was a Third Grade Martial Artist.

What did Third Grade mean?

Shatuo Queshi had also been Third Grade.

And back then, under the repeated charges of more than a thousand Zhenbei cavalry he had still spent a very long time spinning through that endless “magic circle of love.”

So the Marquis of Jingnan possessed the capital to look flamboyant, reckless, and magnificent in battle.

Zheng Fan did not.

Even his armor was identical to the armor worn by his ordinary soldiers.

Zheng Fan was afraid of death.

And the battlefield was the easiest place in the world to die.

“Master.

“Do not worry.

“This servant will remain beside you.”

That sentence was somewhat damaging to masculine pride.

A man requiring a woman to protect him.

But then again if the woman was a beautiful, mature elder-sister type and she told you she would protect you the feeling was actually rather pleasant.

Straight-man pride also depended on context.

Still, Zheng Fan smiled and said, “If things truly come to that— let the Blind Man and the others die before me.

“You— die after me.”

Zheng Fan treated Siniang differently.

“Hehehe.

“Master.

“Whether I die after you doesn’t really matter,” Siniang teased.

If you die—

I might die immediately afterward anyway.

“That’s true.”

Zheng Fan laughed.

Still he looked forward greatly to this expedition.

Last time he had casually ridden into Qian with only Liang Cheng beside him.

But again and again, he had found himself thinking:

If Xue San were here if the Blind Man were here if the others were here would dealing with these situations have been far easier?

This time everyone would go together.

Zheng Fan genuinely looked forward to seeing what kinds of surprises these Demon Kings who had been suppressed for so long would bring him.

The other independent commanders had spent all this time buzzing around Qian’s frontier like headless flies.

Yet none of them had produced anything significant.

That was excellent.

Their noise had laid the groundwork.

Now Zheng Fan could shine more brightly.

At that moment, Zheng Fan suddenly realized he quite liked this State of Yan.

Under the overwhelming strength of the Yan Emperor and the two Marquises, Great Yan had become a state filled with aggressive ambition.

And precisely because of that it was the perfect state for ambitious men to develop and rise.

Meanwhile, Xue San walked over to Xiao Yibo.

Xiao Yibo understood.

He followed Xue San back into the fortress.

Xue San walked in front.

Xiao Yibo followed behind.

Xiao Yibo had an excellent relationship with Xue San.

Among the other great figures—

Feng Siniang was beautiful.

Truly beautiful.

But Xiao Yibo did not even dare fantasize about her while lying in bed at night.

Because Siniang was also the person who had left the deepest psychological shadow in his life.

As for the others they were aloof.

They disliked unnecessary conversation.

And every time Xiao Yibo tried speaking with Fan Li—

Fan Li took him to chop firewood.

Only Xue San spoke humorously.

Enjoyed chatting with him.

And carried no airs.

“You’re being left behind to guard the fort.

“Are you dissatisfied?”

“No.

“This is proof of the trust My Lords place in this subordinate.”

“Tell the truth.”

“A little.”

“Mm.

“But someone has to guard the home.”

“This subordinate understands.”

“Good.

“You don’t have much martial talent.

“But becoming a steward someday— that would not be bad.”

“This subordinate understands.”

“Mm.

“One more question.

“Suppose after we leave, bandits suddenly attack the fort.

“You lead the remaining men.

“You definitely cannot hold.

“What do you do?”

Xiao Yibo answered immediately, “This subordinate will destroy the provisions and weapons in the warehouses—”

Xue San leaped up.

And smacked Xiao Yibo across the skull.

“Hiss…

“My Lord.

“Did this subordinate answer incorrectly?”

“You think it was easy for us to accumulate this little bit of wealth?

“You say burn it— and you just burn it?”

“Ah…

“Then… what should this subordinate do?”

Xue San pointed toward a house ahead.

That house did not belong to any of the great figures.

But normally nobody was permitted inside.

Several times when Xiao Yibo had passed its doorway he had felt a strange chill rising from deep inside his heart.

“If things truly reach that point— you come here.

“Kneel before this door.”

“Kneel?”

“Yes.

“Kneel.”

“And then, My Lord?”

“Shout.”

“My Lord.

“What should this subordinate shout?”

“Grandpa— save me!”

(End of Chapter)