Chapter 158: Prince Fu

Another three days passed.

During those three days, several bonfires were lit outside Green Willow Fortress every night while the Blind Man, Bei, carried out ideological reform on the newly arrived barbarian soldiers.

With the veteran barbarian troops personally stepping forward to share their own experiences, the results of the indoctrination were quite obvious.

Zheng Fan had already noticed that during the day, when the new barbarian soldiers looked at him, their gazes now carried a wary sort of fear.

Fine.

Zheng Fan no longer cared what sort of character the Blind Man had cast him as in those brainwashing sessions.

Since he was too lazy to go "share joy with the soldiers and common people," letting them treat him like some demon and fear him did not seem bad either.

At the very least, it saved trouble.

The newly arrived barbarian soldiers were young men from tribes that had submitted to Yan. Their tribes had already entered Yan territory and been resettled.

So to a certain extent, they were just like the condemned great-clan troops.

Their weak point had already been seized.

That made them much easier to tame.

But sitting in his room and reading some of the information forwarded by the Sixth Prince left Zheng Fan feeling slightly oppressed.

First, there seemed to be movement from the barbarian Royal Court in the desert.

Beifeng Commandery still had one hundred thousand Zhenbei Army troops remaining, but with two hundred thousand of the original three hundred thousand already transferred away, the deterrent effect against the desert had fallen far too sharply.

The Yan Emperor ordered the First Prince, Ji Wujiang, to lead one hundred thousand Imperial Guards from Yanjing together with commandery troops from Tiancheng Commandery to Beifeng Commandery to watch the desert.

The imperial court's softer policy toward the desert, which had attracted quite a few barbarian tribes to submit and migrate inward, was also part of Yan's effort to weaken the barbarians.

In his letter, the Sixth Prince said the Imperial Guards in Yanjing had always been heavily infiltrated by the great clans.

Many of the officers and Lieutenant Commanders inside had originally come from great-clan backgrounds.

When the imperial court trampled the great clans, the Yanjing Imperial Guards had naturally gone through a major purge too.

That had badly weakened a force that had already contained more display than substance.

But from Zheng Fan's perspective, since Beifeng Commandery still had one hundred thousand Zhenbei Army troops from the Marquis of Zhenbei's household, the force led by the First Prince only needed to remain behind them, beat the drums, and provide support.

There should not be much of a problem.

The Sixth Prince's letter also mentioned that a new round of internal strife had begun inside the State of Jin.

But this time, no matter how one looked at it, something felt strange.

With such obvious and unmistakable movement from neighboring Yan, even if the three great clans of Jin possessed pig brains, they should understand that this was not the time to ignite another major internal struggle.

So the whole affair carried the taste of someone trying too hard to conceal something.

Most of the remaining Imperial Guards in Yanjing, together with mobilizable commandery troops from various regions, had been transferred east.

This served both as a warning to Jin and as insurance against Jin imitating what Qian had done a century ago—trying to take advantage while the Great Yan campaigned against Qian.

When Zheng Fan read this part, he could not help raising one hand and rubbing his brow.

As Garrison Commander of Green Willow Fortress, he was naturally sensitive to every shift across Yinlang Commandery.

The previous day, the fifty thousand troops of the Jingnan Army's Rear Camp had moved out.

Those fifty thousand Rear Camp troops had always served as the Jingnan Army's reserve.

Their fighting strength and equipment naturally could not compare with the fifty thousand regular Jingnan Army troops.

But they were certainly better than ordinary commandery soldiers.

According to the information Zheng Fan had gathered, the Rear Camp was not heading south.

It had marched east.

Presumably, it too had been sent to guard against Jin.

That meant the interior of the entire State of Yan had become extraordinarily hollow.

If the remnants of the great clans suddenly incited some sort of uprising or rebellion inside Yan at this moment, the Yan Emperor sitting in Yanjing might genuinely struggle to find troops he could immediately dispatch to suppress it.

Because of the two hundred thousand Zhenbei Army troops that had trampled the great clans the vanguard had entered Yinlang Commandery the day before yesterday.

Not good.

Not good at all.

Zheng Fan lifted his teacup and took a sip of hot tea.

The barbarians had always been a grave threat to Yan.

They were weaker now, yes.

But after centuries of blood feud, Yan could never relax its vigilance toward them in the slightest.

Sending Imperial Guards north in support was perfectly reasonable.

One had to remember that a century ago, when the barbarian Royal Court was at its height, Yan had still chosen to leave the bulk of its army in the desert fighting the barbarians.

It had allowed the first Marquis of Zhenbei to take only thirty thousand iron cavalry home to defend Yan itself.

The Great Yan had guarded the eastern lands against the barbarians for centuries.

That was not some empty slogan.

It had truly done so.

As for Jin, internal strife had caused its national strength to decline for years.

There were even rumors that the three great clans might someday literally "divide Jin among three houses."

But Jin's army had always remained strong.

It frequently clashed with Chu.

The two states had not fought a true large-scale war in many years, but engagements involving twenty or thirty thousand troops had scarcely ever stopped.

Jin could busy itself with internal fighting while simultaneously holding its own against Chu.

So Jin could not be ignored either.

And if even Zheng Fan could sense something wrong with the latest political struggle at Jin's court, then naturally it would not fool the Yan Emperor.

But under these circumstances, Yan's position truly resembled a man standing at the edge of a cliff.

If any one direction went wrong or even if nothing went wrong, and this stalemate simply continued—

Yan itself would eventually begin developing problems.

Since ancient times, war had always possessed one particular property: it redirected domestic contradictions.

Right now, Yan's interior was like meat thrown onto a grill.

The only key to breaking the situation lay with Qian.

But this war how exactly should it be fought?

...

Carrying the deep burden of worrying for state and people, Garrison Commander Zheng chose black stockings that night.

...

The next morning, very early, noise came from outside the bedroom door.

"Master! Third Lord is back!"

Xiao Yibo's voice carried obvious excitement.

After all, of all the Demon Kings in Green Willow Fortress, the one with whom he had the best relationship was Xue San.

When the fortress marched out a few days earlier and Third Lord never came back, Xiao Yibo had secretly wiped away tears more than once.

Xiao Yibo could genuinely feel that Xue San did not care about his identity as a patricide.

And when there was free time, Xue San was willing to share a pot of wine and a plate of peanuts with him and chat.

So when Xiao Yibo learned that Third Lord had returned safely, he practically ran all the way back to inform the Master with red-rimmed eyes.

Zheng Fan was awakened.

He frowned slightly.

Strictly speaking, he had already slept enough by this hour.

He simply wanted to lie there a little longer.

If this had been his previous life, he would have taken out his phone and stayed in bed scrolling for a while instead of getting up immediately.

There was no phone to scroll through in this life.

But there was the Fourth Lady.

And the Fourth Lady was much more entertaining than a phone.

So Zheng Fan instinctively felt angry with Xiao Yibo for ruining the early-morning mood.

The Fourth Lady turned her head.

She was awake too.

Zheng Fan looked at her, leaned down, and kissed her.

Truthfully, under normal circumstances, no matter how beautiful a woman or handsome a man might be, after waking from sleep, if they were a normal human being, their breath would be fairly strong.

So those television dramas where the male and female leads woke up and immediately started kissing were honestly rather heavy-duty.

But the Fourth Lady was different.

For one thing, her constitution might be somewhat unusual.

For another, before going to sleep she liked holding one of her own specially prepared mint leaves in her mouth.

So when she woke, her breath was still fresh.

Sweet, even.

"Master, San'er is back?" the Fourth Lady asked while nestling against Zheng Fan.

At the same time, the fingers of her left hand began tracing lazy spirals across his chest.

"Mm. He's back, he's back.

"Let's sleep a little longer."

...

Facts proved—

Garrison Commander Zheng's decision to sleep a little longer was extraordinarily wise.

Because when Xue San returned, the Blind Man and the others were eating breakfast.

Xue San immediately rushed up and gave the Blind Man a massive hug.

Then the Blind Man, who could normally remain calm no matter what happened vomited on the spot!

By the time Zheng Fan emerged after the Fourth Lady helped him dress, Xue San had already scrubbed himself with soap several times.

"Master! Wuwuwuwu... this subordinate thought I'd never see you again! I thought I'd never again hear Master's teachings!"

Xue San performed with rich emotion.

He had returned to Green Willow Fortress originally planning to pay his respects to the deceased.

Instead, Green Willow Fortress was still standing.

He went inside.

The Blind Man and the others were all still alive.

And then, Master had not died either!

Xue San's emotions could only be described as complicated.

Something like Sun Wukong's mixture of love and hatred toward the tightening headband spell.

"All right, all right. The important thing is that you came back safely."

Zheng Fan reached out and patted Xue San's head.

He had actually wanted to pat his shoulder.

But his waist was a little sore.

He did not feel like bending down.

Xue San began recounting everything that happened after he infiltrated Mianzhou City that night.

When he reached the part where he overheard the army cooks talking and decided to risk returning the Blind Man, Bei, interrupted at exactly the right moment.

"San'er, let's skip how you came back for now.

"Take out Prince Fu's head and let us have a look."

"All right!"

Xue San did not particularly want to explain how he had gotten back either!

Once Prince Fu's head, wrapped in the golden-thread soft armor, was brought out, everyone's expression became somewhat strange.

Because the head looked far too much like a salted pig's head waiting to be braised.

"This Prince Fu looks a little like Xu Wenzu," Zheng Fan said.

Fat people tended to resemble one another.

"Master, these are his identity token and some documents. This subordinate brought them back too."

Xue San knew a head alone would not be especially persuasive.

This era did not have facial-recognition systems or DNA testing.

Zheng Fan nodded.

"You've worked hard."

This was another enormous military achievement.

And Zheng Fan knew that after Xu Wenzu had assembled everyone only to dismiss them again a few days earlier, the fat man was probably still suffocating beneath a mountain of frustration.

Sending him a head that looked remarkably like himself ought to relieve some of that tension.

At this particular moment, the value represented by this one head was greater than the heads of one or two thousand Wolf Native Troops.

"Find a nicer-looking box and package it again," Zheng Fan said.

"Master, why not use this head to free the relatives of the remaining condemned troops from slave status?" the Blind Man suggested.

Xu Wenzu had only just given Zheng Fan fifteen hundred barbarian cavalry.

Green Willow Fortress now possessed more than twenty-five hundred cavalry.

So in the short term, asking for more men or more military supplies was basically impossible.

Better to use Prince Fu's head as a convenient favor.

Among the condemned troops, quite a few still had relatives who remained on the slave registers.

This time, they could settle the matter all at once.

"Mm. That's what I was thinking too."

The milk cow called Xu Wenzu had only just produced an enormous bucket.

For a while, he was probably dry.

At that moment, Ding Hao came over.

Ding Hao had been in an excellent mood these past few months.

After the Yan Emperor trampled the great clans, the powerful Beifeng Liu Clan that had once dominated Beifeng Commandery had also been exterminated.

In other words, Ding Hao's vengeance had been accomplished just like that.

Without that weight pressing down on him anymore, the entire man looked much more energetic.

"Master, someone from the Secret Intelligence Department is outside.

"It's still that same man from last time...

"Shanju."

Shanju was here again?

Yes.

Brother Shanju had returned.

Zheng Fan originally assumed the Secret Intelligence Department had once again come to urge him to mobilize the fortress troops and go accomplish something.

But now Qian had completely abandoned its frontier forts and implemented scorched-earth defenses.

Even if Zheng Fan wanted to fight, there was nowhere convenient to fight.

That day, Xu Wenzu had gathered all the troops and then dismissed them.

He would rather lose face than randomly find some place to attack or lead everyone around in circles.

This time, however, things were different.

The moment Zheng Fan met Shanju, Shanju spoke directly.

"Lord Zheng, the Marquis requests your presence."

...

A small clay brazier stood beneath an iron plate.

Oil had been brushed across the plate.

A little brown sugar had been sprinkled on top and melted into caramel.

The Marquis of Zhenbei sat behind the brazier.

Using a short knife, he cut several strips from a rice cake, laid them across the iron plate, and began turning them over.

Before long, a sizzling fragrance filled the air.

Tian Wujing sat in a chair opposite him.

He held a booklet in his hands and silently read.

The Great Yan's two Marquises one guarding the south, one guarding the north had gathered together once more.

"They're done. Want one?

"Uncle Xue's rice cakes are delicious."

The Marquis of Zhenbei generously pointed toward the rice cakes on the iron plate.

Tian Wujing shook his head and turned a page.

He did not like sweet food.

"Sigh. One look and you can tell you had comfortable days growing up."

Li Liangting skewered a piece for himself.

Ignoring how hot it was, he took a huge bite and chewed while his lips trembled from the heat.

Beside him, Qingshuang handed over a cup filled with melted snow.

Li Liangting accepted it and drank a large mouthful.

"Hiss..."

The Marquis of Zhenbei ate with obvious delight.

"So what does Qian's Court Gazette say?"

A Court Gazette was naturally not a newspaper.

It was also called a court circular.

Imperial edicts, officials' memorials, deliberations, and certain pieces of political intelligence would periodically be compiled together and distributed to officials above a certain rank.

It somewhat resembled internal briefings in later times.

This was effectively classified state information.

By reading another state's Court Gazette, one could infer many of the public-facing movements inside its government.

Of course, for the Secret Intelligence Department, obtaining a copy was not especially difficult.

"The Western Army's cavalry camp has marched north.

"Lord Zhong and Little Lord Zhong have split households."

"Heh. Qian's old habits really can't be changed."

Li Liangting picked up his knife and lifted another piece of rice cake.

This one had grilled a little too long.

But that made it crispier.

"Years ago, when you were still young, Qian produced a Tattoo-Faced Chancellor."

"I know."

"You know shit. You weren't even leading troops back then."

Tian Wujing did not argue.

Mostly because he was too lazy.

"The native-chieftain rebellion in southwestern Qian might not look like much to you or me.

"Truthfully, it wasn't much.

"If those native chieftains hadn't relied on mountain terrain, Qian's army probably would have pacified them long ago.

"Didn't that brat Zheng just go into Qian once and chop off several thousand Wolf Native heads to bring back as military merit?

"Back then, my father was still alive.

"So was the late Emperor.

"Those two old fellows were so worried about that Tattoo-Faced Chancellor they nearly caught fire. Heh heh."

Li Liangting bit into the rice cake and continued while chewing.

"When you judge a man, look at the shape of things first.

"Suppressing the southwestern native-chieftain rebellion was only the first step.

"Why did that Tattoo-Faced Chancellor place so much pressure on those two old men back then?

"Because under him—

"Qian's military men finally looked as though they might raise their heads.

"Motherfucker.

"Qian is too damned big.

"And too damned rich!

"On paper, Qian supports eight hundred thousand troops along the Three Frontiers every year, plus eight hundred thousand Imperial Guards.

"And that doesn't even include the Western Army or the Zu Clan Army on the southeastern coast.

"If Qian's military men ever truly gained momentum, it would become far more difficult for our Great Yan to march south."

Tian Wujing closed the booklet in his hands.

Calmly, he said, "The Zhao Clan of Qian seized the realm without proper legitimacy.

"Suppressing the military through the civil bureaucracy has always been state policy."

After saying that, Tian Wujing added, "Across all history, probably only our Emperor has dared hand complete military authority to the men beneath him."

"That brat Zheng once said something fairly good.

"There isn't enough grain in the house.

"A bunch of brothers can beat one another bloody over it and still none of them eat their fill.

"Better to go outside and seize food from someone else."

"He has always known how to talk."

"Exactly. Even that castrated bastard Wei Zhonghe appreciates him."

"How many times have you mentioned him today?"

Li Liangting threw the short knife toward the floor.

The blade stabbed into the boards.

He wiped his mouth very inelegantly with the back of his left hand.

"What I'm saying is this:

"Back then, I wanted that brat.

"You damned well refused to give him to me.

"Fine.

"You kept him.

"And you've damned well left him sitting inside that fortress all this time."

"Isn't Xu Wenzu one of your people too?"

"Xu Wenzu is capable."

"I know."

"But leaving that Zheng brat there like that is a waste.

"Our Great Yan isn't like Qian.

"Qian has so many people that talented men keep popping up every so often."

"Some time ago, the Zhong Clan's Young General led three thousand Western Army cavalry around the Yinlang Commandery frontier."

"I know about that."

"He could hide it from Xu Wenzu.

"He could not hide it from me.

"If Zheng Fan had been willing to mobilize and intercept them at the time, then after reinforcements from the surrounding stockades arrived, that Qian cavalry force could have been left behind."

"Heh heh. You mean he avoided battle to preserve his strength?"

Tian Wujing said nothing.

Because it was obvious.

Li Liangting shook his head.

"Wujing, you've never had to manage a household, so you don't understand how expensive grain and firewood are.

"More than ten years ago, His Majesty personally appointed you to command the Jingnan Army.

"You inherited that entire foundation directly.

"You never experienced the hardship of building a household from nothing.

"Sometimes fighting a war is like doing business.

"There are risks.

"There are profits.

"But stupid battles—bad battles—those aren't worth fighting."

"Hearing those words come from the Marquis of Zhenbei surprises me."

"Tch. How do you think my family's three hundred thousand Zhenbei Army troops came into existence?

"Yes.

"For decades, more than half the Great Yan's tax revenue has gone toward supporting the Zhenbei Army.

"But let me tell you the truth.

"Three hundred thousand iron cavalry... keeping that household together is damned difficult.

"So I understand the brat.

"The face being lost wasn't his own anyway.

"The taller men would take the blame first.

"There was no reason for him to gamble his life."

"Which is why your daughter was willing to use the lives of two thousand civilian laborers as bait."

"Heh!

"I'm genuinely not afraid of you mocking me.

"That's our family tradition.

"What about it?"

Tian Wujing no longer wanted to speak.

"I'm saying, since we're about to fight, give the brat a hand.

"If you really won't use him, then hand him back to me."

"Once this battle begins, men are destined to die.

"His Majesty's decree was also perfectly clear.

"I command this campaign."

"I'm not fighting you over command.

"As long as my Zhenbei Army gets to fight those Qian bastards, you could have me serve under you as a halberd-bearing attendant and I'd still agree."

"If he wants to preserve his strength, then let him remain there and preserve it."

"Hey, Wujing.

"That's too damned ruthless.

"You were the one who insisted on keeping him.

"He's human.

"People make mistakes.

"How can you just slap him dead over one mistake?

"Do you understand that if he misses this battle, it'll be much harder for that brat to rise again later?"

"The road was his own choice."

"Tch.

"There's really no room at all to turn this around?

"The brat is clever.

"He knows which occasions truly require staking everything and pouring in blood and capital.

"At the very least, among those regional commanders, doesn't he have the most military merit?

"Isn't he one of the best fighters?

"If you don't bring him, aren't you afraid of chilling the hearts of all those commanders?"

"More than two thousand Wolf Native heads mean nothing in my eyes."

"Oh?

"Then what the hell do you want him to do to earn merit?

"Go chop off the head of a Qian Prince and bring it back to you?"

Tian Wujing heard this.

He seemed to seriously think about it for a moment.

Then said, "That would do."

(End of Chapter)