Chapter 200: Heh Heh

As Governor of Shengle City, his city had fallen before he had even taken office?

Zheng Fan vigorously rubbed his face with both hands.

This was too fucking difficult.

Back when he played games, at least you started with a city or a farmstead as your base.

And now?

My fucking home is gone!

Truthfully, Zheng Fan was already thinking about turning around and returning to Yinlang Commandery to continue serving as Garrison Commander of Green Willow Fortress.

At least there was still a fortress there for him to live in.

Yan military law might be strict, but Zheng Fan was not worried that punishment would somehow fall on his head.

He had not even reached Shengle City before the place was captured.

No matter how badly someone wanted to pin a crime on him, surely they could not pin this one on him.

“Master?” Liang Cheng was still waiting for instructions.

The sky was so high.

The sea so vast.

Where shall we go make waves next?

“How far are the Situ Clan’s troops from us?” Zheng Fan asked.

“According to the messenger, they are actually still quite far away. But too many powerful local families and other forces in the newly annexed territories surrendered the moment they heard the news, which has made the Situ Clan’s offensive appear enormous.

“Moreover, since they struck so suddenly, this subordinate does not believe they would fail to send troops deep into the region.

“And Jin has never lacked cavalry.”

Zheng Fan nodded.

At present, they were essentially blind.

They were merely a force accompanying their commander to a new posting and had not yet been incorporated into any army’s order of battle.

Their access to military intelligence was therefore extremely limited.

In other words, on the desks of the various Commanders-in-Chief, or even the Marquis of Jingnan—

Zheng Fan’s force effectively did not exist.

“Move the entire army into this fortified manor.

“Conscript every able-bodied man inside as a laborer.”

“This subordinate obeys!”

Whatever happened next, the first priority was securing somewhere to stand.

The fortified manor was not particularly large, but at least it offered defensive works.

There should also be plenty of stored grain inside.

On top of that, Zheng Fan had brought a considerable amount of baggage for his new posting.

Telling him to abandon everything and travel light?

He genuinely could not bear to do it.

More importantly where exactly were they supposed to travel light to?

East, to fight the Situ Clan head-on?

Xu Wenzu had not replenished Zheng Fan’s troops.

Even counting those young women among his people, he still had fewer than two thousand.

What capital did he possess to go gambling lives against the enemy?

Or should he retreat west, back to Yan?

Returning to Yan without fighting a single battle or even seeing the enemy how could he possibly explain that?

There was actually another choice.

Either head north to seek out Li Bao’s Zhenbei Army stationed at Quhe City, or go south to join the Marquis of Jingnan at Litian City.

But then all this property would have to be abandoned here.

Unless matters truly reached the point where he had to flee for his life—

Governor Zheng was unwilling to lose money.

And so the old master of the fortified manor was dumbfounded.

He had already spent half the day smiling ingratiatingly and acting like a grandson.

He had even contributed the manor’s stored grain, wine, and meat for the Yan soldiers to enjoy.

Yet the Yan people suddenly turned hostile.

They stormed directly into his fortified manor, placed him and his family under control, then drove every able-bodied man inside to begin reinforcing the walls.

Had something happened?

The old man was already advanced in years.

Whatever youthful ambition and vigor he once possessed had long since disappeared.

At this moment, he gritted his teeth and voluntarily helped the Yan soldiers calm the others inside the manor, urging everyone to cooperate properly.

All the old man wanted was for as little blood as possible to be spilled in his family’s manor, no matter what had happened.

As for whether this counted as joining rebels, aiding a tyrant, or anything of that sort he did not even think along those lines.

After all, the people of Jin had known the Three Great Clans rather than their Emperor for far too many years.

If Yan’s military system somewhat resembled that of the barbarians then Jin’s political system was likewise remarkably close to the barbarians’.

Put another way for a very long time, the State of Jin had effectively been an alliance operating beneath the banner of “Jin.”

The common people of Jin possessed little concept of loyalty to the sovereign or patriotic righteousness.

It was simply a matter of a new king’s banner appearing atop the city walls.

Whichever family arrived they obeyed that family.

That was why, once the main forces of the Helian and Wenren Clans were annihilated in a single stroke nearly half of Jin surrendered almost at the first rumor of Yan’s arrival.

The people of Qian might not be especially capable in battle but when it came to soft power they were vastly superior.

Zheng Fan put on his armor and stood atop the battlements with his saber at his waist, gazing into the distance.

The sudden change had shattered every previous deployment and blueprint.

But those things were secondary now.

At this moment, what Zheng Fan least wanted to see was the silhouette of troops appearing anywhere within his field of vision.

This was all the foundation he had left.

He was still hoping to nurture this little flame into something larger.

Please, for the love of everything, do not let it all be buried here.

Otherwise after decades of hard work, he would be liberated back to square one overnight.

“Master, there is no need to worry. Even if the Situ Clan has mobilized, Jin is enormous. There is no reason they would come straight toward us,” Liang Cheng comforted him.

Zheng Fan looked around.

The Blind Man was nowhere nearby.

Then he looked at Liang Cheng and gave a bitter smile.

“Ah Cheng, do you know what the Blind Man would say if he were standing here?”

“What?”

“He’d tell you to shut up.”

“............” Liang Cheng.

In private, the Blind Man had once told Zheng Fan that when other people’s words came true, it might be coincidence.

But Liang Cheng had far too many coincidences.

Ultimately perhaps it was because the fellow was a great zombie in the first place.

An enormous evil thing like him was countless times more ominous than a crow wailing outside your door.

Tai Sui?

Bad omens?

In front of Liang Cheng none of them even qualified for the stage.

At that moment, a scout rider galloped back into the manor.

He stopped directly beneath the wall and reported to Zheng Fan and Liang Cheng above, “Commander! A force is approaching from ahead!”

Zheng Fan looked at Liang Cheng.

Liang Cheng pretended not to notice Zheng Fan staring at him.

Instead, he asked, “How many?”

“Several hundred cavalry.”

Zheng Fan released a long breath.

Several hundred.

That was not too many.

But very soon another scout rider came galloping back.

An arrow was still lodged in his back, though it seemed to have caught in his armor.

His wound did not appear serious.

“Commander! A massive cavalry force has appeared twenty li to the east!”

Clearly, the two scouts had discovered different things.

The second scout had probably been sent farther out.

At the very least, scouts were chosen from among the army’s most elite cavalrymen.

They had all seen large-scale battles.

There was no possibility an experienced scout could mistake several hundred riders for a “massive force.”

“How many?” Zheng Fan asked.

“Close to ten thousand!”

Close to ten thousand?

That was a vague estimate.

Once more than ten thousand people gathered in one place, the mass became a sprawling sea.

Even the most experienced scout would find it difficult to provide an exact number from reconnaissance alone.

And the enemy would obviously have scouts of their own.

Cavalry numbers were even harder to estimate.

When cavalry moved, dust filled the air.

Men and horses mixed together.

Determining exact numbers was almost impossible.

But an estimate of close to ten thousand was already astonishing.

And most of them were cavalry.

No matter how highly Zheng Fan thought of himself he was not insane enough to lead his own troops out and collide with them head-on.

So Zheng Fan looked toward Liang Cheng again.

The crow event had already been triggered anyway.

Might as well hear what the professional had to say.

“Master, this fortified manor cannot compare with Green Willow Fortress, but it is already the only defensible position in the surrounding area.

“If we leave now, unless we abandon all baggage and supplies and retreat at full speed, there is a high probability the Situ Clan’s forces behind us will catch us.”

And once they were caught in the open wilderness their numerical disadvantage would become brutally obvious.

Zheng Fan understood Liang Cheng’s meaning.

“So we stay and defend this place?”

“Defend it.

“That is the safest option.

“Li Bao to the north and the Marquis of Jingnan to the south cannot possibly remain idle.

“We have reinforcements coming, Master.”

Zheng Fan nodded.

“Then we defend.

“Distribute whatever wealth we brought that can be distributed.

“Give some to the people inside this manor too.

“Promise them that if they work hard and help us through this, when merits are recorded afterward, I will certainly petition for rewards on their behalf.”

“So Master had already arranged everything?”

“Mm?”

“When this subordinate was below earlier, I already saw the Blind Man and Siniang distributing wealth.

“Master’s foresight is profound.

“This subordinate admires you.”

“Isn’t that flattery a little too awkward?” Zheng Fan asked.

You fucking know exactly what level I’m at.

Zheng Fan believed that since waking in this world, he possessed exactly two advantages.

One was his steadily improving acting ability.

The other was good luck.

In every other respect the Demon Kings crushed him comprehensively.

Liang Cheng said, “This subordinate will pay attention next time and strive to improve.”

“Mm. Exactly.

“Flattery is best when it moistens things silently.

“A loud fart doesn’t stink.

“It’s the silent fart that really fumigates people.”

“............” Liang Cheng.

Liang Cheng fell into a slight daze.

Truthfully asking a great zombie like him to lower himself and discuss with Zheng Fan whether farts were loud or silent, fragrant or foul he genuinely found it difficult to swallow his pride.

It was not prudishness.

It simply violated his outlook on life.

Zheng Fan stopped tormenting Liang Cheng.

He looked into the distance again.

Nearly two hundred cavalry were already racing rapidly toward them.

“Vanguard?” Zheng Fan asked.

Liang Cheng immediately returned to professional mode.

He shook his head.

“The rhythm of their horses’ hooves is chaotic. They are clearly squeezing every last bit of strength from their mounts while fleeing.

“This is not a vanguard.

“They look more like routed troops—though they have retained a fairly intact formation.”

Zheng Fan observed them carefully again.

Then nodded.

Warhorses were not motorcycles or automobiles that burned fuel.

They were living creatures.

Unless absolutely necessary, a rider would never squeeze his mount this mercilessly.

A vanguard holding the initiative would naturally preserve its horses’ strength for whatever battle might follow.

Perhaps because they saw the black dragon banner of Great Yan flying above the fortified manor the cavalry headed directly toward them.

The man in the lead had extremely dark skin and wore a purple brocade robe.

He shouted directly upward, “We are the Emperor of Jin!

“Open the gates at once and let Us inside!”

His voice was extremely urgent.

Because behind him a huge body of cavalry was already closing in.

More precisely, this Situ Clan army had come specifically for him.

The Emperor of Jin was their prey!

Atop the wall—

Zheng Fan and Liang Cheng looked at one another.

The occasion was not exactly appropriate.

But Zheng Fan still could not help himself.

“Heh heh.”

(End of Chapter)