Chapter 202: The Deal

The coffin was hauled up onto the battlements and placed in the center of the eastern wall. Zheng Fan sat directly atop its lid, his saber lying beside him.

To outsiders, the sight was incomparably tragic and heroic. In wars fought with cold steel, whether the commanding general led from the front often had an enormous effect on the men beneath him.

Among the Zhenbei Army’s six formations, Li Fusheng’s was arguably the best at cracking hard targets. A large part of the reason was that whenever battle was joined, Li Fusheng loved charging at the very front. Naturally, the men under him would howl and follow, fighting to the death without retreat.

Zheng Fan was not suddenly trying to imitate Li Fusheng at the last minute.

Rather, Shatuo Queshi, lying inside that coffin, was currently his greatest trump card.

If the battle truly deteriorated beyond salvation, there would be no point hiding Shatuo Queshi any longer. Zheng Fan could simply call him out and have him carry him away.

While alive, Shatuo Queshi had repeatedly punched through formations of over a thousand Zhenbei Army iron cavalry. Now that he was dead and had become a zombie, his strength had probably declined, but if all he had to do was seize one weak point in the enemy formation and break out with Zheng Fan alone, the odds should still be fairly good.

As for the other Demon Kings, their view was simple.

As long as Zheng Fan survived, they could each find their own way to slip away afterward.

If worse came to worst and one of them died, then so be it.

No matter what, that was still better than Zheng Fan dying and causing everyone to drop dead together.

The Situ Clan’s army had already arrived beneath the walls.

Judging from its appearance, this force was indeed formidable, carrying the bearing of a strong army.

It was said that when the Scarred-Face Chancellor was still alive, he had once said that soldiers were like blades.

Leave a blade sitting unused for too long and even the finest treasured saber would rust.

Even if one insisted on polishing it from time to time, a blade that had never tasted killing intent would remain nothing more than a pretty ornament, no matter how carefully it was maintained.

That was why, beginning with the Scarred-Face Chancellor, Qian’s Western Army had expanded its defensive zone southwestward to include the northern frontier.

It was meant to keep the blade sharp.

Just imagine the Yan army’s southern invasion this time.

Without the Western Army serving as Qian’s mainstay, the entire situation in Qian might already have collapsed.

There would have been no need for this so-called borrowing passage to attack Jin.

Following that logic, among Jin’s Three Great Clans, the Helian and Wenren Clans occupied the west.

The Helian Clan lay north of the Wenren Clan, while many smaller states lay to its south.

Thus, the Wenren Clan possessed the most comfortable geographic position. Sitting at the crossroads of the four great states, it enjoyed flourishing trade and little warfare.

Among the Three Great Clans, the Wenren Clan could be called the wealthiest.

The Helian Clan bordered the Heavenbreak Mountain Range to the north, but because that stretch of mountains also bordered Yan, there had long been relatively few wild-men settlements there.

Aside from guarding against Yan, the Helian Clan rarely had much occasion to mobilize troops.

Even against Yan, they normally would not have dared provoke it lightly had they not believed they had found an excellent opportunity this time.

The Situ Clan was different.

Not only were there numerous wild-men settlements in the Heavenbreak Mountain Range to its north, but farther northeast, across the vast frozen snowfields, lived even more wild-men tribes.

If the threat posed by Jin’s wild men were divided into ten shares, the Situ Clan alone bore seven or eight of them.

And to the south, the Situ Clan bordered Chu.

The two sides had spent years trading blows whenever they found an opportunity.

Its troops were constantly being mobilized and kept prepared for war, and the enemies they faced were not peasant rebels.

An army raised under such conditions could hardly avoid becoming fierce.

This was probably one reason the Yan Emperor had wanted to make peace with the old Situ Clan Head after the first stage of the campaign ended.

At that moment, a cavalry unit carrying ceremonial banners emerged from the Situ army and rode directly toward the walls.

Zheng Fan raised a hand, signaling his men not to loose arrows.

He was familiar with this sort of work.

He had done it himself beneath Upper Capital.

Compared with his own ragtag performance back then, however, this group was clearly much more formal.

There was even a civil official in a red robe overseeing the delegation.

He held a yellow scroll in his hands.

Presumably, it was an imperial edict.

“His Majesty, Emperor of Great Cheng, has issued a decree! This mobilization is not intended to wage war against Yan. We seek only to seize the false Emperor of Jin and punish him for bringing calamity upon the Three Jin lands!”

Perhaps because he had considered the limited literacy of common soldiers, the Cheng official did not recite the edict in flowery classical language.

Instead, he shouted out the meaning in his own words.

Zheng Fan smiled.

The Situ Clan might regard Yu Ciming as a false Emperor, but the Yan Emperor recognized his status as Emperor of Jin.

How could Zheng Fan possibly hand him over?

From a Jin perspective, Yu Ciming truly was a traitorous Emperor who had opened the gates to foreign invaders.

But only children insisted on dividing everyone into good people and bad people.

Adults cared about where their own ass was sitting.

“Master, perhaps we should stall for time,” Liang Cheng said.

“Unless their commander is an idiot, he won’t believe us,” Zheng Fan replied.

“What if he really is an idiot?”

“Fine.”

Zheng Fan leaned out from behind the battlement and shouted, “We must first seek instructions from His Majesty, Emperor of Great Yan!”

There was no need to say anything more.

The more one said, the more chances there were to make a mistake.

The civil official was no fool either.

“Then we shall await your favorable reply!”

With that, he pulled on the reins and turned back.

Whether the Situ Clan believed the delaying tactic or not, they probably did not.

Their army immediately began making camp while cutting down nearby trees to prepare siege equipment.

Against an ordinary small fortress with few defenders, one unit of archers could suppress the walls while a vanguard climbed up and took the place.

But this fortified manor was not particularly small.

Furthermore, because of the recent war and Yan’s invasion of Jin, the old manor lord had specifically reinforced and heightened its walls for self-protection.

Now, between Zheng Fan’s troops and the two or three hundred personal guards Yu Ciming had brought back, there were two thousand fighting men inside, not even counting the able-bodied men of the manor.

No matter how aggressively the Situ Clan had arrived, unless they intended to pile their own corpses high enough to reach the top of the walls, they could not simply order a mindless frontal assault.

“Back in Qian, walls like these gave us one hell of a headache. Now the walls are on our side and the enemy is mostly cavalry. Feels pretty good.”

Zheng Fan laughed as he joked with Liang Cheng.

“Master is right. In the future, our army will also need a permanent infantry force, and not a small one. We’ll need them for taking cities.”

“Mm.”

At that moment, the Blind Man quietly climbed onto the battlements and came over.

“Blind Man, what have you been busy with down there all this time?” Zheng Fan asked.

When something major happened, each Demon King had his own responsibilities and immediately slipped into his role.

Earlier, the Blind Man had been calming the people below.

That should have ended long ago.

Yet night had already fallen before he finally came up.

Truthfully, Zheng Fan knew perfectly well that Liang Cheng was the best military commander among the Demon Kings.

But whenever trouble arose and that old schemer was not standing beside him, he really did feel somewhat less secure.

“Master, this subordinate spent some time among the Jin Emperor’s personal guards earlier and managed to draw out a little information.”

“Oh? What is it?” Zheng Fan asked curiously.

“This subordinate feels there is a slight problem.”

“A problem?”

“Yes. After the Jin Emperor separated from us, his stop tonight should have been Xinsu City. His next stop after that would have been his Feudal State in the Capital Region.”

“And?” Zheng Fan suddenly felt something was wrong.

“Xinsu City has a Great Yan garrison. Moreover, one of the Marquis of Jingnan’s Commanders-in-Chief is stationed there.

“But when this subordinate questioned those guards, I learned that as they were approaching Xinsu City, the Situ Clan’s army suddenly charged out from outside the city and prevented their column from entering.”

“That’s good news. It means that even if our own messengers can’t break out, Xinsu City will certainly send word to the Yan army about what’s happening here.”

“No, Master. What this subordinate means is this:

“If Xinsu City remains in Yan hands, then how did the Situ Clan army before us manage to approach the city completely unnoticed?

“More than ten thousand cavalry can perhaps conceal themselves while moving through wilderness and mountain valleys.

“Even when the Marquis of Jingnan and Marquis of Zhenbei entered Jin, their maneuver looked like a brilliant surprise attack. But without the Jin Emperor opening South Gate Pass and allowing the Yan army inside, if an actual battle had been fought, the Helian and Wenren Clans would certainly have received warning and responded.

“It would have been impossible to annihilate the elites of both clans in a single battle.”

At that point, the Blind Man turned toward Liang Cheng.

“Ah Cheng, don’t you find that strange?”

“Jin has only recently submitted. The people’s loyalties have not settled. That is why, when the Situ Clan raised troops, powerful families throughout the Three Jin lands responded and rapidly created momentum.

“But if Xinsu City has not fallen, concealing more than ten thousand cavalry nearby is nearly impossible.

“The Jingnan Army under the Marquis of Jingnan is renowned for strict discipline.

“An army like that could not possibly become careless enough to overlook something of this scale.”

Zheng Fan rubbed his aching temples.

“So what you’re saying is that the Jin Emperor was always meant to be a gift from the Yan Emperor to the Situ Clan?

“The Yan Emperor and that newly enthroned young Emperor of the Situ Clan already made some kind of under-the-table deal?”

If that were true then what the hell was Zheng Fan doing right now?

“Master, there is actually another possibility,” Liang Cheng said.

“Go on.”

“For decades, Xinsu City has permanently housed troops from the Wenren Clan, used to monitor the Capital Region. The city is now controlled by our Yan army.

“Let us approach this from another angle.

“If the Yan Emperor did not make a deal with the Situ Clan to hand over the Jin Emperor like a bargaining chip, and the Yan troops at Xinsu City did not deliberately turn a blind eye—then the only possibility is that this Situ Clan army had already been hiding near Xinsu City, in a place Yan scout riders could not conveniently enter or investigate.”

Zheng Fan immediately answered, “Hidden inside the Capital Region?”

“That is the only place where troops could be concealed without being discovered by the Yan forces in Xinsu City.

“Then, when the Jin Emperor’s procession was about to enter Xinsu City, with the time arranged in advance, the cavalry in the Capital Region could charge out beforehand.

“By the time the Yan forces in Xinsu City discovered them, they would have no way to react in time.”

Zheng Fan let out a dry chuckle.

“So the Jin Emperor directed and acted out a whole show about capturing himself?”

(End of Chapter)