Chapter 255: Scar

There were herders on the snowfields.

For a very long time, the warhorses of the snowfields had been one of the most important sources of mounts for the cavalrymen of the Three Jin lands.

Before the two Marquises of Great Yan entered Jin, the Jin people had always believed their own cavalry could contend with Yan’s iron cavalry. One major reason was simple:

Jin did not lack horses.

In earlier years, those horses had been obtained through war and plunder.

Later, after the State of Yan beat the barbarians down and the eastern and western “Silk Roads” opened, everyone became more willing to sit down and do business instead.

Many Tamed Savage settlements living within the Tianduan Mountains did more than sell the “pet” demon beasts found there.

In reality, they also made a living as middlemen in the warhorse trade.

“The Savage King currently facing the Situ Clan first made his fortune through trade routes running across the Tianduan Mountains.

“Weapons, armor, and other military supplies all came through trade with Jin territory.

“Craftsmen, physicians, scholars—he gathered them all.

“That king even once came to Beifeng Commandery in Great Yan.

“According to the Secret Intelligence Department’s later investigation, there is a very high chance he spent six years in Beifeng Commandery as a servant under the Marquis of Zhenbei’s estate and as an auxiliary soldier in the Zhenbei Army.”

Auxiliary soldiers occupied a position somewhere between civilian laborers and regular troops.

When things were quiet, they performed part of the work normally assigned to laborers.

When war broke out, they had to be ready at any moment to go to the front and fight.

Zheng Fan had spent half a year in Beifeng Commandery himself and understood the local atmosphere.

Calling it a melting pot of many peoples was no exaggeration.

Different ethnic groups lived mixed together in complicated patterns, and there were even surrendered barbarians serving as low-ranking officers in the Zhenbei Army.

So there was nothing particularly unusual about a savage working under the Marquis of Zhenbei’s estate.

“He went there to steal their methods?” Zheng Fan asked in surprise.

“It cannot be confirmed absolutely. We can only say it is suspected.

“But there is a very high chance it is true.

“There are also traces showing that he went to the State of Qian afterward.

“He did not stay there long, however, and returned to Jin with the merchant caravan.”

“Would’ve been nice if he’d stayed in Qian a little longer,” Zheng Fan joked.

No matter how world-shaking a hero you were, spend long enough in Qian and even tempered steel would eventually become soft enough to wrap around a finger.

What surprised Zheng Fan, however, was that Yan’s Secret Intelligence Department had actually been willing to expend so much effort tracing the Savage King’s movements from years ago.

Just as Yao Zizhan had once said, the Silver-Armored Guard had always watched the six adult princes of Great Yan.

The people of Qian were constantly studying the personalities, tempers, and even… abilities of Yan’s princes.

That was a form of taking someone seriously.

And right now, the Yan court was clearly taking this Savage King extremely seriously.

“The Situ Clan’s current situation is not good.”

“They were defeated?” Zheng Fan asked, somewhat surprised.

The wild savages of the Tianduan Mountains had been so easy to fight that killing them was practically like chopping melons and vegetables.

Liang Cheng had probably already summarized an entire set of strategies for wiping out savage settlements.

The savages of the snowfields should certainly be stronger than those in the mountains, but surely not absurdly stronger.

Zheng Fan carved a large piece from the lamb leg roasting before him and handed it to the Marquis of Jingnan.

They were currently inside a herder’s tent.

They had paid silver to buy themselves a meal of “barbecue.”

This household probably belonged to a nearby savage tribe.

With spring arriving, they had driven their livestock outward in search of grazing land.

“When our army destroyed the Wenren and Helian Clans, Situ Lei—the Emperor of Dacheng—did not deliberately lead his main force northeast simply because he was too frightened to fight even a single battle.

“The frontier there was already in crisis.

“A force from the Situ Clan stationed in that region had suffered repeated savage raids.

“Their commander led troops out to strike back, only to fall into an ambush.

“The entire army was annihilated.

“The savages seized the opportunity to march south and captured three of the Situ Clan’s cities on the snowfields in succession.

“Even after Situ Lei personally led his army there, he immediately launched a campaign to retake those three cities.

“Perhaps because he had only just ascended the throne, he was even more desperate for a great victory.”

“He lost?” Zheng Fan asked curiously.

The Marquis of Jingnan nodded.

“He lost.

“Situ Lei himself was wounded.

“The Situ Clan’s forces suffered severe losses, and the remaining troops retreated to defend Snow Sea Pass.”

Zheng Fan knew the name Snow Sea Pass.

The Blind Man had mentioned it before.

Long ago, after Jin’s earliest settlers drove the savages out of the Three Jin lands, they built the pass there.

At the northeasternmost edge of Jin, the Tianduan Mountains no longer continued onward.

That left a vast stretch of open ground.

Unlike elsewhere in Jin, there was no mountain range there to directly separate the Jin people from the snowfields.

That was why Snow Sea Pass had been constructed.

But over the next several centuries, the Jin people kept expanding outward.

When they were in a good mood, they went out and beat savages.

When they were in a bad mood, they went out and beat savages to vent their anger.

Snow Sea Pass had long since ceased to mark the boundary of Jin’s actual control.

The Jin sphere of influence had already pushed far beyond the pass and swallowed up a vast stretch of the snowfields.

So the Situ Clan’s successive defeats were effectively vomiting back out territory that Jin’s ancestors had spent centuries expanding into.

And if Snow Sea Pass itself were breached, then the savage army could pour through the opening like locusts finding a gap and spread directly into the land beyond.

Perhaps noticing Zheng Fan’s expression grow more serious, Tian Wujing bit into the lamb and said while chewing, “The savages are not especially strong.

“The Situ Clan was careless.”

Zheng Fan nodded.

He trusted Tian Wujing’s judgment just as he trusted Liang Cheng’s.

“No matter what, the savages cannot compare with the barbarians,” Tian Wujing said.

Even now, when the barbarian Royal Court had fallen so far that a plucked phoenix was worse than a chicken, the problem was merely that the Royal Court had declined and could no longer unite the tribes.

The barbarians’ own combat strength was still terrifying.

There were quite a few barbarian soldiers in Zheng Fan’s force, and they were extremely useful.

By contrast, Zheng Fan still had not incorporated savages into his regular army.

For now, he only used them as laborers.

Even if he conscripted the savages who submitted to him for future wars, they would still serve only as auxiliary troops.

“However, the Situ Clan’s greatest difficulty right now is not the losses themselves.

“Although those two defeats were costly, they have not yet truly damaged the Situ Clan’s foundations.

“The real problem is that losing those cities allowed the savages to acquire even more armor, equipment, craftsmen, and population.

“Right now, both the savages’ strength and morale are at their peak.

“The Situ Clan’s army has been temporarily bottled up along the Snow Sea Pass line.

“They have attempted several probing advances, and every one of them has been beaten back.”

“So what we’re going to do is use a surprise force from Shengle City, head north through the Tianduan Mountains, enter the snowfields, then race east and strike the savages’ rear in order to reduce the pressure on the Situ Clan’s frontal battlefield?”

The Marquis of Jingnan shook his head.

“Then I ask the Marquis to enlighten me. This general is slow-witted.”

Tian Wujing raised his head slightly.

Then said slowly, “It is not a surprise force.

“And we are not doing this to ease the pressure on the Situ Clan’s front.”

“Then what are we doing?”

“Crushing them.”

“…”

Zheng Fan.

Zheng Fan suddenly felt as though he had become one of those throwaway supporting characters he used to casually draw into his comics for the sake of the plot.

His entire purpose was to hold a conversation with Tian Wujing, setting things up so Tian Wujing could deliver the final badass line.

Fine.

Fine.

It wasn’t enough that you yourself were absurdly strong.

You were even better at commanding armies.

If you say we’re going to crush them, then we’re going to crush them.

You’re amazing.

Applause.

Just then, a burst of footsteps came from outside the tent.

The herder household consisted only of an elderly couple and their grown son.

The son was not yet married.

Judging from the weight and number of those footsteps, however, several adult men were approaching.

Tian Wujing tossed the lamb bone in his hand onto the ground, pulled over a wool blanket, and wiped his hands.

“It seems that what you said earlier about their warmth and hospitality cannot be trusted.”

“Marquis, I was only trying to warn you.

“I used a rhetorical question.”

Earlier, Zheng Fan’s suggestion had been to simply kill the entire herder family.

That would have been the cleanest solution.

After all, the two of them were dressed far too conspicuously.

And because the Yan–Jin war before the New Year had disrupted trade routes that still had not fully recovered, the appearance of two strangers like them in this place was suspicious in itself.

The tent flap was pulled aside.

Three adult men entered.

The grown son of the herder couple remained outside, peering in.

Of the three who entered, one wore leather armor.

The other two wore only robes.

A scar ran across the left cheek of the armored man.

It looked recent.

“Jili guwaliya ya!!!”

The armored man pointed his saber at Zheng Fan and Tian Wujing and roared.

Zheng Fan answered him, “Wakashi wa kudo imasu!”

“…”

The armored man.

Tian Wujing looked at Zheng Fan with some interest.

“You speak the savage tongue?”

Zheng Fan modestly replied, “He’s asking whether we’re spies.”

“Oh.”

Tian Wujing nodded.

“City Defender Zheng truly is learned.”

Just as Zheng Fan was preparing to offer a few more modest words, Tian Wujing turned toward the armored man and spoke a string of words Zheng Fan could not understand.

The armored man and the other savages immediately changed expressions.

Clearly, they understood him.

“…”

Zheng Fan.

This was so fucking awkward.

Tian Wujing continued, “The savages inside the Tianduan Mountains are of mixed origins and speak many dialects.

“But the savages of the snowfields use a very ancient language.

“When the Son of Heaven of Great Xia dispatched the Yu Clan to open up the Three Jin lands, this language was already spoken there.

“It is one of the ancient tongues.”

“Marquis, you are the truly learned one.

“This general admires you.

“Truly, truly admires you.”

“Your translation was good.

“The meaning was correct.”

“Lucky guess.

“Pure luck…”

At that moment, the armored man and the other two savages raised their weapons and charged.

The next instant, Zheng Fan drew his saber.

His qi and blood erupted as he slashed directly at the armored man.

But at the same time, an overwhelming wave of force exploded outward.

Before Zheng Fan’s saber could even fall, all three savages—and the entire tent around everyone—were hurled backward together.

City Defender Zheng’s saber cut nothing but air.

The savages and the herder family slammed heavily to the ground.

They clutched their chests, faces twisted in pain.

“Finish them.”

Tian Wujing spoke.

“Yes.”

Zheng Fan walked over.

One saber stroke per person.

Like chopping firewood, he killed every savage lying wounded on the ground.

He left none alive.

Tian Wujing walked over slowly and pointed at the armored man’s corpse.

“He is one of the Savage King’s men.

“Or rather, one of his followers.

“That Savage King’s influence has actually already spread as far as this region.”

“Because of the scar on his face?”

“Yes.

“The Savage King has a scar in the same place on his own face.

“His followers believe it symbolizes courage and martial valor, so they have all imitated him.”

“I see.”

“You’ve met the Commandery Princess of the Marquis of Zhenbei’s estate, haven’t you?”

“This general has.”

“What do you think of her?”

“Dignified and graceful.

“A daughter of a great household.

“Noble beyond measure.”

After all, the Commandery Princess would one day become the man’s niece-in-law.

Naturally, Zheng Fan had to say something flattering.

“More than ten years ago, when the Commandery Princess was still a little girl, something went wrong while her beloved horse was being cared for.

“She had the groom whipped.

“When word reached the Old Madam, the Commandery Princess was reprimanded and confined for a month to reflect on her conduct.”

“Could it be…?”

Tian Wujing bent down.

He reached out and touched the scar on the corpse’s face.

Then nodded.

“The scar they believe symbolizes martial valor—was nothing more than the mark left all those years ago by one lash from that spoiled, willful little girl.”

[End of Chapter 255]