Chapter 263: A Joke

While the Yan people were celebrating the Wanfú Festival, inside the royal tent of the savage army, a gaunt-faced man sat upon a couch covered in snow-wolf hide.

The fingers of his left hand lightly traced the scar across his face.

His eyes were thoughtful.

He was the king of the savages.

It was difficult to tell his age from his appearance, because more than ten years ago, he had looked almost exactly as he did now.

Even Angda, who had once traveled the world beside him, had long since begun showing frost at his temples.

But on the King, time itself seemed to have stopped.

The Yan people had come.

Then Quemu and Angda were most likely already dead.

The King reached out, picked up the cup before him, and took a sip of cold tea.

It was poor-quality tea.

The military men of Beifeng Commandery liked this sort of thing.

Bitter.

Astringent.

It even scraped slightly at the throat.

Much like the wind and sand of the northern frontier.

The King had learned to drink tea back then, and he had kept the habit ever since.

By now, many generals and chieftains beneath him drank expensive, famous teas.

He still preferred this same cheap brew.

It was not because he wanted to “remember hardship and cherish sweetness.”

It was simply that once a habit became part of you, changing it felt like too much trouble.

The flap of the royal tent was lifted.

An old man entered, a string of skulls hanging around his neck.

He bowed respectfully, placed both hands before him, and said with complete sincerity, “My King.”

The King nodded and pointed toward the space below him.

“Sit.”

The old man sat down.

The savages called themselves the Holy Race.

They worshiped the stars.

They believed that deep within the brilliance of the heavens lay the realm of the gods, and that every devout savage, after death, would be guided there.

The envoys of the stars in the mortal world were called Guides.

Every tribe had its own Guide.

They were quite similar to the priests of the barbarians.

At the same time, beyond the usual business of acting like holy men, the Guide of each tribe normally held several additional jobs: physician, teacher, counselor, prophet, weather expert, and so on.

It was rather like the way elementary-school textbooks introduced historical figures by attaching an enormous string of labels after their names: statesman, thinker, scholar of this, scholar of that.

But although Sanghu wore the clothing of a Guide, he was not actually one.

Quite the opposite.

Long ago, after the Guides of his own tribe bullied and humiliated his family, Sanghu flew into a rage and slaughtered every Guide in the tribe.

Afterward, he spent more than twenty years wandering the snowfields as an outlaw.

He gathered a band of raiders around himself.

Ordinary savages could usually save their lives simply by obediently handing over a share of their cattle and sheep.

But whenever Sanghu encountered a Guide, that person was invariably tortured to death.

Because of this, he became the common enemy of countless tribes across the snowfields.

After all, what Sanghu challenged was not merely a few holy men.

He openly challenged the entire ruling order of the snowfields.

Did the ruling families of the truly great tribes actually believe the legends told by the Guides?

They knew perfectly well that whether they themselves believed did not matter.

What mattered was that the tribesmen below them believed.

After the King rose, his radiance spread across the snowfields.

Sanghu led more than a thousand old brothers who had followed him through life and death for over ten years and came to join the King.

Sanghu said, “I am guilty.”

The King answered, “Yes. You are.”

Then the King had him put on the robes of a Guide.

He made Sanghu the representative of all the Guides beneath his rule.

Later, the King had once asked him, “Do you still hate it?”

Sanghu had answered, “No.

“It is only a joke.”

He had spent half his life slaughtering Guides and committing the most outrageous offenses against them.

Yet in the end, he had nearly become the supreme head of all the Guides across the snowfields.

If that was not a joke, what was?

After Sanghu sat down, the King asked, “Have the Jin people at Snow Sea Pass made any moves?”

Sanghu replied, “None whatsoever.”

The King continued stroking the scar on his face.

“They were making noise constantly before.

“And now there is suddenly no reaction at all.”

“My King believes the Jin people have already learned that the Yan army entered the snowfields?”

“You think all the tribes beneath us are of one heart with us?

“Someone will always run off to inform them.”

“They should be killed.”

“It does not matter.

“This is nothing worth getting angry over.

“The Jin people have operated upon the snowfields for centuries.

“If they could not even receive news from here, that would not mean the Jin were incompetent.

“It would mean we were far too stupid—so stupid that such incompetent Jin people managed to suppress us for hundreds of years without allowing us to raise our heads.

“Besides, even if none of the tribes betrayed the news, since the Yan people have already dispatched troops, how could they possibly fail to notify the Jin?”

“So the Jin people already know the Yan army has come.”

“Yes.”

“This subordinate truly cannot understand why the Yan people would travel a thousand li into the snowfields.

“Did Yan and Jin not only just finish fighting each other?”

The King smiled.

“The tribes of the snowfields attack and annex one another constantly in ordinary times.

“But whenever the Jin people invade in force, those same tribes quickly form an alliance to resist them.”

“This subordinate understands half of it.”

“And the other half?”

“Our savages only unite when disaster threatens to wipe us out.

“But Yan and Jin face no such catastrophe.”

“Mm.”

“My King?”

“That is why, although we call ourselves the Holy Race, the people outside call us savages.

“Because we remain uncivilized.

“And indeed—we are uncivilized.”

Sanghu lowered his head and fell silent.

It was racial contempt.

No one felt comfortable hearing contempt directed at his own people.

And this time, it had come from their King.

“A beast hunts when it is hungry.

“It drinks when thirsty.

“When the season comes, it breeds.

“It follows water and pasture.

“Once its belly is full, it lies beneath the sun.

“Our Holy Race is not truly so different from beasts.

“Only when catastrophe reaches our heads do we think of forming a temporary alliance.

“The Yan people face no such catastrophe.

“Yet they already know how to plan ahead.”

“This subordinate understands.”

“There is no need to rush.

“Rice must be eaten one mouthful at a time.

“A road must be walked one step at a time.

“Our people have been trapped upon these snowfields for far, far too long.

“So long that the vision of the entire race has become far too narrow.”

“Then the Yan people...”

“The Yan people are difficult to deal with.

“The army that came this time is the Jingnan Army.

“And that southern Marquis of theirs is personally commanding it.

“Yan has two great cavalry armies.

“One is the Zhenbei Army.

“The other is the Jingnan Army.

“Yan has two great Marquises.

“One is the Marquis of Zhenbei.

“The other is the Marquis of Jingnan.

“But to speak plainly—the Marquis of Zhenbei is powerful because the Zhenbei Army is powerful.

“The Jingnan Army is powerful because the Marquis of Jingnan is powerful.

“Beifeng Commandery borders the desert.

“The young men of Yan there put on armor and mount horses while still young, then ride out to fight barbarians directly.

“A blade sharpened for a hundred years will naturally be terrifyingly sharp.

“The Jingnan Army, however, had never experienced any great wars before.

“Yet after the Marquis of Jingnan took command and spent more than ten years shaping it, when the campaign into Jin came, it performed no worse than the Zhenbei Army.

“Ah...

“That is why this King has always believed that, on the surface, the Marquis of Zhenbei stands first among Yan’s military commanders.

“But in truth, the Marquis of Jingnan is the real God of War of the State of Yan.”

“Why are the Yan people helping the Jin this time?”

“The Yan people want to become the next common sovereign after Great Xia.

“At the beginning, this King sent word to that old patriarch of the Situ Clan.

“I offered to join hands with him against Yan.

“That old bastard agreed.

“But no one expected Situ Lei to directly summon the Sword Saint of Jin, take him into the imperial palace, kill his own father, and seize the throne.

“Then the moment he ascended, instead of dealing with the Yan people, he ignored them and personally led an army onto the snowfields.

“Whether Situ Lei knew he could not defeat Yan and simply gave up trying, or whether he deliberately wanted to show Yan that they were brothers standing together against an external enemy—this King does not know.

“Perhaps no one knows except Situ Lei himself.

“But his attitude is already obvious.

“He does not wish to fight Yan.

“He is even willing to stand half a head lower than that Emperor of Yan in Yanjing.

“To put it nicely—he wishes to guard the northeastern snowfields on behalf of the descendants of Great Xia.”

“Then why did he still proclaim himself emperor?”

“It makes bargaining easier later.

“That is how business works.

“When this King used to travel with merchant caravans, we used the same tricks.”

“So the Jin people at Snow Sea Pass will come out to reinforce the Yan army?”

“They absolutely will.

“The Jin people do not have the standing to sit on the bank and watch the fire.

“According to the tribes that have fled back from the west, the Yan people have burned, killed, looted, and committed every manner of evil across the western snowfields.

“Many great tribes have already been shattered by them.

“The Jin understand perfectly well that if this southern Marquis of Yan dies upon the snowfields, then on one hand they will face the fury of the Emperor of Yan.

“On the other hand, after the Yan people have cleared away all those disobedient great tribes in the western snowfields for this King, this King’s power will completely seize control of the region.

“The pressure upon Jin will become even greater.

“Most importantly, this so-called State of Dacheng was founded less than a year ago.

“Its emperor personally led an expedition and then suffered defeat after defeat.

“In truth, even if the Yan people had never come, the Jin would still have been desperate to march out through the pass and attack again.

“In their eyes, face is worth more than cattle, sheep, and the lives of their warriors.”

“My King, along the Snow Sea Pass line, this subordinate will lead your most loyal warriors and hold them back for you.

“My King can free your hands and deal with this southern Marquis of Yan.”

“How many troops have we gathered here now?”

“Close to forty thousand.

“Another twenty thousand can gather by tomorrow.

“They are all the finest warriors beneath Your Majesty.”

“Good.

“Beginning tomorrow night, withdraw them in batches.

“Leave only ten thousand warriors here for this King.

“You and the rest will all go to Snow Sea Pass.

“When the Jin people emerge, devour every last one of them.”

“My King, with only ten thousand warriors left here, how could you possibly defeat the Yan people?

“This...”

The King yawned.

“My royal tent is here.

“Add ten thousand warriors to it.

“For that southern Marquis of Yan, that should count as a respectable main dish.

“It is enough hospitality for guests who have come from so far away.

“That southern Marquis wants to come here and kill people.

“This King will simply offer people up for him to kill.

“As for us, so long as we devour the Jin army that dares march out this time, Snow Sea Pass will naturally fall afterward.

“No matter how skilled the Yan people are at war, they cannot possibly exterminate the entire Holy Race.

“Only by breaking Snow Sea Pass can the sky above the Holy Race become broad again.”

“My King, for you, this is far too...”

“Do not worry.

“I am not an idiot like Quemu or Angda.

“At the critical moment, I will have these ten thousand warriors cover my retreat.”

“But...”

“Go.”

“This subordinate understands.

“My King, please take care.

“This subordinate will break Snow Sea Pass and wait for Your Majesty’s return!”

Sanghu left.

Inside the royal tent, the King was once again alone.

He reached beneath the fur couch and took out a delicate little box.

He opened it.

Inside was a tiny embroidered shoe belonging to a little girl.

The King carefully cradled the shoe in his palms.

He brought it close to his nose and inhaled deeply.

An intoxicated expression immediately appeared on his face.

“So fragrant...”

Then, almost unconsciously, the King raised a hand and touched the scar upon his face the scar left more than ten years ago.

He murmured to himself, “I heard... you’re about to marry.”

There was not the slightest trace of loneliness on the King’s face.

Instead, he began chuckling.

“Heh heh heh...”

Then he muttered to himself again, “Wait for me.

“I’ll come steal you away.”

[End of Chapter 263]