Chapter 322: The Mistress

Situ Yi and Situ Jiong were tied up.

Situ Jiong kept crying and begging for mercy.

Situ Yi, meanwhile, cursed without pause.

He cursed his father for having been blind back then, unable to see that the concubine-born son harbored wolfish ambition and was a treacherous bastard.

He cursed the Savage King, Little Dog, saying that if not for him, something once lower than a dog could never have reached its present position, yet now had repaid kindness with betrayal.

He cursed the people of Chu for occupying the nest like a cuckoo and stealing the Situ Clan’s territory.

He cursed the Yan for exhausting their people with endless warfare and swore that no good end awaited them.

At last, a great vat filled to the brim was carried over and placed in front of him.

Situ Yi stopped cursing.

He began begging loudly for mercy.

He wept and pleaded with Zheng Fan not to execute him in this manner.

Because if he died this way, he would quite literally “leave a stench for ten thousand years.”

The fiercer his cursing had been before, the more sincere his pleading became now.

Zheng Fan was deeply moved.

So he ordered firewood piled beneath the vat and set alight.

What surprised Zheng Fan slightly was that the Sword Saint was nowhere to be seen during the execution.

When Zheng Fan found him, the Sword Saint was standing behind a rockery in the courtyard, wiping Longyuan with withered blades of grass.

“I thought you’d enjoy watching,” Zheng Fan said.

The Sword Saint shook his head.

Then he nodded.

“It is indeed satisfying.”

Punishing the Situ brothers this way truly did vent one’s anger.

The Sword Saint also admired Zheng Fan for even thinking of such a method.

“Then why aren’t you standing there watching?”

“The smell is a little strong.”

“That’s true.”

“Besides, I can hear them perfectly well from here.”

“Mm.”

The Sword Saint slid Longyuan back into its sheath.

“Executing Situ Yi this way— will it create trouble for you?”

“As long as you’re happy and feel your anger has been vented, whatever trouble I face doesn’t really matter.”

“Truly?”

“Absolutely.”

“He did sit upon a Dragon Throne.”

“What the hell does he count as?”

“Heh.”

The Sword Saint stood.

“I killed to my heart’s content today.”

“Then make sure you recover properly while you have the chance.

“That was only an appetizer.

“The savages ahead are the real enemy.”

Zheng Fan deliberately did not mention the people of Chu.

If he wanted to coax the Sword Saint, he naturally had to speak according to the Sword Saint’s own values.

Strictly speaking, from the Sword Saint’s perspective, how much difference was there between Yan entering Jin and Chu entering Jin?

Ah.

There was one difference.

Chu had actually chosen to cooperate with the savages.

But fundamentally, there was not much difference at all.

“A sword grows sharper the more it is honed.”

“I like hearing that.”

Zheng Fan smiled.

“In the end, I am not a Yan man.

“My sword can be borrowed.

“But it will not be given away.”

The Sword Saint was laying down his boundaries in advance.

Clearly, General Zheng’s flattery had become so pervasive that it seeped into every crack.

Faced with this much enthusiasm, the Sword Saint felt he needed to prepare some safeguards beforehand.

Once before, another swordsman had made similar preparations around Zheng Fan.

Hero Chen.

Truthfully, Zheng Fan liked dealing with honest people.

Hero Chen was an honest man through and through.

The Sword Saint was not exactly honest in the strictest sense, but someone who rigidly followed his own code of conduct was equally rare in this world.

Before Dujuan died, she had dared entrust her child to the Sword Saint.

That itself was the greatest possible recognition.

*You are my enemy, yet I am certain you would never harm a child.*

“You jest.

“I may practice the saber, but I also admire the sword.

“I am Yan.

“You are Jin.

“Although, from the broader trend of things, Jin will eventually enter Yan, I can promise you this: your sword will only ever be pointed at savages.”

“Truly?”

“Oh.

“This time is a slight exception.

“Since Chu dared defy the command of the Great Xia Son of Heaven and join hands with the savages to slaughter people of the same house, I think they deserve a lesson.

“But in the future, whether I lead troops into the State of Qian or into Chu, you need not participate.”

“Acceptable.”

The Sword Saint agreed.

“One more condition.”

“Speak.”

“After the war, you’ll probably return to Shengle and start a family.

“If you want to keep serving as a city guard, you can keep doing that.

“If you want to resign and enjoy family life, that’s fine too.

“Either works.

“But I ask only one thing.

“For the sake of being neighbors, if someone ever secretly slips into Shengle trying to kill me, please give me a hand.”

The Sword Saint smiled and nodded.

“Acceptable.”

“Good.

“Then that’s settled.”

“That’s all?”

“You know me.

“I’m afraid of dying.

“Very afraid.

“So if you live in Shengle in the future, I’ll sleep much more soundly at night.”

A bottom line was something you broke through one step at a time.

Slowly.

No hurry.

At the very least, with Sha Tuo Queshi lying beneath his house and a Sword Saint living next door, General Zheng felt that so long as he stayed inside Shengle City, even several Martial Grandmasters trying to assassinate him would probably leave empty-handed.

“You keep listening from here.

“I’ll go outside and take a look around.”

“You created the whole spectacle yourself, yet you won’t watch it?”

Zheng Fan shook his head.

“I’m soft-hearted.

“I can’t stand watching living things die.”

For a moment, the Sword Saint had absolutely nothing to say.

A grand performance was unfolding inside the residence.

Whether it was pleasant to watch was another matter.

But it certainly smelled awful.

Accompanied by A’Ming and Fan Li, Zheng Fan went directly to the city wall and found Liang Cheng.

Liang Cheng first reported their casualties.

There genuinely had not been many.

But what Zheng Fan cared about most was the loot.

Fortunately, Fengxin was a bandit den.

From Situ Yi, the so-called “emperor,” all the way down to the rebel commanders beneath him, once they had lost every meaningful goal in life, all that remained was grabbing wealth.

The storerooms of the mansions inside the city were packed full.

Every last bit of it was the blood and sweat of the common people, wrapped in layers of cruelty and wickedness.

But thanks to Situ Yi and his people having already gathered everything together once, Zheng Fan’s own looting and confiscation became extremely convenient.

There was another reason the wealth was so abundant.

Although the Chu people had forcibly occupied Yupan City, they had ultimately chosen not to completely tear away the last layer of courtesy with Situ Yi, their puppet emperor.

Perhaps they simply felt there was no benefit in doing so.

So when Situ Yi’s petty court left Yupan City to make room, they had hauled all the wealth they had plundered with them to Fengxin in cart after cart.

The sheer amount was extremely impressive.

“Find some nearby river valley or mountain ravine.

“Then select barbarian troops and hide the wealth there,” Zheng Fan ordered.

This was practically a Shengle tradition.

During their first southern campaign into the State of Qian, they had done exactly the same thing.

Hide the loot somewhere first.

After the war, use merchant caravans or some other method to retrieve it and transport it back.

Why were there so many legends in later generations about Zhang Xianzhong’s treasure or the Roaming King’s hidden wealth?

This was the reason.

When roving rebel armies moved from place to place, they often had no way to immediately transport all the treasure they plundered.

So they buried it locally for later recovery, or as capital for a future comeback.

The difference was that in the old days, Siniang needed to keep the accounts.

This time Siniang was not here.

And because the Shengle Army had come out entirely on its own, there was no need to keep any complicated ledger at all.

“There are also surrendered soldiers and those civil and military officials of Situ Yi’s new dynasty who failed to escape,” Liang Cheng said.

“How should we handle them?”

“Release them.

“But only after we leave.”

Zheng Fan yawned.

The wind atop the city wall was strong and a little cold.

“This subordinate heard that Master intends to drown the Situ brothers in a cesspit?”

“They’re probably being slow-cooked by now.”

“Master, doing something like this— could it perhaps...”

“You’re questioning me?”

“This subordinate would not dare.”

“Heh.

“Fine.

“Then I’ll explain it to you.

“First, guess why I’m doing this.”

“To make the Sword Saint happy?” A’Ming asked.

Zheng Fan shook his head.

“That counts as one reason.

“But it isn’t the main reason.

“Put it this way.

“Li Bao died in battle.

“There are still twenty thousand Zhenbei Army troops in Quhe City, but they’re effectively leaderless now.

“Back then, the Yan court assigned Quhe City to Li Bao and Litian City to the Marquis of Jingnan.

“Now that Li Bao is gone, doesn’t Quhe City’s defense need to be reassigned?

“And after the Marquis of Jingnan finishes this battle, won’t rewards have to be distributed?

“The Marquis himself may not care about further honors.

“He has already reached the point where there is almost nothing left to grant him.

“Even if they place some princely title outside the imperial clan on his head, all it really changes is the way people address him.

“But the Jingnan Army beneath him has to be rewarded.

“If they aren’t, even if the Marquis himself does not rebel, the Jingnan Army will start grumbling first.

“Failing to reward merit has always been a military taboo.

“So wouldn’t it be perfectly natural to carve up Quhe City among the Chief Commanders beneath the Jingnan Army?

“Even if Quhe City remains intact and another Zhenbei Army commander takes over, or the court sends someone else to replace Li Bao, then they’ll still have to carve out another stretch of Dacheng territory and divide it among the Jingnan Army commanders.

“The Situ Clan can be allowed to retain Yingdu.

“But if they think they can continue exercising real control over the surrounding regions, the Emperor of Yan will never agree.

“Shengle’s position is excellent.

“Quhe City lies not far to the west.

“To the east is the Situ Clan’s original territory.

“So whether they cut us a piece from the west or slice one from the east, we immediately fatten up.

“Which means in this war, we need to produce as many achievements as possible.

“In other words— packaging.

“Package ourselves.

“Build momentum for ourselves.

“Manufacture reputation for ourselves.

“What kind of stories do ordinary people like hearing?

“‘Zheng Fan captured Fengxin and killed the puppet emperor’?

“Not bad.

“It sounds good.

“But it’s missing a little flavor.

“So I’m adding some flavor.

“And it just so happens that the Yan army recently suffered a defeat at the Wang River.

“Both the common people and the imperial court desperately want a swift, overwhelming victory so they can vent their anger.

“What I’m doing is cooking them exactly the dish they want.

“As for why I’m sparing those surrendered soldiers and officials—

I need them to hurry up and spread the story for us.

“Free publicity.”

“So Master is doing all this to build reputation?”

“Mm-hm.

“More or less.

“We do six parts of work and blow it up into ten.

“So naturally we need to cater to the audience.

“What stories do the people like hearing?

“We perform those stories for them.

“As for exactly how many savages we kill or how many Chu soldiers we fight— that comes later.

“They actually won’t care nearly as much.

“Otherwise, during the conquest of Jin, why did the Yan common people sing praises of the Marquis of Zhenbei everywhere, yet barely tell stories about the Marquis of Jingnan?”

“Master’s foresight is profound.

“This subordinate admires you.”

“Master sees farther than any of us.

“This subordinate admires you.”

“Enough.

“Stop flattering me.

“The reason I’m deliberately doing all this— the reason I specifically took the risk of coming here is actually to earn some achievements early and place them in front of the Marquis of Jingnan.

“It’s easier to become an official when someone at court is looking after you.

“Otherwise, no matter how much you achieve, it may still mean nothing.

“And speaking fairly, I’ve realized the Marquis of Jingnan truly treats me very well now.

“First he gave me Longyuan.

“Then five thousand Jin troops.

“Then a promotion.

“Then he sent me a Pixiu.

“Heh.

“As long as we give the Marquis a good enough excuse, when the spoils are divided afterward, he will absolutely continue looking after me.

“While the iron is still hot, we should grab as much as we can.

“Don’t suddenly become thin-skinned now.

“Heaven knows whether we’ll ever get another shop like this once we leave this village behind.

“Wait.

“The more I say this, the stranger it sounds.

“Doesn’t this whole thing feel a little weird to you?”

“No,” Liang Cheng said.

“What’s weird about it?” A’Ming asked.

Fan Li answered:

“Like a mistress.”

[End of Chapter 322]