Chapter 323: Praise General Zheng

“Ah, Li.”

“Here, Master.”

“Go see whether those two salted fish are properly cured yet.

“If they are, personally hang them from the city wall as an exhibit.”

“Yes, Master.”

Fan Li turned and left immediately.

Zheng Fan reached out and patted the battlement.

“So.

“What do we do next?”

Liang Cheng answered:

“Master, we have actually penetrated quite far already.”

The lands of the Three Jin were vast.

But Dacheng—the original sphere of the Situ Clan—had occupied less than half that territory to begin with.

In sheer scale, it was larger than either the Helian Clan or Wenren Clan individually, but still smaller than the two combined.

The Wang River flowed almost straight down from the Tianduan Mountains, cutting Dacheng in half.

The Shengle Army had already crossed the Wang River and penetrated more than a hundred li eastward.

They were already extremely far to the east.

A’Ming, standing nearby, said flatly:

“Wasn’t that obvious?”

Zheng Fan nodded.

“I understand.”

“...”

A’Ming.

With Fan Li gone, A’Ming suddenly felt that a new low point in intelligence had appeared here.

When someone who was normally cool and aloof suddenly discovered that he could not follow a conversation or understand what his companions were getting at, he tended to panic a little.

It was profoundly uncomfortable.

Fortunately, Zheng Fan immediately continued:

“In theory, it should be possible.

“But if we go too far, could it create some negative effect?”

Liang Cheng smiled.

“Master, the Marquis of Jingnan sent us across the river as an independent raiding force.

“He did not regard us as one specific tactical tool, nor did he impose any fixed objective upon us.

“His only requirement was that we preserve ourselves as much as possible, survive east of the river, and maintain the effect created simply by our continued existence.

“So in theory, no matter what kind of great battle eventually erupts around the Wang River, our army probably will not appear among the pieces the Marquis of Jingnan is counting on at his command table.”

The meaning was simple.

Since they were an independent raiding force, they might produce an astonishing result.

Or they might accomplish absolutely nothing.

They were a variable.

Given the Marquis of Jingnan’s style of command, once he had placed this piece on the board, it was placed.

When the frontal battle began, he would not naively sit there hoping this particular piece would suddenly produce a miracle.

So even if the Shengle Army stayed in Fengxin City doing nothing but wasting time and sunning itself, it would not truly affect the front-line battle.

A’Ming continued wearing a cold expression.

At the same time, he pulled out his wineskin and took a drink, trying to ease the awkwardness.

He still did not understand.

Zheng Fan spread both arms and stretched.

Then he asked Liang Cheng:

“Up, or down?”

“If we go down, the effect probably won’t be especially good.”

Zheng Fan smacked his lips.

“But if we go up, there’s a chance we won’t come back.”

A’Ming was now certain the two of them were doing this deliberately.

What surprised him even more was that, without his noticing, Zheng Fan had actually grown to this level.

The Master had somehow reached the point where A’Ming could listen to him talk about military affairs and experience that peculiar sensation of *I don’t understand any of this, but it sounds impressive.*

Then something even more uncomfortable happened.

Zheng Fan turned toward A’Ming.

“What do you think?”

*I don’t even know what ‘up’ and ‘down’ mean here. What the hell am I supposed to think?*

But he could not imitate that idiot Fan Li, scratch his head with an honest smile, and admit he had no idea.

So A’Ming could only say:

“Both have their merits.

“In the end, Master should make the decision.”

Then, in order to escape this vortex of embarrassment, A’Ming added:

“Master, my wineskin is almost empty.

“I’ll go fill it with blood.”

After a great battle, blood was the cheapest drink there was.

Remaining here any longer would become unbearably awkward.

So A’Ming used the Blood Escape Technique.

Zheng Fan continued talking with Liang Cheng.

“Going down toward Chu’s border and wandering around there would actually be the safest option.”

“But Master should remember something.

“Since the Azure Luan Army was able to come north, that proves the passes the Situ Clan originally used to defend against Chu have already fallen into Chu hands.

“If our army goes south, there is no guarantee we can even pass those defenses.

“And even if we do, once we penetrate Chu territory, it will be difficult to gain much advantage.

“Of course, if the only goal is to show our faces there and build some reputation, the effect might be decent.”

“I understand.

“If Chu’s city walls stop us cold, that would be embarrassing.

“And although Chu sent only the Azure Luan Army into this war, the state may still be fighting internally, but it clearly isn’t as chaotic and helpless as it looks from the outside.”

“Exactly.

“If we go up instead and approach the Snow Sea Pass line, the pressure we place on the savages will become enormous.

“What the Savage King is doing now is simple.

“On one side, he is recruiting warriors from the snowfields and bringing them south through the pass to replenish his front-line forces.

“On the other, he is transporting the population, wealth, and other things he has plundered back into the snowfields.

“His public claim may be that this land is the ancestral homeland where the Holy Race originated, and therefore must be defended at all costs.

“But anyone knows how to preserve his principal investment.

“The Chu Azure Luan Army occupying the Yupan City line is more like a nail driven into the battlefield.

“Its very existence exerts enormous strategic restraint.

“This subordinate believes that even if we cut Chu’s grain route, the Chu army inside Yupan City may still refuse to come out.

“They themselves are, in a sense, an isolated army just like us.

“As for whether Chu will send further reinforcements north, this subordinate believes that unless the front collapses completely, or the new Emperor of Chu has already pacified the internal disorder, Chu probably will not add more troops in the short term.

“Which means our value in remaining here may no longer be very great.”

Hearing this, Zheng Fan nodded and picked up the thread.

“And there’s another advantage to going north.

“Aren’t the savages constantly transporting everything they plunder back toward the snowfields?

“Then let them do the work for us.

“We’ll intercept it.”

When it came to plundering, there truly were not many people more professional than the savages.

Because the Sword Saint was traveling with them, and because the Emperor of Yan intended to govern this land rather than destroy it completely, even if Zheng Fan wanted to loot, he still had to pay some attention to appearances.

The savages did not.

They scraped the ground three feet deep.

Rumor had it they even dug open tombs.

If Zheng Fan could seize all of that wealth from them, then for a very long time afterward Shengle would no longer need to worry about anything resembling a fiscal crisis.

Once enough loot accumulated, they could find a place to bury and hide it.

Their party included Xue San, a master of mechanisms, together with Liang Cheng, a great zombie who was frequently buried underground.

So their skill at hiding things was unquestionably first-rate.

Even if Mojin Commanders or Xieling Strongmen came searching, finding the caches would be extremely difficult.

Naturally, all of this depended on one prerequisite:

Yan ultimately had to defeat the savages and recover the entire Jin territory.

But Zheng Fan trusted that with the Marquis of Jingnan commanding the war, victory was inevitable.

Going north meant there was an extremely high probability they would run into savage troops.

If you went around stabbing the savages in the ass, their reaction would naturally be enormous.

But without entering the tiger’s den, how could one seize the tiger cub?

Any business that truly made enormous money usually required you to hang your own head from your belt before you could start.

Even so, Zheng Fan proposed:

“Let’s stay in Fengxin for three days first.

“One reason is to let the troops rest.

“The other is to see how Chu reacts.”

“Master is wise.”

“Fine.

“Then that’s settled.

“But notify Xue San.

“He can move ahead first, circle north, and open the army’s eyes for us.”

“This subordinate understands.”

Zheng Fan let out a long breath.

Then he said leisurely:

“Even though we’ve decided on the route, I still feel a little uneasy.

“Are we being too reckless?”

“We don’t have much we cannot afford to lose.

“Even if we truly lose, we can rise again.

“Master need not worry.

“Treat it as nothing more than a game.

“To say something unpleasant, even if the State of Yan itself disappeared, we could take off our armor and return to ordinary life.

“At worst, we open another inn.”

“Heh.

“Truthfully, sometimes I really think that if we had simply stayed in Tiger Head City and kept running the inn, our lives might not have been as exciting as they are now, but they would have possessed a certain peace.”

“We might already have died in the laborer camp.”

That single sentence destroyed the mood of reminiscence.

Zheng Fan nodded.

He sighed.

“That’s true.”

Seeing Zheng Fan fall silent, Liang Cheng turned to leave.

But Zheng Fan spoke again.

“A’Cheng.

“From here on, I’m relying on you.”

Liang Cheng looked slightly surprised.

He turned back toward Zheng Fan.

“Master, why say something like that?”

“I do not believe you are inferior to Tian Wujing.

“Not in personal strength.

“Not in leading troops.”

That was the truth.

The upper limits of every Demon King were terrifying.

Liang Cheng was not inferior to Tian Wujing.

The difference lay with Zheng Fan himself.

Above the Marquis of Jingnan stood the State of Yan and the Emperor of Yan.

Above Liang Cheng stood Shengle and Zheng Fan.

In terms of strength, Liang Cheng himself was still far from recovering his full power, largely because he remained restricted by his Master.

So put simply, the difference between Liang Cheng and the Marquis of Jingnan was that Liang Cheng had a Master who was constantly dragging him down.

Liang Cheng nodded.

“A’Cheng.

“We only have this many troops right now.

“Same old rule.

“You decide how the battle is fought.

“All the publicity and packaging I spoke about earlier ultimately still needs real battlefield results beneath it.

“A hundred years ago, the first Marquis of Zhenbei became famous in a single battle.

“There is no reason we cannot do the same.”

Liang Cheng smiled.

“Master, rest assured.

“Ten thousand cavalry are already enough to accomplish many things.”

Zheng Fan walked up to Liang Cheng.

As usual, he reached out and began patting his shoulder.

“Same as what you just told me.

“Don’t be afraid of losing our entire foundation.

“If it’s destroyed, we’ll earn it back.

“Why work so hard to make money if not to spend it freely at the critical moment?”

“I understand, Master.”

...

“Burn all the grain!”

Jin Shuke commanded his men.

They had just routed a small Dacheng rebel convoy returning from the east with grain it had plundered.

Heaven knew how this group’s luck had become so terrible.

Somehow, they had failed to encounter any of their fellow rebels who had fled Fengxin earlier.

They continued stupidly and single-mindedly toward the city, only to be shattered by a charge from the two hundred cavalrymen under Jin Shuke.

No one could be bothered chasing the fugitives.

But the grain they had plundered had to be destroyed.

The grain stores inside Fengxin City had received exactly the same treatment.

To sustain the petty court’s feasting and consumption, the rebels under Situ Yi had ravaged the surrounding region relentlessly.

It was a bandit den, after all.

If everyone wanted to spend their days eating meat in great chunks and drinking wine by the bowl, then someone had to be robbed.

The city granaries actually held a considerable amount of grain.

But grain was different from wealth.

Gold, silver, and valuables were easy to store and hide.

Grain was not.

The Shengle Army needed to keep moving.

So after retaining everything it could carry, it burned the rest.

Several cavalry detachments were even sent to break open fortified estates around Fengxin and burn their stored grain, doing everything possible to push the region toward famine.

All of this was done behind the Sword Saint’s back.

But the Sword Saint appeared to have anticipated it.

Zheng Fan had also warned him beforehand.

So during this period, the Sword Saint stayed inside his tent in the military camp, meditating and recovering.

He did not go outside.

Jin Shuke reached over and patted the First Prince on the shoulder.

He smiled.

“Honored sir, your wounds aren’t a problem, are they?”

The First Prince nodded.

“Nothing serious.”

He had been injured during the battle to seize the gate.

The wounds had not fully healed.

They might affect him in combat, but they did not interfere much with ordinary movement.

He was a Martial Artist, after all.

His body could take abuse.

Jin Shuke raised his saber and shouted toward his men:

“Move faster!

“Once the grain is burned, we scout farther north!”

“We’re going north?”

The First Prince had continued obediently serving as a Lieutenant Commander.

The stingy General Zheng genuinely treated him like an ordinary Lieutenant Commander too, absolutely refusing to let him enter the command tent and touch Shengle’s military authority.

So the First Prince knew nothing about the army’s broader strategy.

Jin Shuke answered:

“I don’t know either.

“But I’d guess so.

“The General ordered us to scout farther north.

“We’ll need to be more careful from here.”

They truly did.

Because if they continued north, they would enter savage-controlled territory.

Over the next several days, the First Prince witnessed just how cautious this barbarian commander named Jin Shuke could be.

Jin Shuke constantly mocked the savages, calling them sons of little slave girls.

But once he actually entered the battlefield, every decision he made displayed painstaking caution.

The spread of his scouts.

The concealment of the column while marching.

The arrangement of the camp at night.

Every detail was handled meticulously.

All this experience came from Jin Shuke’s life in the desert.

Back then, his enemies had been other barbarian tribes or the Zhenbei Army.

Now, they had merely been replaced by savages.

The vanguard continued moving while maintaining contact with the main army behind them.

Three days later, as everyone sat beside a stream chewing dry rations, a relaxed expression appeared on Jin Shuke’s face.

“These savage pups must’ve gone half-mad with happiness after entering the pass.

“Judging from everything we’ve seen along the road, they’ve probably forgotten even the tools they once used to feed themselves.”

To a certain extent, the snowfield savages and the desert barbarians resembled one another because both endured harsh conditions of survival.

But judging from everything Jin Shuke had seen over the past three days, including the results of two tentative ambushes against small savage detachments, at least here in the deep rear, the savages had become genuinely reckless.

Far too careless.

The First Prince quietly ate roasted flour while listening to Jin Shuke’s analysis.

In the past, even when Ji Wujiang had been sent into the army for experience, there had still been one layer separating him from the true grassroots.

Besides, the Zhenbei Army had always held the upper hand against the barbarians in the desert.

Without ever possessing the environment or mentality of the weaker side, there were certain things you simply could not experience or understand.

“Honored sir.

“A little farther north, there’s a city.”

“Ming’an City,” the First Prince said.

As former Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Expedition Army, the marks of local geography were naturally burned into his mind.

“Oh.

“So that’s what it’s called.

“Heh.

“That should be a trade market, right?”

The population, wealth, and other spoils seized by savage forces farther south all passed through this place on their way back to the snowfields.

According to how the spoils were divided, minor chiefs sent by the various tribes gathered here to conduct exchanges.

Some tribes lacked people.

Some lacked iron tools.

Others lacked different goods.

So the spoils were redistributed here.

Then the tribes transported their shares onward in separate groups, through Snow Sea Pass and back into the snowfields.

Plunder at the front.

Divide it in the rear.

It was an extremely primitive mode of warfare.

But then, one of war’s oldest traits had always been plunder.

Jin Shuke knew this method intimately.

Whenever barbarian tribes formed alliances in the desert to attack somewhere, they did exactly the same thing.

In Mr. Bei’s words, it was nothing more than the behavior of a pack of uncivilized bandits.

Jin Shuke felt deep shame whenever he thought about it.

So his former self had actually been that pathetic.

Fortunately, Mr. Bei’s teaching had shown them what they ought to fight for.

Beneath General Zheng’s command banner, they would fight for their homeland, for their future, for conviction, and for faith.

What exactly were “conviction” and “faith”?

Jin Shuke did not understand.

Mr. Bei had explained it before.

It apparently meant things like your children, your wife, having enough food and clothing in Shengle City, and living a good life.

Sometimes Jin Shuke still felt confused.

Back when he had fought other tribes in the desert and stolen their things, had that not also been so his children and wife could live better?

What exactly was the difference?

Still, Jin Shuke did not believe Mr. Bei could possibly be wrong.

The problem had to be that he himself had failed to comprehend the deeper truth in Mr. Bei’s words.

Yes.

That had to be it!

“Are we going to attack this place?” the First Prince asked.

“There are no fewer than two Ten-Thousand Household Commands stationed in and around the city.”

The savage military system was easy to observe.

Every Ten-Thousand Household formation possessed its own distinctive banner or tribal totem.

Ming’an City served as the savages’ final barrier before Snow Sea Pass and was also the center of their trade market.

Naturally, it was heavily defended.

If the front-line battle turned unfavorable, the city could also receive the main savage army as it withdrew toward the snowfields.

The Shengle Army numbered, at most, ten thousand cavalry.

Attacking a city defended by twenty thousand savages would be extremely difficult.

Savage morale and fighting conviction were far stronger than those of Situ Yi’s petty court in Fengxin.

During the Battle of the Wang River, the savage army had forced its way into the left-wing camp and ultimately driven the entire Yan left wing into the river.

As the commander of that battle, the First Prince remembered it vividly.

And only several dozen li west of Ming’an City stood another savage military camp.

If anything happened at Ming’an, that camp could dispatch reinforcements at any time.

“Let’s look first.

“If General Zheng is leading us north, there’s bound to be somewhere he means us to take a shit.”

In other words, there had to be a target in mind.

By now, however, the First Prince had grown accustomed to Jin Shuke’s habit of forcibly mangling the Xia language.

“I think continuing deeper is dangerous,” the First Prince said after hesitating briefly.

He was scrupulously maintaining the boundaries of his present position.

Whatever thoughts occurred to him, he would not go looking for Zheng Fan to discuss them directly.

What ordinary Lieutenant Commander in an army could casually walk up to the commanding general and offer opinions?

So some matters could only be raised with his immediate superior—

Jin Shuke.

Jin Shuke turned toward the First Prince.

He pointed to his own nose and smiled.

“Honored sir.

“Do you mean *we’re* in danger, or the main army?”

“The main army.”

“Oh?”

“News that Fengxin fell was never concealed.

“Too many routed soldiers escaped.

“Judging by the timing, the savages and Chu forces at the front should already have received word.

“Our march north is certainly a startling move—walking directly into the tiger’s den.

“But the savages or Chu need only send a force to Fengxin, then follow the traces from there.

“Locating our army would not actually be difficult.

“Besides, over the past two days you ordered us to destroy several small savage patrols.

“The savages are not stupid.

“Their military organization looks loose, but they possess their own system.

“We have probably already been exposed.

“And once we are exposed, that essentially means the main army following behind us is exposed too.

“Earlier, when we observed Ming’an City from outside, the savage plundering of Jin territory was clearly not finished.

“After learning that the Marquis of Jingnan had taken command, they should have been hurrying to move everything they had seized back into the snowfields as quickly as possible, using the snowfields as their ultimate insurance.

“But look at Ming’an now.

“Are there still caravans transporting slaves and wealth in or out of the city?

“On the surface, everything looks normal.

“But in reality, the city is loose outside and tight within.

“They are clearly waiting for us.

“And I would wager that troops from the surrounding savage positions have already bypassed Fengxin and begun searching toward this region.

“A fishing net should be close to closing over our heads.

“We are staring at Ming’an City right now.

“At the wealth and slaves inside.

“But the savages may already be staring at us.

“These words are inconvenient for me to take directly to General Zheng.

“I ask you, Commander, to present them to him.”

From the First Prince’s perspective, Zheng Fan’s decision to march north was certainly unexpected.

But the savages were not idiots.

Especially the Savage King and the savage generals beneath him.

None were easy opponents.

Ming’an City before them might very well be bait.

Jin Shuke scratched his head.

He fell silent for a moment.

Then he said:

“Forgive me, honored sir.

“I can’t say those words.”

“Why?”

The First Prince had spent long enough inside the Shengle Army to understand one thing clearly.

This army possessed an atmosphere in which practically everyone worshiped and trusted General Zheng.

The First Prince did not reject that atmosphere.

It was already a Great Yan tradition.

Back when the Marquis of Zhenbei and his imperial father had staged their confrontation, how many Zhenbei soldiers had dreamed at night of charging into Yanjing, stealing the Emperor’s Dragon Throne, and giving it to their own Marquis?

And as for the Jingnan Army without the slightest exaggeration, if the Marquis of Jingnan issued one order, they really would accompany him to “purge the villains beside the sovereign.”

But the First Prince believed worship and loyalty still needed limits.

At the very least, advice should be permitted.

Jin Shuke removed the waterskin at his waist.

“Because everything you just said, General Zheng already told me before my unit departed as the vanguard.”

“He did this deliberately?”

So deliberately destroying small savage patrols had also been intentional?

Exposing their position had been intentional?

The purpose was to draw savage forces in this region toward them and make the enemy gather around?

If Zheng Fan had planned all of this in advance, then naturally he must also have considered the danger and circumstances they would face.

For a moment, the First Prince actually felt relieved.

Relieved that he had obeyed the rules and never gone directly to Zheng Fan’s command tent with this advice.

Otherwise, he truly would have lost face.

“If all of this is General Zheng’s plan, then I can only say his art of war surpasses mine.”

Hearing this, Jin Shuke immediately revealed an expression of profound agreement.

“Our General is not merely divine in the art of commanding troops.

“He is also proficient in forging, smelting, construction, medicine, poetry and literature, astronomy, geography— there is nothing beneath Heaven our General does not understand.

“To follow in the General’s footsteps is the glory of our lives.”

As he spoke, Jin Shuke clenched his right fist and struck it against the left side of his chest.

A dull thump sounded.

At the same moment, the barbarian soldiers resting around them all adopted solemn expressions and performed the exact same gesture.

Every time Mr. Bei finished giving a speech, he led everyone in doing this to express respect and praise for General Zheng.

As an imperial prince, the First Prince instinctively found the scene uncomfortable.

Because unless something unexpected happened, if this army continued developing, Great Yan would soon possess another force like the Jingnan Army an army that knew only its commander and not the Emperor.

But the First Prince relaxed almost immediately.

This was already a Great Yan tradition anyway.

Besides, why did *he* need to worry about it?

He had never coveted the throne.

If anyone ought to worry, Second Brother should be the one.

Or perhaps—

Little Sixth?

[End of Chapter 323]