Chapter 346: The Meeting

The moment the Marquis of Jingnan’s banner appeared from the west, everything was, in truth, already settled.

The army behind him had been racing for days. Men and horses alike were exhausted, surviving only by squeezing out the last scraps of strength and spirit they still possessed. But that was already enough.

The previous night, the savages had thrown everything they had at Snow Sea Pass. They had bitten and clawed at the fortress for an entire night and still failed to break through. The crying that rose from their ranks when they withdrew at dawn had already announced their ending.

Not Heaven.

Not the Yan army.

They themselves had already pronounced their own sentence.

So there was no pause, no encampment, no probing, no elaborate tactical arrangement, and no special speech before battle.

Seated atop his Pixiu, Tian Wujing simply raised the Kunwu Saber and pointed it toward the savage camp.

Behind him, the Yan cavalry squeezed the last remaining strength from their bodies and began to charge.

Before the thunder of Yan hooves had even reached the savage camp, part of the force inside was already fleeing. Many of those who remained simply threw down their weapons, dropped to their knees, and kowtowed in surrender.

The Marquis of Jingnan had indeed issued an order to take no prisoners, but the Yan army did not waste time slaughtering captives immediately. They continued pursuing those savages who still resisted or retained some semblance of organized formation.

At that same moment, the gates of Snow Sea Pass opened from within.

The Shengle Army rode out.

After spending so many days clinging to the fortress walls, they could finally return to what they truly were—cavalry. They answered the Yan army advancing from the west and charged into the savages from the other side.

The exhaustion of having fought through the entire previous night seemed to vanish. All they understood was that the endurance and sacrifice of these many days had finally reached the moment of harvest. Joy and the overwhelming satisfaction of achievement drove them into a frenzy, and their warhorses were still fresh. Before long, under Liang Cheng’s command, they linked up with the Yan cavalry coming from the west.

The savages collapsed wherever the Yan appeared. Even quite a few Ten-Thousand Household Commanders—the headmen of the larger savage tribes—lowered their tribal banners and knelt.

They had despaired.

Their routed army had already had its courage shattered around the Wang River by the combined elites of the Zhenbei and Jingnan armies. Afterward, Tian Wujing had personally led the pursuit without pause.

The routed savages had reached Snow Sea Pass less than a day ahead of their pursuers. Then they looked up and saw Great Yan’s banners already flying above the fortress.

That absurdity alone had been enough to crush a man.

And after that, urged on by their own headmen, they had paid a massive price attacking the fortress through the night.

The string inside them had not merely been stretched too tight.

It had snapped long ago.

Even knowing the Yan might slaughter prisoners, many no longer intended to resist. Home was already beyond their reach. Better to let the Yan end things here with one clean stroke than continue struggling through more torment.

Destroying an army’s mind was often easier—and more effective—than destroying its body.

This was no longer a battle.

It was the Yan army cleaning the field.

The fighting continued into the afternoon. Apart from a small number of savages who managed to flee yet again, most of those outside Snow Sea Pass were either killed or captured.

The Marquis of Jingnan rode his Pixiu beneath the fortress walls, surrounded by cavalry.

Snow Sea Pass itself was battered and scarred. Below the walls, corpses were piled layer upon layer.

Fortunately, it was still winter. For the moment, there was no need to worry about stench or disease.

Zheng Fan had not ridden out with Liang Cheng earlier. He had another task of his own.

He did not mount a horse.

Instead, Zheng Fan walked out from the fortress on foot.

The blood on his face had not yet dried.

Several wounds on his body were still bleeding.

He came before Tian Wujing and dropped to one knee.

“This subordinate, Zheng Fan, greets the Marquis!”

Tian Wujing remained seated atop the Pixiu, looking down at Zheng Fan.

When he had first chosen Zheng Fan’s force as the army’s hidden blade, even he had not expected Zheng Fan to accomplish this much.

There was no exaggeration in saying that the Shengle Army had directly helped determine the entire tone of the campaign.

This man truly knew how to get things done. Give him a task, and he would not merely complete it—he would bring back twelve parts from a ten-part assignment.

The first time Zheng Fan had led the barbarian cavalry of Cuiliu Fort south into the State of Qian, Tian Wujing had ridden out to rescue him. Back then, he had not thought much of it. He had merely felt that this minor garrison commander possessed rather impressive nerve.

As for the ambition and hunger to climb upward revealed through Zheng Fan’s actions, that meant little to someone already standing above him. Those in high places did not fear subordinates with ambition.

They feared subordinates who had no desire to advance at all.

As the two gradually came into closer contact, Tian Wujing discovered that Zheng Fan was rather interesting.

Every assignment was completed beautifully. He had his small flaws, certainly, but none of them obscured the larger merit.

Everyone in this world wore a mask of his own. Wear it long enough, and eventually it became difficult to remove. It fused with the face beneath, until a man became accustomed to living with it.

But some things could still be seen through the mask.

For example, this fellow kneeling before him had once declared in that valley that whoever touched his godson would have his entire family killed.

Tian Wujing believed those words.

Because beneath Zheng Fan’s layer upon layer of masks lived something genuinely free and unrestrained.

Of course, Tian Wujing did not know that Zheng Fan and his seven subordinates were outsiders to this world.

For a man who had already been “euthanized” once, and seven beings who had originally lived inside a “comic-book world,” every day of this new life was already profit.

Naturally they intended to live it freely.

They could strive toward goals. They could enjoy the steadiness and satisfaction that came from working toward them. But there was truly no reason to torment themselves more than necessary.

Much of the time, whether it was Zheng Fan, the Blind Man, or the other Demon Kings, they were not obsessed with rebellion.

Their true nature simply disliked yielding.

Zheng Fan began to feel slightly puzzled.

He seemed to have been kneeling for quite a while.

When he finally raised his head a little and looked upward, Tian Wujing spoke.

“You’ve worked hard.”

“To die for the Marquis! To die for Great Yan!”

General Zheng had always been a man who pursued detail and refinement in life. One only needed to look at the engraving on his cigarette case to know that.

At a moment like this, who was named first and who came second naturally mattered too.

There was no deeper reason.

From the moment he accepted the Young Marquis as his godson and took the child into his household, Zheng Fan’s small foundation had become thoroughly bound to the Marquis of Jingnan.

Tian Wujing dismounted from the Pixiu and walked over.

“How are your wounds?”

“Reporting to the Marquis, they’re only minor injuries. Nothing worth mentioning.”

As he spoke, Zheng Fan made a show of trying to rise.

Then his body swayed.

His arm trembled as he braced himself against the ground and sank back onto one knee.

“Hiss... ah...”

His mouth opened.

His lips quivered.

Then he forced out a strained smile.

“I’m really fine, Marquis...”

“Haah.”

Tian Wujing sighed.

Still wearing full armor, he crouched down in front of Zheng Fan.

“Uh...”

Zheng Fan had no idea what this meant.

The corner of Tian Wujing’s mouth lifted in a faint, teasing smile.

Zheng Fan’s expression turned awkward.

Everything was understood without a word.

At that moment, an Assistant General of the Jingnan Army rode over and saluted Tian Wujing from horseback.

“Marquis, this general was preparing to execute the savage prisoners, but...”

He paused and glanced at Zheng Fan.

“But the Assistant General from Shengle said not to kill those prisoners yet.”

Taking no prisoners had been the Marquis of Jingnan’s direct military order. Across all the lands of the Three Jin, there was presently no one who dared openly defy his will.

Tian Wujing looked at Zheng Fan.

“You want them?”

Zheng Fan licked his lips.

“Marquis, they’re such good slaves. All of them are strong and healthy. Chopping their heads off for nothing would be letting them off far too easily.

“You know exactly what Shengle City is like. The workshops and mines are short of labor everywhere. Better to make these savages spend the rest of their lives working beneath the lash until they die, contributing a little more to the Jingnan Army and to Great Yan before they finally stop breathing.”

Others did not dare violate the Marquis of Jingnan’s orders.

Zheng Fan did.

There had to be close to twenty thousand savage prisoners captured outside the fortress this time. Send them into the workshops. Send them into the mines Xue San and the Blind Man had discovered in the Tianduan Mountains.

Wasn’t that far better than simply chopping their heads off?

Tian Wujing nodded.

“As you wish.”

“Thank you, Marquis.”

Tian Wujing then ordered, “Have Chen Yang clean up and inventory the battlefield.”

“Yes, Marquis.”

The Assistant General rode away to transmit the order.

Tian Wujing looked back at Zheng Fan.

“Do you need this Marquis to help you up?”

“How could I? How could I?”

Zheng Fan sprang smoothly to his feet.

Tian Wujing stood as well and pointed toward the fortress.

“Is there still grain inside?”

“There is, there is. We’ve been tightening our belts this entire time, figuring every extra day we could last was worth it. Who would’ve thought the Marquis would descend like a divine army and flatten the savages so quickly? There’s still quite a bit of stored grain inside. Marquis, just give the word. We’ll have food prepared for the brothers soon.”

As he spoke, Zheng Fan stepped aside and gestured for Tian Wujing to enter first.

Soldiers ate soldiers’ food.

Leaders ate leaders’ food.

They were no longer desperately short on grain, and the battle was already over. The people of Dacheng might not eat their fill, but the Yan army certainly would not go hungry.

Tian Wujing entered Snow Sea Pass.

This mighty fortress had once been the glory of the ancestors of Jin.

When it had first been built, the Jin emperor of that generation had personally brought his civil and military officials here to conduct a grand Fengshan ceremony.

Not atop a famous mountain.

Not beside a mighty river.

Here, inside Snow Sea Pass.

That alone showed how deeply the people of Jin revered this fortress.

By then, Great Xia had already fallen. Yet that Jin emperor had still used the ceremony to report back to the “Son of Heaven of Great Xia”: after generations of expansion and struggle, the Yu imperial house had finally achieved the great feat of driving out the savages and bringing glory to the lands of the Three Jin.

And now, Tian Wujing, Marquis of the State of Yan, had come here.

The Black Dragon Banner of Great Yan flew above the walls.

The change of seas into mulberry fields was not merely an empty saying.

Tian Wujing walked ahead.

Zheng Fan followed half a step behind.

No armored guards accompanied them.

For one thing, the subordinates on both sides understood that the two men had things to discuss privately.

For another, the battle was already over and there was little immediate danger. Even if some assassin appeared, with the Marquis of Jingnan’s strength...

Heh.

“Tell me.”

“Yes, Marquis.”

Zheng Fan began recounting everything that had happened after he led his force across the Wang River and drove deep into the east.

Naturally, some details underwent a little substitution.

For example, the man who had commanded the army to shed its shell, draw the savages into encirclement, and then launch the surprise attack that seized Snow Sea Pass was not that zombie.

It was General Zheng.

The man who had designed the trebuchets was not Xue San.

Also General Zheng.

And the man who had led death-sworn soldiers from one crisis point to another during the defense of the fortress was not Fan Li.

Once again—

General Zheng.

Tian Wujing listened without interruption. His expression barely changed.

The feeling was almost like a student presenting a work of his own to his teacher for judgment.

At last, Zheng Fan finished.

Tian Wujing nodded.

“You did well.”

Four words.

That was his entire evaluation.

Purely in terms of troop movement, timing, cavalry penetration, and the rest, Zheng Fan no.

Liang Cheng’s command had been flawless.

Even the strictest teacher would struggle to pick faults in this answer sheet, because the student had effectively copied it from a genuine master of the profession.

Zheng Fan immediately replied modestly:

“This subordinate has never dared forget the Marquis’s patient instruction. Every word the Marquis has ever spoken, this subordinate keeps in his heart, chewing it over from time to time so I can study it properly and deepen my understanding.”

“Enough modesty. Speaking frankly, in all of Great Yan, there are not many men this Marquis considers better at war than you, General Zheng.”

“This subordinate still has far to go. Far to go.”

“The only real difference is military strength.”

Tian Wujing pierced straight to the heart of it.

Zheng Fan had always believed Tian Wujing was an astonishing genius. Whether in martial arts or the military path, the man possessed terrifying natural talent.

But his own Liang Cheng was truly no worse.

The difference between them was resources.

Tian Wujing possessed the direct-line Jingnan Army and could mobilize essentially every military force in Great Yan.

Liang Cheng had only the Shengle Army.

The same principle applied to Xue San. Give him the resources of an entire state to manufacture the trebuchets and other devices he designed, and the result would obviously be completely different.

Siniang, given control of national finances, would probably find it easier to take over than those honored gentlemen in the Ministry of Revenue.

Even the Blind Man, if pushed onto the stage, could probably invent something far more effective at stirring the human heart than the Ministry of Rites’ endless preaching about “the Son of Heaven” and “loyalty to sovereign and state.”

None of them were lacking.

Their strength was constrained by Zheng Fan himself.

And their stage was constrained by his official rank.

That was all.

There was no need to hurry.

They would climb slowly.

“The trebuchets inside the fortress,” Tian Wujing said. “This Marquis saw them earlier. Why were they not reported before the campaign?”

Zheng Fan froze.

In truth, during the two months they had spent waiting for the Marquis of Jingnan outside Yingdu, Xue San had specifically trained a group of men to build those devices.

But the entire matter had been kept under extremely strict secrecy.

There was no such thing as patent protection in this era.

So Zheng Fan could only answer with shameless honesty:

“I wanted to keep them as my own treasure and use them to earn merit.”

“Heh.”

Tian Wujing did not become angry. He simply walked into the residence Zheng Fan had been using inside Snow Sea Pass.

“Prepare some food.”

Zheng Fan gave the order to the armored soldier standing at the entrance.

“Yes, General.”

Then Zheng Fan followed Tian Wujing inside.

Tian Wujing stopped in the courtyard.

There, in the middle of the yard, stood a rocking chair and a little tea table.

On the tea table sat a plate of dried fruit, half eaten.

Zheng Fan saw it too.

His old face immediately reddened.

“General Zheng certainly appears to have suffered greatly.”

Aside from the previous night, the savages had not exactly been impressive most of the time. There had even been a long stretch in the middle when almost nothing happened.

Zheng Fan immediately answered with a solemn expression:

“Marquis, when the commander appears relaxed, the army’s heart remains steady.”

If the commander looked calm and confident, the soldiers below would naturally feel reassured.

There truly were moments when this sort of performance helped stabilize morale.

“That excuse is not bad.”

“The Marquis praises me too highly. In truth, this subordinate always slept here with the front door wide open precisely so the soldiers passing outside could see me.

“For that reason, I even caught a chill a few days ago. I’ve only just recovered.”

“Heh.”

Tian Wujing did not sit in the rocking chair.

Instead, as was his habit, he sat directly on the threshold before the main hall.

When a man wore armor, chairs were not actually very comfortable. The back plates pressed against the chair and got in the way.

Sitting casually like this was much easier.

Zheng Fan simply sat on the ground beside him.

“Where is Wujiang?” Tian Wujing asked.

“Reporting to the Marquis, First Highness has gone as an envoy to the snowfields. Beforehand, we were concerned that the snowfield tribes would notice something wrong at Snow Sea Pass and coordinate with the savages inside the pass to attack us from both sides. First Highness volunteered to go persuade the tribes.

“Looking at the results now, it worked very well. Small groups of savage cavalry still came down from the north from time to time to probe us, but no large savage army ever appeared to attack the fortress.”

That was the official explanation.

Tian Wujing was no fool. Naturally he heard everything hidden beneath Zheng Fan’s words.

As for First Highness “volunteering” for the task that was something he could listen to and leave at that.

Given how well Tian Wujing understood Zheng Fan, the idea had almost certainly come from Zheng Fan himself.

Persuade the snowfield tribes?

With empty words?

If they could not offer silver and goods, then they could only make promises.

And there were almost certainly many things buried inside those promises that crossed lines officials were not supposed to cross.

“This Marquis understands.”

Zheng Fan quietly let out a breath.

He knew what Tian Wujing meant.

Whatever troublesome loose ends remained, Tian Wujing would handle them.

If General of Shengle Zheng Fan did something politically forbidden, even if the Emperor of Yan chose not to pursue it, there could still be considerable trouble and accusations afterward.

If the Marquis of Jingnan did the same thing?

No one would dare make a sound.

After all, the Marquis of Zhenbei could roast a leg of lamb in His Majesty’s imperial garden. What censor with a death wish would submit a memorial impeaching him?

In the end, if every questionable decision could be attributed to the Marquis’s instructions, then there would be no problem.

As for whether doing so would reduce Zheng Fan’s share of merit with another superior, perhaps.

With Tian Wujing, Zheng Fan genuinely was not worried.

If Tian Wujing dared shave away his accomplishments, then Zheng Fan could always go home and spank the Young Marquis.

Besides, over the past half year, the “milk-powder money” Tian Wujing had sent had been terrifyingly generous.

“It wasn’t easy,” Tian Wujing said again.

“You’ve worked hard” acknowledged the effort.

“It wasn’t easy” acknowledged the result.

Zheng Fan understood.

This was Tian Wujing formally recognizing his place in the merit hierarchy of the entire campaign.

He immediately dropped to one knee.

This time, he did not shout any grand declarations.

Instead, he lowered his head and began working himself toward a choked, emotional expression, preparing to demonstrate just how difficult everything had been.

Unfortunately, before he could fully build the mood a beautiful young married woman suddenly stepped out from the inner bedroom.

Her hair had been pinned up.

She wore a padded silk jacket.

Her figure was full without looking heavy, her face soft and rosy, carrying both mature charm and a hint of innocent sweetness.

Tian Wujing turned his head and looked at her.

General Zheng, still kneeling on the ground, froze solid.

*What the fuck? Who arranged this?!*

Tian Wujing actually laughed twice from sheer irritation.

“Heh. Heh.

“General Zheng, you truly have had a difficult time.

“If this Marquis had arrived a little later, would you already have managed to produce a child too?”

The woman had enjoyed a rare night of proper sleep and had not fully awakened from her haze.

But the moment she heard the word “child,” she snapped awake.

“My child!

“Where is my child?

“My child!”

“...”

General Zheng.

[End of Chapter 346]