Chapter 358: Dowry

“Woooooo—!”

The long call of a horn rolled across the boundless snowfield.

North of Snow Sea Pass, two sides faced one another.

On one side stood the headmen of the various savage tribes.

On the other sat General Zheng on horseback.

More than a thousand cavalrymen were arrayed behind each group, yet there was no tense atmosphere of drawn blades or nocked arrows between them.

It was almost as though the people who had recently slaughtered each other until corpses carpeted the ground beneath Snow Sea Pass had not been these men.

Of course, strictly speaking, they really had not been.

“Woooooo—!”

A second round of horns sounded.

A group of savages dressed in distinctive animal pelts emerged from their formation. Their bodies had been deliberately painted, feathers tucked into their clothing and hair, and they began to sing and dance.

This was one of the savages’ traditional rites, something normally performed around the bonfires of major tribal gatherings.

After dancing for a while, they began to sing.

General Zheng had to put on an expression that said *very good, very moving, I appreciate this tremendously*. From time to time, he nodded slightly and even smiled.

It was a matter of respect.

Of course, respect occasionally had a neighbor.

That neighbor was called perfunctory courtesy.

Truthfully, Zheng Fan could not appreciate this sort of completely authentic folk performance at all.

In his previous life, when he traveled around collecting material, he had visited plenty of scenic sites and watched all kinds of regional folk performances.

Usually, one side of the stage would display the word **Endangered**.

The other side would display **Preserve**.

If you stripped away the self-intoxication, the cultural hypnosis, and all the solemn language surrounding them, then judged the performance honestly according to ordinary popular taste, you might suddenly realize—

Oh.

So *that* was why it had become endangered.

The scene before him was much the same.

This was not some prejudice against the age.

Zheng Fan firmly believed that if he were standing in the Jiangnan region of Qian right now, watching courtesans and dancing girls move gracefully before him, he would appreciate the performance with tremendous sincerity.

If throwing money around did not quite create the right mood, he could rummage through his memories, plagiarize a poem or two, and perhaps inspire some famous courtesan to recommend herself for his pillow.

*That* was culture.

Watching a group of bare-chested savage men jumping around in the snow while singing at the top of their lungs?

That was genuinely painful on the eyes.

The First Prince sat in the middle.

Seven savage women sat beside him.

All seven had shared his bed before, and it was entirely possible one or more of them were already pregnant. Naturally, they had to return with the First Prince.

The imperial household cared deeply about continuation of the bloodline.

Truthfully, this was hardly unique to imperial families. Even ordinary wealthy households, the moment they felt themselves somewhat richer or more prestigious than the common people, usually developed a subtle sense of confidence in the superiority of their own “blood.”

To the savage tribal headmen, meanwhile, these women represented something else entirely.

They were symbols of friendship between the snowfield tribes and Great Yan.

And the vessel carrying that friendship was the First Prince himself.

The tribal chiefs did not regard this as some humiliating surrender of sovereignty, because they had no real concept of a “state” to begin with.

The people of Jin, Yan, and Chu had always collectively called them “savages,” but in reality the snowfield tribes were simply a pack of wolves. The Holy Race and the stars were broad concepts shared among them, but fundamentally, they remained a scattered mass.

In other words, they possessed little collective honor as a people.

One could tell, however, that the First Prince’s expression was rather dark.

He had once been commander-in-chief of the Eastern Expedition Army and was the eldest son of the current generation of the Ji Clan.

Yet now he sat there with seven savage women around him, looking less like a man than some emotionless ritual vessel.

If his expression had looked pleasant under those circumstances, *that* would have been strange.

Still, whatever one chose to do, one had to finish properly.

Especially after Xue San informed him that the Marquis of Jingnan had no intention of launching a northern expedition into the snowfields for the time being, the First Prince no longer had any room to refuse.

Even if only for the sake of buying Snow Sea Pass a brief period of peace with the snowfields, even though he knew perfectly well that the bastard surnamed Zheng ahead of him would not care a damn about any alliance sworn beneath the stars—once Zheng Fan stabilized Snow Sea Pass, handled his urgent affairs, and freed up his hands, he would inevitably attack north—

Ji Wujiang still had to play his role in this utterly meaningless “alliance ceremony.”

At last, the savage rites ended.

General Zheng was not stingy either.

He sent out Fan Li.

Behind Fan Li came several dozen soldiers who had received a crash course the previous night.

A gong rang.

Then the men, led by Fan Li, reached into their clothes, pulled out two colored ribbons apiece and began twisting into a vigorous yangge dance.

The savages were somewhat familiar with the customs of Jin. Aside from the wars of the past two years, the two sides had maintained considerable contact in earlier times.

But this supposed “distinctive Yan folk custom” left them genuinely shocked.

Fan Li twisted happily and, surprisingly, with proper form.

The dozens of men behind him twisted just as enthusiastically.

“Gula, this... this is a Yan...?” one headman asked another tribal leader beside him.

“This should be a Yan ritual for worshiping the gods.”

“Oh. I see. It looks very mysterious.”

“Yes.”

The surrounding savage headmen heard the explanation and nodded with expressions of sudden understanding.

Only the First Prince when he saw the performance found the corner of his mouth twitching uncontrollably.

It was not that Zheng Fan had deliberately chosen to insult or dismiss their guests.

The problem was that most of the Shengle Army consisted of Jin men. Barbarians came second. Actual Yan natives were only a minority.

Zheng Fan had asked every Yan man he could find about authentic Yan sacrificial customs, only to discover that none of them really knew the formal procedures.

The Blind Man was not here either.

So General Zheng stopped wasting time and simply sent Fan Li.

Call it the Yan–Savage Cultural Friendship Gala.

Once the yangge finished, the ceremonial prelude on both sides came to an end.

Next, General Zheng took the initiative and rode forward.

The savage chiefs dismounted and walked toward him.

The First Prince rose, then dropped to one knee before Zheng Fan and performed a military salute.

He was indeed an imperial prince.

But the Marquis of Jingnan had already demoted him to Lieutenant Commander within the army. Naturally, military rules applied.

This was also one aspect of the First Prince’s personal charisma.

He respected rules.

The sight immediately shocked the savage headmen.

Even an imperial prince had to kneel before this young general?

Then the power of this young commander had to be terrifying indeed.

The chiefs promptly followed suit and prostrated themselves before Zheng Fan, who still sat on horseback.

General Zheng was technically still only General of Shengle. His appointment as Chief Commander had not yet arrived, and he had no idea whether he would receive any noble title.

None of that prevented him from accepting the worship of a group of newly minted “princes, dukes, marquises, generals, and ministers.”

The chiefs were not fools.

The titles the First Prince had previously handed out were not things they would dare wave around in front of the Yan at a moment like this.

They understood perfectly well what it meant to be fish beneath another man’s knife.

The more than one hundred thousand savage warriors led into Jin by the Savage King had been buried there. The snowfields were now empty of fighting strength and consumed by turmoil.

The headmen wanted an immediate truce with Yan so they could return and stabilize the snowfields.

Naturally, while doing that they would inevitably swallow a few neighbors and expand.

The entire snowfield was essentially a breeding ground for venomous insects.

Big fish ate little fish.

Little fish ate shrimp.

That was the natural order.

Those tribes that had answered the Savage King’s call and sent large numbers of warriors south were weak now.

If the chiefs before Zheng Fan did not exploit that weakness, would they not be insulting themselves?

As for General Zheng, Shengle’s soldiers and civilians had not yet arrived. He lacked the strength to launch a northern campaign even if he wanted one.

He needed time to settle his own affairs too.

So mountains did not move, but rivers turned.

Today, everyone would sing a song of peace and harmony together.

Another day they could resume greeting each other with real sabers and real blood.

Zheng Fan dismounted and walked toward a massive wine vat.

He accepted a dagger from an armored soldier beside him.

*Fuck.*

*Damn it.*

*Slice.*

He cut his palm and let blood drip into the wine.

One savage chief after another came forward, cut open his own palm, and dripped blood into the vat as well.

Once they were finished, attendants came over and poured out the wine.

General Zheng accepted a bowl now tinged red with blood.

His stomach immediately turned.

Usually, watching A’Ming carry a wineskin full of blood around every day did not feel especially disturbing.

Now that Zheng Fan had to drink the stuff himself, every part of him resisted.

Heaven knew whether these savage brothers carried some sort of disease.

Still—

General Zheng raised his bowl overhead first.

The savage chiefs immediately copied him.

“For peace between Great Yan and the snowfields! For harmony between both sides!

“Drink!”

Zheng Fan brought the bowl to his lips.

He swallowed several times in succession so his throat visibly moved.

At the same time, he tilted the bowl with heroic ease and let the wine run down along his jaw as though he were drinking deeply.

Then, before anyone could look too carefully, he smashed the bowl against the ground.

“Refreshing!”

The savage chiefs followed his example and shattered their bowls as well.

The ceremony was complete.

The tribal headmen soon departed.

General Zheng brought the First Prince back into Snow Sea Pass.

Thus concluded an alliance ceremony in which “host and guest alike departed satisfied.”

Once inside the fortress, Zheng Fan brought the First Prince to his own courtyard residence.

“First Highness, you’ve worked hard.”

Zheng Fan accepted a hot towel from Xue San and wiped his neck.

“General Zheng, are you mocking me?”

“How could I? Never.”

Zheng Fan tossed the towel back to Xue San and sat down.

He pointed toward the chair opposite, inviting the First Prince to sit as well.

Ji Wujiang cupped his hands and took the seat.

“You also earned great merit in this campaign, Your Highness. Our time together here should be nearing its end.”

An imperial prince was still an imperial prince.

The Emperor of Yan had seven sons. Count them carefully, and only a handful were truly useful.

Third Brother had been crippled by Ji Chengjue and was probably still sitting in his pavilion on the lake admiring snow.

Seventh Brother was still young.

Fourth Brother and Fifth Brother, for reasons Zheng Fan did not know, had always been suppressed and had never received an opportunity to go outside the capital and handle real affairs. And after the Deng Clan patriarch died at the Wang River, Fourth Brother had effectively lost his greatest support.

As for Sixth Brother that man was a complete “club.”

Putting himself in the Emperor’s position, Zheng Fan doubted the Emperor would truly discard this eldest son forever.

“Wujiang was only atoning for his sins.”

“Your Highness speaks too heavily.”

Madam Ke came over and served hot tea.

Zheng Fan lifted his cup, drank once, then slowly set it down.

“In this world, there are people who move smoothly from beginning to end without suffering real setbacks. But they are few beyond measure.

“I had little contact with Your Highness before, but speaking from the heart, I greatly admire your bearing and temperament.

“Great Yan is still in an age of expansion. I hope Your Highness will not sink into despondency. Sooner or later, you and I may have another chance to join hands and campaign beyond the borders.”

The tone of those words placed Zheng Fan almost completely on equal footing with the First Prince.

It sounded somewhat disrespectful.

But they were both military men.

Speaking this way actually made the sentiment feel more sincere.

General Zheng had always liked making friends with honest people.

To some extent, the First Prince possessed the qualities of an honest man.

At the very least he possessed a bottom line.

Ji Wujiang smiled.

“Then Wujiang is honored by General Zheng’s regard.”

“If I offended Your Highness in the past, I hope you can forgive me.”

This was Zheng Fan settling the matter of the last Eastern Expedition, when he had sent men to demand grain and military pay from Ji Wujiang while the First Prince still commanded the army.

“It’s in the past.”

Ji Wujiang sighed.

Then he added:

“Instead, I should congratulate General Zheng in advance. You are about to become Chief Commander of Snow Sea Pass.”

It was not because the First Prince could see the future.

After entering the fortress, he had seen armored soldiers driving savage prisoners to repair the defenses.

A county magistrate usually avoided rebuilding his yamen for the same reason: in a few years he would be transferred elsewhere, so why waste the effort?

If General Zheng did not intend to remain at Snow Sea Pass for a long time, there would be no reason to rush the reconstruction of the walls now.

“There is that possibility,” Zheng Fan admitted.

“With General Zheng guarding Snow Sea Pass, Wujiang can rest easy.

“That is truly from my heart.”

The savage calamity had brought tremendous suffering to Dacheng.

Now that the lands of the Three Jin had entered Yan’s territory, the people of Jin had become subjects of Yan.

From the First Prince’s position, he naturally hoped a truly dependable commander would guard against the snowfields.

Looking around the only man he genuinely trusted for the task was Zheng Fan.

The First Prince also understood that, judging by the distance between here and Yanjing, no formal appointment could possibly have arrived yet.

So who had already guaranteed the matter in advance?

Who had authority to decide it before the court even spoke?

Only the Marquis of Jingnan.

If Tian Wujing recommended Zheng Fan as Chief Commander of Snow Sea Pass, the court—and Ji Wujiang’s father himself—would basically have no reason to oppose it.

To put it in more dangerous terms right now, who would dare oppose it?

Hearing the First Prince’s words, Zheng Fan suddenly remembered something the Sword Saint had told him a few days ago:

*You’re wicked enough that if Snow Sea Pass is handed to you, I can finally stop worrying.*

Silence briefly settled between the two men.

Ji Wujiang broke it first.

“When Wujiang returns to Yanjing and reports for duty, my marriage should be arranged very soon.”

Mentioning one’s own marriage to another man was itself a sign of treating him as a friend.

Unfortunately, the First Prince’s marriage was fundamentally political.

After the first catastrophic defeat of the Eastern Expedition Army, he had to bear responsibility no matter what.

When he returned to the capital, there would inevitably be punishment. His rank would be reduced, his standing suppressed, and a public show made for the rest of the world.

After that the remaining value of the eldest Ji son would be used.

He would marry the Barbarian King’s daughter.

That marriage would formally eliminate the First Prince from all possibility of inheriting the throne, even more thoroughly than Ji Chengjue had once been pushed aside.

The competition among the other princes was, ultimately, an internal matter of the Ji Clan.

But if a prince married to a barbarian woman tried to touch the throne of Great Yan every level of Yan society would rise against him.

Centuries of blood feud lay between Yan and the desert barbarians.

How could the people of Yan accept a barbarian woman as their future mother of the realm?

How could they accept an emperor of the next generation with barbarian blood flowing in his veins?

One could feel the desolation inside the First Prince.

Today he had only temporarily served as a ceremonial object linking the snowfields and Snow Sea Pass.

Once he married he would become a long-term balancing rod between Great Yan and the desert barbarians.

And that was not even the worst part.

The worst part was that Great Yan and the barbarians might one day go to war again.

When that happened what would the First Prince do?

Even if he still regarded himself as a Yan man, still regarded himself as a son of the Ji Clan, the court would never again allow him to command an army against the barbarians.

In fact, the First Prince might rarely receive another chance to lead troops at all.

Nor would he often be allowed near real authority.

Who knew whether he might one day collude with the enemy from within and guide barbarian troops into Yan?

Situ Yi and Situ Jiong stood as fresh examples of what happened when that danger was ignored.

The people of Yan would never willingly give themselves an opportunity to repeat such a mistake.

“When the date of Your Highness’s wedding is fixed, I will certainly send a proper gift.”

“Many thanks, General Zheng.”

“Your Highness is too polite.”

Ji Wujiang leaned back in his chair and seemed to relax.

Zheng Fan leaned back too.

Their posture simultaneously announced that the previous heavy subject had ended.

A new chapter of the conversation was beginning.

“General Zheng and my Sixth Brother are close?”

“To tell Your Highness the truth, Sixth Highness helped me build my original foundation.”

Without Little Sixth desperately “feeding” him resources from the rear, Zheng Fan could never have completed Cuiliu Fort so quickly, nor raised more than a thousand elite cavalrymen, nor supported the constant strategic risks of his earliest period.

Once the snowball began growing, later expansion was actually easier than those first steps at the beginning.

“Sixth Brother is the cleverest among all of us.

“Back then, Imperial Father actually favored Sixth Brother the most.”

The subject had already entered the private affairs of the imperial family.

General Zheng, however, felt nothing but fascination.

It was exciting.

“Unfortunately, Imperial Father suppressed Sixth Brother too heavily over these years.

“But I believe—

Sixth Brother has not lost yet.”

*Fuck me.*

*I only wanted a little royal gossip and you came straight out with something this explosive?*

Any warlord who had not yet truly risen to great power had to remain extremely careful.

The Emperor of Yan still sat upon the throne.

Tian Wujing still stood over Zheng Fan’s head.

Under those circumstances, General Zheng did not believe he possessed any qualification to involve himself in a succession struggle.

Since ancient times, a fight over the throne had always been the greatest gamble in the world.

Win, and you rose straight into the heavens. The phrase *merit in supporting the rightful dragon* outweighed almost every other accomplishment.

Lose and the stake was the life of your entire family.

People loved saying that barefoot men did not fear men wearing shoes.

The problem was that General Zheng’s boots were quite handsome now.

Warm too.

Why the hell would he strip them off and run eagerly beneath the sunset beside Little Sixth?

The First Prince watched Zheng Fan’s expression.

When Zheng Fan did not answer, Ji Wujiang smiled to himself.

“Wujiang was presumptuous.”

“First Highness speaks too seriously. Zheng here is only a slightly larger grunt. When it comes to matters like this, I genuinely have never thought about them.

“Nor do I dare.”

“What is there that cannot be done?

“And what is there that cannot be dared?”

*Your men carved that many imperial seals out of giant radishes overnight, and now you’re pretending to be some pure and virtuous maiden in front of me?*

“Heh heh.”

Zheng Fan gave a somewhat bashful smile.

He genuinely could not figure out what had gotten into the First Prince today.

Had the man suffered too much stimulation and finally started letting himself go?

Ji Wujiang stood.

Zheng Fan remained seated, still leaning comfortably back.

“General Zheng, the Eastern Expedition Army fought two major battles. One defeat, one victory.

“The defeat cost us terribly.

“The victory— certainly did not come cheaply either.”

That was only natural.

The first Battle of the Wang River had destroyed the main strength of the Left-Wing Army.

During the second, the Marquis of Jingnan had driven the elites of the Zhenbei and Jingnan armies straight into the savage main force and crushed them.

It could not be called a pyrrhic victory.

But Yan’s casualties could not possibly have been small.

Zheng Fan’s expression turned serious.

His back lifted slightly from the chair.

In his previous life, even though he had run a comic studio, he had never really escaped the habits of a shut-in.

In this life, he had spent years moving among great figures, until he himself had begun showing signs of becoming one.

Only now had he gradually learned the styles and habits behind conversations like this.

So that was it.

Everything the First Prince had said earlier was groundwork.

The real point began now.

Realizing that, General Zheng mocked himself inwardly.

A moment ago he had still regarded Ji Wujiang as an honest man.

*Haaah.*

He was still the Emperor of Yan’s son.

How simple could he possibly be?

“The Zhenbei and Jingnan armies must have suffered significant losses,” Ji Wujiang said. “That is the real reason the Marquis of Jingnan has no intention of launching a northern expedition into the snowfields in the short term.”

There were still tens of thousands of Chu soldiers trapped in Yupan City.

But honestly, for a northern expedition against the snowfields, Zheng Fan estimated forty or fifty thousand iron cavalry would be more than enough.

The snowfields had not only lost an enormous amount of strength.

They were practically hollow now.

Send one wave north—not necessarily to destroy the savages completely, but to stab them again, bleed them again, and seize back some of the population and wealth they had plundered from Jin.

That would not be difficult.

Yet despite how easy it might be the Yan army no longer had the strength to do it.

“In less than three years, Great Yan has added the entire lands of the Three Jin to its territory.

“How many troops will be required just to garrison so much land?

“How many more borders and passes now have to be defended?

“And how many soldiers will those require?”

Expanding too quickly could itself become a disaster.

It resembled later generations of brands opening chain stores blindly. Expand too fast, let the foundation fail to keep up, and eventually the entire enterprise collapsed into catastrophic losses.

“The direct-line Zhenbei and Jingnan armies will naturally receive first priority when replenishing manpower after this war.

“General Zheng does not disagree with that, surely?”

Zheng Fan nodded.

No matter what the two greatest field armies of Great Yan naturally had to receive first choice of replacements.

“But that is exactly where the problem begins.

“The former Left-Wing Army was composed largely of regional military commanders and their troops. Normally, after a major campaign, those forces would gradually be absorbed.

“With Wujiang’s position, perhaps it is inappropriate for me to say this.

“But these are genuinely words from the heart.”

After the great clans were trampled down, regional military commanders became another source of instability.

That was why the Emperor had previously sent the First Prince to gather those commanders beneath one banner and lead them on campaign.

Those regional troops should originally have been ideal reserves for replenishing the main armies.

But after the catastrophic defeat in the first Battle of the Wang River even that reserve pool had suffered devastating losses.

This created an extremely awkward problem.

The reserves could no longer keep up.

Campaign after campaign exhausting the soldiers was not merely a matter of men becoming tired.

Veterans kept dying.

Fresh recruits kept stepping in.

The strength and experience of the entire military system was constantly being diluted.

“First Highness, please speak plainly,” Zheng Fan said.

“General Zheng, even if the entire Shengle Army relocates here, Snow Sea Pass is enormous and the snowfields beyond are vast.

“Do you believe your current troops are enough?”

“Nowhere near enough.”

“Exactly.

“And because of the savage raids, the hundred-li region south of Snow Sea Pass has already become a wasteland.

“Within Great Yan’s army, General Zheng is famous for being especially skilled at commanding Jin troops.

“Among all the commanders of Great Yan, you are essentially the only one whose army is primarily composed of Jin men.

“But now— where will General Zheng obtain new soldiers?”

Replenishment genuinely was a problem.

First, the highest-quality manpower would be extremely difficult for Zheng Fan to receive.

The Zhenbei and Jingnan armies themselves did not have enough replacements.

The Shengle Army had certainly suffered losses in the battle for Snow Sea Pass, but compared with the casualties suffered by the Jingnan and Zhenbei elites charging head-on across the main battlefield, Shengle’s losses were nowhere near as severe.

Giving those two armies priority was politically unquestionable.

More infuriatingly, even if Zheng Fan wanted to conscript strong young men from his own territory, he had nowhere to find them.

A huge section of the land under him was uninhabited.

The people were gone.

The villages stood empty.

What strong young men was he supposed to seize?

As for the more than twenty thousand savage prisoners they could serve only as laborers.

There was no possibility Zheng Fan could absorb them directly into his own army.

He was stationed in Jin territory.

If he began using large numbers of savage troops, he would immediately create a violent conflict with his own political foundation.

More importantly, Snow Sea Pass itself existed to defend against the snowfields.

If he filled his army with savages, then would Snow Sea Pass not become a sieve overnight?

Later, once Zheng Fan’s main army became large and stable enough, perhaps he could create a savage auxiliary force and use them as cannon fodder when attacking Qian or Chu.

But the order of operations absolutely could not be reversed.

“First Highness, what advice do you have for me?”

“General Zheng speaks too seriously.

“Wujiang merely means this:

“When the Barbarian King promised his daughter to me, he also promised Wujiang a dowry.”

A dowry?

Zheng Fan’s breathing immediately deepened.

Because he understood almost at once what that meant.

Barbarian troops!

Barbarian soldiers were excellent.

They were the foundation upon which General Zheng had originally risen.

And according to the Blind Man’s experiments, barbarian troops were also the easiest to indoctrinate.

More importantly they were natural cavalrymen.

Useful!

Give them good horses.

Give them fine armor.

Spend a little time reorganizing and integrating them.

And you had elites.

“The dowry, Wujiang intends to accept,” the First Prince said, looking directly at Zheng Fan. “But absorbing a barbarian tribe into Great Yan has always been extremely difficult.

“Beifeng Commandery absolutely cannot be allowed to suffer barbarian infiltration.”

Over the years, Yan had accepted the submission of quite a few small barbarian tribes.

But Beifeng Commandery was too important.

Its geography created a problem identical to what Zheng Fan now faced.

The Zhenbei Army existed specifically to defend against the barbarians.

If enormous numbers of barbarians were settled directly inside Beifeng Commandery what exactly were they defending against anymore?

That was why, back at Cuiliu Fort, Zheng Fan had received barbarian soldiers through Fatty Xu quietly opening a back door.

The court was willing to absorb those barbarians.

But it would never leave them in Beifeng Commandery.

They had to be scattered into other regions of the empire, using sheer distance to sever their connection with the desert.

Zheng Fan stood.

He looked directly at the First Prince.

“Your Highness means to place this dowry at my Snow Sea Pass?”

“General Zheng, do you like barbarian soldiers?”

“I do.”

Zheng Fan nodded.

Then he decided the emotion was not strong enough.

“I like them very much.”

This was not like relatives handing you red envelopes during New Year, where no matter how much you wanted the money, you still had to keep saying, *No, no, I couldn’t possibly.*

If he received another force of barbarian soldiers as a foundation, added them to the existing Shengle Army, then spent time repairing Snow Sea Pass and restoring civilian life around it—

General Zheng would soon be able to teach the savage brothers with whom he had just sworn blood-brotherhood exactly *why the flowers were so red*.

Back at Cuiliu Fort, he had been starting a business from nothing.

Survive the beginning.

Make a name.

Gain the Marquis of Jingnan’s appreciation.

After that, everything had gone smoothly.

But now, was this not simply a new round of entrepreneurship?

Stabilize the Snow Sea Pass foundation sooner.

Begin aggression and expansion sooner.

And the dream of becoming an autonomous frontier lord would arrive one day sooner.

Ordinary people could hardly understand that urgency.

“The Barbarian King is old,” Ji Wujiang continued. “The Royal Court must arrange the question of succession.

“That is why, during the last Three-State War, the Barbarian King chose to watch from the other bank.

“Yes, my Imperial Father’s decree played a role.

“But the Barbarian King himself also understood something clearly.

“Even if war truly erupted, if the succession question inside the Royal Court remained unresolved, then even if barbarian armies successfully entered Yan territory, they would ultimately gain little.

“This marriage alliance will be honored.

“The Barbarian King needs a long period of peace to arrange what comes after his death.

“Originally, the person responsible for that should have been Sha Tuo Queshi.

“The Barbarian King trusted the Left Guli King greatly because Sha Tuo Queshi was upright by nature.

“But Sha Tuo Queshi died outside the Marquis of Zhenbei’s Residence, ruining many of the Barbarian King’s previous arrangements.

“For Great Yan—and for my Imperial Father—what we truly desire is the rich and flourishing land of Qian.

“Compared with the barren desert, unifying the old lands of Huaxia is the true long-cherished ambition.

“If Great Yan and the barbarians can avoid war for several years, then avoiding war is best.”

The First Prince paused.

Then he pointed down toward the ground beneath them.

“Placing the dowry itself is a major problem.

“But for General Zheng, it creates your greatest advantage.

“Beifeng Commandery lies at the westernmost edge of Great Yan.

“Snow Sea Pass now lies at the easternmost edge of our territory.

“Station the barbarian troops here, far from the desert, and the chance that they could answer a desert uprising is reduced to the greatest degree possible.

“Meanwhile, the barbarians and the snowfield savages are fundamentally different peoples.

“They will not collude with one another.

“Wujiang specifically asked Jin Shuke about this.

“His people look down upon the savages greatly.”

Zheng Fan slowly released a breath.

Then he spoke four words:

“Use barbarians to control barbarians.”

The First Prince’s eyes immediately lit up.

He could not stop himself from praising the phrase.

“Incisive.”

Then Ji Wujiang continued:

“Those four words are worth ten thousand words of explanation.

“As long as someone says them inside the court, this dowry will unquestionably become General Zheng’s.”

Use barbarians to control barbarians.

From the perspective of political aesthetics, from the perspective of Great Yan’s national strategy, and even from the perspective of making Emperor and ministers feel clever and superior the phrase scratched every itch perfectly.

Qian was not “barbarian.”

Chu was not “barbarian” either.

According to Great Yan’s official rhetoric, everyone belonged to the Huaxia family.

Eight centuries ago, their ancestors had all received orders from the Son of Heaven of Great Xia to open new lands.

At the root they were one family.

That official narrative had already played an enormous role in Great Yan’s annexation of the Three Jin.

The savages were everyone’s common enemy.

Set aside the division between Yan and Jin, and in essence, eight hundred years ago they had all belonged to the same house.

Turning ethnic conflict into merely another change of dynasties greatly reduced the conquered population’s instinctive rejection of Yan rule.

And throughout Great Yan’s current territory there was only one place where “using barbarians to control barbarians” could truly be applied.

General Zheng’s Snow Sea Pass.

There was no second choice.

Still—

Zheng Fan asked very seriously:

“Your Highness, this generosity of yours...”

“Does General Zheng think this Prince is trying to drag you into the water and force you to stand on my side?”

*Heh.*

He had changed from *I* to the princely *this Prince*.

Zheng Fan smiled awkwardly.

“This Prince no longer has even the slightest possibility.

“I understand it.

“The world understands it.

“And General Zheng— you understand it in your heart too.”

If the First Prince had not lost the first Battle of the Wang River, then even after marrying the Barbarian King’s daughter and losing military authority, there might still have remained some future chance to lead troops again.

Much like the Marquis of Jingnan had once returned to command.

But Ji Wujiang had lost.

After that receiving another army command would be almost impossible.

“General Zheng, what this Prince wants is one hope.”

“Hope?”

“Everyone has selfish desires.

“Does General Zheng agree with that?”

“Men are not saints. Naturally.”

“What this Prince asks for is only one hope.

“I do not want to spend the rest of my life sunk inside a princely residence, walking dogs, playing with birds, and living in idleness.

“The tens of thousands of Yan sons whose bodies drifted through the Wang River— not one day passes when I dare forget them.

“I still want to atone.

“What this Prince wants is that one day I may die wrapped in horsehide on the battlefield.

“Only then— can I repay what I owe.”

Zheng Fan hesitated.

What exactly did that have to do with him?

“If Second Brother inherits the throne, then with Second Brother’s temperament, this Prince will truly become an idle prince for life.

“At that point— every last hope will be extinguished.”

Zheng Fan’s eyelid twitched.

The First Prince sighed heavily.

Then, almost unconsciously, he reached out to pat Zheng Fan’s shoulder.

At last, the shoulder-patting culture of the Shengle Army had assimilated even him.

Ji Wujiang’s palm landed on Zheng Fan’s shoulder.

“If Sixth Brother inherits the throne, this Prince believes I may still have a hope.

“Even if he sends me out again and lets me serve as nothing more than a Lieutenant Commander.

“When that day comes, I hope General Zheng will remember the friendship of today’s dowry and say a few favorable words for me.”

*Fuck.*

*Why do you have more confidence in Little Sixth winning the succession than I do—and I’m supposedly one of his men?*

Zheng Fan found the entire thing absurd.

True, in the past he had spent entire days repeatedly encouraging Ji Chengjue to rebel.

But he had never genuinely intended to sacrifice everything in a desperate struggle to put Little Sixth on the throne.

Especially now that Zheng Fan had firmly embraced the Marquis of Jingnan’s thigh and gained a real chance to develop his own independent strength, there was even less reason to do something that dangerous.

If things ever became impossible and Little Sixth truly fell into danger—

Zheng Fan could always do what he had done with the Young Marquis and bring Ji Chengjue over to his own territory for safekeeping.

But the First Prince before him had clearly placed the future possibilities of his own second half of life upon Sixth Brother.

And, by extension upon Zheng Fan, whom he had apparently identified as the foremost pillar of the “Sixth Prince faction.”

Speaking from the heart, Zheng Fan’s actual loyalty to Little Sixth was nowhere near that high.

Unfortunately other people did not see it that way.

Zheng Fan reached out and placed his hand on the First Prince’s shoulder as well.

Now the two men stood with arms on each other’s shoulders.

The First Prince’s brows furrowed slightly.

Instinctively, he felt the pose was somehow unnatural.

“Your Highness is joking.

“For a prince as devoted to the state as you are to be left idle would be a loss for the court.

“A loss for Great Yan.”

“General Zheng’s words are as amusing as ever.

“Once this Prince returns to the capital, I will begin arranging the matter.

“I will not allow it to be delayed.”

“Then I will await Your Highness’s auspicious wedding day.”

Both men lowered their arms at the same time.

Then, again almost unconsciously both stepped half a pace backward.

The First Prince turned to leave.

For the moment, however, he was only leaving Zheng Fan’s courtyard. To depart Snow Sea Pass and return to Yanjing, he still had to wait for an imperial decree.

At the entrance, Ji Wujiang stopped again.

He turned toward Zheng Fan.

“General Zheng.

“If, back then, the first imperial prince you met had not been Sixth Brother— but this Prince...”

“Then why did Your Highness not ask earlier whether giving me this dowry would make me change allegiance?”

“Would you?”

Zheng Fan shook his head immediately.

The First Prince smiled.

Zheng Fan added:

“Unless the dowry were doubled.”

The smile on Ji Wujiang’s face gradually disappeared.

He became solemn.

After a short period of serious consideration he said:

“This Prince cannot do that.”

“Neither can I.”

Ji Wujiang nodded.

He pointed toward the fortress around them.

“General Zheng, do you believe that over the next several years, countless commanders will envy you?

“Because perhaps, for those coming years— this place of yours will be the only place left where there are still wars to fight.”

“Perhaps.

“But what can I say?

“Some of us were simply born with lives of toil.”

After the First Prince departed, Xue San entered the courtyard with Jin Shuke.

Jin Shuke immediately knelt before Zheng Fan.

Zheng Fan sat back down in his chair and nodded toward him.

“You’ve worked hard.”

Jin Shuke’s performance throughout this period had been dazzling.

No wonder even the Sword Saint had recommended him.

“To serve the General is the greatest fortune of this subordinate’s life!”

Zheng Fan leaned forward.

Looking at Jin Shuke kneeling before him, he asked quietly:

“What do you think of our First Prince?

“What kind of man is he?”

Jin Shuke thought briefly.

Naturally, he understood exactly what Zheng Fan was really asking.

He could have played dumb.

He could have given some vague answer.

Instead, he answered directly:

“Reporting to General—

First Highness is actually very formidable.”

“Then do you think— he has ambition?”

Jin Shuke hesitated.

At last, he raised his head.

He pointed toward his own face.

“General— do you think this subordinate has ambition?”

Zheng Fan fell silent.

Cold sweat began running down Jin Shuke’s face.

He slammed his forehead heavily against the floor tiles.

“This subordinate deserves death!”

Zheng Fan shook his head.

“No.

“You did very well.”

Then he asked:

“That man is the Barbarian King’s future son-in-law.

“Has he ever tried to recruit you?”

“Reporting to General— yes!”

“Why did you refuse?”

Jin Shuke raised his head.

Despite the cold sweat on his face, an honest smile appeared.

“On the desert, if a small tribe wants to survive, it has to attach itself to a great tribe.

“It becomes the great tribe’s wing.

“It charges first for them.

“Only then can it receive their protection.

“But when a true crisis comes, those dependent little tribes are often pushed forward and sacrificed without hesitation.”

“And?”

“General— this subordinate does not want to become a little tribe attached to some great tribe.

“Because here—

I have already found my own tribe.”

A smile appeared on Zheng Fan’s face.

He extended one hand.

Jin Shuke immediately shuffled forward two steps on his knees so Zheng Fan could rest that hand upon his shoulder.

General Zheng patted him lightly.

“You’ve made your road wider.”

[End of Chapter 358]