Chapter 360: Savage King

“Up before dawn today-o!”

“Heave... ho!”

“My woman steamed me two buns-o!”

“Heave... ho!”

“If two buns aren’t enough, I’ve still got more-o!”

“Heave... ho!”

“Your brother here’s an old yellow ox-o!”

“Heave... ho!”

“Working day and night-o!”

“Heh-heh-heh-hooooo!”

A group of civilian laborers were dismantling the workshops. Some pieces of equipment were difficult and time-consuming to make, so it was better to take them along. Once new workshops were established at Snow Sea Pass and raw materials were found, production could begin again immediately.

Relocation was not the same as marching an army. A military march emphasized speed and efficiency, but with a migration this large, speed was not something one could realistically demand.

They would be crawling along the road anyway. Since they could not move quickly, they might as well bring every useful tool and piece of equipment with them.

The Blind Man and Siniang sat inside a carriage while the dismantling work continued outside.

“Now *that* is the voice of the working people. Though the work chant is a little filthy.”

Ever since the Blind Man had taken up the erhu, his aesthetic taste had gradually drifted away from the airs of a concert pianist and become increasingly grounded in the soil.

Or, phrased another way, he had transcended so-called vulgar taste and begun listening to the voice of the broad laboring masses.

“Why don’t you compose one for them?” Siniang asked with a smile.

“No, no. Things like this are the same as crosstalk. They’re fun when you hear them privately, but the moment you put them on the Spring Festival Gala, most of the charm disappears.”

“Let’s talk business.”

Siniang rubbed between her brows.

“We do need to. A’Ming said what Snow Sea Pass lacks most is people, so we need to decide how to move people there.”

The savage raids had turned almost the entire region around Snow Sea Pass into an uninhabited zone. And for any region to develop, the one thing it could never do without was people.

“Give me your plan first.”

The Blind Man nodded. “I’m thinking four steps.”

He took an orange from his pocket, peeled away a section of rind, and set it on the floor of the carriage.

“First, mobilize our basic support base. I have to admit, when Master originally ordered us to open schools and clinics throughout Shengle City, I knew it was mostly a moment of softheartedness. A man who doesn’t run a household doesn’t know the price of firewood and rice.

“But it accidentally produced an excellent result. I believe at least half the people of Shengle City will willingly follow us to Snow Sea Pass.

“However, people are attached to their native soil. Unless they’re truly forced into it, most commoners are unwilling to leave home. That means we need the second step: public-opinion work.

“These people are accustomed to the good life we gave them. So we spread word that once General Zheng is transferred away, the new Garrison Commander will be a blue-faced, fanged Yan general—violent, lecherous, greedy, fond of drinking human milk, and especially fond of eating children.

“In short, make him sound as terrible as possible.

“All the shops, restaurants, and teahouses in Shengle City belong to the General’s Residence. We place people in every one of them to spread the story.

“One person tells ten, ten tell a hundred. Three men can make a tiger. Even if it isn’t true, after enough repetition it becomes true. Ordinary people have no access to real military and state affairs anyway, so they’re the easiest to stir up. Creating panic is simple.

“After those two steps, I estimate about ninety percent of Shengle’s population will follow us.

“But that is still nowhere near enough. Snow Sea Pass is far, far larger than Shengle City, and its position is far better. It can absorb an enormous population.

“To put it bluntly, even if every soldier and civilian in Shengle moved there, to Snow Sea Pass it would barely count as food stuck between the teeth.

“So for the third step, I plan to spread word throughout the surrounding region—as far as the message can reach—that we are hiring civilian porters. Not conscripting labor. Hiring.

“We promise that anyone who helps transport our belongings to Snow Sea Pass will receive thirty taels of silver per head.

“And we deliberately leave the door open: men, women, adults, children—no distinction. As long as they come help carry things to Snow Sea Pass, the price is the same.

“People around here will bring their entire families to take advantage of it.”

Siniang could not help asking, “We don’t have that much silver.”

Then she immediately thought of something.

She smiled.

And nodded.

The Blind Man nodded too and continued.

“Snow Sea Pass is practically an uninhabited zone. What is the least valuable thing there? Same principle as developing the western frontier: land is the cheapest thing in the world.

“Once we trick that whole crowd into reaching Snow Sea Pass, they can ask for their silver. Fine.

“But their silver has already been converted into farmland.

“Thirty taels, calculated according to the price of ordinary middling fields. We parcel out the land and tell them to farm it.

“They don’t want land? They insist on silver?

“Then they can wait. Tell them the silver shipment hasn’t arrived yet. Drag it out for a year or eighteen months. Who can endure that?

“And besides, we have troops. Are we really afraid they’ll riot?”

“They won’t be able to riot anyway,” Siniang said. “Because plenty of them will willingly take the land.”

“Exactly. Otherwise what? They came all this way from Shengle to Snow Sea Pass, crossing half the State of Jin, and now they want to treat it as a sightseeing trip and walk home empty-handed?

“How many families would willingly leave with nothing? And on the journey back, what would they eat and drink? How many entire families could survive all the way home?”

Strictly speaking, this already counted as deception.

Neither the Blind Man nor Siniang felt there was anything particularly wrong with it.

At the root of it, whatever kindness the Demon Kings possessed arose according to interest and mood.

Every one of the Seven Demon Kings had blood on his or her hands.

Not one was a saint.

“And the fourth step?” Siniang asked.

“The fourth is optional. Master’s seals and such are all still with me. I’ll write memorials in Master’s name to the court, then another to the Marquis—no, the Prince of Jingnan.

“If they want us to guard Snow Sea Pass, they can’t possibly refuse all support.

“Great Yan has fought several massive wars in recent years and the people are tired, but a starving camel is still larger than a horse. Surely they can squeeze out some migrants and send them to open fields around Snow Sea Pass.

“The Emperor of Yan is an ambitious and capable ruler. He understands the strategic importance of Snow Sea Pass. He won’t refuse to spend a single copper.

“Besides, once Master formally takes office as Chief Commander of Snow Sea Pass, we become valuable goods in a scarce market. We can imitate the Prince of Zhenbei’s Residence. Whatever we lack, stretch out a hand and ask the court for it. No need to be polite.

“If the savages behave themselves, we go hit them. Every few days we report enemy activity. Every week or so we report another great victory.

“Keeping an enemy alive to raise our own value? It’s not as though we don’t know how to play that game.”

Siniang nodded and leaned back slightly.

“After we move this time, we’re not moving again, right?”

Next time, at most, they should be marching out from Snow Sea Pass.

Not uprooting their nest again.

“That isn’t necessarily true.”

A smile tugged at the Blind Man’s lips.

“Yanjing. Shangjing. Those places aren’t necessarily worse than Snow Sea Pass.”

...

A prison cart rolled along the road with one prisoner locked inside. Five hundred Jingnan cavalrymen guarded the front and another five hundred guarded the rear.

A’Lai sat inside the cage.

His hair was disheveled.

His gaze had grown cloudy.

He had been captured by savages and handed over to the Yan.

He had cursed those savages furiously, calling them ungrateful bastards who had forgotten their old oaths.

When facing the Yan, however, he kept his mouth shut and refused to say a word.

Whatever food the Yan sent, he chose only the finest portions to eat. Every evening before nightfall, he also demanded hot water to wash.

Even so, prison life was not exactly capable of leaving a man rosy-cheeked and radiant.

The Yan had captured many savages, including quite a few nobles from the snowfield tribes, and they brought them over to identify A’Lai.

Some prisoners immediately flattered the Yan soldiers.

“Yes! That’s him!”

Others dropped to their knees before A’Lai and sobbed uncontrollably.

Perhaps they were crying over the fate of their “King.”

Perhaps they were crying over their own present condition.

A’Lai had barely done anything.

Yet in a strange way, he had done a great deal.

Once he understood that escape was impossible this time, he stopped trying.

He had accepted his fate.

He had no choice anyway.

As A’Lai, he was nobody.

But as the “King,” he could still serve some purpose.

He did not know where the real King was hiding now.

Or perhaps the King had already died amid the chaos?

The King... should not die that easily.

Still, in A’Lai’s eyes, death might actually have been a kind of release.

A ruler of the snowfields, once his warriors were gone and his foundation overturned, ought perhaps to walk into death freely and without regret.

Living meant something else.

Living meant carrying the accusations of more than a hundred thousand savage warriors who had trusted you.

Even if you wanted to rise again could you?

A’Lai had originally assumed the Marquis of Jingnan would come see him.

He had prepared himself for it the entire way.

He believed he could deceive the overwhelming majority of people.

But facing that southern Yan commander whose methods in the clash of armies seemed nearly supernatural, A’Lai had little confidence.

So he waited.

And waited.

And kept waiting.

They crossed the Wang River.

They passed Yingdu.

Yet that southern Marquis never came to see him.

Nor was A’Lai ever dragged, bound, and thrown before the man’s feet.

At first, A’Lai had been confused.

Now he understood.

Perhaps the man simply did not care about him.

More than a hundred thousand savage warriors had marched south. Most were dead. The rest were captives.

The blood and vigor of the snowfields had been spent in a single campaign.

Without an army supporting him was a Savage King still a Savage King?

And those tribes that had once been willing to trust and follow him, after suffering such catastrophic losses, might no longer even be thinking about whether they still supported the King’s return.

Perhaps they were already struggling merely to survive.

A’Lai had grown up on the snowfields.

Naturally, he knew what kind of place they were.

Originally, the King might have changed everything.

The snowfields might have become a true state like Jin or Yan.

But the King had failed.

What awaited the snowfields now would be another long, dark age of endless conflict and internal consumption.

A’Lai thought perhaps that Yan southern Marquis did not know whether he was truly the Savage King either.

But the man did not need to know.

If the Yan declared he was the King then he was the King.

When the Yan were strong enough and the savages weak enough, the truth no longer mattered.

What the Yan needed to be true became the truth.

Wasn’t that how it worked?

Yes.

Surely that was exactly how it worked.

The escort stopped for the night in Xinsu City.

There was a Jingnan Army encampment there.

Late that night, another force of cavalry arrived in Xinsu City, covered in dust from a long journey.

It was an imperial-decree convoy. They were using Xinsu City as a relay station where they could rest and change horses.

Some imperial decrees required secrecy.

Some did not.

So when the eunuch carrying the decree deliberately let the contents slip, cheers soon began erupting from Jingnan soldiers inside and outside the city.

“Prince of Jingnan!”

“Prince of Jingnan!”

“Prince of Jingnan!”

The title echoed through the night.

Inside the prison cart, A’Lai rested his head against the iron bars with a trace of sorrow.

That southern Marquis of Yan had been made a Prince?

Was it because of the great victory this time?

Had he piled a princely crown from the bones of more than a hundred thousand savages?

A’Lai could not even hate him.

He had already grown somewhat numb.

And he knew another group of men who were equally numb.

The tens of thousands of Chu soldiers trapped inside Yupan City.

When the prison convoy had crossed the river near Yupan City, A’Lai had seen from afar that a new wall had been built outside the city.

The Yan intended to trap the Chu inside.

Trap them until they starved to death.

Perhaps the Chu soldiers inside Yupan City were pinning their hopes on surviving until spring, until the Wang River thawed, and waiting for their fleet to come rescue them.

But would the Yan really fail to think of that?

A’Lai lowered his head.

He tried lifting his hands to sweep his hair away, but the shackles on his wrists prevented him from raising them properly.

So he simply knelt forward inside the cage, lowering his head enough that his hands could reach the hair at the back of his skull. Then he scratched at an itch on his neck.

“Heh. Look at this bastard,” one Yan armored soldier guarding the prison cart laughed. “Doesn’t he look like a dog now?”

A’Lai understood the Xia Tongue.

Hearing the remark, he turned his face and looked toward the Yan soldier.

The soldier’s mouth curled slightly as he stared back.

A’Lai smiled.

Then barked at him.

“Woof! Woof! Woof!”

...

Reconstruction at Snow Sea Pass had already begun.

There were more than twenty thousand savage prisoners.

They could hardly be fed for free.

Not that what they were given could really be called food fit for human beings.

Even so, they fought over those pig-swill rations.

The Shengle Army had always possessed a tradition of treating prisoners relatively well.

But there had been a purpose behind that.

Treat prisoners well so they could eventually be absorbed and used.

No one intended to absorb these savages.

So naturally, no one treated them as human beings.

If these savages had once been strong enough to wield sabers and ride horses, had once enjoyed themselves and done as they pleased, then they could hardly complain about their fate now.

You lived by violence.

Eventually the bill came due.

Wooden posts had been erected along the worksite.

Savages caught attempting escape were hung from them.

They had been left alive to die of thirst and exposure. Their corpses were now severely dehydrated, and during daylight hours birds occasionally landed and pecked at the flesh.

It was the most primitive and straightforward warning possible.

At night, when the evening meal was distributed, Shengle soldiers carried buckets over and literally flung the food into the crowds the way one would scatter slop for pigs.

Watching the savages lose themselves in the scramble—fighting, clawing, and biting over scraps—seemed almost entertaining.

At the same time, every day one group of soldiers on morning drills was deliberately marched past the prisoners.

They did nothing.

They simply looked at the savages’ misery.

Many among these troops were new recruits taken from Jin slaves previously rescued around Shengle.

Others were organized bodies of older veterans.

One tradition of the Shengle Army could never be neglected: ideological and political education.

Even with the Blind Man absent, that work had to continue.

The Lieutenant Commander leading each group would shout at them:

“If we had lost back then, these people would have shown us no mercy!

“Our fate would have been ten times worse than theirs!”

This was an age drenched in blood.

At the beginning, General Zheng had wanted nothing more than peaceful years running a little inn and muddling through life.

He had still nearly been thrown into a civilian-labor camp and used as bait.

If Liang Cheng and Xue San had not been beside him, General Zheng’s flesh and blood might already have nourished some particularly lush patch of pasture.

This era was not suitable for white lotuses.

Even among the states of Huaxia themselves, once real war began, no one showed the slightest softness.

The Chu river fleet had shown no mercy when it shot Yan soldiers struggling helplessly in the Wang River.

Likewise, when the Marquis of Jingnan decided to trap tens of thousands of Chu soldiers inside Yupan City until hunger reduced them to cannibalism, there had been no warmth in that decision either.

If the so-called “brother states” treated one another this way, then toward peoples outside the Huaxia family, the methods naturally became even more direct.

The Marquis of Zhenbei’s Residence in Beifeng Commandery had periodically sent troops to exterminate barbarian tribes.

The fact that a madman like Li Fusheng could become a Chief Commander was itself one concrete expression of that national policy.

Even Yao Zizhan, the Sage of Letters, during the years when his poetry had been at its most airy and transcendent, had never written some naïve verse about making the whole world beautiful and laying down every weapon forever.

Every day, savage prisoners died at the construction sites.

Every day, the work advanced visibly.

One could say that Snow Sea Pass and the entire chain of beacon towers and fortresses connected to it were being soaked in savage blood and tears.

General Zheng occasionally rode out to inspect the progress.

Mostly because he was so bored he had nothing else to do.

At home, Madam Ke had recovered considerably over these days. Her figure quickly regained its former softness and fullness.

The movement of her eyes.

The curve of her smile.

And the fact that she had once personally offered herself to his bed...

All of it made General Zheng’s restraint rather painful.

Sometimes a man really should not live with too much clarity.

If he had simply drunk more that first time, perhaps he would already have slept with her and would not be carrying this psychological burden now.

But no.

He had rejected her then.

And now Siniang and the others would be arriving before long.

If he broke now, after enduring all this time, then what the hell had he suffered for?

Occasionally, while inspecting the worksite, General Zheng also felt a little guilty over how brutally the savage prisoners were being treated.

Then he raised his head.

The wind blew across his face.

And the guilt blew away with it.

So the days passed—“peacefully.”

Until one day, a group of riders carrying imperial dragon banners and dressed in splendid official robes appeared beneath the walls of Snow Sea Pass.

Traveling all the way from Yanjing had been no easy journey.

And they had been forced to hurry.

Calling them travel-worn did not begin to describe it.

For eunuchs unaccustomed to long days in the saddle, this was practically torture.

But compared with those two predecessors who had smashed themselves to death against stone lions...

Well.

What was a little distance?

Hardly worth mentioning.

An imperial proclamation represented the dignity of the court.

So when the decree-bearing party encountered Snow Sea Pass patrol cavalry, they stopped first.

The patrol could hurry ahead and notify Zheng Fan so preparations could be made for receiving the edict.

Meanwhile, the eunuchs and officials could clean themselves up, wash their faces, and change into fresh official robes from their baggage.

Thus, when the imperial convoy finally appeared formally before Snow Sea Pass, the fortress gates opened wide.

Two formations of Shengle cavalry rode out and formed ranks.

The walls filled with soldiers.

An incense table was arranged directly in the center before the gate.

Then, General Zheng, dressed in full armor, slowly rode out of the fortress.

The decree-bearing eunuch raised the imperial edict.

Beside him stood a young Vice Minister of Rites.

“General of Shengle Zheng Fan— receive the imperial decree!”

Zheng Fan dismounted.

He walked forward.

When he reached the incense table, he swept his cloak outward with both hands and knelt.

“Long live my Emperor! Long live! Long, long live!”

The cavalrymen remained mounted and held their cavalry sabers horizontally before them.

By Yan military custom, a mounted soldier did not kneel.

The defenders atop the walls, however, all dropped to their knees.

Their voices thundered together.

“Long live my Emperor! Long live! Long, long live!”

The eunuch drew in a breath and opened the decree.

“By the Mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: General of Shengle Zheng Fan has served the state with loyalty and public devotion, repeatedly establishing military merit...”

What followed was a long stretch of ceremonial praise.

It was essentially a standardized process.

The official language was little different from listening to a report in later generations.

No matter the subject, the long section in the middle could be reused.

For a civil official, add a phrase about upright character.

For a military commander, add something about blood and courage.

For an older man, compare him to an ancient pine.

For someone young, call him an outstanding talent of the realm.

Other than that almost no difference.

Zheng Fan was waiting only for the final sentence.

“...Therefore, former General of Shengle Zheng Fan is hereby appointed Chief Commander of Snow Sea Pass and enfeoffed as Count Pingye.

“Respect this decree.”

Chief Commander of Snow Sea Pass.

That part had been expected.

Since the Prince of Jingnan had personally spoken, Zheng Fan genuinely did not believe the court would slap him in the face by refusing.

But Count?

Straight to Count?

That genuinely surprised Zheng Fan.

Great Yan was notoriously stingy when awarding hereditary noble titles.

Even imperial princes held princely status only while they remained sons of the reigning sovereign. Once one brother ascended the throne, the others would immediately submit joint petitions asking for their princely titles to be withdrawn.

In other words, from Count Pingye, one more step upward would make him Marquis Pingye.

This Emperor of Yan... really was generous.

“This subject thanks His Majesty for his boundless grace!”

Zheng Fan opened both hands and raised them above his head.

The eunuch placed the imperial edict into his hands and said ingratiatingly:

“Count, please rise.”

Zheng Fan stood.

He raised the decree and swept his gaze around the fortress.

Then, a roar several times louder than the earlier cries of “Long live the Emperor” exploded around him.

“WE PAY OUR RESPECTS TO COUNT PINGYE!”

“WE PAY OUR RESPECTS TO COUNT PINGYE!”

“WE PAY OUR RESPECTS TO COUNT PINGYE!”

The Shengle Army no.

From now on, perhaps they should call it the Snow Sea Army.

And the Shengle Cavalry should probably become the Snow Sea Cavalry.

This army possessed little sense of belonging to the Emperor of Yan.

Little toward the court.

Even little toward the State of Yan itself.

Its loyalty was offered only to Zheng Fan.

...

That night, Zheng Fan held a banquet in the secondary residence and invited the officers of the army.

The inner table, however, seated only the First Prince and the eunuch carrying the imperial decree.

The Emperor of Yan had almost certainly sent his eldest son a private decree of his own.

Zheng Fan did not disturb them.

He spent most of the evening drinking with his officers of every rank.

Only toward the end did he enter and share one cup with the First Prince and the eunuch.

Tomorrow, the First Prince would probably begin his return to Yanjing.

He would likely travel with the imperial party.

Zheng Fan had already prepared two gifts.

Neither man truly lacked money.

At their level, the value of a gift lay less in the object itself and more in the respect represented by giving it.

Count Zheng genuinely drank too much that night.

Fan Li had to support him back to the inner residence.

“Water...

“Water...

“Water...”

Fan Li dropped his Master onto the bed and decided his mission was complete.

Then he walked straight out.

He did not think to prepare sobering soup.

Or pour tea.

Or do anything else.

Madam Ke, who lived in a side room, heard the noise and came over.

Seeing Zheng Fan sprawled drunk across the bed, she hurried closer to check on him.

“Siniang...

“Siniang...

“I’m thirsty...

“Water...”

Very soon something cool touched his lips.

Smooth sweetness flowed down his throat.

His thirst disappeared instantly.

Instead, everything tasted extraordinarily sweet.

...

“You truly won’t come with me?”

The First Prince and Jin Shuke walked side by side outside the fortress.

Jin Shuke had been assigned to inspect the perimeter that day and ensure the savage prisoners neither escaped nor caused trouble.

Because of that, he had not attended the banquet.

Before leaving for Yanjing, the First Prince had specifically come outside the fortress to find him.

“Your Highness is joking.”

For Jin Shuke, there was no real choice at all.

Even setting aside the fact that he had long since chosen Zheng Fan, Jin Shuke had already personally revealed his loyalty in front of him.

If tomorrow he suddenly left with the First Prince, then given Zheng Fan’s temperament, cavalry would almost certainly be sent after them to cut Jin Shuke down on the spot.

Well...

Because General Zheng was often lazy and did not personally do very much, the styles of the Demon Kings had gradually been attributed to General Zheng himself.

“Heh.”

The First Prince merely smiled.

Zheng Fan had been enfeoffed as a Count today.

Ji Wujiang understood perfectly well that there was now no possibility of poaching one of his men.

Earlier, he had merely asked because he wanted to ask.

Count Pingye.

Count Pingye.

His Imperial Father had truly made an enormous gesture this time.

The two men walked in silence for a while.

They had fought side by side and risked their lives together.

Parting this way felt appropriate enough.

Ahead, a group of savage prisoners approached carrying stone.

A cavalry unit watched over them.

Large-scale construction naturally stopped after nightfall, but simple preparatory work could continue.

More importantly, the soldiers of Snow Sea Pass did not regard the savages’ lives as worth much.

Some even hoped the prisoners would die faster so fewer guards would be required.

Naturally no one cared whether the savages received enough rest at night.

*Thump!*

One prisoner suddenly threw down the basket on his shoulder and lunged forward.

But iron chains bound his ankles.

He failed to run.

Instead, he dragged several prisoners before and behind him to the ground.

Two nearby cavalrymen reacted instantly.

One raised his saber.

The other drew and nocked an arrow.

They were ready to kill the escapee on the spot.

But the savage on the ground did not continue struggling.

Instead, he shouted at the top of his lungs:

“FIRST HIGHNESS!

“FIRST HIGHNESS!

“FIRST HIGHNESS!

“FIRST HIGHNESS!!!!!!!!”

He was shouting in the Xia Tongue.

Among savage prisoners, anyone capable of speaking the Xia Tongue normally received better treatment.

Snow Sea Pass needed interpreters, after all.

So for a prisoner doing ordinary hard labor to suddenly reveal fluency in the language was already strange.

Stranger still he clearly recognized the First Prince.

Ji Wujiang and Jin Shuke immediately walked over.

At a gesture from Jin Shuke, the nearby cavalrymen withdrew slightly and stopped preparing to kill the man.

The First Prince crouched in front of the savage.

He stared at the man’s face.

A fresh saber scar cut across it.

The wound was gruesome.

In an age like this, simply surviving such a large injury without infection and death was already remarkable.

“You recognize this Prince?”

The savage raised his head.

He looked at the First Prince.

Then smiled.

“Of course I recognize you.

“How could I not?

“Aren’t you the man I defeated?”

...

General Zheng had been dreaming when Xue San woke him.

“San’er...

“What is it?”

His head still throbbed from the alcohol.

“Master, the Savage King!

“We caught the Savage King!”

“Caught him?”

Zheng Fan jolted fully awake.

“No, wait. Didn’t they say the Jingnan Army caught him ages ago?”

The savage main force had been destroyed, and word that the Jingnan Army had captured the Savage King alive had already been reported as part of the victory and spread throughout the army.

“Master, uh... the one the Jingnan Army caught might not be real.

“The one we just found... might be the real one.”

“What kind of nonsense is this?”

Annoyed, Zheng Fan pushed himself upright.

At that moment, Madam Ke entered carrying a washbasin.

Zheng Fan took the towel, wiped his face, and finally felt his mind clear slightly.

“Where is he?”

“Right outside.”

“Bring him in.”

Madam Ke tactfully took back the towel and withdrew.

A short while later, Fan Li dragged in a bound savage.

He threw the man onto the floor and gave him an extra kick to make him kneel properly.

To Zheng Fan’s surprise, the First Prince and Jin Shuke followed behind him.

Truthfully, Jin Shuke could already be counted among Zheng Fan’s lucky generals.

For an army to keep growing stronger, relying on only one man was impossible.

More men like Jin Shuke had to emerge and help Liang Cheng carry the burden.

But this cabbage was clearly growing in Zheng Fan’s own vegetable patch.

Why did the First Prince keep trying to dig it up?

And now that the First Prince knew about this situation certain things became less convenient.

The kneeling savage immediately kowtowed.

“Gou Moli pays his respects to Count Pingye!

“May Count Pingye enjoy health and fortune!”

It was an absurd scene.

The Savage King paying respects to Count Pingye.

The First Prince rose.

“Count Pingye, may we speak privately?”

Naturally, Zheng Fan agreed.

At the same time, he pointed toward Xue San, signaling him to question the prisoner first.

Once Zheng Fan and Ji Wujiang entered a side hall, the First Prince spoke directly.

“Count Pingye, this man today is absolutely not the real Savage King.”

“Oh?”

Alcohol still numbed Zheng Fan’s brain.

He had only just fallen asleep before being dragged awake again.

His thoughts were not functioning at normal speed.

So for a moment, he failed to understand what the First Prince meant.

“Count Pingye, the real Savage King was already captured by the Jingnan Army.

“By now, he may already have entered Yan proper and be nearing the capital.

“The entire army accepts this as fact.

“Therefore, the Savage King we encountered today— must be fake.”

This involved the question of face.

The military reports had already claimed the achievement.

The court had already begun distributing rewards.

If someone suddenly announced now that the first Savage King had been fake, would that not slap the Prince of Jingnan directly across the face?

As one of the Prince of Jingnan’s direct-line officers, Zheng Fan naturally had an obligation to protect his superior’s prestige.

At first, Zheng Fan genuinely had not thought about the matter that way.

He understood Tian Wujing better than almost anyone.

The Prince of Jingnan might simply not care.

*Caught the wrong one?*

*Oh.*

*Then we caught the wrong one.*

*Send the real one to the capital.*

That was probably Tian Wujing’s actual reaction.

Of course, perhaps only Zheng Fan possessed the confidence to think this way.

In most bureaucratic systems, the normal state of affairs was for a direct subordinate to hear his superior fart and spend half a day analyzing the countless flavors of life contained within it.

But the First Prince’s words held another meaning.

Even if the man outside was the true Savage King in Ji Wujiang’s eyes, he was fake.

The First Prince would keep the secret.

Count Zheng, whose brain remained somewhat sluggish, frowned and thought for a long while.

Only then did he finally digest all three layers of meaning.

A little embarrassed, he pointed toward his own still-reddened face.

“Your Highness, my head isn’t very clear right now.

“Let’s just speak plainly.

“No circles.”

Then Zheng Fan habitually reached out and patted the First Prince’s shoulder.

“Your Highness and I have fought together and risked our lives together. We’re comrades, yes?

“I trust Your Highness completely.

“Naturally, Your Highness has no need to conceal anything from me either.”

The sort of heartfelt declaration made while drunk was not something the First Prince would truly take seriously.

Even so, he nodded.

“Very well.

“Count Zheng, Wujiang will return to the capital tomorrow.

“Whatever happens here afterward naturally has nothing to do with Wujiang.

“I will not listen to the interrogation either.

“I take my leave.”

The First Prince turned to go.

Zheng Fan immediately reached out and grabbed his shoulder again.

Because his footing was unstable, Ji Wujiang’s movement pulled Zheng Fan forward until his entire body ended up pressed against the First Prince’s back.

“...”

The First Prince.

“My offense, my offense. Forgive me. I bumped into Your Highness.”

Zheng Fan immediately pushed himself away and shook his head hard.

“Your Highness— if that thing outside really is the Savage King, don’t you want to chop him dead with one saber?”

The person here who hated the Savage King most was not Zheng Fan.

Not the Demon Kings.

Not the Snow Sea Army.

It was First Prince Ji Wujiang.

If not for that catastrophic defeat in the first Battle of the Wang River, how could the First Prince ever have fallen to his present state?

He had lost soldiers and generals.

And turned himself completely into a tool for a political marriage.

Ji Wujiang licked his lips.

He turned around.

Then looked directly at Zheng Fan and said very seriously:

“Count Pingye— this Prince is ninety percent certain that the man outside is the real Savage King.”

Certain things certain expressions sometimes even a single look or one tone of voice carried more weight than mountains of evidence.

When that savage had raised his head, looked at Ji Wujiang, and called him a defeated opponent, the First Prince had almost immediately determined this one was the real Savage King.

“Then, Your Highness...”

“My revenge has already been taken for me by the Prince of Jingnan.

“The Chu army inside Yupan City will not be able to struggle much longer either.

“What this Prince hates is the savage people.

“Not merely one single man.

“He has lost his army.

“He has fallen so far that he had to hide himself inside a prisoner camp.

“The tribes of the snowfields are about to undergo a new purge.

“He may truly be the Savage King, but he is absolutely not worth Ji Wujiang paying any price necessary merely to kill him now.

“More importantly, whatever reason he had for revealing his identity, I believe Count Pingye possesses more than enough ability to deal with him.

“And today the imperial edict arrived.

“The title Count Pingye itself already shows that Imperial Father has entrusted all matters concerning the snowfield savages to you.

“How you dispose of this man— how you make use of him is your affair.”

“Wow.

“Your Highness really... makes me so fucking moved.”

“...”

The First Prince.

Zheng Fan shook his head violently again.

“Next time.

“Next time I’m never drinking again.

“No more.

“Drinking ruins things.

“Drinking ruins things.”

“Then Count Zheng should rest properly.”

“No, Your Highness...”

“Count Zheng has something else to say?”

Zheng Fan reached out again.

But his ankle rolled.

He stumbled forward.

The First Prince had no choice but to catch and support him.

Zheng Fan forced one hand upward.

He seemed to be searching for something.

Yet somehow he could not find it.

The First Prince sighed.

Then personally caught Zheng Fan’s wandering hand and placed it on his own shoulder.

Once Zheng Fan finally managed to pat the shoulder, the ritual felt complete.

His heart settled.

He said:

“Your Highness.

“I’ll remember this favor.

“I, Zheng Fan— owe you one.”

“With that sentence from Count Zheng, Wujiang has not lost out.”

“We’re brothers from the same family!

“What’s there to lose or gain?”

“...”

The First Prince.

“Your Highness, listen.

“If one day life in Yanjing becomes too uncomfortable, just bring your wives and children to me.

“When that happens, five thousand—

“No.

“Five thousand is too few.

“Ten thousand Snow Sea Cavalry.

“I’ll hand them straight to you.

“Let you ride free across the snowfields!”

They were drunken words.

A little mad.

A little presumptuous.

But beneath them genuinely lay the openness of one man treating another as a friend.

The First Prince had grown up in the army.

He understood the culture of comrades-in-arms.

He knew there truly were brothers in military camps willing to bare their hearts and take a blade for one another.

“Count Zheng—

Wujiang will remember those words.”

“Don’t forget.

“Seriously.

“Don’t forget, brother.

“My good brother.

“If something hurts in your heart in the future, tell me!”

Zheng Fan kept patting the First Prince’s shoulder.

At that moment, Liang Cheng walked in.

The First Prince immediately transferred Zheng Fan into Liang Cheng’s hands.

Then he nodded toward Liang Cheng.

“This Prince is returning.”

“We respectfully see Your Highness off.”

After the First Prince left, Liang Cheng continued supporting his swaying Master toward a chair.

Once Zheng Fan sat down, Liang Cheng found tea, poured a cup, and handed it over.

Zheng Fan accepted it.

He drank.

Beside him, Liang Cheng said:

“Master, you truly drank far too much this time.”

He had actually stood outside listening for a while.

Only when it seemed his Master was about to completely cast off all restraint did Liang Cheng finally walk in.

Zheng Fan nodded.

Then sighed.

“There are some words... that simply work better when spoken drunk.”

[End of Chapter 360]