Chapter 386: Rout

The war horns sounded.

A slaughter had begun.

The more battles Zheng Fan experienced, the more he understood Li Fusheng’s state of mind.

Thousands upon thousands of men fought beside you, advancing according to your will. That surging passion forged from blood and fire it was intoxicating.

It was different from plotting strategy in the court, calculating across the whole realm from behind a desk.

Different too from the literary path, where some towering master stood serene as Mount Tai while a gentle breeze drifted past.

War was direct.

Real.

Face-to-face.

Count Zheng’s speech before the battle had genuinely stirred the Keyan warriors. They were guest troops who had only just arrived, like newly adopted pets. At the beginning, you naturally had to stroke their fur in the right direction.

By the time the Snow Sea Army had already formed up and begun its charge, the Naiman force had only just finished putting its troops in order.

For the past several days, Naiman had held the initiative. Yet faced with the Yan army’s sudden attack, its response was painfully inadequate.

That was not entirely because its commander was incompetent.

The deeper problem lay in the savage tribes’ military organization.

It was crude.

Primitive, even.

Command responsibilities were unclear. The supreme commander could directly control only the core followers beneath his own hand. Everything else had to be divided among the nobles around him, who then commanded their own private retainers.

It was little different from construction projects in later generations being subcontracted layer after layer.

The deeper the subcontracting went the worse the quality became.

And the slower the entire system moved.

More importantly, the Eldest Prince had already taken five thousand true Naiman warriors away to reinforce the rear.

Those five thousand men had been the army’s real spine.

Once that spine was removed, the private troops of the other nobles could still slowly arrange themselves into something resembling order.

The cannon fodder formed from slave troops and subordinate tribes, however, became almost impossible to move properly.

Put bluntly, savage warfare resembled a hunter going out with a pack of hounds.

If the hunter weakened until he could no longer suppress the dogs he had to worry about being bitten himself.

If the Eldest Prince had still been present, or if the Second Prince had held supreme command, either of them could have relied on princely authority to kill a few men and frighten the rest into obedience.

Their status gave them that legitimacy.

But the Naiman King had been afraid that one of his sons might use command of the army to seize power.

So he appointed his own younger brother as commander.

The man possessed ability.

What he lacked was influence.

In truth, the main reason he had survived so long inside the tribe was precisely that he had always kept a low profile and never given the Naiman King reason to suspect him.

So with restraint piled on restraint by the time Count Zheng had already driven the Keyan warriors into a full gallop, the Naiman army had only just managed to form something resembling proper ranks.

If Zheng Fan had been commanding Zhenbei Army cavalry, Jingnan Army cavalry, or even his own veteran Shengle troops, he would not have worried in the slightest about an opponent like this.

But the force beneath him today consisted of newly arrived barbarian troops.

He could not help feeling a little uneasy.

Overall battlefield command had been given to Jin Shuke.

Count Zheng had personally issued the order.

Jin Shuke had been so moved that the previous night he even sought Zheng Fan out and asked him to explain the battle plan.

Count Zheng had not held anything back.

He analyzed the relative positions of both armies and ultimately summarized the guiding principle in four words:

**Break the enemy in one blow.**

Which was essentially saying nothing at all.

Yet Jin Shuke felt as though he had received profound instruction.

After all, Count Zheng was the Marquis of Jingnan’s “personally taught” disciple.

Since entering military service, he had never lost a battle.

His record contained victory after victory—winning while outnumbered, succeeding through surprise attacks, overturning desperate situations.

This time, Zheng Fan genuinely was not being timid.

He was simply choosing the more stable arrangement.

More importantly, this barbarian army had not undergone proper reorganization or drilling under his command. He did not believe he could control it smoothly enough.

Better to let Jin Shuke handle it while he observed.

When the attack began, Jin Shuke’s eyes were red with excitement.

The Count’s intention to cultivate him could hardly have been more obvious.

And when Jin Shuke remembered how he had climbed step by step from the status of a barbarian slave to where he stood today the Count’s kindness toward him truly felt higher than mountains and deeper than seas.

Count Zheng had no time to consider Jin Shuke’s emotions.

Although he was not personally commanding, he was already silently running through the battle’s possible developments inside his head.

One day, he would have to command a battle entirely by himself.

He could not spend his entire life studying dragon-slaying arts without ever drawing the blade.

A’Ming, meanwhile, was relieved.

This time, Master had not personally charged at the head of the formation.

Instead, Zheng Fan had found a low hill and was watching the battle from above.

Several of Xue San’s men guarded him as well.

Those operatives might not be especially effective when forming a proper battle line. Their habits had long since drifted away from broad, open formations.

But if the situation suddenly collapsed, protecting Master all the way back to Snow Sea Pass would not be difficult.

The Pixiu beneath Zheng Fan, on the other hand, was clearly eager to enter the fight.

Unfortunately, its master refused to indulge it.

The beast dug at the earth with its hooves in frustration.

“The forward wings should split. Suppress them with arrows.”

Zheng Fan murmured the words almost unconsciously.

And sure enough under Jin Shuke’s command, the more than four thousand Keyan riders at the front did not slam directly into the Naiman army.

No brutal cavalry collision occurred.

Instead, the formation split toward both wings, drawing outward in a flanking curve while bows were raised and volleys began falling into the enemy.

Savages were fundamentally a fishing and hunting people.

Some Tamed Savages in the Tianduan Mountains even practiced agriculture.

So in terms of survival conditions, their lives were actually somewhat easier than those of the desert barbarians.

By the same logic the barbarians’ horsemanship and mounted archery were generally superior to that of the savages.

The Keyan warriors’ equipment was nowhere near that of Zheng Fan’s proper Snow Sea troops.

But the Naiman force did not possess a high armor rate either.

In that respect the two sides were roughly equal.

The deeper reason was simple.

When the Savage King first entered Jin, captured iron weapons and armor had been distributed immediately among the warriors beneath him.

Such military supplies were too valuable to leave sitting unused merely so they could be hauled back to the snowfields like treasure.

Similarly, Jin craftsmen captured during the invasion had originally been distributed preferentially among the tribes supporting the Savage King.

But then the Savage King’s main army was buried inside Jin.

The armor and weapons went with it.

And the tribes that had possessed enough vision to receive and protect skilled craftsmen later lost so many warriors that they were swallowed by other savage tribes.

The craftsmen scattered again.

So metallurgy and forging on the snowfields had never undergone any meaningful improvement.

That was exactly why men of vision among the savages believed the snowfields had lost all hope after losing the Savage King.

The Keyan arrows concentrated on both wings.

Those Naiman wings were composed primarily of subordinate troops and slaves.

Together they numbered more than ten thousand.

The moment arrows began falling, both formations descended into disorder.

On the hill, Count Zheng continued his “mental command.”

“Punch through the wings.”

The clash was still unfolding at tremendous speed.

Both armies consisted mostly of cavalry.

Everything happened quickly.

After the four thousand-plus Keyan riders in front split into flanking maneuvers, the remaining three thousand warriors under Keyan Dongge accelerated their horses to full speed.

Yet they did not strike the Naiman center head-on.

Instead, they deliberately left their own center open.

Then they angled slightly to one side.

The adjustment was not large.

But it changed the point of the spearhead completely.

The entire charge slammed directly into the Naiman flank the position occupied by subordinate troops.

This kind of close combat this most direct form of cavalry impact was often the sort of tactic commanders disliked most.

And yet it remained one of the quickest ways to achieve results on a battlefield.

Commanders disliked it because cavalry were expensive.

It worked because thousands of galloping horses charging directly toward a man inflicted terrifying pressure on his nerves and morale.

In later generations, when the Eighth Route Army fought the Japanese, it also understood the principle of first striking puppet troops.

What the Keyan Tribe did here was essentially the same.

The subordinate forces of Naiman had been forcibly absorbed only recently when the tribe swallowed neighboring groups.

How much genuine combat will could men like that possibly possess?

And now five thousand core Naiman warriors had been withdrawn as well.

The army’s internal structure had become badly unbalanced.

So when Keyan Dongge led his tribesmen into a savage charge, the initial resistance was real but only briefly.

Then the Keyan momentum actually began accelerating.

The right-wing subordinate army was punched through completely.

Collapse followed.

Like a breach torn into a dam, the rupture spread into a chain reaction.

Huge numbers of fleeing subordinate soldiers from the right wing rushed toward the center.

They smashed directly into the Naiman central formation.

The force that should have possessed the strongest will to fight and the greatest combat power was thrown into confusion before it could even begin to display that strength.

Far away—

Count Zheng traced a circle in the air with one hand.

Then said:

“Drive through from the rear.”

The flanking cavalry under Jin Shuke had already bypassed the main Naiman force.

Now, from the diagonal rear they began their penetration at exactly the right moment.

Seeing the battlefield unfold, Count Zheng clicked his tongue.

He took out his metal Zhonghua cigarette case.

Pulled out one cigarette.

And slowly lit it.

A’Ming, standing nearby, said:

“Master is wise.”

Truthfully—

A’Ming really was somewhat impressed.

Zheng Fan shook ash from the cigarette.

“It isn’t me commanding.”

A’Ming opened his mouth.

But Zheng Fan spoke first:

“Don’t tell me there’s no difference between this and me commanding.”

A’Ming closed his mouth.

Count Zheng stretched lazily.

The battle was decided.

Sure enough the Naiman army collapsed.

First it lost formation.

Then organization.

Then command.

And finally the entire force broke.

In truth, the number of men actually killed or wounded during the true collision between both sides was not especially high.

Only a small fraction of the total armies.

War often worked like this.

Especially field battles.

Rarely did two sides stand rigidly in place and trade bodies until one ran out.

Even sieges often did not work that way.

The method used here closely resembled the way Tian Wujing had once commanded Zhenbei and Jingnan Army elites against the Savage King’s main force.

Exploit the fact that the opposing army is assembled from mismatched parts.

Exploit the fact that it is not one solid piece.

Exploit the fact that its forces do not share one command structure or one belief.

Then use your own unified command and cohesion to cut it apart, shatter it, and only afterward begin the true killing.

Wolf packs hunting herds far larger than themselves often used something similar.

It would be inaccurate to claim the Keyan warriors possessed extraordinary discipline or battlefield sophistication.

But they possessed one critical advantage: they were one tribe.

They had traveled thousands of li into a completely unfamiliar land.

Faced with a strange new environment, they instinctively clung more tightly together.

That was why they dared divide their already smaller force.

That was why they dared completely open their center.

Ordinarily, leaving the center open and splitting one’s troops in a field encounter was a major taboo.

Breaking a formation apart was easy.

Putting it back together afterward was much harder.

A commander could easily collapse his own army by attempting something too clever.

But sometimes you had to dare.

Dare to gamble.

Dare to fight.

Only then could you hope for the most satisfying result.

Once the Naiman army broke, what followed was pursuit.

Count Zheng had already seen countless similar scenes.

Yan troops were especially skilled at this kind of war.

Break the enemy.

Turn an army into a herd of sheep.

Then hunt them.

“Master does not look especially happy,” A’Ming said.

“The opponent was too weak.

“No sense of achievement.”

Then Zheng Fan waved toward the men guarding him.

“Go.

“Don’t let the big fish escape.”

A pursuit between cavalry forces would never end quickly.

Both sides possessed four-legged speed.

And this was exactly the moment when catching enemy nobles and officers mattered most.

The more important men captured now, the more difficult it would be for the enemy to gather its scattered remnants and rebuild resistance.

Once this force was dealt with, Zheng Fan could press northward again and coordinate with Liang Cheng against the Naiman heartland.

This expedition was nearly finished.

In fact, Zheng Fan suspected that even if he never went to help Liang Cheng, Liang Cheng could probably handle the Eldest Prince alone.

He did not command many men.

But those troops were genuine elite Snow Sea Cavalry.

Zheng Fan flicked his cigarette butt carelessly onto the ground without the slightest civic conscience.

Then stretched so hard every muscle seemed to lengthen.

A long sigh came from his throat.

He said to A’Ming:

“I want a bath.”

“Master, Deep Pool is right beside us.”

“I want a hot bath.”

“This subordinate will heat the water.”

“I want a massage.”

“This subordinate can also—”

Zheng Fan glanced at A’Ming.

A’Ming nodded.

Fine.

You’re thinking about Siniang.

...

“I have to say, you’re recovering fairly well.”

Inside the underground prison, the Savage King reached through the iron bars and grabbed a handful of peanuts from the plate outside.

The Sword Saint sat on the other side.

“Thanks to you.

“Not bad.”

The Sword Saint poured two cups of wine.

He placed one beside the Savage King’s bars.

Kept the other for himself.

“Haaah. Staying inside the city all day must be boring, right?” the Savage King asked.

The Sword Saint was, after all, a man of the jianghu.

He was accustomed to freedom.

Snow Sea Pass might be vast, but for the Sword Saint it still amounted to living in confinement.

“It’s tolerable.

“I walk my son to school every morning.

“At night I wait for my wife to come home and cook.”

“And later at night?”

The Savage King tossed peanuts into his mouth as he asked.

“Oh, I forgot.

“Your body still hasn’t recovered enough for that.

“Heh.”

The Sword Saint took a sip of wine.

“Judging by the timing, Count Zheng should already be fighting the Naiman Tribe.”

“I heard you designed the plan?”

“It seems they really do treat you as one of their own.

“This Count’s Residence is strange.

“He isn’t an emperor.

“His birth wasn’t impressive.

“Yet in only a few years he gathered so many talented people around him.

“Take that Blind Man.

“No exaggeration.

“No flattery.

“If I had not fallen from power, I could have made him Grand Preceptor without blinking.”

The Sword Saint nodded too.

He had lived in Shengle City for a long time and had interacted with Zheng Fan and the Demon Kings constantly.

“Some people simply possess good fortune.”

“Haaah. My fortune wasn’t bad either.

“If you hadn’t crippled yourself just to cut my path apart with that sword, I should still be enjoying myself on the snowfields right now.”

There was plenty of time inside a prison.

Very little to do.

So a man could replay the past countless times.

In the Savage King’s view, the direct reason for his collapse had been the Sword Saint killing Gelimu with one sword outside Snow Sea Pass.

If Gelimu had lived, perhaps the Yan defenders could never have held the pass.

If the Savage King had not been trapped south of Snow Sea Pass, then the decisive battle at the Wang River would never have happened.

He would have returned to the snowfields laden with spoils and calmly reorganized the entire region.

Yet these two great enemies could now sit together drinking wine and eating snacks.

Not because they had suddenly developed mutual admiration.

For the Sword Saint his peaceful life had become mellow and comfortable, but perhaps too peaceful.

So he occasionally came to look at the Savage King.

Seeing the man live this miserably made him feel better.

For the Savage King almost nobody was allowed into this prison.

If the Sword Saint came to talk, he was happy enough to have company.

“Truthfully, I know what you’re thinking.

“You can’t understand why I’m helping the Count’s Residence plan attacks against the snowfields now, right?

“Wait.

“No.

“You should understand perfectly well.

“Didn’t you do similar things before?”

Betraying the Emperor of Jin.

Killing the old head of the Situ Clan.

The Sword Saint had done plenty of comparable things.

“I’m different from you,” the Sword Saint insisted.

“Different roads.

“Same destination.”

The Savage King reached out and grabbed another handful of peanuts.

He continued shelling them as he spoke.

“Look at the life you’re living now.

“After I fell, your mission was basically complete.

“Here in Snow Sea Pass, aren’t you just living your own little life?

“You’ve seen all the storms you were supposed to see.

“You’re a man of the jianghu, but you always wanted to do something for Jin.

“You tried.

“Worked hard at it.

“Though the result was an absolute mess.”

“...”

The Sword Saint.

“I was a little better.

“I almost succeeded.

“But...

“Haaah.

“I failed in the end too.

“Let me speak from the heart.

“Even if I refuse to advise the Count’s Residence now, once they spend another two or three years building strength and preparing, won’t the snowfields become a place they enter and leave whenever they please?

“What difference does it make?

“I have already done right by my conscience.

“So let me tell you what I truly want now.

“I want to keep my life.

“Live for myself.

“And leave this cage as early as possible.

“I want to be able to buy a bag of peanuts at night, walk over to your house, and knock on the door.

“Your son brings me a stool and calls me Uncle.

“Your wife sees I’ve arrived and fries another plate of chicken.

“That would be enough.”

The Sword Saint nodded.

“You think so too, right?” the Savage King asked.

“Mm.

“If I didn’t know exactly who you were, you almost would’ve fooled me.”

“People need sincerity between them.”

“From you?

“Sorry.”

“I accept your apology.”

“Heh.”

“Don’t assume I’m indulging in fantasy.

“And don’t think there’s no chance I’ll ever get out.

“Or that the day I leave this place will be the day they escort me straight to the execution ground.

“Don’t underestimate our Count Zheng.

“His ambition— is enormous.

“Truthfully, even I find it strange.

“By ordinary logic, a young noble favored by the Marquis of Jingnan and appreciated by the Emperor of Yan should be the type who dies for the men who recognize his worth.

“But he’s different.

“The feeling he gives me is that he is gathering strength for regional independence— or even rebellion.

“There’s no reason for it.

“It doesn’t make sense.

“Doesn’t make sense at all.”

The Sword Saint frowned slightly.

Because among those who actually interacted closely with Zheng Fan the Count’s intentions had basically reached the point where:

**Count Zheng’s heart is known to everyone on the road.**

“One day he’ll finish arranging the snowfields.

“One day the snowfields will no longer mean very much in his eyes.

“And when that happens—

I’ll probably be allowed out.

“You and I both like to think ourselves aloof and principled.

“But how different are we really?

“I’m not trying to sow discord.

“You, the Sword Saint, can hold your head as high as you like.

“But once your wounds recover, if someone tries to assassinate Count Zheng— could you really refuse to save him?

“If he needs you to kill someone and cries in front of you a few times— could you refuse to lend him Longyuan?

“You understand it yourself.

“You already owe him too much.

“Debts of favor.

“Debts of favor.

“They drag a man whether he wants to move or not.”

“Heh.

“I am a Jin man.”

“Transparent.”

The Savage King lifted his wine cup.

“Come.

“Brothers, let’s drink.”

Their cups touched lightly.

The Sword Saint merely tasted his.

The Savage King emptied his in one swallow.

“I’m waiting for that day.

“I believe it will come.

“I only hope that when I finally walk out, you won’t immediately draw your sword at me.”

“I still hope you never get out.”

“I know.

“I know.

“That’s why aside from using a sword, you’ve spent your whole life failing at everything else.”

The Savage King leaned against the iron bars.

He tossed a handful of peanut shells upward and watched the crumbs scatter down around him.

Then he sighed.

“A human life is nothing more than dream after dream.

“You wake.

“If you’re in a good mood, you keep dreaming.

“If you’re not, you sit there muddleheaded until even you forget whether you are awake— or still inside a dream.”

The Sword Saint stood.

He seemed ready to leave.

“Not staying a little longer?”

“Listening to your philosophizing is boring.”

“Heartless.”

“I’ll come see you again next time I’m in a bad mood.”

“Listen to yourself.

“Does that sound like something a human being should say?”

“Keep enjoying prison.

“I’m leaving.”

“Hey, hey, hey!

“Don’t rush off.

“I had a dream tonight.

“Want to know what happened inside it?”

“Tonight?”

“Yes.

“The dream I’m going to have when I sleep tonight.

“I’m just telling it to you ahead of time.”

“Heh.”

“In that dream, you and I were standing together.

“A boundless sea of enemies stretched in front of us.

“We were surrounded.

“The situation was extremely dangerous.

“You asked me what we should do.”

The Sword Saint said nothing.

“You ask me what we should do.”

“Go on.

“Ask me.”

The Sword Saint inhaled.

“Ask already!”

“What do we do?” the Sword Saint finally asked.

“Ah!

“Know what I answered?”

“I already asked.”

The Savage King suddenly grabbed the iron bars with both hands.

He shook them until they clanged.

Then roared with laughter.

“I said—

“DAD, STOP ASKING!

“HURRY UP AND TAKE YOUR SON HERE AND RUN!”

————

[End of Chapter 386]