Chapter 412: Paying New Year's Respects

The Marquis of Jingnan ate lunch rather late. It was nearly half past two in the afternoon before the meal was finally served.

The dishes were not lavish, but they were refined enough: one meat dish, two vegetable dishes, and a soup.

Count Zheng took a pair of chopsticks and sat with the Marquis of Jingnan beside the stone table by the pond.

Their earlier conversation had gone far too smoothly.

A few short exchanges had apparently been enough to settle the matter of the Commandery Princess. Something that seemed heaven-shaking from Zheng Fan's perspective amounted, in Tian Wujing's eyes, to little more than two children of the younger generation having a quarrel.

Most importantly, Zheng Fan's methods had been clean.

No traces had been left behind.

As long as there was no handle for anyone to seize, whether Tian Wujing was shielding him or not came down to a single sentence.

In fact, he did not even need to say anything.

The phrase "If one wants to condemn a man, one can always find a charge" did not quite apply here. Count Pingye was no longer some soft persimmon that could be pinched at will, and behind him stood the Marquis of Jingnan.

Zheng Fan ate two bowls of rice.

When he was halfway through the second bowl, Tian Wujing took it from him, scraped the rice into the meat dish, casually mixed it around a few times, then handed it back.

Tian Wujing himself poured the remaining rice into the soup bowl and swept the leftover vegetables in after it.

The two men did not go so far as to lick the plates clean, but they ate thoroughly. Almost nothing remained.

After the meal, personal guards came forward to clear the bowls and chopsticks.

Fengxin City might look like a city, and this residence might look like a Marquis Residence, but in reality the place resembled a military camp and command headquarters far more. It was naturally inconvenient to have maids openly moving through the army camp, so there were no servant girls bringing washbasins and towels.

Tian Wujing simply drew water from the pond, crouched beside it, and washed his hands and wiped his mouth.

Count Zheng copied him and crouched nearby to wash his own hands.

After shaking the water from them, Tian Wujing looked up at the sky.

"It's going to rain."

Zheng Fan nodded.

"Yes."

Rain was probably coming, yet Tian Wujing still walked out of the residence.

Zheng Fan naturally followed.

The Marquis of Jingnan walking through Fengxin City was much like Count Zheng walking through Snow Sea Pass. The outer districts were filled with soldiers loyal to him, so there was little need to worry about his safety.

Besides, Tian Wujing's own strength stood where it stood.

For almost every assassin in the world, ninety-nine percent of the difficulty lay in penetrating the outer patrols and defenses and somehow reaching the target.

With Tian Wujing, it was the opposite.

Even if an assassin exhausted every trick, enjoyed heaven-defying luck, slipped past the Jingnan Army's patrols, and finally reached Tian Wujing himself only then would he discover what true difficulty meant.

Perhaps everyone knew the Marquis wanted to walk alone for a while, because no armored guards followed directly behind them.

Even so, Zheng Fan noticed a team of personal guards moving in the outer perimeter.

They kept their distance and would not approach unless something unusual happened.

An armored soldier at the gate handed Zheng Fan an umbrella.

They had not gone far before rain began falling.

Zheng Fan opened the umbrella and held it over both himself and Tian Wujing.

Summer rain made people feel sticky.

Rain at the beginning of winter seeped cold into the bones.

Fengxin City had also passed through several wars and lacked much of the smoke and warmth of ordinary life. Walking through streets like these, there was little peace or charm to be found.

Zheng Fan did not know where Tian Wujing was taking him.

Nor did he need to know.

He simply followed.

Taking ten thousand steps back he did not get many chances to see Old Tian.

Even if they were only taking a walk together, Zheng Fan ought to accompany him.

Half of Fengxin City had effectively become military camp.

The other half looked considerably more dilapidated and housed few people.

Tian Wujing walked farther and farther into a remote district.

Zheng Fan finally spoke.

"Marquis, Fengxin is actually quite a good place."

Back then, although the Situ brothers had been driven out of Yupan City by the Chu people, their decision to choose Fengxin as their base had clearly involved serious consideration.

Men like them would not have settled in some miserable backwater without reason.

Zheng Fan's unspoken meaning was simple.

Leaving Fengxin City this desolate was somewhat regrettable. The current situation was difficult, so surely they ought to encourage production and save themselves through development.

Tian Wujing said calmly:

"If Chu launches an all-out war, Fengxin will inevitably become the forward position.

"The city will probably be surrounded."

He then explained.

Chu was still a centipede that remained alive even after being cut into pieces.

The tens of thousands of Chu soldiers massacred outside Yupan City had indeed been elite troops, but Chu was still a great state.

That loss was nowhere near enough to cripple it.

The next time war began, the Chu people would certainly commit many more troops.

Yan excelled at cavalry warfare.

But cavalry operations also required a strategic point to support them.

Fengxin City, in all likelihood, would become a nail driven into the board.

So even if they developed the city now, once the Chu army surrounded it, much of that effort would be wasted.

Worse, absorbing too large a civilian population would create an additional burden during the siege.

"Yes. This subordinate understands."

"Snow Sea Pass is different. You can continue developing it properly.

"The Chu people currently control Zhennan Pass. Once war begins, the initiative in the opening stage will inevitably lie with them.

"But with me sitting here in Fengxin, they will not dare divert troops to attack Snow Sea Pass."

The words were exceptionally confident.

But the Marquis of Jingnan truly possessed the right to say them.

As long as the Chu commander opposite him had not been kicked in the head by a donkey, he would never dare split his army and attack Snow Sea Pass while playing a military game against Tian Wujing.

The Chu people shared a problem with the people of Qian.

They did not possess much cavalry.

Snow Sea Pass was also a major fortress.

After its recent repairs, and considering its existing troops, population, and capacity for wartime mobilization, the Chu army would need at least one hundred thousand men before it could even begin to bite into it.

"Yes. This subordinate understands."

"The situation cannot be called good.

"But it is not truly bad either.

"The eastern half of the Situ lands was smashed long ago. Even if fighting continues there, there is not much left to lose.

"Still, Qian and Chu exerting pressure together means we eventually need to find some way to break the deadlock."

"If we could take Zhennan Pass, that would solve it," Zheng Fan said.

Seizing Zhennan Pass would completely restore the old frontier line the Situ Clan had once maintained against Chu.

The Chu threat would be pushed back beyond the pass.

Defending one point was obviously cheaper and easier than defending an entire front.

"Without sufficient certainty, we should not act that way.

"Siege warfare is ultimately different from cavalry maneuver and penetration.

"The former drags far more things into the struggle.

"If you casually place your stake on the table, trying to take it back again is very difficult."

Then Tian Wujing added:

"Besides, having the Chu people shouting in our ears every so often saves things from becoming too dull and lonely."

The corner of Zheng Fan's mouth twitched.

He could almost hear the logic of deliberately nurturing an enemy to preserve one's own importance.

He could not tell whether Tian Wujing had said it intentionally or whether, constrained by circumstances, this was merely a kind of self-consolation.

Tian Wujing stopped outside an ancestral hall.

The signboard had fallen to the ground and shattered into several pieces.

It had obviously been deliberately destroyed.

Beyond the broken threshold, the inside looked equally chaotic.

"This used to be the ancestral hall of an official family from Fengxin City.

"After the Situ brothers came here, they threw out every ancestral tablet and offering inside and converted the place into an ancestral temple for the Situ Clan."

"An ancestral temple?

"Small sparrow, but all five organs intact," Zheng Fan teased.

"I thought you would say it was retribution."

"Marquis, this subordinate doesn't believe in that."

Tian Wujing nodded and walked inside.

Zheng Fan still did not understand why Tian Wujing had brought him here.

He had originally assumed the Marquis would take him to see the Commandery Princess.

Even if Tian Wujing refused to wake her, he might at least go through the motions and say that, for the moment, there was nothing he could do.

But clearly, once Tian Wujing decided whether he would act or not, he possessed no interest in hiding it.

Otherwise, there would never have been two imperial eunuchs carrying decrees who smashed their own heads to death outside the Marquis Residence in Litian City.

The ancestral hall was a mess.

A Buddha statue in the main hall had fallen from the offering table and now leaned against the corner.

It was carved from wood.

The body had already cracked.

Several places showed obvious mold.

Even a Buddha needed servants.

Leave it unattended for too long and it aged quickly.

Tian Wujing pointed toward the wooden Buddha.

"What do you see when you look at him?"

Zheng Fan considered for a moment.

Then answered:

"In the eyes of believers, he is Buddha.

"In the eyes of a craftsman, he is work.

"In the eyes of a merchant, he is merchandise.

"In my eyes—right now, he is just a piece of rotten wood."

"Wonderful!

"Wonderful!"

The instant Zheng Fan finished speaking, an old man's voice came from the rear of the ancestral hall.

An elderly man walked out.

Behind him came a huge, powerfully built man.

The large man's height could rival Fan Li.

Two metal rings pierced his nostrils, and he was as broad and heavy as an ox.

The old man himself looked much smaller.

People often shrank with age.

He stood less than a head taller than Xue San.

"Prince, is this Count Pingye?" the old man asked Tian Wujing while pointing toward Zheng Fan.

"That's him."

"Oh. This country rustic pays respects to Count Pingye. May the Count enjoy health and fortune."

The old man bowed.

Zheng Fan's gaze tightened.

He did not return the courtesy.

The Demon Child was not with him.

None of the Demon Kings were either.

Two unfamiliar men had suddenly appeared from nowhere, and Count Zheng's instincts immediately put him on guard.

But very quickly he relaxed.

Whatever else happened, the Marquis of Jingnan was standing beside him.

The old man did not seem to think Zheng Fan's response rude.

Instead, he smiled apologetically.

"Allow this old fellow to introduce himself.

"My surname is Zeng, given name Shulang.

"I am the master of the Tianji Pavilion."

"Tianji Pavilion?"

"Oh?

"It seems Count Pingye has heard of us. Hehe."

"One of your people once tried to assassinate me."

"..."

Zeng Shulang.

Back at the relay station outside Yin City, Zheng Fan had been attacked by the spider woman from Jin's Tianji Pavilion.

Xu Wenzu had been there as well.

The master of the Tianji Pavilion had clearly seen his share of storms.

After only the briefest moment of awkwardness, he immediately changed direction.

"As the saying goes, only after exchanging blows do people become acquainted.

"Count Pingye, as for the storms and mistakes of the past, I ask that you show magnanimity.

"Today, the Tianji Pavilion has already been battered by wind and rain.

"There are not many of us left."

During the conquest of Jin, the flames of war had swept everywhere.

Even a sect like the Tianji Pavilion, which had stood prominently in Jin for a century, had suffered devastating losses.

Now it was barely hanging on.

What Zheng Fan did not understand was why Tian Wujing had specifically brought him here to meet this old man.

Tian Wujing found a place to sit.

Apparently he had no intention of joining the conversation.

Zheng Fan's thoughts began turning rapidly.

He had to admit every time he stood beside Tian Wujing, his mind tended to operate beyond its normal limits.

Partly because the pressure beside the Marquis was enormous.

Partly because Zheng Fan genuinely counted himself as Tian Wujing's student.

So Zheng Fan pointed first at himself.

Then at Old Zeng.

"You want to seek refuge with me... with Great Yan?"

"The fortune of Jin has ended.

"The Ji house rises in place of the Yu line.

"Such is Heaven's course.

"How would the Tianji Pavilion dare move against the tide?"

"Heh.

"Old man, you certainly know how to dress up your words."

It was not so different from Zheng Fan's own parallel phrasing about the rotten Buddha moments earlier.

A perfectly ordinary piece of nonsense but spoken with enough style to create a sense of profundity.

Seeing Zheng Fan speak so casually in front of Tian Wujing, Old Zeng was somewhat startled.

But he quickly smiled.

"I have made Count Pingye laugh."

By now, Zheng Fan understood.

He said:

"Then in a little while, come back with me to Snow Sea Pass."

Old Zeng immediately dropped to his knees.

He kowtowed toward Zheng Fan.

"Many thanks to Count Pingye for taking us in!"

"How many people do you still have?"

"Reporting to the Count, several dozen."

"Can all of them do what that spider woman did?"

The spider woman from last time had left Count Zheng with an exceptionally deep impression.

"Count, that woman was one of our pavilion's Protectors.

"Unfortunately, because of the upheavals during these past two years, nearly all of our Protectors have been killed.

"What remains now are mostly craftsmen and the inheritance of their crafts."

"That's fine.

"Take it slowly.

"You can always recover in the future."

"Many thanks, Count."

Zheng Fan hesitated.

He wanted to find some token on his person.

He did possess jade ornaments, but those things were only carried for appearance. Zheng Fan himself did not care much about them.

The Demon Kings cared even less.

So Zheng Fan simply took out his metal Zhonghua cigarette case.

He pulled out one soft-pack Zhonghua cigarette and handed it to Old Zeng.

Old Zeng accepted it and sniffed it curiously.

"Tobacco?"

"Keep this as the token.

"You can gather your remaining people.

"Either wait outside the city until I leave and join me then, or take your people directly to Snow Sea Pass first."

Old Zeng carefully put the cigarette away.

He cupped his hands.

"This humble one understands."

At that moment, Tian Wujing spoke.

"Enough."

"Yes, Prince.

"This humble one takes his leave."

Old Zeng turned and left.

The giant man followed.

Zheng Fan noticed several tiny details and guessed the huge man was probably not alive.

He was likely some kind of puppet.

This was admittedly a little humiliating to say.

If Zheng Fan encountered Old Zeng alone in the wilderness, whether he could survive the encounter was difficult to say.

Yet before Tian Wujing the man had lowered himself completely.

His posture could hardly have been more humble.

After Old Zeng and the puppet left the ancestral hall, Zheng Fan turned solemnly toward Tian Wujing and prepared to bow.

"Enough.

"Don't bother."

Zheng Fan's words of thanks never made it out.

He could only smile awkwardly.

Before coming to Fengxin City, he had been thinking of presenting the dwarven master craftsman from his own side to the Marquis of Jingnan.

Who would have imagined Tian Wujing had already prepared an entire group of craftsmen to send back to him?

There was also a reason the transfer had been arranged in such a remote place.

A sect like the Tianji Pavilion might have declined, but as one of the major organizations once famous throughout Jin, it could not be treated lightly.

Logically, if such a faction wanted to surrender to the court, it should have gone directly to the Emperor of Yan and been absorbed by the Secret Intelligence Department.

So a transfer like this had to happen in the shadows.

Once brought into the light, trying to pry the people loose again would become difficult to justify.

Even if they petitioned the court and formally requested their use after passing through the Secret Intelligence Department or the Ministry of Works would what remained still be the original thing?

Tian Wujing had no interest in listening to Zheng Fan flatter him.

He simply pointed at the Buddha statue again.

"Qian and Chu are actually much like this statue.

"They appear solemn and majestic.

"In truth, they are already rotting inside.

"Unfortunately, Great Yan's cavalry is blocked by Qian's Three Frontiers and stopped by Chu's Zhennan Pass.

"You have always studied siege methods.

"I'm giving these people to you.

"Use them freely.

"Prepare first.

"When war truly begins, bring them out."

He paused.

"Great Yan's national strength is indeed exhausted.

"But that does not mean we cannot fight.

"It does not mean we cannot afford one.

"If we can smash through Zhennan Pass in one blow and send the army surging deep into Chu territory—then there will no longer be any question of whether our national strength is exhausted."

The shorter the war, the smaller the burden on logistics and the state.

Yan was not incapable of fighting.

What it could not afford was prolonged attrition.

"This subordinate understands."

"When no outsiders are present, stop calling yourself 'this subordinate.'"

"Yes, Brother."

"..."

Even the Marquis of Jingnan froze for a moment.

Then, Tian Wujing nodded.

Zheng Fan had just demonstrated exactly what it meant to exploit every possible opening.

"Heh."

Zheng Fan laughed first and sat down facing Tian Wujing.

"Along the Zhennan Pass front, Xue Rang's troops plus the Chu Imperial Clan Guards amount to roughly two hundred thousand men."

Hearing that, Zheng Fan echoed:

"That's one hell of a hard dish."

"Zhennan Pass cannot be taken quickly.

"And I do not intend to order the other armies to gather here at Fengxin this year."

"Hm?"

Zheng Fan immediately heard the meaning hidden in Tian Wujing's words.

"But we cannot simply watch the Chu people make trouble forever.

"Courtesy demands reciprocation.

"Even if you had not brought Qian'er here this time, I had already intended to summon you and discuss this."

"Marquis, just give the order."

"The Wang River flows south from the Tianduan Mountains.

"Once it enters Chu territory, it splits into branches that follow the mountain ranges before finally emptying into the Great Marsh.

"In truth—entering Chu does not necessarily mean passing through Zhennan Pass."

"But the other routes aren't suitable for a large army," Zheng Fan said.

The whole of Jin was essentially a vast basin.

The plains connecting it to the outside world were guarded by major fortified passes.

"Then take a small force through.

"Slip inside.

"Give the Chu people something to look at as well."

Count Zheng understood immediately.

Without the slightest hesitation, he said:

"This subordinate believes Commander Ren Juan uses troops like a god.

"He is perfectly suited for this responsibility!"

Tian Wujing looked at Zheng Fan.

"No, listen, Marquis, this—"

"Back then, Count Zheng took three hundred barbarian soldiers and dared attack Mianzhou City.

"Why have you suddenly become so timid?"

"Marquis, back then I was barefoot and had no reason to fear a man wearing shoes.

"Now I—"

"Have achieved fame and success?"

"I..."

"Try it.

"Lead one thousand cavalry inside.

"I'm not necessarily asking you to accomplish anything specific.

"Even if you only go in, stroll around, and force the Chu people to rein in their thoughts—that will be enough.

"As before, I will not give you a specific military objective.

"Respond to circumstances as you see fit."

"Marquis, I think this matter still requires long-term consideration.

"Give me a little more time.

"If this year doesn't work, then next year.

"If next year doesn't work, then the year after.

"At the latest, by the year after next, this subordinate will absolutely help you take Zhennan Pass."

Tian Wujing nodded.

Zheng Fan released a long breath.

"Set out in the first lunar month.

"Just in time to pay that Regent of Chu a New Year's visit on my behalf."

"..."

Zheng Fan.

[End of Chapter 412]