Chapter 514: - To One's Heart's Content

A person's opportunities in life were sometimes impossible to predict, impossible to explain, and even impossible to speak of.

If Count Pingye had seen Central Mountain Camp drag out a trebuchet and, instead of running, had stood there calmly and unconcerned, perhaps that enormous stone would never have flown toward him.

If Jing Renli had not noticed the two trebuchets stranded inside the camp because of mechanical problems, Chi Mingyi would never have used them to lob stones at a tiny cluster of distant Yan mounted scouts.

If the Sword Saint had not been beside Zheng Fan, then even if the Demon Pill had “yanked” Count Pingye off his horse in advance, there was still a good chance the flying stone fragments would have shaved away half his skull.

In short, the difference had been no more than a hair's breadth.

And the memorial placed on the Prince of Jingnan's desk would have reported the death in battle of Great Yan's Count Pingye.

It was not as though Zheng Fan had never wondered why his luck on battlefields was so damned awful.

Long ago, while Yao Zizhan was in Shengle City, the two of them had once drunk together late into the night. Using what Yao himself called an embarrassingly crude method of observing qi, he had said that the baleful aura around Zheng Fan was far too heavy and might be damaging his fortune.

At the time, Count Pingye had thought Teacher Yao was simply making a joke at his expense.

Thinking about it now... wasn't that exactly the case?

He had a zombie beside him. A vampire. The Blind Man was someone who had returned from death. Hidden against his chest was even a resentful infant carrying nine lifetimes of grievance.

What a luxurious lineup.

Put that around an ordinary person and he would have died violently countless times over.

But there was nothing to be done about it. Without them, Zheng Fan suspected he would also have died violently countless times over.

The poisoned wine was already before him.

Refuse to drink and die of thirst. Drink and be poisoned.

Might as well drink.

Death waited either way. At least wet the throat before going.

After escaping death, Count Pingye returned from the Chu-controlled area but did not go back to his own military camp first. Instead, he rode directly to the princely command camp where the Prince of Jingnan was stationed.

This time, unusually, the Prince's personal guards stopped him outside.

“Count, His Highness is meeting a Transport Commissioner from the rear.”

“Which Transport Commissioner?” Count Pingye asked.

There were many Transport Commissioners. Different regions had their own.

The guard smiled.

“Count, surely you jest. What other Transport Commissioner would be able to enter His Highness's command tent? Naturally, the Transport Commissioner of Yingdu.”

The Transport Commissioner of Yingdu was the most important Transport Commissioner supplying provisions and military equipment to the rear of this campaign. That was not because the office itself ranked particularly high, but because Yingdu was the greatest transfer hub supporting the front.

When Zheng Fan heard the answer, however, his first thought was:

Sun Liang came?

Sun Liang was, of course, Sun Youdao's second son.

From inside the command tent came Tian Wujing's cold voice.

“This Prince does not wish to hear what difficulties you have. What this Prince wants to see are grain, fodder, and military equipment delivered on the appointed dates. If there is any delay, any shortage, any problem whatsoever, this Prince will cut you down first. Never mind you. Even if your father stood before this Prince, even if Prince Cheng himself stood before this Prince, these would still be my words. Beneath this Prince's military orders, any who dare disobey will be killed without mercy!”

“Yes, Your Highness. This humble officer understands. This humble officer understands.”

It was obvious that Sun Liang had been frightened half to death inside.

Zheng Fan knew Old Tian placed enormous importance on military supplies and logistical support whenever he fought.

During the Three-State War three years earlier, Fatty Xu had carried the entire burden on his shoulders and worked himself thin by a huge amount. But Xu Wenzu genuinely was capable. He had forced himself to shoulder the whole thing.

Later, when the Prince of Jingnan campaigned across the snowfields, Shengle City had handled logistics. With the Blind Man and the Fourth Lady making the arrangements, the supply line had likewise suffered no serious problems.

During the Battle of Wang River, Yingdu had taken responsibility for grain, fodder, and military equipment. At the time, the command camp itself had stood outside Yingdu. Any chief official who delayed or neglected a delivery was beheaded outright. Anyone who abandoned his office had his household confiscated and his entire family exterminated.

Yingdu's bureaucratic system, inherited from the Situ Clan and already battered apart by war, had suddenly begun running with extraordinary efficiency once those heads and that blood were used as lubricant.

The price of that efficiency was merely somewhat expensive in heads.

One reason Sun Youdao had later managed to push his own son into the position of Transport Commissioner of Yingdu was that several waves of predecessors had already lost theirs.

“Summon the central army's quartermaster.”

Sun Liang emerged from the command tent.

A personal guard turned to Count Pingye.

“Count, would you like to enter now, or...?”

“Let His Highness finish with the quartermaster first. I'm in no hurry. No hurry at all.”

At that moment, Sun Liang noticed Count Pingye.

His eyes were already swimming with tears. The instant he saw Zheng Fan, it was almost as though he had spotted a close relative. He hurried over and seized both of Count Pingye's wrists.

In truth, the Sun brothers had never had a good impression of Zheng Fan.

Especially after that day in Yingdu when Zheng Fan had personally led troops into the Sun residence to confiscate the household. Sun Liang had nearly been scared witless.

But how should one put it?

By now the Sun family and Count Pingye were, after all, men aboard the same boat.

During the last round of grain and military-supply shipments, Sun Liang had personally handled the work under his father's direction. The shipment could hardly be called stingy. It had genuinely robbed the rest to fatten Snow Sea Pass.

And after being crushed just now by the Prince of Jingnan's presence...

Count Pingye suddenly seemed extraordinarily warm and approachable.

It had not been easy for Sun Liang either.

Zheng Fan understood that the man was capable enough at handling affairs. His problem was simply that his temperament was somewhat soft.

But what choice did the family have?

His elder brother was crippled and was now confined at home, forbidden from leaving.

Sun Youdao was old.

Someone had to hold up the family's public face.

“Is there a problem with transporting the provisions?” Zheng Fan asked.

Logically, there should not have been.

The real fighting had not even begun yet. Both armies had only just finished warming up.

If the rear was already running into problems transporting grain and military supplies at this stage, then what the hell was the point of fighting the war at all?

And this was a war between states.

By definition, it was a war fought with the strength of the entire country.

Surely Great Yan's resources could not collapse under the expense this quickly?

Impossible.

Even a rotten ship still had three thousand nails left in it.

More importantly, Emperor Yan was personally driving the campaign against Chu, while Little Sixth possessed that peerless ability to scrape money out of the earth itself.

There was no possible way the logistics could already be stalling right at the beginning of the war.

Sun Liang answered, “Reporting to the Count, we do not lack grain or military equipment. What we lack are laborers. There have been several rounds of torrential rain upstream along the Wang River this summer.”

“Did the dikes burst?”

“No.”

“If the dikes didn't burst, then...”

“Yes, yes, yes...” Sun Liang looked close to crying again. His hands tightened even more around Zheng Fan's wrists. “We have to conscript laborers to transport grain and military equipment, but we also have to work on the river dikes. Yingdu... Yingdu is suffering, Count...”

“You're still working on the river dikes?”

How could they possibly still be carrying out river works this year?

They were fighting a war!

River engineering was itself one of the greatest affairs of state. It consumed manpower and material beyond measure.

Even during years of peace, repairing major dikes required the Ministry of Revenue to prepare budgets and arrangements one or two years in advance.

And now one side was campaigning against Chu while the other was still repairing river works?

Then... was Fifth Prince genuinely doing real work over there?

Sun Liang nodded heavily.

“That is why this humble officer came in person. I wanted to ask His Highness to allow us a little more leeway in transporting the grain and equipment.”

“How can military affairs of the state tolerate delay?”

Zheng Fan understood what Sun Liang meant by “leeway.”

It was not that they would stop sending supplies.

They simply lacked enough laborers in the rear, which meant delays during transport were difficult to avoid.

So Sun Liang had come ahead of time, hoping the Prince of Jingnan would loosen the deadline slightly.

Because the moment a shipment missed its appointed date, Sun Liang's head would stop belonging to him.

Clearly, he had failed.

“Well... figure something out.”

Zheng Fan did not know what else he could say, much less what he could do.

Sun Liang and his father would simply have to find their own solution.

Sun Liang sighed.

“Count, this humble officer will take his leave first. I still have to hurry back afterward.”

“Mm. Be careful on the road.”

Sun Liang departed.

Zheng Fan remained where he stood, suspicion rising inside him.

River works?

What the hell was the court playing at?

The army quartermaster entered, then came back out not long afterward.

Zheng Fan drew a deep breath.

When a personal guard raised the tent flap, he stepped into the princely command tent.

Inside, Tian Wujing sat in the commander's seat reading a memorial.

Being supreme commander of one region hardly meant that after holding a military conference and issuing orders, there was nothing left to do.

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers stood at the front, with laborers and countless others behind them.

One matter after another required the supreme commander to make decisions.

And when forces from many different regions were gathered together, the number of problems only increased.

If every soldier here belonged to the Jingnan Army, there would be fewer matters.

But only fewer.

Even someone as rough and carefree as Li Fusheng returned to endless work inside his own camp.

He could certainly choose to relax.

No one dared.

Count Pingye alone possessed abundant free time to sit around sulking.

There was no other reason.

The Demon Kings were simply too capable. Every one of them could stand alone and handle an entire field of work, while Zheng Fan did not have to worry about any of them usurping authority or rebelling against him.

That was a blessing impossible to envy into existence.

“This general pays respects to Your Highness.”

Zheng Fan saluted the Prince of Jingnan.

Tian Wujing lowered the memorial in his hand and looked at the man kneeling on one knee below.

“Battle is imminent. Why have you come?”

“Reporting to Your Highness, this general just rode south for a look around.”

Tian Wujing nodded.

He knew Zheng Fan had gone to personally inspect the enemy situation.

It was dangerous, naturally.

But it was also a step a commander could not avoid.

Mounted scouts could bring back intelligence.

When the time truly came to use troops, however, the chief commander still had to make the decision himself.

Even Tian Wujing, when borrowing a road through Qian to open Jin, had personally traveled the marching route in advance.

“The troops stationed at Central Mountain Camp are the Baipu Rattan-Armored Troops of Changxi Commandery in Chu. They spend their years suppressing bandits around the edge of the Great Marsh. Their weapons and armor may not be as sharp as the Azure Luan Army's, but their tenacity is genuinely good. After taking a look yourself, did you discover anything?”

“No real discovery. I just nearly got smashed to death by a stone launched from a trebuchet inside the Chu camp. I'm fine. My warhorse got turned into meat paste.”

The moment Tian Wujing heard that, his gaze abruptly sharpened.

Zheng Fan had not mentioned it because he wanted to show how difficult or dangerous his life was.

He had simply escaped death.

Then he came to see the Prince of Jingnan.

So he wanted to tell him.

Nothing more complicated than that.

“You have always had a hard life to kill.”

Count Pingye raised his head and smiled.

“You have only one problem. Another man's laziness may be a form of self-protection, or even deliberate self-staining. Your laziness, however, comes from the marrow outward. Think about how difficult it was for you to crawl out from that pile of corpses in the laborer camp of Beifeng Commandery and reach where you stand today. To grow lazy now... would that not be a pity?”

“Your Highness, it is precisely because those years were too hard, because I suffered too much and only managed to fight and endure my way to what I have today, that if I do not grow a little lazy, slacken a little, and indulge in some comfort, wouldn't that mean all the suffering and struggle before this had no meaning?”

The atmosphere inside the princely tent froze.

Tian Wujing said nothing.

Zheng Fan said nothing.

Replace Zheng Fan with almost anyone else and that person would never have dared speak such words to the Prince of Jingnan.

Tian Wujing's regard for him and the support Tian Wujing had given him were visible to every eye and solid enough to touch.

Other men could envy him all they liked and never receive the same.

But then again... replace Zheng Fan with someone else and that person probably would never have received such treatment in the first place.

So the hypothetical itself did not exist.

Within the army, men desperate to win merit were like the women inside the Red Tents desperate to pick up another customer.

Point anywhere and you would hit one.

If the Prince of Jingnan wished to raise someone up, that man would inevitably feel boundless gratitude and risk everything to seize the chance, to compete, to struggle, to fight, to strive.

He would never behave as Zheng Fan had during the military conference a few days earlier.

Standing behind the other commanders, staring so fiercely at the terrain model that it seemed he was not even present inside the command tent.

After a long silence, Tian Wujing rose from the commander's seat and slowly walked down.

Along with his footsteps descended an immense pressure.

Zheng Fan drew a deep breath.

Head lowered, he remained kneeling on one knee until a pair of boots entered his downcast vision.

“Zheng Fan.”

“This general... is here.”

At that instant, an image suddenly appeared inside Count Pingye's mind.

Tian Wujing raised one foot and kicked.

The head of this ignorant, ungrateful, ambitionless, maggot-hearted little bastard exploded on the spot.

Zheng Fan knew that if Tian Wujing truly chose to do that, the Demon Pill would not be able to save him.

Most likely, father and son would simply explode together.

Having a ruthless superior was not particularly rare.

Having a ruthless superior who also happened to be a peak Third Grade Martial Artist... that was suffering.

Fortunately, the most extreme possibility did not occur.

Truthfully, Zheng Fan already knew it would not.

Old Tian could not bear to kill him.

He simply could not.

Tian Wujing slowly crouched beside Zheng Fan and placed a hand on the back of Count Pingye's head.

Pat.

Pat.

Two gentle pats.

With every pat, Zheng Fan's body trembled slightly.

He was genuinely afraid Tian Wujing might misjudge his own strength and slap his head apart like a watermelon.

Then Tian Wujing placed a hand on Zheng Fan's shoulder.

Truthfully, this was something Zheng Fan often did to subordinates back at Snow Sea Pass.

No one dared do it to him.

Now someone did.

And in that instant, Count Pingye finally understood exactly what his own subordinates felt whenever he patted their shoulders.

Trembling with fear.

Walking on thin ice.

“You believe you can already sleep without worry? That you can enjoy peace and comfort?”

“This general has never thought that. I merely feel... I can breathe for a little while now.”

“Oh. Breathe for a little while.”

Zheng Fan nodded.

Tian Wujing reached toward the terrain model in front of them, plucked one small banner from it, and held it in his hand.

Then he pointed toward the model.

“What is this?”

Count Pingye's lips moved.

He answered:

“This is... the human world.”

“Heh. Heh-heh-heh.”

Tian Wujing laughed.

He had known long ago that this man was very intelligent.

“Continue. Say for yourself what this Prince intended to tell you.”

Count Pingye's lips moved again.

“This is a terrain model, and it is also the human world. Just as every army and military camp on this model is represented by a single banner, all beneath Heaven is like this board as well. Once you enter it, whether you are present or absent, whether you retreat or refuse to retreat, whether you advance or refuse to advance, those choices are no longer yours alone to decide as one little banner. If you refuse to obey, if you cease to be useful, then just like this banner, the person standing beside the board can simply reach down and remove you.”

Silence.

Silence.

Still silence.

“You are very clever. Things ordinary men may fail to accomplish even after giving ten parts of effort, you can accomplish with six. Then you keep three parts for leisure and one part for admiring yourself.”

Count Pingye listened quietly.

“The principles are things you already understand. You can probably explain them even better than this Prince can. Then why did you behave as you did before?”

“I felt... uncomfortable inside.”

“Uncomfortable?”

“Yes. Uncomfortable. This general knows Your Highness is doing all this for my own good. But I still felt uncomfortable. And this kind of discomfort... I cannot speak about it to anyone else. I can only say it to Your Highness.”

Count Pingye let out a long breath.

Then he continued:

“Your Highness may laugh at me, but in this life, in this world, there truly have not been many people who treated me well. I do not know when it started, but somewhere along the way I began treating Your Highness as my own elder brother in this world. That day, when I brought Liqing into the command tent and Your Highness told her to call you Elder Brother... the happiest person there was not her. It was me.”

Among ordinary people, even in the eyes of Great Yan's own commoners, Tian Wujing, the man who exterminated his own entire clan, was unquestionably a complete and utter demon.

Fortunately, this demon spent most of his time commanding armies and fighting beyond the borders.

Even within the army, soldiers treated this Prince with overwhelming reverence and fear.

Zheng Fan alone was an exception.

What made him exceptional was that something about him stood utterly apart from this world.

It was a quality not even the Demon Kings, who likewise had never originally belonged to this world, possessed.

Inside the command tent, only the Prince of Jingnan and Count Pingye remained.

Tian Wujing spoke.

“Zheng Fan.”

“Here.”

“I have not lived this life to my heart's content.”

“...Yes.”

“So I hope you can.”

“I... understand.”

Tian Wujing rose, walked back to the commander's seat, and sat down.

Count Pingye's clothes had long since been soaked through with cold sweat.

His body swayed slightly as he slowly stood.

Yet inside... somehow... he felt relieved.

Comfortable too.

Haa...

Seeing Tian Wujing pick up another memorial from the commander's desk, Zheng Fan saluted and prepared to withdraw.

But just as he turned around, Count Pingye suddenly remembered something.

He had been so busy wallowing in sentimentality that he had forgotten the actual business that brought him here.

The Savage King had said that during the assault on Central Mountain Camp, using Savage riders as death-riders might fool other people.

But the Prince of Jingnan had once matched wits against the Savage King directly.

He would inevitably see through it.

“Your Highness, this general has one more matter.”

Tian Wujing kept reading the memorial without even lifting his head.

“Speak.”

“Well, that is... that... that, that... the Savage King is actually in this general's hands. The one sent to Yanjing was actually a fake.”

Tian Wujing closed the memorial before him.

He picked up another.

Opened it.

In the space between those motions, he said calmly:

“Understood.”

[End of Chapter 514]