Chapter 537: - Provocation

All Zheng Fan had done during the military council was think about political positions for a moment and let his attention drift.

Yet somehow, that tiny lapse had produced this result.

He had casually agreed with the Prince of Jingnan.

The Prince had then followed the opening and pushed the matter one step farther.

For a moment, Count Pingye himself was almost dazed.

How had he, the dignified Chief Commander of Snow Sea Pass, somehow become the temporary supreme commander of this entire Zhenbei Army formation under Li Fusheng?

The most important problem was this:

The reason Zheng Fan had confidently come here without bringing Liang Cheng was that he believed his present ability was already enough to handle the examinations set by his teacher, the Prince of Jingnan, along with questions of grand strategy that rose beyond ordinary battlefield tactics.

And the facts had indeed proven how much Zheng Fan had grown over the past several years.

Whether it was understanding the Prince of Jingnan’s enormous plan while eating hotpot, reviewing memorials, or answering the Prince’s questions about political principles and positions, Zheng Fan had handled everything smoothly.

But... but... but if someone suddenly dragged him out and told him to command a siege battle, he genuinely could not do it.

The basic method was simple enough.

Flatten the Chu defensive works outside the fort.

Advance the shield troops.

Advance the arrow towers.

Have the archers, crossbowmen, and trebuchets fire.

Then seize the proper moment and order the troops to climb the walls and storm the fort.

Yes.

Simple.

Watch it a few times and anyone could understand the steps.

But mastering the timing and maintaining the battlefield sensitivity needed to know exactly when each move should be made required a true master of war.

Zheng Fan knew his own level.

If he were given one army in the field and told to fight the enemy, he could handle maneuvering, harassment, charging the formation, dividing the enemy, and all the other essentials of open battle.

Siege warfare was completely different.

Why had Shi Yuantang led troops out to counterattack on the second day of the assault on East Mountain Fort?

Because Liang Cheng’s siege command had flowed with almost terrifying smoothness.

The Chu defenders inside had been beaten breathless and thrown completely off balance. Their walls were already on the verge of being lost.

Otherwise, according to Shi Yuantang’s own script, he had intended to hold for ten days or half a month before attempting a sortie.

So although Liang Cheng had failed to foresee that East Mountain Fort secretly contained one of Great Chu’s Pillars of State and a force of Imperial Clan Guards, his command during the first stage of the battle had been perfect.

Flawless.

It was precisely Liang Cheng’s siege command that forced Shi Yuantang to reveal his hidden card ahead of schedule.

And now?

Liang Cheng was not here.

Li Fusheng had already been chewing on West Mountain Fort for so long that both sides knew each other intimately. The Chu had developed patience under repeated attacks. One could even say every successful repulse of the Yan had built their confidence higher.

And now this harder situation had somehow been taken out of Liang Cheng’s hands and thrown into Zheng Fan’s.

Count Pingye, who had always possessed a very accurate fucking understanding of his own ability, knew perfectly well:

He truly could not do this.

But matters had already reached this point.

There was no longer any room to refuse.

Zheng Fan stepped forward, dropped to one knee before the Prince of Jingnan, and said:

“This general obeys!”

...

“Come, come, Brother Zheng. Meet these men. You know quite a few of them already. Plenty are old acquaintances.”

The Prince of Jingnan had already moved on to inspect the next military camp.

Count Pingye had been left behind alone.

Li Fusheng was now introducing him to the officers under his command.

Zheng Fan already knew nearly half of them.

After all, he had once served in Li Fusheng’s army and marched south with them into Qian.

Back then, the various military chiefs of the Zhenbei Army were still dreaming of jointly supporting their Marquis onto the imperial throne.

And Zheng Fan, a young talent personally praised by the Marquis of Zhenbei, had naturally received their enthusiastic attempts at recruitment.

Unfortunately for them, Zheng Fan had effectively already entered the Marquis of Jingnan’s camp by then.

Then the situation after the campaign shifted rapidly.

Not only did Zheng Fan fail to join the Zhenbei Army, the Zhenbei Army itself ended up almost merging into the Jingnan Army.

Now Zheng Fan and Li Fusheng stood as equals.

Many officers who had once held higher rank than Zheng Fan could now only salute him.

If that was not the impermanence of worldly affairs, what was?

“Greetings, Count Pingye!”

“Greetings, Count Pingye!”

The generals saluted Zheng Fan one after another.

Li Fusheng himself could swallow an insult without batting an eye.

These officers, however, had clearly been somewhat wounded by Count Pingye’s attitude during the military council.

Zheng Fan had always preferred the approachable route.

Hello to you, hello to me, hello to everyone.

Keep relationships warm.

Keep the atmosphere harmonious.

The Prince of Jingnan, however, had spent years forcibly dragging him toward an entirely different path.

Confident.

Arrogant.

Looking down on everyone.

That kind of persona worked too.

Walk it all the way to the end and he would genuinely become the next Tian Wujing.

But that road was exhausting.

Even so, Zheng Fan did not explain anything now.

He simply nodded quietly.

If they wanted to be cold toward him, then he could handle everything as official business and nothing more.

Zheng Fan looked at Li Fusheng.

“Are you attacking again tomorrow?”

“Of course. Naturally we attack.”

“Then everyone should return to your own camps and prepare.”

Most of what mattered had already been discussed during the military council.

Holding another meeting merely to repeat the same words would be pointless.

“This general takes his leave!”

“This general takes his leave!”

After the officers left, Li Fusheng smiled.

“Don’t take it to heart. I’ve spoiled these little bastards.”

Zheng Fan rubbed the tip of his nose.

“I was the one whose mind wandered.”

“I could tell.”

“Now it’s left me riding a tiger with no way to get off.”

Back when Li Fusheng had asked him about the Commandery Princess, Zheng Fan had told him the truth without hiding anything.

Li Fusheng looked at Zheng Fan with something very much like the satisfaction of an elder watching a junior he once admired and promoted finally surpass him.

“Brother Zheng, now you’re being too modest. Truthfully, with you here commanding, I feel much more at ease.”

“It should still be you commanding, Brother. If the soldiers don’t know the commander and the commander doesn’t know the soldiers, forcing myself into command will only make things ugly.”

Before Li Fusheng could argue, Zheng Fan immediately added:

“I’ll stand beside you and help watch for anything you miss. That will be enough.”

Li Fusheng nodded.

“That... works too.”

“First come with me and inspect the siege equipment around the camp.”

“Of course. Of course.”

Li Fusheng’s force actually possessed a considerable amount of siege equipment.

Snow Sea Pass had its own foundation in craftsmen, but because Li Fusheng had been assigned to attack West Mountain Fort, almost half of the craftsmen concentrated and transferred from Yingdu had been allocated to his side.

Even so, after one round of inspection, Zheng Fan immediately realized the equipment here was not as refined as what his own troops had used.

At that moment, a short figure darted out.

Who else could it be but Xue San?

“Huh? Master, why are you here?”

Xue San’s face was blackened, as though he had been smoked over a fire.

As far as Xue San knew, Master should currently have been acting as the Prince of Jingnan’s secretary.

Why had he appeared here?

Li Fusheng pointed toward Xue San and said:

“Brother Zheng, you truly have talented men everywhere beneath you. Even those master craftsmen sent from Yingdu don’t dare act superior in front of this fellow.”

Xue San genuinely possessed that ability.

There was nothing strange about it.

“What are you working on?”

Zheng Fan bent down, wiped some grime from Xue San’s face with one finger, then brought it beneath his nose and smelled it.

“Fire oil?”

“I’m helping them improve a few things.”

Wrapping stone projectiles in fire oil and launching them from trebuchets was already one standard method of using a trebuchet.

But judging from actual battlefield damage, fire-oil-wrapped stones were far less effective at direct destruction than ordinary solid stones.

They lost considerable force.

Their impact was weaker.

In pure crushing power, they were inferior by more than a little.

But that was not the only account that mattered.

A burning sphere crashing into a position would continue rolling after it landed.

Flames would spray everywhere.

It did not matter if fewer men were actually killed.

The important part was the visual effect.

When it came to shaking enemy morale, that kind of spectacle was extremely effective.

“The Prince sent me here as an adviser to help with the siege,” Zheng Fan said.

Xue San’s expression immediately became wonderfully complicated.

He wanted to laugh.

He was desperately holding it in.

Seeing that face, Zheng Fan reached out and smacked Xue San on the head.

Then he told Li Fusheng:

“Brother, let’s go look over there.”

“Good.”

They made half a circuit around the camp.

Zheng Fan had to admit once again that the Zhenbei Army truly deserved its reputation.

Li Fusheng’s formation had always possessed exceptionally high-quality soldiers.

Unlike Li Bao’s branch, it had never experienced the fragmentation that followed its commander’s death.

And after Li Fusheng entered Jin, he had come under Tian Wujing’s authority relatively early.

It was like an exceptionally sharp treasured sword that had continued receiving careful maintenance after it was forged.

So even after such a prolonged and grinding siege battle, the army’s morale showed no true decline.

You could see that in the stubborn, unconvinced expressions worn by the officers.

Their military equipment and logistical needs had also been supplied as fully as possible.

That was another difference from Snow Sea Pass.

Snow Sea Pass had begun from nothing.

When the men of the Keyan Tribe first arrived, many tribal warriors still used arrowheads ground from animal bone.

Simply equipping them had cost Snow Sea Pass an enormous amount.

Li Fusheng’s side, by contrast, had begun with deep reserves.

“Brother Zheng, shall we eat the evening meal?” Li Fusheng asked when he saw the hour.

Zheng Fan nodded.

The two returned to the command tent together.

The evening meal was simple but plentiful.

Salty sauce and steamed bread.

As much of either as anyone wanted.

“Damn it. Forgot to tell those bastards below to make something better.” Li Fusheng slapped his forehead and cursed.

“It’s fine. During a campaign, anything tastes good.”

Zheng Fan sat down, picked up a piece of steamed bread, and began eating.

When there was no war, Zheng Fan’s body could be a little delicate and picky.

The moment he entered a campaign, however, he genuinely ate well and slept soundly.

Li Fusheng sat down too.

“For tomorrow’s siege, Brother Zheng, which side do you think should be the main attack?”

“I won’t comment on that yet. You should decide, Brother. At the very least, I need to personally observe several rounds of fighting here before I can offer anything useful.”

Li Fusheng nodded and sighed.

“Brother Zheng, everything about you is good, but sometimes you’re too modest. Still, you are our Prince’s finest disciple. When it comes to the details of warfare, you truly do resemble His Highness.”

Zheng Fan smiled modestly and took another bite of steamed bread.

At present, his policy was simple.

If he could avoid making a decision, he would.

If he could push a decision back onto someone else, he would.

Li Fusheng had been attacking West Mountain Fort for so long that he had already built experience and knew the battlefield intimately.

However poorly he handled things, there was a limit to how bad he could be.

What Zheng Fan genuinely feared was suddenly getting excited and offering some “Flying Immortal from Beyond the Heavens” stroke of inspiration.

If a veteran like Li Fusheng merely laughed at him, that would be harmless.

If Zheng Fan’s brilliant idea actually ruined the battle and wrecked the situation, then why the hell had he bothered?

“The little bastards under me, don’t mind how cold they looked toward you earlier. I personally selected every one of them, and they crawled with me through mountains of corpses and seas of blood.”

“I know they respect you too, Brother Zheng. Tomorrow, if you truly issue orders, they will absolutely obey. No one will slack off or give you some half-hearted response.”

“Brother, I already told you. That was my fault.”

Zheng Fan took a drink of water.

“Why are you bringing it up again?”

“Because I’m worried you’ll hold a grudge.”

“A grudge?”

For a moment, Zheng Fan did not understand.

“The old Marquis... no, the old Prince...”

The “old Prince” he meant was naturally Li Liangting.

Li Fusheng continued:

“Heh. You know how it was in the old days. No need to laugh at us. We genuinely entertained that thought. We wanted our old Marquis to sit in that position. If the Ji Clan could sit the throne, why couldn’t the Li Clan?”

“But the old Marquis made it clear long ago that he had no such intention. And me? I’m getting older now. I don’t look old yet, but speaking from the heart, there really isn’t much left I want in life. Only one thing: to kill people freely and enjoyably.”

“I’m not like the others. They brought their sons, nephews, and younger clan members into the army early so they could train them on campaign. I have no sons and no daughters. There’s nothing I can’t bear to leave behind.”

“If all this property of mine truly ends up in your hands one day, Brother Zheng, I can accept that. At the very least, it means I found these men, these old brothers, a decent destination.”

“To fight on battlefields and die there is fate. Nothing needs to be said about that. I only ask that they not die some worthless, humiliating death. And if they’re lucky enough to survive one campaign after another, then let them earn some dignity for themselves and their families. That would already be excellent.”

“Brother, this isn’t the time to talk about things like that.”

“Brother Zheng, you and I aren’t outsiders. I’m laying my cards on the table with you here. As long as you understand what I mean, that’s enough.”

As he spoke, Li Fusheng reached out and patted Zheng Fan’s thigh.

Zheng Fan nodded to show he understood.

Then, silently, he pulled his leg back.

...

Before dawn the next day, the horns inside the Yan camp were already sounding.

After so many days of siege warfare, officers and soldiers alike had developed experience and habits.

Yan people truly had not been good at siege warfare before.

But then again, before anyone had actually done something, they were naturally not good at it.

Li Fusheng’s army did not possess the specially made command carriage Snow Sea Pass had built for Count Pingye.

It did possess a high observation platform.

More precisely, three platforms linked together, with planked walkways connecting them.

When battle began, Li Fusheng stood on the central platform to observe the situation.

The platforms on the left and right held signalmen who relayed his orders.

The army left camp.

Different troop types advanced in sequence.

The process itself was complicated.

It was like a shop that displayed goods outside during the day, then had to carry everything back in and bolt the shutters every night, only to open the shutters and carry everything outside again the next morning.

Tedious?

Of course.

But if you did not want thieves visiting during the night, you did the work.

“Come, Brother Zheng. Please.”

Zheng Fan looked at the high platform.

His instincts immediately rejected it.

The platform was not exactly close to the front line.

But neither was it far away.

And Zheng Fan had already experienced trebuchet stones apparently chasing him personally across a battlefield.

He genuinely disliked this kind of battlefield risk.

Fortunately, because the structure consisted of three connected platforms, there was plenty of room to move.

Even if a trebuchet stone truly came flying toward them, there would still be time to dodge.

In the end, Zheng Fan followed Li Fusheng up.

The Chu atop the walls had clearly “awakened” as well.

Cooking smoke was already rising from inside the fort.

The mingling of war and ordinary daily life looked not the slightest bit contradictory.

Instead, it somehow appeared perfectly natural.

Below them, the different units were still moving into their assigned positions.

Trebuchets, arrow towers, and other equipment were still being pushed forward from the rear.

“Report!”

A mounted messenger galloped over, jumped down from his horse, and rushed up the platform.

“General! A... funeral procession is approaching from the east. They’re carrying the banner of the Snow Sea Army.”

“A funeral procession?”

Li Fusheng looked toward Zheng Fan beside him.

Zheng Fan nodded.

“They’re mine.”

“Oh. Let them in.”

“Yes!”

“Is this the funeral procession for that Great Chu Pillar of State?” Li Fusheng immediately understood.

“Yes.”

The funeral procession entered.

White cloth had been tied around every soldier’s armor.

White streamers had been wound around their weapons.

They brought with them one exquisite coffin that should originally have belonged to A’Ming.

The Yan army was still preparing for the siege.

Many soldiers had already sat cross-legged on the ground to wait.

Seeing this bizarrely dressed group suddenly enter, they all raised their heads curiously.

The Chu atop the walls of West Mountain Fort did the same.

No one had any idea what medicine the Yan had hidden inside this particular gourd.

Li Fusheng’s men had already shouted the news of Shi Yuantang’s death toward the Chu defenders long ago.

But the Chu commander had probably suppressed the information.

Or perhaps he had simply told the troops it was another Yan lie intended to shake their morale.

Before Shi Yuantang died, the Yan had shouted that the Fifth Prince of Chu had rebelled and already killed the Regent.

The Chu had shouted back:

Go home and look! Your Yan Emperor already dropped dead!

On a battlefield, lies amounting to “your mother’s dead” and “your father’s gone” were hurled back and forth all the time.

After enough of that, everyone became somewhat immune.

Then, the funeral procession raised a golden Fire-Phoenix Banner.

The Chu soldiers atop the walls froze.

After that, a bronze war chariot was pushed into view.

The wall immediately erupted.

Rumors could be fabricated at will.

Physical objects were much harder to fake.

Neither the Fire-Phoenix Banner nor that bronze chariot was some ordinary piece of equipment.

If the Chu opposite them had somehow produced the Prince of Jingnan’s gilded armor and hung it on display, the Yan soldiers here would inevitably have suffered a blow to morale too.

Then came something even more excessive.

An enormous man stepped out from the Yan funeral procession.

He opened the coffin.

He lifted from it the corpse of an old man still dressed in noble armor.

Then he raised the corpse high overhead.

Threads and wooden slats had been fixed to the body.

The giant held some of the connected wooden pieces in his hands.

Others were clenched between his teeth.

Once the corpse was raised, the giant began moving both arms.

Like a man working a marionette, he made the corpse above him twist along with his movements.

His own legs and waist began swaying to the same rhythm.

Then, dozens of men from the funeral procession dismounted.

They were clearly wearing mourning clothes.

Yet each of them pulled out a strip of bright red silk and began twisting along in step with the giant at the front.

Every movement matched.

Perfectly synchronized.

They were performing a yangge dance.

The Yan soldiers stared in complete confusion.

This folk dance had indeed once been taken to the snowfields and performed at a blood-oath alliance assembly of Savage tribes as a “visiting performance” supposedly representing Yan folk custom.

The problem was that actual, genuine Yan people had absolutely no idea their country possessed such a custom!

Meanwhile, curses, roars, and sobbing were already pouring continuously from the walls of West Mountain Fort.

The performance continued for a while.

Then, to everyone’s shock, the gates of West Mountain Fort opened.

A body of Chu cavalry charged out.

They were clearly coming to seize back the body of their own Pillar of State from the Yan who were humiliating it.

Li Fusheng slapped the railing in front of him so hard it shook.

He turned excitedly toward Count Pingye standing beside him and shouted:

“No wonder you refused command yesterday, Brother Zheng! So everything was already under your control!”

Count Pingye stared at him.

“Huh?”

[End of Chapter 537]