Chapter 551: - Boiling!

“If Great Yan is gone, what use are all the people beneath Heaven to us?”

That was perhaps Tian Wujing’s true obsession.

Perhaps even his governing principle.

Everything he had sacrificed, everything he had struggled to achieve, had been for that principle.

Count Pingye could not truly empathize with it.

He could inherit Tian Wujing’s methods of commanding troops.

He could naturally imitate some of Tian Wujing’s habits, gradually and imperceptibly becoming more like that man.

But

Count Pingye could not inherit Tian Wujing’s mantle when it came to that particular principle.

Fortunately, Tian Wujing had never asked Zheng Fan to inherit it.

The Prince of Jingnan had said before that this road was bitter, and exhausting.

He had already stepped onto it.

There was no opportunity for him to turn back.

Nor did he have the right.

So he did not want Zheng Fan following him down the same road.

He wanted Zheng Fan to live with less exhaustion.

To live more easily.

To live with grace and freedom.

There was never hatred without cause in this world.

Nor was there ever love without cause.

Some people believed the Prince of Jingnan valued Count Pingye so highly because, according to rumor, the Prince’s heir was being raised in Count Pingye’s household.

They thought the extra favor was basically payment for hiring a wet nurse.

But why had the Prince of Jingnan entrusted his child to Count Pingye in the first place, rather than to someone else?

In the end, it was because Tian Wujing saw another road in Zheng Fan.

Another road he himself could once have chosen.

Count Pingye could lower his head.

He lowered it so he could develop better, so he could live better in the future, so that one day he would never need to lower it again.

But inside his heart, there had always been a line.

If there truly was no other choice, if someone insisted on stabbing at his bottom line, if they truly pissed him off, then at worst he would flip the whole damned table and go open a *Dragon Gate Inn* in some godforsaken wilderness.

That was not the pedantry of some lofty recluse.

It was genuine freedom.

Originally, he, Tian Wujing, could have lived that freely too.

He held the Jingnan Army.

He was the legitimate son of the Tian Clan’s generation.

He himself was a Martial Artist at the peak of Third Grade.

He was Emperor Yan’s brother-in-law.

If he advanced, he could have tried to reach for that position and placed a hand on the Dragon Throne to test its warmth.

If he retreated, he could have wandered the jianghu and played through the mortal world as the Sword Saint once had.

If he could not even be bothered moving, he could simply stand where he was, and no one would dare do anything to him.

He had plainly possessed the ability to live willfully.

Yet he had chosen the exact opposite road.

One reason he valued Zheng Fan was that, whether in military affairs, local governance, breadth of vision, or grasp of the larger situation, Zheng Fan was a first-rate piece of talent waiting to be shaped.

Fools and ordinary talents naturally could not enter Tian Wujing’s eyes.

But at Tian Wujing’s height, there were very few mediocre men capable of standing beside him in the first place.

Talent was only the first step.

The threshold.

What Tian Wujing valued most afterward was the attitude toward life Zheng Fan embodied.

When Zheng Fan looked at Tian Wujing, he saw an elder brother.

A big brother.

A younger brother admired his elder brother and naturally imitated some of his habits and behavior.

There was nothing strange about that.

Even Nian Yao, General-in-Chief of Chu, openly admired Tian Wujing without the slightest concealment.

After these years and these great wars, among the younger and middle-aged military men of every state, who was not a fan of Tian Wujing?

Even the young Barbarian prince was said to imitate Tian Wujing’s methods when commanding the Royal Court cavalry.

But when Tian Wujing looked at Zheng Fan, he saw the person he himself might once have become.

He had entrusted certain things to Zheng Fan.

Things he was destined never to possess in this life.

You live it for me.

It is the same.

...

Count Pingye rejected the Fifth Prince’s request.

He did not want to take the risk.

Every deep strike by an isolated force was an enormous military gamble.

If you won, the glory was unmatched and the merit stood first among all.

But if you lost, there was no retreat at all.

The Chu system and the Chu court’s ability to mobilize were nothing like those of the Savages.

Even Qian, after fighting a great war, might produce many men afraid of death, but there would still be a few willing to sacrifice themselves for righteousness.

The last time Zheng Fan carried off the Princess and still escaped, luck had been one reason.

Another was that Chu had not truly mobilized.

Even after it did begin mobilizing, many nobles cared more about laughing at how badly the Qu Clan had humiliated itself.

But this time was a war between states.

If Zheng Fan lost, he could expect the Chu to search every mountain and drag every sea looking for him.

By then, Count Pingye might not even possess the courage Gou Moli once had to slash open his own face and disfigure himself.

Sometimes, Count Pingye was merciful.

He even possessed a faint streak of Holy Mother about him.

But Count Pingye was not a pure “Holy Mother.”

He had always understood that his compassion was secular.

Doing an occasional good deed made him feel happier.

It was seasoning for life.

He understood perfectly well that this sort of “Holy Mother,” at its core, was still refined selfishness wrapped in a layer of skin.

If he saw a young woman in front of him, barely clothed and being abused, he would feel pity.

He would step forward and kick the bully flat.

But if you told him that the downstream river would flood, houses would be swept away, fields ruined, some number of people drowned, some number left homeless...

Mm.

He could certainly picture the scene in his mind.

But he did not feel much.

The Fifth Prince had been refused.

He did not say farewell.

Instead, he remained standing on the wall beside Count Pingye, watching the scenery with him for nearly another half hour.

During that half hour, neither man spoke.

In the end, the Fifth Prince was the one who broke the silence.

“In the past, I did not understand why Little Sixth went to Nan’an County to become a constable. I thought he was sulking at Father. I even thought he might be cultivating a reputation in another way. When he married a daughter of the He family, I originally believed he was trying to conform to Father’s policy against powerful consort clans. But now, I understand. Little Sixth probably truly likes that kind of life. The kind where you put down every burden, cast off the restraints of your identity, work, and look at the scenery. The life I lived before was too high above the ground, too weightless. Only after walking barefoot through the mud of the riverworks did I finally feel something solid beneath my feet. Perhaps these words sound like pointless self-pity in Count Pingye’s ears.”

Count Pingye smiled.

“Actually, I admire Your Highness greatly. The way you look now cannot be faked. I am not afraid of Your Highness laughing at me. Tell me to fight a war, launch a deep raid, endure hardship and exhaustion, even ride until the insides of both thighs are rubbed raw and blistered, and I can grit my teeth and hold on. Because I know that during a battle, there is no way to rest. The only way to rest is to let the enemy kill you. Then you can sleep for a very long time. But setting that situation aside, if you asked me to work on riverworks, dig channels, move stones... I could not do it. I could not endure it. And I would not want to.”

“Count is being modest.”

“No. No modesty. How many years has it been since I rose? I used to be a civilian laborer too, hauling carts and transporting grain. Yet now I have absolutely no desire to return to that sort of labor. Your Highness was born with a golden spoon in your mouth. In the past, when I heard Your Highness liked carpentry, I thought it was merely a refined hobby. Because in my view, working as a carpenter is no different from reading the books of sages. In fact, the latter is far less useful than the former. You cannot eat those books. But furniture and tools can truly be used. Yet Your Highness can bend down and labor with your own hands, hunger your body, and empty yourself through hardship. I admire that.”

The Fifth Prince smiled.

“I can hear it. Those were not perfunctory words.”

“Of course not.”

“Heh. Hahahaha. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

At first the Fifth Prince only chuckled.

Then he laughed aloud.

After that, he slapped both hands against the battlement and began laughing like a madman.

Count Pingye did not find it especially strange.

The children of the Ji Clan had all originally been healthy in body and mind.

Then they were given a father like that.

Even if none of them had developed a mental illness, at the very least every one of them carried psychological shadows.

Several months of tempering himself on the riverworks had clearly had an effect.

Like hammering iron, it had beaten some of the impurities out of both his body and his mind.

At last the Fifth Prince laughed until he had no strength left.

He simply sat down on the ground and gasped for breath.

Count Pingye took two mint candies from his Zhonghua-brand metal tin, tossed one into his own mouth, and pinched the other between his fingers.

“Open up.”

The Fifth Prince was already panting.

He opened his mouth wide.

“Catch.”

Count Pingye tossed the mint into his mouth.

The Fifth Prince sucked on the candy while rubbing his chest.

At last he settled down.

“Old Zheng.”

Well now.

That form of address...

“Mm.”

Count Pingye answered.

“Have you heard what happened in the capital?”

Count Pingye nodded.

“I heard as soon as I arrived.”

Little Sixth had people in Yingdu.

The distance between them made correspondence slow.

But no matter how slow the letters were, no matter how distant water could not quench nearby thirst, the channel still had to remain open.

Ji Chengjue needed Zheng Fan as external support.

Count Pingye needed to know the political movements in the capital.

So the letters could take a long time.

But both sides still needed to exchange what they knew as quickly as possible.

The Fifth Prince asked:

“Father has gone to the Rear Garden to recuperate, and the Crown Prince has formally taken up the regency. What do you think?”

“No particular thoughts.”

Count Pingye hesitated.

Feeling that answer might have been too perfunctory, he added:

“At least, not for now.”

At present, he truly had no particular thoughts.

The war came first.

Whatever happened in the capital would also depend on the result of this campaign against Chu.

“Eldest Brother is close to Little Sixth. He commands troops in Yinlang Commandery. But Eldest Brother as a person...”

The Fifth Prince worked his lips for a moment.

Then he said:

“How should I put it? If Father sends down an edict, or if the wood has already become the boat and a new emperor issues an edict, then Eldest Brother probably will not move.”

In the end, they were all children of the Ji Clan.

The Great Yan realm was said to belong to the people of Great Yan, but in truth it still belonged to the Ji family.

Ji Wujiang could support Little Sixth in competing for that position.

But that support had limits.

When things truly reached the point where politics ended and naked blades had to speak, Ji Wujiang would probably be unwilling to smash all the jars and furniture inside his own house.

“I have finally understood something,” the Fifth Prince continued. “What cushions the Dragon Throne underneath is horse hooves and sabers.”

That realization was not bad.

It was practically a local version of political power growing from the barrel of a gun.

“Eldest Brother may not stab us at the critical moment, but he really cannot be relied upon. At Little Sixth’s side, the only person left is you, Count Pingye.”

The common people of Yanjing liked sitting in teahouses and pretending they understood the winds and storms of court.

After Ji Chengjue’s wedding, the phrase “Sixth Lord Faction” had suddenly spread everywhere.

Sometimes it was not that the people above actively wanted to form factions and wage partisan struggle.

Even if you stood there refusing to compete, the hat had already been placed on your head and the boundary already drawn around you.

Count Pingye was unquestionably the number-one vanguard of the Sixth Lord Faction.

“Second Brother controlled the Imperial Guards for a while in the past, but he did not control them especially well. And the original Imperial Guard framework has been broken apart and scattered in every direction over these past years. So in truth, Second Brother does not have much military force in his hands.”

Every state had something resembling Imperial Guards, especially guards stationed in the capital.

They were the so-called central army.

In theory, Imperial Guards should be the strongest force in the state.

Such troops usually existed from the founding of the realm, and in many cases even before the state itself formally came into being.

Most likely, their predecessor had been the founding ruler’s true direct-line force.

But every state had different circumstances.

The Barbarian Royal Court cavalry was already almost the only military power the Barbarian Royal Court truly controlled.

More precisely, aside from that force immediately around itself, the Royal Court could barely mobilize the great tribes anymore.

Without effective local armies, what point was there in talking about a central army?

In the old State of Jin, as the Yu Clan declined and the Three Families divided Jin among themselves, the Imperial Guards had been reduced to a nominal establishment of only several tens of thousands around the capital region.

Qian’s Shangjing had turned its Imperial Guards into an outright joke.

Before the war, Shangjing claimed eight hundred thousand Imperial Guards defended the capital.

When news came that the Yan army was marching south, the first force they managed to organize for a northward expedition numbered fewer than one hundred thousand.

The second batch was forcibly assembled at fifty thousand.

By the time those fifty thousand had marched halfway, fewer than twenty thousand remained.

After that, no matter how desperately the Qian ruler and his chief ministers squeezed, the military households of the Imperial Guards insisted there truly was nothing left.

In the end, to deal with Li Fusheng and Li Bao’s two cavalry forces, Qian had even transferred the Zu Clan Army from the southeastern coast.

They had ended up relying entirely on local military strongmen to fight.

Chu’s Imperial Clan Guards were different.

Their combat strength was respectable.

Their quality was high.

They could arguably be called the strongest central army among the four great eastern states.

Yan’s original Imperial Guards, by contrast, had long been treated like children of a second wife because the entire country had spent a century supporting the Zhenbei Army.

After Tian Wujing took command of the Jingnan Army, the Imperial Guards were reduced to children raised by a maid.

And even then, over the past few years half had first been split off and sent to Beifeng Commandery.

Another portion had been detached to follow the First Prince on the Eastern Expedition.

Now even guarding the capital depended on Li Liangshen’s single command.

In other words, the Crown Prince might not be shallow.

Perhaps he had schemes hidden in the dark too.

But darkness alone was useless.

Even the cleverest housewife could not cook without rice.

The Imperial Guards had been reduced to an empty frame.

What could he actually do with them?

Thinking about it now, the Empress had truly died at exactly the right time.

Because after Ji Chengjue’s wedding, by all logic it would soon have been time for the delayed wedding of the Crown Prince and the Commandery Princess.

If the Crown Prince and the Commandery Princess had genuinely become husband and wife, well... with that madwoman’s temperament, if she had already dared use Seventh Uncle and Li Liangshen to try killing an imperial prince on the night of Little Sixth’s wedding, then the moment Emperor Yan announced he was going to the Rear Garden to retire, she would absolutely dare order Li Liangshen’s Zhenbei troops directly into Yanjing, and send Ji Runhao straight onto the throne of Emperor Emeritus.

In all likelihood, he would spend the rest of his life unable to leave the Rear Garden again.

But deep inside, Zheng Fan had a feeling.

The Commandery Princess might be able to command Li Liangshen.

That did not necessarily mean she could command the entire Zhenbei force stationed outside Yanjing.

Emperor Yan was a man very difficult to see through.

His Majesty was not Li Yuan.

Second Prince Ji was not Li Shimin.

Fortunately, whether Zheng Fan could see through him or not did not matter.

However brilliant and ambitious Emperor Yan might be, he still could not defeat the years.

“Old Zheng, when I do carpentry, the two words I like most are... symmetry. Snap the ink line. Measure the dimensions. Look from close. Look from far away. Two halves matching exactly. That feeling is what I enjoy most. So I think Father probably likes that feeling too.”

Not one of the Ji Clan’s brats was simple.

Even the most miserable tool of them all, Third Prince Ji Chengyue, would have been capable of acting as a hidden mastermind if thrown into the pile of princes of another state.

It was not that he had been incompetent.

His father and brothers had simply been playing at too high a level.

“Go on,” Count Pingye said.

“Father does not actually care whether the Crown Prince succeeds him or Little Sixth does.”

The Fifth Prince’s words were astonishing.

Everyone beneath Heaven was guessing who the next emperor of Great Yan would be.

Not only Yan people.

Chu people, Qian people, even Jin people were guessing.

On the day of Ji Chengjue’s wedding, Little Sixth had revealed his edge.

Then he used vicious methods to purge the trade routes and reorganize the Ministry of Revenue.

That ruthless style closely resembled Emperor Yan.

The Crown Prince, on the other hand, appeared steadier and more seasoned.

Who became the next emperor of Yan could very well affect the country’s future national policy.

“Balance?” Count Pingye asked.

“Yes. Father wants a balance. A balance that will remain after... mm... after him.”

The Fifth Prince gestured with his hands.

“If Great Yan is a carriage, Father wants that carriage to keep moving steadily onward.”

Count Pingye shook his head and smiled.

“So that is why His Majesty keeps refereeing unfairly between the Crown Prince and Little Sixth.”

“Mm. Hearing you call him Little Sixth actually gives me the strange feeling that you are one of us too, another brother.”

“Fifth Highness was the one who became casual first. So I followed.”

The Fifth Prince had not said the words “imperial death” earlier.

But his meaning had already been clear.

It was profoundly disrespectful.

If he dared speak that freely, Zheng Fan could follow along.

“Heh. If you, Count Pingye, really were our brother, Father would probably be delighted. Eldest Brother cannot fight as well as you.”

Emperor Yan had always wanted one of his princes to be able to carry the main burden, at least someone capable of raising a banner inside the army.

He had chosen the imperial eldest son he had carefully trained.

But the defeat at the Wang River had smashed that design back to its starting point.

In a sense, that campaign had been Emperor Yan’s attempt to reclaim military authority.

At the time, the Prince of Jingnan had locked himself inside the Marquis of Jingnan Residence.

If the First Prince had won the Battle of Wang River, then expelled the Savages and absorbed the Jin lands, the next steps would naturally have followed.

Local administrative power would be reclaimed.

The various military strongmen would be absorbed.

Even the Jingnan Army itself would be drawn back under the court.

Provided, of course, that the Prince of Jingnan did not rebel.

But the Prince of Jingnan would not rebel.

So long as he did not rebel, the court could leisurely receive and absorb the Jingnan Army.

Had the Zhenbei Army not already been dismantled?

Unfortunately, Gou Moli had been too effective.

That Battle of Wang River had not merely defeated the Yan army.

It had also shattered the Great Yan court’s rhythm for taking military authority back into its own hands.

In the end, the Prince of Jingnan emerged again and took command.

One battle decided everything.

His prestige reached its absolute peak and became impossible to shake.

That was definitely not what the court had wanted to see.

Of course, Gou Moli had suffered badly too.

He never imagined that after beating the smaller one, a bigger one would arrive, and then Tian Wujing and Zheng Fan together would beat him until he scarcely looked human.

The First Prince still led troops now, but he was stationed in Yinlang Commandery.

And the enemy he faced was Qian.

What?

Could Qian people bite?

“To say something deeply disrespectful, Your Highness... if that truly were the case, then right now I...”

The Fifth Prince shook his head.

“No. Father would not.”

Count Pingye smiled.

“Let us stop talking about this. We have crossed far too many lines already.”

“I have simply let go. Truthfully, by the time I left the capital, I already had almost no thoughts about that position. These days working on the riverworks have also given me more understanding of life among ordinary people. No. More understanding of my own value. That position can be left to the Crown Prince and Little Sixth to fight over. If Fourth Brother wants to compete, he may try. When Little Seventh grows older, he can think about it too. I cannot be bothered anymore. After this battle ends, I will request permission to remain here and redesign and govern the Wang River. The water can be released. The river can change course. But in the end, someone will still have to clean up afterward. I will do it.”

“Your Highness, today you truly made me see you with new eyes.”

“So long as you do not think I am acting.”

“If someone acts so convincingly that they become indistinguishable from the role, then they can no longer step outside the play.”

The Fifth Prince closed his eyes and slowly savored those words.

Then he nodded.

“I have been taught.”

The Fifth Prince got to his feet and dusted off his clothes.

“Count is crossing the river?”

“I have to make a trip to Yingdu. Your Highness coming along?”

The Fifth Prince shook his head and smiled.

“Apart from the first time I came here with Count Pingye and went to Yingdu once, I have not visited again. I will not go. I will stay here and wish Count Pingye a triumphant return.”

Then the Fifth Prince saluted solemnly.

“As a son of the Ji Clan, I ask Count Pingye to take care of yourself.”

Count Pingye stepped back two paces and returned the salute.

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

The Fifth Prince left.

He departed Yupan City.

After he was gone, Gou Moli quietly drifted back over.

“What did Count and that prince talk about? Looking from a distance, you seemed to be getting along quite well.”

“Actually, not much.”

Gou Moli looked aggrieved.

You spoke for that long, and this is how you brush me off?

Looks like I am still not enough of an insider.

Count Pingye rested his fingers on the battlement and tapped lightly.

“This Count has always had one bad habit. When I look at the people and things in this world, I habitually focus on the good side they show.”

The corner of Gou Moli’s mouth twitched.

You... actually have the face to say that?

“Count is benevolent and kindhearted, with the heart of a Bodhisattva saving all living beings. Like the radiance of the stars, you scatter your grace selflessly across the earth.”

“I genuinely believed him. I believed what Fifth Highness just said. He truly moved me. I admire him.”

“Yes. That prince really has gotten very dark from the sun.”

Gou Moli had seen Fifth Highness before.

They had traveled in the same convoy on the way out of the capital.

Back then, Fifth Highness had been pale and plump.

Gou Moli had once heard the Blind Man joke about things like “tech nerd” and “Gundam.”

Now, the prince had become thinner and darker, almost like a different person.

“But my experience in life has taught me that sometimes, some people like placing what they truly want to say on the reverse side of their words. I do not especially like people like that. Talking to them is exhausting.”

“Yes. This subordinate has always hated that sort of person too. Always feels like such people are really...”

“Because I am exactly that kind of person myself.”

“...” Gou Moli.

Count Pingye looked into the distance.

Slowly, he said:

“If what he said just now is read from the reverse side, there are two layers of meaning.”

Count Pingye raised one finger.

“First. He is simple, obedient, and well behaved. He keeps his feet on the ground. He is different from Little Sixth and the Crown Prince. He would be easier to control.”

Then he raised a second finger.

“Second. He will remain here. Remain in eastern Jin. If the need ever arises and someone wants a legitimate cause under which to march, they can come here and take him.”

Gou Moli smiled.

“The dragon has nine sons, and not one is simple.”

Clearly, Gou Moli had already accepted Count Pingye’s interpretation.

Because in the Savage King’s world, the sky had always been black.

Count Pingye drew a deep breath.

“If the meaning he truly wanted to convey was the one on the reverse side, then I really am a little... heh... overwhelmed by the favor.”

Gou Moli said:

“Count, Fifth Highness was not saying those words to the you of today.”

“Oh?”

“He was saying them to the you who returns after winning the campaign against Chu.”

“That was well said.”

“Of course Count already held the pearl of wisdom in your grasp and saw everything as clearly as a polished mirror. You were merely testing this subordinate.”

Count Pingye shook his head.

“See? That old habit of yours has come back again. Just now, I truly was moved by him for a moment. Besides, I know perfectly well what weight I carry. What qualification do I have to shamelessly claim I was testing you?”

Gou Moli immediately stepped backward and clasped his hands in salute.

“But that is precisely the most formidable thing about you, Count.”

...

They crossed the river and rode through the night.

The last time Count Pingye entered Yingdu, he had led troops inside.

This time there was no need to be so dramatic.

In fact, they had to keep deliberately low-key.

A force suddenly withdrawing from the front to the banks of the Wang River could not truly be hidden from anyone determined to watch.

But seeing a force return and seeing Count Pingye himself return were two entirely different things.

The troops brought back this time included Savages, part of Zheng Fan’s own direct force, and soldiers drawn from many other armies.

He had deliberately added several layers of concealment.

Even if Chu spies were present, figuring out which army this force actually belonged to would still take them some effort.

Because they had sent word ahead, Count Pingye and his personal guards were met outside Yingdu by Mao Mingcai’s men, then brought directly into the Governor’s Residence.

After the previous trip to Yingdu, Count Pingye and Governor Mao had formed a profound friendship.

Mao Mingcai’s name had already been added to Snow Sea Pass’s annual holiday gift list.

No one blamed a man for giving gifts too often.

The Prince of Jingnan disliked this style of doing things.

Count Pingye still felt that when friendship cost little, it was worth maintaining.

City Patrol Office soldiers guarded the outside of the Governor’s Residence.

Every servant inside had been sent away.

Count Pingye entered through the rear gate.

When he reached a side hall in the inner residence, Mao Mingcai and Sun Youdao were already waiting for him.

“Hahahaha! A pillar of the state returns. This old man is delighted! Hahahahaha!”

Mao Mingcai laughed happily.

He had not known this battle plan in advance.

But as Governor of Yingdu, how could the riverworks possibly have passed outside his hands?

A great battle raged at the front.

Riverworks were being carried out in the rear.

How could he not grow suspicious?

But he had not dared ask.

A secret military order from the Prince of Jingnan was here.

So was a secret imperial decree from Emperor Yan.

Mao Mingcai understood the seriousness of the matter.

So he simply did what he was supposed to do.

Sun Youdao, acting as a Grand Tutor among the Jin and overseeing logistical operations, had been much the same.

However, several days earlier, a new military order from the Prince of Jingnan had arrived.

It was extremely short.

Yet it had been enough for Mao Mingcai to glimpse the truth.

He was a man of Yan.

And because he was a man of Yan, his only concern was how to win this war between states.

He did not care about the consequences of breaching the dike.

Sun Youdao’s attitude was closer to that of the Sword Saint now.

He had already done what he should do.

At this point, he wanted to focus on the life of his own household.

Besides, after weighing the costs, if the war dragged on much longer, the Three Jin lands would only become more exhausted and more people would die.

Better to drive this one blade in cleanly.

Neither man had known beforehand which commander would lead the army into Chu.

But after receiving Count Pingye’s messenger two days earlier, both had instinctively felt more at ease.

Because in Great Yan and the Jin lands, outsiders actually had more confidence in Count Pingye than Zheng Fan himself did.

Count Pingye was exhausted.

The City Patrol Office armor he had changed into outside the city did not fit properly either and pinched him uncomfortably.

The moment he entered, he began undoing the armor and casually tossed it aside.

The armor hit the ground with a crisp clatter.

Clack-clack-clack...

...

Clack-clack-clack...

A formation of City Patrol Office soldiers ran quickly in ranks, their armor grinding and knocking together without pause.

At their head was the grim-faced Ran Min.

Under cover of night, they carried no torches.

They simply marched rapidly and silently.

Not far ahead in the direction they were moving stood a great dike.

“Who goes there?”

“Who goes there?”

The river patrol atop the dike was made up of local civilian laborers.

Each man carried a torch in one hand and a gong in the other.

At his waist hung a water tally used during shift changes.

But before they could clearly see who was approaching, two City Patrol Office soldiers emerged from the grass behind them.

Hands closed around the laborers’ throats.

Blades stabbed in.

Ran Min barked at the soldiers behind him:

“No survivors on the dike!”

“Yes!”

“Yes!”

The City Patrol soldiers immediately spread out.

Ran Min moved with extraordinary speed.

He darted before one laborer and drove his saber straight into the man’s chest.

Pshk!

...

Pshk!

Mao Mingcai stabbed a dagger into a piece of mutton.

He pointed toward the bronze pot in the center of the table and laughed.

“This old man has been so busy lately that his liver fire is too high. The physician ordered me to avoid heavy food. Grand Tutor Sun’s teeth are no good anymore either. The two of us eating vegetables is fine, but we cannot force Count Pingye to eat nothing but greens with us. Eat properly. Then you will have strength to kill Chu dogs. Come, Count. Slice the meat yourself and swish it in the pot.”

Grand Tutor Sun nodded and laughed.

“We were afraid news might leak, so all the servants in the residence were dismissed early. Governor Mao and this old man may not dare shamelessly call ourselves gentlemen, but we really have spent our lives far from the kitchen. So all we could prepare was this pot. Whatever you want to eat, throw it in and cook it. Convenient enough. Hahaha.”

Hotpot had existed for a very long time.

Only the broth these two old men used was nourishing and mild.

There would be no Sichuan peppercorns or chilies.

Count Pingye pulled the dagger free.

“You have both worked hard. This junior is deeply grateful.”

“Aiya, no need, no need. When Count Pingye returns victorious, this old man will personally host your victory feast at Yingdu’s Wang River Tower,” Sun Youdao said.

“Hahahaha. Victory is certain.”

Mao Mingcai stood and lifted the lid of the pot.

“Let this official check whether the broth is boiling.”

The lid came away.

Inside, the soup bubbled furiously.

Glug... glug... glug...

...

Glug... glug... glug...

Several holes had already appeared along the lower face of the great dike, water bubbling through them.

This was an extremely dangerous sign.

It meant the dike might fail at any moment.

That was why local laborers patrolled it day and night.

Of course, the fundamental reason this was happening was that the dike’s design had been deliberately unreasonable.

Ordinary civilian laborers could not understand that sort of thing.

They only knew to follow orders.

They genuinely believed they had been strengthening the dike to protect their own homes from flooding.

The laborers had already been cleared away.

Their corpses were thrown into the river.

Ran Min shouted to his men around him:

“Dig!”

...

“This old man will dig it out.”

Mao Mingcai took a soup spoon, dug a large scoop of lard from a snow-white porcelain bowl beside him, and dropped it into the pot.

Count Pingye very much wanted to tell them that he actually preferred hotpot made with beef tallow.

But then again, when in Rome.

He sliced off a piece of lamb, held it with his chopsticks, and swished it through the broth.

Once cooked, he placed it in his mouth.

The soup base was not spicy, but it genuinely tasted good.

And the lamb itself was so fresh and tender that it nearly melted on his tongue.

Sun Youdao picked up a wine pot and prepared to pour for Count Pingye.

Count Pingye hurriedly said:

“Drinking is forbidden in the army.”

They were not physically inside the army camp right now, but fundamentally they were still at war.

Alcohol could cause mistakes.

Sun Youdao slapped his forehead.

“This old man forgot. Forgot. Hahahaha. Fine. Then tea instead of wine. Tea instead of wine.”

Sun Youdao rose and walked to the small stove beside them to pick up the teapot.

But Sun Youdao had lived in comfort for far too many years.

He was not delicate.

Nor did he live extravagantly.

But it had still been decades since he had personally done something like boil water and pour tea.

When he grabbed the pot, he did not expect it to be that hot.

He immediately dropped it.

Clang!

...

Clang!

A large stone was pried loose.

River water immediately began gushing madly through the gap.

The breach tore wider and wider under the pressure.

Cracks began spreading through other sections as well.

Some places were already collapsing.

The dike had begun to fail.

...

“This old man really is...” Sun Youdao looked helpless. “Really is...”

“So long as you were not burned. So long as you were not burned.”

Mao Mingcai stood and examined him carefully.

After confirming Sun Youdao had not been scalded, he too breathed a sigh of relief.

True, the Transport Commissioner of Yingdu was Sun Liang.

But everyone knew that the man who truly helped Sun Liang manage this enormous burden of affairs, and kept everything orderly, was the former chancellor of Great Cheng standing in front of them.

If Sun Youdao had been burned, Mao Mingcai truly would have lost a great helper.

Then he would have to suffer even more headaches over logistics.

“This old man will boil another pot,” Sun Youdao said.

“No need. No need.”

Count Pingye pointed at the bubbling hotpot before them.

“Tea soup, tea soup. In earlier times, tea leaves were brewed as soup anyway, with seasonings added. Let us simply use soup in place of tea, and tea in place of wine!”

“Hahaha. Exactly. Exactly.”

Mao Mingcai ladled out three bowls of broth.

The three men raised their bowls.

Sun Youdao said:

“To Count Pingye!”

Mao Mingcai said:

“To victory in the campaign against Chu!”

Count Pingye said solemnly:

“To Great Yan uniting all the Xia realms for ten thousand years!”

Inside the pot, the broth still boiled.

Within it were vegetables and meat.

Far away, the Wang River was boiling too.

Within it were vegetables and meat.

[End of Chapter 551]