Chapter 561: - Fetching Wine

The Sword Saint felt the scene before him was absurd.

Near the Tianduan Mountains in the Jin lands, some people lived beside the mountains in fortified villages. Communication between settlements often consisted of shouting from one hilltop to another.

The Sword Saint had also seen them singing antiphonal mountain songs back and forth.

The scene in front of him now looked remarkably similar.

But this was war.

More than ten thousand soldiers had arrived in high spirits like starving tigers pouncing on prey.

And in the end, both sides had somehow started “chatting about family matters.”

Gou Moli, who had just finished relaying another sentence, walked over, took out his waterskin, and drank.

He glanced at the Sword Saint and smiled.

“This is actually normal. Think of a duel between people of the jianghu. If the difference in strength is obvious, there is no need for much talk. You just kill the other man. If some blind little nobody challenged you, Yu Huaping, would you waste even one extra word on him? Longyuan leaves the sheath. Longyuan returns to the sheath. The other man falls. Then you turn around, leave them your back, add a sunset behind you, borrow the evening wind for a stage, and let it stir your hair and the tassel on your sword hilt. But what if the man across from you were Baili Sword, or Li Liangshen? Or Tian Wujing, or some other true expert? You would probably say more, wouldn’t you? Talk about the past. Talk about the Sword Dao, the Martial Dao. In short, there would be some kind of opening speech. Because everyone knows that once you truly fight, it becomes a matter of life and death. I trust your sword. Ever since I met you, I have noticed that you really have changed. As a man, you are becoming duller and duller, but your sword must be growing sharper and sharper. It is the same here. If we attack the city, we probably cannot take it. Instead, we would suffer losses, morale would become unstable, and the moment Chu reinforcements appeared, we would collapse completely. The other side does not dare open the gates and charge out either. One side will not attack. One side will not come out. What else can we do but chat?”

Hearing this, the Sword Saint asked:

“I have become duller as a man?”

Gou Moli widened his eyes.

“Why is that the part you care about?”

As he spoke, Gou Moli could not help glancing again toward Count Pingye, who stood nearby.

He had never felt it quite this clearly before.

But now he realized this Count Pingye genuinely possessed a kind of charisma.

Was he strong?

A Sixth Grade Martial Artist could enter the service of some major clan in the jianghu, become a household retainer, receive a pair of beautiful maidservants, and live quite comfortably.

But that level could not truly enter the stage of grandmasters.

Was he weak?

He was not weak either.

Especially when it came to commanding armies and strategic judgment, even Gou Moli did not dare look down on him.

If the Prince of Jingnan was the sort of man who, merely by standing there, resembled an immense mountain towering above everything, then Count Pingye was more like flowing water.

Before you realized it, you had already been influenced by him.

The exchanges between the two sides stopped.

There really was nothing left to say.

Count Pingye could not start shouting for the Regent to surrender.

There was no point.

Everyone else in Great Chu might be able to surrender, but the Regent could not.

The Yu Clan could surrender because the Jin imperial line had long since declined.

The Situ Clan could surrender because it had always been a de facto royal house that lacked only the name. More importantly, Situ Lei had originally intended to become a vassal of Yan, and at the time the Savages and rebels had already crossed the Wang River and were pressing toward Yingdu. Once he left behind widows and orphans, there was no road except surrender.

Likewise, the Regent atop the wall could not directly send people to shout for Count Pingye to defect.

Because no matter how one looked at it, Count Pingye was not going to “return to the righteous side” now.

If he had been willing, then back when the two of them sat inside the carriage together, Zheng Fan could simply have knelt.

Marriage to the Princess.

A title of “Prince of Yan.”

Everything would have been negotiable.

And the Regent probably would have agreed.

As for sending people to shout promises of titles and rewards now, that would be inappropriate.

He was the sovereign of Great Chu.

His own city was surrounded by another state’s army.

If he still began promising benefits from atop the wall, that would simply be humiliating.

Yet once the shouting stopped, Count Pingye felt faintly unsatisfied.

His fame throughout Yan and Jin was enormous.

Storytellers in teahouses and literary show-offs in winehouses had contributed a great deal to that.

Because Count Pingye had supplied them with endless material.

Even repeating the stories straight, without embellishment, was already enough to make people click their tongues.

He had practically chopped the ingredients, cooked the dish, and set it in the pot for them.

All they needed to do was warm it slightly and pick up their chopsticks.

And Count Pingye himself felt that ending the show right here, in this heavy afternoon drowsiness, would be far too dull.

Yet there was genuinely nothing else left to do.

Sigh.

How boring.

Then again, thinking about it from another angle, he had already done more than enough.

Best not to be greedy.

“Pass down the order. Make camp.”

Gou Moli immediately said:

“But Count, although we have more men than the defenders inside, if they try to break out, there is no way we can cover every direction.”

“No need to surround them completely. Pull back a little.”

Count Pingye pointed toward Juyang City’s wall.

“There is actually no difference between surrounding the Regent of Chu here and having surrounded the Regent of Chu once.”

Count Pingye knew his elder brother-in-law was not weak.

If the Regent truly wanted to break out, he could seize the right moment, set up false movements, send two routes as feints and one as the main body, and would have a considerable chance of succeeding.

If he succeeded, then so be it.

Count Pingye’s objective had already been achieved.

Even after the Regent broke out, issuing new decrees and redirecting troops would take time.

During that gap, Chu reinforcements from every direction would continue charging here without hesitation.

Even if they later received an imperial decree saying no rescue was needed, who would dare truly not come?

Even if the emperor told you not to come, you still had to come.

It was about attitude.

Once the Chu reinforcements arrived, Count Pingye intended to withdraw.

He would retreat into the Great Marsh.

Let us see whether you come in and try to wipe me out.

If you do not, I will come back out and stab you again.

If you do, fine.

I will keep hiding.

Let us see whether you still have the attention to spare for Zhennan Pass.

Count Pingye had already considered his own position carefully.

This time, his force was not cavalry.

The water route was no longer usable either.

Without surprise, traveling by water would reveal all of its limitations.

If the Chu navy blocked them on the river, the game would simply be over.

By contrast, the Great Marsh, which normally was unsuitable for cavalry, had become extremely suitable for Count Pingye to maneuver and relocate through.

“Master, how about after night falls, I take a few men and sneak inside to feel things out?”

Xue San volunteered.

Count Pingye shook his head.

“Too dangerous. No need. We stop while we are ahead. Also, notify everyone around us. Search the nearby villages for medicinal ingredients and anything else that might be useful as military supplies.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Fourth Lady, put up a tent. I’m going to sleep for a while.”

...

Above Juyang City’s wall, the Five-Phoenix Imperial Banner still stood.

But the Regent himself had already come down from the wall.

“Your Majesty, this subordinate general can arrange a breakout! I swear I will protect Your Majesty with my life and carve a road out!”

A one-eyed general knelt before the Regent and beat his chest as he made the promise.

The Regent shook his head.

“No need. That brother-in-law of Ours has no intention of attacking the city anyway. He is waiting for the armies of Great Chu to arrive before leaving. Let both sides maintain this tacit understanding. In the end, what happened here is still only a matter of this place. What matters is whether Tingshan can retake Jing City and reopen the route.”

“Your Majesty can remain unmoved even with Mount Tai collapsing before you. This old subject admires you.”

The speaker was a white-haired old minister.

“Enough, enough. Old Minister, do not make fun of Us. Things have already reached this state. We have no face to excuse Ourselves. The national situation has deteriorated like this. That is Our failure.”

“Your Majesty speaks wrongly. This old subject has precisely seen how difficult the affairs of state are, with hidden dangers within and powerful enemies without, and therefore feels fortunate that Great Chu has a sagely sovereign. When the first sovereign of Great Chu opened the frontier, how many times was he defeated and surrounded by the Shanyue? Yet in the end, did he not still walk forward one step at a time and establish Great Chu’s foundation? When a state meets hardship, it only needs to survive it. Four words: hardship strengthens the nation.”

“Right now We truly do not need to hear these things, nor is there any need to hear them. We are in an embarrassing position. Then let it be embarrassing. We have earned it.”

“Your Majesty, once Prince Dingqin returns, this predicament will naturally be broken.”

Prince Dingqin had led troops away only two days earlier.

That was why the temporary imperial headquarters had been left with thin defenses and ended up trapped inside Juyang City.

If Xiong Tingshan could return in time, the siege would naturally be lifted.

The number of Yan troops outside was clearly visible from atop the walls.

There were not many.

The Regent smiled.

“Earlier, when the Yan army appeared, We sent one force to break out and carry three decrees. One was to inform Pillar of State Dugu of Our current situation. One was for the Empress Dowager, so Her Majesty can steady the court. And one was for Fifth Brother, telling him not to concern himself with Us here and to put Jing City and Zhennan Pass first.”

“This...”

“Actually, it is not bad.”

The Regent casually picked up a book.

It was *Strategies for Governance*, compiled by Chancellor Sima of Qian.

Chancellor Sima had cultivated his reputation for many years and spent more than a decade in the cellar beneath his home compiling the book. Later he was recalled to service, entered the Privy Council, and rose among the chief ministers.

Three years earlier, when Yan troops invaded Qian and fought all the way to the walls of Shangjing, the entire State of Qian had been shaken.

After the Yan withdrew, the Qian ruler used the opportunity to purge the court. More than half of the chancellors lost office.

Chancellor Sima also retired and returned home.

*Strategies for Governance* drew lessons from the rise and fall of ancient states and used them to advise rulers on how to govern so the realm might remain stable.

The Regent thought the book was actually quite good.

An emperor should read more of it.

Only, he should read it backward.

Ordinary scholars would read the book and gain the sudden enlightenment of, “So that is how it is.”

The Regent would read the book and gain the same enlightenment.

“So that is how it is.”

No wonder the State of Qian possessed such vast fertile lands and abundant resources, yet had still decayed into this state.

So that was how.

Fortunately, Qian’s family foundation was simply too thick.

Even sitting still and eating through its inheritance, even wasting it away step by step, could support the state for a very, very long time.

Otherwise, if the chancellors who had once boasted that “the court overflowed with upright men” several years earlier had been placed in Great Chu instead, perhaps Great Chu would already have collapsed.

If they had gone to Yan, then perhaps that Emperor of Yan would have chopped apart every one of their families long ago.

As he read, the Regent occasionally smiled knowingly.

Then he would reach to the plate beside him, pick up a piece of preserved fruit, place it in his mouth, and chew slowly.

It was more than enough to pass the time.

No one around him dared disturb him.

After roughly half an hour, the Regent closed the book.

A joke book was something one had to make time to read.

Read too much in one sitting, and the fun diminished.

“Pack up a portion of this preserved fruit and send it outside the city to that brother-in-law of Ours.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

...

“No need to wake the Count?” Gou Moli asked quietly.

“No. Let Master rest properly.”

Fourth Lady grabbed a handful of preserved fruit and ate it herself.

Gou Moli licked his lips, grabbed a handful too, and ate two pieces.

Sweet without becoming cloying.

Rich with fruit fragrance.

As expected of something prepared for the imperial household.

“A’Ming, want some?” Fourth Lady asked.

A’Ming shook his head, opened his wineskin, and took a drink.

Fourth Lady passed the remaining preserved fruit to the Savage King.

Then she stood and went to ask about the collection of medicinal ingredients.

If they had not gathered enough, they would have to raid the villages and towns farther out.

These preparations were for entering the Great Marsh.

People unfamiliar with the local climate could easily fall sick in that environment.

Gou Moli carried the preserved fruit over to the Sword Saint’s tent.

“Want some?”

The Sword Saint was sitting inside meditating.

He did not open his eyes.

He merely shook his head slightly.

Gou Moli simply sat down and kept eating by himself.

Night had already fallen.

The army had established camp.

Half the soldiers rested.

Half stood watch.

Truthfully, these defenses were not especially tight.

But under their present circumstances, this was about the best they could do.

The scouts on the perimeter had not yet discovered signs of Chu troops moving toward them.

So for now, the place was still safe.

Gou Moli kept eating until he finally could not continue.

He had gotten sick of the sweetness.

He looked back toward Count Pingye’s tent.

One afternoon nap had lasted all the way until now.

The Count really was something.

“Coo... coo... coo...”

A bird called overhead.

The Sword Saint opened his eyes.

Light from the brazier shone into the tent and swept across his gaze.

A’Ming also stood.

He raised his head and looked upward.

There was a bird in the sky.

And that bird was like an eye looking down at them.

A’Ming adjusted his collar and walked to the Sword Saint’s tent.

“You stay here and protect Master. I’ll go take a look at that bird.”

The Sword Saint nodded.

A’Ming turned and walked out of the encampment.

Very soon, his figure disappeared into the darkness in the distance.

“This picture actually looks rather good.”

Gou Moli said quietly.

“No. I should say: the back, the atmosphere... beautiful.”

A faint smile appeared at the corner of the Sword Saint’s mouth.

“What are you laughing at?” Gou Moli deliberately pretended to be angry.

The Sword Saint said nothing.

But both of them understood.

Then Gou Moli said:

“I think I understand now. The Count and those Misters seem to share something. The same kind of thing. You can feel it in the way they speak and the way they do things.”

For example, there was plainly only some enemy peeping at the camp.

One could drive him away.

Or capture him.

Both would be fine.

Yet A’Ming still had to straighten his clothes first, and when he walked away, he deliberately controlled his pace and rhythm.

“Not only that,” the Sword Saint said, shaking his head.

“What else?”

Gou Moli was very interested.

His career now depended on this circle.

He had been working hard to integrate himself into it.

In the Count’s words, the ideal was that if their household ever collapsed completely in the future and they all went somewhere no one recognized them to open an inn, they would be willing to bring Gou Moli along too.

What the Sword Saint truly wanted to say was that there was something between them almost like a shared cultivation method.

When one flourished, all flourished.

When one suffered, all suffered.

Every time Zheng Fan advanced a grade, it would not take long before the others also advanced.

That was absolutely not coincidence.

And those Misters did not seem to be deliberately suppressing their cultivation just to protect Count Pingye’s self-esteem.

The true depth and emptiness of someone’s strength could not escape the Sword Saint’s eyes.

Then there were their ways of fighting.

Take Fan Li, the most honest and foolish-looking among them.

The Sword Maid had once told him that she showed Fan Li a sword form he had taught her, and Fan Li had been able to reproduce sword intent after seeing it only once.

Not merely a trace of sword intent.

A full conception.

It was difficult to imagine that the huge man who always spoke with such blunt honesty, wrapped himself in iron-can armor whenever he entered battle, and swung an enormous axe could possess such astonishing talent in this field.

But the Sword Saint would keep those things buried in his heart.

He would not tell Gou Moli.

True, the two of them could peacefully sit on opposite sides of a tent now.

True, the First Garrison of Snow Sea Pass was entirely made up of Savage warriors.

But this was the deepest layer of precaution.

And it had to exist.

“Heh. Playing mysterious again.”

Gou Moli stood.

He patted the dust from his trousers.

“I’m going to inspect the camp.”

...

“Hey.”

Under the night sky, Xue San appeared beside A’Ming.

A’Ming stopped.

Not because of Xue San.

Because at that moment, the bird disappeared.

“I knew you’d come out,” Xue San said with a grin.

A’Ming unfastened the cuff at his wrist and folded it back twice.

“I feel like moving around.”

Since entering the battlefield, all he had really done was block arrows for Master.

Boring.

Dull.

But he could not push that responsibility away.

First, because of his bloodline, so long as he had enough blood afterward, injuries from blocking arrows would slowly recover.

Second, because everyone else had their own battlefield responsibilities.

Liang Cheng commanded.

Fan Li charged.

Xue San scouted.

And he... seemed useful only as a human shield.

“I thought you’d turn into a bat, fly straight up, and bite that bird to death. That would have had style.”

Xue San spread his arms and flapped them several times.

“No. Better yet, turn into a whole cloud of bats. Cover the sky and blot out the earth.”

A’Ming could not be bothered answering.

“So, want my help?”

“If I cannot beat him, I’ll retreat. If I can beat him, I’ll kill him.”

“Then good luck.”

Xue San squatted and brushed the dust from his boots.

“In a while, I’m going to try sneaking into Juyang City.”

“Master said not to let you go.”

“I’m fucking bored too, all right? I know there are experts around the emperor in that city. That is exactly why it sounds exciting. Hehehe. Back in the early days, how were we Demon Kings? We were babysitters at best. Now some of our strength has recovered, and Master looks more and more like a Master should. We can finally loosen the reins and have a little fun.”

A’Ming reminded him:

“Be careful. Don’t die.”

“That is what I should be saying to you.”

Xue San suddenly sounded a little melancholy.

“You know, if this world had no armies and no iron cavalry, how wonderful would that be? Everyone would settle things with one-on-one fights or little groups slaughtering one another. We would have such a huge advantage.”

“That kind of thinking is dangerous.”

“Enough. We each play our own game. Be back before dawn. I’m going first.”

Xue San disappeared.

“Coo... coo... coo...”

A’Ming raised his head.

The bird in the sky seemed to have circled around and returned.

A’Ming closed his eyes and sensed for a moment.

Then he walked northwest.

Just then, a small cavalry patrol appeared ahead.

The man at its head was Jin Shuke, making a late-night inspection.

These horses had been captured earlier.

“Mr. Ming, where are you going?” Jin Shuke asked.

A’Ming walked straight past Jin Shuke and the others.

Then, holding up his wineskin, he gave it a casual wave.

“Going to fetch wine.”

[End of Chapter 561]