Chapter 591: - Wrapping Things Up

Although the meeting with Ding Liang had reached a consensus both sides found satisfactory, putting everything into practice would still take time.

Several hundred thousand Yan troops were scattered across several separate regions.

Chu forces were equally dispersed.

There were also local militia formations and volunteer armies everywhere.

Gathering all of that together, even if the only goal was withdrawal, was not some easy or simple matter.

But military affairs moved like fire.

Everything had to happen quickly.

On that point, both sides shared the same basic understanding.

Count Pingye wanted the war ended early.

He wanted to return home before the Emperor of Yan died.

Before the political transition and turmoil that would follow the Emperor of Yan’s death, he wanted both his elevation to Marquis and his frontier command formally settled.

Whether or not one called him a member of the Sixth Prince’s faction, to put things realistically, once he received a frontier command in eastern Jin and fully controlled and digested that foundation, then even if the man ascending the throne were not Little Sixth but the Crown Prince, or some other prince entirely, no one would be able to shake Zheng Fan’s position in the short term.

Even if the man on the Dragon Throne later wanted to play the long game and deal with him slowly, Count Pingye was not afraid.

Come on, then.

Let’s see who truly deserves to be called the ancestor of “turtling up.”

Besides, ending the war quickly would allow most of the several hundred thousand Yan troops to return to other parts of Jin.

Some could even be transferred into Yinlang Commandery.

And eastern Jin, a land long since beaten to pieces, could begin recovering and building its foundations that much sooner.

Drag things out endlessly and who knew what other variables might appear?

The Regent of Chu had said that he no longer intended to fight over one morning or one evening.

Even so, restoring the battered domestic situation created by the war and stabilizing the shaken hearts of his people were surely matters he urgently needed to handle as soon as possible.

So after finishing his meeting with Ding Liang, Count Pingye personally went to the tent where Prince of Jingnan was resting.

At present, if they wanted speed, there was no possibility of sending a messenger all the way to Yanjing and waiting for Emperor Yan and the court to produce formal instructions.

The distance was simply too great.

Even if the court handled the matter as an emergency, the delay caused by travel itself could not be avoided.

So for now, only Prince of Jingnan could make the decision.

Let Prince of Jingnan represent the court and sign the peace agreement.

After that, everyone could do what needed doing, pack their things, pick up a few gifts along the way, and go home.

But Zheng Fan was stopped outside the tent by Prince of Jingnan’s personal guards.

“Count, His Highness left word that you are to decide everything yourself. His command has already been handed to you. There is no need to come disturb him again.”

Zheng Fan nodded.

He said nothing.

He simply left.

His army remained outside Mount Liugong for another seven days.

Before the peace terms took effect and before the movements on every other front became clear, how could he possibly withdraw the saber already resting beneath the Chu emperor’s throat?

During those seven days, no regular Chu army came looking for trouble.

Even the scout cavalry on both sides maintained a tacit restraint.

Two local militia forces did come to rescue the sovereign.

One numbered a little over two thousand.

The other, a little over four thousand.

Both were mobs.

One Yan cavalry charge swept each force away.

The Yan soldiers could not even be bothered chasing the survivors afterward because their heads were not worth money.

Gradually, news began arriving from the north.

First, the army commanded by Dugu Mu completely sealed its camp and raised signs refusing battle.

Following Zheng Fan’s transmitted orders, Luo Ling disengaged from Dugu Mu.

After making an eighty-li detour, he began establishing and securing a withdrawal route.

The affair at Yupan City had not only sounded an alarm for the Chu.

The people who had caused it were somewhat nervous too.

Nearly another ten days passed.

Then news from Luo Ling reported that Nian Yao’s army had begun leaving the pass in separate batches.

Naturally, they were not marching north.

They were heading south.

This meant Nian Yao must have begun preparing to move even earlier.

In other words, from the moment the Regent left Ying Capital and decided to abandon the imperial city, he had already made arrangements for Nian Yao’s army.

At the same time, forces answering the call to rescue the sovereign continued arriving from every region.

Unlike the first two groups, however, they did not impatiently rush up to deliver themselves.

Instead, they established camps around Mount Liugong.

Their total strength was no less than one hundred fifty thousand.

But more than half of those one hundred fifty thousand were organized local Chu troops, roughly equivalent to Yan commandery soldiers.

The other half consisted of “righteous volunteers” recruited by local officials, gentry, and powerful families.

At a glance, the force looked enormous.

Heads everywhere.

Banners filling the horizon.

But in reality, its organization was chaotic.

They could not even achieve the most basic standard of orders being issued and obeyed.

Although more relief troops kept arriving from farther out, Count Pingye did not feel the slightest panic.

Put plainly, in front of elite iron cavalry, properly organized infantry of decent quality could still block, hold, and resist.

If commanded properly, with superior numbers and a little luck, winning one or two engagements was not impossible.

But these volunteer armies, however numerous and however full of hot blood, could not withstand a single proper blow.

Even if his elder brother-in-law suddenly changed his mind and wanted to use the troops on Mount Liugong together with the hundred thousand-plus volunteers nearby to wrap Zheng Fan in a dumpling, Count Pingye could immediately split off forty thousand cavalry and drive them directly at Mount Liugong.

They would not need to break the position.

Only stab into it hard enough to pin the force there.

Then Zheng Fan could take the remaining tens of thousands of cavalry and repeatedly charge the volunteer army.

If one charge failed to break them, charge twice.

If two failed, charge three times.

If three still failed, charge them four, five, six times.

He refused to believe they would not collapse.

And once they did, more than a hundred thousand routed men would scatter in every direction.

But clearly, that elder brother-in-law of his remained a very sober man.

He made no such move.

Instead, he preserved the fine tradition of sending food to Zheng Fan every day.

Count Pingye naturally accepted it.

Once another piece of news arrived from the north, Count Pingye personally had his old Barbarian Saber sent up Mount Liugong to his elder brother-in-law.

It was retired equipment anyway.

Giving it away cost him nothing.

His elder brother-in-law responded generously.

He sent back a Cang Bow as a gift.

The bow had an impressive history of its own and was made from extraordinary materials.

Most importantly, it looked ancient and plain.

No gaudy decoration at all.

Unlike the brightly colored bow Count Pingye had once captured from an assassin outside East Mountain Fort.

That bow had been good, certainly.

It simply did not suit Count Pingye’s taste.

After exchanging gifts, Count Pingye sent another batch of sponge cakes up the mountain.

Fourth Lady had made them herself in camp.

There had been no fighting lately anyway, and she had time to spare.

The cakes were not for his elder brother-in-law.

They were for his mother-in-law, the Empress Dowager of Chu.

...

“Empress Dowager, you must not.”

The personal lady-in-waiting beside her hurriedly tried to stop the Empress Dowager when she truly lifted one piece of cake with her chopsticks and prepared to eat it.

The Empress Dowager glanced at the woman.

Calmly, she said:

“We merely wish to taste it. Besides, what point would there be in poisoning an old woman like Us? Liqing’s man may be a Yan, but he is not a fool. If he were a fool, would we be living here right now?”

The Empress Dowager put the cake into her mouth.

She nodded.

“Mm. It melts as soon as it enters the mouth. Quite a delicate food. A pity We left the palace in such haste and did not bring many good things with Us.”

As she spoke, the Empress Dowager waved for the box beneath her bed to be brought over.

From inside, she took out a garment woven from silkworm silk.

“This will do. Jewelry would not suit him. He is a man, after all. This is better. The late emperor wore it every time he left the palace. He spends years fighting wars. An open spear is easy to dodge, but a hidden arrow is hard to defend against. With this, he can guard against certain accidents. Send it down to him. Do not pass it through His Majesty. Tell them it is Our own intention.”

“Yes, Empress Dowager.”

The lady-in-waiting carried the silkworm-silk garment out of the hall.

Even now, the entire thing still felt unreal to her.

That Great Yan Count had fought his way all the way here.

Yet her own Empress Dowager was worried he might suffer some accident on the battlefield and had directly given away a treasure of this quality.

She could not understand it.

Truly could not understand it.

Fine, he was genuinely the imperial son-in-law.

But what kind of ordinary imperial son-in-law was this?

...

“Here, Fourth Lady. Take a look. Compared with that gold-thread soft hedgehog armor you made for me, how is this silkworm-silk garment?”

After receiving the gift, Count Pingye showed not the slightest politeness.

He simply tossed it to Fourth Lady for inspection.

“Replying to Master, the material in this garment is much better than what I used. The important thing is that material like this is extremely difficult to obtain. I can alter it for Master so it fits better. Worn beneath armor in summer, it can also drive away heat.”

“Good.”

“This is amusing too. The Empress Dowager of Chu actually sent Master a piece of armor. In my view, she is either senile or far too shrewd.”

“Which do you think?”

“The latter, of course. Liqing may act a little simple and adorable, but that is only in front of Master and me. In her bones, that girl is formidable. Add the Regent. How could the woman who gave birth to those two possibly be stupid? But this really is interesting. On one side, everyone is fighting life-and-death battles, with Heaven knows how many lives disappearing into the flames of war every moment. On the other, both sides are exchanging little household courtesies and behaving as though everyone is one family.”

“For people who play politics, this kind of family courtesy is a rag. Most of the time they cannot be bothered looking at it. The moment they need it, they wipe harder than anyone else.”

“Master has remained clearheaded.”

“I learned through experience. There really are very few people in this world I can trust.”

“As for Liqing, I can tell her heart is on our side.”

“That is her greatest virtue. She is extremely practical. I used to find it a little strange. But now, after looking at her brother, all I can say is: no wonder.”

Brother and sister were both absolute realists.

But men like that were actually easy to deal with.

So long as you held the advantage and stood in glory, they would always know how to cooperate with you in order to maximize their own interests.

Put simply, if one day Zheng Fan lost, then Xiong Liqing would not hesitate for a heartbeat before taking the children back to Chu and continuing her life as a “Grand Princess.”

She had not been a Grand Princess before.

Now she was.

Because the great fire in Ying Capital had killed far more than the six princes sacrificed at the beginning.

Large numbers of imperial clan members and relatives had died as well.

That elder brother-in-law of his had genuinely used Yan sabers to cut away his own burdens like a madman.

“Report!”

A messenger entered and presented a military dispatch.

Zheng Fan opened the envelope.

The letter had been jointly written by Liang Cheng and Luo Ling.

Nian Yao’s army had already begun crossing the Wei River.

Yan troops had also begun entering and taking control of Zhennan Pass.

To outsiders, this was a national victory for Great Yan.

The price had been enormous.

One Zhennan Pass and one impoverished Shanggu Commandery came nowhere close to compensating for it.

In purely material terms, the war had produced a massive loss.

But no matter how one counted it, Great Yan had won.

Chu had ceded territory and sought peace.

And looking farther ahead, once Zhennan Pass had been taken, regardless of how it happened, the pass would henceforth be held by Yan.

Combined with Shanggu Commandery, the Yan army would effectively possess a sword hanging above Chu’s head.

The strategic initiative was now in Yan hands.

Count Pingye stretched.

Then he suddenly wrapped both arms around Fourth Lady’s waist.

“All right. Pack things up. We should head home too. Time to start making babies. I can’t spend my whole life being everyone else’s godfather, can I?”

“Of course, Master.”

“Mm? Too businesslike.”

“Master, in broad daylight? You are making this servant girl die of embarrassment.”

“Hahaha. Got another version?”

“This old lady has been waiting so long she can’t stand it anymore!”

“Mm... now that has a proper tigress-and-wolf flavor.”

Fourth Lady laughed and nestled against Zheng Fan’s chest.

Count Pingye’s hand wandered across that full curve.

Unfortunately, her tight-fitting outfit was far too tight, and it was a one-piece garment.

There was not even a gap for his hand to slip through.

“So all I ask is that His Majesty the Emperor of Yan hold on a little longer. Extend things a little more. Let me get some proper rest first. Please don’t wait until the moment I get home and immediately throw down the burden.”

“Master, do not plant flags for yourself.”

“I’m not Liang Cheng. What am I afraid of? Still, now that the war here is ending, I’m actually looking forward to the battle in Yanjing. That is the one that will truly be interesting.”

“Does Master think Little Sixth is guaranteed to win?”

“The result is not important. The process being entertaining is enough. Once we go back, I’m basically waiting to be made Marquis. The feeling is different now.”

Count Pingye chuckled.

Then asked:

“Tell me. Which is easier to deal with above us? Little Sixth? Or the Crown Prince?”

[End of Chapter 591]