Chapter 728: The Prince Removes His Armor

For an Emperor... momentum was made by men.

For a general... events were made by men.

Build the momentum first.

Then make the move.

Do that... and no attack would fail, no battle would be lost.

The imperial court worked this way.

So did the battlefield.

Before the Emperor of Yan died, he had created layer after layer of momentum.

Even the timing of his own death... had been folded into that design.

The purpose was simple.

To make that old neighbor, the Barbarian King... completely lower his guard.

To lay one more brick beneath this surprise attack.

With that foundation in place...

Great Yan's two strongest Princes took the field together.

They coordinated with the most powerful cavalry force Great Yan possessed on the desert.

And in the end... they succeeded.

Neither side of that equation could have been missing.

More precisely... the Great Yan that existed today... could not have existed without any one of those three men either.

In fact... this lightning strike against the Barbarian Royal Court... was the last thing Great Yan's Iron Triangle did together.

The final thing they could do... for Great Yan.

For the Yan people.

Even... for all Xia.

The Royal Court had fallen.

The old Barbarian King... had ended his life in such a simple, helpless fashion.

He had not been wronged.

Not at all.

Because if, under circumstances like these... the old Barbarian King could still somehow pull a collapsing situation back from the brink... could still react in time and drag the Yan army into a grinding battle... could still find some other method to slow or obstruct them... could still retreat one step and suddenly discover an open sky... then truly... there would have been no reason left in the world.

...

Yesterday... the Barbarian Royal Court had been packed and bustling.

Today... it had become something like Hell.

Corpses.

Blood.

Killing.

From last night until now... those had become the only themes.

The Barbarian troops defeated early on the outer perimeter had split in different ways.

Some scattered completely.

Others gathered in the distance.

But no one dared charge voluntarily toward the Royal Court... to reclaim the sacred place of their own people.

Something... had broken inside their hearts.

Perhaps... the fact that they could still gather at all... could still stand at a distance and watch... had already consumed every scrap of courage they possessed.

Inside the royal city... the opposite was happening.

The Zhenbei soldiers followed their Prince's military order.

No prisoners.

No sheathing the blades.

Every living Barbarian inside the city... had to die.

Armored soldiers moved through ruins and tents.

They searched every corner for survivors.

Even when they encountered corpses lying scattered across the ground... they instinctively added another thrust or slash.

Just in case someone was feigning death.

It was a brutal sight.

From the small raised platform built beside the city wall... one could look down... and very clearly feel the Barbarian people's true flesh and blood... being cut apart... piece by piece... and thrown away.

The blade was being driven directly into the heart of an entire people.

There was no hysteria in it.

The killing was extremely calm.

And that calm... was itself a kind of enormous terror.

The Barbarians were a people who had once fought alone against the two great civilizations of East and West.

Everyone knew... their weakness did not come from the whole Barbarian people becoming weak.

It came from the Royal Court becoming weak.

The Royal Court itself could mobilize more than a hundred thousand cavalry.

But if it could restore its authority... if it could bring the major tribes back beneath its banner... then it could easily raise several hundred thousand herdsmen-warriors.

Perhaps only the three hundred thousand iron cavalry of Prince Zhenbei Residence at its peak... could have met such a force head-on.

The problem was... the desert was endless.

And the Barbarians it nourished... seemed almost endless as well.

But that was the future that might have appeared yesterday.

Beginning today... none of it would exist.

Yiguxie had already fallen unconscious.

Yiguna sat somewhat dazed beside Li Fei.

Her eyes were closed.

She had cried for a very long time.

Li Fei... watched quietly.

Inside... he silently sighed at everything before him.

The old Confucian scholar had once said: no matter how many books one read... it could never compare with leaving home and seeing the world personally.

Li Fei thought... the scene before him... was something that old scholar would never have the chance to witness in this lifetime.

As for himself... he had seen it.

But he had nearly lost his life for the privilege.

Around Li Fei stood a group of Zhenbei armored guards.

He was the Heir.

When the household needed to send him out... it sent him.

When he needed protection... it naturally protected him.

Li Fei turned his head and looked behind him.

Which, in truth... meant looking outside the city.

The royal city's walls were low.

Accordingly... the wooden platform he occupied was not high either.

But even from here... he could still see many Barbarians gathering in the distance beyond the walls.

The Zhenbei cavalry beside him and outside the city... remained astonishingly relaxed.

Inside the city...

Yan soldiers continued going through the dead.

Doing their best not to let even one chicken in the Royal Court escape.

Outside...

Yan cavalry washed their horses and fed them fodder.

Many wounded soldiers sat openly in the cold wind while medics treated their injuries.

Yes.

Right outside the city.

Facing the wind.

Having wounds bound.

Those wounded men... all faced outward.

Their sabers and bows lay beside them.

If anything changed on the perimeter... they could immediately mount again and rejoin the killing.

For veterans who had survived a hundred battles... any wound that did not stop a man from mounting for the next charge... counted as a light wound.

Li Fei had not been back at Prince Zhenbei Residence for very long.

His understanding of the Zhenbei Army... was not especially deep.

But today... looking at this scene... he admitted he was shaken.

The old Confucian scholar had once said he knew little of military affairs.

Yet he had still taught them from military texts.

In particular... he had somehow managed to buy a copy of the book personally written by Marquis Pingxi:

Zhengzi's Art of War.

The old scholar had studied that book carefully.

Praised it endlessly.

And explained it to Chen Xianba.

Li Fei had sat beside them and listened too.

Chen Xianba had always hated reading.

If not for the respect he held for the old scholar... he would never have willingly sat down with a book.

But he had been obsessed with Zhengzi's Art of War.

Because he worshiped Marquis Pingxi far too much.

Yet today... after what happened last night...

Li Fei suddenly felt... war was not nearly as simple as Zhengzi's Art of War made it appear.

Perhaps... the army beneath Prince Zhenbei Residence was simply too extraordinary.

Or perhaps Marquis Pingxi... had merely written down some relatively simple matters of military theory.

Enough to make someone like the old Confucian scholar feel he had obtained a priceless treasure.

War... was an extremely complicated thing.

Li Fei reached up and rubbed his head.

He had always avoided thinking too much about the future.

A mountain-village boy... became an Heir.

And after that... he would become Prince Zhenbei.

Govern territory.

Command armies.

Sigh.

A headache.

He did not think himself worthy of it.

"Your Highness."

"Your Highness."

Li Fei raised his head.

Ahead... he saw his father riding slowly over on a Pixiu.

Outsiders always said Prince Zhenbei was a great expert.

That his personal martial strength was no weaker than the Southern Prince's.

That his ability to command armies was equally matched.

Only because he had always needed to guard the desert frontier... had he missed the later great campaigns eastward.

And that... they said... was why the Prince of Jingnan had become Great Yan's true God of War.

As for the latter claim... his father's ability to command troops...

Li Fei believed it was probably not poor.

But the former... the matter of personal martial strength... well...

Li Liangting rode his Pixiu over.

Looked at his own son seated on the platform.

And said:

"You little beast. Still alive?"

Some things could be learned.

Others... were very difficult to learn.

For example... how to interact with your own son.

For more than ten years...

Li Liangting had known he possessed a son.

But he had not known where his wife had hidden the boy.

No practice.

No experience.

When his son left, he had been tiny.

When the boy returned... he was already grown.

The jump had been too sudden.

It almost felt as though Li Liangting had picked up a son from nowhere and abruptly become a father.

Of course... throughout those years, plenty of men had borrowed the name of the Young Marquis of Marquis Zhenbei Residence.

Some to play tricks.

Some with hidden ambitions.

But none of them would ever truly dare run up to Li Liangting's face and call him Father.

Earlier...

Li Liangting had personally sent his son into the Royal Court to calm the old Barbarian King's heart.

He had just used his own son as bait.

Naturally... he felt guilty.

But with everyone watching... how could a father simply soften his face and apologize?

Most fathers and sons under Heaven were like this.

No matter how much a father cared inside... on the surface... he still had to keep his face stern.

Compared with that... getting along with a daughter was far easier.

Just spoil her to death.

Li Fei dropped to his knees.

"Father. I am glad to see you well."

At that moment...

Li Liangting's gaze shifted to Yiguna beside Li Fei.

The aura of Prince Zhenbei... was not something just anyone could endure.

Yiguna's unfocused gaze slowly gathered.

She stared at Prince Zhenbei in confusion and helplessness.

"Heh-heh."

Li Liangting smiled.

Then pointed at Yiguxie, who was still unconscious nearby.

"Men. Kill that little brat."

"Yes!"

"No! No, Your Highness! No! Please spare my younger brother! Spare my younger brother!"

Yiguna finally snapped awake.

She began kowtowing to Li Liangting.

"What did you call me?"

"Your... Your Highness..."

"Kill the brat."

"Your..."

Li Fei reminded her from the side:

"Call him Father."

"Father! Father! Please spare my younger brother! Spare my younger brother!"

"Stop."

Li Liangting nodded.

Then looked at his son.

"Did you sleep with her?"

Li Fei answered:

"Yes."

"Good. Then she's one of my Li family now. Son, don't learn from your father. Your old man only had your mother his whole life. A man ought to be a little more carefree in this life, don't you think?"

"This son will respectfully follow Father's teaching."

Li Liangting looked toward Yiguna again.

"This Prince understands your Barbarian customs. Truthfully, they aren't that different from Great Yan's. A daughter who marries out is water poured from the basin. Take that aunt of yours, the First Prince's Princess Consort. Go ask her who she belongs to now. Ask her which family her son belongs to. A new daughter-in-law has entered the house. This Prince didn't prepare much of a gift. But there are already two women in the residence. Even if you want to cause trouble, you won't be able to stir much."

How formidable his own wife was.

How formidable his own daughter was.

Other people might not know.

How could Li Liangting... husband to one... father to the other... possibly not know?

He truly was not worried this Barbarian woman could create chaos after entering the Li household.

She would need the ability first.

"Give me a grandson soon. It'll help stabilize your own position."

At that moment... from the other side... another man slowly approached on a Pixiu.

The armor on his body was broken in many places.

The white hair that had once covered his head... no longer showed a single pale strand.

Around one eye... traces of dried blood remained.

His injuries... could not possibly be light.

But even so... when he approached... the surrounding soldiers instinctively lowered their heads.

Last night... the Southern Prince had fought like a demon god.

What did it mean to be first in the jianghu?

What did it mean to be invincible beneath Heaven?

Every man here... had seen it with his own eyes.

"How are the injuries?" Li Liangting asked Tian Wujing.

Tian Wujing's left eye still could not open.

His right eye swept over Li Liangting.

"Won't die."

Li Liangting nodded.

"That's more like it. If someone's going to die... you can't possibly die before me."

Li Liangting's blood and qi currently burned with great vigor.

But in truth... this was already his final rally before death.

Once this false fire faded... he would have only days left.

Fortunately... he had not suffered much injury last night.

If he had... he would probably already be dying now.

"You need to keep that breath going," Tian Wujing said.

"Yes. I know. This is a great victory. Trampling the Royal Court feels far better than trampling aristocratic clans. Hahahaha. I need to hold on now. Even if I'm going to die... I should at least wait until after we return in triumph. Submit the memorial. Submit the petition for rewards. Hold a banquet. Then die. At minimum... we cannot let people think Great Yan had to lose one Prince simply to flatten a Barbarian Royal Court. The history books... would find that picture less beautiful."

A great victory... had to be polished to its absolute limit.

Not merely the killing.

Not merely the military achievement.

It also had to be... magnificent enough.

The Emperor of Yan had never said it openly.

But this victory of immense strategic meaning... was obviously the finest gift possible for the new sovereign.

It would let the new Emperor establish prestige in the shortest possible time.

Inherit the radiance of the Emperor of Yan.

And continue sitting as the Ninth-Five Supreme.

"Where is the Young Prince?" Li Liangting asked.

"He escaped," Tian Wujing answered calmly.

"Ah. The one man who most couldn't be allowed to run... was him."

The old Barbarian King had been old.

Nothing more than a totem.

The Young Prince... was in the prime of life.

Of course... even with the Young Prince escaping... the Royal Court was finished.

The great Barbarian nobles.

The various Royal Court officials.

The entire governing structure.

All had died here.

The best possible outcome for a fleeing Young Prince... would be gathering remnants and forming a new tribe.

He could never recreate the Royal Court.

He would never again possess that kind of authority or appeal.

The true purpose of this campaign... was to make the desert a plate of loose sand for the next hundred years.

To strip it of the ability to mobilize and gather at scale.

That goal... had already been achieved.

"I didn't go after him immediately because I went to save your son," Tian Wujing said.

Li Liangting immediately pointed at Li Fei.

"For this little beast?"

"..." Li Fei.

Li Fei felt somewhat confused.

If I'm a beast... then what exactly are you?

Li Liangting angrily slapped the head of the Pixiu beneath him.

He cursed:

"Would've been cleaner if this little beast had died last night! And we even let the Young Prince get away because of him."

Li Fei hesitated.

He was genuinely considering whether he should find a saber now and cut his own throat.

Tian Wujing shook his head.

"He escaped. So be it. He won't get far. I'll chase him."

"Wujing. You're going after him?"

"Yes. Wherever he runs... I follow."

"That little bastard is probably scared out of his mind by now. Other tribes likely won't dare shelter him. If you chase... he'll probably keep running west."

"Then I... will follow him west."

Li Liangting licked his lips.

Then smiled.

"In that case... I hope he can run as far as possible."

Tian Wujing reached up and began unfastening his ruined armor.

In some places... the broken metal had already stuck to his torn flesh.

Tian Wujing simply ripped those sections free.

Then threw the armor onto the ground.

The Prince of Jingnan pointed toward the armor Li Liangting still wore.

"My armor is ruined. Yours is still intact. You're going to die anyway. Take it off. Give it to me."

"Hahahahahaha!"

Li Liangting nodded.

"Then I suppose I get to borrow some of your light too. Men. Remove this Prince's armor!"

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

Prince Zhenbei dismounted from the Pixiu.

Spread both arms.

Soldiers on either side came forward and began removing his armor.

Li Liangting understood exactly what Tian Wujing meant by continuing to pursue west.

Because... the Prince of Jingnan of Great Yan... had no road back.

Once the armor was removed, Li Liangting pointed toward his son.

"Come down. Help your Uncle Tian put on the armor."

Li Fei immediately walked over.

And began helping Tian Wujing dress in it.

Looking at Tian Wujing's wounds... in some places... bone spurs were visible through torn flesh.

Only muscle and sealed blood-qi kept blood from continuing to pour out.

The sight made Li Fei's scalp tingle.

If anyone else had suffered injuries like these... he would probably already be lying on the ground howling.

No.

Perhaps he would not even have enough strength left to howl.

But Great Yan's Southern Prince... remained calm.

As though the wounds meant nothing.

When the armor brushed against torn flesh... he did not even frown.

"Thank you, Uncle Wujing, for saving my life last night," Li Fei said quietly.

Tian Wujing did not answer.

Li Liangting, now wearing some fur garment stripped from the body of a dead Barbarian noble, walked over and kicked his son in the rear.

He cursed:

"You think one light little 'thank you' settles it? Does your Uncle Wujing care about your thanks? Does your Uncle Wujing need you to remember his favor?"

"Yes. This son understands his mistake. This son was presumptuous."

But Tian Wujing looked toward Li Liangting.

"Why can't he?"

"Uh..." Li Liangting.

Tian Wujing reached out.

Placed one hand on Li Fei's head.

And patted it.

Li Fei's entire body went rigid.

Last night... who knew how many Barbarian experts had had their heads crushed under exactly this kind of hand from Great Yan's Southern Prince?

"Li Liangting," Tian Wujing called.

"What?"

"Your fortune is good."

"Damn it. I'd rather he had died. Then I'd feel better inside. Who would've thought the brat would survive? Now I'm still damned unhappy, and for nothing I got cursed all the way here by your sister-in-law as an old beast. Bloody hell!"

He was not pretending.

"You don't have any other illegitimate sons, do you?" Tian Wujing asked.

"Fuck off. Like I'd dare? Your sister-in-law is that terrifying a woman!"

"Then he..."

Tian Wujing pointed toward Li Fei's face.

"will be the next Prince Zhenbei."

"What? You want him owing you a favor? You want the next Prince Zhenbei owing you a favor? I say, Wujing... what use do you still have for that?"

"I don't. But... my younger brother does."

"Your younger brother? Which one? Don't tell me you mean that Zheng bastard. That Marquis Pingxi you personally raised up? Wujing, people like us... have you still not understood what favors mean? The higher you sit... the more people gather beneath you... the less you live like a human being. The more you live like some beast. Favors... things like that... they're hollow."

"Want to make a wager?" Tian Wujing asked.

"On what?"

"That after you return... you'll receive one piece of news."

"What news?"

The Southern Prince of Great Yan... who had spent an entire night slaughtering like a ghost or demon... now... smiled.

With absolute certainty... he said:

"Zhao Jiulang... is dead."

[End of Chapter 728]