Chapter 780: The Greatest Simp Under Heaven

Fan City’s arsenal was opened.

Qu Peiluo sat astride his horse.

Beside him rode Fan Zhengwen.

The Fan Clan patriarch, who had always favored the dress of a scholar, had finally discarded his elegant white-and-blue robes and put on leather armor.

He had wanted to try something better.

His household certainly possessed better armor.

They even had treasured armor.

But once he put it on, the man could barely summon enough strength to speak.

So there was nothing for it.

He settled for leather armor.

For the first time in his life, Fan Zhengwen understood what it meant to drive a duck onto a perch.

This... was probably it.

At the same time, the changes of the past few days had made him understand something else.

Not about outsiders.

About himself.

A clever man might say aloud that “the sea accepts a hundred rivers because it is humble and low.”

But deep inside... there was almost always a trace of arrogance, the feeling of standing atop one peak and looking down upon all the others.

Fan Zhengwen had finally recognized his own limits.

Years ago, he had genuinely imagined building up the Fan Clan and Fan City step by step.

He had never dared dream of proclaiming himself Emperor and founding a dynasty.

That was too far away.

But at minimum, perhaps he could build Fan City into a true great regional military power.

Perhaps one day... he might even stand on equal footing with Marquis Pingxi Residence.

If he became a little greedier... perhaps he too could be enfeoffed as a Marquis?

He no longer thought that way.

In an age of great contention, words were spoken with iron cavalry and drawn blades.

When a great army pressed against your borders, if you could not answer with equal sharpness and ability... everything else became pale and powerless.

“If Heaven is merciful enough to preserve Fan City through this catastrophe, then I...”

Qu Peiluo turned his head with interest.

“What will you do?”

Fan Zhengwen smiled.

“I’ll hand over Fan City. Hand over the whole family foundation. Completely. Any clansman willing to follow me to Yanjing can go. Those who cannot bear to leave their homeland can stay. But the ones who stay will no longer be masters of the Fan Clan. Heh-heh. Since I don’t have that ability, I might as well let go completely. At least I can walk away cleanly and freely. Once I reach Yanjing, the new sovereign may not give face to the monk, but he must give face to the Buddha; if not the Buddha, then to family; if not family, then to ability; and if not ability, surely he must give some face to the fact that I surrendered my household and came over in person. Giving me a post as Vice Minister of Revenue wouldn’t be excessive, would it?”

“A slave who managed the Qu Clan’s finances for a hundred years is certainly qualified to serve as Vice Minister of Revenue in Yanjing.”

“I’ll accept Young Master’s auspicious words.”

Equipment was carried out of the arsenal in batch after batch.

It was not only intended to re-equip Qu Peiluo’s men and provide military supplies for the defense of the city.

They also had to arm the able-bodied men inside Fan City.

A siege could narrow the difference in troop quality.

For Fan City as it stood now... turning the whole battle into a game where each side simply filled the walls with human lives was actually the most favorable possible outcome.

But when Fan Zhengwen saw that quite a lot of the equipment being carried out consisted of standard-issue Azure Luan Army armor... his expression became faintly awkward.

The Fan Clan had managed the Qu Clan’s finances for a century.

But for more than a century... the Fan Clan had also been enormous rats in the granary.

They had taken plenty of kickbacks from the contracts to forge armor for the Azure Luan Army.

Qu Peiluo remained perfectly calm.

He had expected this long ago.

“I remember a saying that once came out of Yanjing. Supposedly, the new sovereign said it to Marquis Pingxi years ago. The State of Yan lies in the barren northwest. In population, it cannot match Qian. In territory, it cannot match Chu. In strategic passes and terrain naturally suited to defense, it cannot match Jin. So how is it that Yan swallowed the lands of the Three Jin, dominates the north, presses down upon Qian and Chu, and looks down upon all Xia? Yan possesses only five fingers, but it can use all five. Qian and Chu possess ten, but when the time comes to use them, either they come one at a time or, at best, three can move together. Yan closes its hand into a fist while the other states are still counting their fingers. Under circumstances like that, how could Yan fail to be strong, and how could the others fail to be weak?”

The words had arisen from feeling.

The Fan Clan of old had stood to the Qu Clan much as the Qu Clan had once stood to Chu.

Nominally, both relationships were between master and servant.

In reality... the lower party clung to the body of the one above and drank blood like a leech.

Fan Zhengwen nodded.

“That is why the late Emperor of Yan first sent cavalry trampling through the great clans and unified the domestic order. Only after that could Yan expand outward without restraint. Young Master once went to eastern Jin, didn’t you?”

“I spent some time imprisoned in Jin after being captured.”

“Did Young Master ever get a close look at eastern Jin?”

Qu Peiluo shook his head.

He had been under guard.

How could he possibly have moved freely?

“If we survive this, your subordinate recommends Young Master visit eastern Jin. In truth, what this slave has done in Fan City over the past two years was also an imitation of what Marquis Pingxi Residence did in eastern Jin. Unfortunately, I tried to paint a tiger and produced a dog. That is why we’ve ended up in such an awkward position today. Even so, I still believe Marquis Pingxi Residence’s policies in eastern Jin are correct. A strong state should enrich the people and strengthen the army. The people should not fear war, and the soldiers should desire it. Look across all of eastern Jin. From the bottom upward, every arrangement and every preparation waits only for one order from Marquis Pingxi Residence, and immediately it can become thunder. The late Emperor of Yan trampled the great clans, opened the imperial examinations, and gave children of poor families a road upward. But at its root, that was still patching and altering an existing court structure. Eastern Jin, on the other hand, had already been reduced to blank earth by war. Marquis Pingxi Residence built a new house on bare ground. The more this slave hears about the details, the more I think about them... ai. Everyone says Marquis Pingxi learned warfare from Prince Jingnan. But in this slave’s eyes, Marquis Pingxi’s greatest strength does not lie in leading soldiers and fighting battles. It lies in governing territory. In the past, whenever this slave read histories about men who held both civil and martial talents in their hearts, I never had a concrete image of what such a person looked like. Those Qian scholars who read a few military texts and immediately boast of being accomplished in both civil and martial affairs are even more laughable. But when it comes to Marquis Pingxi... this slave truly realized that such a complete man can actually exist in this world.”

Qu Peiluo shook his head.

“That’s because you’ve never led troops against him on a battlefield.”

Qu Peiluo had once led the reconstituted Azure Luan Army of the Qu Clan to answer the call to defend the sovereign.

Marquis Pingxi had beaten him miserably.

Very miserably.

“That’s because Young Master has never truly managed a household. You don’t know how expensive firewood and rice are.”

The two men looked at one another.

Then... both laughed.

Qu Peiluo patted his bracer.

“Tell me. The two of us may be waiting for the city to fall and for death a few days from now, yet here we are praising a man far away. Don’t you think that’s ridiculous?”

“At minimum, it proves we did not lose unjustly, doesn’t it?” Fan Zhengwen continued. “Everyone says Great Yan’s Prince Jingnan used troops like a god and won every battle. Before Prince Jingnan, Great Chu’s Nian Yao could only tremble and hide like a turtle. But what was Prince Jingnan’s ending? What was his final fate? God of War, God of War... in the end he was only a falling star beneath the night sky. Brilliant, yes. Astonishing, yes. But he merely passed through. In this slave’s view, Marquis Pingxi is different. Right now the new sovereign of Yan places no ‘restraints’ upon him. Or perhaps the new sovereign has the ability to keep him bound. But if anything changes in the future... Eight hundred years ago, the Three Marquises obeyed the Son of Heaven of Great Xia and opened the frontiers. In civil governance and military achievement, which one was not first-rate in his generation? Marquis Pingxi already has that air about him. And his wings... are fully grown.”

Qu Peiluo asked:

“So what use is saying any of this?”

“Young Master, the higher Marquis Pingxi climbs in the future, the less shameful people will think your losses to him were. In public opinion and in the histories, it will gradually come to seem natural. Perhaps even the Princess being taken from you by Marquis Pingxi will stop making you look like some clown. Later readers of history may instead sigh over what sort of Young Master Qu could possibly have dared compete with the young... heh-heh... for a woman. And more importantly... you survived. Truly impressive.”

Qu Peiluo fell into thought.

Then he asked:

“So if you, this slave, think so highly of Marquis Pingxi and believe so strongly in the future of Marquis Pingxi Residence, why go to Yanjing? Wouldn’t it be better to request a post as some steward under Marquis Pingxi Residence?”

“My wife and son are in Yanjing.” Fan Zhengwen smiled.

“Just because of that?”

“Ai. Back when I served the Qu Clan, it didn’t stop me from betraying Chu and defecting to Yan, did it?”

For a moment...

Qu Peiluo had absolutely nothing to say.

After the arsenal was opened and handed over to Qu Peiluo... next came the treasuries of Fan Residence.

Gold.

Silver.

Jewels.

Bolts of silk.

Every kind of valuable was carried outside and distributed downward as rewards.

Money could make ghosts turn millstones.

Distributing wealth was indeed the most direct and effective way to raise morale.

When Marquis Pingxi fought wars, he could say a few sentences and make his soldiers howl as they charged forward.

But that rested on the fact that, in ordinary times, he kept those soldiers and their families well fed.

At the same time, every able-bodied man inside Fan City willing to stand on the walls received rewards as well.

Whatever happened afterward... for now, at least, the city had truly developed an atmosphere of defending Fan City to the death and repaying the Fan Clan.

Qu Peiluo said to Fan Zhengwen:

“I’ll write a letter to the Dugu patriarch in the south. I’ll say that I, Qu Peiluo, have already entered Fan City. Give me a few days and I will deliver Fan City to him. I’ll ask the Dugu patriarch, for the sake of my father and the ancestors of the Qu Clan, to grant me this opportunity to redeem my crimes.”

It was a delaying tactic.

“Will the Chu army believe it?”

After all... the men they faced were veteran commanders of the battlefield and old foxes of politics.

Qu Peiluo answered with great confidence:

“Did you expect me to be this pathetic?”

Fan Zhengwen shook his head.

Qu Peiluo nodded.

“Neither will they.”

After Liang Cheng returned with the Princess and Liu Ruqing from Fan City last time... he had once reported to the Blind Man about Qu Peiluo.

The Blind Man was good at analyzing people’s minds.

He said directly:

Qu Peiluo had lost too many times to Master.

He lost love.

He lost his career.

He lost his family foundation.

He even lost his state.

After the defeat at Qingtan, he had wanted to cut his own throat, but was stopped.

When he was first released back into Chu territory, he wanted to rebel.

He was stopped then too.

Do anything too many times and a person becomes numb to it.

Suicide was the same.

It was not that he suddenly became afraid of death.

He simply could no longer summon the energy.

There were too many places where Qu Peiluo hurt.

Too many knots in his heart.

Add some of Master’s occasional malicious tastes... and what they had done to this great philanthropist Qu had indeed been extremely cruel.

But precisely because they had used such overwhelming force... they had also created some unexpected effects.

Liang Cheng asked whether Qu Peiluo had now made up his mind to submit to them completely.

The Blind Man thought for a while.

Then asked:

Do you know Wu Sangui?

In the eyes of people who like watching history for entertainment, Wu Sangui flew into a rage for Chen Yuanyuan and let the Qing army through the pass.

The truth was not actually that simple.

But people who genuinely care about truth are always a minority.

So although Wu Sangui committed plenty of monstrous crimes, popular feeling toward him was never quite as uniformly vicious as one might expect.

That image of “flying into a rage for a beauty” even picked up a certain heroic, unrestrained flavor after enough time passed.

Finally... the Blind Man sighed:

What a pity.

To think of a move like this... that child truly was a qilin scion of the Qu Clan.

What a pity he ran into Master.

What a pity... he ran into us.

...

The letter written personally by Qu Peiluo was sent to the Dugu Clan’s army in the south.

Over the next two days, the Dugu army truly remained in place.

It did not continue advancing.

Aside from the occasional scout cavalry sweeping beneath Fan City’s walls, the main army never actually appeared before the city.

At the same time, the defenders inside Fan City began their final preparations.

Trees outside the city were cut and burned.

Supplies inside were gathered and organized.

Two days was not a long time.

But neither was it short.

Those were two whole days gained for free.

For people determined to hold Fan City while awaiting relief... that was pure profit.

To the north, Grand General Nian appeared to be reorganizing the rabble that had gathered around him.

At the same time... he was waiting for the Dugu Clan in the south to launch its formal assault.

The blow had to come from north and south together.

Only then could they shatter Fan City’s morale in one stroke.

But because the Dugu army had stopped...

Grand General Nian had no choice but to stop too.

With Fan City as the center, the entire surrounding region fell into a strange calm.

All three sides had already sharpened their blades.

Yet these days passed peacefully.

On the third day... when Fan City still showed no movement, the Dugu army began to advance again.

Qu Peiluo sent another letter.

He requested a meeting with the old Dugu patriarch.

The other side... agreed.

When two armies confronted each other, a meeting between their commanders before the lines was a military custom inherited from Great Xia, perhaps even from earlier eras.

The histories of Great Xia recorded more than one occasion when Xia commanders met before battle with Barbarian, Savage, or Shanyue leaders.

Unfortunately... this particular custom had recently been badly abused by one Marquis surnamed Zheng.

Years ago beneath Snow Sea Pass, a jianghu legend was born: the Sword Saint broke a thousand cavalry with one sword.

But why had the Sword Saint left the fortress?

Because Marquis Zheng had gone to meet the Savage general Gelimu before the lines.

Having the Sword Saint of the age disguise himself as a standard-bearer and accompany him to a commander’s meeting... whether anyone would ever surpass that trick was unknown.

But there had certainly never been anyone before him.

First, the Sword Saint’s personal brilliance had simply been too dazzling.

Second, under the extremely severe ethnic prejudice of all Xia, who expected anyone to obey etiquette when dealing with Savages?

Why discuss ritual with beasts and livestock?

Did they deserve it?

Add the unprecedented scale of the victory that followed... and beneath all that glory, this tiny flaw in Marquis Zheng’s personal integrity was simply buried.

In truth, the Savage general Gelimu had never intended to follow the rules either.

When the Black Dragon Banner rose above Snow Sea Pass, he and his soldiers had already panicked.

He too invited an expert Guide to disguise himself as his standard-bearer.

Neither side intended to obey the rules.

Marquis Zheng’s side merely possessed a configuration so absurdly high-end that it crushed Gelimu outright.

No matter what... although the power of Chu’s noble clans had begun declining under repeated suppression, the old rituals among Great Chu’s aristocracy were still recognized by both sides.

The Qu Clan had already been branded a rebel clan by the Chu court.

Qu Peiluo had become a sinner who forgot his ancestors.

But the Qu Clan had been inherited for centuries.

That foundation.

Those old bonds.

They still existed.

Most importantly... in the eyes of the Chu army, Fan City was meat sitting on a chopping block.

This was not like the despair the Savage army had felt while staring at Snow Sea Pass years ago.

When people were not being pushed to the brink... they still wanted ritual, righteousness, shame, and honor to decorate appearances.

That... was the posture expected of nobles.

One table.

Two chairs.

Two great banners.

One was Great Chu’s Fire Phoenix Banner.

The other...

Great Yan’s Black Dragon Banner.

Qu Peiluo arrived first.

He brought no guards.

After sitting down, he stared for a while at the Fire Phoenix Banner planted opposite him.

Then the other side first sent a group of riders to sweep the area and confirm there was no ambush.

The riders withdrew.

Only then did the old patriarch of the Dugu Clan appear.

He dismounted.

Removed his armor.

Walked forward.

And sat.

There was no tea.

No refreshments.

Qu Peiluo rose and saluted the old Dugu patriarch.

“Peiluo pays respects to Uncle Dugu.”

The old patriarch looked at the once-brilliant young scion of the Qu Clan before him.

In his eyes... the image of Qu Tiannan from years ago could not help appearing.

Once, Qu Tiannan, Pillar of State, had been regarded as the standard-bearer of Great Chu’s middle generation of military commanders.

Not merely because of his birth.

Because of his ability.

Many among Great Chu’s noble clans had once said that if Qu Tiannan had not died at Yupan City, Nian Yao could never have risen the way he did now.

And Great Chu’s nobles... would never have been pushed so completely onto the defensive inside the army.

At the end of the day... their own people had simply become too useless.

There was a terrible gap between generations.

Only then had commoners, poor families, and even slaves found room to rise.

Qu Tiannan’s death had been stifling.

He had been trapped to death.

At the time, Chu’s civil war had only just ended.

Barely ended.

So there had been no strength available to send armies north to support Qu Tiannan.

There had also been a misjudgment of how the war would develop.

Chu had never expected the Yan to be so ferocious.

After the first failure, they immediately invited Prince Jingnan out again and launched a second campaign against the Savages.

Even Tian Wujing had merely surrounded Yupan City without storming it.

He simply exhausted the Azure Luan Army’s provisions until the army had no choice but to leave the city and surrender.

And on a true battlefield... in the first Battle of Wangjiang...

Li Bao had died at Qu Tiannan’s hands.

All of that... was gone now.

Qu Tiannan was dead.

The Qu Clan... had become smoke from the past.

“Still refusing to surrender?” the old Dugu patriarch asked.

“The Princess came here last year. I promised her I would leave her a piece of land here, so that in the future, if she ever wished, she could come home and look around.”

“Heh.”

The old patriarch stared at Qu Peiluo.

“The Princess is pregnant.”

Naturally the Chu court knew that.

Marquis Pingxi Residence had never concealed it.

“I know,” Qu Peiluo said.

The old Dugu patriarch barked:

“The child inside Her Highness’s belly will not bear the surname Qu. The child will bear the surname Zheng!”

Qu Peiluo smiled.

His face turned slightly into the sunlight.

The angle was almost perfect.

He answered:

“That doesn’t matter. I can take the child’s surname.”

[End of Chapter 780]