Chapter 824: The Sky Falls! (Long Chapter)

Children this age crying a little more was perfectly normal.

When the Crown Prince first arrived at Prince Pingxi Residence, he cried too.

Then, as the days passed, his whole spirit gradually brightened.

That strange gloom that had once clung to him, making him seem like a miniature adult, slowly faded.

Back in the princely residence in Yanjing, when he was still the eldest imperial grandson, he had needed to mind the image of an imperial grandson whenever he went outside.

At home, he had to read the tiny shifts in his father’s mood.

Especially when facing his imperial grandfather.

Deep in his bones, he had feared the old Emperor.

Yet for his father’s sake... for the sake of their future... he still had to think of ways to make his imperial grandfather happy.

Other children his age were still busy being mischievous, throwing tantrums, and playing however they pleased.

He had already begun working a job he never volunteered for.

Other fathers held their sons in their palms for fear they might fall, kept them in their mouths for fear they might melt.

His father had made the situation clear very early instead:

Son, the two of us have to work hard together.

After his imperial grandfather died and his father ascended the throne, he went from Heir of the princely residence to Crown Prince.

But the old Emperor’s death did not carry away the pressure that had always existed.

Instead, the invisible shackles gradually began taking solid form.

He started doubting.

Started guarding himself.

A child holding a fistful of New Year money would still look around nervously for fear someone might take it.

What the Crown Prince held in his hands... was far more than a handful of New Year money.

Yet after arriving at Prince Pingxi Residence... everything seemed to change.

At the very beginning, Prince Pingxi had held Elder Brother Tian Tian in his arms and asked whether Tian Tian liked the clothes the Crown Prince was wearing.

During the investiture ceremony, the Prince even let the Crown Prince walk behind while continuing to carry Tian Tian.

The Crown Prince knew what grave disrespect toward the imperial house meant.

He knew what the Heavenly Family meant too.

By all logic... he should have panicked.

Should have feared.

Perhaps he should even have hated.

Prince Pingxi’s repeated conduct had planted enough seeds for hatred long ago.

But strangely... he did not.

People were not the same.

Commoners and wealthy children thought differently.

Wealthy children and children of great clans thought differently.

Children of great clans and the imperial house thought differently.

Children of the imperial house and a Crown Prince... were separated by yet another layer.

By the time thought reached that level, it had already folded over itself so many times one could barely count them.

When the Crown Prince discovered that the thing he had always guarded so nervously had become almost meaningless here... that Prince Pingxi did not treat him as the Crown Prince at all, but merely as the awkward extra child of an old friend temporarily fostered in his house... the boy actually relaxed.

Became freer.

Oh.

So I’m not actually that amazing either.

Hahaha.

That feels great.

The only one truly suffering from the arrangement was probably Tian Tian.

His godfather feared practically no taboo.

But Tian Tian, as elder brother, had already developed the habit of worrying about everyone around him.

In Siniang’s words... if Tian Tian kept growing along this path, he would inevitably become a warm-hearted boyfriend type when he grew up.

Heaven pity the child.

Ever since Crown Prince Little Brother moved into the house...

Tian Tian had not eaten “Dragon Throne-flavored” sachima in a very long time.

The Crown Prince was still crying.

It had only been a game.

Only an accident.

Yet for some reason, the tears simply would not stop.

He just wanted to cry.

The more he cried, the less he could stop.

But then he felt guilty toward Tian Tian, who had remained beside him comforting him the entire time.

“Elder Brother Tian Tian, let me cry a little longer. Once I cry all the water in my body dry, I’ll be fine.”

Children’s metaphors were often completely crooked.

At least, in Tian Tian’s ears, it sounded as though his little brother had suffered some heaven-shattering grievance and intended to keep crying until he dried himself out completely.

“Little Brother, be good. Be good. If you keep crying, it’ll start raining. Then we won’t be able to come outside and play.”

“Elder Brother is lying. Where is it raining?”

...

“My lord, it’s raining.”

Ran Min waved one hand.

He refused his personal guard’s suggestion that he go inside.

Looking outward... with this small village at the center, soldiers under his command filled the rain curtain in every direction.

A living man could not let himself be suffocated by his own piss.

And soldiers could not truly allow themselves to starve.

If soldiers actually starved to death... that did not mean merely that the army had run out of provisions.

It meant there was no food left anywhere within reach.

This force had rushed here hoping to settle everything with one hammer blow.

Naturally, it had not brought excessive provisions.

Back in the days when Prince Pingxi was still at Snow Sea Pass, every expedition began by feeding the soldiers until they were full on bone broth and stuffed buns.

Then they carried plenty of fried flour for men, beans for horses, salt, cloth, cured meat, and everything else required.

But that was Prince Pingxi.

That was the campaigning method of Prince Pingxi’s army.

In the early years, whenever Prince Pingxi marched out, he practically pawned his entire household first, gambling that victory would let him redeem everything twice over.

Only now, with a deep enough family foundation, had those preparations become comfortable and routine.

Other Yan armies did not possess such detailed and generous standards for campaign preparation.

Ran Min had marched immediately after receiving the Liang ruler’s rescue letter.

His soldiers prepared food according to their own experience and set out.

The Garrison Commander believed this war needed only one word: fast.

The soldiers below him likewise did not believe Liang rebels could possibly amount to serious opponents.

The entire expedition had felt almost like a mounted tour.

Fortunately, the food problem could still be handled through local plunder.

Ran Min had no psychological burden about doing that.

Neither Xie Yu’an nor Liang’s Chancellor could possibly have cleared the countryside and fortified every locality in advance.

First, there had not been enough time.

Second, doing so would certainly have alerted the prey.

So eating was not yet the true problem.

The room in which this army could move... was shrinking continuously.

Wenming County City remained firmly defended.

At the same time, Liang troops had appeared both north and south of Wenming Mountain.

Liang had only just undergone a coup.

After the new ruler ascended the throne, he had worked desperately to soothe the army.

Even so, aside from General Pu’s force, most Liang troops at present possessed almost no combat power.

Ran Min did not care about the threat from those two Liang forces.

In fact, his own scout cavalry alone could force them to halt and throw their formations into disorder.

If he wished, he could gather his troops, charge one of those Liang forces directly, and smash it apart with little difficulty.

But the question was:

What happened after he smashed it?

Destroy the force to the north... and then he would have to enter Qishan and take the long way back to Jin.

But Qishan was treacherous country.

If Chu had already prepared there, he could do nothing but let others slaughter him at their leisure.

Destroy the force to the south... and then what?

Continue south toward Liang’s capital?

Three days had already passed.

The Chu army still advanced at its own pace, moving camp forward day by day and tightening pressure.

Liang troops had already begun deploying as well.

That meant the coup in the capital had most likely been settled long ago.

Ran Min was not naïve enough to believe that if he reached the walls of Liang’s capital, someone inside would joyfully open the gates and welcome the king’s army.

Yet if he continued ignoring those two Liang forces... even if they were useless pieces on the board, they still occupied positions.

Together with the Xie army and Wenming County City... they had effectively formed a cage.

Ordinarily, this was the sort of method government troops used to suppress bandits.

Ambush from multiple directions.

Pressure from several sides.

Finally trap the mountain bandits inside.

For the authorities, failing to destroy the main bandit force meant failure.

Any survivors who escaped could quickly gather another rebellious force.

Any experienced County Lieutenant could organize a similar encirclement using only yamen runners and conscript laborers.

What made Ran Min even more desperate... was that his hesitation, his waiting, his constant looking forward and backward... had allowed the rope around his neck to tighten further and further.

Reason told him the best choice now was to leave the Wenming Mountain region.

Break east through the Chu blockade.

Circle around Lion Head Pass by way of Wenxin Lake.

Then return north into Jin.

Emotion told him that if he did that... the best result would be bringing home half his men.

At least half, perhaps even most, of the force would be lost during a long turning movement under enemy obstruction.

And the moment he thought of the wetlands around Wenxin Lake... of the insecurity that came from being unable to exploit Yan cavalry’s greatest advantages... his entire body resisted the idea.

Returning after losing so many troops would be one crime.

Liang’s coup returning the state to Chu’s camp, reducing the four-state alliance he had spent so long creating to nothing... would be another.

Those two crimes together would be enough to throw him straight back into the dust.

The best outcome might be reassignment to some useless inland fortress as a forgotten defense commander.

That... was what Ran Min could not accept!

He reached up.

Wiped rainwater from his face.

Then twisted his neck hard.

Perhaps... his hesitation had never truly been hesitation.

His waiting had never truly been waiting.

Because deep down, he had always known what he wanted to do.

What he believed he had to do.

That was:

“Wealth and rank...”

...

“We can only seek them through danger.”

Meng Gong stood before a map.

He pointed behind himself and addressed the many generals present.

“Gentlemen, in this battle, there is only this one move!”

Seated below were the younger generation of Qian commanders raised during these past years:

Han Wu.

Le Huan.

Zu Dongling.

And Zhong Tianlang.

Ever since the great war among the three states ended, Jin, which had been destroyed, was ironically mocked less precisely because it no longer existed.

Only Qian remained.

It had not lost a single inch of territory... yet continued being ridiculed by every state across all Xia.

Even the new army personally promoted and reorganized by the Qian Emperor was viewed elsewhere as nothing more than old wine poured into a new jar.

A hundred years had passed.

Seas had become mulberry fields.

Only Qian’s army had remained steadfastly loyal to its ancient tradition of being useless.

“The bait made from Ran Min’s force is already prepared. Next, we wait for South Gate Pass to move again.”

Meng Gong drove one fist hard into the position of South Gate Pass on the map.

“What if the Yan refuse to come out?” Han Wu asked.

Le Huan rejected the possibility immediately.

“No. Yan will certainly send troops to rescue them. Yan people are proud. Especially after these past years, when they have practically won every battle and treat the armies of other states like children’s toys. The Yan will never allow one of their own forces to be destroyed like this without gaining anything.”

Meng Gong smiled.

“The Count Yishan originally stationed at Sushan Camp in Jin was, like Prince Pingxi, once an old subordinate of Prince Jingnan. He may not have inherited Prince Jingnan’s mantle as completely as Prince Pingxi did, but his use of troops remains cautious. Once the Garrison Commander of South Gate Pass rashly led troops beyond the pass, by rights Count Yishan Chen Yang should have assumed responsibility for South Gate Pass’s defenses and developed a complete southern campaign plan. But now the imperial commissioner sent down by the Yan Emperor has been fighting so bitterly with Count Yishan that their conflict can practically be called open warfare. According to the latest intelligence, the commissioner even threatened to halt military provisions in order to force the officers under Count Yishan to submit.”

“That stupid?” Zu Dongling laughed.

Han Wu, Le Huan, Meng Gong, and the others did not join in.

Zhong Tianlang said instead:

“Back in the old days, Qian civil officials managed to be far stupider than this.”

When it came to dragging one’s own side backward... if Qian civil officials claimed second place, no one else beneath Heaven truly dared claim first.

“Yan people are still people,” Meng Gong said. “The Yan court is still a court. The fact that everything has gone smoothly for them these past years does not mean Yan will never make mistakes. What matters is whether we can seize this opportunity. By the calendar, Li Fusheng’s force should be nearing Sushan already. Li Fusheng has always carried the nickname ‘Mad Demon.’ He enjoys slaughter. Back in the desert, he loved butchering Barbarian tribes from top to bottom and leaving no survivors. Later, his command was transferred beneath Prince Jingnan. Whenever war came, Prince Pingxi preferred sitting behind the lines and directing the board. Li Fusheng was the complete opposite. He loved personally leading the Assault Battalion into the charge. Now Count Yishan has been hollowed out. Given Li Fusheng’s temperament, the moment he hears that a Yan force has been trapped inside Liang... his first reaction will inevitably be... excitement. Destroying Ran Min would already count as a major victory, especially now, when Yan stands at the height of its power. But for us... that is nowhere near enough. One Ran Min is not enough to shake Yan. This time, we gamble on our luck. If Li Fusheng truly behaves like Ran Min and gallops south trying to rescue him... then we... will truly close the gate and beat the dog! Gentlemen. This battle may be fought inside Liang... but it concerns Great Qian’s national fortune in the years ahead. Yan’s momentum must be smashed here! If we fail to smash it... or if something else goes wrong... forget Liang for the moment. Wei, Qi, Zhao, and all the other small states will probably bow completely before Yan. Therefore... this battle cannot be lost!”

The generals rose at once.

“Yes!”

Personal guards entered carrying tea.

The tense killing atmosphere eased slightly.

Meng Gong stepped down as well.

He tucked his hands into his sleeves and said:

“We seem to have some fate with these people. The second time Prince Pingxi attacked Mianzhou City, I was the man defending it. Afterward, Young Marshal Zhong led Western Army cavalry in pursuit. Later, when Yan marched south, Prince Pingxi was serving inside Li Fusheng’s command. Our Qian forces happened to march north to block them. We were defeated. The commander of that army... was Commander Zu’s elder brother. Commander Han and Commander Le were there too. They became routed soldiers.”

None of the generals present showed anger or humiliation.

Nor did anyone blame Meng Gong for deliberately bringing up the pot that should not be opened.

Too many years had passed.

And as Prince Pingxi climbed higher and higher... even a commander who had once been defeated by him could now say:

I once fought Prince Pingxi.

That itself had become a kind of credential.

But then...

Zhong Tianlang spoke one sentence that genuinely cooled the entire command tent.

“What a pity Zheng Fan isn’t at South Gate Pass.”

Old Fifth Han poked at the gap between his teeth with one fingernail, as though even tea had somehow lodged something there.

Le Huan lowered his head slightly, as if drowsiness had suddenly struck.

Meng Gong, nominally commander of this Qian expedition, spoke without concealment:

“On this point, I agree completely with that Xie Clan Young Master. If Prince Pingxi were personally holding South Gate Pass, then right now we would not be discussing how to bait the fish. We would be thinking about how to withdraw without getting caught in his net.”

Zhong Tianlang, an Imperial Son-in-Law of Great Qian, said disdainfully:

“What? From now on, whenever we encounter Zheng Fan, are we supposed to run?”

Old Fifth Han laughed.

“Young Marshal, no need to hurry. A meal must be eaten one bite at a time.”

Le Huan nodded.

“First, let us win one great victory. Let the soldiers recover their spirit. Let the common people, the gentlemen at court, and His Majesty understand that Yan people are not invincible. After that... when we face Prince Pingxi, we will finally possess real confidence in our own hearts.”

Zhong Tianlang still felt unconvinced.

Because from beginning to end... he himself had never actually lost.

Once, he had even come only one step from killing Zheng Fan back when the future Prince Pingxi was still merely a Defense Commander.

If he had caught up that time... there would have been no Prince Pingxi afterward.

What Young Marshal Zhong did not know... was that in truth there had been two such opportunities.

The other had been even closer.

When Zhong Tianlang led troops into Yan territory and stopped someone to ask directions... the man he found was Zheng Fan himself.

He even shot an arrow into the future Prince Pingxi.

Only a stone Zheng Fan carried inside his clothes blocked the shot.

If this Young Marshal had possessed Prince Pingxi’s excellent lifelong habit of searching corpses after killing people... and specifically walking over to deliver an extra finishing blow... then the legend of Prince Pingxi would probably have ended early on that very night.

At that moment, a messenger charged into the command tent.

“Report! Frontline report! Great Yan’s Count Huwei...”

...

“Li Fusheng was transferred?”

Prince Pingxi drank tea while packing tobacco into his own pipe.

“Yes, Master. The transfer was hurried. The official notification was probably sent afterward.”

Eastern Jin under Prince Pingxi Residence could be considered one military theater.

Yingdu could be considered another.

The factions differed.

The composition of the armies differed.

But ultimately, both still stood beneath the Black Dragon Banner.

When large forces changed positions, neighboring commands normally had to be informed in advance so they could make corresponding adjustments.

Most of the time... notification came first.

“Transferred where?”

“Likely west.”

“Surely they didn’t send him all the way back into Yan?” Zheng Fan asked with a laugh.

“Some time ago, reports said the imperial commissioner sent by court encountered considerable resistance while gathering the military authority of the former Jingnan Army line. Count Yishan Chen Yang at Sushan Camp was especially resistant. Xu Wenzu mentioned the matter in a private letter to Master. So this subordinate suspects Li Fusheng’s command was transferred to exchange positions with Chen Yang’s Sushan Camp.”

Letters moved frequently between Yingdu and Fengxin City.

Of course... back in the old days, Zheng Fan had been too lazy even to finish Little Sixth’s letters and left the Blind Man to answer them.

He was certainly not going to personally read every letter from Fatty Xu.

The Blind Man could digest everything and give him a short summary afterward.

That was enough.

Recently, Prince Pingxi Residence had deliberately lowered the temperature of its attention toward affairs west of eastern Jin.

First... the Residence’s principal energy still focused on Chu and the snowfields.

Those were the genuine strategic threats.

Second...

Old Sixth Ji had behaved with such extraordinary generosity that he had already covered both the things he should have thought of and the things no one expected him to think of.

He had even sent his Crown Prince here to be raised.

At the very least... one had to give the man some face.

In practical terms, the court and Prince Pingxi Residence were acting together under an unspoken understanding, jointly digesting and dividing the old Jingnan Army system.

“I know Chen Yang’s temper. It’s explosive. Aside from Old Tian, he probably doesn’t submit to anyone.”

“Heh-heh. Master, this subordinate believes the imperial commissioner’s methods may also have intensified the conflict. But that is difficult to avoid. First, dividing military authority creates even more suspicion and hatred than dividing family property. Second, for years the court has continually delegated power to military commanders and local authorities. Now that the page has suddenly turned and policy has reversed, the men handling implementation below will inevitably be clumsy.”

“Mm. Right. I saw in Jin Shuke’s memorial that Chu has been moving strangely too. Troops are contracting inward. Laborers are being requisitioned.”

“Master, this subordinate noticed the same thing. But this subordinate is not skilled in military affairs...”

“There is no sign of large-scale troop concentration or mass transport of provisions. That means they are not preparing to attack us. Instead... it looks more like they are preparing against us attacking them. Did you go outside and spread some damned rumor again?”

“This subordinate did not.”

“You didn’t? Hah. Then this is strange. I’m preparing to behave myself at home and accompany my pregnant wives. Why the hell do the Chu people think I’ll suddenly get bored and attack them again?”

“Perhaps routine redeployment?”

“No. There may be no sign of mass troop movement. Gou Moli at Fan City has not reported that Chu intends to strike him again either. But merely requisitioning laborers and drawing troops inward already amounts to entering a state of military readiness. Even without fighting, daily consumption rises enormously. You know that.”

“Yes.”

“So yes, I know Qian has given Chu support and their hands are a little looser now. But I do not believe Qian’s aid is rich enough that Chu can spend like this for no reason. Qian’s milk is not that abundant.”

“This subordinate will issue orders immediately and have our agents investigate as deeply as possible.”

“Mm. Better to understand it clearly. That elder brother-in-law of mine may spend half his time getting beaten by me until his head is covered in lumps, but I have never actually looked down on him.”

“Yes. A little caution never hurts. Also, Master, this subordinate has one matter to report.”

“Speak. Cough, cough...”

Zheng Fan lit the pipe.

Took one draw.

Started coughing.

Then set it aside.

He simply was not accustomed to it.

“This subordinate has recently begun watching someone. One of Great Chu’s Four Pillars of State belongs to the Xie Clan. The Xie Clan has a Young Master known as its thousand-li colt.”

“Handle it however you think best. But no need to become suspicious of every shadow. Otherwise we’ll really start looking like the great villains who hear some peerless genius appeared somewhere and immediately decide to suppress him in advance. Heh.”

Zheng Fan did not care much about the matter.

There was not even the first stroke of the character yet.

So the Blind Man did not continue nagging him.

Instead, he changed topics.

“Master, this subordinate has noticed that Jin has received even more summer rain this year.”

Zheng Fan shook his head.

“Another disaster?”

“Probably not. First, it certainly will not reach the scale of the year Great Yan mobilized against Chu. Second, the Wang River works have already been completed with Fifth Prince’s involvement. As long as Wang River does not fail, flooding should remain manageable. What worries this subordinate is that weather patterns may become more extreme this year. An official dispatch from Xu Wenzu also included a forecast from Yingdu’s Imperial Astronomical Bureau. This year, winter may arrive earlier. And may be colder.”

“Heh-heh.”

Zheng Fan laughed.

Back when he had been attacked on the Wang River... given his personality, if the monk could run but the temple could not, he should have blood-washed the Imperial Astronomical Bureau afterward.

Unexpectedly...

Yingdu had already cleaned the matter up before he could act.

So he let it go.

“Putting those Qi Refiners to work as weather forecasters is actually matching profession to specialty.”

He thought for a moment.

Then realized the implication.

He looked at the Blind Man.

“The snowfields?”

“Master is wise.”

The snowfields already possessed a brutal environment.

Under extreme weather, Jin might merely suffer.

On the snowfields... huge numbers of people could freeze or starve to death.

Poor environment.

Poor economic structure.

Naturally, the ability to withstand risk was poor as well.

Under the old script, conditions like that would force snowfield tribes to unite and raid south for supplies.

Even if they failed to seize much... merely losing enough people would reduce the crisis on the snowfields.

Yan people were familiar with this logic too.

In earlier years, whenever a broad natural disaster struck, older Yan people understood instinctively:

The Barbarian tribes from the desert would come.

Prepare.

If all Xia had already been unified and both snowfields and desert had submitted beneath one state... then one region suffering while another prospered could be answered with aid from every direction.

But the world remained divided into separate systems.

No one would simply let you take advantage for free.

If you refused to give... and the other side could not survive... then it could only rob.

“Prepare for the snowfields early. We can increase immigration efforts.”

“Yes, Master. This subordinate understands. I will prepare a complete plan and submit it for Master’s review.”

“No need. I trust you to handle things. If a problem appears, discuss it with Siniang. It comes down to two points. First, continue dividing them. We cannot allow another Savage King to rise on the snowfields. Second, for nobles willing to move inside, we can loosen some of the qualification requirements.”

“Yes.”

“Also, before the crisis actually begins, raise our purchase prices and buy more from the snowfields now. Once winter arrives... sell it back to them. Ah. I’m worried the common people on the snowfields do not understand the virtues of saving slowly and planning ahead, so I’m helping them build a little security in advance. Am I becoming too much of a bleeding heart?”

“Master has always been this merciful.”

“Then remind me more often. I know you lot dislike bleeding hearts.”

“Yes. This subordinate understands.”

“Before, I always thought staying at home too long would become boring. I kept wanting to wander somewhere, maybe even fight another war. Now... staying home actually gives me something to look forward to.”

As he spoke...

Zheng Fan picked up the pipe he had set down and began fiddling with it again.

“Master, if you’re not used to smoking it, there is no need to force yourself.”

“I’ll try again. The craftsmanship on this pipe is excellent. Feels wasteful to leave it as decoration. Oh, right. I heard our shops in Fengxin City started selling tobacco.”

“Yes, Master.”

At present, Five-Stone Powder remained far more fashionable, especially among Qian people.

In many regions, tobacco was still treated more like mugwort, something burned to repel evil.

“Close them. Smoking is harmful to health.”

“Yes. This subordinate understands.”

“Come. The fire striker is over there. Light it for me.”

The Blind Man reached out, picked up the striker, and relit his Master’s pipe.

Zheng Fan took one draw.

Then set it down again.

“Doesn’t taste like the cigarettes you made for me.”

“This subordinate mixed spices into those.”

“Thoughtful of you. Forget it. Forget it. I admit defeat.”

“Heh-heh.”

“I’m going to listen to the babies. In the past, whenever I saw fathers pressing their ears against their wives’ bellies, I thought they looked like fucking idiots. Now I finally realize... the fucking idiot was me.”

Zheng Fan stood.

“Heh-heh. Every time I think about the children... I can’t wait.”

...

“I can’t fucking wait anymore! Motherfucker!”

“Ran Min, that useless wife-killing bastard! Useless! Useless! He has shamed every son of Great Yan! And he still dares claim he has pinned down the main Chu force and wants me to coordinate from inside and outside to break them? Ptui! That worthless piece of shit has no ability besides climbing upward by stepping on women!”

“Tell that damned imperial commissioner that I’m not marching out to wipe his ass! Don’t think I don’t know what stupid shit he did. I am leading my boys south through the pass because I refuse to let the reputation of Great Yan’s iron cavalry be ruined!”

“And tell that dogshit Count Yishan too! We were all born grunts. Don’t forget what the hell you are! Don’t think that because Prince Jingnan is gone there’s no one left who can discipline him! If he dares pretend to be sick and sulk in bed now, sooner or later someone will make sure he really is paralyzed and can never get out of that bed! Of everyone in the world he could imitate, why the fuck imitate Qian? Since when did sons of Great Yan learn to fight among themselves?”

“Motherfucker.”

Li Fusheng’s eyes had already begun turning red.

He had truly been suffocating from frustration.

Last time... he had expected to get a war.

Who could have known Brother Zheng would fight so beautifully?

Li Fusheng had completed every preparation.

Then ended up with absolutely nothing to do.

That sensation... like reaching the mouth of the alley and getting forcibly stopped before entering... had nearly ruined the man.

Now everything was perfect.

He had only just transferred here and already there was a war to fight.

Heh-heh.

Li Fusheng looked at the generals under his command.

“Those little Chu bitches are itching again. Come on. Let’s go loosen their bones!”

...

“Gentlemen, we’ve hidden for long enough. Time to loosen our own bones!”

Meng Gong stood beneath the command banner in full armor.

Only after receiving word that Li Fusheng’s force had left the pass and marched toward Liang... did the Qian command banner finally rise.

“In truth, whether our own bones are loose or stiff is not what matters. What matters is that before we set out, His Majesty gave this commander one instruction. His Majesty said... the bones of Great Qian have not truly hardened once in the last hundred years! For a century... Yan people in the north have swaggered before us. Annual payments. Tribute goods. Again and again, they ground the dignity of Great Qian and the dignity of Qian people beneath their feet. Great Qian... possesses a literary civilization unmatched anywhere in all Xia! Great Qian... possesses the richest lands beneath Heaven! Great Qian... stands upon the land from which all Xia civilization first arose! And yet... the sons of Great Qian alone have become the greatest joke beneath Heaven! The men they laugh at... are us! Back then... Yan rode south. We all lost. We watched Yan iron cavalry ride beneath the gates of Shangjing and knock upon our capital! Now... His Majesty has devoted himself to governance. He has granted us high office and rich stipends. He has promised us deep residences and lofty noble rank. The civil officials have already swallowed a bellyful of anger! Life... face... must be earned by your own hands! In this battle... we will tell the Yan in the north that the days when they could point fingers and order Great Qian around are over! In this battle... we will tell those civil-official lords that the sky over Great Qian is changing! His Majesty has already taken us by the arm and helped us stand. We will never allow ourselves to crawl back onto the ground! This battle... we will win!”

“Victory!”

“Victory!”

...

“Young Master, are you certain this battle can be won?”

The newly enthroned ruler of Liang sat below.

Xie Yu’an occupied the chief seat.

“What? Your Majesty is afraid?”

“We... We are afraid.”

The ruler was young.

Still older than Xie Yu’an.

Yet the difference in presence between them was enormous.

“At this point, other than doing everything we can, what is there left to say? Or does Your Majesty want this foreign minister to give you some particular answer?”

“We... We only want some confidence from Young Master.”

“Confidence?”

“Yes. These past years, Imperial Father was very close to Yan. Yan has campaigned north and south again and again. Across the states of all Xia... no. Even among Savages and Barbarians... anyone who dared provoke Yan ended up... They say that once Yan cavalry begins charging on the battlefield, it truly feels like mountains collapsing and earth splitting. Under that kind of pressure, soldiers simply cannot find the courage to resist.”

“Yes.”

“Ah?”

Xie Yu’an smiled.

“Your Majesty, the Yan force currently trapped around Wenming Mountain is only an ordinary Yan command. It does not count as elite. But the Yan force already mobilized, perhaps already entering Liang right now... is led by Li Fusheng. In earlier years, Li Fusheng was one of the Seven Great Garrison Commanders beneath Marquis Zhenbei Residence. Because of his ferocity in battle, the Yan Emperor later enfeoffed him as Count Huwei, using the name of one of Yan’s commanderies for his noble title. That alone reveals his standing within the Yan army. In his early years in the desert, he slaughtered Barbarian tribes until even hearing his name made them afraid. He once led only thirty thousand iron cavalry and smashed his way all the way to the walls of Qian’s Shangjing. Afterward, his brilliance may have been overshadowed by Yan’s Prince Pingxi... but he participated in almost every major war Yan fought and always charged at the front. His military record is extraordinary. He most enjoys personally leading the Assault Battalion to break formations. Whenever battle begins, he leads from the front to inspire his soldiers. That is why his troops are especially skilled at brutal battles. Looking across Yan... aside from the force directly under Prince Pingxi... Li Fusheng’s command may now be the hardest fighting force of them all.”

“Then... then...”

Real panic appeared on the Liang ruler’s face.

He was not pretending.

After the previous ruler had been forced to death, two princes remained inside the palace.

They chose this one rather than his brother precisely because he looked slightly more useless.

“Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid. Your Majesty can look at this map in front of me.”

“We... We already looked at it.”

It was a map of Liang.

But not only Liang.

The surrounding States of Wei, Zhao, and Qi were marked too.

Liang sat at the center.

“Look again, Your Majesty. Do you notice anything different?”

“We... We’ll look again.”

After studying it carefully, the ruler pointed at red ink on the map.

“This is Great Liang’s Lion Head Pass. This is Great Liang’s Wenming County City. This is Great Liang’s capital. Why are all three circled in red?”

“What else?”

“This is Dingbian Pass in Qi facing Liang. This is Jiayi City in Wei facing Liang. This is Sanshan Pass in Zhao facing Liang. They are all circled in red too. This...”

“Zhao has agreed to stand with Chu and Qian this time. Wei and Qi are wavering between two sides and do not dare offend Yan, but both have agreed that when the time comes, they will close those two gates. Here. Here. And here. Different Qian forces have already established camps in these places. Now... we wait for the tiger to enter. The moment it enters... we close the gate. First, hold firm and avoid battle. Wear away Yan’s edge. No matter how savage a tiger may be, lock it inside a cage long enough and it will eventually grow weak. At that point... the armies of Chu and Qian will formally begin tightening the net. Every force advances together. We compress the exhausted Yan. And force them into a decisive battle with our Qian-Chu coalition!”

As the Liang ruler listened and looked down at the map... an iron cage immediately took shape inside his mind.

“Brilliant... Brilliant!”

The ruler could not help exclaiming.

“This method is brilliant! That way, Yan cavalry will lose the room it needs to maneuver. Brilliant! Brilliant! Young Master Xie, you truly are a divine strategist!”

Xie Yu’an merely laughed.

What divine method was this?

It barely even counted as sophisticated tactics.

From ancient times onward, whenever a strategically defensive side faced an enemy based primarily on cavalry... the same general method appeared again and again.

First, use fortified walls to grind down the enemy’s edge.

Then advance from multiple directions and compress the enemy’s maneuver space.

Finally... force those precious cavalry into a frontal decisive battle.

Then defeat them in one blow.

It was troublesome.

But what else could one do when the other side had so many four-legged beasts?

Especially when your own four-legged beasts were not as good at the four-legged game.

Qian’s Ministry of War had probably simulated similar strategies countless times over the last century.

Qian’s military readiness had always been miserable.

But Qian possessed vast lands, enormous wealth, and no shortage of intelligent people.

The Three Frontiers themselves had been built according to this logic.

Had Qian never built the Three Frontiers... the first destroyed state might not have been Jin at all.

Yan might long ago have swallowed half of Qian.

Whether a small southern remnant court could have survived in Jiangnan would have depended entirely on luck.

Unfortunately... no matter how good the method... no matter how good the plan... if the men below could not execute what the men above designed... none of it mattered.

Xie Yu’an took out an orange.

He began peeling.

“To farm land, an old farmer must lead the strong young men. Only then do they learn to recognize pests and read changes in the sky. To do business, an old shopkeeper must lead young clerks. Only then does the business remain steady without mistakes. An army is the same. Old soldiers become the bones. New soldiers become the flesh. Only then does the army avoid collapsing. The military power of an entire state works the same way. You need several forces capable of truly fighting. Then a larger group to beat drums and help from the side. Then servants and laborers to build up the army’s noise and presence. That is how real military momentum forms. Yan has simply had things too smoothly these past years. Other than the battle at Zhennan Pass, where Grand General Nian forced the Yan to honestly chew dirt for a while... they have won almost everything else far too cleanly. This time... I will cut off one of Yan’s arms first!”

Yan merely looked overwhelmingly powerful now.

Lose one or two savage commanders like Li Fusheng, together with the forces beneath them... and Yan’s confidence would immediately begin shrinking.

“Yes. Yes. Yes!”

The ruler of Liang clenched one fist and agreed repeatedly.

Xie Yu’an glanced at him again.

This three-state war would be fought inside Liang.

One could easily imagine what Liang’s common people were about to suffer.

But this new ruler probably cared about nothing beyond preserving his own Dragon Throne.

Xie Yu’an did not eat the orange he had peeled.

He held it to the ruler’s mouth instead.

The ruler opened his mouth and ate.

Then smiled ingratiatingly.

“An orange personally peeled by Young Master is truly especially sweet.”

Xie Yu’an ignored the flattery.

He merely tapped the back of his own hand lightly with the orange peel.

That blind Mister from Prince Pingxi Residence had once intended to send him a letter... then took it back again.

“What exactly was written in that letter?”

The Liang ruler, still chewing orange, asked in confusion:

“What exactly was what?”

...

“What is that to the south?”

“Refugees?”

The garrison soldiers atop South Gate Pass stared in confusion.

Quite a few days had passed since Count Huwei led troops out.

Yet not one message had successfully returned from the south.

The supplies prepared afterward continued being delivered toward South Gate Pass.

At the same time... perhaps because no message had returned for so long...

Count Yishan Chen Yang, who had shut himself at home claiming illness, seemed to sense something wrong.

He finally abandoned the continued standoff with the imperial commissioner.

He mobilized part of Sushan Camp and began assuming control of South Gate Pass’s defenses.

As for the imperial commissioner who had stirred up such enormous trouble earlier... who had nearly pushed Sushan Camp into outright mutiny... he had received an imperial edict.

The Emperor rebuked him sharply.

The Emperor remained very clear-headed.

The court intended to centralize authority and strengthen control over the army.

It did not intend to brutally tear effective armies apart by force.

So once word spread that Count Yishan had emerged again... the imperial commissioner remained unusually quiet inside his headquarters.

He did not come out.

Instead, Prefect Zhou Furui of Litian City had gathered the officials of his Prefectural Yamen and was hurrying from Litian toward South Gate Pass.

He was almost there.

This Prefect was practically the opposite of Xu Wenzu.

Fatty Xu acted in Yingdu like a thunderbolt.

Zhou Furui was a standard oily official.

When Count Yishan and the imperial commissioner first began clashing, Zhou Furui had hidden far away and refused even to show his face.

Now that the Emperor had intervened... he finally arrived “late.”

But... some things... had already happened.

And could no longer be changed.

South Gate Pass sent troops south to investigate.

The report they brought back shocked everyone.

Those people appearing south of the pass... were not refugees.

They were routed soldiers of Great Yan!

The moment Count Yishan heard the report... blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.

Zhou Furui, still on the road, received the news and fell straight off his Pixiu beast.

As for the imperial commissioner surnamed Xu... he was already depressed by the Emperor’s rebuke, feeling that his loyal heart had illuminated only a filthy ditch.

He had been drinking away his sorrow and waiting for the court’s next order, expecting to be transferred away.

Then the military report arrived.

It struck him like lightning.

Terror covered his entire face instantly.

The man almost seemed possessed.

He could do nothing but mutter over and over:

“How could this happen... How could this happen...”

...

The news from the south exploded like thunder.

Then spread outward in every direction.

Among all the routes... two moved fastest.

True eight-hundred-li emergency dispatches of Great Yan, with messengers riding Pixiu beasts.

One raced west from South Gate Pass.

One raced east.

Both galloped without regard for cost.

...

A messenger entered Yanjing.

Then... the Departure Bell rang across the capital.

The Departure Bell rang for only two kinds of events.

A death within the imperial house.

Or war beyond the borders.

More specifically... defeat.

A defeat grave enough that the Departure Bell had to sound and awaken all the people of Great Yan.

When a member of the imperial house died, the number of tolls differed according to rank.

For military defeat... there were only three.

In an instant... the entire atmosphere of Yanjing sank into oppression and solemnity.

By coincidence, Eunuch Huang was on rest that day and holding his own birthday banquet at his private residence.

His Majesty summoned him.

The moment the Departure Bell began ringing, Eunuch Huang overturned the banquet table himself.

He cursed the guests for still having the face to eat and drink at a time like this.

Then threw every gift they had brought back outside.

As a eunuch... he understood political sensitivity better than most.

Still, while rushing into the palace after being summoned, Eunuch Huang was nervous and urgent but did not believe His Majesty intended to punish him merely because the Departure Bell happened to ring on the same day he was celebrating his birthday.

He entered the Imperial Study.

A group of senior court officials were already seated inside.

The Emperor sat on the Dragon Throne.

His expression was dark.

Eunuch Huang immediately prostrated himself.

“Your Majesty, this slave...”

SMACK!

An imperial decree struck Eunuch Huang directly on the head.

“Go to eastern Jin immediately! Invite Prince Pingxi to take command of the situation!”

[End of Chapter 824]