Chapter 835: Remnants of Great Xia

The command tent was established in Teng Family Village for the night.

Teng Family Village was very safe.

First, this was Zhao territory. After the Yan army entered Zhao, aside from uprooting a handful of forts and small county cities that genuinely blocked the way, it had basically never fought a proper battle against Zhao troops.

For one thing, these little states simply did not possess many soldiers. Before Liang expanded its army, the entire country had maintained only twenty thousand regular troops, and even those had been scattered among several different garrisons.

For another, even if war suddenly broke out and they dragged together auxiliary soldiers and laborers to pad the numbers until they could force out an army of several tens of thousands, its fighting strength could still basically be ignored.

During the Battle of Liang, only General Pu's force had actually accomplished anything. The rest of Liang's troops had merely occupied positions on the board.

Rulers of tiny states who could rise like Helü or Goujian were not nonexistent, but they were exceptionally rare.

At the very least, the present State of Zhao had nothing to do with that model.

The real threat was the Qian-Chu coalition.

But the coalition's foundation and preparations were concentrated inside Liang. If they wanted to reproduce the same "cage strategy" they had used against Li Fusheng here in Zhao, they first had to see whether Prince Pingxi was willing to cooperate.

Besides, the other two Yan armies were not decorations either.

At present, the Qian and Chu armies inside Liang had only two roads left.

Either withdraw.

Abandon Liang outright, and before the Yan cage had fully taken shape, everyone returned to his own home and found his own mother.

Or remain in Liang and hold their ground.

Fight another war of attrition against Yan while waiting for major reinforcements from Qian and Chu, directly escalating the situation into a full three-state national war.

There was no third road.

Taking the initiative to attack now would simply expose gaps to the Yan and leave openings for a pack of wolves.

Ultimately...

Yan had indeed lost once.

And the State of Yan's national strength was extremely depleted.

But at least in the short-term battlefield situation, Yan's dominant position remained obvious.

Unless the Qian-Chu coalition could reproduce the destruction of Count Huwei's army another two times, they still could not fundamentally alter the balance on the battlefield.

So...

Prince Pingxi was in no hurry.

That evening, he even ordered He Chunlai to make him a pot of chicken stew.

The Blind Man hurried back.

Unlike earlier campaigns, when everyone had clustered around Master, the armies being mobilized were much larger now.

Other areas also needed "one of their own" keeping watch.

So the Blind Man had remained with the rear army, organizing the road behind them while receiving and storing the grain and fodder being gathered from the countryside.

The grain collected into storage would then be redistributed.

At first glance, this looked like taking off one's pants just to fart.

In truth, it was the essence of sustaining war through war.

Living off the enemy did not mean winning one battle, eating one full meal, then continuing to the next battle and doing the same again.

An army was not a gang of bandits.

It needed a stable organizational structure beneath it to guarantee smooth operation.

When the Blind Man returned, he first saw A'Ming and Kashir sitting in the neighboring tent drinking.

After entering the command tent, he found Master and the Sword Saint sitting together eating chicken stew.

There was also a woman seated nearby.

Behind her lay a man with a bruised and swollen face.

The Blind Man entered.

Without saying another word, he picked up a bowl and chopsticks and started eating.

Everyone ate quickly.

Nobody rushed to speak.

Only after everyone had eaten his fill and set down bowls and chopsticks one after another did the Sword Saint rise to leave.

Zheng Fan reached out and caught him.

"Stay. Better to be cautious."

The Sword Saint had no choice but to sit back down.

Zheng Fan briefly explained what had happened with the woman during the day, especially the sentence concerning the snowfields.

The woman remained seated quietly the entire time.

After the Blind Man heard the part about the woman and her "husband" no longer owing each other anything, he smiled.

"She wants to negotiate conditions."

When another held the knife and you were the fish on the chopping block, whether she and her "husband" truly owed each other anything no longer mattered.

She understood that herself.

Since she had already spoken about "the man from the snowfields," that meant she had already revealed one corner of the secret.

Spilled water could not be gathered back.

Pretending nothing had happened was impossible.

While saving her "husband," she still wanted something else.

The Blind Man turned toward the woman.

"Speak. What are your conditions?"

"I'm hungry. He's hungry too."

The woman answered very plainly.

The Blind Man pointed toward Zheng Fan.

"My Prince does not like this style. Sometimes he would rather never learn the secret at all than indulge this sort of rotten habit from you."

The woman looked aggrieved.

"We truly haven't eaten. We're genuinely hungry. Let us eat first, and afterward I'll answer properly. I won't play any other tricks."

"Truly?"

"Truly."

"And your conditions? Just one full meal?"

"If you play fair with me, I won't mention my conditions yet. Let us eat first. Then you ask and I answer. Once you've finished asking and I've finished speaking, I'll tell you what I want."

"What if we refuse?"

"You'll agree."

"So certain?"

"My request will cost you little and benefit me greatly."

The Blind Man turned his head and "looked" toward Zheng Fan.

Zheng Fan nodded.

The Blind Man ordered Liu Dahu, who was waiting outside, to bring more food.

Liu Dahu brought in a basin of steamed buns.

They were not the stuffed buns from Snow Sea Pass.

These were solid steamed buns.

The woman moved over first, picked one up, and began eating.

Then she turned toward Teng Yihan in the corner and cursed:

"Come over. Eat."

Teng Yihan nodded.

He was deeply afraid of the atmosphere inside the command tent.

The furnishings.

The people.

The aura.

Everything here made a farmer whose most outrageous act in life had been scavenging a battlefield feel cowardice seep out from the marrow of his bones.

But he still instinctively obeyed the woman.

He stood.

Walked over.

Sat down.

The pair ate the steamed buns with the leftover broth from the chicken stew.

They ate with great relish.

At last, the woman was full.

The man was not.

The woman cursed:

"Go eat over there."

Teng Yihan nodded.

He took three more buns and returned to his exclusive corner.

The woman reached toward the handkerchief lying before Prince Pingxi.

She hesitated briefly.

Then took it anyway.

She folded the cloth, wiped her mouth and hands, set it back down, and sat upright.

First she looked toward Prince Pingxi.

Then toward the Blind Man.

"You may ask now."

"Tea."

Liu Dahu entered carrying a teapot and began pouring.

Tea in an army camp came without much ceremony.

Hot water.

Tea leaves.

That was enough.

Ordinary soldiers also liked drinking tea while marching.

First, it relieved fatigue.

Second, it replenished certain things the body needed.

The soldiers naturally did not understand the second reason.

But customs that had developed across generations inside armies usually possessed some logic of their own.

The woman held the cup between both hands.

She blew across the steam and took a sip.

Over in the corner, Teng Yihan choked on his bun and began pounding his chest.

Liu Dahu brought him another cup.

The man took it and swallowed a huge mouthful, scalding himself badly enough to howl.

Prince Pingxi waved one hand.

Liu Dahu grabbed the man and hauled him out of the command tent.

The Blind Man nodded.

Then began asking questions.

"First, tell us who you are."

The woman answered:

"My surname is Chen..."

The Blind Man immediately said to Zheng Fan:

"The imperial surname of Great Xia."

Zheng Fan lifted his eyelids.

"I know."

"This subordinate spoke out of turn."

The imperial line of Great Xia carried the surname Chen.

The woman continued:

"I am a remnant of Great Xia."

At once, Zheng Fan remembered the words spoken by the black-armored man imprisoned beneath the Residence.

The curse from Great Xia.

Clearly, given the way this world's greater pattern had developed, the so-called prophecy of the Demon Kings' descent was probably inseparable from the old Great Xia.

"My given name is Ning. Chen Ning. My family has guarded one secret from generation to generation."

At this point, the Prince could not help lifting his little finger and scratching inside his ear.

Ah.

That damned cliché opening.

"According to that secret, twenty years from now, seven loyal souls of Great Xia from the past will reincarnate. They will assist a new Son of Heaven of Great Xia, restore my Great Xia, and unite the realm."

Seven.

Seven again.

And this time, there was also a clearly identified Son of Heaven of Great Xia.

In other words... the so-called Master.

Except in this woman's version, the seven were "loyal souls of Great Xia," not "Demon Kings."

The Blind Man said:

"One man's hero is another man's enemy."

In the eyes of others, they were Demon Kings who would throw the realm into chaos.

In the eyes of Great Xia's remnants, they represented the opportunity to restore Great Xia.

Where one sat determined how one thought.

And how one thought determined the angle from which one saw the world.

So there could be many versions of a prophecy.

The foundation remained the same.

What changed was the standpoint.

"The Son of Heaven of Great Xia. Who is he? Where is he?" the Blind Man asked.

Chen Ning shook her head.

"I don't know. My father did not know either before he died."

"Aren't you a remnant of Great Xia?" the Blind Man asked back.

"How much power do you imagine Great Xia's remnants could still possess today? When Great Xia collapsed, the Three Marquises stood by and did nothing. Not one sent troops to restore the dynasty. They simply watched as the ancient lands of Great Xia became a battlefield divided among competing heroes.

"Hundreds of years have passed. We have no fiefs. We do not even dare establish ancestral temples. The so-called remnants of Great Xia were scattered by wind and rain long ago."

The history of Great Xia's collapse had been chaotic.

And bloody.

Later, there had even been military strongmen who tried to "hold the Son of Heaven hostage to command the feudal lords" and were attacked by everyone else.

That had effectively uprooted the remnants of the Great Xia imperial line yet again.

Hundreds of years passed.

The old Three Marquises became three great states.

The former heartland of Great Xia became the State of Qian.

To those four major states, the so-called "remnants of Great Xia" were, in truth, part of their black history.

Naturally, all four hoped Great Xia would disappear completely into smoke.

If the old bloodlines merely dissolved into ordinary people, nobody cared.

The swallows that once nested beneath the halls of Wang and Xie had long since flown into commoners' homes.

That was simply the tide of history.

But anyone who dared gather openly around his Great Xia identity and stick his head above the surface would inevitably draw suppression from the Secret Intelligence Department, the Silver-Armored Guard, the Phoenix Nest Internal Guard, and every similar institution.

On that point... everyone's position was identical.

More importantly, after several hundred years, how many people could truly still dream of the old country and wait for you to raise your arm?

How many would remain loyal to that ancient banner, waiting for the return of an Emperor?

How large an underground force could you possibly build in secret and then reveal in one earthshaking moment?

Impossible.

Even rebels against the Qing had shouted, "Oppose the Qing and restore the Ming."

Who had ever shouted, "Oppose the Qing and restore the Song"?

Chen Ning continued:

"My family began using the surname Qiu a hundred years ago. We settled in Liang and slowly established ourselves there. My father eventually became an Assistant General of Liang. I myself was betrothed to one of Father's subordinate generals.

"Only members of our own bloodline knew we were remnants of Great Xia. My father, my uncles, my younger brothers. Even my own husband never knew he was, in a sense, married to a Princess.

"But this was already the best we could manage. Living in a small state, serving as insignificant generals. First, we could continue the family line. Second, we retained some channels through which we could watch events outside.

"And the prophecy itself was supposed to be only twenty years away.

"Then Liang suffered a palace coup.

"My father and husband, as generals loyal to the former Ruler of Liang, were immediately purged.

"They were arrested inside the army.

"Our home was confiscated.

"I escaped on my own. I even destroyed my face, and only by taking advantage of the war in Liang did I finally manage to flee the state..."

It was a winding story.

That branch of the family had preserved its inheritance well.

The secret had never been lost.

Yet one political coup destroyed almost everything.

Perhaps they had still been waiting for the great changes that might arrive twenty years later.

They simply never imagined that they themselves might not have a "later."

"How did you know what happened on the snowfields?" the Blind Man asked.

"Because my father was very intelligent. He guessed it from reports about how Prince Pingxi Residence deployed troops," Chen Ning answered.

Perhaps fearing Prince Pingxi and the others would not believe her, she immediately continued:

"The secret passed down through our family describes the prophecy like this: From the farthest north, the most loyal servant shall return. He will gather the reincarnated loyal souls, find the Son of Heaven, and restore Great Xia."

"But isn't it perfectly normal for our Residence to campaign on the snowfields?"

The Blind Man asked the question.

Then he smiled to himself.

"Master, I'll write home immediately. It seems that among our Brocade-Clad personal guards... no. Perhaps even among our officers, there is a Great Xia remnant surnamed Chen."

Shock appeared across Chen Ning's face.

Clearly, the Blind Man's reaction speed far exceeded anything she had expected.

The Sword Saint found the matter rather interesting now.

Earlier, when Zheng Fan explained the day's events, he had repeated every detail, including how the woman described Chen Xianba and Liu Dahu's clothing.

Flying Fish Robes.

Brocade-Clad personal guards.

Storytellers in tea houses might mention such things.

But what did those uniforms actually look like?

Someone who had never seen them could not possibly identify them instantly.

That proved the woman already knew the concrete details.

Only then could she verify them so quickly upon seeing the real thing.

A portion of the Brocade-Clad personal guards were young soldiers raised from the academy.

But most were sons and nephews of generals and officials who held actual power beneath the Residence.

Serving as the Prince's personal guard was the finest place to plate oneself in gold.

First, it was prestigious.

Second, one remained near the Prince and could become familiar to him, perhaps even gain a personal favor.

Third, the Prince could use these appointments to distribute grace and secure loyalty.

Naturally, political screening for the personal guards was extremely strict.

They directly affected the Prince's safety.

The Blind Man continued:

"He should also be a Great Xia remnant. His family probably possesses ancestral instructions. They rose alongside us and now hold a certain level of status either in the Residence or the army. Then they established contact with this side.

"Very few people know the black-armored man is imprisoned beneath the Residence. The people who handled that affair were also mainly Brocade-Clad personal guards. One of that household's younger generation is probably among them.

"But my repeated background investigations found no trace of anything suspicious. That proves this household has no malicious intent and does not belong to the Silver-Armored Guard or Phoenix Nest Internal Guard. Perhaps he merely passed along the information out of a sense of kinship with people of the same bloodline. And the Qiu family never made any movement afterward either..."

When someone possessed no malicious intent, exposing him was extremely difficult.

Almost impossible.

The Qiu family in tiny Liang had only produced an insignificant Assistant General.

They had never attempted anything earthshaking.

The family simply waited.

Waited to see how the world might change twenty years later.

The household in eastern Jin had probably treated the matter almost like visiting distant relatives.

They merely passed along a piece of news.

One could even say that person in eastern Jin had no malicious intent.

No scheme.

Perhaps he was perfectly satisfied with life under Prince Pingxi Residence.

He knew that he descended from Great Xia.

But he had no intention of doing anything about it.

He merely maintained a faint exchange with distant kin for the sake of his ancestors.

And so... all the Blind Man and Xue San's entrapment, deliberate baiting, and internal investigations had accomplished nothing.

Because the man held no malicious intent.

He might not even think of himself as someone in hiding.

If he heard they were hunting spies, perhaps he would become angrier than anyone and work desperately to catch them.

Because he did not regard himself as a spy at all.

And perhaps he was even fiercely loyal to the Prince.

The Blind Man continued:

"Search among officers and officials who originated in Jin. Restrict the range to families who were at least minor landlords back when they still lived in Jin. Anything poorer could neither preserve this kind of inheritance nor establish contact in advance with the Qiu family all the way over in Liang."

The range narrowed enormously in an instant.

"He meant no harm. Neither do we!" Chen Ning immediately explained.

Zheng Fan glanced at her.

Then smiled at the Blind Man.

"These Great Xia remnants are rather like the Jews."

Scattered across many places.

Some still carrying very old traditions.

Living perfectly ordinary lives in reality while spiritually maintaining another identity, perhaps something preserved through ancestral rites.

And still dreaming of restoring their state.

"Master's comparison is very apt."

Then...

Zheng Fan pointed toward himself.

His gaze remained fixed on the woman.

"So I am curious. What did you and your father think this Prince was?"

Chen Ning answered:

"Father believed Yan already possesses the momentum to unify all Xia. And Your Highness yourself is a man born in response to the age. You rose step by step from the common people to where you stand today. You should carry the fortune of Great Yan upon you.

"Father said the Yan were probably preparing in advance to terminate the reincarnation of the loyal souls and end any hope of restoring Great Xia.

"And this task... was probably entrusted to Your Highness."

Zheng Fan curled his lip.

What a clichéd role.

They had plainly placed him in the villain's slot opposite a collection of Children of Destiny.

But then...

Zheng Fan suddenly laughed.

Chen Ning looked confused.

She had no idea why the Prince of Yan was laughing.

The Sword Saint was curious too.

He resisted asking.

The Blind Man soon began laughing as well.

He understood immediately.

The Qiu family had preserved its inheritance and spent generations waiting for the prophecy to come true.

Yet the true cause of its destruction... might very well have been the Xie Clan's thousand-li colt, whom they themselves might have regarded as one of those reincarnated loyal souls of Great Xia.

In Liang's capital, Xie Yu'an had seized the old Chancellor, launched a coup, forced the former ruler to death, and purged the ruler's faction inside the military.

The Qiu family had been destroyed as part of that purge.

Chen Ning's father and brothers were probably already dead.

It was difficult to imagine they had survived.

At the time, the coup's leaders would certainly have cut through the tangled mess as quickly as possible.

Yet according to the Qiu family's expectations... twenty years later, they intended to answer the prophecy.

Perhaps they might even have gone to that Young Master Xie, entered his service, and acknowledged him as their lord.

Prince Pingxi drew in a deep breath.

He forced himself to stop laughing.

Then picked up the teacup before him.

Inside his heart, he cursed:

"Heh.

"This timeline is already completely tangled."

[End of Chapter 835]