Chapter 843: Raise the FLAG!

“Oh? Well, look who this is. Isn’t this our great Hero?”

A middle-aged scholar carrying a folding paper fan walked into a noodle shop and spotted Hero Chen sitting inside with his head down, eating noodles.

Hero Chen looked up at him.

He knew the scholar. Hero Chen had always been very close to Master Yao, so naturally he knew the final disciple Master Yao had accepted a few years ago: Su Mingzhe, commonly called Young Master Su.

Back then, Zheng Fan had borrowed the identity of “Su Mingzhe” to ride in the same carriage as Great Chu’s Regent and take part in the wedding between the Princess and the Qu Clan. Qu Peiluo had even promised Zheng Fan a fortune, hoping “Young Master Su” would compose a poem for his wedding and immortalize the occasion through the ages.

In the end... the poem had never been written.

But as for being remembered through the ages, there probably was no problem there.

Likewise, the reason the real Su Mingzhe had failed to attend the wedding between the Qu Clan and the imperial house in his teacher’s place was that he had fallen ill from the climate in Dazhou on the Chu frontier.

So Hero Chen, who had accompanied him, went on alone to deliver his teacher’s letter.

Then Hero Chen ran into Zheng Fan and joined the performance.

In the end, Zheng Fan escaped with the Princess on one side.

On the other side, Su Mingzhe had only just recovered from his illness in Dazhou. Relying on his teacher’s reputation and his own, he had taken two aristocratic women as concubines and was just beginning to feel pleased with himself when the Chu troops pursuing “Young Master Su” arrived and threw him straight into prison.

He had become Zheng Fan’s living decoy.

Even when Zheng Fan finally escaped, Su Mingzhe had managed to draw off a portion of the pursuers.

From beginning to end, his assist had been maxed out.

Su Mingzhe was not actually the graceful, fluttering young gentleman people tended to imagine.

Quite the opposite.

He was rather portly.

It was simply that titles like “young master” and “sir” were used so often that they easily created a fixed image in the mind. When people spoke of him, they usually praised his literary talent and his fortunate teacher-disciple relationship with Master Yao.

Had Su Mingzhe been famous for being fat instead, that might actually have been useful.

At the very least, Prince Pingxi would never have been able to impersonate him back then.

Hero Chen asked:

“You eating?”

“Come on. I’ll take you somewhere good.”

With that, Su Mingzhe grabbed Hero Chen by the hand and tried to pull him up.

“Haven’t paid yet.”

Hero Chen shook him off, picked up his bowl again, quickly finished the remaining noodles together with the broth, set down some copper coins, called out to the shopkeeper, and only then followed Su Mingzhe across the street to a restaurant.

Although Hero Chen had once helped Zheng Fan put on that act in Chu, he had not actually been “dealt with” after returning to Qian.

At the time, Yan and Chu had not yet begun their great war. Ying Capital had not yet been burned by Prince Jingnan either. Yan’s overwhelming rise had been nowhere near as exaggerated or obvious as it was now.

So the Qian people had treated the whole “bride snatching” affair as an enormous joke.

The mood had essentially been:

You Chu bastards insult us all the time. Now it’s finally our turn to laugh ourselves sick at you.

As for Hero Chen’s private friendship with Prince Pingxi, by the standards of the day it was not considered some enormous matter.

Hero Chen was a man of the jianghu, after all. Master Yao vouched for him, and more importantly, his talent in the sword was extraordinary. Given time, becoming a Third Grade swordsman was almost guaranteed.

Even Qian’s Silver-Armored Guard was not foolish enough to insist on driving away the man who might become their country’s next “Baili Sword.”

As for Su Mingzhe...

Back then, Zheng Fan had composed a “Man Jiang Hong.”

The piece possessed such sweeping grandeur that people could not help admiring it. And as Zheng Fan’s status, achievements, and military record climbed higher and higher, the poem’s position in literary circles rose with him.

But one had to remember that when the poem first circulated, one of its lines had been:

“With lofty resolve, we feast on Yan barbarian flesh.”

And the author’s name attached beneath it had been “Young Master Su.”

Later, Su Mingzhe repeatedly declared in public that Prince Pingxi’s borrowing of his name to compose such a work was an honor for him, Su Mingzhe.

On this point, Su Mingzhe had truly inherited his teacher’s finest tradition.

The Blind Man had once remarked that Qian scholars were masters at praising and promoting one another.

In modern terms, they knew how to manufacture hype.

And the greatest living master of that art was Yao Zizhan.

The restaurant was not especially grand.

The two men went upstairs to a private room, where a man and a woman were already seated.

The man was young and handsome, with an airy, elegant bearing. Beside him rested a sword in a blue scabbard.

The woman was alluring, with a beauty mark placed perfectly at one corner of her mouth. Most striking of all were the dense rings and loops around her wrists and hanging from her earlobes.

“Come, let me make the introductions. This is Wu Xiang, Young Clan Head of the Haidong Wu Clan. And this is the daughter of the Xicai Chieftain. Her Xia name is Su Rongrong. You two, this is my teacher’s close friend and also my own close friend: Hero Chen.”

The Haidong Wu Clan were great maritime merchants of the Eastern Sea, but their foundations had never been especially clean.

Rumor had it that during the pirate disaster that once ravaged Qian’s southern coast, great merchant houses like the Wu Clan had been among the forces operating behind the scenes.

Later, Zu Zhuming trained new armies and suppressed the pirates.

The Wu Clan read the wind correctly and did not continue resisting. They obediently came ashore.

Not only did the Wu Clan Head personally travel to Shangjing to pay respects to the Emperor, he also surrendered half the clan’s fortune.

In the end, the Emperor commended them, granted them official status, and even appointed them imperial merchants of Qian.

If the Zu Clan was the great military house of Qian’s southeast, then the Wu Clan was a genuine local serpent rooted in the soil.

The Xicai Chieftain, meanwhile, was one of the more powerful native chieftains of Qian’s southwest.

When Master Xundao suppressed the southwestern chieftain rebellion, the Xicai Chieftain immediately changed sides and submitted to the government army. After the rebellion was pacified, his titles and honors rose accordingly.

It was no exaggeration to say that the two people sitting here were genuine second-generation scions of powerful local houses.

Wu Xiang and Su Rongrong both saluted Hero Chen.

Hero Chen returned the courtesy, and everyone sat.

The moment he sat down, Hero Chen picked up his chopsticks and began eating.

Clearly, that one bowl of noodles earlier could not possibly have filled him. He had originally intended to order another bowl after finishing the first. He simply had not dared order both in advance, afraid the second bowl would sit too long and turn mushy.

Small talk was beyond him.

So was warming up a room.

Wu Xiang asked:

“Brother Chen, why are you in Lanyang City?”

Hero Chen swallowed the food in his mouth.

“I was planning to return to Prince Pingxi Residence in eastern Jin. When I got here, I heard fighting had started up ahead, so I stopped.”

Back in the earliest days at Shengle City, Hero Chen had often been like this.

He would show up.

Stay for a while.

Leave.

Then sometime later, show up again.

The last time he had remained in Fengxin City somewhat longer because he had taken the Sword Saint as his teacher.

Afterward, he had left Jin and returned to Qian.

This time, he had originally intended to go back again.

Prince Pingxi Residence had long since grown accustomed to Hero Chen’s “free and easy” habits.

In any case, Prince Pingxi himself was always delighted whenever Hero Chen dropped by again.

Hero Chen’s character truly left nothing to criticize.

Wu Xiang nodded slightly.

He had noticed Hero Chen’s use of the word “return.”

That meant that in Hero Chen’s own mind, the infamous Prince Pingxi Residence in eastern Jin was something like home.

Wu Xiang smiled.

“I’ve long heard that Brother Chen and that Prince Pingxi of Yan are exceptionally close, like brothers. It seems the rumors are true.”

Hero Chen nodded.

“Yes. One of my legs was crippled by him.”

“...”

Wu Xiang had nothing to say.

One of Hero Chen’s legs was a prosthetic, custom-built for him by Third Master Xue.

Su Rongrong asked curiously:

“Prince Pingxi has already led his army out through South Gate Pass. Why doesn’t Brother Chen go find him?”

Hero Chen looked at Su Rongrong in confusion.

“He’s fighting Qian.”

“So?”

“If I go find him, am I supposed to kill him, or help him fight?”

“Oh. I see.”

Hero Chen thought there was something wrong with this woman’s head.

It was such a simple principle, yet she had needed to ask twice.

If Zheng Fan were fighting Chu and Hero Chen happened to be there, he would help.

He would not care what consequences fighting Chu might have for Qian.

But if Zheng Fan was fighting Qian, then Hero Chen would not go.

His world was that simple.

That pure.

Yet for Wu Xiang and Su Rongrong, this kind of “simple” principle was actually rather complicated.

The Wu Clan came from maritime trade.

Su Rongrong’s family came from the native chieftain system.

To put it unpleasantly, both families had always existed somewhat outside the Qian court’s true system.

When the court was powerful and could offer them benefits, they pinched their noses and acknowledged that everyone was one family. Publicly, they would say their people and territories were also part of Great Qian.

But in their hearts, they did not truly identify themselves as Qian people at all.

They even deliberately preserved a degree of independence.

Once they fully integrated, there would no longer be any justification for demanding special treatment.

Master Yao had transferred back to the capital from his post as Governor-General of the Three Frontiers and entered the central court directly.

He was now one of the Chancellors, third in precedence.

It was a position where he did not need to make the principal decisions himself, yet by working in concert with the Emperor he could still grasp and influence the direction of the court.

With a teacher like that, Su Mingzhe’s official career naturally faced no real obstacle.

He currently served as an Assistant Director at the Court of State Ceremonial.

The rank was not high, but the post carried refined prestige.

The Court of State Ceremonial oversaw foreign guests, court assemblies, ritual protocol, and related affairs.

For Su Mingzhe to bring Wu Xiang and Su Rongrong to Lanyang City this time while dressed as an ordinary private traveler meant he was almost certainly carrying out official business under a private appearance.

Hero Chen had heard that after the great victory in Liang, an imperial envoy had originally been scheduled to wait in Lanyang City and welcome the victorious army home.

But Prince Pingxi’s subsequent march south had suddenly complicated the situation again.

As a result, the corresponding preparations in Lanyang had become much more restrained.

As for “coincidentally” running into Hero Chen on the street...

Hero Chen was honest, but not stupid.

He did not believe that for an instant.

Someone working for Su Mingzhe in the city must have spotted him.

In truth, Su Mingzhe really had come on official business while traveling incognito.

Great Qian had finally won a battle in Liang.

And the enemy it beat was the wolfish, tigerish State of Yan.

Within the Qian-Chu coalition in Liang, Chu had only beaten the side drums. The main fighting force had been Great Qian’s army.

This time, the face they had earned was real, inside and out.

Not one bit of it was hollow.

Qian people had always boasted that they possessed the finest culture beneath Heaven and disdained arguing with others over the crude business of soldiery.

In truth, they had thirsted for a great military victory like parched earth waiting for rain.

Su Mingzhe had brought these two powerful heirs here partly to “show off the victory.”

For years, Qian had faced enormous pressure from Yan.

To prevent trouble inside its own borders, the court had handed out far too many benefits to semi-independent local powers like these.

Now Great Qian’s armies had proven they could fight.

It was time to make these people come see it with their own eyes.

Then, naturally, the rewards granted to them in the future could be reduced.

After all, the two of them were essentially hostages.

At the same time, they were their respective families’ representatives in Shangjing.

Wu Xiang asked:

“Brother Chen, how do you think this war will develop from here?”

Hero Chen shook his head, picked up a lion’s-head meatball, took a bite, and said:

“I don’t understand war.”

Wu Xiang smiled awkwardly and reached out to touch the sword beside him.

“Unfortunately, my Qingxuan is mostly decoration. My swordsmanship is too poor for me to be qualified to discuss the sword with Brother Chen.”

“Mm. Your sword qi is scattered and fails to condense. You’ve probably taken too many medicines and tonics meant to replenish qi. Your own talent is limited and your foundation mediocre, so you forced your Grade upward without truly gaining command of the sword.”

“...”

Wu Xiang fell silent.

“Hehehe.”

Su Rongrong covered her mouth and laughed, the rings on her body jingling.

Then she asked:

“I’ve heard in the jianghu that Brother Chen took the Sword Saint of Jin as his master?”

“Mm.”

“Then congratulations. To enter a lineage that powerful is truly fortunate.”

People of great houses tended to view the world through habits formed by their own station, much like an old peasant might imagine the Emperor eating ten fried cakes every morning.

Hero Chen shook his head.

“I have a teacher. I don’t have a sect.”

Master Yao was also his teacher and often instructed him in the principles of dealing with people and the world.

The Sword Saint was also his teacher.

A teacher and a formal master of a sect were not the same thing.

The Sword Saint had never made him perform any proper formal discipleship ceremony either.

But there was nothing false in Hero Chen’s respect for the Sword Saint.

“What did Brother Chen do every day when you were in Fengxin City?” Su Rongrong asked curiously.

“Carried water. Chopped firewood. Helped Teacher wash urine-soaked bedding. Fed a flock of chickens. And one duck.”

“...”

Su Rongrong fell silent.

Su Mingzhe sat nearby, sipping wine and smiling without speaking.

In truth, just as Prince Pingxi could trust Hero Chen completely, how could Master Yao, a man famous for his penetrating eye, possibly fail to understand Hero Chen’s nature?

Hero Chen was simply a good man.

An honest man.

Don’t harm him.

Don’t scheme against him.

Treat him sincerely.

Then when the critical moment came, he was someone you could rely on.

Su Mingzhe was not worried that these two great-house scions might look down on his friend.

Some people roamed the world relying on family name and pedigree.

Others relied on their own ability.

Thanks to the enthusiastic promotion of Master Yao and Su Mingzhe, Hero Chen had already been penciled in as Great Qian’s next-generation “Baili Sword.”

Confidence built on one’s own strength did not fall short even before heirs of great houses.

Besides... those two were not fools.

Su Mingzhe rose and poured wine for everyone.

Then he steered the conversation toward the customs and scenery of Jin, smoothly pulling the subject away.

But as they talked and ate, a long column of auxiliary troops and civilian laborers passed along the street outside the restaurant.

Inevitably, the conversation drifted right back.

Su Rongrong said:

“I hear Prince Pingxi’s army has already taken Zhao’s capital.”

Wu Xiang smiled.

“That’s actually a good thing. It should help Commander Meng and our court make up their minds more easily. Isn’t that right, Young Master Su?”

Su Mingzhe smiled and nodded.

“This war should be nearing its end. The army’s triumphant return shouldn’t be far away.”

The Qian court had always been divided between a war faction and a peace faction.

And for a long time, the peace faction had held the upper hand.

Yet it was not the scholar-officials who wanted peace.

Most of them actually clamored for war and had written basket after basket of poems calling for a northern expedition to wash away humiliation.

The old generals in the army were the ones advocating peace.

Before Old Chancellor Zhong died, he had firmly suppressed every proposal for a northern expedition.

Now, after the great victory in Liang, both the war faction and peace faction unanimously agreed on one thing:

Bring the troops home quickly.

A win was enough.

A win was enough.

Whatever happened, they absolutely could not let another disaster occur.

On this, both factions shared the same view.

The Yan army taking Zhao’s capital was like the final straw breaking the camel’s back.

Since things had reached this point, there was no reason to keep fighting.

Su Mingzhe continued speaking to the two heirs.

“After this battle, Grand Commander Zu will hold our Three Frontiers. Commander Meng can choose another frontier region and continue training troops. Imperial Son-in-Law Zhong, Commander Han, Commander Yue, and the rest of the younger generation of military talent personally selected and promoted by His Majesty will all have the chance to keep growing. And that’s not even mentioning Chancellor Xundao, who is reorganizing the Capital Camp in Shangjing. Give Great Qian another two or three years, and the spirit of martial virtue will flourish throughout the realm!”

Wu Xiang and Su Rongrong raised their cups together in celebration of those words.

But both understood perfectly well that if Great Qian truly rebuilt its military power, people like them would have no choice but to bow their heads and behave like obedient grandsons.

At that moment, Wu Xiang asked Hero Chen:

“Brother Chen, what kind of man is that Prince Pingxi, really?”

When someone at a drinking table knew one of the great figures of the age, discussing that person was inevitable.

Hero Chen answered just as quickly as before.

“A lazy man.”

Su Rongrong burst out laughing.

“A lousy man?”

Hero Chen hesitated.

Then nodded.

That worked too.

“I hear Prince Pingxi is accomplished in both letters and arms, possesses extraordinary courage, and is skilled at taking an enemy general’s head from among ten thousand troops?”

Hero Chen frowned.

To a certain extent, he had once carried responsibilities not too different from the Sword Saint’s.

So no matter how he thought about it, he simply could not connect “Zheng Fan” with “taking an enemy general’s head from among ten thousand troops.”

That man... was actually very cowardly.

And that man’s usual habit was simple.

If there was no war, he stayed shut inside his residence, surrounded by wives and children, and basically never went out.

If he did leave the residence, it was probably to drink some mutton soup on the street out front.

Su Rongrong said:

“I’ve heard that Prince Pingxi and the Princess secretly pledged themselves to each other years ago and were deeply in love. When he learned she was going to be married into the Qu Clan, he entered Chu alone and stole his beloved away. It’s enough to make a woman swoon.”

Hero Chen said:

“No. They didn’t know each other at all before that. They hooked up within a couple of days.”

“...”

Su Rongrong fell silent.

On this point, Hero Chen had considerable authority.

That was right.

He had been there.

He was the very Hero Chen who had stood beside Prince Pingxi at the time.

Su Rongrong shot him a reproachful look, deciding he possessed no sense of romance.

Wu Xiang sighed.

“If not for the fact that our states are enemies, if not for the great duty owed to one’s country, I truly would like to meet Prince Pingxi and become acquainted with him. Poetry, songs, verse, prose—there is nothing he does not understand. He leads armies and has never suffered defeat. He moves freely through the jianghu and carries heroic spirit in the halls of government. Tsk, tsk...”

Ordinarily, remarks like these would not be particularly appropriate.

Prince Pingxi was, after all, a Prince of Yan.

But throughout Qian, people cultivated the airs of the “true scholar.”

You and I might stand in different circumstances and hold different identities, yet if we were kindred spirits, we could still bare our hearts to one another and admire one another openly.

Besides, Su Mingzhe, the official representative at this table, had spent no small amount of time riding Prince Pingxi’s fame himself.

And the Emperor of Qian had openly expressed admiration for Prince Pingxi on several occasions.

Qian people were simply like this.

People of other states said:

I defeated you, but you earned my respect.

Qian people said:

I can’t defeat you, but that doesn’t stop me from respecting you.

After Wu Xiang finished sighing, Su Mingzhe joined in.

Finally, Su Rongrong smiled.

“Exactly. If I ever have the chance in the future, I truly would like to meet this extraordinary man of the age.”

Hero Chen set down the duck leg he had eaten halfway.

He looked at the three people around the table.

“Don’t raise a FLAG here.”

Wu Xiang asked curiously:

“Brother Chen, what is a FLAG? And how does one raise it?”

“It’s something Prince Pingxi likes to say. Roughly speaking, sometimes the more you say something like that, the more likely it is to come true. Prince Pingxi himself is rather superstitious about it. He’s always telling the people around him not to raise FLAGs carelessly.”

“Hahahahaha!”

Wu Xiang burst out laughing.

“That Prince is fighting far, far to the east in the lands of Liang and Zhao right now. Don’t tell me he could somehow bring an army all the way to Lanyang City at a time like this?”

[End of Chapter 843]