Chapter 881: Fury

“So, did that Princess Consort really fall in love with Master?” Xue San, perched on Fan Li’s shoulder, asked A’Ming, who was riding beside them.

Fan Li reached up and gave him a little shove.

A’Ming asked curiously, “Why are you asking me?”

After all, A’Ming had no woman, while Xue San had one waiting at home.

Even Fan Li, one way or another, could be said to have half of one.

“I just figured vampires have been around longer. More life experience.”

“Mm?”

“When I think of vampires, after red wine and fresh blood, the third thing that comes to mind is scumbag men.”

“How did you arrive at such a bizarre association?”

“Stop dodging the question,” Xue San said.

Fan Li nudged him again.

“The relationship between men and women was never limited to whether they love each other or not. More precisely, couples who are together purely because of love are actually the minority.”

“Then what are most people together for?”

“Making do.”

“Mm?”

“Settling.”

“Mm?”

“Being a good fit. Like you and your Eighth Sister.”

“Are you taking a shot at me?”

“You only just noticed?”

“I’m just saying, Master feels a little too Long Aotian this time. That Princess Consort of Prince Fu obviously feels differently about him now.”

“No. You can’t look at Master from your perspective, and you can’t look at him from Siniang’s perspective either.”

“Oh?”

Fan Li nudged him yet again.

A’Ming continued, “Master isn’t seventy or eighty. By the standards of the present age, among the powerful and noble he counts as very young. Then look at his current power and status. Even if you put the Emperors beside Master for comparison, Master wouldn’t fall much short.”

A’Ming tapped his own forehead.

“And finally, add Master’s tastes, habits, and the kind of freedom he possesses in an age bound everywhere by ritual restraints. Put simply: power, status, money, and he even knows how to respect women. Really, it would be stranger if women didn’t like him.”

“That’s true.”

Realization dawned upon Xue San.

“So it isn’t that Master suddenly turned into Long Aotian. It’s that Master has basically become the nation’s husband already. No, wait. The Husband of All Xia?”

“Mm.”

“Pity about Master’s reputation...”

A’Ming shook his head. “People marry early in this age. Having a child at thirteen isn’t even that unusual.”

“Pfft.”

Xue San laughed so hard his body rocked back and forth.

“So that reputation of his can actually broaden the target audience?”

Fan Li suddenly reached up and gave him a hard yank.

“Ow! Are you trying to kill me?!”

“You were blocking my view.”

...

As the Yan army marched northeast, it gradually linked up with the Yan forces in Liang and Zhao.

The elite Qian troops chose not to fight again. Meng Gong deliberately preserved his strength, broke contact with the Yan army, and began circling south to return home. They might even need to borrow a road through Chu, but under the present circumstances there was no possibility the Chu would refuse them passage.

Luo Ling led troops to escort them from a distance.

On another front, Ren Juan began detaching troops to receive Prince Pingxi.

After Prince Pingxi’s army neared the borders of Lanyang City, the Qian army that had been following behind them finally stopped and ended its “escort.”

The entire battlefield had settled into a strange tacit equilibrium. Once neither side wished to continue fighting, both displayed a degree of restraint almost absurd in its completeness.

One side escorted the other home.

Each went its own way.

May everyone be well.

The Qian needed to return home and lick their wounds.

The Yan were already going hungry.

Even though the Emperor had repeatedly issued decrees, the grain and supplies being transported south from South Gate Pass continued dwindling and arriving later and later. Living off the enemy could no longer satisfy the army’s needs either.

One could say that had Prince Pingxi not led a lone force into Qian and forcibly overturned the entire battlefield, even the situation between the two states, with this dangerous move, then under the original strategy and balance the Yan army would eventually have had no choice but to withdraw because its logistics could no longer sustain the campaign.

The Qian-Chu coalition in Liang would not even have needed to do anything.

All they had to do was keep defending, and they would have harvested another victory.

In a short span, Count Huwei would have been slain and Prince Pingxi checked. Military morale, popular confidence, and everything else would inevitably have soared.

Unfortunately... the Qian-Chu calculations had been smashed apart.

Prince Pingxi’s force carried a huge quantity of grain and supplies out of Qian and into Zhao territory, relieving the Yan army’s immediate shortage. At the very least, it allowed the victorious side to preserve some dignity.

At last, the three Yan armies that had originally marched out from South Gate Pass gathered in Liang.

And after personally witnessing the Qian-Chu coalition withdraw, the various passes and cities of Liang mostly gave up resistance. Half shut their gates with astonishing passivity and simply allowed the Yan army to ride beneath their eyes. Others opened their gates and surrendered outright, abandoning any further plans.

Only Liang’s capital still kept its gates shut.

General Pu had led troops down from Wenming Mountain and taken control of the capital. The new Liang ruler propped up by Chu had issued no public statement either.

Apparently, they still wanted to gamble.

Yes, the Qian-Chu coalition had withdrawn.

But surely the Yan were tired too?

Perhaps, once their armies regrouped, they would simply begin the march home.

And in truth, that was exactly what had begun happening. Some Yan units were already withdrawing toward South Gate Pass.

But very soon... a hammer blow landed directly upon the hearts of the men who actually held power inside Liang’s capital.

Prince Pingxi’s royal banner was carried over by a detachment of Yan cavalry and planted directly opposite the capital’s northern gate.

The banner snapped in the wind.

The distance was not great.

The defenders did not even need to open the gates and risk a sortie. Archers on the walls could have lit a few fire arrows and covered the royal banner easily.

Yet from the moment the banner was planted... the walls remained utterly silent.

Not a single arrow flew toward it.

In fact... the city proactively sent men into the Yan camp with wine and meat to reward the Yan soldiers as a gesture of goodwill.

...

Bang!

Ren Juan punched Chen Yang to the ground.

Luo Ling, standing beside them, did not try to stop the fight. Instead, he stepped forward and added a kick.

Several other former Jingnan Army generals were nearby as well, all old comrades-in-arms. Working on the principle that everyone who witnessed it deserved a share, they came up one after another and contributed their own fists and boots.

Chen Yang, pinned on the ground and beaten, was not angry in the slightest.

He kept grinning smugly.

The more he grinned, the harder the blows became.

Fortunately, Chen Yang wore armor and was himself a powerful Martial Artist. The men beating him did not use blood qi either.

After the commotion died down, everyone simply sat on the ground where they were.

They had beaten him because they were jealous.

Breaking Shangjing.

Killing Baili Sword.

With merits like those, Chen Yang was unquestionably headed for a marquisate!

And it was not merely the noble title earned through military merit. Every man here commanded soldiers. Who among them did not dream of one day breaking an enemy capital and leaving his name in the histories?

Chen Yang sat up as well.

He felt inside the lining of his armor and pulled out a small cloth packet. From it, he took a cigarette that had already been bent almost out of shape, bit it between his lips, and gestured.

One of his personal guards stepped forward with a fire striker and lit it for him.

Luo Ling and Ren Juan saw this and exchanged looks.

Tobacco had existed in Yan lands for a long time, but smoking it had never become fashionable. It was used more often as medicine, and during outbreaks of disease people sometimes burned it for fumigation.

People of the age were far more familiar with something stronger, like Five Minerals Powder.

But within the Yan army... there had always been one man with the habit of breathing smoke in and out.

Now... there was another.

When you worshiped someone, you naturally began copying some of his habits and gestures.

It was something seen often between children and their fathers.

Ren Juan teased, “What now? Chen Yang, have you completely changed households?”

It was only a joke.

After all, when Prince Pingxi crossed the Wang River with only light cavalry and issued a princely command summoning armies from every direction to gather at South Gate Pass, the old Jingnan Army system had effectively placed itself beneath Prince Pingxi’s authority already.

Zheng Fan was Prince Jingnan’s final disciple, after all.

And the Heir Prince Jingnan was still held in his arms.

But Chen Yang’s situation now was obviously no longer ordinary “obedience to orders.”

Faced with Ren Juan’s teasing and the eyes of the others around him, Chen Yang took it calmly.

“In the end, he’s the man the old Prince chose. From now on, he’s the Prince I acknowledge.”

Luo Ling immediately cursed with a laugh:

“Goddamn bastard. I can’t stand this. I want to beat him again!”

At that moment, Chen Xianba walked over.

The generals immediately stopped fooling around.

“The Prince has issued an order. Military council in the command tent!”

“Understood!”

“Understood!”

...

“This is the sincerity of your General Pu?”

Zheng Fan looked at the envoy sent out from Liang’s capital.

Ever since entering the command tent and coming face-to-face with the legendary Prince Pingxi, the envoy had been trembling all over. Even while presenting his case earlier, he had stammered badly.

Now he immediately kowtowed and answered:

“Yes, yes, yes, Your Highness. Ah, and our ruler means the same as well. Liang was previously kidnapped by Qian and Chu and had no choice but to submit under their coercion. From this day onward, Liang is willing to become a subject state of Great Yan and present tribute, just as before, serving Great Yan as we would our own father. Our ruler will also submit a memorial asking His Majesty the Emperor of Great Yan to accept him as an adoptive son. And... and...”

“And what?”

“Our ruler said he also wishes to recognize Your Highness as his adoptive uncle.”

Zheng Fan shook his head indifferently and turned his attention to Liang’s gift list.

Grain.

Gold and silver.

Even beauties.

The list ran on for quite a while.

But... you think you can send me away with this?

Do you take me for a beggar?

“This Prince’s demand is very simple. Open the gates. That man surnamed Pu and your ruler are to come before the army bound, with sheep in tow, and beg forgiveness. That is the minimum condition before we even begin talking.”

“This...” Sweat immediately broke across the envoy’s face.

Before he left the city, the ruler and General Pu had told him clearly that refusing to open the gates and refusing to allow the Yan inside was their bottom line.

“One more thing. Return Count Huwei’s remains,” Zheng Fan said.

The envoy’s face suddenly went white.

He stammered:

“Your Highness... Count Huwei’s remains... this lowly subject... this lowly subject already brought them.”

“Oh? Bring them in.”

Zheng Man and Liu Dahu immediately went outside.

Before long, the two returned with several armored soldiers carrying an expensive coffin into the command tent.

Zheng Fan walked to the coffin and stood beside it, both hands hanging at his sides.

“Open it. We wish to see Count Huwei.”

“Understood!”

The Liang envoy nearby looked ready to collapse.

Zheng Man and Liu Dahu began prying out the pegs.

Once the fastenings came free, the two lifted the heavy lid together.

Inside... lay Li Fusheng.

His armor was unmistakable.

Years ago, each of the Seven Grand Commanders beneath Marquis Zhenbei Residence had possessed a distinctive set of armor.

But very quickly...

Zheng Fan frowned.

He reached out and touched the armor.

Then he pulled it open.

The Liang envoy saw this and collapsed backward onto the ground, trembling uncontrollably.

Beneath Li Fusheng’s armor, Zheng Fan discovered wood.

Below the head, nearly four-fifths of the body was a wooden dummy, with only a few scraps of flesh attached.

Zheng Fan’s hand clamped down on the edge of the coffin.

His voice sank.

“What happened?”

“Reporting... reporting to Your Highness... after the Qian delivered Count Huwei’s remains into our capital, some commoners caused trouble, so...”

“Answer properly.”

At those words, Chen Xianba drew his saber and placed it against the envoy’s neck. The edge immediately pierced the skin.

The envoy’s tongue straightened at once.

“Your Highness! After the Qian delivered Count Huwei’s body into Liang’s capital, our ruler and General Pu ordered his remains and the bodies of other Yan generals mounted up and paraded through the streets in triumph! But then many ignorant commoners inside the city surged forward and... and tore Count Huwei’s body apart and ate his flesh! Your Highness, it had nothing to do with me! Nothing to do with me! Spare me, Your Highness! Spare me!”

A scene immediately formed inside Zheng Fan’s mind.

Li Fusheng’s corpse, armor and all, raised high and carried through the streets for everyone to see.

All around him, the people of Liang’s capital were excited.

Cheering.

Jubilant.

They knew the Yan were terrifying.

But they did not understand the actual situation.

They did not care how the present ruler had taken the throne.

They did not care how the previous ruler had been driven to death.

They did not understand that the Qian-Chu coalition had treated them like a rag, used when useful and thrown away afterward.

They were simply happy that their own country had won a battle and killed a Count of Yan.

Their joy was pure.

Almost without impurities.

The crowd grew more and more feverish.

The pole carrying Li Fusheng’s corpse came down.

Then those citizens began tearing flesh from his remains.

And while they divided the meat among themselves... they kept shouting:

Long live Great Liang!

Great Liang forever victorious!

“Heh-heh-heh...”

A laugh came from deep inside Prince Pingxi’s throat.

He looked at Li Fusheng lying in the coffin, less than a tenth of the man’s flesh and bone remaining.

The Prince’s eyes slowly reddened.

“Beat the drum. Summon the generals!”

“Understood!”

...

Inside the command tent, Li Fusheng’s open coffin was placed in the center.

Chen Yang, Luo Ling, and the other commanders from every route entered one after another.

The instant they saw what remained inside... every man clenched his fists.

This had already gone beyond ordinary victory and defeat, beyond winner and loser.

It belonged to the same level as the human swine Nian Yao had once sealed inside a wine jar purely to provoke Zheng Fan.

The Prince sat in the commander’s seat.

His head remained slightly lowered.

Below him, every general had a chest full of rage.

But Prince Pingxi’s prestige was simply too great.

Nobody dared shout.

Nobody dared act out of turn.

At last... the Prince raised his head.

“Chen Yang. What city lies ahead?”

Chen Yang froze slightly, but quickly answered:

“Reporting to Your Highness, Liang’s capital.”

The Prince shook his head.

“No. You’re wrong. What this Prince sees... is clearly... an empty city.”

[End of Chapter 881]