Chapter 904: Grand General

“Your son... will go get it for Dad.”

Perhaps... when Tian Tian said those words, the prophetic thread in the unseen seemed, at least in this one respect, to connect once more.

Only... it looked tightly joined while in truth having absolutely nothing to do with the original meaning.

But as an “old father,” Zheng Fan felt nothing but heartfelt relief and joy upon hearing his son speak that way.

It would be difficult to find another child as obedient and sensible as Tian Tian.

He practically satisfied every fantasy a person might possess about having a “son.”

The fantasy was almost unrealistically perfect.

Yet it had truly happened.

A loving father.

A filial son.

It ought to have been one of the most ordinary and universal principles in the world.

Yet in real life, it was often extremely difficult to preserve in such purity.

People ate the grains of the earth and endured wind and rain.

A swaddled infant began life innocent and adorable.

But slowly... the child ceased being so “pleasing to the eye.”

That was reality.

As natural as a mountain stream descending into a valley or a river rushing toward the sea.

Yet some people, after solving the most basic problems of survival—or perhaps merely while stealing a little leisure from busyness—always wanted to indulge in a little sentimentality of their own.

On the grand scale, that meant mobilizing the strength of an entire state to build irrigation works.

The governance of the Wang River was one such example.

On the small scale, it meant Zheng Fan and his group, whether back in Hutou City, Cuiliu Fort, Shengle City, or Snow Sea Pass.

If they possessed ten parts of strength, they would use at most eight.

The remaining two were not saved for later.

They were spent on being sentimental.

It was not that they worked hard first, then enjoyed a little sentimentality afterward.

They worked hard in ordinary life precisely so they could afford to live sentimentally.

What sort of small goal had the Blind Man always carried inside him?

How could Zheng Fan possibly not know?

And yet, despite knowing perfectly well, Zheng Fan had still allowed the Blind Man to serve as Tian Tian’s earliest teacher for the past several years.

For a precocious child, those first years were the period that shaped him most deeply.

There was no helping it.

Tian Wujing’s example stood right there.

Zheng Fan did not want Tian Tian to repeat his biological father’s road.

Rather than someday allowing some grand righteousness to crush the breath out of him... it would be better if he grew up like Zheng Fan himself.

If someone truly pissed him off badly enough... then just flip the Golden Throne Hall over!

Judging from the present results... the Blind Man’s education had unquestionably succeeded.

I, Zheng Fan, do not intend to suffer grievances in this life.

My son should be the same.

Zheng Fan supported Tian Tian’s calves with both hands.

Father and son watched the slaughter below gradually enter its final stage.

The Chu spies’ uprising failed to create any meaningful wave.

Once surprise was lost, there was no possibility of spies and assassins accomplishing what a regular army could not.

Their ending could only be miserable.

Before long... the shouts of killing below became difficult to hear.

They had probably entered the final phase of pursuit and cleanup.

There had never been much of a climax to begin with.

The ending was naturally even more dull.

The Sword Saint remained seated where he had been.

He had not moved.

The Sword Maid leaned against the railing on the other side with her back to Zheng Fan.

A faintly mocking smile hung at the corner of her mouth.

Split up the lessons... and then take the opportunity to give your own son a private tutorial.

Heh.

Being slightly more “hard” toward Zheng Fan, whether in private or in the open, was already the Sword Maid’s absolute limit.

Zheng Fan lowered Tian Tian from his shoulders.

Then he looked at the Sword Saint, who was sitting there holding Longyuan.

He could not help smiling.

“Why did you suddenly become so tense?”

“I wasn’t tense originally,” the Sword Saint answered.

“Oh? Then why?”

The Prince’s peripheral vision immediately began spreading around him.

The Sword Saint’s perception was exceptionally strong.

If danger appeared nearby, or if some powerful expert entered the area, he could sense it.

“Because of what you said earlier.”

“What did I say?”

“You said something about what Liuxia Town might be called in the future. Suddenly I thought of something, and without meaning to, I wanted to keep my sword in hand.”

“What name?”

“Leave Zheng Behind.”

“...” The Prince.

“Heh-heh-heh.”

Seeing Zheng Fan’s expression, the Sword Saint laughed.

“That name is unlucky. It needs changing,” the Prince muttered.

Then he looked toward Tian Tian beside him.

“It’s almost dawn.”

Tian Tian nodded.

“In a little while, this child will go find Little Brother. We’ll wash our feet, wash our bottoms, and go to sleep.”

“No. Dad is going to sleep.”

“Mm?” Tian Tian looked confused. “Does Father have an order?”

“There was a mess earlier. The street is dirty now. Take your little brother and clean it up.”

“Okay!”

...

The first light of dawn appeared.

Quite a few corpses lay scattered across the streets of Liuxia Town.

Because the fighting had been close, fast, and merciless from the very beginning, the Chu spies had died in truly miserable states.

Many Chu refugees who had already been sorted and registered were ordered to help clean the streets.

For them... this was intimidation.

Direct.

Crude.

But unquestionably effective.

And while the cleanup proceeded... dense rows of Brocade-Clad personal guards stood on both sides of the street.

Among them... two children bustled around busily.

...

“Isn’t this perhaps a little too much?”

Standing beside a second-floor window, Chen Daole looked down at the scene below.

“I understand what our Prince means. He wants them to build courage. But...”

He Chunlai placed a bowl of hot-oil noodles in front of Jin Shuke.

The Prince had gone to sleep.

The Sword Saint had gone to sleep as well.

Those two could sleep with perfect peace of mind.

The people below, however, truly did not dare relax.

The children were working.

Everyone else stood nearby watching them.

The Sword Maid called out:

“Brother He, give me more chili.”

In truth, aside from becoming tangled up with herself whenever she faced Zheng Fan, the Sword Maid had always been very polite toward everyone else.

“Sure.”

He Chunlai added extra chili and carried the bowl over to her.

Then... he walked to Chen Daole by the window.

“Eating?”

“How could I still have an appetite?” Chen Daole asked.

“Delicate,” He Chunlai said disdainfully.

“No, no. Come look yourself.”

Chen Daole grabbed He Chunlai and pointed downward.

Below... a small handcart stood beside Tian Tian.

The two boys were cleaning up.

“Whoa, Big Brother. It can really be this long?”

Tian Tian picked up a severed head, carried it over to the small handcart, and stacked it neatly with the others.

Then he stepped back two paces, examined the arrangement, walked forward again, and slightly adjusted the direction the head was facing.

The Crown Prince, meanwhile, was still playing with...

“Little Brother, stop playing. Let’s hurry and clean.”

“Big Brother, look. There’s more inside. It’s so long.”

Then...

Tian Tian walked over too.

And began playing together with the Crown Prince.

“Ah...”

He Chunlai made a sound.

He had prepared hot-oil noodles today.

He had also made a pork-intestine topping.

At that moment...

Jin Shuke carried his own bowl over to the window.

Eating as he watched the scene below, he said:

“I’m honestly surprised the Crown Prince isn’t afraid. As expected of Ji blood.”

Among the Barbarians, saying someone possessed “Ji blood” counted as extremely high praise.

As for Tian Tian, Jin Shuke belonged to the inner circle around Prince Pingxi Residence and had naturally heard a little about the environment in which Tian Tian had grown up.

For him not to be afraid... that was completely normal.

Besides, a tiger father does not raise a dog son.

The boy had two great fathers.

Raised beneath that sort of influence, it would have been difficult for him to grow timid even if he tried.

The cleanup continued until late morning before finally ending.

Tian Tian took the Crown Prince to bathe and change clothes.

Then the Sword Maid brought them to eat.

The two children sat down.

The Sword Maid had deliberately added pork-intestine topping to their noodles.

The boys were genuinely hungry.

They ate with enormous appetite.

The Sword Maid, by contrast... watched for a while.

Then could no longer endure it.

She ran to the kitchen and vomited.

...

The Prince slept very comfortably.

Just not long enough.

He was awakened shortly before noon.

Jin Shuke himself had come to report.

“Enemy attack? Beacon smoke?”

Zheng Fan asked while straightening his cuffs.

“Yes, Your Highness. Beacon smoke rose from Eighteen-Li Ford Fort on the Wei River. Chu troops. Fewer than a thousand.”

Beacon smoke could transmit more information than merely “enemy attack.”

The number of smoke columns and the colors used could indicate the approximate size of the enemy force.

In truth, throughout Shanggu Commandery, including the area around Liuxia Town where Zheng Fan currently stayed, Yan troops were not especially numerous.

There were some stationed along the Wei River.

Others were scattered in small military forts and camps throughout Shanggu Commandery.

None of those local garrisons were large.

The true organized field army was concentrated around Zhennan Pass.

The reason was simple.

Shanggu Commandery itself had long since become a battlefield both Yan and Chu tacitly understood as contested space.

In other words... if Chu launched a full-scale northern offensive, the Yan defensive line along the Wei River would be no stronger than paper.

Tear it... and it broke.

It could not truly stop a great army.

Besides, Chu possessed naval forces.

Crossing the Wei River would be easy and unhurried.

At first glance, this seemed to place Yan at a disadvantage.

In reality... it was the opposite.

Yan cavalry was famed throughout the world.

Eastern Jin under Prince Pingxi Residence had begun building genuine elite iron cavalry as early as the days of Snow Sea Pass.

In other words... crossing the Wei River meant very little for Chu unless they intended to press forward in one breath and capture Zhennan Pass.

Otherwise, the broad, flat lands of Shanggu Commandery would become a purgatory where Chu troops were cut apart and encircled by Yan cavalry.

Precisely because Zhennan Pass stood there, eastern Jin’s main forces could be transferred into the region at any time.

Given more time, troops from western Jin and other parts of Great Yan would also enter the battlefield.

Fan City could launch attacks from the rear as well.

No matter how many elite troops Chu possessed, throwing them into this terrain would not be enough.

Unless Chu was completely confident it could fight Yan in an open, honorable field battle across these vast plains... and win decisively.

Both sides understood that situation perfectly.

That was why Chu had chosen to fortify the southern bank of the Wei River.

The vast territory of Shanggu Commandery was, in truth... poison.

According to the warning from the beacon line and the reports being relayed back by military forts and camps between the Wei River and Liuxia Town, however, the Chu force entering the territory numbered fewer than one thousand.

All cavalry.

Probably only several hundred riders.

An enemy incursion of that scale could be handled easily by local Yan troops.

There was no need to alarm Zheng Fan.

Strictly speaking...

Jin Shuke himself did not even need to appear.

Naturally, Zheng Fan also understood why Jin Shuke had personally come to report.

He was about to be transferred away.

Then suddenly, Chu troops crossed the border.

The timing was a little too coincidental.

Zheng Fan reached out and patted Jin Shuke’s shoulder.

“If you, Jin Shuke, were playing the old game of nurturing bandits to preserve your own value this crudely, then this Prince would not even bother transferring you away.”

Then...

Zheng Fan looked outside at the blazing sun.

“Have you fixed their location?”

“They are heading toward Liuxia Town.”

“Oh? Interesting. Come on, then. This Prince will go out and see which family’s brat in Chu disturbed my good sleep.”

...

The Brocade-Clad personal guards mobilized.

A mass of cavalry escorted the Prince out of Liuxia Town.

More than sixty li from the settlement, several groups of Yan cavalry had already formed an encirclement around the Chu force bold enough to penetrate alone this far.

Yet the Chu troops behaved strangely.

Faced with encirclement, they made no immediate attempt to break through.

Instead, every rider reined in and stopped.

Then they sent out an envoy... claiming they had come to surrender.

So when the Prince finally arrived with his personal guards, intending to stretch his limbs a little, what he saw instead was a group of Chu soldiers sitting on the ground after their horses had been led away, their weapons confiscated, and even their armor removed.

Jin Shuke rode ahead to learn the situation.

He returned quickly.

“Your Highness, this Chu force claims to be imperial-clan guards. They say they were escorting the family of their former master here to surrender.”

Zheng Fan looked over the scene.

“This sort of thing used to happen often enough, didn’t it?”

“People often crossed over claiming to be Chu nobles, or people who had committed crimes and fled punishment. But...”

“But you’ve never seen someone arrive with this much ceremony?”

“Yes.”

Political asylum was not an invention of later ages.

It had existed since ancient times.

People who could no longer survive in their own country, or who had committed some offense and feared punishment, often fled to another state.

They differed from ordinary refugees.

Because of their identities, they were often resettled rather generously by the receiving country.

But several hundred imperial-clan guards of Great Chu risking the border crossing and riding directly here merely to escort one household... clearly meant the people they protected possessed an extraordinary identity.

An ordinary noble would already count himself fortunate to flee with a handful of trusted household retainers.

After all, although Yan was currently stronger and Chu weaker, the true great war of unification had not yet begun.

Chu had not reached the stage where the tree was falling, the monkeys were scattering, and great numbers of officials were switching banners.

“Bring them over. Let this Prince take a look.”

“Yes!”

Before long... a woman and two children, one boy and one girl, were escorted over by the Brocade-Clad personal guards.

The woman bowed to Zheng Fan.

“This common woman pays respects to the General.”

Zheng Fan was not wearing his python robe.

Nor was he riding Pixiu.

None of his most recognizable markers were present.

It was hardly strange that the woman mistook him for an ordinary Yan general.

“This Prince is rather curious. Whose family is important enough to surrender with such an impressive escort?”

“Replying to the Gen... Prince?”

The woman clearly noticed the form of self-address Zheng Fan had used.

Her expression changed immediately.

The reaction was far too obvious.

She even stepped backward instinctively.

Her eyes reddened almost at once.

Clear fear.

And hatred.

The change left the Prince sitting on horseback feeling, for once, somewhat awkward.

But the woman quickly composed herself.

She knelt.

“Replying to Your Highness, this common woman is Nian Yao’s principal wife. These are the son and daughter born to this common woman and my husband.”

Zheng Fan’s gaze tightened faintly.

Nian Yao’s wife.

And their son and daughter?

Well.

That certainly explained her expression when she realized who he was.

It had nothing to do with his so-called ruined reputation.

He... had personally castrated her husband.

The Prince looked over the woman once more.

Nian Yao had been a household slave of Zheng Fan’s imperial brother-in-law from the days before that man took the throne.

Supposedly, Nian Yao’s wife had also been a maid in the household.

When Nian Yao first rose to prominence in Chu, nobles had even mocked them as slave breeding with slave.

Perhaps Zheng Fan had seen too many Queen Mothers and Empress Dowagers over the years.

His standards of appreciation had risen.

In his eyes...

Nian Yao’s wife looked rather ordinary.

Of course... he had no real interest in thinking about such things now.

The matter itself was already obvious.

Agents of Great Yan’s Secret Intelligence Department operating in Chu had contacted Nian Yao’s old subordinates.

They had managed to smuggle Nian Yao’s wife and children out of Chu.

But behind that... what exactly did it mean?

Old Sixth.

I castrated Nian Yao and sent him into the imperial palace for you to play with.

And now you’ve gone and extracted the man’s wife and children too.

What exactly are you planning?

...

Zheng Fan remained in Liuxia Town for several more days.

Only then did he begin the leisurely journey home.

Everything he had come out to accomplish had proceeded smoothly.

The military commands of Snow Sea Pass and Zhennan Pass had been reclaimed without the slightest disruption.

So time was plentiful.

There was no need to hurry home the way he had last time, terrified he might miss his wife’s childbirth.

As for Nian Yao’s wife and children, Zheng Fan did not detain them in any way.

He directly assigned men to escort them westward.

The Prince even gave a special instruction:

Nian Yao’s family was not to enter Fengxin City.

The people at the Secret Intelligence Department’s Fengxin City Liaison Office were to come out and receive them directly, then send them on to Yanjing.

...

Yanjing.

The imperial palace.

Grand General Nian...

Ah, no.

Chief Eunuch Nian... was eating.

Ever since becoming Chief Eunuch, he dressed much better.

He wore a great red robe now.

As for the food, that hardly needed mentioning.

A Chief Eunuch had his own private kitchen.

Naturally, it could not compare with the refinement of the Emperor and Empress’s meals, but every meal still came with several individually prepared dishes.

A little meat.

A little wine.

His appetite could be satisfied.

The day before yesterday... the Emperor had summoned him again.

With a map of Qian spread out, Ji Chengjue had asked several questions about the unrest among the indigenous peoples in southwestern Qian.

Nian Yao had answered.

He swallowed a lion’s-head meatball.

Then took a sip of wine.

Nian Yao released a long sigh.

“Eating?”

A voice came from outside.

Nian Yao immediately put down his chopsticks and knelt.

“This subject pays respects to Your Majesty! May Your Majesty live ten thousand years in health and fortune!”

“Get up.”

Ji Chengjue entered and sat directly in a chair.

Eunuch Wei stood beside the Emperor.

“I came to tell you some good news.”

“Your Majesty, what joy could this subject possibly have?”

“Who knows how it happened. Our agents from the Secret Intelligence Department in Chu actually managed to make contact with your wife and children. They also reached some of your former subordinates. In the end, after paying a considerable price in casualties, they managed to get your wife and children out of Chu and rendezvous with our people near Zhennan Pass. Eastern Jin has already handed your wife and children back over to the Secret Intelligence Department.”

The instant Nian Yao heard this news... enormous joy appeared across his face.

He immediately kowtowed.

“Your Majesty’s imperial grace is vast as Heaven! To this subject, Your Majesty has granted the kindness of rebirth. This subject swears that from this day forward, I will spill my liver and brains upon the ground for Your Majesty and serve until death!”

“Don’t thank me. I didn’t do anything. Perhaps you were simply lucky.”

“This was the protection of Your Majesty’s magnificent virtue. This was Your Majesty’s blessing.”

“All right. Stand up.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

The Emperor rose and prepared to leave.

But when he reached the doorway... he suddenly stopped.

He lightly slapped his forehead.

“Look at my memory. I was so busy congratulating you that I forgot one thing.”

Nian Yao, who had only just risen, immediately bowed again.

“Your Majesty, please instruct this subject.”

“That is... when your wife and children were crossing the Wang River... a great wind came. The boat overturned. And the people... all drowned.”

[End of Chapter 904]