Chapter 961: Useless Memorial Tablet

“The weather today really isn’t bad.”

Sitting atop his Pixiu, Zheng Fan stretched lazily.

He had told Liang Cheng that he intended to lie flat.

And then he really had spent several days lying around inside the command tent. When there was nothing interesting to do, he could approve documents. When there was something interesting to do, Siniang was there to keep him company.

To put it less politely... the present Regent Prince had already begun breaking through the lower limits of “debauchery.”

There was no deeper reason.

His spine was stiff now.

There was no longer anyone above his head capable of pressing him down.

Once a man reached this position and looked out to find every mountain beneath him, naturally he could raise his voice and shout whatever he pleased at the world around him.

If a whole crowd were standing beside you, you might still feel embarrassed, wouldn’t you?

Back when Old Tian was still around, Zheng Fan would never have dared behave this absurdly.

Old Tian might very well have kicked him flying across the ground and left him coughing blood.

Of course, in the eyes of the soldiers below, their Prince was surely working himself to exhaustion inside the command tent, handling ten thousand affairs a day while devising meticulous plans for the battles ahead.

“If building the pontoon bridge is too difficult, then first level and reinforce the ferry landing. And these roads—pack them flat as well. I’m not asking you to rush out something equal to an official highway, but at the very least make them usable. If they can hold for a few months, that’s enough. It’ll make transporting supplies by cart and horse much easier. Also, accelerate construction of the forts and relay stations. No delays.”

“Yes, Your Highness. I’ve written it down.”

Liu Dahu held a small booklet and brush, recording everything carefully.

Later, he would be responsible for passing the Prince’s orders to the relevant sections of the army.

“Did Li Chenghui give you a nasty look?” the Prince suddenly asked.

Liu Dahu immediately replied:

“Reporting to Your Highness, General Li did not. Some of the generals in his command tent did look rather angry.”

“That was them preserving Li Chenghui’s dignity.”

Zheng Fan was not remotely worried that Li Chenghui’s subordinate generals might develop any other ideas.

That old Zhenbei Army command had already spent five years inside eastern Jin.

The original old Zhenbei Army structure had long since been dismantled beyond recognition.

In today’s Great Yan, the largest military faction of all was the one headed by him, the Regent Prince.

How would those men dare entertain any other thoughts?

But their commanding general had been humiliated.

Naturally, they still had to put on some kind of reaction for his sake.

At that moment, a Brocade-Clad personal guard galloped over.

“Report! Your Highness, an envoy has come from the Chu army.”

“Tell him to get lost.”

“Yes!”

Zheng Fan looked toward the Wei River before him and smiled.

Liu Dahu had no idea why the Prince was smiling.

Still, he cooperatively smiled along.

Who would have expected... the Prince suddenly turned toward him and asked:

“What are you smiling about?”

“Uh...”

Fortunately, Liu Dahu had spent long enough living the truth of “accompanying a sovereign is like accompanying a tiger.”

He did not become too embarrassed.

Instead, he answered with honest simplicity:

“This subordinate doesn’t know either.”

“Mm.”

Zheng Fan nodded.

“If you don’t know, then that’s exactly right.”

The Pixiu beneath him turned around.

The Prince stroked its mane as he spoke.

“If even you, Liu Dahu, don’t know, then no matter how clever the people across the river may be, how could they possibly know?”

Liu Dahu was still completely baffled.

Yet at that instant... he suddenly felt the Prince was unfathomably profound.

“Playing riddles again?”

The Sword Saint, who had been following beside them the whole time, could no longer stand it.

Zheng Fan shook his head.

“Chu is weak. I am strong. I stand high. They stand low. Looking down from above, everything is clear. But if you stand at the foot of the mountain and look upward, clouds block your sight. Trees block your sight. Forests block your sight. Everywhere you look, something gets in the way. So now you understand why, throughout history, so many so-called heroes recorded in the histories end up sighing that they are powerless to reverse Heaven? Because... the great momentum was not with them.”

...

“So what exactly are the Yan planning?”

Xiong Tingshan, missing one arm, sat opposite Xie Yu’an and asked the question.

Xie Yu’an rubbed between his brows.

Then he picked up a snuff bottle and inhaled hard through one nostril.

He inhaled too violently.

For a moment, he nearly choked himself unconscious.

Then came a long series of dry retches.

Xiong Tingshan watched the young man seated in the commander’s chair perform this entire routine.

The corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily.

At last, Xie Yu’an steadied himself.

He rinsed his mouth with a sip of water and said:

“I don’t know either.”

Xiong Tingshan snorted coldly.

Xie Yu’an remained perfectly calm.

“If I don’t know, then I don’t know. There’s no reason I absolutely have to know. If the enemy doesn’t move, I don’t move. If the enemy does move, I still don’t move.”

“The last man to fight that way was Nian Yao. Now he’s a Yan man—and a eunuch.”

“During the first Yan-Chu national war, if Grand General Nian had not devoted himself completely to playing the turtle, how could he possibly have preserved the elite of Great Chu’s hundreds of thousands of imperial-clan Imperial Guards? It was precisely because Grand General Nian kept acting like that old turtle that Prince Jingnan, even after breaking Ying Capital, still had no choice but to withdraw. Otherwise... half of Great Chu might already have been lost.”

“Isn’t it now?”

“Now it’s only half of that half. That’s still all right.”

Xie Yu’an smiled.

“If the Yan gain no advantage and cannot bite through this defensive line of mine, they will still withdraw to Zhennan Pass. They aren’t going to stupidly station a huge army here and stare at us year after year. When that happens, the territory we lost will, at least nominally, return to Great Chu’s map.”

“That is what you’re counting on?”

“I only look at realities.”

“But scouts from the front report that the Yan have even begun transporting winter coats forward. That Regent Prince intends to spend the winter in our Chu.”

“Oh. That reminds me. When the time comes, we can ask His Majesty... No, wait. Your Highness is a Prince. Have someone send him a fine brocade robe in your name. He is your brother-in-law, after all. We can hardly let a guest come into our home and catch cold, can we? When an ordinary commoner receives a guest, he still gives him an extra quilt.”

“This Prince has no interest in sitting here exchanging empty chatter and sarcastic remarks with you!”

“Your Highness, don’t be angry. Don’t be angry. If you want to blame someone, blame us for sending too many heads forward in the past. And whenever we sent one, we always seemed to choose an expensive one. Three of the Four Pillars of State are gone. Only my father is still breathing. And outside the Pillars of State, too many of Great Chu’s finest generals from those earlier years were lost as well. The noble private armies suffered even worse. What are we supposed to fight with? What can we use to fight? Your Highness... these are the same words I told His Majesty earlier. Right now, even if we cover our ears and cover our eyes, bury our heads, stick our asses into the air, refuse to care about anything, and refuse to ask anything... that is probably still the best course. Truly. The more you look, the more you think. The more you think, the more ideas start growing. Once ideas grow, the hands begin itching. And once the hands itch, you make mistakes. They stand on the mountain. They see everything clearly. We stand at the bottom. Layer after layer blocks our sight. Do we truly believe what we can see from down here is real? In war, the Phoenix Nest Internal Guard is useful. Yes. Truly useful. Qian’s Silver-Armored Guard is excellent too. For all these years, only Yan’s Secret Intelligence Department has always seemed a little lacking. And yet... on the battlefield... we still cannot overturn the Yan.”

Xie Yu’an reached up and touched the small blister that had appeared at the corner of his mouth.

He smacked his lips.

Then continued:

“Barring something unexpected, the Yan court will send at least close to two hundred thousand regular troops into eastern Jin. They will support this Regent Prince the same way the court supported Prince Jingnan during the first Yan-Chu national war. Phoenix Nest intelligence says that army is now laying down its armor and entering the fields to rush the harvest. I have a feeling... this army may become the key to what happens next. Are they truly using sickles to harvest autumn grain? Or are they sharpening blades... to harvest Chu heads from Chu necks?”

“Then investigate until we know.”

“Eastern Jin does not even allow the Secret Intelligence Department to enter. Heh. It is becoming harder and harder for our own people to infiltrate. That place is covered in fog. Once this Yan court army entered eastern Jin... it effectively disappeared.”

Xiong Tingshan suddenly asked:

“What about Fan City?”

“My view is that my father should defend Guyue City to the death. I believe he will do so.”

Xiong Tingshan stood.

He was preparing to leave the Grand Commander’s command tent.

But before departing, he said:

“A father... always gets used to doing more for his son.”

...

“Ai. What father in this world does not cherish his own son?”

Xie Zhuyang sat cross-legged atop a cushion.

Before him sat the woman.

Only now... there was also a little girl sitting beside her.

One could see clearly that apart from the difference in age, the woman and the girl looked almost as if they had been carved from the same mold.

Even a mother and daughter would rarely resemble one another this closely.

Yet Xie Zhuyang knew perfectly well... they were not mother and daughter at all.

The woman closed her eyes.

The little girl spoke.

“You should listen to your son.”

For a “father,” the sentence was somewhat damaging to one’s dignity.

Especially when Xie Zhuyang had not yet reached the age where he lay sick in bed and needed his son to spoon medicine into his mouth.

Even so... he raised one hand and said:

“I have always listened to my son.”

“You must continue listening in the future.”

“I know!”

Xie Zhuyang almost roared it.

The little girl appeared completely unconcerned by his mood.

She nodded in satisfaction.

Truthfully, given the temperament of the Xie Clan Head, he ordinarily would never have been this polite to these two women.

Even if the woman were a Third Grade Qi Refiner, Xie Zhuyang could still simply ignore her.

But this older woman... gave off the detached, otherworldly air of a Qi Refiner.

Yet when the Shadow beside Xie Zhuyang had attempted to draw his saber, she had forcibly “pushed” the blade back into its sheath.

The Shadow had given Xie Zhuyang an absolutely precise answer.

Third Grade...

Martial Artist.

The Shadow himself was also a Third Grade Martial Artist.

So that answer contained another meaning as well.

There were differences even within Third Grade.

And the woman stood above him.

The Xie Clan was one of Great Chu’s great noble houses.

Unlike the Qu Clan’s supposedly “pure” lineage, the Xie Clan had intermarried with the Shanyue for a century.

Its influence and territorial reach were therefore broader.

The clan maintained a complete array of retainers and experts as well.

An ordinary Third Grade Martial Artist would naturally receive great courtesy and be treated as an honored guest.

But if she was not an ordinary Third Grade Martial Artist... one only had to look at how that Prince in eastern Jin treated the Sword Saint beside him.

A true peak expert could certainly not defeat an army of thousands.

But outside a situation where thousands of troops had already surrounded you... such a person could keep you alive.

Besides...

Xie Zhuyang had discovered that these women seemed even more interested in his son.

The little girl was admittedly somewhat young.

But in the present age, girls of thirteen or fourteen becoming mothers was hardly unheard of.

It was not entirely impossible.

As for the older woman...

Xie Zhuyang knew his son had always shown rather more interest in his little stepmothers.

Xie Zhuyang felt that particular taste of his son’s... could probably swallow this one too.

Take another ten thousand steps back.

The guests had already arrived.

So one entertained them politely.

Whether either might become a daughter-in-law... could be discussed later.

The little girl stood.

The woman stood as well.

The little girl looked at Xie Zhuyang, who remained seated.

“Clan Head Xie, can you stop the Yan army across from you?”

“What you should ask is whether I can swallow them.”

“Fine.”

The little girl said nothing more.

She turned and left.

The woman followed behind her.

Their movements were almost identical.

Xie Zhuyang placed both hands behind himself and leaned back.

His gaze grew thoughtful.

His son had sent him two letters in succession.

One written in the capacity of Grand Commander.

The other written as a son.

One appealed to reason.

The other appealed to feeling.

Both asked the same thing:

Father, stay obediently inside Guyue City and do nothing else.

Xie Zhuyang raised his head helplessly.

He was not angry that his son had underestimated him.

He merely gave a bitter laugh.

“The army opposite us belongs to the Savages. In Yan eyes, their lives were never valuable to begin with.”

Xie Zhuyang reached out and covered the sandalwood incense burning beside him, extinguishing it.

“They will cut the support flowing from Qian even if it means abandoning any road of retreat. They will have no hesitation whatsoever. Even if... their casualties become horrific.”

...

After leaving the hall, the little girl and the woman entered a side room.

The little girl sat on the edge of the bed.

The woman pulled over a chair and sat facing her.

They looked at one another.

Yet in truth... neither woman’s eyes contained the other.

The little girl spoke first.

“Among the Qi Refiner world of the past sixty years, only a handful of men were capable of peeking into Heaven’s secrets yet refused to enter the sect and bargain with that talent.”

The woman replied:

“Yes. We originally assumed that even if those men refused to enter the sect, they would at least keep their heads down outside, hide themselves properly, and remain inconspicuous. Who would have expected them to collapse one after another like fools? Master Cang went to Yanjing to sever the dragon vein. In the end, he dissolved himself. The final half of his White Lotus vanished into smoke as well. That filthy old Daoist was even stranger. When the sect invited him years ago, he claimed he could open a hidden domain of his own and withdraw from the world. Yet somehow... he collapsed without rhyme or reason. Not quite self-dissolution. Not quite disappearance. Perhaps only one dim fragment of his consciousness remains. Who knows what mountain spirit or wild monster it has attached itself to, stubbornly clinging to life?”

“Enough about those few. Those of us who hid ourselves inside the sect... were we not simply another version of them? We thought that once the proper time arrived, we would follow Heaven’s will. Who could have known... Heaven’s will itself would be distorted? No. Not distorted. Obscured.”

“Everyone’s view is that we should set the disorder right.”

The little girl nodded.

“Yes. If we do not set the disorder right, wouldn’t everyone inside the sect have become complete fools? We always say common people are ignorant. We always say all living beings know nothing. And in the end... we ourselves turn out to be the true clowns.”

“Where do we begin correcting it?”

The little girl snorted.

“That Black Dragon Banner should have fallen abruptly at the very moment its national momentum reached a raging boil. But now... there is not the slightest sign of anything like that happening.”

“The reason?”

“I have read many books here with Xie Zhuyang. I have also read many letters.”

The little girl interlaced her fingers and rested her chin atop them.

“Truthfully... it is not hard to guess.”

The woman nodded.

The little girl rolled her neck and continued:

“In the world today, who exactly is holding up that Black Dragon Banner? In this Yan-Chu national war now underway... who is the true center of everything? Him.”

“Then kill him?” the woman suggested.

The little girl gave a disdainful snort.

“Those old cabbage stumps inside the sect are greedy for life and addicted to comfort. Who is willing to go? You have to understand... that man has thousands upon thousands of soldiers beside him. And beyond the army... he also has many genuine experts protecting him. The sect exists in the shadows. What qualification does it have to look down upon the true powers of the present age who stand openly beneath the sun?”

“Then there is no solution,” the woman said.

The corner of the little girl’s mouth suddenly twitched several times.

She pressed one hand against her forehead.

The other supported her chin.

With both hands assisting her... the little girl “shook her head” at the woman.

Then... she released her hands.

“What we can do is repair things wherever possible. At the very least... we must do everything we can to preserve the balance.”

“How many people can actually leave the sect? They are already furious that we opened the gate and came out ahead of schedule.”

“A pack of stupid cockroaches, rats, and crickets!”

The little girl opened her mouth and cursed loudly.

When she finished... her mouth would not close again.

The woman reached over and helped push it shut.

Only then could the girl continue.

“I think the present problem is not that simple. Master Cang severed the dragon vein. For that, he forcibly exhausted every mark of his own existence. He came empty-handed. And in the end, left empty-handed as well. So... what exactly did he cut?”

“A ruler of the present age possesses the protection of the Ziwei aura. A pure Qi Refiner finds such a man extremely difficult to touch. If I were him... I would cut away the inheritance destined to remain for a future sovereign.”

“But the present Emperor of Yan is still in the prime of life.”

The woman frowned in confusion.

The little girl rolled her eyes.

Fortunately... she managed to roll them back afterward.

“And that filthy Daoist vanished for no clear reason either.”

The woman interrupted.

“So right now, what needs to be done is still to kill Yan’s Regent Prince, correct?”

“I just said it. How are we supposed to kill him? If he were that easy to kill, someone would have killed him long ago!”

“We can call more people.”

“Heh.”

“If he does not die... I am afraid Xie Yu’an cannot hold. By all logic, right now... No. By all logic, his father should already be wearing dragon robes by now.”

“I have a suspicion.”

The little girl raised one finger and stared intently at it.

“What?” the woman asked.

The little girl continued staring at her own finger.

Her eyes gradually crossed.

Then she froze.

The woman reached out, pressed the finger down, and rubbed the girl’s eyes for her.

The little girl exhaled deeply.

“This body has rusted far too badly.”

“Move it more often. It will improve greatly,” the woman replied. “I intend to find someone to perform yin-yang harmonization with it, so this body can recover as much as possible.”

“What I mean is... could there be another mysterious group out there? One that, like our sect, has hidden in the shadows all these years... yet has continuously pushed the great momentum beneath Heaven from behind the scenes?”

“You mean...?”

“Acting rashly may alert the snake hidden in the grass. Because I now suspect... that Regent Prince of Yan may only be a useless memorial tablet... pushed out into the open for everyone to see.”

...

“Achoo!”

Inside the command tent, the Regent Prince of Great Yan sneezed while reviewing memorials.

It was difficult for him to catch cold in the first place.

Especially now that his body had been nursed back into good condition.

And at night... he had blankets.

The Prince accepted a hot towel from Siniang and wiped his face.

Then said:

“My daughter must be thinking about me.”

[End of Chapter 961]