Chapter 962: Dogs and Horses!

“This fish soup is excellent. Really fresh.”

Gou Moli held his bowl and drank slowly.

A ring of generals sat around him.

More than half were Savages.

“Aiya.”

When he finished one bowl, someone beside him immediately stepped forward and refilled it.

“AAH! AAH! AAH!”

Gou Moli turned his head.

Not far away, a man had been suspended from a frame and was being whipped.

The man’s surname was He.

He was the head of one of the larger fortified-manor clans in the region and counted as a minor local noble from earlier years.

Originally, he had been one of the internal agents Gou Moli developed in advance.

When Gou Moli led troops into the area, the man not only refused to obstruct the “Yan army” despite holding official status under Chu, but voluntarily sent over considerable grain to reward the troops.

By all logic, he should have been considered a contributor.

Yet here he was now.

Because... two days earlier, he had led his clansmen in rebellion.

And Gou Moli had immediately suppressed them.

A fresh bowl of fish soup arrived.

Gou Moli grabbed a small pinch of chopped scallions and scattered them over the surface.

Then he sprinkled in pepper.

Added a little vinegar.

After that... he rose.

Bowl in hand, sipping his soup in small mouthfuls, he walked toward Clan Head He.

The man had already been whipped into a miserable state.

Blood covered his entire body.

Gou Moli leaned closer and took another sip of soup.

Then he sighed.

“Why bother?”

Clan Head He struggled to raise his head and look at Gou Moli.

There was no hatred in his eyes.

Only profound self-mockery.

“The grain... you’re going to eat all of it. This winter... we won’t survive.”

“Mm.”

Gou Moli sighed.

“General... General... I beg you. Spare my clansmen. Everything was my sin. Mine... mine alone.”

“That makes things difficult. There are quite a few fortified-manor lords around here who surrendered to me. If your He Clan rebels and I treat it lightly, what happens when the others imitate you? You are the head of a clan. Surely you understand something that simple?”

“All wrongs... all sins... are mine, General...”

“Heh-heh.”

Gou Moli stopped looking at him.

He continued drinking his fish soup.

Still hanging there, Clan Head He began choking and sobbing.

He was not especially afraid of death.

He was drowning in regret.

He had secretly submitted to the Yan.

When their army arrived, he had made everything convenient for them.

What he had never expected... was that the Yan army would simply stop here and refuse to leave.

And once they stopped... they stayed nearly a full month.

Tens of thousands of soldiers.

Men eating.

Horses consuming fodder.

Several nearby fortified manors were expected to support all of it.

And the troops demanded good food.

Enough food.

How could any local stores endure that?

When people stopped giving willingly... the army simply took.

Then began robbing.

Winter was already visible ahead.

With so many mouths inside every fortified manor... how were they supposed to survive?

That was why the He Clan rebelled.

At last, Gou Moli finished his soup.

He took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his mouth.

Then he looked at Clan Head He again and smiled.

“Some people always imagine being a dog is easy. Your knees soften. You offer a few flattering words. You put on a smiling face. Woof-woof a couple of times... and suddenly you think you’re a qualified dog. Ai. That’s it? You are a surrendered man. So you need the self-awareness of a surrendered man. Once your knees have already gone soft, stop constantly sneaking glances upward. What are you looking at? What is there to see? Look too much... and sooner or later you start imagining... that perhaps... you are still a human being. Hehehe.”

Gou Moli reached out and lightly patted Clan Head He’s face.

“That is as far as I’ll teach you. Next life... be a good dog.”

Gou Moli stepped back two paces.

Then ordered his men:

“Cut off his head. Send it around for every nearby fortified manor to see.”

“Yes!”

Gou Moli yawned and rubbed his hands together.

The temperature had dropped noticeably over the past several days.

But compared with winter on the snowfields... this little bit of cold did not count for anything.

Fed and satisfied, Gou Moli returned to his command tent and lay down.

He reached down and felt the flesh around his waist.

Sinful.

Truly sinful.

Back in Fan City, there had actually been very little to do, yet he had somehow never managed to stay idle.

Now he had led troops out here, stretched himself on a bed... and actually managed to grow fat.

He closed his eyes.

He was just preparing to enjoy an afternoon nap.

Then... dense footsteps sounded outside the command tent.

A moment later, the curtain was thrown open.

Two generals entered with sabers in hand.

One was Yan-born.

The other was Jin-born.

Gou Moli opened his eyes and sat up.

He simply watched the two of them.

For an instant, both generals were intimidated.

Their steps faltered.

Outside the command tent... nearly three hundred armored soldiers had already surrounded the area.

Then came the sound of still more men moving.

Savage generals had led their own soldiers over and surrounded the three hundred armored troops in turn.

The entire scene... was one spark away from exploding.

Yet the three hundred armored soldiers did not panic much.

The army from Fan City had always been overwhelmingly Savage in composition.

Now... everyone simply remained silent.

Inside the command tent...

Gou Moli yawned.

Then said:

“No manners at all. Even if you have something to report to this Marshal, you should announce yourselves first. Fortunately, I was only sleeping. If I’d been sleeping with a woman... wouldn’t the sight have made you two die of inferiority?”

The two generals were Chi Lin and Hao Min.

Chi Lin was Yan-born.

Hao Min was Jin-born.

Both had been orphans.

Both had grown up in the school system as part of the earliest cohort of adopted wards.

They had already served in the army for years.

Generally speaking, those adopted wards had been selected and tested while still in school.

Their loyalty was absolutely dependable.

Their ability had also been screened early.

As a result, their promotions inside the army had always been extremely rapid.

Chi Lin raised his saber toward Gou Moli.

Then demanded:

“Why has our army remained here for so long?”

Gou Moli pointed at the saber before him.

He looked genuinely puzzled.

“Since when did the eastern Jin army have a custom of pointing a blade at your superior?”

Chi Lin hesitated.

But he still did not lower his saber.

Instead, he continued:

“The Prince is leading the army near the Wei River, confronting the main force of Chu. Our army was ordered out of Fan City, through Guyue, to cut the connection between Qian and Chu. Why has the Marshal ordered the entire army to remain here for so long? You are disregarding the Prince’s safety. Disregarding military orders. Disregarding the greater situation. What exactly do you intend?”

Gou Moli sucked in a breath.

Then sneered.

“Are you the Marshal, or am I? Are you carrying out the military orders, or am I? I am commander of Fan City’s army. How I fight this war... where I fight this war... since when did I need to take instructions from a mere Assistant General like you?”

Beside Chi Lin, Hao Min raised his saber too.

He spoke in a low voice.

“Then why has the Marshal secretly sent people to contact the Xie Clan in Guyue City? The Prince has treated you with no small kindness. Is this how you repay our Prince?”

“Oh?”

Gou Moli did not show the slightest panic at having been “caught in the act.”

Instead, he leaned backward on both hands and adjusted himself into an even more comfortable sitting position atop the blanket.

“So you actually discovered it. Impressive. Truly impressive. But what exactly are you two doing now?”

“Anyone who dares show disloyalty to the Prince... we will never spare!”

“This is my army. This is my command tent. Nine-tenths of the soldiers here are Savages. What exactly can you do to me? Take this Marshal hostage and fight your way out? Hehehe.”

“This is the Prince’s army! They are Savages, yes. But they are also Standard Households! They are loyal to the Prince too!”

“You are welcome to try. I personally trained this army for all these years. If they refuse to listen to me in front of the enemy... then I might as well go find a block of tofu and smash my own head against it.”

“Marshal, then the two of us will die with you! You want to betray the Prince? Dream on! Even if we and all the brothers with us are buried here today... we will drag you down with us!”

Gou Moli shrugged.

At that moment... the mass scrape of armor sounded outside the tent.

A large number of armored soldiers were moving together.

A man in white walked toward the command tent.

As he approached... neither the Savage soldiers in the outer ring nor the three hundred armored soldiers brought by Chi Lin and Hao Min dared block his path.

The tent curtain was lifted again.

Hao Min and Chi Lin turned around.

They saw the newcomer.

The man glanced at them.

“Put away your sabers.”

Hao Min and Chi Lin obeyed immediately.

“Out.”

The two looked at each other.

The corner of Gou Moli’s mouth curled in unmistakable schadenfreude.

Even so... after saluting the newcomer, Hao Min and Chi Lin still left the command tent.

“Aiya, you two little bastards. What is this? You’re scared he’ll beat you, so the moment he shows up you stop making noise?”

Gou Moli crossed his legs and complained to the Sword Saint.

The Sword Saint looked at Gou Moli.

“If I had not come out, were you truly planning to let them kill you?”

“Heh. Not that far. Not that far.”

Gou Moli waved a hand.

“If I got turned into a human lantern this easily, wouldn’t I have lived all these years for nothing?”

Gou Moli reached down and lifted the blanket beneath him.

Inside the compartment below... a man and a woman were lying there.

Both wore necklaces made from bone fragments across their chests.

Their eyes were shut.

There was no breath.

These two... were Star Receivers.

Years ago, when a child was born into the Residence, a Daoist had come uninvited from afar.

The Star Receivers imprisoned in the dungeon beside the Residence had helped protect the household.

Because of that, their status had been pardoned to a certain degree.

Gou Moli was himself a Savage.

Two Star Receivers had therefore been assigned to his side as well.

At present, both were sleeping through something similar to a tortoise-breathing technique.

Naturally, Gou Moli possessed a way to wake them instantly.

“Still not safe enough,” the Sword Saint judged.

“What counts as safe? Kill those two brats in advance? There is no such thing as absolutely safe here. It does not exist.”

Gou Moli slapped his backside and stood.

Then continued:

“I didn’t expect the Prince to send you personally.”

“He received their secret letter. So he specifically asked me to make this trip.”

Given the Sword Saint’s identity... using him as a messenger carried enormous weight by itself.

No one would believe the Sword Saint might betray the Prince.

In countless stories circulating through the jianghu—and in the folk operas most popular throughout eastern Jin—the Sword Saint always stood beside the Prince.

He was practically the second male lead.

The two were treated as inseparable.

“The Prince still cares about me. Hahaha.”

Gou Moli laughed.

Then he walked out of the command tent.

The Sword Saint stood beside him.

“Disperse. Go back to whatever you were doing.”

Gou Moli called out.

The armored soldiers began dispersing.

Hao Min and Chi Lin saw the Sword Saint standing continuously behind Gou Moli.

That was practically equivalent to a direct statement of the Prince’s attitude.

The two exchanged a glance.

They stepped forward and were just preparing to kneel and confess their offense... when Gou Moli kicked each of them once.

“Get the hell out of here. Don’t play these empty little rituals with me. Go.”

“Yes!”

“Yes!”

Gou Moli turned toward the Sword Saint.

“Truthfully, I don’t have many options either. I need to drag the timing out just right.”

“I do not know what exactly you people are planning.”

The Sword Saint remembered that his own son did not seem to know either.

Even though his son helped the Prince receive and dispatch memorials every day... and sometimes even needed to help approve them... the boy still seemed capable of nothing but smiling foolishly when this subject came up.

Gou Moli nodded.

“I can’t really explain it either.”

“Another riddle?”

“A riddle has an answer. This one doesn’t. It really can only be understood through intuition. It cannot be put properly into words. Why do people say a good general is hard to find? In my view... when they say ‘general,’ what they really mean is commander-in-chief. When armies are separated by such distances, how could eight-hundred-li urgent dispatches possibly keep everyone communicating fast enough? In the end... it comes down to the man commanding one front. He has to judge the situation himself. He has to decide how to face it himself. In your view... what is our greatest advantage over Chu right now?”

Before the Sword Saint could answer, Gou Moli answered his own question.

“It is not mainly that our soldiers are stronger and our horses better. Of course... our soldiers are stronger and our horses are better. But the real advantage is that we have more commander-level talent than Chu. That makes everything we do... far more relaxed.”

“Then keep being relaxed. I’m tired. I want to rest.”

“Don’t, don’t. Tomorrow Xie Zhuyang has invited me to meet. Now that you’re here, come with me.”

“You really did hook up with him?”

“A delaying tactic. A delaying tactic.”

...

Commanders meeting before two armies clashed was an ancient custom inherited from the days of Great Xia.

Ritual had collapsed and music had decayed long ago.

But the custom had not been properly abolished... until one afternoon before Snow Sea Pass.

From that day onward... so-called meetings before battle changed flavor completely.

So when Gou Moli and Xie Zhuyang met this time... they chose opposite sides of a valley.

Xie Zhuyang stood in the south.

Gou Moli stood in the north.

A cliff separated them.

Both sides brought a few soldiers.

Neither brought many.

When Gou Moli arrived, he had specifically carried a small wooden stool with him.

He set it down.

Then sat.

Across the ravine, Xie Zhuyang remained standing.

He was already getting on in years.

Yet he still possessed that vast, outwardly surging presence.

“Heh. That old bastard Xie Zhuyang actually brought a little woman with him.”

Gou Moli’s eyes were sharp.

He had spotted the woman standing beside Xie Zhuyang.

“Yo. There’s even a little girl.”

After teasing them to himself...

Gou Moli still did not feel satisfied.

So he cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted:

“Hey! Old Xie! You’re bringing women to war and squeezing out babies on the side too? Now that is what I call handling two jobs at once!”

“He will not surrender,” the little girl said.

Xie Zhuyang did not care.

“I know he is only trying to delay time. That is fine. Truly fine.”

“HEY! OLD XIE! I’M LONELY TOO! How about this? Send that little woman beside you over here first. Let her warm my bed. Then I’ll come over, surrender to you, and kowtow. How about it?!”

The barefoot woman beside Xie Zhuyang stepped into the air.

White gauze flew from her sleeves.

Although a cliff separated both sides... a powerful wave of force still swept toward Gou Moli.

Gou Moli did not panic in the slightest.

Instead, with complete confidence... he pointed one finger forward.

The Sword Saint glanced at him.

Then he still stepped forward.

One finger pointed outward.

Sword qi condensed above the ravine.

It struck the woman’s force head-on and dispersed it.

Neither side had truly committed to an attack.

Killing someone across such a wide gap would not have been realistic.

But this kind of exchange across distance actually made it easier to sense the depth of the other person’s aura.

The woman landed again.

Using blood qi to transmit her voice, she said:

“What a powerful swordsman.”

The little girl smiled.

“He would qualify to enter the sect.”

The woman shook her head.

“A sword hidden in shadow cannot compare with a sword standing in sunlight. In sword intent alone... there is already a layer of difference. The swordsmen inside the sect would probably find it difficult to defeat him.”

“I already told you. We are nothing more than a group of rats clinging to life.”

Xie Zhuyang did not know what the two women were saying.

But he could sense that they were communicating.

So he volunteered an introduction.

“The man opposite us should be the Sword Saint of Jin. He has always served as personal guard to Great Yan’s Regent Prince.”

“I want to retract my earlier suspicion that this Regent Prince might merely be a memorial tablet. A mere memorial tablet would not be worth a swordsman like that remaining beside him as protector.”

The woman looked at the little girl.

“An Emperor never lacks experts around him.”

“A swordsman is different. Swordsmen value purity above all. And he... is different even from other pure swordsmen. Didn’t you notice? His sword intent just now carried a force that suppresses and subdues. Could he have killed an Emperor before? Would a man like that... bend his waist for power and status?”

Xie Zhuyang looked at the little girl.

Then the woman.

Back and forth.

At last, the woman spoke to him.

“Clan Head Xie. Please continue with your own business.”

“Very well.”

Xie Zhuyang stepped forward.

Then shouted across the valley:

“You were once a king yourself! Are you truly willing to spend the rest of your life as a dog? If you surrender to us... together we can shatter the shackles eastern Jin placed upon your snowfields. Restore your people’s freedom! And if you are truly determined to be a dog... if you can be his dog... why can you not be Great Chu’s dog?”

Across the ravine...

Gou Moli extended one little finger and dug into his ear.

Then... with great solemnity... he cleared his throat.

And shouted:

“YOU’RE RIGHT! YOUR FATHER HERE STOPPED WANTING TO BE A DOG A LONG TIME AGO!”

Xie Zhuyang smiled and shouted back:

“That is more like it! You were once a mighty—”

“YOUR FATHER HERE WANTS TO BE A HORSE GROOM!”

[End of Chapter 962]