Chapter 997: Beacon Fires Across the City!

Jinghai City was a great city at the easternmost edge of Qian’s Jiangnan.

The Qian River swept past it and rushed onward into the sea, giving the city an almost uniquely blessed geographical position.

So although Jinghai City did not lie in what people traditionally considered the heartland of Jiangnan, its prosperity was in no way inferior to that of the great cities farther inland.

Jin had Yupan City, once immensely prosperous and now restored to much of its former glory with the rise of eastern Jin. Jin scholars even liked calling Yupan City a “Little Jiangnan of Jin.”

But if one saw the two with one’s own eyes, comparing Yupan City with Jinghai City truly felt like comparing a minor witch to a great sorcerer.

This was Jiangnan.

This was... abundance.

Hence the saying:

If one never enters Jiangnan in this life, it is as though one never truly came to the mortal world.

Jinghai City.

Flower Appreciation Tower.

Third floor, private room.

Zheng Fan leaned against the railing, watching dancers sway gracefully below.

All around the railings hung calligraphy and poems left by scholars. Some described the scenery. Some praised song and dance. Some indulged in romantic abandon...

There were even poems swearing loyalty to the state and vowing to launch a northern expedition.

The cup in the Prince’s hand nearly sprayed wine everywhere.

Seeing this, Xie Yu’an laughed.

“That is rather interesting. In a place of pleasure and willow-lined streets like this, someone still writes poems about launching a northern expedition.”

The Prince shook his head and corrected him.

“To remain here, surrounded by flowers, without letting one’s eyes be dazzled—to remain unwavering in one’s resolve and continue pondering affairs of state—that is what makes a true outstanding man.”

“Hahahahaha.”

Xie Yu’an laughed.

After spending so many days together, he had more or less figured out some of this Prince’s temperament.

How should he put it?

As long as matters of state and military affairs were not involved, the Prince was actually very easy to get along with.

Moreover, the Prince seemed to enjoy having someone nearby who could chat with him and relieve his boredom—provided they did not discuss politics, and instead talked about romance, amusing anecdotes, and the like.

Xie Yu’an felt that if the man in front of him were not a Prince, and if the two had met under different circumstances, he would have been quite willing to become friends with him.

Then...

Xie Yu’an suddenly realized something.

Did the Emperor of Yan feel the same way?

The Yan Emperor had known the Prince much earlier. Back then, one had been an idle imperial prince and the other merely a Merchant Escort Lieutenant. Their relationship in those days could only have been purer and more sincere.

This was the sort of discovery that would almost never appear in official records.

No matter how powerful Chu’s Phoenix Nest Internal Guard might be, it could never obtain and analyze some report explaining the “genuine emotional bond” between Great Yan’s Regent Prince and Great Yan’s Emperor.

But the longer Xie Yu’an spent around Zheng Fan, the more convinced he became that this possibility had to be real.

And because the two men had grown stronger in parallel, almost as equals, the affection of those earlier years had instead become even more stable.

Unfortunately... understanding that now was already too late.

Great Chu had already lost.

“Master, is she pretty?” Siniang asked as she walked over.

The Prince immediately shook his head.

Looking at his Princess Consort, he answered:

“Naturally, she’s far inferior to you.”

That was not even a survival instinct talking.

Siniang’s dancing was genuinely exquisite, and she knew far more styles of dance.

It was only that there was exactly one person in this world who could appreciate them.

That little brat of theirs was already so old, and more than ten years had passed since Siniang awakened in this world, yet there was still not the slightest sign of age on her face. She had not even gained a single crow’s-foot.

Zheng Fan, by contrast, could not yet be called old, but he was increasingly beginning to resemble those figures he used to see in ancient paintings.

At the beginning, Siniang had felt like an older-sister type beside him.

Now, she was a young wife.

Give it a few more years and it would look like an old ox eating tender grass.

“What really feels refreshing here, though, is the atmosphere.”

Eastern Jin had high-end establishments too.

Some were even more luxurious than this, and the games played there were more advanced.

But places like this needed a crowd of “cultured” people to create the right atmosphere.

Eastern Jin—no, all of Jin and Yan—still had too many rough fellows who chewed peonies like cattle. They simply could not gather enough people to produce this kind of mood.

“Sometimes, even if you do nothing at all, just sitting here, drinking wine and watching the dancing, is a kind of pleasure and leisure. In most other places, that’s hard to achieve.”

“Master is right,” Siniang agreed deeply.

Xie Yu’an stood silently to one side.

The Prince and Princess Consort were discussing Red Tents. To Xie Yu’an, that probably counted as a kind of “private matter between husband and wife.”

How could he possibly interrupt?

There were quite a few people in the room.

The Sword Saint sat near the door.

The Swordsmith sat by the window.

The Blind Man sat there quietly peeling oranges. He had already peeled a small plateful and would occasionally raise his head toward Xie Yu’an, who stood near the Prince.

A’Ming sat drinking wine. He had ordered twelve different varieties in one breath and was tasting them slowly.

Xue San was on the roof of Flower Appreciation Tower.

Below the building were also several Xie Clan retainers.

The reason Great Yan’s Regent Prince had dared slip into Jinghai City ahead of the army was simple: he had come prepared with an absurdly sufficient security detail.

With this kind of protection... unless Qian’s Silver-Armored Guard assembled at maximum speed, there was truly little to fear.

Even if there were assassins or an ambush, they had more than enough strength to carve their way out.

Unless... the Qian mobilized actual troops.

But then again... whose troops were hiding outside Jinghai City right now?

Of course...

Zheng Fan had not infiltrated the city merely to enjoy the “flowers and moonlight” ahead of schedule.

He had come because he had to.

Oh.

There were also three young attendants in the room.

Zheng Lin was one of them.

He voluntarily carried a pot of tea over.

Xie Yu’an reached out and accepted some.

After so many days, he had grown used to seeing these young attendants serving around Zheng Fan.

For noble households, bringing children up close at hand from a young age was hardly unusual. People raised that way were usually more loyal and dependable.

Zheng Fan accepted a cup too.

His son was doing very well.

The boy’s temper was poor only toward his biological father.

Along the road, he had concealed himself flawlessly.

Xie Yu’an, who often spent time in the command tent, and even the Swordsmith, who stayed there frequently, had noticed nothing unusual.

To a certain extent, the boy had been trained by his Demon King godfathers to an extremely high professional standard.

Siniang accepted her cup.

She took a sip.

Then frowned slightly.

“This tea was steeped too long.”

...

In the neighboring private room, Xie Zhuyang sat in a wheelchair, having just finished speaking with Jinghai City’s Garrison Commander, Liu Hui.

Great Yan’s Regent Prince had more than once cursed Great Yan’s Secret Intelligence Department for being useless.

The only time it had genuinely helped him, perhaps, was years ago when it arranged contacts for him inside Qian.

And even then, the person involved had merely been a local fortified-manor lord who had climbed upward by becoming someone’s son-in-law.

The Qian, by contrast, had managed to turn the commander of Nanwang City while Zheng Fan was still there ten years ago.

Even earlier, they had planted people directly inside Yan’s Secret Intelligence Department itself.

Du Juan had been one of them.

The Emperor of Great Yan was equally dissatisfied with the Secret Intelligence Department.

Compared with Great Yan’s iron cavalry, which won almost every frontal battle it fought, Yan’s performance in covert intelligence warfare was simply too poor.

But there were historical reasons for that.

Back when Great Yan was dominated by powerful aristocratic clans, most of the Secret Intelligence Department’s efforts were aimed inward.

And under those conditions, its reach had been constrained just as imperial power itself had been constrained.

If it could barely operate freely inside Yan, one could hardly expect it to penetrate foreign states effectively.

An intelligence network needed time more than anything else.

Qian’s Silver-Armored Guard and Chu’s Phoenix Nest Internal Guard had both been cultivated and expanded over several generations before reaching their present effectiveness.

Great Yan wanting to leap to the same level in one step was simply unrealistic.

By now, the situation had improved enormously.

As Great Yan continued rising and “All Under Heaven belongs to Yan” stopped sounding like mere inspiring propaganda, more and more people began hedging their bets.

There would always be loyal ministers and steadfast generals.

But there would be even more people trying to keep one foot on each boat.

Under that kind of momentum, it became easy for “who beneath Heaven has no connection to Yan?” to turn into reality.

Qian and Chu had long operated in much the same way.

Both sides cultivated and developed influence within the other.

Sometimes those contacts were not even maintained as covert agents.

They existed simply as “relationships.”

In a critical moment, such people could not necessarily decide the outcome of a war.

But when needed, they could arrange a meeting.

They could speak.

Some so-called “old family friendships” could even be traced back to the generation of both men’s grandfathers.

Liu Hui was such a case.

His grandmother had in fact been a collateral woman of the Xie Clan.

If one stretched the genealogy far enough, he and Xie Zhuyang belonged to the same generation.

Never mind that they had long since passed five degrees of mourning kinship.

When necessary... they were relatives!

Aristocratic houses, great clans, and even Qian’s rising scholar-official class all instinctively maintained their positions through marriage ties and political alliances.

You had people within me.

I had people within you.

That instinct did not stop at national borders.

Everyone understood the principle of the crafty rabbit keeping three burrows.

Over the centuries, there had been plenty of examples of one branch of a family being destroyed in one place, only for another branch elsewhere to rise again.

Had the Min Clan not once married a daughter all the way into Chu’s Fan Clan?

“Lord Xie, you’re making this very difficult for me.”

Liu Hui closed his eyes and sighed.

Xie Zhuyang smiled faintly.

“Commander Liu, I am giving you an opportunity.”

Liu Hui shook his head.

“This Liu has read the sages since childhood. I truly cannot do such a thing.”

Xie Zhuyang gently stroked the armrest of his wheelchair.

Liu Hui continued:

“Lord Xie came to see me. I am deeply honored. We are kin to begin with. If you come, I will receive you.”

“But I have two hundred thousand troops hidden outside Jinghai City. Commander Liu, can you stop them?”

“After the Yan-Chu war years ago, Chu was still like a centipede that remained alive even after death, and so Nian Yao could still lead troops to attack Qian. But now? This Liu knows how terrible the Battle of Shanggu Commandery was. Can Great Chu still gather two hundred thousand elite troops today? Even if it could, would it dare place them on Qian’s border? As for you, Lord Xie—your Xie Clan Army suffered grievous losses at Guyue City. Of course your clan has a deep foundation. But elite troops are not leeks. Even leeks, once cut, need time before a new crop grows. If the Xie Clan wants aid, this Liu can be accommodating where possible. Merchant caravans and the like—I can close one eye.”

That meant smuggling.

“If that still isn’t enough, this Liu can even submit a memorial to court on your behalf. His Majesty understands the principle that when the lips perish, the teeth grow cold.”

“Do you accept that new Emperor from the collateral branch?” Xie Zhuyang asked.

“Whether I accept him or not, he is the Emperor,” Liu Hui replied.

“Heh.”

Xie Zhuyang waved dismissively.

Liu Hui stood.

“Lord Xie, forgive this Liu for not lingering. There are quite a few Silver-Armored Guards inside the city.”

“Commander Liu, please stay a moment.”

“Oh? Does Lord Xie have something else to say?”

Liu Hui had come alone, bringing only a few attendants.

He genuinely did not fear that Xie Zhuyang would do anything to him.

Xie Zhuyang had no reason to.

“This Xie would like to introduce Commander Liu to someone.”

“Could Young Master Xie be here too? This Liu has long heard his great name.”

Xie Zhuyang gave a dry “hahaha.”

“I do not have that good fortune.”

“Oh? Then who?”

“You’ll know when you see him. Come with me.”

Shadow pushed Xie Zhuyang out of the private room.

Liu Hui followed.

Then... the door to the next private room opened.

Xie Zhuyang was pushed inside.

Liu Hui followed him in.

There were... many people inside.

A very mixed group.

Liu Hui’s gaze first landed on the Swordsmith.

More precisely, it landed on the sword case beside him.

The Dugu Clan crest.

The sword case...

At that moment... a handsome young man saluted Liu Hui.

“This junior Yu’an greets Uncle Liu.”

Liu Hui was just about to laugh and say, *You said it wasn’t your son, yet here your son is.*

After all, Xie Yu’an, the Xie Clan’s Thousand-Li Colt, actually held a higher office in Chu than his father.

Liu Hui would hardly treat him like an ordinary junior.

But just as he prepared to return the greeting... he froze.

Because he realized...

Xie Yu’an was standing in the wrong place.

A middle-aged man stood by the private room railing, watching the song and dance below.

A beautiful woman leaned beside him.

And Xie Yu’an... was plainly standing in the position of an attendant.

Great aristocratic houses placed enormous importance on ritual and rank.

The same was true in officialdom.

People obsessed over such things.

So... who exactly... could make the Xie Clan’s Thousand-Li Colt stand there like a minor servant?

At that moment...

Zheng Fan, still holding a teacup, turned around.

His waist rested against the railing.

His posture was lazy and relaxed.

He looked at Liu Hui.

Then spoke.

“Liu Hui?”

Liu Hui’s mouth instantly went dry.

He tried to find saliva and discovered none.

He did not know who the man in front of him was.

He had not even guessed.

The problem was...

Xie Zhuyang and Xie Yu’an were standing right there as context.

More importantly... the aura radiating from this man made the Garrison Commander of Jinghai City feel as though his knees were turning soft.

If he had not bitten down hard on the tip of his tongue and forced himself to stay upright... he might truly have knelt on the spot.

People possessed presence.

Those who had genuinely stood at the pinnacle possessed a presence completely different from everyone else.

Years ago, when Zheng Fan and the Demon Kings chatted, they had liked mocking the so-called “aura of a sovereign.”

Someone supposedly released that aura once and everyone in front of him dropped to their knees.

Absurd.

Then...

Zheng Fan met Tian Wujing.

He met Li Liangting.

He met the Yan Emperor...

And Zheng Fan finally realized that the absurd one had been himself.

If you mocked the “aura of a king,” it only meant one thing: your horizons were too shallow.

Your experience was too limited.

You had not mixed in circles high enough to meet people like that.

Years passed.

Time flowed.

Without noticing... the Merchant Escort Lieutenant from those days had become exactly the kind of person his inexperienced younger self once mocked.

He had commanded clashes involving armies of a million.

He had sat upon Dragon Thrones.

A thought from him could give life to ten thousand things.

A thought from him could send hundreds of thousands to death.

Applied to Great Yan’s Regent Prince, that was not exaggerated rhetoric.

It was... fact.

He had not merely “witnessed” so many storms over the years.

He had personally stirred them.

This man... was genuinely different now.

“You... Your Excellency is?”

“Zheng Fan.”

Zheng Fan?

Who was Zheng Fan?

Which Zheng Fan?

The name sounded familiar.

Had he heard it somewhere?

Liu Hui began thinking.

He thought for a long time.

And the more he thought, the more anxious he became.

Because he seemed to understand that he *should* know this person.

No.

He definitely knew.

He simply could not place the name.

The more that happened, the more nervous he became.

The more nervous he became, the harder he forced himself to think.

Inside the private room... many eyes rested on Liu Hui.

His hands clenched.

Relaxed.

Clenched again.

Relaxed again.

His eyes opened wider and wider.

Who was it?

Who the hell was it?!

He truly could not remember.

Then he changed approaches.

He started narrowing the possibilities.

Great Chu might have lost, but Great Chu still existed.

And the Xie Clan remained a giant in southern Chu.

Across all of All Xia, there were not many people who could make the Xie Clan’s young master stand like an attendant.

Once Liu Hui thought along those lines... he froze.

He had it.

Zheng Fan...

Great Yan’s Regent Prince!

Thud!

Liu Hui dropped to his knees.

His body began trembling.

He had passed the imperial examinations.

He had read the classics.

He had answered the previous Emperor’s call to transfer from civil office into military service.

He had submitted memorial after memorial describing the decayed state of the northern defenses.

He had criticized Great Yan’s Marquis Pingxi, Prince Pingxi, and Regent Prince in official memorials more times than he could count.

But none of that... prevented him from dropping cleanly to his knees the instant he unexpectedly came face-to-face with the Regent Prince himself.

Xie Zhuyang was here.

Xie Yu’an was here.

That man over there... was probably truly Great Chu’s Swordsmith.

So the man in front of him...

Truthfully, there was no need for elaborate reasoning anymore.

The moment this man casually called out his name...

Liu Hui had already become almost certain.

This was real!

Nearby, Zheng Lin still held the teapot.

Watching the scene, he blinked.

Xie Zhuyang, sitting in his wheelchair, gave a faint helpless sigh.

Yes.

The people who had always feared the Yan most were not the Chu.

They were the Qian.

And what frightened the Qian most was no longer some legendary story about the old Marquis Zhenbei leading troops south.

Nor was it Prince Jingnan marching south.

It was this man.

The contemporary God of War of Great Yan who had repeatedly, personally, led armies into Qian... and once smashed his way directly into Shangjing.

“Liu Hui...”

Hearing his own name, Liu Hui shuddered and instinctively answered:

“This subject... is here.”

“This Prince has two hundred thousand Great Yan iron cavalry waiting outside the city. Go help this Prince open the gates.”

“This subject... this subject... this subject...”

“Open the gates and this Prince will not massacre the city. As for you, Liu Hui, and your Liu family, this Prince will guarantee wealth and honor for your branch.”

The Prince took a sip of water.

Then asked:

“How does that sound?”

“This subject... obeys.”

“Good boy. Go.”

Liu Hui staggered to his feet.

Xie Zhuyang gave Shadow a look.

Shadow supported Liu Hui out of the room.

Zheng Fan handed his teacup to his son.

Then turned around.

“Come. Let’s keep watching the singing and dancing.”

...

Flower Appreciation Tower only became livelier as night deepened.

Zheng Fan even stayed long enough to see the courtesan queen perform personally.

And astonishingly, what she sang was:

“Men have sorrow and joy, partings and reunions...”

Xie Yu’an immediately said:

“Your Highness, she is singing your lyric.”

The Prince laughed.

Heaven only knew how many of “Zheng Lang’s lyrics” the Blind Man had leaked to Ji Old Sixth behind his back.

Siniang laughed until her branches trembled.

She teased:

“Master, that little courtesan queen does have a bit of baby fat.”

The aesthetic standard of this age did not chase skeletal thinness.

And Siniang knew exactly which type her Master had always favored.

She reached out and gently stroked the Prince’s beard.

Breathing softly near him, she said:

“Master, do you regret it now? Regret not being born in Qian? If you had been, every courtesan queen in Jiangnan would probably take pride in offering herself to your pillow.”

At that moment...

Xue San dropped upside down from the roof to the edge of the window.

He reported:

“Master, the signal arrow is up.”

Zheng Fan reached out.

He took Siniang’s hand.

“Your son is right here. What nonsense are you saying?”

The words *your son*... made Xie Zhuyang, Xie Yu’an, and the Swordsmith all freeze for an instant.

The Heir Prince... was here?

Now that the opening move had succeeded, there was no longer much fear that the Chu would suddenly reverse themselves.

So there was also no need to worry about the Chu learning that the Heir Prince of the Residence had in fact remained beside his father.

Zheng Fan reached out and wrapped an arm around his son’s shoulders.

His son instinctively wanted to resist.

His biological mother’s gaze narrowed slightly.

His son immediately abandoned resistance and allowed himself to be wrapped in paternal affection.

“Cigarette.”

Zheng Lin reached into his sleeve and took out the large iron cigarette case Brother Tian Tian had passed down to him.

He opened it.

At that same moment... the gates of Jinghai City opened as well.

Countless mounted troops began pouring through!

Zheng Lin took out a cigarette and held it to Zheng Fan’s mouth.

Zheng Fan bit down on it.

Zheng Lin took out a fire striker.

At the eastern gate, the Yan cavalry entering the city raised torches and began cutting down Qian soldiers who realized something was wrong and dared rush over to block them.

Shouts of killing.

Screams.

Faintly, they began drifting from the eastern part of the city.

Zheng Lin was just about to bring the fire striker over and light his biological father’s cigarette.

But Zheng Fan took the cigarette from his mouth and held it between his fingers instead.

With his other hand... the Prince gently patted his son’s shoulder.

Then asked:

“Son, do you know what kind of fire is best for lighting a cigarette?”

By then, the vanguard cavalry under Tian Tian had already fought its way toward this area.

After entering the city, their first task was to rush to the Prince’s position and secure him.

The entirety of Flower Appreciation Tower had fallen into chaos.

Candles and colored lanterns were overturned everywhere.

Flames sprang up amid the screaming.

A smile appeared at the corner of the Prince’s mouth.

He reached out.

Pulled down a colored lantern hanging beneath the railing.

Used the candle flame inside it to light his cigarette.

Then casually tossed the lantern below.

“Beacon fires across the city.”

[End of Chapter 997]