Chapter 1001: The Father He Couldn't See Through

“Were you frightened?”

“Replying to Your Highness, I truly was at the time. Fortunately, His Highness the Heir Prince was right beside me.”

As Zhao Yuannian answered, he took the teapot from Eunuch Zhao and began pouring tea for the Prince and Heir Prince.

The Heir Prince remained seated without moving.

Zheng Fan raised a hand to stop him.

Zhao Yuannian froze.

Then Zheng Fan looked toward Eunuch Zhao standing nearby.

In that instant, Eunuch Zhao felt a chill crawl across his back. He hurriedly reached out, “snatched” the teapot from His Majesty’s hands, and began pouring the tea himself.

Zhao Yuannian smiled bitterly.

“This is something I ought to do.”

Zheng Fan shook his head.

“There’s no need. You count as half family already, and now you’re also an Emperor. Among our own people, there’s no need to behave like this. Leave yourself some dignity.”

“Yes. Yes.”

Zhao Yuannian was genuinely moved.

That was not an act.

Because of his mother, he understood something of the life inside Prince Pingxi Residence—or rather, of that atmosphere in which everyone treated one another like family.

Zheng Lin silently drank his tea.

In truth, these words would have been most suitable coming from Zheng Lin, the Heir Prince.

Zheng Fan no longer needed to “bestow favor.”

No one beneath him dared oppose him anymore. It was not forced submission beneath oppression, but submission mixed with reverence.

Relatively speaking, these accumulated “graces” would yield the greatest return if distributed by the successor.

Zheng Fan believed his son understood all of that perfectly well.

The boy was simply too lazy to do it.

“Did you have fun?”

Zheng Fan asked.

Zheng Lin hesitated briefly, then nodded.

“It was all right.”

“That sounds a little forced,” Zheng Fan said. “Then next time there won’t be another chance.”

“It was fun,” Zheng Lin immediately amended.

“Mm.”

The Prince was satisfied.

Zhao Yuannian, sitting nearby, said:

“I truly never imagined things would become that dramatic that day.”

Zheng Fan glanced at him.

Then smiled.

“You never expected Jiangnan would still have that kind of bloody courage?”

“Yes.”

Zhao Yuannian nodded.

Prince Fu Residence had originally been in Chuzhou Commandery.

It did not belong to the Three Frontiers, but it lay close to them.

Otherwise, Zheng Fan could hardly have invaded the region so many times.

Before Zhao Yuannian became a “dog,” he too had resisted.

He had struggled.

Again and again.

Then been suppressed again and again.

In the end, he submitted.

He had personally witnessed the strength of Great Yan’s iron cavalry.

He had personally witnessed how terrifying this Prince could be.

And during all his years in eastern Jin, everything he saw and heard had only reinforced those conclusions.

So in Zhao Yuannian’s mind, resisting this Prince had already become something close to absurd.

He had even begun wondering in genuine confusion:

Why did the Qian people here actually dare?

His mentality was perfectly normal.

Among traitors and running dogs, the thing they often found hardest to endure was seeing people from their old “kind” still standing after they themselves had long since knelt down.

*How dare you?*

*How can you?*

Human beings possessed a typical instinct for self-preservation.

It was like doing business.

No one wanted to completely invalidate a decision they had already made.

And what had been wagered here was not merely money.

It was one’s entire character.

“Jiangnan is enormous. Naturally it contains every kind of person. There’s nothing strange about that. You don’t need to think too much about it,” Zheng Fan comforted him.

“Yes. Your Highness is right.”

“That bloody courage will only flare once. It can’t last.”

The Prince lifted his teacup and took a sip.

Then continued:

“Tongyan City and Mingsu City have already opened their gates and surrendered.”

The two cities lay respectively north and south of Jinghai City.

Neither could compare with Jinghai in size.

But neither was a small city either.

Under Zheng Fan’s control, the Yan-Chu allied army had never rushed forward greedily at the beginning to savor the pleasure of taking city after city.

It had been cautious.

Extremely cautious.

One could even say it had “turtled up.”

But the failure of the “rebellion” at the traveling palace—and more importantly, the defeat and fall of the three garrisons—had left the great clans, officials, gentry, and even ordinary people of this entire region unable to see any hope.

So the Yan sent only small detachments to test the waters and demand surrender.

They had actually been doing so for some time.

Now, finally, those efforts were bearing fruit.

The three garrisons had been the only real field force in this region capable of fighting.

Jiangnan’s military registers contained plenty of “troops.”

Half of them were ghost soldiers existing only on paper.

The remaining half had long since rotted into uselessness, even worse than Shangjing’s old Capital Camp.

Some men possessed courage.

Some possessed backbone.

They resisted.

Then they failed.

To a certain degree, their resistance truly did proclaim that Qian’s Jiangnan still possessed blood and courage.

But at the same time... their failure gave every weather vane an excuse.

Since resistance was useless... then surrender.

“This... this is truly wonderful.”

Zhao Yuannian looked genuinely delighted.

Because this meant the territory nominally under his imperial rule had finally expanded beyond the single corner of Jinghai City.

North and south... his realm had stretched outward.

This Emperor had finally ceased to be merely a city lord.

The Wu Clan had played a role too.

Both Tongyan City and Mingsu City stood along the Qian River.

Once the Wu Clan’s fleet came upstream, it effectively delivered the final blow that pushed both cities into surrender.

Even now, however... the Prince still had not personally received Wu Xiang.

Zheng Lin continued drinking tea and eating pastries in silence.

“Aren’t you getting sick of those?” the Prince asked.

Tea pastries in this age were still mostly sweet.

In great households, a person might eat one tiny dish—or even one little piece—very slowly while drinking tea and chatting away an entire afternoon.

His own son... was stuffing one after another into his mouth.

Two plates were already almost empty.

Zheng Lin rolled his eyes at his father.

“I’m a Martial Artist.”

Zheng Fan understood immediately.

A man who had spent years having ladders placed beneath his feet by those around him naturally understood what a ladder was for.

Besides, back when he was still poor and obscure, he had spent plenty of time placing ladders beneath other people too.

So he immediately answered:

“Your father is also a Martial Artist. Fourth Grade.”

“Oh. Is that high?”

“Very high,” Zheng Fan answered as though it were self-evident.

“Shouldn’t Third Grade be the starting point? Like children inevitably growing up. Isn’t that simply natural?”

“Hahahahahaha!”

The Prince burst into laughter.

He hated people showing off in front of him.

Many who had done so ended miserably.

But fathers were always unusually tolerant of their own sons.

Zhao Yuannian and Eunuch Zhao laughed along beside them.

They had both long since sensed that these two did not resemble an ordinary father and son of the imperial house.

“Oh, right.”

Zheng Lin suddenly asked:

“What did you mean by what you said earlier at Flower Appreciation Tower?”

“Which line?”

“‘It is not barbarism that creates an absolute military machine. Rather, an absolute military machine inevitably produces barbarism.’”

That day at Flower Appreciation Tower, after watching Yan soldiers enter the building, his biological father had said those words.

Zheng Lin had assumed it was simply one of his father’s old habits—waiting for some suitable moment, then saying something deliberately profound and mysterious to create a booming atmosphere.

But Xie Yu’an’s reaction at the time told Zheng Lin that perhaps he himself had failed to understand what the sentence meant.

From Zheng Fan’s perspective, however, deliberately creating that “amusement park” for his son earlier truly had improved the relationship between father and son.

Normally, the boy would never voluntarily ask him a question.

So... the people who had died at the traveling palace had not died in vain.

Mm.

Similar parent-child activities could probably be arranged more often.

The opportunity was rare.

Naturally, Zheng Fan would not behave like some ordinary father and say:

*Go away. What would a child understand?*

Instead, he set down his teacup.

Then answered very calmly:

“Just like you.”

“Me?”

“Yes. Why did we seal your strength from the time you were little? Because when one person possesses overwhelming power, he tends not to obey rules. He tends not to reason. Instead, he becomes barbaric. He likes... no, he grows accustomed to using force to seize whatever he needs.”

“Then why isn’t Master like that?”

Zheng Lin naturally meant the Sword Saint.

“Your master settled down later. Heh. You have no idea what sort of man your master was in his younger years. The old patriarch of the Situ Clan was practically an Emperor. Your master said he’d kill him, so he killed him. The present Prince Jin was once Emperor of Jin. Your master looked down on him too and thought he might as well deal with the man while he was at it. Before he met me, your master relied on the sword in his hand and did many things. And then... successfully made the situation worse and worse.”

...

“Listen carefully. He’s talking about you.”

Outside the courtyard, the Swordsmith glanced at the Sword Saint standing beside him.

The Sword Saint smiled.

“He isn’t wrong.”

...

“Your master’s sword was extremely powerful. But all that power never brought him the result he wanted. That is why your master ended up following me. Things are much better now. Nobody says those things anymore. Back when your father’s status was lower, it didn’t matter which state’s jianghu people met your master. The first thing out of their mouths would be: ‘Who would have imagined the mighty Sword Saint of Jin would become a dog for the Yan?’ Heh. It used to make your master furious.”

“Master said he followed you because you keep your promises.”

“I do keep my promises, because I fulfilled everything I promised him. I promised I would drive the Savages away. I did. Now which Savage tribe dares act presumptuously beneath Snow Sea Pass? I promised to abolish the head tax. I did. In eastern Jin, drowning infants is no longer common at all. I promised the children in the charitable schools could stay there until they were older, read more books, learn more propriety, and not be sent onto battlefields too young. I did that too. I promised that the people of Jin would eat their fill. I did that as well. At least in eastern Jin, it has been years since I heard of anyone starving to death. I’m not as strong as your master. But I like reasoning with people.”

Zheng Lin pursed his lips.

He clearly did not believe him.

“What? You don’t believe me?”

“It’s difficult.”

In Zheng Lin’s eyes, his own biological father was the truest practitioner of supremacy through force.

“When you are not strong enough to deal with your own circumstances, military force is necessary. Before you were born, what was eastern Jin? Almost empty ground. To the north, the Savage tribes of the snowfields still refused to abandon their ambitions. To the south, the Chu watched us like tigers. Inside, Jin people dreamed of restoring their state. To the west, those ministers in the Yan court had long since regarded me as a thorn in their eyes. If eastern Jin had not become strong enough, it would never have survived. But you are different. You are my son. You were born Heir Prince. Your father has no great ability, but at the very least I can do what an ordinary father does: feed you, clothe you, send you to school, and let you grow up properly.”

When the Prince said this... the Emperor and eunuch sitting beside him could not decide whether they ought to keep nodding or start shaking their heads.

“And now, your father has castrated the snowfields. Your father has beaten Chu flat. Ji Old Sixth and I reached an understanding long ago. Once this war against Qian is finished, my estimate is that Qian will lose at least half its territory and be beaten into something resembling what Chu is now. What remains at the edges will be easy enough to clean up. You could say that apart from rebelling, only a western expedition would remain capable of preserving the value of continued warfare. But rebellion and a western expedition are both poor bargains. Comparatively speaking, the western expedition would be somewhat better, if only because its contribution to history would be greater. Conquering the realm and governing the realm are completely different things. Mm. That goes a little far afield. There are too many branches to discuss. The important part is that, in some ways, an individual, a region, and even an entire state all follow the same principle. Military power that keeps swelling outward may look glorious and spectacular, but whether in rising or collapsing, it moves very quickly. A little over ten years ago, Yan was still dominated by aristocratic clans. To put it plainly, the root cause of those clans’ rise lay in the long wars the Yan fought against the Barbarians. Out of necessity, local authority was gradually decentralized. At the time, that was done to resist and fight the Barbarians more efficiently. But once the Barbarians were suppressed, the great aristocratic houses led by Prince Zhenbei Residence had nearly hollowed out half of Yan instead. For a very long time, Yan possessed powerful iron cavalry but lacked the national strength to match it and had no ability to wage major wars abroad. Take eastern Jin as another example. Our Standard Household system lets us maintain far more elite soldiers at far lower cost in wartime, while also preserving their aggressive edge when fighting beyond our borders. But once every enemy around us has been beaten flat, where do we keep finding people to plunder? Military merit is glory. But if glory has no material reward behind it, it is ultimately rootless duckweed. Once all the enemies are beaten flat, surely we can’t start fighting our own people? And once the realm is pacified... give it ten years. These veterans, tempered through a hundred battles, will immediately decay into something you can hardly imagine. Very quickly, they’ll become another social class like Yan’s old aristocratic houses, Qian’s scholar-officials, or Chu’s nobles. They’ll eat the Residence’s iron rice while strolling around with birds and fighting crickets. Their descendants may not even know how to ride a horse anymore, much less shoot from one.”

Zheng Lin looked at Zheng Fan.

“I still don’t completely believe you.”

“Of course there are methods to slow that decay. For example, you can keep searching outward for new enemies. But by then, war will no longer be profitable. It will become a burden. That is the aftereffect of blind confidence in military strength. It is like using secret arts to squeeze out potential. After a brief period of enormous strength and swelling power, weakness follows quickly. Your father has conquered half this realm. So no matter how I look at it, I do not want it immediately falling apart again. Unless, over the coming years, you continuously achieve dazzling victories and build a halo equal to mine, even if I hand this position directly to you, it will still be very difficult for you to cut into the present structure. Don’t be fooled by all those people kneeling in front of you, crying ‘Long live His Highness the Heir Prince.’ Half of that respect comes from me. The other half comes from the fact that you are my son, and after you inherit, they and their descendants will expect to keep living as Standard Households under the same system. So your father has no choice but to begin thinking ahead. At the proper time—preferably a little early—we should change what needs changing. That way the burden on your shoulders will be much lighter, and the situation beneath Heaven can hopefully endure a little longer.”

After saying all that, Zheng Fan lifted his teacup again.

Beside him, Zhao Yuannian rose and bowed deeply.

“In truth, I don’t have any particularly strong interest in being Heir Prince,” Zheng Lin said.

“You have family you need to protect. That means you need the position. But you don’t have to place too much pressure on yourself either. Don’t think of it only as a burden. Treat it as one part of experiencing life. After all, wandering the jianghu too long gets boring. Being a wild man too long gets boring too. It’s best to try everything and genuinely taste everything. That makes a complete life. I hope you can live happily in this lifetime. But put differently, where in the world is there such a thing as absolute happiness? Suppose one day you become number one in the jianghu, the strongest man beneath Heaven. Then some useless piece of trash refuses to fight you himself and instead calls several thousand iron cavalry to surround you. Wouldn’t that make you furious?”

Zheng Lin stared at his father.

No matter how he listened, it sounded as though his father were indirectly boasting about himself.

“Go ask all the powerful people who died by your father’s hand whether they were furious. Then ask that Swordsmith outside. One sentence from me and he had to come stand guard at my side. Is he angry?”

...

“He’s talking about you now.”

“I’m not angry,” the Swordsmith said.

The Sword Saint smiled.

“I don’t believe you.”

“I met my disciple. I’m happy.”

“Where’s your face?”

“It’s the same as forging swords. Having something to pursue is what makes it interesting. Besides, I know that little lord has eyes above his head. Mm. He truly has the qualifications to look down on everyone. But precisely because of that, I feel even more like climbing toward him.”

Hearing this, the Sword Saint could only shake his head.

He did not believe the Swordsmith would succeed.

Because the Swordsmith was not Zheng Fan.

The Sword Saint knew exactly how proud his disciple truly was.

Only Zheng Fan, relying on the identity of biological father and his incomparable skill at grasping people’s hearts, could tame that young hawk.

Look.

Wasn’t it already beginning to work?

...

The Prince, in the middle of administering “paternal love” to his son, was interrupted by a report.

A subordinate announced that Wu Xiang’s son, Wu Qin, had come seeking an audience.

Zheng Fan had deliberately refused to receive Wu Xiang in order to pressure him.

But he had allowed Wu Xiang’s son to remain in Jinghai City.

Every day, the boy requested an audience once.

Every day, he was refused.

Wu Qin was only fifteen, but he already carried himself with impressive extravagance.

He had even redeemed Su Su, the courtesan queen from Flower Appreciation Tower whom Zheng Fan had seen before.

Originally, Wu Qin had intended to present her to Zheng Fan as a gift.

After Zheng Fan saw her listed among the presents, he had the boy thrown out immediately.

Hearing that Wu Qin had come again, contempt appeared on Zheng Lin’s face.

Every time Wu Qin requested an audience, he performed with remarkable diligence.

He knelt once at the main gate.

Once again after entering.

Then once more when he reached the side hall to wait.

He had never actually been received.

But every visit began with three kneelings.

“I think, Father, you should bestow a new name on him. Just call him Wu Three-Kneels.”

Zheng Fan glanced at his son.

“That name is no good. Your father is pressuring the Wu Clan. If I’m willing to pressure them, that means I still intend to use them. There’s no need for you to humiliate the man to death.”

Zheng Fan leaned slightly toward his son.

Then warned him:

“Son, remember this. You can humiliate someone. But if you do, be prepared to kill him afterward. If you cannot do that—or cannot do it yet—then there’s no need to humiliate him.”

Hearing this, Zheng Lin looked at his father.

For once... he gave a slight nod.

What he naturally did not know was that the true reason his father disliked the name was because it collided rather awkwardly with one of his father’s own old princely titles.

Liu Dahu entered from outside carrying a scroll.

“Your Highness, the latest military map is finished.”

Inside the Regent Prince’s command structure existed something resembling a general staff, largely selected from among the Brocade-Clad personal guards.

In the future, these people could all be sent out to serve as officers and generals.

The military map summarized and updated battlefield intelligence.

The Prince had always placed enormous importance on it.

“Come. Spread it out.”

“Yes.”

Liu Dahu opened the map.

It included southwestern Chu, southeastern Jiangnan in Qian, and then followed the Qian River all the way toward Shangjing.

It was not comprehensive.

But it perfectly suited the present battlefield.

The moment Zhao Yuannian saw it, excitement filled him.

Tongyan City and Mingsu City, together with their surrounding dependent towns, had already been marked in blue.

Qian territory was shown in red.

Yan territory used a black base.

Blue represented the territory of this Emperor and his new dynasty.

It had grown.

It had grown...

Zhao Yuannian genuinely loved this game of filling squares on a map.

He hoped the blue could spread farther.

If he could claim thirty percent of Jiangnan... that would be enough.

He would not dare ask for more.

The map also marked each force’s current position.

Nian Yao’s army occupied Mingsu City south of Jinghai.

The Xie Clan Army was stationed at Tongyan City to the north.

The original three garrisons and Jinghai City itself were held by eastern Jin troops.

The Qian River was marked as well.

And on it... the Wu Clan’s fleet.

“Yuannian, go over there later and request another copy. Pass the order down. From now on, if this Prince keeps one copy of the military map, His Majesty gets one too.”

“Yes,” Liu Dahu answered.

Low emotional intelligence:

*You can leave now.*

High emotional intelligence:

*Whatever map I have, His Majesty should have one too.*

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

Zhao Yuannian bowed in thanks and left together with Eunuch Zhao.

Liu Dahu lifted the teapot and refilled Zheng Fan’s cup.

The Prince pointed at the military map and said to his son:

“Some time ago, an idea occurred to your father. I was getting impatient. I wanted to speed this war up even more. For example, by using the Wu Clan fleet, personally leading my core force up the Qian River and then into the Bian River, going straight to Shangjing and ringing their bell again. Because your father is confident that no matter what reaction I cause in the enemy rear, your Godfather Liang Cheng and Uncle Gou Moli can read the changes among the Qian forces facing them and infer what I have done. They’ll be able to establish tacit coordination with me without direct communication. And you could remain here in my place, stay beside Zhao Yuannian, hold this territory, and prevent Qian forces in Jiangnan from counterattacking.”

Hearing this... delight instantly appeared on Zheng Lin’s face.

The traveling-palace battle had already made him extremely happy.

Now, judging by what his father meant... was he actually planning to let him cut loose completely?

True, if he remained, he would merely serve as a puppet stabilizing the new court.

But if his biological father left with his mother... would Zhao Yuannian dare disobey him?

Who would still be able to stop him from enjoying himself?

“Father, I think that sounds excellent,” Zheng Lin answered.

But Zheng Fan shook his head.

“It isn’t time yet. Right now, the ones suffering are the Qian. Wolves in front. Tigers behind. Shangjing understands exactly what the Three Frontiers mean to them. Losing the Three Frontiers does not merely mean losing the border. Once Great Yan’s iron cavalry can march straight south, the Qian will not even be able to hold Shangjing. Even if they somehow defend the city, Shangjing could no longer remain the capital. Meanwhile, we’ve established a new court in Jiangnan. It does not need to control much territory. As long as this new court remains standing, the longer it exists, the greater its influence becomes. Eventually Shangjing’s rule over Jiangnan will begin collapsing on its own. On the other side, we have seized this section of the Qian River. That alone can prevent at least thirty percent of Jiangnan’s output from moving north. Once Jiangnan is lost—or even merely destabilized enough to create a major breach—the Qian north loses its blood supply. If Shangjing wants to resolve the problem here, it has no choice but to pull elite troops out of the north and send them back south. But the moment the Qian move their northern elites, the Yan armies will follow and never give them the leisure to redeploy calmly. So reason tells me that remaining here and waiting patiently is the choice most favorable to the greater situation.”

Zheng Lin immediately deflated.

Zheng Fan saw the change in his son’s expression and found it amusing.

He pointed at the military map.

“Come, come. Look at these deployments first. Tell me what advantages they give our army. Take your time. My son has been comparable to a qilin since childhood. Don’t worry. Your father won’t treat you like a little child. I’ll also create opportunities for you to train whenever possible. For example, let your Brother Tian take you with a detachment to seize some county city. Or wipe out some Qian force still holding out nearby. None of that is a problem.”

Zheng Lin pursed his lips.

He wanted to maintain his aloof expression.

But what boy could resist the temptation of leading troops and playing general?

And there was one thing especially hateful about his father.

If you tried to resist him, he simply followed your resistance along until you finally lowered your head and said something pleasant enough to satisfy him.

On that point, Mother was much better.

Mother never demanded pleasant words.

She never demanded surrender.

She simply broke your ribs.

Zheng Lin stood and walked to the military map.

He frowned slightly.

“Father. I want to look at it from another direction.”

“Oh?”

Zheng Fan smiled.

“Of course.”

“If you were the Qian, how would you break this situation?”

Zheng Fan shook his head.

“Your father wouldn’t be able to break it either. Under the momentum of a state and an army, this is not something some so-called God of War can reverse by winning one or two battles.”

“There really is no solution?”

Zheng Lin continued:

“Right. We can give the Qian... what Third Dad is always talking about. What’s it called again? Turn on cheats.”

“Heh.”

Zheng Fan propped his chin on one hand and began thinking.

He greatly enjoyed this kind of interaction with his son.

Naturally, he would not deny the boy face merely because the scenario sounded a little absurd.

A long while later...

Zheng Fan pointed at the map.

“Unless the Qian never sent their elites north. But that’s impossible. Their imperial decrees already...”

The Prince stopped.

Zheng Lin looked curiously at his father.

His father’s expression had suddenly turned solemn.

Then Zheng Fan stood and crouched beside the map.

At that moment, Zheng Lin felt pressure radiate from his biological father.

No more calm.

No more laziness.

What Zheng Lin did not know was that when his father had first entered military life, he too had once looked at Tian Wujing with exactly this expression.

“If they’re cheating... then the Qian predicted the future. They made an extraordinarily accurate strategic judgment in advance and were willing to gamble everything on it. Ji Old Sixth can issue an imperial decree cursing me for show. The Qian can do the same. Of all the new armies the Qian have trained over these years, apart from the Three Frontiers, only four have developed real scale and combat strength—and those four also took part years ago in the encirclement of your Uncle Li Fusheng. Meng Gong. Zhong Tianlang. Old Fifth Han. Le Huan. These four Qian generals and their troops are capable of lining up against a Yan field army and fighting a proper battle. One of those forces should be defending Chuzhou Commandery. The other three should have gone to the northeastern corner near Lanyang City, sealing every gap in the north. The Qian’s only way to break the game... would be if those four field armies that should have gone north... never went north.”

Zheng Lin asked:

“If they didn’t go north, where would they be?”

Zheng Fan extended one finger.

“South of us. Hidden.”

“Could they hide them?” Zheng Lin asked.

“This is Qian territory, after all. Qian troops hiding inside their own land would be far easier to conceal than trying to hide inside some mountain ravine.”

At that moment, Liu Dahu spoke.

“Your Highness, this subordinate believes that is impossible. If those four Qian elite armies are truly hidden in Jiangnan, then it means the Qian predicted our army’s entry into Jiangnan. But if so, why did the troops of the three garrisons voluntarily leave their defenses, only to be defeated so easily by us and then lose all three fortified positions in succession? Why did Mingsu City and Tongyan City surrender on their own? Why did the Wu Clan... betray Qian and side with us? Even the very first one, Liu Hui... he should never have opened Jinghai City’s gates and handed the city directly to us. So this subordinate believes the inference is absolutely impossible.”

Zheng Fan nodded.

At the same time, he raised one hand.

Liu Dahu felt around his pockets.

Then looked toward Zheng Lin.

For reasons even he could not explain, although Zheng Lin no longer needed to disguise himself as a personal guard, the boy still silently pulled out the iron cigarette case and placed it beneath his father’s fingers.

He was about to light the cigarette with a fire striker.

But his father moved the hand away.

Instead, Zheng Fan rolled the cigarette slowly between his fingers.

“Dahu.”

“This subordinate is here.”

“Is it possible... that the Qian did all of this deliberately?”

“This subordinate...”

Zheng Fan’s gaze remained fixed on the military map.

“Give us the cities one by one. Let us enter. Let us split our troops to garrison them. Our forces have now been diluted. Altogether, we already hold more than six separate positions. The mobility our army excels at most has also been stripped away. And the Qian... can divide us at leisure.”

Zheng Fan placed one finger on Mingsu City, where Nian Yao’s force was now stationed, and traced several circles around it.

Then... his finger moved to the Qian River.

To the location of the Wu Clan’s fleet.

“Can the Wu Clan betray us again? Once the four Qian field armies cut into this region... the Wu fleet on the Qian River can split our troops on the two banks completely apart.”

“Your Highness... this... this is far too...”

“Summon Wu Xiang to see me. I want to find out whether he still dares come ashore.”

“Yes. This subordinate will go immediately.”

Zheng Lin said:

“His son is right here. How could he possibly...”

Zheng Fan looked at his son.

“You truly think every father and son beneath Heaven are as loving and filial as you and me?”

“I’m not.”

“When you had just been born, I carried you to meet your grandfather. That black-armored man underground roared at me, and you, still wrapped in swaddling cloth, instinctively snarled at him to defend me. The two of us can quarrel however we like in public. But your father believes that even back when you looked down on me the most, you would never have allowed someone else to take my head. But in this world, sons killing fathers and fathers abandoning sons are hardly rare. Especially in those great clans and noble houses. They have too many women. Too many children. Some probably cannot even recognize all their own sons and daughters. Why would they truly hold every child in their heart? The late Emperor once sacrificed one of his own imperial sons merely to create a justification for attacking Chu.”

Zheng Lin voluntarily leaned his face closer to his father.

For once... there was actually a smile on it.

He looked almost delighted.

Then he lowered his voice.

“Father... did you suddenly realize you might have overplayed your hand this time?”

The Prince leaned his face closer to his son as well.

He also lowered his voice.

Then whispered:

“Son... how about the two of us run first?”

Zheng Lin instinctively shifted several steps backward.

He put some distance between himself and his biological father.

Looking at the strange half-light, half-shadow expression on that man’s face... for the first time... the son who had always looked down upon his own father... discovered... that he could not see through him at all.

[End of Chapter 1001]