Chapter 1007: That Hardworking Old Dog

The first parts of the two armies to collide were their central formations, the strongest concentration of troops on either side.

The knights of both armies wore bright armor. The men in the foremost ranks especially—the spearpoints of their respective forces—practically needed to have the words *invincible in battle* written directly across their faces.

Years ago, when Zheng Fan saw Li Fusheng enjoying leading charges in person, he had thought Li Fusheng far too impulsive. A general, in Zheng Fan’s view, ought to stand above the battlefield and oversee the whole situation.

During those same early years, when Zheng Fan watched Prince Jingnan charge at the front, his thought had been different: *You’re relying on the fact that your own cultivation is absurd. A peak Martial Artist mounted on a Pixiu and planted at the head of the army practically looks like a one-man host.*

Then those early years passed.

The little garrison commander who had once quietly lagged behind whenever a charge began gradually grew into himself.

Only then did Zheng Fan discover that once both armies had finished all the maneuvering, circling, probing, and preparation and finally entered the most primitive stage of killing face-to-face, there truly was not much left for a general to command.

Life and death, victory and defeat, success and failure—all of it came down to that final shudder.

At that point, a commander might as well ride at the front and push morale one step higher.

The same thing could naturally look completely different depending on the environment one stood in and the height from which one viewed it.

For a very long time, Zheng Fan had preferred planting his commander’s standard or princely standard at the center of his army and making full use of his personal morale-boosting aura.

But during the most recent decisive Yan-Chu battle in Shanggu Commandery... even the Prince had finally stopped restraining himself.

He simply tore up the princely standard and led the charge himself.

These younger commanders, of course, had never gone through the same long sequence of “changes in thought” as their Prince.

Innocence.

Refinement.

A return to innocence.

Another layer of refinement...

They had not reached that point yet.

Or perhaps they had simply skipped all those steps.

Either way... when the moment came to reveal what they were made of, they believed they ought to stand here, remain here, and charge from here.

Horse lances punched through armor.

Arrows flew everywhere, striking horses and riders without pause.

Viewed from the coldest possible material perspective, the cavalrymen on both sides were already among the most expensive “classes” in their respective states.

Their food.

Their clothing.

Their armor.

Their weapons.

Every layer of their existence could be summarized in one word: expensive.

Yet in this moment, all that expense became extraordinarily cheap.

Chen Xianba’s horse lance broke after knocking three riders from their mounts.

He immediately discarded it and drew the pair of meteor hammers at his sides.

Against armored opponents, blunt force was often more useful.

If the armor could not be pierced, then fine.

Smash the organs beneath it instead.

One hammer.

One man.

At that moment, Chen Xianba looked like a killing god descended into the mortal world.

He loved this feeling.

Leading troops in a charge.

Throwing himself toward a future whose outcome remained unknown.

Using his own strength, with his own hands, to drag the scales of victory toward his side.

That process... was what fascinated him most.

He had been born strong.

Zhong Tianlang’s spear was equally drenched in blood.

Looking across the battlefield, he caught sight of the Yan general in the distance.

Unfortunately, they were too far apart to reach one another.

When the first collision began, Zhong Tianlang had indeed felt some unease.

But after the clash... joy rose inside him instead.

The Great Qian cavalry he had personally trained had not been overwhelmed at the opening.

They had fought the Yan cavalry evenly.

That meant something.

Full troop rolls.

Full military pay.

Sufficient grain.

Enough warhorses, armor, weapons, and all the logistical supply behind them.

Given enough of all those things, Great Qian truly *could* forge cavalry worthy of being called elite.

Everyone knew Great Qian was wealthy.

And everyone still laughed at Great Qian for being weak.

But Qian’s wealth did not enrich its people.

And Qian’s extravagance had never been spent on its army.

In this clash, Zhong Tianlang finally saw hope.

He saw the possibility that Qian cavalry could stand on equal footing with Yan iron cavalry.

And one had to remember: the Yan troops in front of him were eastern Jin cavalry.

Precisely because he had seen that hope, Zhong Tianlang did not consider what came next particularly shameful.

After the initial balance, the Yan cavalry gradually began reclaiming control of the battlefield through richer experience, more refined practical killing methods, and tighter coordination.

The shift was visible to the naked eye.

Yet Zhong Tianlang still felt no humiliation.

The enemy were veterans of a hundred battles.

They were true iron that had been tempered through fire.

Of course they knew how to fight.

Of course they knew how to endure.

Of course they knew how to hold longer.

That was only natural.

As long as Great Qian still existed... as long as Great Qian still possessed territory and people... give Zhong Tianlang another five years.

He could forge one hundred thousand Qian cavalry.

Perhaps even more.

By then, the Yan would no longer be the only ones allowed to decide what the battlefield looked like.

As one of the first generals of Qian’s Three Frontiers willing to attack outward and conduct deep flanking maneuvers, Zhong Tianlang in his youth had even led troops behind the defenses of Yinlang Commandery.

He had once asked Zheng Fan himself where Garrison Commander Zheng was.

Then ridden beneath Cuiliu Fort and asked where Cuiliu Fort was.

Looking back now, those moments seemed ridiculous.

Even rather foolish.

But at the time... they had frightened the then-triumphant Garrison Commander Zheng into two consecutive shudders.

Even years later, when Zheng Fan had already become Regent Prince and casually assessed the men once ranked beside him, he had mocked the young Barbarian prince and Eunuch Nian as people already swept into the ashes.

Yet he had rarely mocked this Imperial Son-in-Law of Great Qian.

From collision... to grinding battle... the Qian cavalry gradually began to falter without any obvious numerical advantage.

The two armies interlocked.

Separated.

Cut.

Strangled.

Eventually, Zhong Tianlang had no choice but to order a withdrawal.

A withdrawal.

Not a rout.

Even while pulling back, the Qian army preserved its basic formations and respectable morale.

They knew there was a fortified city behind them to shelter them.

At the proper moment, Chen Xianba ordered his own troops to stop pursuing.

He recalled the scattered formations.

Then sent word to the other two Yan forces.

It had been an unusually pure battle.

No dragging.

No mess.

They had simply fought.

One side lost.

One side won.

The losing side withdrew.

The winning side chose not to keep biting.

Chen Xianba sat astride his Pi Beast and returned the meteor hammers to the mounts at either side of his saddle.

The Qian improvement had surprised him.

At least in cavalry deployment and direct combat, the force he had just fought was still inferior to elite Yan cavalry, but far superior to Chu cavalry.

The Qian losses had certainly been heavier.

But so long as the army had not broken and turned the battlefield into one great Yan pig hunt, those losses remained within a tolerable range.

And so... the winners felt the victory rather dry.

The losers, meanwhile, seemed almost ambitious and invigorated, as though they had lost today but already won the future.

By afternoon, the Yan forces had completed their reunion.

Chen Xianba sat in place and watched Tian Tian and Zheng Man walk toward him.

Tian Tian was fine.

He had suffered no injuries.

Zheng Man had already removed his armor. Bandages covered several wounds.

Chen Xianba silently clenched one fist.

He badly wanted to perform a scene of “brotherly affection” for his two younger brothers right then.

He restrained himself.

Zheng Man, meanwhile, had already learned on the way over with Tian Tian that all three of them had received the same beautiful misunderstanding:

*your brocade pouch was empty too.*

So when he saw Chen Xianba again, Zheng Man resembled a small quail that had unexpectedly encountered a very unreasonable yellow dog.

He tucked in his neck.

Avoided Chen Xianba’s eyes.

And repeated inwardly:

*Xianba, control yourself.*

Tian Tian, by contrast, was quite excited.

They had won.

And to a certain degree, Tian Tian had not really done anything wrong.

He had acted according to the highest spirit of Father Marshal’s instructions.

Besides...

Father Marshal could not possibly be wrong.

“Sit.”

Chen Xianba spoke.

Zheng Man sat obediently.

Tian Tian sat as well.

Chen Xianba leaned slightly forward.

“From this moment onward, all movement follows my military orders. Does anyone object?”

Tian Tian shook his head.

He had no objection.

Zheng Man nodded first.

Then immediately shook his head.

Then nodded again.

He too had no objection.

Chen Xianba continued:

“If we ever encounter this kind of situation again—our three forces operating next to one another, with no explicit princely order—then you still obey my commands. Does anyone object?”

Tian Tian hesitated briefly.

Then shook his head.

No objection.

Zheng Man shot to his feet with a *whoosh*.

He glared at Chen Xianba.

“What did you say?!”

Chen Xianba glared back.

The joints of all ten fingers cracked beneath his grip.

Zheng Man immediately raised his voice and declared:

“Exactly what you said!”

Without the earlier moral high ground of accusing Chen Xianba of “forgetting gratitude and abandoning loyalty,” Zheng Man truly feared Chen Xianba might decide revenge did not need to wait overnight and start feeding him shit right here.

This was the kind of affection created by being beaten since childhood.

Lowering one’s head and admitting defeat did not even require a step to climb down from.

Chen Xianba also let everything that had happened earlier pass without further pursuit.

After all, the true root of the chaos had been the Prince scattering empty brocade pouches everywhere as though they cost nothing.

And criticizing the Prince at any time was essentially an unforgivable crime.

Never mind everyone else.

Chen Xianba himself could not get past that line.

Besides... after all this chaos, they had defeated the Qian army and reversed the situation east of the river.

Even if Chen Xianba had possessed full command from the beginning, he doubted he could have produced much better than the present result.

What he truly had not anticipated was this: the Qian cavalry were actually that capable.

“The problem now is...”

Chen Xianba picked up a tree branch and began drawing lines in the dirt.

“I gave up Menhai Garrison. Now that Imperial Son-in-Law has been driven inside it. After suffering this defeat, he won’t dare come out to fight us again anytime soon. Behind him, there are still those two useless Qian armies. According to what you two saw, they’re useless—but cautious. Beyond that, there are still more than ten thousand Qian cavalry wandering outside. They’ll probably realize soon that they were deceived and start rushing back. Right now, we can use the momentum from this victory to keep that Imperial Son-in-Law pinned here. The Qian will also worry that we’re surrounding one point to strike the reinforcements, so even if they come to relieve him, they’ll probably move very cautiously. They may even keep using that damned tactic of crawling forward beneath turtle shells. But if we want to leave calmly now... that’s difficult too.”

Zheng Man nodded.

“A pity we didn’t swallow him whole.”

Chen Xianba shook his head.

“Too hard a bone. Couldn’t bite through it. The situation changed. Before, that Imperial Son-in-Law was tying *us* down. Now, *we’re* tying down that Imperial Son-in-Law. We can’t simply leave him here, slap our backsides, and ride west. If we do, we’ll be the ones caught between two forces. So in the end... we’re still tying each other down. Which means... what happens on the Prince’s side?”

...

On the city wall, Zhong Tianlang had just finished inspecting the wounded.

He had also promised rewards after the battle and encouraged the troops before climbing back onto the battlements.

He did not believe the Yan would attack the city.

So he did not consider himself in any real danger.

He had lost the battle.

He did not panic.

The overall situation remained the same.

His original task had simply been to keep the Yan troops of the three garrisons trapped east of the Qian River and prevent them from crossing.

His fingers rubbed slowly against the crenellations.

He murmured:

“Jinghai must be extraordinarily lively by now.”

...

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Massive stones arced through the air.

Some smashed into the city wall.

Others plunged directly into the streets and buildings inside.

The civilians there were Qian people.

The Qian army attacking the city showed no mercy whatsoever.

To create this enormous sack, Great Qian had paid an immense price.

It had accepted letting Jiangnan become engulfed in war.

It had accepted opening an enormous breach in its northern defenses.

So this time... they would stop at nothing.

When the trebuchet barrage ended, the Qian launched their third assault of the day.

The Regent Prince’s standard remained planted on the gate tower, continually strengthening the morale of the defenders.

The Regent Prince himself... was not there.

He was back at the residence where he had been staying.

Feeding fish.

The Blind Man, Xie Yu’an, and other generals had all tried to request audiences.

Zheng Fan ordered them blocked.

There was one person, however, whom the personal guards found difficult to stop.

His Highness the Heir Prince.

Especially when His Highness, in an unusually rare moment, said:

“I want to see my father.”

The guards could only step aside.

Outside, the city walls were boiling with slaughter.

Inside this quiet courtyard, his biological father stood tearing crumbs from a steamed bun and feeding fish.

The corner of Zheng Lin’s mouth twitched instinctively.

When the Qian army first appeared outside Jinghai City, Zheng Lin had been thrown into the front by his father to “preside over the situation.”

At every meeting, the seat where the Prince ought to have sat had been replaced by the Heir Prince.

Not long ago, his father had been painting him a pleasant picture about finding some opportunity for him to accompany Brother Tian Tian and experience battle.

The moment that promise landed... he had immediately been planted here like a puppet.

No.

A puppet at least had strings!

“You really do have excellent leisure...”

Zheng Lin began in a mocking tone.

Then he saw his mother walking out with a fruit platter.

So he amended immediately:

“Excellent leisure... Father.”

“Heh.”

Zheng Fan laughed and continued feeding the goldfish.

The fruit had already been sliced, with toothpicks stuck into the pieces.

His mother personally picked one up and brought it to his father’s mouth.

“A little sour.”

Zheng Fan took a second bite and lost interest.

“I was afraid your mood was poor, so I deliberately avoided choosing sweet ones,” Siniang said with a smile.

“My mood doesn’t interfere with eating or drinking,” Zheng Fan replied.

“Yes. Husband remains Husband, after all.”

Siniang pointed toward the fruit platter.

“Son. Finish it.”

“...” Zheng Lin.

In the end, Zheng Lin walked over, took the platter, and began eating.

It was sour.

But not inedible.

As he ate, he cursed his father even more intensely in his heart.

Eventually, he finished everything and set down the empty plate.

“Father. There’s a war outside.”

“I know.”

Zheng Fan continued scattering bun crumbs without even lifting his head.

“We can hold another seven or eight days without much trouble.”

The defenders had fewer troops than the Qian outside, but they still had more than twenty thousand armored soldiers.

So long as the defense was managed properly and food remained sufficient, the Qian had no choice but to grind.

That grinding required time.

Even trading life for life, day by day, still took days.

“But the situation cannot support us forever.”

“I know that too.”

“You... do you have no method at all?”

Zheng Fan shook his head.

Then he seemed to think of something.

“Yes.”

“You do?”

“In another three days, go sit beneath my princely standard on the gate tower. That should boost morale nicely.”

“The Qian trebuchets never stop throwing stones!”

“Have they killed anyone?” Zheng Fan asked.

“Of course they have.”

“Mm. This is war. Other people’s sons can be smashed to death. Why can’t Zheng Fan’s son be smashed to death?”

“If he tells you to go, then go,” Siniang said. “If you refuse, I’ll sew you directly into the chair.”

“...” Zheng Lin.

Zheng Fan laughed.

“Give it a little longer. Let the situation deteriorate more. After that I’ll replace you. Think about it. Everyone’s expectations are already placed on me. If you go first and it still doesn’t work, then that proves *you* were insufficient. Once I appear again, won’t everyone suddenly gain another burst of hope?”

“This is your strategy?”

“Isn’t it good?”

“Father, what medicine are you actually selling inside that gourd?”

“Tsk. How do I have to say it before you—before all of you—believe me? I truly did not deliberately leave some secret arrangement behind.”

“So you’re hiding here feeding fish to stabilize the army’s heart?”

“If I wanted to stabilize the army’s heart, I wouldn’t be secretly feeding fish here. Didn’t I already say it? We haven’t reached that point yet.”

At that moment, a messenger entered and reported:

“Report! Your Highness, Chu banners have appeared south of the city!”

The imperial-clan Imperial Guards in Mingsu City had turned.

Everyone had already suspected that outcome.

But suspicion still left room for luck.

Even if they reversed sides, perhaps they might simply sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight.

Now, however... the Chu army had openly turned its spears and joined the enemy.

That was an enormous blow to the defenders’ morale.

“Understood.”

Zheng Fan waved one hand.

“That’s it? ‘Understood’?” Zheng Lin asked.

The fish in the pond finally seemed full.

Zheng Fan brushed crumbs from his hands.

“What else?”

“I hope you really do have a method. Otherwise...”

Siniang’s brows lifted slightly.

“Otherwise what?”

“I... can only do my utmost to protect Father and Mother while we break out.”

“Hehehe.”

Zheng Fan laughed.

He reached out.

Patted his son on the head.

“The south can do whatever it likes. The main thing is the north...”

“Tongyan City?”

“Mm.”

At that moment... another messenger hurried in.

“Report! A detachment of Xie Clan light cavalry appeared north of the city. Before our troops could move out to receive them, the surrounding Qian forces encircled and annihilated them. None survived.”

“Hahahahahaha!”

The moment Zheng Fan heard the report... he burst into loud laughter.

The lazy atmosphere created by feeding fish vanished completely.

He turned.

Saw the empty fruit plate.

And could not help complaining:

“You little bastard. You really ate everything. Didn’t even leave some for your father.”

“...” Zheng Lin.

“Husband, wait a moment. This concubine will prepare another plate.”

“I want hot pot.”

“Fine, fine, fine.”

Siniang stood and went to prepare it.

Zheng Lin remained where he was.

The Prince looked confused.

“The city has been surrounded this long. Fresh ingredients are already scarce. What, you want to steal some of your father’s hot pot too?”

“What does that report actually mean? Why did you suddenly become so happy again? Why did your appetite return?”

The Prince tucked both hands into the sash of his python robe.

“That old dog of the Xie Clan... for Xie Yu’an’s sake alone, I’m certain he would never choose to join the Qian like those Imperial Guards before Jinghai City falls. You can say everything he does is for his son. But look at him now. That old dog is really working hard. He can still send people here. He knows perfectly well he’s throwing wood into a fire and that the riders will never return. But he still wants the two of us—father and son—to hear that sound. Do you know why?”

“He... wants to win.”

“Heh heh. No. No...”

The Prince lowered himself.

Brought his face close to Zheng Lin’s.

Then whispered:

“He doesn’t merely want to win. That old dog... also wants a share of our hot pot afterward.”

[End of Chapter 1007]