Chapter 1009: Black Banners Sweep Through Dust and Sand!

A Pi Beast whose scales gleamed with a black luster had lowered its head to eat.

A generous amount of dried meat had been mixed into its feed, making its rations considerably better than those of an ordinary soldier.

Two auxiliary soldiers were tending to it. One used an iron brush to comb through its coat, while the other held a large file and trimmed the claws on its paws.

Caring for a Pi Beast was far more troublesome than caring for an ordinary warhorse.

Caring for the Grand General’s Pi Beast was even more troublesome than caring for those assigned to the heavy-armored cavalry camp.

Still, these two experienced army auxiliaries did not find it strange.

They had heard their fellows say... the Prince’s Pixiu was the one that was truly difficult to serve.

“We’ve finally made it out of those mountains.”

“Yeah. Ahead of us is Qian’s Jiangnan. They say it’s a place like a flower.”

Once their work was finished, the Pi Beast lay down.

The two men dropped down beside it to rest.

“We’re about to fight.”

“Damn right we are.”

At that moment, one of the Grand Commander’s personal guards approached.

The two auxiliary soldiers immediately stood.

The guard did not reprimand them for slacking off. Once their work was finished, resting for a while was only human.

He walked over and patted the Pi Beast.

The beast climbed to its feet, shook itself, stretched and loosened its body in advance, then followed the guard to find its master.

Everyone was familiar with the Prince’s Pixiu.

They were familiar with the Pi Beasts used by the heavy-armored cavalry too.

But if one were being honest, the Grand General’s mount had already begun displaying five or six parts of a true Pixiu’s bearing.

The soldiers knew nothing about what baleful qi entering the body could do to the bloodline of a spirit beast.

But their guess was not far from the truth.

A man like their Grand General could use a saber or bow long enough and make it cease being ordinary.

How much more so a mount that was already intelligent?

In truth, the Grand General of eastern Jin was not especially famous outside.

Most eyes from beyond eastern Jin naturally focused on its Prince.

But inside eastern Jin’s army, Liang Cheng’s status was extraordinarily high.

Because over these ten years and more, apart from the occasional campaign, Liang Cheng had devoted himself to one thing: training troops.

Training troops.

And training troops!

New recruits had to be trained.

Outside armies had to be broken apart and integrated.

Once one force was finished, he moved on to remold another.

Liang Cheng never seemed to run out of work.

It would not even be an exaggeration to say that among the current generation of mature eastern Jin commanders and the younger commanders rising behind them, almost every one had either been polished by Liang Cheng or personally brought up by him.

The Prince was the school principal.

But the Prince did not handle the actual teaching.

And the reason the Prince could command armies so freely, smashing opponent after opponent, was precisely because the forces under him were elite enough to permit it.

The Zhenbei Army had gradually declined.

The Jingnan Army had been divided and was slowly fading from its old peak.

Now, looking across all Great Yan—indeed, across all Xia—the title of greatest field cavalry force belonged to eastern Jin’s army in both name and reality.

The Prince had given it its name.

Liang Cheng... had given it substance.

Yet because all things followed their own objective laws of growth, Liang Cheng had spent these past ten years and more trapped in a somewhat awkward position.

When they first began, there were too few troops beneath them, and those troops were not elite enough.

He had been like a clever cook without rice.

Setting personal cultivation aside, the Prince had told him more than once back then:

*If only we had enough troops, enough territory, enough strength—Ah Cheng, you would not be inferior to Prince Jingnan.*

After all, when the Prince had been studying beneath Prince Jingnan, there had been a period when he took Liang Cheng’s predicted examination answers every day, memorized them, then went off to submit his homework.

Tian Wujing had been a genius.

No one disputed that.

Later, of course, what Tian Wujing valued more was Zheng Fan’s character and disposition... but if Zheng Fan had simply remained an ignorant new recruit in the beginning, how could he ever have earned the qualification to stand where Prince Jingnan might notice him?

To use an imperfect analogy... when you see a beautiful woman or a handsome man and fall in love at first sight, then successfully pursue them, only afterward do you get to hold that breathtaking face in your hands and say:

“What I love is what’s inside.”

But if both sides find the other unpleasant to look at... there may never be an afterward.

Then eastern Jin’s territory grew.

Its foundation deepened.

Its armies multiplied.

Its resources became richer.

And Liang Cheng instead fell into... an even more awkward position.

It was not merely that more excellent commanders had appeared within Prince Pingxi Residence’s system.

That was only a secondary reason.

The fundamental reason was that the Prince himself, after so many years of learning, exploring, and comprehending, had completed his transformation from ugly duckling into white swan.

Step by step... in military affairs... he had finally reached the realm of “slight understanding.”

For small-scale local operations, there were already plenty of capable people.

In fact, those opportunities had to be deliberately handed to the younger generation—Chen Xianba, Zheng Man, Tian Tian, and the others—so they could gain experience.

As for grand strategy and national warfare, Zheng Fan, as Master and Prince, had already become capable of personally manipulating the board.

And in successive confrontations with his enemies... he had won the final victory again and again.

That left Liang Cheng little room to display himself.

His function... had begun overlapping with that of his now-grown Master.

But this time... the opportunity had finally come.

Before Zheng Fan entered Qian, he had in fact already completed the transfer of military authority to Liang Cheng.

Not merely the troops occupying Chu territory.

Eastern Jin’s own army.

Gou Moli’s army.

Even the forces the Yan court had assigned to Zheng Fan’s command during the previous national war... in short, the entire family fortune had been handed to Liang Cheng.

Zheng Fan had even explained the arrangement to Emperor Ji Old Sixth in his own name.

In Zheng Fan’s original plan, he would enter Qian and strike into its rear.

Liang Cheng and Ji Old Sixth would remain around the Three Frontiers and Lanyang City—in other words, across the whole northern front of Qian—to hold the attention of Qian’s elite troops.

As for everything else...

Zheng Fan had not said much.

Not because he wanted to save his breath.

He had genuinely feared that giving Liang Cheng too many instructions might instead create negative results.

With that great zombie at home... with an existence whose very setting said he had once commanded battles among gods and demons in ancient times serving as supreme commander... what was there to worry about?

That was why Zheng Fan had dared so openly to join with Chu and enter Qian.

Of course he knew it was dangerous.

Of course he knew accidents might happen.

So why had a Regent Prince who had always cherished his life and acted cautiously dared loosen the reins and behave so willfully this time?

Simple.

However dangerous and urgent things became... could they really be worse than the old surprise attack on Snow Sea Pass?

Old Tian was gone.

But someone still sat in Old Tian’s old seat.

Back then, after Gou Moli learned that Snow Sea Pass had been taken, he had nearly slapped himself several times.

He had lamented that he would rather never have known.

Because no matter how carefully you concealed something, deliberate traces would remain.

Against a mediocre opponent, perhaps that would not matter.

Unfortunately... the man on the other side had been Tian Wujing.

The same principle applied here.

When Zheng Fan received military reports and learned that Meng Gong, Zhong Tianlang, Old Fifth Han, and Le Huan—the four men now called Great Qian’s Four Great Marshals of Revival—had all transferred their main elite forces toward his position...

Zheng Fan could be certain of one thing.

Liang Cheng, standing over at Lanyang City, could not possibly fail to notice.

The only questions were how quickly Liang Cheng would see it... and whether, once he saw it, he could still react in time.

Fortunately...

Liang Cheng had seen it very early.

And for that, all credit belonged to the succession of imperial edicts the Emperor of Great Yan had issued to the realm.

They were stones thrown out to test the road.

Throw a stone into the pond first.

Then watch the ripples.

An army changing station or marching elsewhere did not mean only the army itself moving.

The preparations before movement were impossible to conceal completely.

Liang Cheng had read the situation even earlier than Zheng Fan’s most optimistic expectation.

Otherwise, back at South Gate Pass, he would never have coaxed Hero Chen into going to Lanyang City.

Because Liang Cheng had never intended to attack Lanyang City.

Not even with a feint.

Gou Moli’s forces had crossed the Qishan Mountains from the Fan City front and moved beneath Lanyang City.

Liang Cheng, meanwhile, had originally needed to transfer troops from Jin and Chu.

Instead, he directly ordered those troops to turn before reaching Lanyang City.

They marched south through Chu and took the old Guyue City road.

In other words... they marched through Xie Clan territory.

That was why, after Xie Zhuyang received the letter from “home” in Tongyan City, he had praised those brats back there for understanding what needed to be done.

What they had understood was the need to assist a second great Yan army in passing through the Xie Clan’s fief.

And that was what finally hardened Xie Zhuyang’s determination to cast himself completely behind the Regent Prince.

Because he had received information that even the Regent Prince himself had not received.

It was almost as though...

Xie Zhuyang had seen the answer key in advance.

Or perhaps... he had prepared the road for that answer long ago.

When he decided to accompany the Yan into Qian, he had already been considering his retreat.

Or, more precisely, his road forward.

That was why he had built the plank roads and camps so meticulously, pouring enormous effort into them.

Xie Zhuyang had originally suspected that this was one of the Regent Prince’s hidden contingencies.

From everything his life had taught him, he simply could not imagine a subordinate daring to alter a war plan and directly redeploy an army according to his own judgment without receiving advance authorization from the man above him.

More than that... when Xie Zhuyang had been constructing roads and camps, several young generals were deliberately sent out by the Regent Prince to supervise him.

To Xie Zhuyang, that had been the clearest possible proof: the Regent Prince wanted to ensure this road could support the smooth passage of a second, much larger body of troops.

What Xie Zhuyang did not know... was that Zheng Fan had sent Chen Xianba, Tian Tian, and the others out not as supervisors.

He had sent them to study the detailed art of marching and logistics from Xie Zhuyang.

No one was an omniscient, omnipotent god.

Zheng Fan himself was no exception.

But Xie Zhuyang had no idea the entire thing was a misunderstanding.

So after first receiving the letter from home, then receiving Zheng Fan’s empty brocade pouch... the Pillar of State burst into loud laughter.

“Everything is understood without a word.”

He believed that he and the Regent Prince, through perfect tacit understanding, had coordinated the entire battlefield redeployment together.

Never would he have imagined that the Prince truly had been a hands-off shopkeeper for once.

Still... that Xie Clan light cavalry detachment annihilated beneath Jinghai City’s walls had genuinely fulfilled its purpose of delivering the message.

Zheng Fan finally understood where Liang Cheng was coming from.

And he finally understood why Xie Zhuyang had willingly paid so much extra cost and manpower to make those marching roads and camps so extraordinarily good.

The Prince, suddenly conscious that he had underestimated the heroes beneath Heaven, cursed several times:

“That old dog.”

That contribution alone... was enough for Xie Zhuyang to earn the Xie Clan a hereditary substantive princely residence in perpetuity.

...

“Jin Shuke.”

“This general is here!”

Liang Cheng was already mounted on his Pi Beast.

He raised one hand and pointed ahead.

“Scouts report that the fighting around the three garrisons is extremely tangled. Let’s relieve those three brats first.”

“Grand General, this general can lead one force toward the three garrisons. Just as Grand General said earlier, the Prince’s situation must be extremely dangerous right now. Please take the main force west first and relieve the Prince.”

“Sharpening the blade does not delay the chopping of firewood.”

Jin Shuke still wanted to argue.

Liang Cheng raised one hand and stopped him.

“My mind is made up. You lead one force north. I will lead another south. We are not merely relieving the three garrisons. You and I will work together and use these one hundred thousand iron cavalry to sweep the entire eastern bank of the Qian River clean with the force of thunder!”

“But Grand General, the three garrisons themselves are a small matter. The Qian troops outside them are likewise a small matter. Before our iron cavalry, none of that is worth mentioning. But on the Qian River... there is still a Wu Clan fleet sealing off the river. This general believes we should first move ahead of them and circle around that fleet, then—”

Liang Cheng shook his head.

“The Prince taught me how to fight.”

Jin Shuke had no idea why the Grand General would suddenly say that.

In his earlier years, Jin Shuke had indeed believed what the outside world believed: that the Grand General had learned warfare from the Prince.

But as Jin Shuke matured and became more familiar with Liang Cheng, he came to understand that an existence like the Grand General was difficult to describe as someone who had been “taught” in the ordinary sense.

“Move. Don’t waste time. We can’t actually let anything happen to those three boys. The Prince treasures them dearly.”

...

Zhong Tianlang sat atop the gate tower of Menhai Garrison.

He and his force had already been trapped there for nearly half a month.

The Yan outside had also “watched” him for half a month.

Zhong Tianlang had never attempted to break out.

Because his follow-up forces had already pressed forward step by step.

The two Jiangnan local armies had arrived.

The ten thousand cavalry he previously detached had returned as well.

The Yan beneath the walls had fought him head-on once.

His own losses had certainly been severe.

But the Yan had not escaped unscathed either.

Now... he was the bait.

The Yan stood trapped in the middle.

His own reinforcements were closing around them from outside, preparing to swallow the whole thing in one bite.

It was obvious that the Yan did not want to let him out.

The problem was... the pressure on the Yan was growing heavier by the day.

He was curious.

How long did the Yan intend to keep holding?

And how long *could* they keep holding?

One thing, however, puzzled Zhong Tianlang.

The day before yesterday, he had clearly stood on the gate tower and seen movement inside the Yan camps suggesting they had no choice but to withdraw.

And yet... three more days passed.

The Yan remained nailed in place.

At the same time, the outer Qian forces had already completed the encirclement.

When the time came...

Zhong Tianlang could order a sortie and coordinate from within and without.

Could this exhausted Yan army still endure?

Yet because he had suffered a loss not long ago, the Imperial Son-in-Law did not allow himself to become too optimistic.

Again and again, this Yan force had reacted like an army led by novices.

And again and again... it had somehow transformed passivity into initiative.

But this time... how exactly would they reverse it?

“Thunder? Is it going to rain?”

Zhong Tianlang looked up.

The sun blazed in a clear sky.

But the thunder...

The Imperial Son-in-Law’s gaze suddenly tightened.

His entire heart sank into the abyss.

That was not thunder.

It was... hoofbeats.

Hooves like thunder required at least ten thousand horses galloping together.

And the roar now coming almost simultaneously from the north and south... could not possibly be produced without tens of thousands of iron cavalry charging at once.

Qian cavalry?

The thought flashed through Zhong Tianlang’s mind.

Then even he laughed.

Great Qian’s largest cavalry corps was already in his own hands.

So how could these possibly be Qian reinforcements?

The answer was already obvious.

Before long... standing high atop the gate tower, Zhong Tianlang saw a black sea surging down from the entire eastern horizon!

Outside the walls, the Yan troops were already mounting.

They pulled away the camp gates and barriers, preparing to coordinate with the reinforcements appearing beyond them and launch a counterattack.

Everything... happened with terrible naturalness.

Tears gathered in Zhong Tianlang’s eyes.

What surprised even him was that he did not fly into a rage.

He did not curse.

His heart... was unexpectedly calm.

He had once read the military treatise written by that old rival of his.

Inside it was a story about horse racing.

This time, Great Qian had tried to use a numerical advantage in superior horses to swallow one of Yan’s superior horses.

Why go to all the trouble of planning such a thing?

Because if they simply fought fairly... they probably could not win.

And now... they had lost.

They had lost.

Zhong Tianlang did not try to calm the subordinates already growing restless inside the city.

Instead, he clenched his right fist and pressed it to his forehead.

Then released a long sigh.

“Your Majesty...”

...

“So the Prince’s empty brocade pouch really meant we could do whatever we liked, because in the end we were guaranteed to win?”

Chen Xianba had already taken up his meteor hammers and mounted his beast.

Over this half month, their interpretation of the “Prince’s empty brocade pouch” had gone through Heaven knew how many changes.

But in the end... what remained was the same thing they had possessed from the beginning, only purer now: reverence and worship for their Prince.

At Chen Xianba’s sides stood Tian Tian and Zheng Man.

Chen Xianba raised one meteor hammer.

Then roared:

“The Grand General is here! All of you, follow me! We’re trampling these Qian dogs flat!”

...

When one hundred thousand iron cavalry suddenly entered a local battlefield... every other sound was destined to drown beneath the thunder of hooves.

The first to collapse were the two Jiangnan local armies.

In truth, the fact that they had endured this long was already quite respectable.

So one really could not demand that, when a massive tide of black-armored cavalry came pouring toward them, they somehow keep doing more.

At last... without guilt or pressure... they could shout the words they had instinctively wanted to scream from the first moment they saw Yan cavalry:

“The Yan are here! Run!!!”

The ten thousand cavalry Zhong Tianlang had left outside were also devoured almost completely beneath the charges personally led by Liang Cheng and Jin Shuke.

Apart from the remnant still hiding inside Menhai Garrison—whom the Yan temporarily could not be bothered dealing with, so they simply left troops behind to “guard” them as before... the entire eastern bank of the Qian River was practically plowed over once.

Huge numbers of routed Qian soldiers threw away armor and weapons and fled in miserable disorder toward the river, doing everything possible to cross westward and escape the iron hooves of the Yan.

At the same time... more and more organized formations of Yan cavalry began appearing along the riverbank.

...

Aboard the flagship of the Wu Clan fleet...

Wu Xiang sat alone in his cabin.

Only one candle burned before him.

So although it was daytime, the cabin remained dim.

Creak...

The cabin door opened.

Wu Xiang raised his head.

His elder brother, Wu Zhaonian, entered.

Behind Wu Zhaonian came a group of ship bosses.

The Wu Clan had begun as sea raiders.

Before Zu Zhuming pacified the coastal pirate disaster, the Wu had cleansed their name early.

Then they kowtowed sincerely enough to preserve themselves and even use the opportunity to keep growing.

Yet the Wu Clan’s structure had always been complicated.

The Wu themselves were like local emperors of the Eastern Sea.

But beneath that emperor stood an entire collection of feudal lords.

Within Wu power, the true forces directly belonging to the Wu family had never made up more than forty percent.

Everything else consisted of different ship bosses who had attached themselves beneath the Wu Clan’s banner.

The Wu could command these ship bosses.

But the ship bosses could, in turn, constrain the Wu.

Wu Zhaonian stopped before Wu Xiang.

The group of captains behind him stood quietly and in orderly ranks.

Wu Xiang drew a deep breath.

He looked at his elder brother.

“There’s no chance left?”

Wu Zhaonian shook his head.

“The Yan should never have been able to appear on the eastern bank in the first place. But now they have.”

He paused.

Then continued:

“And the Yan who have appeared east of the river are even more numerous than we originally estimated. Even if every Yan soldier had three heads and six arms and somehow ate the Imperial Son-in-Law and his whole army alive... their numbers still couldn’t simply increase out of nowhere.”

“So there’s truly no chance left?”

Wu Zhaonian nodded.

“No.”

“Brother...”

Before Wu Xiang could continue, Wu Zhaonian spoke first.

“One Zu Zhuming and one Zu family army were already enough to leave the Wu Clan unable to cope. Never mind... the much stronger Yan. Our clan may have begun as sea raiders, but our roots have always been on land. Your wives and concubines will die with you. Your other sons will go with you as well. I will take them and your head to the Regent Prince to plead guilty. That way, at least Qin’er, who is still in Jinghai City, can live. I promise you this: after I take your position, when the opportunity is right, I will pass the clan headship back to Qin’er. You needn’t worry that I’ll break my word or cling to the seat. Letting your son replace me is itself one of the balancing methods rulers like to use. Whether the people above us are Qian or Yan, they’ll probably do exactly that. Perhaps Qin’er will even have a chance to be taken into the Regent Prince’s Residence. Later, he may return holding the Regent Prince’s decree and take back the Wu Clan from me—his uncle, the man who killed his father and mother.”

Wu Xiang shook his head.

Wu Zhaonian asked:

“You’re still not satisfied?”

“No, Brother. You know me. I’m afraid of pain. I’m asking you to do it personally. Give your younger brother... a quick death.”

Wu Zhaonian gave a bitter smile.

Then nodded.

He reached out and took a saber from one of the ship bosses beside him.

Slowly... he walked behind Wu Xiang, the current head of the Wu Clan.

Wu Xiang remained seated.

When the blade rested against his neck... he spoke.

“Brother. If I’d known it would end like this... I wouldn’t have fought you for this seat back then. I should have just given it to you.”

Wu Zhaonian cursed with a laugh:

“You think that after I kill you today, when your son comes back someday, my family and I are going to end well?”

“Hahaha. True.”

...

Wu Zhaonian carried a bloody head onto the deck.

Then he knelt before a Yan lieutenant.

“Reporting to the envoy: the rebel’s head has been taken. This humble man begs the envoy—begs the Prince—to forgive those of us who were deceived by the rebel.”

“May the Prince forgive us!”

“May the Prince forgive us!”

The Yan lieutenant reached down.

He picked up Wu Xiang’s head and examined it.

Then he glanced around and nodded in satisfaction.

Liang Cheng had sent him aboard as envoy.

He set the head down.

Then cupped his hands toward the west.

“Redeem yourselves properly through merit. The Prince is benevolent.”

“Thank you, Your Highness!”

“Thank you, Your Highness!”

Wu Zhaonian rose.

The gathered ship bosses rose as well.

“May this humble man ask the envoy’s honored surname and name?” Wu Zhaonian asked ingratiatingly.

The envoy answered:

“My surname is Zhou. Zhou Chang’an.”

Wu Zhaonian froze.

“What? Clan Head Wu, do you somehow recognize this Lieutenant?”

“How could a lowly coastal commoner like me recognize a hero such as Lieutenant Zhou? But today... I have finally made your acquaintance.”

Wu Zhaonian remembered years ago, when he had hidden himself inside a merchant caravan, entered eastern Jin, and reached Fengxin City.

He had been drinking in a “brothel.”

During the banquet... a young man who had just graduated from the charitable school and been selected into the Prince’s Brocade-Clad personal guards, with a bright future ahead of him, had come on his wedding day with his bride and two sedan chairs to collect someone from beneath the brothel.

The women of Fengxin City’s Red Tents had long maintained the tradition of donating to charitable-school orphans.

This young man had been one of those orphans.

And he had come to fetch the aging brothel woman who had helped support him.

After he kowtowed... the old woman finally left the brothel and entered the sedan chair.

To this day, Wu Zhaonian still remembered that young bridegroom sitting on horseback and shouting proudly to the entire street:

“Today, I, Zhou Chang’an, have both a wife and a mother!”

Who could have imagined... that years later... this same man would appear before him as an envoy of the Yan army?

Perhaps... that was fate.

Zhou Chang’an pointed toward the mast.

“Why is that Qian military banner still up?”

Wu Zhaonian snapped awake.

He immediately shouted:

“What are all of you staring at? Get that banner down! Down!”

Then he turned back to Zhou Chang’an.

“Lieutenant, rest assured. We prepared the Black Dragon Banner long ago. Our hearts have always turned toward Great Yan. We have always been loyal to Great Yan!”

After all... they had already changed banners once before.

Now... they were merely changing again.

...

On the riverbank...

Liang Cheng sat astride his Pi Beast.

Jin Shuke remained at his side.

Behind them stood Chen Xianba, Tian Tian, and Zheng Man.

The generational structure among eastern Jin’s commanders could hardly have been clearer.

Liang Cheng spoke.

“Do you remember what I told you before the fighting began?”

“Grand General said the Prince taught you how to fight,” Jin Shuke answered.

He clearly remembered.

“Yes.”

A faint smile appeared at the corner of Liang Cheng’s mouth.

“I always believed I knew how to fight. But... Master taught me another meaning of war.”

Why bother circling around in advance?

Why bother making preparations too early?

When eastern Jin’s iron cavalry swept the entire eastern bank like thunder and its hooves reached the river... the Wu Clan fleet on the water... simply changed surnames again.

...

Mingsu City.

The Prefect’s residence.

A squad of Chu armored soldiers entered the courtyard.

The Chu troops originally stationed there as guards assumed they had come to relieve the watch.

But the newly arrived soldiers suddenly drew their blades.

Taking the defenders by surprise, they slaughtered every last one.

The smell of blood immediately spread through the air.

One soldier stepped forward and chopped through the iron lock.

The door opened.

Then every armored soldier withdrew several steps and knelt.

“We greet the Grand General!”

“We greet the Grand General!”

Inside the room...

Nian Yao walked slowly out, holding a melon in one hand.

He ate as he came, spitting seeds to the side.

“Where is Zhao Han?”

“Replying to Grand General: Zhao Han personally led the main force to assist the Qian attack on Jinghai City. The troops remaining in the city have already been brought under our control. They now await the Grand General’s orders!”

“Oh.”

Nian Yao nodded.

He crouched down.

Placed the melon on the threshold behind him.

Then reached out and stroked the wood.

“Years ago, everyone believed I, Nian Yao, liked sitting on thresholds eating melon because I wanted to imitate Prince Jingnan. Heh. The truth is... I liked sitting on thresholds because what I have hated most in this entire life... is the threshold itself! Why? Why were I... and all of you... born slaves? Why were we born one rank beneath them? Even when I climbed all the way to the position of Grand General, those so-called nobles could still summon and dismiss me at will and call me... dog slave! I hate this threshold. I hate it down to my bones!”

Nian Yao wiped his hand on his clothes.

Then smiled.

“Our Emperor truly did decide I had become nothing more than a useless castrated man. But at least... I spent so many years serving as Grand General of Great Chu’s imperial-clan Imperial Guards, didn’t I? In this lifetime, I, Nian Yao, have only lost two battles. One was to Tian Wujing. No shame in that. The other was to Zheng Fan. No shame in that either. And Zhao Han? What the hell does he count for? Did he truly think one lock could imprison me inside my own army?”

Nian Yao’s gaze swept across the kneeling officers and soldiers.

He asked:

“What is the situation of Great Yan’s Regent Prince right now?”

One officer reported:

“Replying to Grand General... extremely dangerous.”

“Oh. Wonderful. Wonderful! Adding flowers to brocade is nothing. Delivering charcoal in the snow—that is what makes a man remember you! Everyone says once a man leaves, the tea goes cold. Here with me, Nian Yao... the man left, but the tea stayed warm.”

After Nian Yao’s capture, the Phoenix Nest Internal Guard had indeed carried out a purge of his old subordinates within the Imperial Guards.

But who knew that when Nian Yao had been Grand General, he was especially skilled at using noble sons and bringing them completely to heel... while the men he had truly taken into his heart and personally promoted were slaves and commoners from within the ranks.

At the time, most of them had only been junior officers.

They did not even qualify as generals.

Naturally, they were beneath the level targeted in the purge.

But over the years...

Chu’s famous generals had fallen one after another.

War had become frequent.

The nobles had weakened.

And the slave-born commoners who once had almost no path to promotion inside the army suddenly gained countless opportunities to rise.

Among Great Chu’s slaves and commoners, Nian Yao occupied something close to the same position the Regent Prince held among the Yan.

More than that...

Yan at least possessed classic stories of commoners rising from nothing.

In Chu, across several centuries of recorded history, anyone who left a name behind was either a noble... or related to nobles.

So the road Nian Yao had walked... had in truth been harder than almost anyone understood.

This was not some alliance bound by shared interest.

It could hardly even be called a faction.

It was simply this: a man of principle dies for the one who understands him.

Most importantly... before the army marched, the Regent Prince had personally replaced Zhao Han with Nian Yao as commander of this imperial-clan force.

If Nian Yao had failed to make arrangements inside the army during that opportunity... then half a lifetime spent rising and falling through military service truly would have been wasted.

“I, Nian Yao... thank every brother here! But at the same time... I must apologize to all of you. I must ask your forgiveness! Because I am going to take every one of you... and gamble our lives... one more time!”

[End of Chapter 1009]