Chapter 1010: Behead Them to Consecrate the Banner!

The Prince held a nail clipper borrowed from A’Ming and carefully trimmed his fingernails.

Once they were cut, he borrowed a small file and began smoothing and shaping them.

He finished one nail.

Held it up in front of himself.

Then blew on it.

“Whew... whew...”

The neatly polished nail looked unexpectedly pleasing beneath the light spilling in from outside.

Not far north of this tall building stood the northern city wall.

At that very moment, the most savage fighting of the entire siege was raging there.

The Qian had once again swarmed up the walls like ants, opening breach after breach in the defensive line, only to be driven down again by the Yan.

The situation... was already extremely dangerous.

Yet the Prince showed no urgency or panic whatsoever.

Because the Brocade-Clad personal guard camp remained intact beside him.

So long as no one on the walls had come asking him to send those personal guards forward, the situation remained defensible and under control.

As for scenes of killing...

Zheng Fan had seen far too many of them already.

“A’Ming, I’ve noticed something. The longer one serves as supreme commander, the harder it becomes to avoid treating casualties as numbers. You glance at the figure, then your mind naturally skips straight to the result.”

As the Prince spoke, he stood.

Before A’Ming could answer, Zheng Fan continued on his own.

“If that is what maturity means... it is actually rather boring.”

The corner of A’Ming’s mouth lifted.

Zheng Fan turned his head, caught the expression, and asked:

“What are you smiling at?”

A’Ming answered:

“Master has started again.”

“Oh?”

“The fish in the pond back at the Residence haven’t been fed by Master personally in a very long time.”

“I fed them full for so many days. Surely they don’t expect me to deliver meals to them every single day? No, wait. What did you mean by saying I’ve ‘started again’?”

“The battle is fierce, but in Master’s heart the result is already settled. Since you’re certain we’ll win, since you’re certain misfortune has already turned toward good fortune... you’ve started getting sentimental and theatrical again.”

“Hahahahahaha...”

Zheng Fan laughed until he bent at the waist.

“Is it really that obvious and deliberate?”

“Yes.”

“Maybe it’s been too many years since I fought a war. I’m out of practice.”

As he spoke, the Prince raised a hand and gently rubbed his own face.

“Or perhaps I’ve sat too high for too long. I almost never need to act anymore, so my performance skills have declined.”

“But during the previous Yan-Chu national war, Master performed extremely well. This subordinate even admired it inwardly at the time.”

“That wasn’t flattery?”

“No.”

Zheng Fan nodded.

“Then that means... this time I truly was afraid.”

For Master to suddenly become so candid left even A’Ming unsure how to answer.

Zheng Fan walked to the railing outside the building.

This was one of the tallest points inside Jinghai City, offering a clear view of the entire northern wall.

Outside, the Sword Saint and Swordsmith each sat on a small stool.

Ever since the Swordsmith had appeared filthy and battered before the Sword Saint’s “white robes like snow”... he too had quickly begun “slacking off.”

Not that he did absolutely nothing.

A sheet of paper lay spread before him, and he was sketching the design of a new sword.

It was meant for Heir Prince Zheng Lin.

Zheng Fan leaned over and glanced at it.

“Too ornate. Not restrained enough.”

The Swordsmith disagreed immediately.

“Your Highness is wrong about that. Young people may be steady on the surface, but their hearts are still hot. Naturally they need a brilliant sword to match.”

“But the boy will grow up eventually.”

The Swordsmith answered as though it were the most obvious thing in the world:

“That’s no problem. When His Highness the Heir Prince grows older and stops liking this one, I’ll forge him another.”

“That is indeed a good solution.”

As a father, Zheng Fan realized he had still underestimated how attractive his own son was to these “grandmasters.”

He raised his head and looked into the distance.

On the gate tower beside the northern wall stood a princely standard.

His son was currently sitting beneath it “supervising the battle.”

And the boy’s mother was there with him.

“The Qian assault really is fierce,” the Prince sighed.

“Yes,” the Swordsmith agreed.

It was obvious that the Qian were truly spending blood and lives without reserve to grind down this city.

What the Qian did not understand, however, was that the usual saying that Yan armies were poor at attacking and defending cities did not apply to eastern Jin’s army.

In recent years, although eastern Jin still emphasized cavalry and remained cavalry-heavy, it had never neglected infantry training.

The old weakness in siege and defensive warfare had long since been repaired.

More importantly, the princely standard remained inside the city.

The army’s heart was stable.

Everyone had already resolved to defend the Prince to the death.

So after repeated probes and tricks failed, the Qian had no choice but to grit their teeth and use the stupidest possible method: pile flesh and lives against the thickness of the walls.

The Prince rested both hands on the railing.

Closed his eyes.

Drew a deep breath.

Then slowly opened them again.

Far in the distance... a black speck appeared in his line of sight.

And grew larger.

It was a stone hurled from a Qian trebuchet outside the city.

“...” Zheng Fan.

The Sword Saint sprang into the air.

The Swordsmith dropped his design sheet and followed immediately.

Two of the old Four Great Swordsmen hung in the air before Zheng Fan.

Each slashed out with a powerful wave of sword qi.

Boom!

The boulder shattered in midair.

The Swordsmith relaxed and prepared to descend.

The Sword Saint lightly tapped one foot against his shoulder and used him as a stepping stone to float gracefully back behind the railing.

The Swordsmith looked up.

His lips moved in several silent curses.

Then he obediently landed below and climbed the tower again.

By the time he returned, the Sword Saint had already resumed his seat, expression calm as still water.

The Swordsmith could only shake his head, glare twice, sit down again, and pick up his brush and paper.

The Prince turned around and leaned his back against the railing.

A’Ming said:

“Master, we are standing at one of the highest points near the northern wall. Being hit by enemy stones is only natural.”

“Enough. Heaven not liking me is hardly something I discovered today. Fortunately... I’m used to it.”

...

The Qian assault finally ended.

Xie Yu’an stumbled down the city stairs.

His lips were cracked.

He took a water skin from one of the guards nearby, drank deeply, then sat down without a word.

A moment later, Emperor Zhao Yuannian also came over, exhausted.

The legs of his trousers were soaked from stepping through puddles.

Fortunately, Xie Yu’an reached out and caught him.

Otherwise, the Emperor might have fallen face-first to the ground.

Only after Zhao Yuannian sat did Xie Yu’an notice the bloody marks across his back.

He had probably been struck by fragments thrown up when a trebuchet stone hit nearby.

Xie Yu’an laughed.

“Hey. You’d better be careful. Don’t go and suddenly die on the throne.”

Zhao Yuannian gave two dry laughs.

Then coughed twice.

He wiped the corner of his mouth, took the water skin from Xie Yu’an, and drank two large mouthfuls to settle himself.

“Not yet. Not yet.”

The Emperor had personally mobilized the civilians inside Jinghai City to help defend the walls.

Early on, the Chu had played the villains.

The Yan still had a relatively decent image.

Most importantly, Zhao Yuannian used his status as “Emperor” to make promise after promise.

He had genuinely managed to mobilize quite a few commoners.

“Why work yourself this hard?” Xie Yu’an asked.

“Aren’t you doing the same?” Zhao Yuannian shot back.

“Heh.”

Xie Yu’an raised his head and looked toward the tall pavilion not far to the south.

By rights, he had already received what he wanted.

There should have been no need to keep making himself this “miserable.”

Yet for some reason... he simply could not imitate the Swordsmith and throw down his burden to rest.

Only Xie Yu’an himself understood that the reason he kept working so hard was no longer merely to flatter the Prince.

Zhao Yuannian was much the same.

Once a man had done something long enough, once he had persisted in doing it continuously, whether it began as performance ceased to matter.

“I just think that if I can mobilize more civilians and let His Highness see it, then perhaps later the Yan will treat the people here a little better.”

“Only the people here?” Xie Yu’an asked.

“Other places aren’t mine yet. Besides, when I toured the streets after ascending the throne, the people here were the first to kneel before me.”

“I paid them in advance,” Xie Yu’an said with a laugh.

They had been hired extras.

“That doesn’t matter. They still knelt.”

Zhao Yuannian sighed.

“When I was still Heir Prince of Prince Fu Residence, I watched with my own eyes as my father deliberately made himself fat. I watched how carefully and fearfully he lived. I watched him treat... so many people inside our own home as possible Silver-Armored Guards. Back then, I was angry. We were all descendants of dragons and imperial blood. Why did my family have to live like that?”

“And now?”

“Fame and position. Wealth and luxury. Rank and status. When I didn’t have them, I desperately wanted them. Now that I do... they don’t seem especially important. Say what you like, but I genuinely want to treat the common people a little better.”

“You want your name remembered in history?”

“No. That’s too troublesome. Everyone says Qian’s Jiangnan is rich. But how many people know that peasant rebellions in Jiangnan are actually more frequent than native uprisings in the southwest? What I truly want now is this: after the war ends, let the common people live the kind of good life people have in eastern Jin.”

Xie Yu’an chuckled.

“That’s impossible.”

Set aside eastern Jin’s uniquely favorable geography and its environment, where it could replenish itself through plunder from every direction.

Eastern Jin remained sparsely populated.

Qian’s Jiangnan already suffered from too many people and too little land.

That contradiction alone was almost impossible to solve.

And most importantly... if Zhao Yuannian truly tried copying eastern Jin’s entire system in Jiangnan... what exactly was he planning?

Enrich the state.

Strengthen the army.

And save Qian through a curve?

Zhao Yuannian yawned.

A military physician had already come over to treat the wounds on his back.

He looked at Xie Yu’an.

“I’m only thinking like this because we’re fighting, I’m injured, and I’m exhausted while also feeling rather heroic. It’s probably no different from lying in bed after some clouds-and-rain affair and suddenly worrying about the suffering of all living beings. I estimate that once this war truly ends, I’ll probably become some wine-soaked, pleasure-addled Ruler or Prince. I can even call it self-protection through deliberate disgrace. But you... what exactly are *you* after?”

“Perhaps I simply feel that I ought to do something. Even if all I manage is picking up scraps from someone else’s leftovers... that is still better than walking through this world once and leaving nothing.”

“I don’t understand. But I admit you’re better at talking big than I am.”

“Naturally.”

Xie Yu’an took a small box from his pocket.

Inside were mint leaves.

He passed one to Zhao Yuannian.

“Have one, Prince of Qian.”

Zhao Yuannian accepted it.

“Thanks, Prince of Yue.”

...

Day after day of attacks had failed to break the walls.

Instead, the attackers themselves had fallen into exhaustion.

Morale inside the Qian camps was not especially high.

The same was true in the Chu camp.

In truth, Meng Gong had not even ordered the Chu force to assault the city directly.

That was not because Meng Gong possessed some deep sense of righteousness and refused to use newly defected allies as cannon fodder.

The Chu soldiers’ morale was simply so poor that he feared forcing them into the attack would accomplish nothing while dragging down his own army’s morale and strengthening the confidence of the Yan defenders.

The reason was simple.

During the national war in Shanggu Commandery... the Chu army had been beaten until its spirit shattered.

They had lost to Yan before.

Their capital had even burned.

But never had several hundred thousand Chu soldiers been hunted down like piglets by Yan cavalry as they were in that war.

Precisely because they had been beaten into submission, morale among the imperial-clan Imperial Guards had actually been fairly good when they were incorporated into the Yan system and marched into Qian.

If you couldn’t beat them... join them.

That was fine.

With Yan troops holding the battlefield, the Chu did not especially fear anyone else.

Then the wind inexplicably shifted.

The returned former Grand General Nian Yao became the former Grand General yet again.

And the Chu troops, who had just become Yan allies, were pulled by their deputy commander back onto the opposite side of the Yan.

The soldiers were genuinely afraid.

Their superiors kept explaining how terrible the Yan situation had become, how Great Yan’s Regent Prince was trapped inside Jinghai City like a turtle waiting to be captured.

But once an army’s courage had been smashed apart... how could it recover so quickly?

Besides... even if the Regent Prince disappeared, did Yan not still possess its main army?

Once this battle ended and they returned to Chu... wouldn’t they simply have to fight the Yan main force again?

Ordinary soldiers thought very simply.

They did not ponder such deep questions.

They were merely terrified of becoming enemies with the Yan again.

Many still dreamed of the horrifying sight of Yan cavalry chasing them from behind.

As commander of this force, Zhao Han had just returned from a military council in the Qian command tent.

The instant he entered his own commander’s tent... the noble Zhao Clan general swept everything from the table onto the ground.

He cursed three times in succession:

“Outrageous!”

At the Qian war council, Zhao Han had volunteered to take responsibility for assaulting one section of the wall.

The Qian generals present had actually burst into laughter.

Outrageous.

Truly outrageous.

He, Zhao Han... and the army of Chu... had fallen so low that Qian generals now laughed at them for being useless!

Humiliation.

Utter humiliation!

Zhao Han had only just finished venting when noise suddenly erupted outside.

He immediately ordered the guard beside him:

“Go see what they’re shouting about outside. No discipline at all!”

“Yes.”

The guard had not yet managed to leave when the tent flap lifted.

Several generals entered.

There was blood on their armor.

Then... a familiar figure stepped into the tent behind them.

“Nian Yao... you...”

Nian Yao’s gaze swept across the mess on the floor.

He smiled.

“Have you forgotten what I taught you back then? A commander must calm his heart and steady his qi. Look at yourself now. What sort of appearance is this?”

“Guards! Guards!”

Zhao Han shouted.

Nian Yao merely smiled at him.

One of the generals beside Nian Yao said:

“Zhao Han, your men have already been brought under our control. The entire camp is now in the Grand General’s hands.”

Zhao Han’s eyes widened.

He could not believe military authority had been stripped from him this lightly.

He was commander of an army.

Yet his command had vanished almost without resistance.

The humiliation felt even worse than losing a battle.

“Nian Yao, what exactly are you trying to do? Don’t tell me you intend to take these sons of Chu and keep risking their lives for that doomed Yan Prince?”

“You guessed correctly. That is exactly what I intend to do.”

“You’re mad. You’re mad! Can’t you see Jinghai City is already tottering? That Yan Prince is about to become a Qian prisoner!”

“I looked. The city can probably hold for several more days. ‘Tottering’ is only something all of you imagined.”

“Then did you not see how many Qian troops surround our camp?!”

“I saw them. Many. An endless number. By Qian standards, they even count as elite.”

“Then you—”

“I want to gamble once. I’m betting the man laughing at the end of this will still be that Prince inside the city.”

“Nian Yao, this is Great Chu’s opportunity! Our only opportunity to rise again! Are you still a man of Chu or not? You actually—”

“I’m a eunuch now.”

“...” Zhao Han.

Nian Yao smacked his lips.

Then laughed.

“Truthfully... after I stopped being a man, life became easier.”

“You!!!”

Zhao Han twisted sideways and tried to draw his saber.

The men beside Nian Yao were faster.

They seized him first.

One kicked the back of his knee.

Zhao Han dropped to his knees.

Nian Yao crouched in front of him and patted his face.

“Truthfully, even I find it difficult to see how the Prince inside the city can reverse this situation.”

“Then you—”

“But I just think this: if Zheng Fan loses... and loses to someone like *you*... I genuinely cannot believe it. So you’re my guiding lamp. I simply walk in the opposite direction from you, and I’ll be right.”

Nian Yao stood.

Then issued his orders.

“Pass my command. Divide the Imperial Guards into three forces. One main body and two auxiliaries. The two auxiliary forces will harass the surrounding Qian camps. The main force follows me... and we will try to burn the Qian grain camp!”

“Orders received!”

“Orders received!”

The generals immediately left to carry out the commands.

Soon, only Nian Yao and the bound Zhao Han remained in the tent.

“His Majesty treated you well...”

“I was His Majesty’s slave. Serving His Majesty was only proper. But after I was defeated, captured, and humiliated, His Majesty should never have let Yan’s Secret Intelligence Department escort my family out of Chu. I do not believe it. I refuse to believe Great Chu’s Phoenix Nest Internal Guard, inside Ying Capital itself, was incapable of protecting one insignificant household belonging to me! Once His Majesty decided I was useless, he voluntarily sent my family out to create suspicion between the Yan Emperor and Regent Prince. He once asked whether I wished to become Great Chu’s Tian Wujing.”

Nian Yao shook his head.

“Heh. I do not.”

The words had barely fallen when shouts of killing suddenly erupted outside.

The commotion was so enormous that both men froze.

Zhao Han immediately cried:

“The Qian discovered our movement! They struck first to suppress the mutiny!”

Slap!

Nian Yao struck Zhao Han across the face.

“You deaf bastard! Can’t you hear hoofbeats this loud? Where would the Qian around here find cavalry capable of creating that kind of thunder?!”

Nian Yao urgently drew his saber.

Then laughed and cursed:

“Hahahahaha! Damn it all! I was preparing to gamble my life one more time... and I nearly didn’t even make it in time to eat shit while it was still hot!”

...

Inside Jinghai City... a rebellion had just been suppressed.

Zhao Yuannian, whose back wounds were not yet fully healed, now knelt anxiously at the Regent Prince’s feet.

The Prince sat in a chair atop the city wall.

To his right stood the Heir Prince.

Below the wall... a large group of Qian laborers and soldiers who had just thrown down their weapons knelt under guard.

A great deal of blood had been spilled on the day Zhao Yuannian ascended the throne.

But after his enthronement, he had constantly worked to recruit and absorb local Qian people.

Old great families.

Wandering swordsmen.

Anyone he could use.

Once the Qian surrounded the city, Zhao Yuannian made promise after promise and continued expanding his own manpower to assist in the defense.

In truth, he had done nothing wrong.

One of the most important elements in defending a city was simply having enough bodies.

The Yan defenders were elite.

But there were only a little over twenty thousand of them.

They still needed enough laborers and auxiliaries behind them if they wanted to hold the city steadily.

Who could have expected... that tonight, an auxiliary Qian camp numbering around four hundred would secretly mutiny and attempt to steal open a gate to receive the Qian army outside?

Fortunately, the plot had been discovered in advance.

The attempt naturally failed.

They had not even managed to stir up serious chaos inside the city.

Prepared Yan soldiers loosed one volley of arrows.

More than a hundred died.

The rest immediately dropped their weapons and surrendered.

Then, based on testimony from the ringleaders, several more groups were arrested.

All of them were gathered here.

Armored soldiers stood around them holding torches.

Night wind moved through the firelight, carrying an unmistakable chill of killing intent.

Zhao Yuannian was terrified.

He knew perfectly well that with the Prince’s wisdom, Zheng Fan would never imagine Zhao Yuannian himself had intended to betray him.

But this problem had still emerged from Zhao Yuannian’s own people.

Especially humiliating... most of the chief conspirators had been his newly recruited confidants.

Among them were even the Left and Right Chief Ministers of the new court, along with several Ministers.

Zheng Fan looked down at Zhao Yuannian.

He was not angry with him.

Jinghai City already possessed an enormous population.

The Chu had plundered it.

The enthronement ceremony had brought another purge.

Later, people had deliberately been moved into the city again.

Add the many surrendered former Qian soldiers... and the place had long since been infiltrated by the Silver-Armored Guard until it resembled a sieve.

A true clean sweep was nearly impossible.

Still...

Zhao Yuannian’s talent for choosing lackeys was genuinely impressive in the worst possible way.

How exactly had he managed to recruit an entire collection of “righteous patriots” directly to his own side?

Was the new court really supposed to consist of one Emperor who was a committed traitor to Qian... while everyone beneath him had his body in Cao’s camp and his heart with Han?

“Your Highness... Your Highness...”

“Get up.”

“Yes, Your Highness. Thank you, Your Highness.”

Zhao Yuannian climbed shakily to his feet.

By now, nearly a thousand people connected to the uprising had been arrested.

More than half the backbone of the new court was gathered there.

Many were already crying and begging for their lives.

Zheng Fan’s gaze narrowed slightly.

Then understanding rose inside him.

Perhaps his earlier thought had been wrong.

There could not possibly be this many righteous patriots.

More likely... these new court officials had watched Jinghai City approach the brink of collapse and been frightened witless.

They feared liquidation after the city fell.

So they had decided to reverse sides in advance.

Once that thought occurred to him...

Zheng Fan’s gaze toward Zhao Yuannian softened considerably.

“Whatever else happens, defending the city remains our first priority. Zhao Yuannian, these people...”

They were spineless.

Frighten them hard enough and they could still be used.

After all, the city still needed to hold for a few more days.

Military law required severity.

But timing mattered too.

At present, what mattered most was simply patching the walls and surviving the remaining days.

So Zheng Fan intended to let Zhao Yuannian step in as the good man and smooth the situation over.

But before the Prince could finish speaking... a tremendous roar of killing erupted outside the city!

The Yan soldiers around him instantly tensed.

Their first instinct was that the Qian had launched a night assault.

But very quickly... everyone realized something was wrong.

The fighting was not at the foot of the walls.

It came from farther away, from the locations of the various Qian camps.

The scale was enormous.

It sounded as though nearly every Qian encampment outside the city had suddenly erupted into violent battle.

“Heh heh...”

The Prince laughed.

Then rose.

Standing atop the city wall, he looked into the distance.

Battle cries shook the night.

Torches burned like stars.

At last... he had waited long enough.

Everything seemed like a replay of Snow Sea Pass years ago.

Ah Cheng... had not disappointed his Master.

“Where is the Order-Transmitting Sima?”

“This subordinate is here!”

“Transmit this Prince’s order. Muster the troops inside the city. Open all four gates. Follow this Prince out and kill the enemy!”

“This general obeys!”

“Dahu. Armor me.”

“Yes!”

Liu Dahu immediately brought the Prince’s armor and began fastening it onto him.

“These past days, this Prince’s banner has stood there eating dust. It’s filthy now.”

As his armor was being fitted...

Zheng Fan glanced once more at the kneeling crowd below.

At the same time, he silently opened the recess in the breastplate protecting his heart.

He placed a red stone inside.

Then continued lightly:

“Behead them all. Let them consecrate this Prince’s banner.”

[End of Chapter 1010]