Chapter 1012: Destroying a State Along the Way

“I once heard a story. Years ago, Master Cang entered Yanjing and threatened to sever the dragon vein unless the late Emperor of Yan withdrew his troops. The late Emperor answered quite openly: ‘Come, come. Hurry up and cut this dragon vein so We can watch. Once We’ve watched, We still have memorials to review.’ I also once heard that a Qi Refiner from Qian’s Back Mountain traveled west across All Xia and reached Beifeng Commandery, where he discovered a burial site bestowed by Heaven. He informed the old Marquis Zhenbei. The old Marquis left instructions ordering Li Liangting to bury him there. Years later, that Qi Refiner traveled west again and went searching for the treasured site. Instead of a tomb, he found a pigsty built over it. The pigs raised there were specifically used for sacrifices by the Marquis Residence. And I personally witnessed Heir Prince Jingnan leading Brocade-Clad personal guards in formation along a riverbank while a Chief Shaman beside them used a curse to forcibly pry into his qi. The backlash destroyed the shaman’s mind. He said Heir Prince Jingnan carried a restriction left by his father, with methods so mysterious they bordered on ghosts and gods. That truly opened my eyes. Before then, I never knew the previous generation’s God of War of Great Yan also possessed occult methods that surpassed even a Chief Shaman.”

At this point, Xie Yu’an paused.

He glanced at the Blind Man beside him.

Then continued:

“Today, I witnessed His Highness reject Heaven’s help and force his way into Third Grade. That is true breadth of spirit. True unruliness, the kind that can look down upon ghosts, gods, and Heaven itself with a single contemptuous glance. Great Yan first produced one Emperor and two Princes who burst onto the stage and shattered the old balance. Then the successor Emperor held the state together while the Regent Prince took up the blade and rode across the world. Heroes rise one after another, and every one of them is the kind of genuine great man who can stand between Heaven and Earth. Then look back at our Chu Emperor, forever entangled with the Fire Phoenix spirit. Qian’s Back Mountain has stood for a century, and even the present Grand Chief Minister walked down from it. Compared side by side... How could they compete? And how could they possibly stop this?”

The Blind Man smiled and pointed toward the sky.

“You think Heaven is very great?”

Xie Yu’an asked in return:

“Isn’t Heaven great? Wherever you look, aren’t we all beneath it?”

“On the earth are people, mountains, rivers, and vast surging landscapes. There are humans, beasts, and demons. There are iron horses and flashing weapons, poetry and essays. There are too many flavors, too many splendid things. But Heaven itself is so dull and empty it makes a man sleepy. Big, yet hollow. What is the point of being that big?”

A faint smile appeared at Xie Yu’an’s lips.

He nodded.

“Thought-provoking.”

“You think Heaven is great because you fear the patch hanging above your own head. But turn the matter around and it doesn’t survive much thought. However vast Heaven is, however high it rises, it still isn’t as real as the ground beneath your feet. Something so high and so distant you can neither touch nor grasp... what the hell does it count for? Earthquakes, bursting rivers, raging winds, all of those can kill enormous numbers of people. But when have you ever seen Heaven itself truly collapse and crush a man to death? In the end, it is only a paper tiger. Nothing worth revering.”

“This Yu’an deeply agrees.”

Perhaps it was because the victory before them was already nearly certain and there was no longer much to fear.

Perhaps it was because the Xie Clan’s future and the postwar shape of Chu had already been decided.

Or perhaps witnessing the Prince curse Heaven and enter Third Grade had truly stirred something in him.

Xie Yu’an, whose temperament had always been somewhat soft and feminine, showed a rare streak of boldness.

His chest seemed to open with it.

And once it opened... the Blind Man’s words from their exchange sank into him one by one.

Was the Blind Man truly talking about Heaven?

Clearly he was talking about everything that hung above a man’s head.

If Heaven itself was only a paper tiger... then what were the so-called Son of Heaven and the so-called supremacy of imperial authority?

“Mr. Bei, after this war, Yu’an would like to follow beside you and study for a period of time.”

The Blind Man frowned slightly.

Xie Yu’an froze.

No matter how he looked at it, Xie Yu’an following Mr. Bei would bring nothing but advantages to Mr. Bei and Prince Pingxi Residence.

He genuinely did not understand why the other man would so obviously show resistance.

“Would you be willing to blind yourself?” the Blind Man asked.

“Uh...”

“Heh.”

The Blind Man smiled and waved a hand.

“We can exchange letters later. Your father’s health is poor, and the Xie Clan cannot do without you.”

“Yes. This disciple understands.”

The real reason the Blind Man resisted having Xie Yu’an beside him was simple.

Long ago, several Demon Kings, including Master himself, had already used Xie Yu’an to tease him.

They always said the two men were alike.

In bearing.

In temperament.

And in... methods.

Even their habit of peeling oranges and feeding the segments to other people was exactly the same.

Unfortunately, Xie Yu’an’s eyes worked perfectly.

If someone poked them blind, he would practically become Blind Man Number Two.

“Mr. Bei, what do you think the general trend beneath Heaven will become after this battle? Conquering the realm is easy. Governing it is difficult. Sharing hardship is easy. Sharing wealth and honor is hard.”

“It’s still early. No hurry. There are endless details left to handle. We’ll be busy.”

The Blind Man clearly did not want to say much about the subject.

But he still offered one hint.

“The Emperor in Yanjing deserves the words ‘wise and divinely martial.’”

The “martial” in that phrase did not refer to the Emperor’s personal cultivation.

It referred to the martial achievements of the state beneath his rule.

Given the situation now... from the collapse of Great Xia more than eight centuries ago until today, rounding things out and calling him an “Emperor for the Ages” would not really be exaggeration or flattery.

Especially in his ability to control people... the Emperor had thoroughly inherited his father’s true skill.

The Blind Man even felt that if the Emperor could somehow become one of their Demon Kings, His Majesty would probably take first place in the licking competition every single time.

“The Emperor is too far away. This junior has never met him.”

“You will.”

If the Xie Clan was going to become a princely house of Great Yan, it would naturally have to enter the capital and pay court to the sovereign.

“But the Son of Heaven will not stand mounted before me today with a saber in hand the way His Highness did,” Xie Yu’an said seriously. “I recognize that from tonight onward, the momentum beneath the Black Dragon Banner can no longer be stopped. Since I have to kneel... why not choose someone I can kneel to willingly and comfortably?”

“Very good.”

The Blind Man nodded, quite satisfied with Xie Yu’an’s “obedience.”

“So... will there be such an opportunity?” Xie Yu’an asked.

“Who knows what will happen later? But precisely because we do not know, we should prepare more.”

“Understood.”

...

The moment Liang Cheng’s Pi Beast stepped across the mountain range marking the Qian-Chu border, the outcome of this war had effectively been decided.

A war that would shape not only the future balance between Yan and Qian, but the final shape of all All Xia.

The black flood poured forward like a broken dam and smashed the Qian army apart.

Qian’s rout became unavoidable.

The terror produced by that great collapse caused nearly half of Jiangnan to surrender almost at the sight of Yan banners over the following month.

Yan riders might pass beneath some city while carrying out entirely different missions, scouting, pursuing fugitives, or investigating the roads.

The Qian inside would actually open the gates themselves, practically desperate to block those riders from leaving before they had time to surrender.

Wherever the Yan pursued the routed Qian army, surrender followed.

In many cases, the Yan did not even possess spare troops to take over the cities.

They could only order the cities to change their banners first, then choose official representatives to go to Jinghai City and pay respects to His Majesty... and more importantly... to the Prince.

That was the advantage of establishing a puppet court.

When a great building began collapsing, it gave surrenderists a reason to surrender with clear consciences.

Once the conscience settled, people became unwilling to die.

Of course, one could also say that because they were unwilling to die, they deliberately invented a reason to settle their consciences.

The difference was not large.

The “court” inside the traveling palace outside Jinghai City, which had been purged into emptiness several times through repeated upheaval, soon returned to a familiar state after Qian’s great defeat:

“the court overflowing with righteous ministers.”

Military force certainly could not solve every problem.

But it could make the overwhelming majority of problems disappear directly.

This great campaign, now called the Battle of Jinghai, had actually involved far fewer troops than several previous national wars.

Even counting the Chu imperial-clan Imperial Guards, who had begun as allies, defected, then defected back again, together with the Wu Clan fleet...

Yan had mobilized only around two hundred thousand men.

If one counted Jiangnan’s useless commandery troops, the Qian forces numbered more than twice that.

But the direct forces beneath the so-called Four Great Marshals of Revival together amounted to only a little over two hundred thousand.

So in terms of pure scale... it could not compare with the campaign more than ten years earlier when the Northern and Southern Princes opened Jin, when several hundred thousand Yan cavalry fought several hundred thousand riders of the Three Jins.

Nor could it compare with the first Yan-Chu national war, when the two sides deployed more than a million troops around the Zhennan Pass front and ground against one another for months.

The Battle of Jinghai did not rank near the top by scale.

The problem was... this single battle destroyed nearly everything Qian had achieved through more than ten years of bitter reform and patient accumulation.

In earlier years, if Yan invaded the north, then it invaded the north.

So long as the Three Frontiers remained intact, the Yan eventually had to withdraw again.

Then Jiangnan could feed blood northward and rebuild what had been lost.

Now... half of Jiangnan had already fallen, passively or willingly.

And Qian’s elite field armies had been almost completely destroyed.

When someone has already dug away your foundation... how do you keep rebuilding the house?

The Wu Clan fleet began sailing upstream.

This time, it did not dare keep watching the wind.

It committed everything and actively sought battle with Qian’s navy.

Then... the Wu Clan fleet was defeated.

At the same time, Liang Cheng personally led one force to seize the opportunity.

At Yishan Water Fort, he burned the Qian warships that had just returned to rest and refit after driving off the Wu fleet.

The Wu Clan regrouped.

Then continued north.

Working with the Yan army, it completely sealed the Qian River route, effectively cutting Jiangnan off from Shangjing and the entire Qian north.

When this report reached Jinghai City... the new court erupted in celebration.

No one understood the importance of the Qian River to Great Qian better than Jiangnan’s great clans and officials.

This was almost equivalent to putting a hand around Qian’s throat.

Because of this...

His Majesty Zhao Yuannian led his ministers to a small mountain near Jinghai City and held a ceremony offering sacrifices to Heaven.

His Majesty first worshiped Heaven.

Then the ancestors.

The Emperor and his ministers wept and shouted that Heaven had finally opened its eyes and restored the rivers and mountains from the hands of treacherous rebels, allowing Great Qian to return to its rightful line.

As for what the ancestors underground actually thought... the living had never particularly cared.

After the sacrifice to Heaven, Zhao Yuannian personally bestowed a new name on the mountain with his imperial brush.

He called it “Mount Tai,” imitating the Regent Prince’s old precedent.

Then a great Jiangnan scholar at his side reminded him that doing so might look as though he were competing with the Regent Prince.

So His Majesty added two strokes.

It became:

“Mount Tai’er.”

...

“Mount Tai’er? What the hell is that?”

The Prince stared at the memorial in his hand, utterly speechless.

The Blind Man laughed.

“The flattery is simply a little stiff. But that itself is an art. Stiff flattery looks ridiculous, yet sometimes it works even better.”

Some time had already passed since the Battle of Jinghai.

Zhao Yuannian could take his increasingly bloated grass-roots court and fool around however he liked.

Everyone else... was far too busy for that.

Xie Zhuyang left troops behind for his son, then returned to southern Chu first to formally begin severing the Xie Clan from the Chu court.

The Swordsmith also returned to Chu carrying the Prince’s promises to the Dugu Clan and even to the wider Chu aristocratic establishment.

With the Xie Clan serving as a barrier in southern Chu, and the Dugu Clan and other powerful local factions beginning to place a foot on a second boat, Zheng Fan might not currently have time to settle accounts with his elder brother-in-law.

But that elder brother-in-law no longer had the strength to create much trouble either.

What awaited him now was likely a true collapse, with the tree falling and the monkeys scattering.

As for Jiangnan farther west...

Jin Shuke pursued Qian’s routed armies westward.

A vast number of Jiangnan towns and cities surrendered merely upon receiving proclamations.

But Jin Shuke was, in the end, a steady commander.

He did not grow greedy for merit and push recklessly forward.

After expanding an enormous security zone around Jinghai’s puppet Qian court, he stopped and held his ground, serving as its enforcer and guarantor.

That mattered enormously because most other Yan forces were moving north, leaving insufficient troops behind to occupy all Jiangnan.

Jin Shuke’s presence guaranteed both the survival space and stability of the puppet regime.

Elsewhere...

Liang Cheng coordinated with the Wu Clan fleet, moving north along the Qian River and then turning west.

The edge of his army had already reached the approaches to Qian’s capital region.

But he chose not to press deeper.

Instead, he treated himself like a saber... suspended directly over Shangjing’s head.

“Those two little bastards really have gone wild.”

Four memorials lay on Zheng Fan’s table.

The first concerned “Mount Tai’er.”

Forget that one.

The second concerned Tian Tian and Zheng Man.

Chen Xianba, Tian Tian, and Zheng Man had each led a separate force.

At first, all three followed Zheng Fan’s orders and attacked northwestward, intending to wreak havoc inside Qian’s belly like the Monkey King in Heaven.

But this time, those three brats seemed to have been blessed by something.

Or perhaps the upheaval in Jiangnan had already spread across more than half the country.

Under circumstances like these, everyone felt as though Heaven itself had collapsed.

The will to resist naturally weakened further.

As a result, the three young commanders fought more boldly and more aggressively with every step.

They accepted the surrender of local Qian troops as they advanced.

Before long, the Qian collaborators under each commander actually outnumbered his own original troops.

Tian Tian and Zheng Man eventually combined their forces.

They fought through three commanderies and reached Xishan Commandery, the old home ground of the Western Army.

There they finally hit hard bone.

The main Western Army had long since left, but the region’s fierce martial tradition remained.

Several local righteous armies, together with retired senior Western Army officers, organized forces against them.

If not for disunity in command on the Qian side, Tian Tian and Zheng Man might genuinely have been wrapped into a dumpling.

After their “narrow escape,” Tian Tian and Zheng Man finally stopped advancing recklessly.

They seized strongpoints and began a prolonged stalemate.

But the memorial they sent back spent little space on the actual battle situation.

Their real request concerned the Northern Qiang tribes.

Those tribes had begun taking the initiative to show friendliness.

Seeing that Qian was nearly finished, the Northern Qiang were preparing to change masters.

Naturally, they were also taking advantage of the chaos to expand their own power.

Chen Xianba’s memorial... was much simpler.

After splitting from Tian Tian and Zheng Man, those two went northwest.

Chen Xianba went southwest.

Chen Xianba was still Chen Xianba.

He was simply far more ferocious.

His two younger brothers were still exchanging meaningful glances with the Northern Qiang and waiting for the Prince in the rear to make a decision.

Chen Xianba sent back a memorial directly announcing that he intended to marry the Xicai Chieftain’s own granddaughter.

“Look at this. Look at what that idiot Chen Xianba wrote to me. He says they sent the granddaughter into his commander’s tent ahead of time. And he’s already slept with her... several times. He even says that while this memorial is on the road, he’ll probably keep sleeping with her. Now he’s asking whether I’ll permit the marriage.”

“Hehehe.”

Even the Blind Man could not stop laughing.

“This subordinate read the memorial as well. He seems to think he has made quite a sacrifice.”

“That little bastard.”

The Prince shook his head.

“I know his temperament. Ordinary political marriages do not interest him.”

Chen Xianba preferred direct conquest with the cavalry saber.

He had no interest in taking some winding route through marriage and politics.

That was simply his proud, hard nature.

“So...” Zheng Fan laughed. “That native girl is probably extremely beautiful.”

He disliked political marriages and did not want to use himself for one.

Unless... the other family’s daughter was genuinely too beautiful to refuse.

“This subordinate thinks the same,” the Blind Man agreed. “But how does Master intend to answer these memorials?”

“You handle the one about Mount Tai’er. I’m too lazy to answer it. Far too stupid.”

“Yes. This subordinate understands.”

“As for Tian Tian, write back and tell him that in his capacity as the eldest son of Great Yan’s Regent Prince, he is authorized to enfeoff every leader of the Northern Qiang tribes. Every last one of them. Make them military-merit Marquises. If East, South, West, and North run out, that’s fine. Start using red, orange, yellow, and green.”

The immediate priority was to mobilize every force that could be used and completely throw Qian into chaos and collapse.

Xishan Commandery was the home ground of the Western Army.

It was also one of the hardest pieces of bone anywhere in Qian.

First, make the place so busy saving itself that it could not look elsewhere.

Zheng Fan did not want some army of loyalist relief suddenly emerging from Xishan Commandery when he eventually marched on Shangjing.

As for legitimacy, absurdity, or proper titles... none of that mattered.

It was not as though he had never done the same kind of thing at Snow Sea Pass.

Back then, the First Prince had gone onto the snowfield carrying blank imperial edicts and a carved turnip seal.

Use them first.

When they were no longer useful... kill the donkey after it finished grinding the grain.

Qian had never managed to solve the Northern Qiang problem because Qian itself was incompetent.

Yan, however, knew exactly how to deal with hunting and pastoral tribes.

Compared with the Barbarians... the so-called Northern Qiang tribes were little brothers.

“For Chen Xianba’s side, answer him and include one token from me...”

Zheng Fan casually removed a jade pendant from his python robe.

“Tell him this is my wedding gift. The Xicai Chieftain commands the largest native power in the southwest. Let him establish the family connection first and stabilize the southwest. Naturally I approve. But in the memorial, mention my marriage to the Princess of Chu. Tell him I hope Chen Xianba can follow my example and contribute to harmonious relations between the native peoples and the Yan.”

The Blind Man understood immediately.

“Two letters?”

“Naturally.”

One letter would go to the native side, Chen Xianba’s future in-laws.

It would naturally be packed with pleasant official language.

The other would go to Chen Xianba.

Using Zheng Fan’s own marriage to a Chu Princess as the example meant one thing:

Zheng Fan had married a Princess of Chu, and that had not stopped him from attacking Chu again and again until he beat the country flat.

The Blind Man smiled.

“Xianba will understand the distinction. After all, he has always worshiped Master.”

“What does that have to do with me?”

“Master also married a Princess of Chu. Yet that never delayed you from beating Chu over and over again until it lay flat.”

“Fine. Use my example.”

“Yes. This subordinate understands.”

The fourth memorial had actually been sent earliest.

Yet it arrived last.

Because it came through the Secret Intelligence Department’s channels from the Three Frontiers.

“Ji Old Sixth really spent the family fortune this time.”

Zheng Fan held the final memorial.

“He actually gnawed one whole section off the Three Frontiers.”

“The Emperor did it to support and coordinate with Master.”

Before this result, even the Blind Man had to admit that the Emperor had truly gone all-in for his Master this time.

“Mm. Find a way to send a reply. Tell him he can rest now.”

“The other side should already have received the battle reports from here.”

“Battle reports are battle reports. Ji Old Sixth is the most melodramatic bastard alive. I have to send him something personally in my own name.”

“Yes. This subordinate understands.”

The Blind Man gathered the memorials and prepared to stand.

Then he seemed to remember something.

“Originally, this subordinate thought that after winning the Battle of Jinghai, Master would either continue ‘propping up an Emperor’ in Jiangnan, or march north and threaten Shangjing directly, perhaps even make another enormous flanking maneuver to coordinate with the Emperor’s army against the Three Frontiers. What this subordinate did not expect was that Master’s next orders would be so... ferocious. More importantly, the results were far beyond what I anticipated.”

Jin Shuke had one route.

Liang Cheng another.

The main force another.

Chen Xianba and the other three brats had split into two more.

No matter how many soldiers one possessed, once spread across an entire country they would become terribly thin.

Yet Master had decisively chosen a strategy of splitting his forces along multiple axes.

He opened his fist.

Scattered his strength outward.

It looked almost as though he had become intoxicated by victory.

Yet according to the reports arriving from the front, nearly half of Qian had entered a “wartime” state.

And every single Yan route was advancing triumphantly.

Zheng Fan waved a hand dismissively.

“Once the enemy’s elite field armies are gone, everything becomes simple. At a moment like this, rapidly expanding the victory and beating half the country numb is obviously the best choice. To put it plainly, how many troops did the Manchus actually have when they entered the passes?”

“Yes. This subordinate once thought I did not understand military affairs simply because I had no interest and was too lazy to learn. Now I admit it. I do not possess the talent. Even if I studied, I would never become as excellent as Master. I would fall far short.”

“Flattery at this level is far too weak. It doesn’t hit the spot at all.”

Zheng Fan laughed and patted the Blind Man’s shoulder.

“No hurry. I can improve slowly. Once the war is finished, everything will become leisurely again.”

“Mm.”

At that moment...

Zheng Lin entered.

He first saluted the Blind Man.

Then his father.

It had to be said that after that night outside Jinghai City, after personally witnessing his father enter Third Grade, Zheng Lin’s attitude toward him had improved considerably.

Because of his bloodline, he had once looked down upon his father as a “mortal.”

But when a “mortal” dared despise the Heavenly Dao itself, he was no longer a mortal in the purest sense.

After all... no matter how noble the bloodline, before an arrogant soul it could still appear lowly.

A slight smile appeared at the Blind Man’s lips.

Yu Huaping had once said that Master’s ability to “corrupt” people’s hearts was unmatched.

The Blind Man agreed.

Previously, Master had always used that ability outwardly.

Now he had turned it inward.

And look.

Hadn’t the result appeared immediately?

“Master, you father and son can talk. I’ll go handle these matters.”

The Blind Man withdrew first.

Once he was gone, Zheng Lin looked at Zheng Fan.

“Father, we aren’t going to Shangjing?”

“Your Godfather Liang is leading an army there and hanging over the city. That is enough. Our current force can move freely through Qian territory, but if we run to Shangjing and start attacking the walls, we won’t accomplish much. You should have heard what I was saying with your Blind Godfather outside. Did you understand it?”

“I did. Father does not want to haggle over one city or one patch of land. You want to paralyze the entire State of Qian and force its complete collapse.”

In Jiangnan, Zhao Yuannian’s puppet court was growing larger by the day.

In the southwest, the native peoples would rise.

The Northern Qiang tribes would rise as well, answering the Yan.

Upstream from Shangjing along the Qian River, Liang Cheng’s force watched like a tiger.

At the Three Frontiers, the fighting had long since become white-hot.

Across the entire State of Qian... east, south, west, north, and center... war existed everywhere.

Everywhere was turmoil.

“Mm. Good. If you understand, that’s enough.”

“But there is one thing this son does not understand.”

“Say it.”

“Our force. The one flying your princely standard. What exactly are we doing by stopping here?”

Every other force was either fighting or marching toward another battle.

Yet the formation containing Zheng Lin and his father had remained camped here for three whole days.

It did not march north toward the Three Frontiers.

It did not move west to support Chen Xianba and Brother Tian.

It did not go east to look toward Shangjing.

It simply remained here.

In an empty, seemingly meaningless place.

Zheng Fan noticed something.

His son was only asking a question.

The tone remained the same as ever.

But this time, it was not a complaint.

Zheng Fan reached out and rubbed the back of his son’s head, signaling for him to come outside.

The corner of Zheng Lin’s mouth twitched from habit.

Still, he did not deny his old man face.

He followed Zheng Fan out of the commander’s tent and continued north for some distance.

This place lay between the commander’s-tent area and the main army camp.

More than a thousand Qian laborers seized from nearby villages had just finished digging with hoes and other tools.

Liu Dahu approached and reported:

“Your Highness, everything is arranged.”

“Did the position change much?” Zheng Fan asked.

“It took some effort to determine the location again. We’ve found it now.”

“Mm.”

The Prince nodded.

He walked onto a small platform erected nearby.

Zheng Lin followed.

An offering table stood on the platform, with incense, candles, and other sacrificial goods.

Zheng Lin saw his biological mother personally carry over tea and pastries to add to the offerings.

Then...

Zheng Fan walked behind the offering table and stood still.

Zheng Lin saw his mother take position beside his father.

So he walked over as well, intending to stand on the other side.

His mother leaned slightly to look at him.

Then pointed forward.

“Kneel over there.”

“...” Zheng Lin.

He was surprised.

Confused.

Completely unable to understand.

But Zheng Lin had always been sincerely filial and obedient toward his mother.

So His Highness the Heir Prince walked to the front of the offering table, near the edge of the platform, and knelt.

Below, Liu Dahu issued an order.

The Qian laborers were driven away.

Brocade-Clad personal guards entered in formation and stood around the deep pit that had already been excavated.

Liu Dahu removed the saber at his waist.

Then shouted:

“Unbelt your sabers!”

“Yes!”

Every Brocade-Clad personal guard threw his saber onto the ground.

Then...

Liu Dahu crouched.

The other guards either crouched or knelt and began pulling soil aside with their bare hands.

Soon... one identity tag after another was dug from the earth and carried toward the platform.

Placed before the Heir Prince.

Before long, the identity tags had already formed a pile in front of Zheng Lin.

More were still being uncovered.

Of course the Heir Prince knew what they were.

It was an old Yan military practice.

When the army could not collect bodies from a battlefield, it collected the soldiers’ identity tags instead.

Those tags were used to record the dead and serve as proof for their families’ compensation.

Without thinking, Zheng Lin turned his head.

He looked behind him.

His biological father stood behind the offering table wearing an indescribably solemn expression.

Zheng Lin had rarely seen that face.

Even when the Qian had surrounded Jinghai City, Father had still possessed enough leisure to feed goldfish.

On the platform... the Heir Prince remained kneeling.

The Princess Consort personally lit incense.

Zheng Fan still remembered that night.

He had sat in a chair and watched one Yan son after another throw his identity tag into the pit before them.

At the end... they had all knelt together and shouted:

“We die for the Prince!”

The Prince had fought too many wars.

Long ago, he had become accustomed to accepting necessary sacrifice on a battlefield for the sake of overall victory.

When the Qian were attacking Jinghai City, he had even sat inside the pavilion and told A’Ming that he felt himself becoming numb.

But this place... was different.

The people buried here... were different.

Strictly speaking, they had died in battle.

And yet they had not died in battle.

They had simply... died for him.

It had already gone beyond wars between states.

They had not died for military merit.

Not to seize cities or land.

Not for wealth, rank, or glory.

It was closer to the loyalty of some jianghu gang, men willing to take blades in both ribs for one another.

They had... cut open a road of blood for their big brother.

Zheng Fan had never denied being a man of double standards.

After seeing life and death too many times, it was difficult not to grow indifferent.

Difficult not to begin taking it lightly.

But this place alone... he had never managed to put down.

Over the years, he had dreamed of them again and again.

Dreamed of their voices shouting over and over:

“We die for the Prince!”

The word “Prince” there did not refer to a princely title.

It referred to Zheng Fan himself.

Because to men already prepared to die, what meaning did the status and radiance of a princely title have?

What meaning did future rewards have?

The Prince called out:

“Son. Didn’t you just ask why I brought you here instead of going to Shangjing?”

Zheng Lin turned slightly and looked toward his father.

The Prince smiled.

“Your father came on this trip specifically to bring them home. And then... while I was here... I thought I might as well destroy Qian.”

[End of Chapter 1012]