Chapter 1 Zheng Fan, General

When he came to Li Tiancheng, Zheng Fan brought only one subordinate, and that subordinate was lost along the way, God knows where he ran off to;

But when he left Li Tiancheng, Zheng Fan was leading five thousand soldiers.

Because these five thousand Jin soldiers were selected by the Jingnan Army from the surrendered Jin army, the numbers were truly accurate, and there was simply no time to pad the rolls.

Of course, the phenomenon of ghost soldiers didn't not exist in the Yan army. Clear water has no fish; even if the Yan Emperor was ambitious and capable, able to crush influential families, he couldn't eradicate this stubborn problem that existed in all ages.

But in the Zhenbei Army, every slot was highly sought after. Throughout northern Yan, including the desert, many barbarians, and other tribes, all took pride in wearing that set of black armor.

As for the Jingnan Army, because it started on a smaller scale and Tian Wujing was a Marquis who couldn't tolerate a grain of sand in his eyes, this phenomenon was extremely rare.

The two great border armies of Yan were doing well in this regard. A little pilfering from other troops wouldn't have too much impact; in any case, they wouldn't be expected to be the first to fight in a real war.

For example, when Yan Qian started the war, half of the hundreds of thousands of troops on the rosters existed only on paper, which naturally put the Qian Kingdom in a passive position from the start.

As the Jin army, flying the Yan Kingdom's black dragon flag, advanced eastward, the people of Jin were filled with mixed emotions.

They were happy that the Yan court was already mobilizing troops to the east to resist the wildlings who might invade;

But they were worried that the situation over there must be very serious.

It had been less than a year since they were incorporated into the Yan Kingdom. It would be a lie to say that the local people supported the Yan court and the Yan Emperor. But one thing the Jin people had to admit was that the Yan people were better fighters.

Back then, their own Three Jin Knights were praised to the skies, but they were still crushed by the Yan people with less than half their numbers.

The Yan people were capable, and they were going to resist the wildlings; perhaps they could succeed.

So, at the moment, the mentality of many Jin people was extremely complex. They hated that black dragon flag, yet they instinctively felt that this flag could bring them a sense of security.

During the march, Li Yiyong would come to Zheng Fan's tent every night to report on the situation. At first, Zheng Fan was very serious and discussed things with him, even talking about military strategy.

After all, General Zheng had seen the world and had been closely observing great generals and Marquises who could fight. Even a Garfield cat could be influenced to give pointers on military matters.

However, after a few days, Zheng Fan became annoyed and simply left a sentence, "Just make your own decisions," and stopped seeing Li Yiyong. But Li Yiyong thought this was Zheng Fan testing him, and whether Zheng Fan saw him or not, he still came to the tent on time every night to pay his respects and ask for instructions.

In fact, Li Yiyong was overthinking things. Zheng Fan had always been a hands-off manager when it came to the army. Liang Cheng was responsible for training, the Blind Man was responsible for political and ideological education, and Zheng Fan was only responsible for enjoying the neat rows of soldiers and the loud slogans during military parades on the training ground.

And so, at a leisurely pace, the army finally returned to Shengle City.

On the city wall of Shengle City, the Blind Man and Si Niang stood side by side.

"The master has been promoted to general," the Blind Man said.

"I don't really understand the Yan Kingdom's military system," Si Niang said.

"I suspect the Yan people don't understand it very well either," the Blind Man replied. "But it should be bigger than the city lord, so he’s in charge of a small war zone, right?"

"In charge of whom?" Si Niang asked.

"Still Shengle City."

"Then what's the difference?"

"It sounds better."

"I see."

"And they've brought back five thousand Jin soldiers."

"Five thousand more soldiers to feed and water. It's a headache."

"We're not short of food now, are we?"

"Sure, we can eat beef and mutton every day, and then starve for the rest of the year? The Yan army has only just taken over here, the foundation of their rule is still weak, and the Yan Kingdom can't provide much food and supplies to support us. We have to take it from the local area. With the current size of our Shengle City and the situation in the surrounding area, how much can we squeeze out?"

The Blind Man rubbed his brow and sighed:

"There's no helping it; we just expanded our forces too much."

In fact, in the beginning, everyone was in agreement that the main goal was to hunker down and the basic operation was to farm.

But plans couldn't keep up with changes. Due to various coincidences, the number of military personnel continued to increase, and the relative weakness of other aspects was further highlighted.

Thanks to the wealth plundered in the previous raids and the gains from attacking the Snow Plains last time, Shengle City's "wealth" was still very high, but every day and every month was a deficit, and the road to a green profit was still a long way off.

And now that the master had brought back five thousand more soldiers, no wonder Si Niang felt a headache.

"I estimate that a war is coming soon. As long as the war starts, all the problems will be solved."

War was the fastest way to make money.

"Hopefully. Let's go, let's go down and greet the master."

………

After entering the city, Zheng Fan first had Liang Cheng take a group of local Shengle generals to have dinner and socialize with the generals under Li Yiyong's command, to make friends and build relationships.

Zheng Fan himself took A'ming back to the City Lord's Mansion first, oh no,

Arriving at the front of his home, Zheng Fan deliberately took a few steps back.

"The Generalissimo's Mansion?"

So fast?

Si Niang covered her mouth and smiled: "Master, San'er made it overnight. As soon as he received the news of your promotion, he started working on it immediately."

"Is this Generalissimo's Mansion a bit presumptuous?" Zheng Fan looked at the Blind Man with some concern.

"The Yan people themselves don't understand their own military system, so it shouldn't be a problem, Master."

"Oh, okay, let's just leave it like this for now."

After entering the mansion, everyone gathered to eat a small family reunion meal as usual.

Except for Liang Cheng, who had to greet the people in the army, all the other devils participated.

Earlier, during the return journey, Zheng Fan had already communicated with Shengle City via messenger once, so both sides had some understanding of what had happened to each other.

As soon as he sat down, Zheng Fan picked up a baby, a boy, who was pink and chubby, and you could see Tian Wujing's shadow in his eyebrows at a glance.

"Little thing, call me godfather, call me godfather."

"Master, the child is still young," Si Niang said.

"I know, I know."

Then, Zheng Fan's eyes wandered around, curiously asking:

"Blind Man, where's the Sword Saint?"

Si Niang couldn't help but tease: "Master must have been a Pokemon player in his previous life."

A Pokemon player meant a collector.

"He's temporarily staying at an inn on the front street."

"Okay, I'll take you to see him after dinner. Tian Wujing gave me Long Yuan as a gift. This is really a coincidence. To be able to win over such a master to be by my side, no, even if he's just in the city, it's worth any price."

Bai Li Jian was openly in Shangjing City, and Wei Zhonghe was openly in Yanjing City. To put it bluntly, although the strong in this world didn't have the ability to move mountains and seas, if they were determined to carry out a decapitation tactic or something, you would be very passive if you didn't have a bodyguard of the same level by your side.

If the Sword Saint could live in Shengle City, then Zheng Fan could sleep more peacefully in the future.

After a simple meal, Zheng Fan and the Blind Man prepared to go to the inn with the Long Yuan sword, but just as they went out, Xiao Yibo sent an urgent eight-hundred-li dispatch.

………

Outside the only separate small courtyard room in the inn, the little sword attendant was practicing her sword, while the Sword Saint sat on a small stool, holding a pot of tea and drinking.

Fan Li squatted on the side, foolishly watching the little sword attendant practice her sword. It was the little sword attendant who had dragged him here.

After two cycles of cultivation, the Sword Saint signaled the little sword attendant to stop. She was a natural sword prodigy with excellent aptitude, so there was no need to force things. It would be most appropriate to wait until she was ten years old and her body was more developed before practicing in detail.

The Sword Saint understood the reasoning that Yuan Zhenxing could understand.

"Phew, I'm exhausted."

The little sword attendant sat on the ground, panting.

"Hehe."

The Sword Saint smiled when he saw this. He really liked this disciple, so he was quite kind in front of her.

"Master, if the wildlings don't come, will you stay here all the time?"

"If the wildlings don't come, I'll take you to Cheng, for this teacher, only Cheng is left in this world, it can leave me a little sense of belonging."

"But I'm a Qian person."

"When you grow up and have mastered your skills, you can go wherever you want, even back to Qian."

"That's what I think too, but they don't think so."

"Who are 'they'?"

"That blind man. He said that he doesn’t know if the Qian Kingdom will still exist in the future."

The Sword Saint shook his head and sighed:

"Who knows, just like this teacher doesn't know now, whether Cheng will still exist in the future."

Of the Three Jin lands, the only remaining Jin-established regime was Cheng.

The little sword attendant looked at Fan Li again and said:

"Silly big guy, will you accompany me to Cheng in the future?"

Fan Li smiled naively and honestly, without nodding or shaking his head.

At this time, the Sword Saint called out:

"Come in."

Zheng Fan came in, holding the Long Yuan sword, with the Blind Man following behind.

The Sword Saint reached out his hand forward,

Suddenly,

The Long Yuan in Zheng Fan's hand emitted a tremor and actively unsheathed itself, flying into the Sword Saint's hand.

"Hehe."

The Sword Saint stroked the sword body and said with emotion:

"Tian Wujing is quite sensible."

"Sword Saint, Junior Zheng Fan………"

"Oh, don't say anything. Send me a set of armor tomorrow, and I'll go to the east gate to help you guard the city gate."

"No, Sword Saint, you misunderstand. Junior just feels that the Long Yuan sword must continue to stay in your hands to avoid being buried, not because I want to make this bet with you."

"Am I someone who can't afford to lose?"

"Of course not."

"That's settled then."

"But still………"

"There's no 'buts'. What's agreed is agreed. I'll guard the east gate for you for three months. Within three months, if the wildlings come, not a single wildling will enter through the east gate before Long Yuan breaks.

Within three months, if the wildlings don't come, I'll take her to Cheng. Are you willing?"

Zheng Fan nodded and said:

"I'm willing."

"So straightforward?"

The Sword Saint was a little surprised because he didn't believe that Zheng Fan would be so willing to part with himself,

At the same time, he didn't believe that Zheng Fan wasn't aware of the value of this little sword attendant.

This little sword attendant had extraordinary talent and a complete inheritance from Yuan Zhenxing. Twenty years later, even if she didn't reach his level, becoming half a Sword Saint wouldn't be a problem.

Zheng Fan's agreement was really too quick.

Zheng Fan sighed and said:

"I'll be honest with you, Sword Saint. Just now, Junior received a military intelligence document stating………"

"Stating what?"

"Stating that the Cheng Emperor, Situ Lei, has issued a national letter to Yanjing, requesting annexation with my Great Yan Emperor. Master, I understand that you want to return to Cheng, but if nothing unexpected happens, Cheng will soon become Yan's territory.

So, whether you continue to stay here or go to Cheng, there is no difference."

At this moment,

Fan Li, who had been squatting there without saying a word, suddenly spoke:

"Sword Saint, you have no home."