Chapter 116 I Have Become You

The screams within the Academic Administration Office had gradually subsided.

Gao Yi wiped his blade on the clothing of a tragically deceased official on the ground, sheathed his sword, and slowly walked out.

He was from Yinlang County and had joined the army at sixteen, later entering the Jingnan Marquis's personal guard, and then being assigned to the army as a full-fledged Major.

Actually, he initially refused when the Jingnan Marquis assigned him to Zheng Fan.

Because that dispatch was too ambiguous.

Was he an allied force?

Logically, he was just helping to attack Shengle City.

But strangely, there was no return date in the military order.

Going from a full-fledged Major in the Jingnan Army to working under a local warlord was a bit too much of a drop.

Although Zheng Boye was already famous at that time, Gao Yi admired him, but admiration couldn't be eaten or used for promotion. Admiring him from afar was enough.

But fate was such,

His force

Was swallowed up by Zheng Boye.

Fortunately, life in Shengle was not difficult, and even quite pleasant.

The original Shengle City, and now Xuehai Pass, to be honest, was the kind of place that would be extremely tormenting for jianghu (martial world) people, but for military personnel, it was definitely a comfortable place.

Because it had always implemented a military-first policy. Here, soldiers held the highest position and enjoyed the best treatment and security.

Later, as Zheng Boye repeatedly won battles and rose step by step, the little imbalance in his heart had long been thrown to the winds.

Gao Yi was instead very grateful for that encounter, because when he was initially selected, there were three other Majors who also met the requirements, but they pushed him forward after getting wind of it in advance.

Now, they should be regretting it.

Gao Yi walked out of the gate of the Academic Administration Office,

And saw Zheng Boye sitting on the pixiu.

For a moment,

Gao Yi was somewhat dazed,

As if he was not facing the Boye, but the Marquis.

Indeed,

His own Boye and Marquis were becoming more and more alike.

In fact, Gao Yi also felt that it was a bit excessive to kill like this for the sake of some instructors' imperial examination quotas.

But in the end, his own Xuehai Pass was being bullied.

Gao Yi, who had just finished killing people,

Felt good, very happy.

"Boye, your humble subordinate reports!"

The pixiu under him strode past Gao Yi and entered the Academic Administration Office.

Inside, it was full of corpses, scattered in disarray.

Zheng Boye watched some film and television dramas in his previous life. Perhaps to avoid causing discomfort to viewers or simply to save on props and costumes, the deaths on screen were very "clean."

But in reality, it was very difficult to kill someone with one strike. A "whoosh" and the person dies instantly; that was too simplistic. Even if stabbed, a person could still cover their stomach and walk a few steps.

Therefore, military personnel often struck first, aiming at the opponent's weak points, and after knocking them down, they would unhesitatingly go up and add another strike.

This finishing blow was either slitting the throat or directly stabbing into the heart.

Therefore, the blood loss would be great.

The appearance of the corpses was extremely gruesome.

Li Fusheng always liked to make himself look like he had rolled in blood every time he went into battle, not because he deliberately did so, but because he killed so many people, one layer after another splashed on him.

The pixiu was not repulsed by the scene of carnage; it was even a little excited.

When Zheng Boye got off his back and walked in front of him, the pixiu secretly lowered its head and stuck out its tongue to lick the blood on the ground.

It didn't dare do such a thing in front of Zheng Fan, because Zheng Boye would find it disgusting.

"Squeak... squeak... squeak..."

The boots under his feet stepped through the stickiness of the blood plasma, making a slight sound.

Zheng Boye kept walking forward until he stopped in front of the signing room hall, which faced south.

On the pillars outside the hall, hung two plaques:

One read: Qing Suo Stores Talent;

The other read: Hopeful Achievements.

Both plaques were stained with blood. Surprisingly, it was quite beautiful.

Before stepping over the threshold into the signing room,

Zheng Boye turned around,

And sat down.

Unknowingly, he had also begun to like sitting in this position.

The princess had told him that their general, Nian Yao, from Great Chu also liked to sit on doorsteps. He had to find a doorstep to sit on whenever he discussed matters or ate.

The Jingnan Marquis was definitely not the first person to sit on a doorstep.

Hundreds or thousands of years ago, there were probably people sitting on doorsteps, eating noodles from a bowl, smacking their lips, and chatting with the neighbors.

But among the soldiers fighting in the modern era, those with this habit were basically imitating the Jingnan Marquis.

Mao Mingcai also walked in. He looked at the corpses around him, took a deep breath, and looked at Zheng Boye sitting on the doorstep,

And said:

"Is that enough?"

Obviously,

The prefect of Yingdu was on the verge of exploding with rage.

Zheng Boye didn't answer, but instead picked up a jade pendant that had fallen off an official who had been killed, and threw it at the pixiu, who was licking blood in the corner.

The pixiu moved its hooves with a grievance, raised its head, and dared not lick any more.

"Zheng Boye, are you feeling better after this massacre?"

Zheng Fan tilted his neck, making a slight cracking sound, but still didn't answer.

"Why couldn't you wait a little longer? Why couldn't you wait a little longer? Even if you wanted to carry out justice, you could have gone through a process, and it wasn't urgent."

Zheng Fan said:

"Lord Mao, I am a military man. No matter what I do, I'm used to being swift and decisive and don't like long-term planning."

"Pingye Boye, you are disregarding the law and despising the laws of the country!"

Zheng Boye slightly raised his head,

Staring at Mao Mingcai standing in front of him,

No longer with the previous gentle expression,

But becoming somewhat cold,

"Lord Mao, this Boye understands the importance of the imperial examination to Great Yan more than you, and I understand its importance to His Majesty even more.

This case of substitution and fraud,

Lord Mao, as the prefect of Yingdu,

If you knew about it and didn't report it, you are trampling on His Majesty's century-long plan!

If you were completely unaware, you are derelict in your duty, incompetent, and a parasite!

May I ask, Lord Mao,

Which category do you belong to?"

"Impudent, Zheng Fan! This official is giving you some face by calling you Boye. In terms of official rank, this official is above you. What? Judging by your words, do you want to cut down this official too!"

Even a clay figure has some temper, not to mention Lord Mao, who had been "played" by Zheng Boye twice.

Both times, he was ordering people to be killed in front of him, and they were people he wanted to protect.

"Come, come, come, Zheng Fan! Quickly order your subordinates to cut down this official too! Yingdu is yours to command! This official wants to see if Yingdu, this land of the Three Jin, is still the territory of my Great Yan!"

Looking at the agitated Prefect Mao,

Zheng Boye just smiled gently,

Turned his head,

Pointed to the two plaques behind him,

And said:

"Without rules, there can be no order."

"Who exactly is lacking in rules!"

Zheng Fan clapped his hands,

Stood up,

And took a step towards Mao Mingcai,

"Lord Mao?"

Mao Mingcai glared at Zheng Fan.

"Prefect Mao?"

Mao Mingcai puffed out his chest.

"Mao Mingcai!"

"You..."

"I know what you, and you all, want to do. You want to learn from the civil officials of Qian and make the military men of Great Yan also talk about rules."

"Qian uses civil officials to suppress the military, which is an unbalanced approach. How can we learn from it? But what you, Zheng Fan, are doing today deserves the phrase: Military men are rampant!"

"That's right, so you should think of a way to establish the rules, not to put us military men in cages, but at least to put us into that square circle.

But what are you doing?

You've turned a good imperial examination into a place to hide dirt and filth. If you don't value the rules, don't blame me for not wanting to follow them."

"Sophistry, turning black into white!"

"Yes, but what can you do to me?"

Zheng Fan walked up to Mao Mingcai and just looked at him.

"This Boye only brought three hundred guards with me on this trip to the capital. Lord Mao, you are the prefect of Yingdu! Come on, quickly order someone to arrest this Boye, imprison this Boye, and bring this Boye to justice!

Come on!

You want to play rough?

Do you think this Boye can't?"

"Outrageous, outrageous!"

In fact,

Mao Mingcai's level was very high. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to sit in the position of a Minister, and he wouldn't have been sent by the court to Yingdu to preside over the overall situation.

In the past year, Yingdu has been very harmonious. Even though the Jingnan Marquis's headquarters had moved from Yingdu to Fengxin City, there had never been any trouble in the rear.

All the supplies, salaries, and various materials had been transported and transferred very well in Yingdu.

Mao Mingcai was indeed a capable person, with the skills, schemes, and sophistication.

But there was no way,

He was now facing Zheng Boye, who didn't talk about rules at all.

Of course,

The most fundamental reason was that

This was Yingdu.

If this were in Yanjing, Zheng Boye would never be so arrogant. It was because this was in Yingdu that when the wind here blew to Yanjing, the outcry would naturally be smaller.

Mao Mingcai took two deep breaths, even reaching out to smooth his beard and temples.

He controlled his emotions, which meant that he had broken free from Zheng Boye's rhythm, which he had entered since the moment Zheng Boye ordered the slaughter of the Academic Administration Office.

"Pingye Boye, your actions this time aren't really to stand up for those scholars from your Xuehai Pass who were replaced, are they?"

Zheng Fan didn't speak.

"Deliberately making a big deal out of this matter, what are you trying to do? This official can guess some of it, but this is the trend, the general trend, and it cannot be stopped.

Neither this official, nor the court, nor even His Majesty will allow anyone to stop this general trend!

You,

Pingye Boye,

Don't have the qualifications either!"

They were all old foxes, and they could taste what each other was singing.

"Today, you killed the Academic Administration Office and killed these people. Do you think you won't be questioned about it after you get to the capital?"

Zheng Boye suddenly reached out to cover his chest,

A look of horror on his face,

And said:

"Ah, I still have to go to the capital."

"..." Mao Mingcai.

Zheng Fan smiled,

Turned sideways,

Looked at Mao Mingcai,

And said:

"Please teach me, Lord Mao."

Mao Mingcai looked at Zheng Fan, his lips moved a few times, and for a moment, he didn't know how to respond.

Zheng Boye waved his hand,

And the pixiu immediately strode over and lowered its body.

Zheng Boye flipped onto it,

Looked around,

Because the two officials were here, and there were also Zheng Boye's personal guards inside, so no one dared to come and clean up at this time.

Even the families of the officials who died here didn't dare to send anyone over.

"Lord Mao, you said, if I wanted to stand up for the scholars from my Xuehai Pass who were replaced, wouldn't it be very simple?"

"With your face, Pingye Boye, it would be very easy to do."

"Then, what about those scholars who don't have someone with as much face as this Boye to support them? What will their fate be?

They originally had the opportunity to reach the Emperor's door, but their qualifications were replaced.

Do you think,

Is that fair to them?

Even if you, Lord Mao, retire now, with your qualifications and reputation, you don't have to worry about your children and grandchildren being replaced when they participate in the imperial examination in the future.

If this Boye gives a greeting, the replaced quota will be returned, and they will have to apologize to this Boye.

But there are still many common people in this world. His Majesty is holding the imperial examination to give the ambitious and knowledgeable people among the common people of Great Yan an opportunity to serve the court, an opportunity for them to leap through the dragon gate.

The people of Qian like to hear the stories of the top scholars,

Ten years of studying in the cold window, dreaming of going to the Donghua Gate.

There are countless stories about the love and hatred of the top scholars in the folk of Qian, no, even in the folk of my Great Yan. The teahouses and taverns are never short of their stories, even though my Yan had no imperial examination before.

Lord Mao,

You say,

If the top scholar doesn't come from the common people, but is arranged and predetermined by these people, will the people still like to hear the story of this top scholar?"

"Is Pingye Boye trying to tell this official that you killed people today simply out of pity for those who were replaced and had no other intentions?"

Mao Mingcai asked with a sneer.

Zheng Fan shook his head,

And said:

"No, I don't know them, and I have a title. My children can inherit my title in the future.

I can continue to make contributions, maybe even get a hereditary title, and if I have a second or third child in the future, I can get benefits for them.

I now,

Just want to be sentimental,

Otherwise, the blood of a large number of Academic Administration Office officials on the ground would be wasted."

Mao Mingcai found that he couldn't understand the person in front of him at all. Even if you knew what his purpose was, his way of doing things still made it impossible for you to understand.

In the end,

Mao Mingcai could only say:

"Have you made enough trouble, Pingye Boye."

If he had made enough trouble, he should clean up and start doing the follow-up work.

Zheng Fan looked up,

Let out a sigh of regret,

And said:

"No."

After saying that,

The pixiu under him ran with all four hooves and rushed directly out of the gate of the Academic Administration Office.

And the surrounding guards immediately sheathed their swords and followed their Boye closely.

Leaving only Mao Mingcai alone,

Somewhat disheveled in this pile of corpses.

What,

What does this mean?

Ran Min led people into the Academic Administration Office at this time and came to Mao Mingcai's side, cupping his fist and saying:

"Lord, Pingye Boye went to East Street."

"East Street?"

Suddenly,

Mao Mingcai's body trembled,

Exclaiming:

"He's going to the East Gate! He's going to the camp outside the city! How dare he, how could he dare!"

Mao Mingcai reached out and grabbed Ran Min, who was standing next to him,

"You go..."

Then,

Mao Mingcai pushed Ran Min away,

His body swaying slightly,

"It's too late, and we can't stop him, we can't stop him."

"Lord, without your prefect order and without the Jingnan Marquis's military order, Pingye Boye can't mobilize the troops from the camp outside the city, can he?"

Mao Mingcai raised his head,

Looked at Ran Min,

And said word by word:

"Last time, he didn't have a tiger tally either."

……

Today's Yingdu City was destined not to be peaceful.

Including the Chengqin Prince's residence and various households, many families felt a little uneasy.

Everyone had become accustomed to a set of rules, even though the Yan people had come and become the real masters here, the Yan people were willing to play this game with them.

Therefore, everyone was very cooperative.

But today,

Someone who didn't cooperate had come.

Because he sat on the doorstep long enough,

Because Chen Daxia didn't go all out on the roof,

Therefore,

The tragic scene of the Academic Administration Office had been quickly reported to the desks of all forces in Yingdu.

For a moment, many people were stunned.

You know, the last time the Yan people slaughtered the officials of Yingdu like this was when the Jingnan Marquis was here, directly beheading and displaying those officials who didn't complete the rear military orders.

But that was during wartime, not now.

And today's person was not the Jingnan Marquis.

Situ Yu didn't return to the residence, but instead sat in the carriage. After listening to his subordinate's report, a look of fear appeared on his still-youthful face.

He originally wanted to borrow the knife of this popular Boye,

Who would have thought that

This knife was so crazy when it came to killing people.

Situ Yu subconsciously looked at the old eunuch next to him,

And asked:

"How will he clean up this mess?"

The old eunuch's eyes flickered, and after a short while,

He said:

"Make the matter, bigger."

……

Outside Yingdu City, there were four large camps.

The Eastern Camp was stationed with a part of the Jingnan Army, and the Western Camp was stationed with another Yan army.

The Northern and Southern Camps were stationed with Jin troops.

After the Yan people occupied the Three Jin lands, they recruited a large number of Jin prisoners of war and Jin soldiers to cope with defense and war needs. However, during the war, the Jin troops were used as flanks and auxiliary soldiers.

And at this time,

Zheng Boye rode the pixiu and rushed directly to the Eastern Camp outside Yingdu City.

Logically,

Those who entered the military camp without notification should be shot to death for the crime of breaking into the camp.

However,

When the sentries on the watchtower and the soldiers below saw that the one rushing towards them was actually a golden-armored man riding a pixiu, no one dared to carry out this military order.

In Great Yan now, there were only four people who could use a pure-blooded pixiu as a mount!

In addition, the news of Pingye Boye's entry into the city last night had already spread to the military camp.

Pingye Boye was an idol figure in the Great Yan army.

At the same time,

Several captains and garrison commanders in this camp had already planned to invite Zheng Boye to dinner in the afternoon or to the best restaurant in Yingdu. Of course, if they could invite Zheng Boye to inspect their camp, that would be even better.

"It's Lord Pingye Boye."

"Lord Pingye Boye."

Zheng Fan didn't wait for notification outside the camp gate, but instead, after the gate guards opened the way, he drove straight into the military camp.

This caused a great commotion.

Many soldiers who were off duty directly surrounded him from the tents or nearby.

At this time,

The garrison general of the Eastern Camp, who had just received the news, was also rushing here, but Zheng Boye didn't wait for those officers to come over,

Instead, he directly raised his hand,

And shouted:

"This Boye, under the military order of Prince Jingnan, has entered Yingdu to investigate rebel parties. Now, the rebel parties in Yingdu are plotting to rebel. This Boye hereby orders you to immediately put on your armor and mount your horses and follow this Boye into the city to suppress the rebels!

The order must be followed! Those who disobey will be beheaded!"

For a moment,

All the Jingnan soldiers around knelt on one knee,

And shouted in unison:

"Yes!"

Only one person didn't kneel, but instead looked blankly at Zheng Boye sitting on the pixiu. That was the garrison general of the Eastern Camp.

However,

When Zheng Fan's gaze focused on him,

He finally knelt down,

And said loudly:

"This humble general obeys!"

Immediately,

The Eastern Camp first sent out three messengers to deliver orders to the other three military camps outside Yingdu.

"Prince Jingnan orders, the Western Camp must close its gates and not go out!"

"Prince Jingnan orders, the Northern Camp must close its gates immediately and not go out!"

"Prince Jingnan orders, the Southern Camp must seal its gates immediately and not go out!"

Then,

Thousands of black-armored cavalry, led by Zheng Fan, rushed to the Eastern Gate of Yingdu.

The city gate of Yingdu was wide open at this time, even though the guards on the city wall saw an army coming over.

Because Gao Yi had already led a group of personal guards and had been guarding the city gate since Zheng Boye left the city.

Therefore,

These thousands of Jingnan cavalrymen entered the city almost without any obstruction directly from the Eastern Gate.

Zheng Boye, who led his troops into the city again, sat on the pixiu,

Feeling somewhat dazed for a moment.

This scene

Was too familiar.

Back then,

The Jingnan Marquis led the Jingnan Army directly into Nanwang City,

That was his first meeting with the Jingnan Marquis.

And today,

He was sitting on the pixiu, wearing golden armor, and surrounded by the Jingnan Army.

A sentence suddenly appeared in Zheng Boye's mind:

Unknowingly,

I have become like you.