Chapter 1 The Beginning

Today is the Beginning of Spring, but for Shengle City in the Northern Lands, the shadow of spring is nowhere to be seen, and the tail of the cold winter is still stubbornly lingering.

Shengle City is located in the north of Jin, almost at the foot of the Skybreak Mountains. Hundreds of years ago, when the wildlings were still rampaging and frequently causing chaos in the Three Jins, Shengle City served as a bridgehead for the Jin state.

However, that was a long time ago. Nowadays, in the Skybreak Mountains from the western section to the middle section here, the wildlings are no longer a threat. Only the eastern section and the snowfields further north still bear the pressure of the wildlings. That area is the responsibility of the Situ family.

In the eyes of the people of the Three Jins, Shengle City is a bitter and poor place.

Firstly, it is too remote geographically, and secondly, it is too far north. The climate is extreme for most people who have lived in the northern Yan and Jin states for many years.

However, Shengle City is not without activity. In the early years, it was a battlefield, but in the past hundred years, with the continuous decline of the wildlings, it has become a trading hub. Before the wars, it would have been an exaggeration to say that it was bustling with activity, but it was definitely not deserted.

At the moment, in a private room on the second floor of a restaurant in Shengle City, five people are sitting.

The one sitting in the seat of honor is the patriarch of the Shengle City clan – Tufa Chengji.

On his left is a scholar, about thirty years old. Although he is dressed as a scholar, his face is weathered and prematurely aged.

His name is Zhou Zhengwen, and he was once a strategist for the Helian family. He has been stationed here by the Helian family to manage business for seven years.

Sitting on Tufa Chengji's right is a burly man wearing a fur coat. The burly man has many small braids on his head, which hang down, and his exposed skin is covered in tattoos. This is a standard wildling outfit. His name is Xiong Lie.

War is the most brutal way of integration. Within the Skybreak Mountains in this area, many wildling settlements have changed their surnames and gradually become "Jin-ified." They also come down the mountain to do business.

Sitting opposite them are a man and a woman. The man is wearing a cloak, and the woman is young and beautiful. Both of them are the managers of the two major local commercial firms. It can be said that the five people present are the most influential figures in Shengle City.

After a few rounds of drinks, Tufa Chengji opened the conversation:

"Heh, I thought I could continue to watch the show, but who knew that the Yan people would be so capable."

Zhou Zhengwen nodded in agreement:

"Indeed, I thought the Yan people were fighting the Qian Kingdom. The old patriarch and the head of the Wenren family joined forces to take a piece of meat from the Yan people, but who knew that instead... alas..."

Tian Wujing's 200,000 iron cavalry borrowed a road into Jin and destroyed two major families in one fell swoop, like a hurricane, directly sweeping through most of the Three Jins.

The people below seemed to have not yet recovered. When they suddenly looked up, the world had changed!

Zhou Zhengwen originally had the Helian family supporting him, so he could be said to be a man of his word in this Shengle City. All forces in Shengle City had to bow down to him.

Now that the Helian family has been destroyed, Zhou Zhengwen has instantly become a younger brother. Fortunately, he still has some influence in Shengle City, and he has received some of the Helian family's refugees, so his strength has been supplemented, otherwise he would really not be qualified to sit at this table.

"Get to the point."

Xiong Lie urged while gnawing on a lamb leg.

Tufa Chengji didn't mind the barbarian's rudeness. In fact, hundreds of years ago, they might have been one ancestor.

Whether it is the Yan, Chu, or Jin states, their history books record that their ancestors were ordered by the Great Xia Emperor to lead their tribes to the vassal states to resist the invasion of the barbarians, wildlings, and Shanyue.

The truth is that the Chu state's vassal territory was initially very small. That area was originally the territory of the Shanyue tribes, but after hundreds of years of exploration and conquest, the original owners, the Shanyue people, could only fight guerrilla warfare in the rainforest swamps.

And the original wildlings did not naturally like to climb mountains and live in them. Originally, on the lands of the Three Jins, they were the true owners.

However, the Yu family spent hundreds of years forcibly driving them into the Skybreak Mountains.

From the Helian family to the Tufa clan, they were actually originally from wildling origins, but they have assimilated into Jin for hundreds of years, so naturally they don't consider themselves wildlings, but Jin people.

The Helian family can be considered one of the best assimilated clans, and they began to "whitewash" their origins very early on.

Learning from the Chu royal family, they began to make up fairy tales about their ancestors.

There is only one theme, you can say that my ancestor was born from a phoenix, a divine ox, or a divine eagle. It doesn't matter what beast god they were born from, just don't mention that they came from wildling origins!

Tufa Chengji opened his mouth and said:

"Presumably everyone has received the news that ten days ago, Yu Huacheng of the Yu family, who is the Sword Saint's younger brother, rebelled against the emperor and wanted to hunt him down. As a result, the emperor was rescued by the Yan people, and then the Yan people's Southern Marquis led his army to flatten the capital region."

"Already knew that." Xiong Lie shouted.

Tufa Chengji pressed his hand down and said:

"What happens to the Jin Emperor actually doesn't have much to do with us, but from beginning to end, the Situ family has not said a word. Has anyone thought about what this means?"

"What does it mean?" Xiong Lie continued to shout.

In fact, this wildling seems crude, but he is actually very meticulous. He is responsible for managing the business of four or five settlements.

At this time, the manager of the Ning family's commercial firm, a woman named Ning Cuicui, spoke:

"It means that although the Situ family has established a country and proclaimed themselves emperor, they don't seem to have any plans to start a war with the Yan people."

Xiong Lie chuckled, picked up his wine bowl, took a sip of wine, and said disdainfully:

"That means the Situ family is a coward."

Zhou Zhengwen then said, "The problem lies here. The Situ family can be cowards, they can retreat, they can temporarily avoid the Yan people's sharpness, but what about us?"

Everyone present fell silent.

Yes,

The Yan people suddenly invaded the lands of the Three Jins, causing these local powers to panic and fall into a state of confusion. Although Shengle City is poor and bitter, it is the common people who suffer. They are all making a lot of money.

Therefore, they instinctively wanted to protect their positions, to maintain the current situation in Shengle City, and the fear of the Yan people made them respond quickly when they learned that the Situ family had established the "Great Cheng" regime. They directly rebelled, controlled Shengle City, and sent people to submit to the Situ family.

The Situ family responded quickly, and the decree with the seal of the Great Cheng Emperor was issued immediately. Everyone was appointed as generals and given official positions.

Then, the Situ family remained silent.

When the Yan people invaded the capital region of Jin and killed Yu Huacheng, after the Situ family continued to sit on the sidelines, many powerful clans realized that

Something was wrong!

They were jumping around here, thinking that the Situ family's army would soon enter, and that the fate of the Three Jins could still be fought for and contended for!

But now it's like they seduced you, and you sat on the wall wearing a red apricot, only to find that they were teasing you!

What the hell is going on?

"What's in front of us are actually just two paths. One is to migrate into the Situ family's territory," Zhou Zhengwen said.

"What can we be if we leave Shengle City?" Ning Cuicui immediately shouted.

Here, they are local snakes, but if they leave here, they can only be a relatively large group of refugees.

Zhou Zhengwen nodded and said, "The second option is for us to also take the initiative to send people to the Yan Kingdom to feel out the situation. We can lower our stance a bit. We can push the previous matter onto a small household to give the Yan people an explanation, and then let the Yan people send a city garrison official to show their intentions. In this way, the Yan people gain face, we gain benefits, and everyone is happy.

In fact, no matter what, whether it was when the old patriarch was here, or when the Situ family came, or when the Yan people came, if they want to manage this Shengle City well, they must rely on us."

"Mr. Zhou is right, he is right, but we also have to see the Yan people's attitude. If everyone is friendly and the Yan people don't intend to get real, then why don't we give the Yan people some face?" Tufa Chengji said.

"Maybe, the Yan people will let us be, hey." Xiong Lie said, then he laughed again and said, "It's also hilarious. In the beginning, you gathered together and said that you wanted to raise a banner to oppose Yan and defect to the Situ family. Now you are here saying that the Situ family is unreliable and the Yan people might be coming.

I say, can't you have some ambition?"

Tufa Chengji snorted coldly and said:

"You're not afraid, anyway, if the Yan people's army really comes, you can take your people and caravans and immediately hide in the mountains. What about us?"

Xiong Lie wiped the wine stains from the corner of his mouth nonchalantly and said:

"It's as if our Saint Clan was born to like living in the mountains. Eight hundred years ago, this was our Saint Clan's territory!

However, don't be afraid, don't think that living in the mountains and fleeing is too much of an ordeal. Over time, you'll get used to it."

The barbarians call themselves barbarians, because in the barbarians' view, the word "barbarian" itself carries a certain affirmation of strength.

But the wildlings don't call themselves wildlings, but call themselves the Saint Clan, even though they know that the entire East, including the West, calls them wildlings.

After taunting Tufa Chengji, Xiong Lie stood up and said;

"You guys continue to discuss, I'll go back first."

He is a person with a way out, and he is also a person with confidence. The wildling settlements have a freight yard in Shengle City, with hundreds of armed men inside. Other forces dare not provoke him easily. After all, everyone is seeking wealth. Offending him is equivalent to offending a group of wildling settlements in the nearby mountains. How can this business continue?

After leaving the restaurant, Xiong Lie went directly back to his yard, which was filled with a lot of mountain goods and many cages containing demon beasts. These demon beasts didn't have much lethality. In later generations, they would be like pet dogs and pet cats.

When Xiong Lie entered the backyard, he saw a young man teasing his favorite blue falcon.

This is also a type of demon beast, with blue feathers, the incarnation of the legendary "Qingniao (blue bird)", which can be tamed and understands human nature.

This blue falcon is of excellent quality and is Xiong Lie's beloved. Ordinary people are not even allowed to touch it, but this young man is holding a bamboo stick and casually poking at it.

Xiong Lie was not angry at all, but instead took the initiative to kneel on one knee,

And said:

"Lord Zheng, your servant is back."

Zheng Fan turned around, looked at Xiong Lie kneeling on the ground, and said:

"I've told you several times, don't be so polite, we're all family."

"Etiquette cannot be abandoned!"

"Heh, then at least you have to wait until I really take down Shengle City before you salute so seriously. Now you should let me pretend to be courteous and form an alliance by drinking blood. You've already jumped ahead, it's not good."

"........." Xiong Lie.

At this time, the blind man walked out from behind Zheng Fan, looked at Xiong Lie, and asked:

"What is the attitude of those families?"

"Returning to the words of Sir Bei, those families are now very afraid of you Yan people. They are already preparing to send people to surrender to you, but judging from their words, the Yan people can send an official to nominally rule here, but the real managers are still themselves."

Hearing this, the blind man nodded and said, "As expected."

It is really too difficult and unrealistic to make those who have vested interests give up their interests.

"They're thinking a bit too beautifully." Zheng Fan threw the bamboo stick in his hand on the ground, picked up the teacup next to him, took a sip, and continued: "Only children make choices, I want both face and substance."

The blind man immediately offered a very perfunctory flattery:

"What the lord says is absolutely right!"

At this time, Xiong Lie spoke up and said:

"Lord Zheng, Sir Bei, the Sixth Prince's letter just arrived this morning."

"What did he say in his letter?" Zheng Fan asked.

No one would know how big Little Sixth Master's business was back then, even if the Yan Emperor issued a decree and all the businesses on the surface were handed over to the Ministry of Revenue, the influence would not dissipate so easily.

For example, this Xiong Lie was originally a wildling slave who was sold into the Yan Kingdom and was taken in by the Sixth Prince. After some grooming, he was sent back to the Jin Kingdom, back to Shengle City, to help him connect with some wildling settlements near the mountains and build connections with Shengle City. Over the years, he has become a very influential figure here in Shengle City.

When Zheng Fan was conferred the title of City Garrison Commander of Shengle City, Little Sixth Master mentioned Xiong Lie in his letter, saying that he could be used.

But there was a prerequisite: if you want to use him steadily, you must have enough soldiers to shock him. With this as a prerequisite, he will be willing to repay your kindness.

This time, Zheng Fan had more than two thousand regular troops in the suburbs outside Shengle City, and more than two thousand Jin puppet troops.

To be honest, without considering the losses, he could attack the city. Although the major commercial firms and some local clans in Shengle City could also pull out thousands of troops, how could they defend the city in their fragmented state?

However, it is best not to attack the city if he can avoid it. Seeing that he is about to turn over, Zheng Fan does not want to lose too much capital before the dawn of hope.

"Lord Zheng, the master said two things in the letter, one, is to let your servant listen to Lord Zheng's words and do things properly."

"What about the other?"

"The master said thank you to Lord Zheng for sending him several carts of cornmeal to Yanjing a month ago. The master said that he has been eating cornbread for a month."
chun jie di xiao long

Thank you Liu Xiaodao Zui Shuai for becoming the 79th Alliance Master of *The Descent of Magic*, and thank you Mo Ran Xing Ye for the Piao Hong.